IPT Open Kicks Off: U.K. Sizzles, U.S. Stumbles, Qualifiers Thrive
The overwhelming success of shooters from the United Kingdom and several strong qualifiers are the big surprises from the first day of the history-making IPT North American 8-ball Open, now underway at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, conventional-wisdom favorites such as Jose Parica, Mike Davis, Max Eberle, and Tony Robles were headed back to the drawing board, or at least a practice table, to ponder their early exits from the $2 million tournament.
But the biggest shocker was how incredibly well the contingent from the U.K. performed. Compatriots on the English 8-ball circuit (and relative unknowns elsewhere) Michael Hill, Darren Appleton and Carl Morris each went a perfect 4-0 in the first round of round-robin play, which featured 20 groups of five players each.
The second 100 competitors in the 200-player field will wage war today in their first-round matches. The top three players in each of the 40 groups advance to the next round; the eliminated players settle for a modest $2,000 each.
Here’s a brief wrap-up of the first day’s highlights:
• Of the 100 competitors in play Sunday, 13 finished with perfect 4-0 records, representing a wide array of nations: Michael Hill, Darren Appleton and Carl Morris of the U.K.; Americans Dennis Hatch, Steve Moore, Marco Marquez, and John Schmidt; Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes; Ralf Souquet of Germany; Canadian Luc Salvas; Nick Van den Berg of the Netherlands; Filipino Antonio Lining; and Mexico’s Rafael Martinez.
Incredibly, Martinez, Moore and Marquez were among the 50 qualifiers for the event, beyond the 150 regular IPT members. And Foldes earned his spot in the event as Buddy Hall’s replacement, after the Hall-of-Famer bowed out of the Open.
• Some folks have to go, and there were several flame-outs from well-regarded American players: Robles (U.S.), 1-3; 2006 Derby City Classic Master of the Table winner Jason Miller (U.S.), 1-3; Max Eberle (U.S.), 1-3; Robb Saez (U.S.), 1-3; Tony Crosby (U.S.), 0-4; and Tommy Kennedy (U.S.), 2-2.
Filipinos are expected to perform well at the Open, but expatriate Parica struggled to a 1-3 record and an early exit.
• Snooker superstar and 8-ball neophyte Ronnie O’Sullivan (U.K.) squeaked into the next round with a 2-2 record.
• After losing his first two matches, Shawn “Bubba the Love Sponge” Putnam (U.S.) gutted out two victories to advance.
• Long-ago road player Michael Zimmerman (U.S.) emerged to win his group — a toughie that included Filipino Warren Kiamco and Keith McCready of the U.S. It was not clear initially whether McCready or Kiamco would advance, since both held 2-2 records and an identical games-won percentage.
Hohmann Takes World 14.1 Straight Pool Top Honor
The German penchant for straight pool was evident in the final of the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship, in which Thorsten Hohmann defeated his fellow countryman Thomas Engert, 200-80.
The first tournament of its kind in over 15 years, the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship took place over six days, from May 30 to June 4 at the Hilton in East Brunswick, N.J., attracting an international field of 64 players.
Hohmann topped the list of high runs with 174, and tore through the bracket in the double-elimination second round and single-elimination final. In the first round, a round-robin format among eight groups of eight players, Hohmann survived the elimination of half the field with a record of five wins and two losses, to John Schmidt and Allen Hopkins, respectively.
In the second round, among 32 players, Hohmann remained on the winners’ side with wins over Antonio Fazanes, 150-68, and Charlie Williams, 150-14. With only the top 16 advancing to the third and final round, Hohmann defeated everyone in his path. He avenged his first loss to Schmidt with a 200-64 win, then went on to beat Austrian “Ice Princess” Jasmin Ouschan, 200-117, and came out on top of a tight match against Max Eberle, 200-177 to land in the final with Engert.
Engert had a tough road to the finals, losing to Allen Hopkins in the second round, but making it into the top 16 with a win over Vilmos Foldes, 150-45, on the one-loss side. In the final round, he matched up against some formidable straight pool opponents, including Bobby Hunter, who he barely bested, 200-177, straight-pool veteran Allen Hopkins, 200-32, and Mika Immonen, 200-80.
The all-German final saw Hohmann ahead for the entire match, jumping out to a 160-49 lead. Engert was able to narrow the gap to 80, but missed the 15 in the side pocket after leaving the cue ball burrowed into a stack of balls. Hohmann ran out the next two racks for the win.
Thirty-two Remain in the World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship
The World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship got underway May 30 at the Hilton in East Brunswick, N.J., the first competition of its kind in over 15 years.
The 64-player field included some of pool’s elite players, including Mika Immonen, Nick Varner, Mike Sigel, Allen Hopkins, and Oliver Ortmann. Top women pros Jeanette Lee, Jasmin Ouschan and Megan Minnerich were also invited to play.
The event kicked off with an opening ceremony in which the players were divided into eight groups of eight players. The first round was a round-robin format, with only the top 32 advancing to round two, which is currently underway, employing a double-elimination format.
After round one, Max Eberle, Go Takami and Mike Sigel remained undefeated. Lee, losing only to Sigel, had a 6-1 record going into round two. Big names eliminated early include Johnny Archer, Larry Schwartz, Luc Salvas, Tony Robles, Jimmy Mataya, Varner and Minerich.
Players recording high runs thus far include: Mike Sigel – 125, Ralf Souquet – 99, John Schmidt – 91, Danny Harriman – 83 and Thorsten Hohman – 71.
Korea International Championships, Day One
The Dragon Promotions event being held in Korea has finished a day of competition. Of the top pros in attendance, only American Mike Davis has been eliminated, defeated by Japanese player Goh Takami and then ousted by German Thorsten Hohmann.
Noteworthy players who have made it to the final 16 include Rodney Morris, Max Eberle, John Schmidt (who ran six consecutive racks against one opponent in an earlier round), young Korean player Seung-woo Ryu, Mika Immonen, Johnny Archer, and Charlie Bryant.
Many top pros who don’t often travel to Asia took this event as an opportunity to extend their trip to this area of the globe following the World Pool Championships in Taiwan last week.
Deuel wins UPA Championship
Corey Deuel completed an undefeated run to win the UPA Pro Tour Championship at the Bicycle Club in Bellflower California this weekend.
Deuel, known as the master of the soft break, was working that break to perfection all weekend and had wins over Charlie Williams, Mika Immonen and Efren Reyes before a 7-5 win over Danny Basavich for the hot-seat.
On the one-loss side, Basavich eliminated US Open Champion Gabe Owen 7-3 and forced Owen to settle for third place.
The finals were one race to seven on the ESPN table, and it went all the way to hill-hill before Corey put it away.
Deuel earned $10,000 for first place, while Basavich settled for $5000 in second place prize money. Owen and Efren Reyes filled out the top four places.
Complete Results:
1st Corey Deuel $10,000
2nd Danny Basavich $5,000
3rd Gabe Owen $4,000
4th Efren Reyes $3,000
5th/6th Rodney Morris, Mika Immonen $2,400
7th/8th Ralf Souquet, Santos Sambajon $1,850
9th/12th Frankie Hernandez, Mike Davis, Paul Potier, Troy Frank $1,350
13th/16th Francisco Bustamante, Johnny Archer, Tony Robles, Rodolfo Luat $900
17th/24th Charlie Williams, Neil Fujiwara, Bill Ferguson, Danny Kuykendall, Dave Hemmah, Max Eberle, Robb Saez, Charlie Bryant $400
Reno Open Underway
The 2003 Reno Open is down to 48 players as of 7PM EST on Friday.
The winner from last June, John Schmidt, is still undefeated and will play Jimmy Mendoza from Phoenix Arizona on Friday night. Other top seeds who are still undefeated include Rodney Morris, Jose Parica, Santos Sambajon, Jeremy Jones and Max Eberle.
The final winner crowned on Sunday will pocket $12,000 for the win.
Archer Wins World Summit of Pool
Southern gentleman Johhny Archer had a little something to teach the city slickers at the World Summit of Pool, at Amsterdam Billiards Club East in New York City, Oct. 8-12.
Archer triumphed over Santos Sambajon in the final, 13-5. Archer gained momentum as the final progressed, picking up speed and confidence with every game won. He produced seven break-and-run racks on his way to the win. Sambajon, who had a red-hot breaking game during his hot-seat match against Jose Parica, saw his inertia flag and his break fail in the final. After the score tied at 3-3, Archer took the lead and held it through the end.
Archer took home $12,000 while Sambajon settled for $6,500. Parica and Max Eberle took third and fourth, respectively.
Efren’s Revenge!
After losing to countryman Francisco Bustamante in the Challenge of Champions, and to Charlie Williams in the final of the Big Apple 9-Ball Challenge, Efren Reyes nabbed his second U.S. title of the year at the Gabriel’s Las Vegas 9-Ball Open in Las Vegas. Reyes, who exacted revenge by beating Williams, 10-5, in the winner’s bracket semi-final of the 64-player field, defeated Dutchman Neils Feijen, 10-7, in the title match to earn the $10,000 top prize. Reyes also won the Mid-Atlantic Open in January.
Johnny Archer finished third at the Riviera Hotel, followed by Williams in fourth place. Feijen, the 26-year-old current European 14.1 champion, reached his spot in the final by surviving loser’s bracket shoot-outs with Alex Lely, Danny Harriman, Max Eberle, Williams and Archer. He earned $5,000 as runner-up.
Daulton Triumphs at Derby City
Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton shot his way through the competition at Derby City
Earlier in the 9-day tournament, held in Louisville, Ky., Jose Parica defeated Larry Nevel in the One-Pocket competition, and Danny Harriman (voted BD’s Most Improved Player of 2002) took the 9-Ball Bank Pool title by besting Steve McAninch.
Nevel proved to be the iron man of the grueling event, winning the all-around title by virtue of his second-place finish in one-pocket and third-place finish in 9-ball banks.