The draw for the 43rd US Open 9-Ball Championship has been made, with Jayson Shaw to begin his defense against Marcus Weston at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas on Sunday, April 21.
The draw was seeded with a golf-style category system adopted, which took in rankings from across the pool world including WPA World Ranking, BCA Standings and Fargo Rating. As defending champion Shaw was seeded No.1, while five-time US Open champion Shane Van Boening is seeded second as the highest ranked American player.
Broadcast details for the 2019 US Open 9-Ball Championship will be announced shortly. Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com thanks to Matchroom Multi Sport’s partnership with CueScore.
Note: Should any players featured in the draw not participate in the event, they will be replaced directly by the first player on the event waiting list to accept a spot in the tournament, irrespective of where the new player would have featured in any seeding category.
All matches at the US Open 9-Ball Championship takes place April 21-26 at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas. Matches are race to 11, winner breaks, except the final which is race to 13. The draw and match schedule for the first stage of the tournament is available now at www.matchroompool.com.
Tickets for the 43rd US Open 9-Ball Championship are still available at www.matchroompool.com from as little as $10 with VIP packages also available for the final three days of the tournament.
The tournament will be split into two stages with the full field playing double elimination down to the final 16 from Sunday April 21st until Tuesday April 23rd across multiple tables. From Wednesday April 24th until Friday April 26th the final 16 players will play straight knockout in the TV Arena in front of a global television audience.
The Mezz West State Tour travelled to gorgeous Stiix Billiards in Ventura, California over the weekend of May 23rd and 24th. The event attracted 93 players, which Rodney Morris, Oscar Dominguez, Sal Butera, Beau Runningen, Dave Hemmah and Vilmos Foldes were just a few heavy hitters that made it out to the tournament. Not to be taken lightly, the open players made their presence known with the attendance of Chris Robinson, Attila Csorba, Manny Herrera, Joey Chin, Geoff Somers and newcomer Brian Cady.
The top half of the bracket was all about the “7”players with Brian Cady, Melissa Herndon, Manny Herrera and Joey Chin making it out of a tough top bracket to find themselves in the final eight winners side. The bracket included big names such as Brian Parks, Sal Butera and Dave Hemmah. Newcomer, Brian Cady made his way to the final eight winners by finding victory over tour regulars James Harris, Bob DePlachett and Justin Logan before running into Manny Herrera in the final eight. Manny found himself there after wins over Rich Hodge, Spencer Ladin, Jay Beatty and Chino Reyes. The match between Brian and Manny went HILL-HILL with Brian taking the W, securing him into the final four winners of the event to face off against LA local Joey Chin. Joey Chin secured his spot in the final four by winning against Mark Anthony Hernandez, Brook Thomason, Sal Butera and Chris Santana before running into Melissa Herndon in the final eight. Melissa took wins over Juan Smith, Geoff Somer and Bob Jocz. The Melissa and Joey match up went HILL-HILL as well, with Joey making a great out to secure the win. In the final four, Brian Cady vs Joey Chin was one to be seen. The match stayed tied the entire set, eventually reaching HILL-HILL once again, with Brian Cady moving onto the hot seat match.
The bottom bracket was also loaded with killers like Oscar Dominguez, Rodney Morris, Vilmos Foldes, Corey Harper, Attila Csorba, Daminen Rebman, Beau Runningen and young-gun Chris Robinson. Making their way to the final eight winners were Attila Csorba with wins over Frank “The Barber” Almanza, Ashton Schaffer and Rhiyan Qi, where he was met with top player Corey Harper. Corey Harper found his way there with wins over Rodney Morris, a match that he was down 8-2 in and grinded back to win 9-8, Henry Brodt and Marshall Anonby. The match between Csorba and Harper was heavily one sided, with Csorba taking the win and moving on the final four winners , where he would meet Oscar Dominguez who took wins over Cole Gibbons, Dan Aguiar, Vilmos Foldes and Chris Robinson. The face-off between Dominguez and Csorba was a tough one, but in the end Csorba made a few errors that Dominguez took advantage of, allowing Dominguez to be victorious 9-5 and sending him to face Brian Cady in the hot seat match.
In the hot seat match, Dominguez showed complete domination over Cady winning 9-4, without Cady making too many errors. Cady would then travel to the loser side and await his chance to make it to the finals.
The losers side was a battle with Dave Hemmah winning 7 matches straight until being knocked out by Chris Robinson and forcing him to take 7th/8th. Chris Robinson went on to knock out Joey Chin, before losing to Attila Csorba, forcing him to take 4th place in the 93 player field. Csorba would now face a determined Cady for his chance in the finals. Cady out played Csorba winning 9-5 and giving him another chance at Dominguez in the finals.
During the finals, each player struggled with the break, forcing several dry breaks and push outs. In the end Dominguez took advantage of every error Cady made found himself winning 11-6. This was the first ever win for Dominguez on the MWST and would push him into the #1 spot in the point rankings.
The Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all their sponsors: Mezz Cues (Miki-Mezz.com), West State Billiard Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Zan Tips (Zan-Tip.com), Taom Break/Jump Tips (TaomTips.com), Andy Cloth (AndyCloth.com), PiUs Company, So Cal Tap, Kurzweil Country Meats, fast&loose desgins (fastnloosedesigns.com), Contact Point Media, Turtle Rack, NYC Grind (NYCGrind.com) and AZ Billiards (AZBilliards.com).
We would also like to thank owners Jerry and Peggy Matchin, along with the entire Stiix Ventura Billiards staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour.
The Mezz West State Tour returned the weekend of April 25th and 26th to the beautiful Hard Times Billiards of Sacramento, California. The first season was a huge success averaging 88 players per event. This second season started off with a bang accumulating a total of 114 players shattering the all time high of 96 players. Among the locals, strong talent from all over the west coast was in attendance including players from Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. The railbirds and locals were treated to a great display of pool by some great talent including "Rocket" Rodney Morris and "Iceman" Mika Immonen, alongside tour regulars Oscar and Ernesto Dominguez, Johnny Kang, Beau Runningen, Sal Butera and Amar Kang. Several top amateur players also made an apperance including Tommy "Too Good" Soria, Kevin May, Spike Aiardo, Mark Chernin and Rylan Hartnett.
With a field loaded with killers, there was no such thing as a "soft draw". The top of half of the bracket contained Sacramento Hard Times house pro Carl Wilson, Corey Harper, Johnny Kang, Jason Williams, Melissa Herndon, Spike Aiardo, Beau Runningen, Mika Immonen, Tommy Soria and Amar Kang. Battling through the top of that bracket was Phoenix's own Spike Aiardo with wins over Brandon Boatman, Mark Chernin, Jason Williams and Carl Wilson to reach the final four winners side of the event. Meeting him in there was a tough Mika Immonen, who had found victories over Patrick McLoud, Dirk Grundman, Chong Vang, Tommy Soria and Amar Kang. This match was heavily one sided with Mika pulling away to win 9-4, securing his place for the hot seat match.
Meanwhile in the bottom bracket, Ernesto Dominguez, Oscar Dominguez, Rodney Morris, Vilmos Foldes, Jaynard Orque, Dave Hemmah, Bobby Emmons, Paul Silva and Sal Butera all battled it out. Coming through the top of that bracket was Oscar Dominguez with wins over Zaldy Rosaluna, Mike Mitchell, Paul Silva and Ernesto Dominguez to put him in the final four winner side. Vilmos Foldes was waiting for him in the bottom portion of the bracket with tough wins over Emerson Joiner, Dave Gomez, Rylan Hartnett and Rodney Morris. Foldes had Dominguez down 6 to 1 in the blink of an eye, but Dominguez showed heart grinding back to win 9-7 and securing his spot in the hotseat match to face Immonen.
The hotseat was one sided with Dominguez breaking and running 4 racks on Immonen, allowing him to find victory 9-4. Mika would then travel to the one loss side to battle a tough Rodney Morris for his second shot at the finals. Rocket was in dead stroke at this point with wins over Tommy Soria, Geoff Somer, Spike Airado and Amar Kang. Immonen and Morris exchanged break and runs back and forth until it was 4-4. Rodney slowly pulled away winning 9-5. The finals are one extended race to 11 and Morris handled an exhausted Dominguez very easily winning the event 11-4.
This Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all their sponsors: Mezz Cues (Miki-Mezz.com), West State Billiard Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Zan Tips (Zan-Tip.com), Taom Break/Jump Tips (TaomTips.com), Andy Cloth (AndyCloth.com), PiUs Company, So Cal Tap, Kurzweil Country Meats, fast&loose desgins (fastnloosedesigns.com), Contact Point Media, Turtle Rack, NYC Grind (NYCGrind.com) and AZ Billiards (AZBilliards.com).
We would also like to thank Karen, Mike and Rachel Markulis, along with the entire Hard Times Billiards staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour.
12 players from around the country qualified for the Series III Finals which was held in conjunction with this year’s BCAPL Nationals at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Two round robin groups of 6 players each had everyone playing five 120 point matches on the first two days of the event. Two players from each group would emerge to make the final four single elimination stage. All 12 players were in the money as soon as they landed in Vegas.
Semi finals and finals matches were races to 140 points. Up on table 2 in the pro arena was Scott Johnson of Gate City Billiards NC who is the only player to have made it to all 3 of our National Championships vs Professional player Mike Dechaine playing in his 2nd Championship. On the streaming table we had defending Champ Jerry Calderone facing Matt Tetrault who was on his first trip to our nationals. Sitting in between both tables was none other than the Man, the Magician, Efren Reyes, who had recently played two games of American Rotation himself with Daniel Busch of Pov Pool at Hard Times Bellflower. We were very honored to have him sweating it in the front row. If the streaming table didn't bring some extra heat for the players, having Efren as a spectator may have done it as neither Matt or Jerry took control of the match as opportunities to do so arose. This forced the match into the last rack with Jerry advancing and coming one step closer to becoming our first repeat Champion. On table 2 Mike Dechaine had defeatEd Scott Johnson leaving Scott tied for 3rd 4th and setting up what was sure to be a great final match.
The finals did not disappoint. Jerry is a working family man from South Florida that quite often flies under the radar so Mike was a pretty big favorite in many eyes. Jerry came out quick putting some pressure on Mike by taking leads of 29-11 and 51-29. Mike being the young but experienced player he is took a timely break to refocus in an effort to tighten the match, a big lead in AR can be tough to overcome. We think it worked as Mike scored a complete 20 point break and run making the score 51-49 in favor of Jerry. From there both players held serve fairly well on their breaks or struck back when needing to do so; 16-4 Jerry, 15-5 Mike, Mike breaks serve with a 13-7 and Jerry breaks back with a 14-6 as we hit 101 Mike to 99 Jerry. The finals to 140 points came down to a score of 121 for Dechaine and 119 Calderone with Dechaine breaking. Jerry would need to steal 2 points off of Mike's break to ensure one more rack and an opportunity to run his rack for a 2nd National title. Mike broke them nicely and started the rack with ball in hand, ran all the way down to a 12-13 combo, he sized up the shot carefully knowing that Jerry needed just one of these 2 point balls to extend the match. He made the combo but position on the 12 escaped him and he was forced to place safe with just the 12 14 & 15 remaining on the table. Jerry later stated that he had two shot choices; a return end to end safety that would allow Mike to see the 12 ball or a rail first kick that would leave Mike hooked. He opted for the kick safe but didn't get deep enough behind the 12 ball which sent both the 12 and cue ball out towards center table leaving Mike the opportunity to run the three remaining balls to become the 3rd American Rotation Nation Champion! Final score 140-119 Mike Dechaine over Jerry Calderone.
The American Billiard Club wishes to thank all the clubs and players in America and Canada that helped make this another successful Championship. Our mission is to unite some of our best billiard clubs with some of our best players to form one self sustaining tour for our sport, our industry and our players. We also aim to reduce player expenses significantly by having players earn their way to short, sweet and paid for national events, they're in the money before they ever hit a ball at our nationals.
Series IV and V Nationals will be held in VA just prior to the U.S. Open and in conjunction with the 2015 Derby City Classic. We urge all pool lovers of all playing levels to become part of the American Billiard Club simply by uniting 10 local players and sending one of them to our next Championship.
Hard Times Billiards, who celebrate their 25th Anniversary this month, added yet another $5,000 from their main sponsor Crooks & Castles to the prize money of their Hard Times 10 ball Open. This event now in its fourth year, saw a field of champions show up to try and get their hands on the $10,000 added prize money.
What with the Bonus Ball players and the other pros from all over the world that will be in Las Vegas for the CSI 10 Ball Championship next week, this event has drawn a who’s who of champions that would have any promoter drooling at such a talented field.
Not surprisingly we saw top players fighting it out in the very first round, as witnessed by the first match-up on the “povpool.com" Free Live Stream match on table one, which showcased the games of Jayson Shaw and Thorsten Hohmann. This match saw Jayson Shaw switching over to the losers side after he missed a 3/10 combo at hill-hill.
WINNERS SIDE LAST EIGHT MATCHES
Louis Ulrich V Arturo Rivera – Chris Fangre V Wang Can – John Morra V Dennis Orcollo – Stevie Moore V Thorsten Hohmann – Dennis Hatch V Francisco Bustamante – Johnny Kang V Raj Hundal – Corey Harper V Carlos Biado – Ruben Escalera V Rodney Morris
LOSERS SIDE LAST EIGHT MATCHES
Alex Pagulayan V Manny Chau – Mike Davis V Nikos Economopoulos – Santos Sambajon Jr V Ernesto Dominguez – Warren Kiamco V Jayson Shaw – Max Eberle V Ramin Bakhtiari – Ralf Souquet V Beau Runningen – Johnny Archer V Shane Van Boening – Kevin May V Chris Melling
This writer thinks you should not be surprised if the winner of this event, now in its fourth year, has PHI behind his name, as the first three events were won by the following players:
2010 Lee Van Corteza
2011 Alex Pagulayan
2012 Dennis Orcollo
2013 ?
HARD TIMES BILLIARDS first emerged on the pool scene back in 1988, and apparently got its name due to the fact that you would probably end up on hard times if you tried to win there. The room over the years has had a reputation of always having a stable of giant killers in house, and that it would be very hard for a visitor to walk out with a pot of gold!
HARD TIMES is situated at the following address:
Hard Times
17450 Bellflower Blvd
Bellflower, CA 90706
Hard Times is a very event oriented room, as witnessed by this event, plus the 17-year old Jay Swanson Memorial and the TAD CUP in its fourth year. The Tad Cup is an event solely for the Amateur, and is sponsored by TAD Cues and will be played on the 3rd & 4th of August 2013.
We will be covering this event on a daily basis, so stay tuned! Streaming of this event may be found at www.POVpool.com.
In a star-studded, Hard Times 10-Ball tournament, held on the weekend of May 4-6, Dennis Orcullo won seven matches on the loss-side and dominated Shane Van Boening in the finals to become the third Filipino champion of this annual tournament. Lee Van Corteza (2010) and Alex Pagalayun (2011) were the previous champions. The $5,000-added event drew 64 entrants, including Rodney Morris, Mike Davis, Mitch Ellerman, Francisco Bustamante, Oscar Dominguez, Scott Frost, Raj Hundal and Brandon Shuff to Hard Times in Bellflower, CA.
Van Boening’s path to the winners’ side final four went through Justin Logan, Mitch Ellerman, Mike Davis and among the final eight, Francisco Bustamante. He faced Manny Chau in the winners’ side semifinals, as Max Eberle faced Corey Harper. Van Boening got into the hot seat match with a 9-3 victory over Chau, and faced Eberle, who’d sent Harper west 9-4. Van Boening downed Eberle in the battle for the hot seat 9-4 and waited for the fateful return of Orcullo.
Orcullo, who’d opened his tournament bid with victories over Branch Talley and Scott White, moved to the loss side on the heels of 9-5 victory by Louis Ulrich in the third round of play. His seven-match march back to the finals began with victories over Ernesto Dominguez and Ramin Bakhtiari. He then downed Bustamante 9-7, and Morris 9-6 to pick up Harper. Chau drew Scott Frost, who’d defeated Ulrich 9-3 (spoiling any re-match possibility for Orcullo), and Kenichi Uchigaki 9-5.
It was Orcullo and Frost advancing to the quarterfinals; Orcullo with a 9-4 win over Harper, and Frost 9-7 against Chau. Orcullo dropped Frost into fourth place 9-3 and completed his seven-match, loss-side winning streak with a 9-3 victory over Eberle in the semifinals.
Orcullo came out smoking in the single, race-to-11 finals, jumping out to a lead and giving up only three racks to Van Boening. At the conclusion of the match, Orcullo stepped to the end of the table and began preparations for a 15th rack. He had to be informed that the match was over, and began accepting congratulations. And for the third year in a row, Max Eberle placed third.
Alex Pagulayan (Photo courtesy of Dave Thomson Mediumpool.com)
Named for beloved southern California player, Jay Swanson, the 16th Annual Jay Swanson Memorial 9-Ball Tournament (“the Swanee”) was hosted February 4-5 at Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower, California. A tournament steeped in tradition, the event is a virtual who’s who of west coast US and Pacific Rim players. Produced by CueSports International (CSI), sponsored by Hard Times Billiards, CSI and the Magic Ball Rack, and streamed by PovPool, the event is known for being a two day grinder with a heady 192 player field of heavy hitters.
It is no small feat to cash in this event, but this year history took place. Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan won for a second consecutive year surviving a litany of fellow well known names including former Swanee champions Dave Hemmah (1996), Mitch Ellerman (2009), Amar Kang (2006) and the only other two time winner Morro Paez (1999 and 2001). Additionally, “The Lion” took out 2012 US Mosconi Cup team member Rodney Morris and “Mad Max” Eberle who himself has finished in the top three of the Swanee field 3 years (2005, 2011, and 2012). It was Eberle who initially knocked Pagulayan to the one loss side in the seventh round of the winner’s bracket. “The Lion” heaped revenge upon Eberle in the semi-finals sending “Mad Max” to the bleachers late Sunday night 7-2.
After two days and 16 rounds the 192 field was now down to two players. In the middle of the night surrounded by a room full of dedicated spectators, the single race to 11 finals was between Oscar “The Big O” Dominguez and Pagulayan. Dominguez’s road to the hot seat included the take down of Nick Spano, Corey Harper, Jim Hennessy, Brendan Crockett, Santos Sambajon Jr., Rodney Morris and Max Eberle.
In what can only be described as one of the most unique finals of any tournament, Pagulayan’s repeat win almost did not take place. “The Lion” dominated the match early and jumped to a quick 10-3 lead. Then in game 14 “The Lion” pocketed a tough but makeable back cut shot on the 9-ball for the match win. However, in a spit second it was evident the cue ball would also drop giving Dominguez the game instead of Pagulayan the win.
The diminutive Pagulayan leaped in the air just as whitey wailed into a corner pocket. To add injury to insult when Pagulayan landed from his leap he sprained his calf and faced the rest of the match limping and having to adjust his stance to avoid further pain. Dominguez capitalized on the situation. Using strategic safety play “O” patiently took the score from 10-4 to 10-9. During those 5 games Pagulayan did have another opportunity to seal the deal but in a case of déjà-vu again scratched on a pocketed 9-ball. The cue ball caught the tip of one pocket and ricochet the ball into another pocket. In this situation it is hard not to think of that famous quote “It’s like a nightmare, isn’t it?” from The Color of Money.
The winning game came down to a moment of luck or redemption depending on the perspective. Dominguez again executed a strong safe leaving Pagulayan in the unenviable position of having to kick at the 1-ball for legal contact. Using sonic speed, Pagulayan sent the cue ball off a long rail, hit the one, then the rock careened off the opposite long rail into the pack of balls that housed the 9. The match money ball then gently rolled into a side pocket. This time whitey stayed securely on the table and “The Lion” was able to roar two years in a row.
