The pool world was stunned early this month when the news broke that World Champion Dennis Orcollo had been “deported” to the Philippines and was facing a five year ban from entry back into the United States.
Orcollo had been stopped at the Los Angeles airport, on his way back into the states from the Philippines, on his way to Alabama for a tournament. After being questioned for thirteen hours, Orcollo was told that his tourist VISA had been flagged because of how many times he had visited and stayed in the United States.
The support that friends, family and fans have shown for Orcollo is no surprise, considering his status in the global pool scene. While many online expressed their thoughts on how to help Orcollo, one group of supporters has banded together to work with an immigration attorney to try to assist Orcollo. The group, formed by Roy Francisco, consists of Roy, Mike Hoang, Jay Helfert, Carlos Sanchez, Phil MMP, Joseph Long, Doug Beasley, Carl Bolm and others has reached out to Norma Henning , the owner of the Henning Law Firm. “I knew everyone would want to help, but they all needed to come together. I talked to all of his sponsors and backers and brought them all together as one group to try to get this done” said Francisco.
Henning is already hard at work with Helfert and Hoang to help Orcollo with his situation. “Visa rules are complicated, and the consequences even of innocent misunderstandings can be severe.Dennis has historically used a ‘visitor visa’ to enter the United States. That visa allows professional athletes to participate in competitions and collect prize money but it is not really meant for the super successful who enter so many competitions that they end up visiting a little too much.We’re preparing an application for a visa that better matches his outstanding background and gives him more flexibility.And we hope that the US government will waive the five year bar because Dennis’ return to the United States – with the correct visa – is very important to the sport” said Henning when contacted.
One way that fans can help to show their support for Orcollo is with an online petition at change.org.
AzBilliards is proud to release the May issue of the Billards Buzz online publication.
This month, Jay Helfert has his recap of the US Open 9-Ball Championship and Skip Maloney writes about the WPA Players Championship, Barry Behrman Memorial and Bob Stocks Memorial tournaments.
We have Melinda Bailey the month off this month, but Jerry Briesath, Dr. Chris Stankovich and Anthony Beeler are back with their usual assortment of helpful columns. Jerry writes about off season practice, Dr. Chris talks about letting go, and Anthony brings us a lesson from Luther Lassiter.
There are times when the game of One Pocket, played by top professionals, can be riveting to watch. To the point, sometimes, where the end result is less significant than the matches themselves; the journey, more important than the destination. Such was the case in the final match of the West Coast Swing’s (WCS) second tournament, the $5,000-added West Coast Challenge One Pocket, which drew 51 entrants to California Billiards in Fremont, CA. Three days after finishing as runner-up to Jeffrey De Luna in the 6th Annual Cole Dickson Memorial (Stop #1 on the WCS), Tony Chohan (aka T-Rex) stepped up to the tables and went undefeated to grab the One Pocket title of the WCS. He was challenged in the hot seat match by the event’s defending champion, Dennis Orcollo, and, in the finals, by Shane Van Boening, whom he’d sent to the loss side in the event’s third round. Their final match was a grind that, in spite of the game’s tendency to create long periods of relative inactivity as the players jockey for table position, proved to be about as riveting as any One Pocket match can be to watch (available via POVPool’s archives on You Tube).
Chohan opened his undefeated bid with victories over Jay Helfert and Ed Neves, both 4-1, before running into Van Boening the first time. He defeated Van Boening 4-2, and then sent Ian Costello (4-1) to the loss side, drawing Warren Kiamco in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Orcollo, in the meantime, having defeated Jeff Sullivan 4-0, Robert Ohashi 4-1. Jeff Gregory 4-2 and arguably one of the planet’s best overall players, Jayson Shaw 4-2, picked up Alex Pagulayan in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Chohan advanced to the hot seat match 4-2 over Kiamco, as Orcollo was busy sending Pagulayan to the loss side in a double hill win. Chohan shut Orcollo out to claim the hot seat, sending him off to a semifinal match against Van Boening.
On the loss side, Pagulayan picked up Chris McDaniel, who’d given up just a single game in two matches against Omar Alshaheen (0) and Ian Costello (1) to reach him. Kiamco drew Van Boening, who, following his defeat at the hands of Chohan, had won four matches, including recent victories in which he’d eliminated Shaw and Brandon Shuff, both 3-1.
Pagulayan and Van Boening advanced to the quarterfinals; Pagulayan 3-1 over McDaniel, and Van Boening 3-1 over Kiamco. Van Boening and The Lion locked up in a double hill fight in those quarterfinals, eventually won by Van Boening. He then defeated Orcollo 3-1 in the semifinals to earn himself a second shot at Chohan.
As one might expect from a battle between a T-Rex and a ‘kid’ from South Dakota, the beast won it. They battled back and forth to a 2-2 tie in their race to 5, after which Chohan took over and won the next and final three to claim the event title.
Representatives of POVPool (Daniel Busch) and West State Billiards thanked the ownership and staff at California Billiards, as well as sponsors Cohen Cues, Big Time Threads, WestStateBilliards.com, KD Cues, Ariel Carmeli (AC) Cues, Tiger Products, and JB Cases. The West Coast Swing is on-going with the $15,000-added, West Coast Challenge 10-Ball event, already underway (as of yesterday, Friday, July 6) and expected to conclude by Sunday night, July 8. Three days later, beginning on July 11th, the same group of players will (presumably) move on to Tempe, AZ for the $3,000-added, Freezer’s Icehouse One Pocket and $10,000-added 10-Ball Challenges.
Busch and his POVPool crew will be streaming these events throughout the next week, as well as offering archived matches to those who will, for whatever reason, miss them as they’re happening.
Shane Van Boening captured another US Open title, making an undefeated run to win the US Open One Pocket Championship on Sunday in Las Vegas.
The US Open One Pocket Championship started Mar. 23-25 at Griff’s in Las Vegas. CueSports International added $5,000 to the One Pocket Championship and $2,500 to the Bank Pool Championship, which Van Boening also won earlier in the week.
Van Boening swept through the 29-player field, giving up only three games during the entire tournament. His path included wins over: Jay Helfert, 4-0; Nick Beretanos, 4-1; Dee Adkins, 4-0; Ronnie Alcano, 4-0; before beating Oscar Dominguez, 4-1, to capture the hot seat.
Alcano, of the Philippines, would meet Van Boening in the final. Alcano bested: Jimmy Moore, 4-0; Wayne Pullen, 4-1; and Gus Briseno, 4-3, before Van Boening put in him the loser’s bracket, 4-0. On the B-side of the bracket, Alcano beat: Warren Kiamco, 3-2; Brandon Shuff, 3-1; and Dominguez, 3-1, to captured a spot in the finals.
During the finals, Van Boening played nearly perfect, keeping tight control of the table. Alcano won just one game in the single-race-to-five finals format.
Tournament organizer Mark Griffin, who also owns Griff’s in Las Vegas, said the US Open Bank Pool Championship and US Open One Pocket Championship will be held at Griff’s again in 2019, although dates have not been set yet. Both events will be $5,000 added, Griffin said.
“Jay Helfert has offered to add $2,500 to the Bank Pool Championship next year,” Griffin said. “It’s very generous of him and will help us draw a larger field in the future.”
For more information, contact Mary Coffman, CSI Marketing Manager, at 702-719-7665 or by email at mary@playcsipool.com.
The most respected, skilled and academically brilliant minded junior cueists from across the United States were just in Vegas competing in an action packed week of billiards. A few miles south of the Vegas strip the Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) had presented and concluded the 29th Annual Junior National 9-Ball Championships. This challenging co-event was held Wednesday-
Saturday August 2nd- 5th, 2017, having returned to the family friendly South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa in Las Vegas, Nevada. Showcased at one end of the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Billiard & Home Leisure Expo was the BEF junior national’s arena. The competition area boasted 20 professional 9-foot Diamond tables. This junior event is the only opportunity for U.S. billiard student-athletes to qualify to compete at the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) World Junior 9-Ball Championships being held this year Oct 31st – Nov. 5th, 2017 in Moscow, Russia.
On Tuesday, the registration process was in full motion with the noise and bustle of last minute preparations for the tournament and expo grand openings. There, the junior players received BEF sponsor gifts and a 2017 tournament memorabilia shirt. The junior events kicked off that evening with the highly anticipated and popular annual Adult-Youth Scotch Doubles tournament, which gave parents and juniors the chance to showcase their skills for a doubles fun-filled night and prizes. Even the pros were actively seeking to be recruited to fill in and play. BEF Tournament director Earl Munson remarked, “Big grins everywhere. The pros were playing like kids and the kids were playing like pros!” BCA Hall of Famers and multi world champions Nick Varner & Loree Jon Hasson along with Mosconi Team USA and doubles silver medalist in World Cup of Pool, Skyler Woodward & Shane Van Boening joined with the junior players. Former 2002 junior national champion Beau Runningen was eagerly paired and proved he still had game, and fellow 2017 Team USA member Manny Perez matched up as well. Parent’s skill levels ranged in doubles competition from yikes (Where is the instructor quick?), to wow (Did you see that parent play?!). Eventually the fun night ended with all the pros/junior teams converging to the semi-finals. 1st Place was Skyler Woodward & Trenton White, 2nd Place Nick Varner & Justin Toye, 3rd Place Loree Jon Hasson & Xavier Hultze, 4th Place Beau Runningen & Spencer Ladin.
Wednesday, the players meeting and group photo opened the 3 pm start of the first five rounds of the 2017 BEF Junior National 9-Ball tournament. This year’s tournament format incorporated the WPA World Junior style of preliminary double elimination brackets qualifying to a seeded single elimination finals bracket. The format also allows for the larger fields sizes, table and time constraints. This year’s field represented: 167 players, ranging from 7 to 18 years of age, from over 30 qualifying events, more than 25 states and including the U.S. Virgin Islands. There were four participating divisions included 18 & Under Boys (18UB), 18 & Under Girls (18UG), 14 & Under Boys (14UB) and 14 & Under Girls (14UG). The divisions played in 64, 64, 32 and 32 double elimination brackets respectively. The top 25% of players from each division then moved to single elimination brackets with the winners seeded and the one-loss players listed by a blind draw. Without a doubt match play all week was exciting and intense as all players vied to make it to their respective finals single-elimination brackets.
On Friday night before the finals, the packed banquet night was held. The banquet comfortably seated all juniors, family members, pros, sponsors, and BEF staff and volunteers to enjoy a great meal, laughs, heartfelt speeches, recognitions, remembrance, awards and honors.
Each year players are nominated by their peers at the junior nationals to recognize sportsmanship on and off the table. This special award is in remembrance and recognition of one of BEF’s alumni’s, Brendan Crockett, who was more than just a talented young player taken early from life. Brendan grew from an eager teen-ager to an intelligent, charming gentleman with true character and humility. His humor, willingness to work hard and ability to lead have been an important part of our programs. The 2017 Brendan Crockett Character Award Recipients were: Eric Roberts from Crossville, Tennessee and Eliana Rodriguez from Brooklyn, New York.
The Special Guest Speaker at the banquet this year was “The Colonel”, Nick Varner. He humorously recounted his junior moments in the game and he jokingly had some great advice to share. “If you bet twice as much, you will learn twice as fast.” Varner has long been an enthusiastic supporter of the juniors and also stated, “This event is amazing and a great showcase of our (nations) top junior players”.
Newly inducted 2017 BCA Hall of Famer Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman also made his 24th appearance at the junior nationals. Dr. Cue, presented the 2017 Artistic Pool awards to this year’s champions, Timmy Bly (Bettendorf, IA), Michelle Jiang (Harvard, MA), Joey Tate Raleigh, NC) and Lana Keith (Dyersburg, TN).
The banquet night again amassed much of the junior field with the coveted title of “Academic All American” (AAA) when awards were presented. Of the entire 167 player field, an incredible 45% of this year’s participants (75 players!) earned school GPA’s of 3.5 and 31.6% of the AAA field earned 4.0 GPA’s, to receive recognition! The sport of billiards is definitely attracting, developing, and maintaining academic excellence! The banquet concluded with words of optimism and change from longtime BEF Trustee Tom Riccobene, “Each of us can take home what we have learned here this week and share with the people we love and meet. You’re all champions and we are honored to learn from you”, Riccobene said.
The finals play for all divisions was held on Saturday Aug. 5th. In an effort to stay more aligned with the WPA World event, the BEF awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the top four finishers of each division.
All medalists in the 18UB & 18UG divisions along with the gold and silver medalists from the 14UG & 14UB divisions have been nominated for the 2017 WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships October 31st to November 5th in Moscow, Russia.
This junior national was a year of competitive upsets. A trio of past back-to-back champions made up of Nathan Childress (14UB from North Chesterfield, VA), April “The Grinder” Larson (18UG from Bloomington, MN), and Ashley Fullerton (14UG from Lake Park, MN) all sought to become three-peat champions but fell short and all new gold medalists emerged.
Larson drew a bye sliding her to the winner side where she then matched up and defeated Katelin Ballou and then Abigail Reese to move her to the 18UG finals 8 bracket. In the semifinals match April was determined to move on but rival Michelle Jiang from Harvard, MA ended her bid to claim her 3rd straight 18UG’s title earning Larson a bronze medal instead for her effort. Gracie Davis from Decatur, IL with her great play also joined Larson for the bronze. Jiang battled it out in the 18UG finals match against Alex Booth from Mount Ayr, IA with Jiang excitedly getting her first 18UG gold medal win with Booth taking the very respectable silver. Jiang has been playing very strong the last few months with her now qualifying for her 4th Junior Worlds. Jiang will head to Moscow, Russia with her fellow Team USA members on Oct 31st, 2017.
In the 14UG division it was also a battle to maintain the championship reign, as the 2016 14UG Champion Fullerton from Lake Park, MN tried but failed to make the 14UG’s final bracket losing her first match to Tatum Cutting from Diamond, OH and her second to Vivian Liu from Harvard, MA. Liu and Cutting would eventually become opponents in the bronze medal round where Liu moved on leaving Cutting with the bronze. Gracie Davis from Decatur, IL matched up with Savanna Wolford from Troutville, VA in the other half of the semis with Davis also getting the bronze and earning Wolford a match up with Liu in the finals. The 14UG finals match played at 11am on Saturday spotlighted the two young quiet and upcoming players in Liu and Wolford. Both played well with Liu edging out the win with her first gold medal and Wolford proudly taking home the silver.
The title of 18UB champion was newly earned this year by Austin Summers from Metropolis, IL. Summers started out strong winning his first two matches only to come up short against Graham Swinson to earn a spot on the final 16 bracket winner seeded position. Needing only a single match win on the one loss side gave Summer’s his spot on the Final 16 single elimination 18UB bracket. Taking down Lukas Fracasso-Verner in a rescheduled reprieve match due to a disqualification sent Summer’s to play Ricky Evans in the semifinals. Evans from St. Peters, MO was last year’s 18UB champion but Evans struggled to keep Summer’s from finally advancing to gold earning Evans the bronze medal this year. Summers traded wins with Kaiden Hunkins from Waukesha, WI until the match was over with Austin Summers winning gold and Hunkins taking the silver medal for being runner-up in this year’s 18UB division. Thomas Haas from Lancaster, PA also took the bronze medal losing in the semifinals to Hunkins.
As always the 14UB’s is a very competitive division with high levels of play even for that age. As in the 18UG and 14UG, defending national champion Nathan Childress from North Chesterfield, VA was chasing his third consecutive championship. But Childress ran into a wall this year from a veteran BEF tournament player from Crossville, TN named Eric Roberts. Roberts knocked the defending champion, in a resounding statement of 6-0, to the one loss side where they would again meet up on the blind draw of the 14UB finals bracket. Again Roberts took Childress out this time for good with another convincing 6-2 win. Roberts would go on to win again in the quarterfinals against Jayden Liu from Harvard, MA only to eventually lose to Joey Tate from Lake Villa, IL in the semifinals earning Roberts his first medal ever with the Bronze. The very skilled Gabriel Martinez from New Braunfels, TX also earned a bronze medal after Joshua Shultz from Stedman, NC defeated him. Shultz earned a finals match with Joey Tate. Tate with 2X Junior Worlds experience under his belt was at an advantage in the high- pressure match for the gold with Shultz. After the last 9-ball was pocketed for the match wins the entire five-players strong Tate family, applauded with joy as their brother was crowned the BEF 2017 14UB Gold Medal Champion and Shultz as runner-up Silver Medalist.
The future is very bright for our BEF junior program members as there are now more than ever before, so many high level competitive opportunities at the local, state, national, and international level.
Gold Medals:
18UB Austin Summers, (Metropolis, IL)
18UG Michelle Jiang, (Harvard, MA)
14UB Joey Tate, (Lake Villa, IL)
14UG Vivian Liu, (Harvard, MA)
Silver Medals:
18UB Kaiden Hunkins, (Waukesha, WI)
18UG Alex Booth, (Mount Ayr, IA)
14UB Joshua Shultz, (Stedman, NC)
14UG Savanna Wolford, (Troutville, VA)
Bronze Medals:
18UB Thomas Haas, (Lancaster, PA) and Ricky Evans, (St Peters, MO)
18UG Hailey Fullerton, (Lake Park, MN) and April Larson, (Bloomington, MN)
14UB Eric Roberts, (Crossville, TN) and Gabriel Martinez, (New Braunfels, TX)
14UG Tatum Cutting, (Diamond, OH) and Gracie Davis, (Decatur, IL)
The Billiard Education Foundation proudly recognizes the industry leaders who helped make this year’s event possible.
Event Sponsors: Billiard Congress of America. Diamond Billiard Products, TLP Billiards, Simonis, Aramith, Ultimate Team Gear, Jacoby Cues, On the Wire Creative Media, Pechaur Cue, ACS, Champion, Valley, Dynamo, Connelly, FCI Billiards, McDermott, Predator, OB Cues, DigiCue, Presidential Billiards, West State Billiards, OGB Millwork, Professional Billiards Instructor Association, Master Chalk, Tiger, Presidential Billiards Pool & Billiard Magazine, Professor Q Ball, Billiards Digest, AzBilliards.com, Dr. Cue, Billiard University, Dave Alciatore, Bob Jewett, Brett Lewis, Jay Helfert, Jeremiah Gage and Tom Riccobene.
The BEF gives special thanks to all the individuals who gave countless hours throughout the year to help make this event possible: Samm Diep-Vidal, Tom Riccobene (BEF Treasurer), Jeremiah Gage (BEF Secretary), Shari Stauch (BEF President), Tammy Jo Leonard (BEF Assistant National Director), Earl Munson (BEF Tournament Director) received the 2017 BCA Presidents Award, Rick Doner (BEF Head Referee), Justin Ballou (Assistant Head Referee), Ed Smith (Referee), Ed Stephens (Referee), Angela Williams (Referee), Dennis & Doris Stotler (Referees), Jim Ladin (Volunteer/Donor), Corey and Trena Wolford, Stephanie Shaw (Volunteer), Steve Strange(volunteer), congratulations to the new 2017 BCA Hall-of-Famer “Dr. Cue” Tom Rossman (Junior Artistic Pool Championship Director), Nick Varner (Pro Guest Speaker), Ra Hanna & Beau Runningen for providing live streaming/scoring/brackets through On The Wire Creative Media and pro commentary by Loree Jon Hasson and Max Eberle, Brian Glasgow and his professional team, all the staff at South Point and a huge thanks to BCA’s Rob Johnson, Chance Pack, and Shane Tyree for all their help and support, and to all the parents and juniors who are so dedicated to the sport we give a hearty thank you and we will see you next year in New Orleans.
Chinook Winds Casino Resort is adding $17,000 to the 8-Ball Open Event March 11-13, 2016. $12,000 will be added to the Men’s division with guaranteed $10,000 for 1st place based on 96 entries. $5,000 will be added to the Women’s division based on 32 entries. Entry fee $150 and $25 green fee. It will be a race to 7 for Men’s division and race to 5 for Women’s division, double elimination, CSI/BCAPL rules. Tournament will start after Calcutta (cash only) on Friday at 4 PM and a brief player’s meeting. Finals will be on Sunday evening. The Chinook Winds Open Is Partnered with Mosconi Cup and players will be earning points towards that event.
A WarmUp 8-ball tournament will commence on Thursday, March 10th at 6 PM, $25 entry $5 green fee, race to 4, double elimination, Women’s division 32 max and Men’s Division 64 max. This tournament will be open to all players. Ring games may be offered if there is enough interest. As always, sportsmanship is mandatory.
Tournaments will be played on 7-foot Diamond bar tables with Cyclop balls provided by Bad Boys Billiards Production. “Fast” Lenny Marshall of “On The Rail TV.com” will provide the high definition, quality streaming with many videos to view. Co-tournament directors are Andrew Monstis and Mike Jensen with WBCA staff helping out. Certified referees will be in attendance.
They say it’s better at the beach and they are right! Chinook Winds Casino Resort is a full service facility. It is an exceptional place for a tournament venue. Having this event tucked in at the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon creates an atmosphere you can’t find anywhere else. The Chinooks Winds Open 8-Ball Tournament precedes Western BCA’s 21st annual regional 8-Ball Championships. Western BCA (WBCA) and Chinook Winds are jointly producing this event
The 8-Ball Tournament is sponsored by Chinook Winds Casino Resort, a grant from the Lincoln City Visitor and Convention Bureau (www.oregoncoast.org) and Anheuser-Busch. Bud Light is the official beer of the event and sponsor of Warm-up Tournament.
Special thanks to Mike Howerton, AzBilliards; Lenny Marshall, On The Rail TV; Ozzie Reynolds, Cuesports International; Ric and Bonnie Jones – Bad Boys Productions; Jay Helfert Author of “Pool Wars”
Entry Forms and more entry information can be obtained at westernbca.org.
The 2015 US Open 8-Ball Championship was held July 29-31 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The matches were recorded in “The Predator Arena” with high definition equipment and full commentary by Jay Helfert, Ken Shuman, and Robert LeBlanc.
CSI extends a huge THANK YOU to the sponsors of this exciting event:
Predator: The Official Cue of the 2015 US Open 8-Ball Championship!
Kamui: The Official Tip of the 2015 US Open 8-Ball Championship!
Omega Billiards: The Official Store of the 2015 US Open 8-Ball Championship!
The 2015 US Open 10-Ball Championship was held July 24-26 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The matches were recorded in “The Predator Arena” with high definition equipment and full-time commentary by Jay Helfert, Ken Shuman, and Robert LeBlanc.
CSI would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the sponsors of this exciting event:
Predator: The Official Cue of the 2015 US Open 10-Ball Championship!
Kamui: The Official Tip of the 2015 US Open 10-Ball Championship!
Omega Billiards: The Official Store of the 2015 US Open 10-Ball Championship!
Day two at the U.S. Open saw the continuance of the Karen Corr story as she bested James Blackburn 11-1. This means her scoring record thus far, after two matches, is 22-5. The audience will be thick today for her match against Jayson Shaw. Certainly, Shaw is one of the greatest players of our day, but so is Ko Pin-Yi, and we all know what happened there. Whatever happens now, Corr has increased her legion of fans to extraordinary levels.
But we cannot focus on Ms. Corr alone. The worlds greatest players are all here and all of them have their eyes firmly set on the prize. Those who have yet to find defeat include the aforementioned Jayson Shaw and Carlo Biado who will find himself against Thorsten Hohmann today. In fact, if you look at the chart you will find many matchups for Tuesday that promise mouth-watering action.
Ralf Souquet had a fine showing last night as he dominated Johnny Archer 11-1 but today must face Greek powerhouse Nikos Ekonomopoulos. Mosconi Cup nominee Mike Dechaine takes on John Morra while former Mosconi Cup teammates Shane Van Boening and Justin Bergman will fight in a highly anticipated match as many are touting the ever-rising skills of Justin Bergman. Another match of Cup veterans will find Nick Van Den Berg doing battle with Rodney Morris and Darren Appleton plays Ruslan Chinakov of Russia.
As for the "controversy" concerning the resignation of Jay Helfert as TD, both Helfert and Behrman found themselves between a rock and a hard place and both did what they felt they had to do. Helfert felt he could not alter the chart after the players meeting as that is the long custom in tournaments and Behrman felt compelled to honor the commitment he had made to his two-time past champion Allen Hopkins. Behrman found a player who was happy to vacate his spot to honor Hopkins and the event. But that is all a sideshow to the action on the tables and everyone is now settled in to concentrate on the play and ignore the disagreement between the owner of the event and his original Tournament Director. Scott Smith has taken over those duties and while the presence of Mr. Helfert will be missed the show will still go on. After all, when the quarterback is injured you do not stop the game, you put in another quarterback. So let's not let a business disagreement distract us from what is really important at the Open, the play upon the tables.
This is the most powerful field this reporter has ever seen at an Open and that is the factor that makes all else pale. This event has huge implications on many careers and that will be the focus of the week.
DIAMOND BILLIARD PRODUCTS INC., FargoRate, and CueSports International (CSI) are pleased to announce that the invitational 2016 DIAMOND Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge will use FargoRate as the basis for inviting players! The 16-player, single-elimination event will be held January 22-25 at Horseshoe Southern Indiana Casino during the 2016 Derby City Classic. All matches will be played on a DIAMOND Bigfoot (10’) table. The entry fee is $1,000 with $16,000 added and only the best players in the world are invited to compete.
For 2016, 12 of the 16 players will be determined by Fargo Ratings. The top 12 players in the world, based on Fargo Ratings, will receive an invitation to compete. If anyone in the top 12 declines, the next player on the list will be invited. This will continue until all 12 spots are filled. The remaining four players will be invited at the discretion of DIAMOND. Shortly after the results of the upcoming US Open 9-Ball Championship are entered into the FargoRate database, the invitation process will begin.
DIAMOND Vice President, Chad Scharlow and Tournament Director, Jay Helfert immediately saw the value in having an accurate and universal rating system as a means for inviting players. Helfert explained that “it’s always difficult to determine who should be invited because there are so many deserving players. This gives us a way to objectively select the players without upsetting those not selected.”
FargoRate computes worldwide pool-player ratings by coupling game win/loss data from leagues, tournaments, and select challenge matches around the globe. Unlike any other system ever developed, it rates players everywhere on the same scale. A Fargo Rating of 620 means the same thing in Halifax, Nova Scotia as it does in Christchurch, New Zealand as it does in Phoenix, Arizona.
To learn more about FargoRate and to see the top 100 lists, visit www.fargorate.com. To lookup players in the FargoRate database, find a fair match between two players, or see the statistical odds of any match, visit http://fairmatch.fargorate.com/.
Look for the “powered by FargoRate” logo for leagues and tournaments that use FargoRate to select players, determine divisions, or set handicaps.
Look for the “FargoRate enabled” logo for leagues and tournaments that provide results to FargoRate.
