Parica fills out Skins Semifinals
Jose Parica snared the final spot in the semifinal round of the Skins Billiards Championship late on Friday night and, in doing so, narrowly averted a playoff with at least two other opponents to reach the big-money rounds of the $130,000 tournament.
Parica will be joined in the semis – where $42,000 will be up for grabs – by Johnny Archer, Luc Salvas, Rodney Morris, Santos Sambajon, Ralf Souquet, Cory Deuel and Danny Basavich. The four players then advancing to the finals will play for an additional $54,000.
The Skins opening round kicked off Friday afternoon at the Resorts hotel and casino in Atlantic City, N.J., with 16 players divided into four brackets, playing for $500 per game. Each bracket consisted of 16 games, thus allowing a total of $8,000 in prize money per bracket. The eight players with the highest prize totals at the end of the round would advance to the semis.
By the end of play in the third bracket, it became clear that a player would need at least $2,000 to have a shot at the semis. When Basavich reached $3,000 late in the fourth bracket, all the pieces fell into place. If Parica could win one more game and reach $2,500, the final eight would be set. If he finished with just $2,000, he and at least two other players with $2,000 would have to duke it out in a playoff for the eighth spot
It came down to the 15th game, when the shooting order allowed Parica one final turn to break.
Charlie Williams and Mika Immonen, both with $2,000 from previous rounds, huddled in the back of the cavernous Superstar Theatre, rooting for Basavich to win the deciding game. But even on the ropes, Parica was too clever for his foe. Stymied by a safety, Parica decided to foul intentionally and sabotage Basavich’s runout by nestling the 5 next to the 8. Sure enough, Basavich’s runout stalled at the 5, and Parica nailed a tough cross-side bank on the 5 to take control of the table and eventually win the game.
“I’m more experienced than anybody,” the plucky Filipino said. “I think. I make the smart play.”
The Skins action will finish up Saturday evening. Check back for the final results.
Mosconi Cup Teams Announced
Promoters Matchroom Sport have announced the teams for this year’s Mosconi Cup. Johnny Archer captains the American team; he is joined by Rodney Morris, Gabe Owen, Tony Robles, Earl Strickland and Charlie Williams. Germany’s Oliver Ortmann heads up the European team, which also includes Marcus Chamat, Steve Davis, Thomas Engert, Niels Feijen and Mika Immonen.
The Mosconi Cup takes place December 16-19 at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland.
Archer Wins Carolinas Open 9-Ball
It was a classic case of “Johnny Archer can’t lose” in the 9-ball division of the Carolinas Open at Fast Eddie’s in Goldsboro, N.C., Aug 18-22. The successful Scorpion was fresh from an early August win at the Master Billiard 9-Ball Challenge and clearly on a roll.
But for Archer’s final-match opponent, Texas’ “Double J,” Jeremy Jones, the situation looked more like double trouble. Jones was the man Archer beat to take the Big Apple crown, and here he was, facing his recent nemesis (and good friend) again, just a few weeks later.
It looked like this time might have a happy ending for Jones, as Jones took an early 9-4 lead in the race to 15. But Jone marked only two more game wins after that point, and Archer fought through to a 15-11 win.
Archer collected $4,500 for first place; Jones settled for $3,000. Shannon Daulton and Rodney Morris took third and fourth places, respectively.
Archer wins Big Apple 9-Ball Challenge
Johnny Archer has won the Master Billiards Big Apple 9-Ball Challenge.
Archer defeated Jose Parica to earn the hot-seat early Sunday afternoon and then defeated longtime friend and rival Jeremy Jones 13-12 in an epic battle.
Archer won $10,000 for first place while Jones settled for $6,000. Parica and Rodney Morris filled out the top four spots.
Big Apple Day Two Complete
The big name matches are piling up at the Master Billiards 9-Ball Challenge in Queens NY. Multiple battles deserve star billing on Friday evening, with Thorsten Hohmann facing Rodney Morris on one side of the arena while crowds also gathered around the Danny Harriman/Young Hwa Jeong match and a Jose Parica/Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich battle.
By 9PM, Parica, Morris and Harriman were the ones still standing in the winners bracket. Other strong contenders still in the fight include George ‘Ginky’ San Souci, returning from his declared retirement to play in this event, and the always dependable Ralf Souquet.
Saturday morning will feature a marquee match between Francisco Bustamante and Johnny Archer with the cameras of worldpool.com running at 11:00 AM EST. The match will be available for internet PPV at Worldpool.com.
Online brackets are updated with all of Friday’s winners at http://www.azbilliards.com/bigapple2004/brackets.cfm
“Killer Pixie” gets shot at redemption
Alex Pagulayan has earned a return trip to the finals of the World Pool Championship, set for Sunday night in Taipei City, Taiwan. The fiery Filipino (now living in Canada) came up short against little-known Thorsten Hohmann in the finals of the WPC in 2003. This year, the “Killer Pixie” will meet an even more obscure opponent, 25-year-old Pei-Wei Chang from Taiwan, who shocked Johnny Archer 11-10 in the quarterfinals and then came back from a 6-1 deficit against Sweden’s Marcus Chamat to win his semifinal match, 11-9.
Check out http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/index?tournament_id=11 for BD’s on-the-spot coverage, or check out the event’s Web site at http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com
Host Country Celebrates WPC
The field of 128 of the world’s best 9-ballers has been whittled to eight at the World Pool Championship in Taipei, Taiwan, and the host country has a lot to celebrate. When play begins on Saturday evening (Taipei time), no less than half the field will hail from Taiwan, including two-time world champion Fong-Pang Chao (1993, 2000). Here are the matchups for the quarterfinals, which will be immediately followed by semifinal matches:
Pei-Wei Chang (Chinese Taipei) vs. Johnny Archer (USA)
Alex Pagulayan (Canada) vs. Fong-Pang Chao (Chinese Taipei)
Marcus Chamat (Sweden) vs. Marlon Manalo (Philippines)
Po-Cheng Kuo (Chinese Taipei) vs. Ching-Ching Kang (Chinese Taipei)
Check out http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/index?tournament_id=11 for BD’s on-the-spot coverage, or check out the event’s Web site at http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com
World Pool Championship Final 16
The original field of 128 9-ballers has been hittled down to 16 at the World Pool Championship in Taipei, Taiwan. As play was set to begin Friday, only former champs Earl Strickland and Johnny Archer remained from the American contingent, and 2000 titlist Fong-Pang Chao represented a surprisingly strong charge from the Taiwanese ranks. Check out http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/index?tournament_id=11 for BD’s on-the-spot coverage starting July 15, or check out the event’s Web site at http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com
Archer Takes Predator Central Florida Title
Johnny Archer earned his second big win this year with an undefeated run through the field of 64 players at The 4th Annual Predator Central Florida Pro Open, held at Pro Billiards in Orlando, Fla., May 27-30.
Archer went undefeated to the title at this same event last year. This year, after a first-round 9-8 win over Josh Degler, Archer did not let any opponent win more than 6 games against him.
Archer sent “Hillbilly Charlie Bryant to the one-loss side, 9-4, and then met Bryant again in the final, where Archer took a decisive 13-3 win for the title.
Archer collected $5,000 for first, while Bryant settled for $2,500 for second place. Danny Harriman and Charlie Williams filled out the top four places.
For details and brackets, visit www.azbilliards.com
Archer Takes Players Championship
Johnny Archer won the Brunswick Men’s Professional Players Championship, held March 25-28 at the Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, Pa.
Archer took a surprise second-round loss to Frankie Hernandez, 10-2, and then charged through 10 straight matches in the left bracket for the win. Notable victories included a hill victory over Charlie Williams, plus wins over Mika Immonen and Ralf Souquet.
In the final against Jose Parica, Archer dominated, 10-4, collecting $10,000 for the title. Parica took home $5,000 while Souquet and Jose Garcia took home $3,500 and $2,500 for third and fourth places, respectively.