Play began bright and early at 10:00 AM at the US Open 8-Ball Championship, with forty eight players still harboring hopes of earning the $11,000 available in first place prize money. Thirty nine players had already been eliminated here at the Rio in Las Vegas, with another sixteen players fated to join them after the first round of the day. 

 

Erik Hjorliefson led Corey Deuel 2-1 before the wheels fell off and Deuel won eight straight games for the 9-2 win, sending Erik back to Canada in 33rd place.

 

Filipino Raymond Faraon had a longer trip home after his 9-4 loss to Johnny Archer on the TV table. Faraon failed to get out twice after making a ball on the break in this match, and that was two times too many against a veteran the likes of Archer.

 

Other players who were eliminated in the first round of the day included Tony Chohan, Jeremy Sossei, Justin Bergman and Amar Kang.

 

Noon play saw the winner’s side in action, and there was no shortage of marquee matches. Mike Dechaine rebounded from an early 0-2 deficit and defeated Oscar Dominguez 9-5. 

 

Warren Kiamco won what was most likely the match of the day with his hill-hill win over Darren Appleton. Neither player could take any control in this match, and neither player managed a lead of more than one rack. It finally came down to Kiamco, who had won the opening lag, breaking and running the rack to send Appleton to the one loss side.

 

Other noon winners were Craig Riley over Jason Klatt, Shane Van Boening over Tony Robles and Jeffrey Ignacio over Rafael Martinez on the winners side. The one loss side saw the eliminations of Johnny Archer, Alex Pagulayan, Dennis Hatch and Scott Frost. Frost came up short in a comeback attempt against Danny Olson. Olson led the match 6-2, but Frost came back to tie it at 6-6 before losing to Olson 9-7.

 

The 2pm round did see a successful comeback by Jayson Shaw as he clawed back from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Tony Robles 9-8. Darren Appleton couldn’t find his game after the heartbreaking loss to Kiamco and went on to lose to Skyler Woodward 9-6 in the 2pm round. Oscar Dominguez’s campaign also came to and end at the cue of Thorsten Hohmann in another hill-hill match.

 

The 4pm round saw action on both sides of the brackets with Shane Van Boening showing the remaining players that he isn’t letting up in his quest for another tournament win. He ran over Jeffrey Ignacio 9-3 in a match that wasn’t even that close. Other 4pm winners were Mike Dechaine over Warren Kiamco 9-5, John Morra over Ike Runnels 9-4 and Rodney Morris over Craig Riley 9-3.

 

By the 6pm rounds, the long hours under heat were finally starting to get to the players. John Morra took on Rodney Morris on the TV table in one of the winners side final four matches, and it was definitely a match that Morra will want to forget. Morra missed balls in the first two racks and it was all downhill from there as Morris showed no mercy in a 9-2 final scoreline. The other final four winners side match saw Mike Dechaine taking on reigning US Open 8-Ball Champion Shane Van Boening. Shane led this match 4-1 before Dechaine won five straight games to take a 6-4 lead. Shane would fight back, but not be able to overcome the two rack deficit as Dechaine won the match 9-7.

 

The final round of the day contained two matches on the one loss side with Rafael Martinez facing Skyler Woodward and Jason Klatt taking on Dennis Orcollo. Woodward came out strong early against Martinez, but faded down the stretch as Martinez came back for the 9-7 win. The Orcollo/Klatt match was slightly less competitive as Klatt seemed lost at the table and lost to Orcollo 9-1.

 

This leaves six players with hopes of winning the event. Mike Dechaine will face Rodney Morris for the hot-seat, while Shane Van Boening takes on Rafael Martinez and John Morra plays Dennis Orcollo on the one loss side.

 

To follow the tournament in real time please visit PlayCsipool.com where you can find links to the live streaming and to the constantly updated brackets.

The US Open 8-Ball Championship kicked off on July 29th at the Rio in Las Vegas with eighty seven players gunning for the $11,000 first prize available. The theme on day one of this event was the break, as even the top players in the game had more than their fair share of problems adapting to the Magic Rack on the 7’ Diamond Smart Tables.

 

One player who didn’t have any of these problems was “The Rocket” Rodney Morris. Knowing he would kick off his campaign on the main TV table, Morris was hitting balls on the table an hour before match time. It would turn out that Morris may have spent more time practicing for his match, than he did actually playing the match, as he ran over Scott Frost 9-0 in under 35 minutes. Even the alternating break format couldn’t stop Morris, as he ran out on all of his breaks and also ran out on each of Frost’s breaks when he got to the table. 

 

Morris’ next match on the TV table saw him facing young gun Skyler Woodward. Woodward led the match early 4-2, but then his break deserted him. Back to back dry breaks by Woodward allowed Morris to regain control and take the lead at 6-4. Woodward would continue to struggle with the break and would lose the match that was not really as close as the 9-7 scoreline would indicate. 

 

Morris will kick off his day two with a noon match against Gregory Hogue, who scored wins over Oliver Medenilla and Danny Smith on Wednesday.

 

Crowd favorites Shane Van Boening and Dennis Orcollo met on the TV table on Wednesday, and the break was again the story of the match. Orcollo wouldn’t make a ball on the break until his third try, already trailing Shane 4-0. The ball Orcollo made in rack five would also be his only ball on the break for the duration of the match as Van Boening went on to win 9-2 when Orcollo unscrewed his cue trailing 8-2 after jumping the cue ball off the table on his break. Things won’t get any easier for Van Boening as he faces Tony Robles at Noon on Thursday.

 

US Open 10-Ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann looked strong early as he ran out to a 7-1 lead over Dennis Hatch. Hatch would make a run at a comeback, but would fall short 9-4. Hohmann then dropped his final match of the day to Canadian Jason Klatt 9-4. Klatt will face Craig Riley at noon on Thursday. 

 

Another Canadian hot-shot, John Morra, kept his strong play of late going with wins over Jeremy Sossei, Corey Deuel and Danny Olson. Morra will face Chad Vilmont on Thursday. 

 

Warren Kiamco turned in another strong performance on Day One with wins over Steve Register, Tony Chohan and Erik Hjorliefson. Kiamco won all three matches handily, not allowing an opponent past 4 games. He will have his hands full at noon though, with a match against Darren Appleton.

 

West Coast sensation Oscar Dominguez, went hill-hill in both of his last two matches before dispatching Jayson Shaw and Johnny Archer. He will be hoping to avoid that sort of drama in his noon match with Mike Dechaine. 

 

As is always the case in an event with this much firepower, the one loss side will be rough waters for any players still hoping to cash that first place check. Mark Tadd will face Brandon Shuff, Tony Chohan will take on Danny Olson, Archer will play Raymond Faraon, Matt Krah will face Justin Bergman and Amar Kang will take on Orcollo on the one loss side. That doesn’t even mention other heavyweights like Hohmann, Alex Pagulayan, Shaw, Frost and Hatch who are also waiting to ambush an unsuspecting player on the left side of the board.

 

Matches get underway at 10:00 am, and will continue until the last matches start at 8pm. To follow the tournament in real time please visit PlayCsipool.com where you can find links to the live streaming and to the constantly updated brackets.