Over the past weekend, the grand finale of the 49th Annual Texas Open 9 Ball Championships took place. Hosted by owners Kim and Tracy Sanders, Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock, TX was the place to be!
The $20,000 added 9 Ball Open had an entry fee of $200. The double elimination event was races to nine and winner breaks. Using a template rack, the nine was racked on the spot with three point rule in effect.
After the players auction, the brackets were posted and play began.
Using eighteen Diamond tables, the 128 player field was whittled down by Sunday to the final 32. A second players auction was held and when it was over, the action resumed.
Two players battled their way through the very tough field to the hot seat match – Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura and BCA Hall of Famer Alex Pagulayan.
In the bottom portion of the bracket, Pagulayan defeated Clint Palaci 9-5, Brian Sanders 9-5, skunked Gordon Vanderveer 9-0, blistered fellow Filipino and day’s old Texas Open One Pocket champ Roberto Gomez 9-2 and Robert Frost 9-3. He then sent Josh Roberts to the one loss side with a score of 9-5.
In dead punch, the hot seat match saw Patsura claim his seat in the finals with a 9-5 victory over Pagulayan.Alex headed to west to await an opponent.
Over on the one loss side, Josh Roberts kept Jesus Atencio in his chair with a 9-4 win. John Morra eliminated the always tough Naoyuki Oi 9-5. Both Atencio and Oi finished 5th-6th.
Morra was ahead with a 5-3 lead until Roberts stepped on the gas. Tied at seven apiece, Josh won the last two games and took the win 9-7. John finished in fourth place.
The Alex Pagulayan-Josh Roberts match began – each player looking to get into the finals. Alex leaped out to a 5-1 advantage but here came Josh! He tied it up at five games each!
Alex won the next three games to reach the hill 8-5. But then, here came Josh again to take the next two games! Alex decided to finish it right there and took the match 9-7. He moved on to the finals leaving Josh in third place.
As this event was true double elimination, Pagulayan would have to defeat Patsura twice to win the tournament.
Alex won the first game and Vitaliy won the next three. Then he started to really pull ahead – 5-2, 6-2, 7-3 and to the hill he went. Alex managed to win one more game and then Vitaliy ran out to claim the title!!!
While the main event was going on, Sky Woodward took the $500 added Banks Ring Game mini over Raed Shabib and Sakura Muramatsu defeated Jennifer Kraber to win the Ladies Ring 9 Ball Game! Congratulations to both!
Sakura Muramatsu
The $3,500 added Ladies 9 Ball Division had a full field of 32 players with races to seven.
After several matches, room owner Kim Sanders and last year’s third place finisher Sakura Muramatsu battled for the hot seat. Sakura cruised to a 7-3 win to claim her spot in the finals.
Kim was sent to the west side to await the victor of the Jennifer Kraber-Michelle Cortez match. Michelle prevailed 7-5 leaving Jennifer in fourth place.
Cooling her heels waiting for an opponent didn’t seem to faze Sanders any as she took the match over Cortez 7-4. Michelle finished in third place.
As this was also true double elimination, Sanders would have to defeat Muramatsu twice to win the tournament but it was not to be – Sakura won the final match 7-3.
Congratulations to Vitaliy and Sakura for becoming the 2022 Texas Open 9 Ball Champions! Great tournament, Alex and Kim!
And, thanks again to everyone at Skinny Bob’s for a first class event! Big thanks to the local sponsors – they included Diamond Billiard Products, GAF, Hanshew Custom Cues, Sanders Roofing & Exteriors, ABC Supply, Sionis, Aramith and Mints Amusements.
Thanks to Tournament Director Jason Hill for an exemplary job juggling multiple events.
And, as always, PoolActionTV would like to thank our fans and sponsors! They include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, EnviroAssessments, Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diveney Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is the Ten Ball Champions Challenge featuring Roberto Gomez and John Morra! Held at Railyard Billiards & Sports Pub in Louisville, KY, this is going to be great! Dates are September 9th-11th! Hope to see you there!!!
Dennis Orcollo, Michael Medley and Skyler Woodward
Alex Olinger’s Action Palace Open was originally planned to be held at his new room in Dayton, OH but his room was unable to get their inspections for the event done in time. Michael Medley stepped up and offered his room, Michael’s Billiards, in Fairfield, OH to host the event.
The Action Palace Open featured three events – one pocket, bar box eight ball and a three cushion ring game. Sponsors for the Action Palace Open included Acme Cases, PoolActionTV.com and Michael’s Billiards.
The action opened this past Wednesday with a players auction for the $3,000 added One Pocket Championship. Twenty seven players including the newly crowned International Open One Pocket champ, Roberto Gomez, as well as Billy Thorpe, Warren Kiamco, John Gabriel, Sky Woodward, Shane McMinn, title sponsor Alex Olinger, Dennis Orcollo, Louis Demarco, Dee Adkins, Shane Wolford, Shannon Murphy and Troy Jones ponied up their $200 entry fees to play in the race to three, alternate breaks, double elimination event.
With the players auction in the rear view mirror, the first round began. While most of the players drew byes, one notable match saw McMinn unceremoniously dump Olinger 3-0. Second round action saw John Gabriel eke out a 3-2 win over Kiamco as did Orcollo over McMinn. Adkins blitzed DeMarco 3-0 and Murphy did the same to Wolford in the third round.
Things tightened up in the fourth round as Thorpe edged out Gomez and Adkins defeated Murphy with identical 3-2 scores while Woodward beat Gabriel 3-1 leaving four undefeated players on the winners side of the chart. Former road dogs Woodward and Thorpe duked it out to a 3-2 win for Sky while Orcollo toasted Adkins 3-0. Sky and Dennis moved on to the hot seat match.
Meanwhile, on the one loss side of the bracket, players battled it out for survival. After beating Gabriel 3-1, Gomez emerged the victor in a 3-2 squeaker over Adkins. Kiamco beat Nathan Childress 3-1 but was Thorpe eliminated him by the same score.
As we have seen all year, Orcollo was a man on a mission as he sent Woodward west and claimed his berth in the finals. Battling it out for a shot at Sky and the other slot in the finals were Gomez and Adkins in addition to Thorpe and Kiamco. Thorpe defeated the always tough Kiamco 3-1 while Gomez had a much harder time with Adkins. Gomez finally won 3-2 and moved on his match with Thorpe. In a hard fought match, Gomez prevailed 3-2 but lost by the same score to Woodward. Sky moved on to the finals – he would have to win two sets to oust Dennis.
Dennis, however, was having none of that as he defeated Sky 3-1 in the finals and claimed another title! Congratulations, Dennis! Good tournament, Sky!
Friday night saw another player auction for the main event – the $10,000 Eight Ball Championship. Played on seven foot Diamonds, seventy eight players paid a $150 entry fee to compete in this double elimination event. The format was races to seven with alternate breaks.
In addition to the previously named players in the one pocket championship, playing in this event were Ruslan Chinahov, Jeffrey De Luna, Steve McAninch, Jeremy Seaman and Shane Winters among others.
Meeting in the second round, Billy Thorpe and Warren Kiamco were in a war. When the smoke cleared, it was Thorpe who took the win 7-6. As in the one pocket event, things tightened up in the fourth round. Adkins spanked Gabriel 7-2 while Woodward pounded Thorpe as did De Luna over Chinakhov – both matches ended with a 7-1 score. In the next round, Adkins ran into a buzz saw named Orcollo and lost 7-1. Woodward had a tougher time with De Luna but escaped 7-6.
Taking a break on Saturday night from the eight ball action, the three cushion ring game began. Featuring twelve players, it was Alex Olinger who took it down while Ryan Stone and Jonathan Anderson finished second and third.
Back to the eight ball action, it had wound down to four on the winners side. Orcollo was given a hard time by the relative unknown Nathan Wallace. Dennis finally prevailed in a hard fought match 7-5 and headed to the hot seat match. In the other match, Sky took the other seat with a score of 7-3 over Shannon Murphy. It was déjà vu all over again as Dennis defeated Sky in the hot seat match 7-2 and headed to the finals undefeated.
Over on the west side, Ryan Stone was tearing through the bracket – down went Seaman, Kiamco, Adkins, Thorpe, Murphy until Wallace ended his run 7-5. Waiting for Wallace was the always tough Sky Woodward. Sky put an end to his hopes of a title with a score of 7-3 and moved on to the finals.
As with the one pocket event, Sky would have to defeat Dennis twice for the title. The match started out neck and neck – tied at two games each. Taking the fifth game, Sky inched ahead. Dennis tied it again at three games apiece but then Sky won game seven to take the lead. Dennis responded to tie it again at four but Sky charged to the hill 6-4! He then proceeded to take the first set 7-4 and force one final set for it all!!!
Rocketing out to a 5-0 lead, Sky was now the man who appeared to be on a mission! Not giving up, Dennis took game six and seven to make it 5-2! Sky shook it off and marched to the hill! It was all Sky as he took the last game to take it down 7-2! Congratulations, Sky!!! Good tournament, Dennis!!!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Michael Medley and his staff for taking such good care of the players and fans. Thanks to our own Ray Hansen for his expert handling of the player auctions and tournament direction. We’d also like to thank commentators Jeremy Jones, Larry Schwartz and John Gabriel for their topnotch commentary.
We’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include Acme Cases, Durbin Custom Cues, Clutch Shot Billiards Apparel, Digital Pool, Hanshew Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Aramith, Simonis, Lomax Custom Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX and the Action Palace of Dayton, OH.
Our next stop is StraightPoolEyes’ Triple Crown Women’s Invitational at Q-Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. Featuring three divisions – straight pool, ten ball and one pocket – the dates are November 14th-21st! Hope to see you there!
