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Morris wins second Mezz Tour Stop of season

Rodney Morris

The Mezz West State Tour headed south to beautiful La Mesa, CA, right outside San Diego for stop #4 of their 17 event season. A very strong field of 94 players made the trek to compete in the $2000 added 10 ball event and the field was littered with pros and amateurs alike. 
 
Leading the top half of the bracket was Mexican champion, Ernesto Dominguez with solid wins over Jay Beatty, Paul Langley, Anthony Ortega, Joey Chin, Henry Brodt, and Victor Ignacio all the way to the hot seat match. The 60 year old veteran showed his experience and grinded his way each match with solid safety play and decision-making skills.
 
Meanwhile, on the bottom half of the bracket, San Diego pro Victor Ignacio took full advantage of his home court by defeating some very solid MWST regulars such as; Danny Gokhul, Beau Runningen, Ben Yumal, Attila Csorba, and Sal Butera until he ran out of gas against Dominguez for the hot seat.
 
While Ernesto and Victor slithered their way through the winners side, a very strong group of players grinded their way through the B bracket. Three pro players consisting of Beau Runningen, Vilmos Foldes, and Oscar Dominguez all lost early in the event until they all ran out of steam to end up in the 9-12 bracket for the event. 3rd place finisher from event #3, Attila Csorba kept his solid form with another strong finish, 7-8th with pool player turned poker player, Scott White. Former APA national champion, Henry Brodt displayed his experience and solid play with a very respectable finish in 5th place alongside Ben Yumul, filipino local sharpshooter. However, quietly stomping through the losers side was Sal Butera on the upper half and Rocket Rodney Morris on the south side. These two seasoned veterans played solid pool all weekend and it was unfortunate they met for the second time on the losers side to decide 4th place. After losing to Butera on the winners side, Rocket Rodney avenged his earlier loss with authority playing flawlessly winning 9-1.
 
The finals on the losers side was between hometown semi pro Victor Ignacio and Mosconi Cup legend, Rodney Morris. The match ended quickly in favor of the Rocket and at the end of the tunnel awaited senor Ernesto Dominguez. It was a battle of the veterans but too many early mistakes combined with Rodney's powerful break, Rodney ran away with the match with an 11-6 scoreline. This now makes Rodney the leader in the points department and marks his third victory of the 4 events held this season. 
 
Also, a big congratulations to Brook Thomason for taking home the $100 top female bonus out of 6 female entrants.
 
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), Ozzy Reynolds and CSI (PlayCSIPool.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 Clyde Norris, along with the entire On Cue Billiards staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour. 

Orcullo wins seven on the one loss side to take Hard Times 10-Ball away from Van Boening

Dennis Orcollo

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.

Louis Ulrich Claims Chet Itow Memorial


February 24th & 25th, 2012; there was certainly something for everyone in Mountain View, CA., thanks to the infamous California Billiard Club, its owner Chris Swart who hosted the 3rd Annual Chet Itow Memorial 9-Ball Tournament.  Nuclear engineer “Chet” who created and built this great venue was honored in the grand style, which was indicative of the great efforts that he put into the creation of the hall. The true “double elimination” event kicked off at noon on Saturday, February 25th with a race to 8 on both sides, and a winner break format.
 
Any one of the over 4,000 pool enthusiasts who tuned in this last weekend to Point Of View (POV) Pool’s free live internet coverage of this event, were treated to a multitude of not only legendary player match-ups, but also to a host of the unusual and dramatic antics that are ever present amongst these individuals.
 
Thanks to hall owner Chris Swart, a “$3000 Added” incentive packed the house and drew in 101 participants including many of the billiard worlds’ most elite players.  Locals as well as those who tuned into the live internet stream got their pool fixes watching the likes of Rodney “The Rocket” Morris, Jose Parica, Louis Ulrich, Santos Sambajon, Rafael Martinez, House Pro Dave Hemmah of Hard Times – Bellflower, “Team Mexico” – Oscar and Ernesto Dominguez, Amar Kang, and last but not least, world renowned champion and two time consecutive winner of the infamous “Swanee” – Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan.
 
Walk in patrons and attendees alike were packed in all weekend long, taking advantage of the 3000 sq ft plus “viewing” area, ordering from a fantastic full menu, and topping it all off with a trip to the fully stocked bar complete with an efficient and friendly staff.  In short, it was a setting for a pool player’s “Paradise”!
 
Early upsets in the event included last year’s winner, Santos Sambajon and runner up Oscar Dominguez. Also knocked were Alex Pagulayan, and long time veteran Jose Parica was pushed early to the one loss side by “Combination” Jason Williams, who eventually shot his way up to 4th place in the event! Jason Williams put on quite a show during the weekend and was motivated by an eagerness to play and win over Rodney “The Rocket” Morris. Those who remained to stroke their way up the chain included Rodney Morris, Ernesto Dominguez, Kevin May, Amar Kang, Rafael Martinez, Ed Ramos, and eventual winner, Louis Ulrich.
 
Antics were abound during the course of the tourney with Amar Kang giving Alex Pagulayan a mini Golf swing lesson before their match, and quite a commentary stint on POV Pool’s live stream with local Emilyn Callado.  And of course all were treated to the usual short riff of Alex’s legendary karaoke.  Guest commentators joining Daniel Busch, owner of POV Pool and co-commentator Barbara Lee, included Jeff Gregory, local “Women Power” stars Mary Rakin, Emilyn Callado and OMGWTF’s – Melinda Huang.  Additional commentators included, pool veteran – John Henderson of The Cue Sports Journal (Soon to re-launch), Scott White, Bucktooth (Who’s claim to fame is “beating everybody”), and Oscar Dominguez who stated “Well now everyone pretty much knows my life story”!
 
Unfortunate news during the event was for Jun Almoite, who had to forfeit on Saturday to attend to “The Princess of Pool” – Mary Avina, who fell ill enough for hospitalization due to a high fever associated with a bout of the flu.  The good news is, all is well and Mary is home and recovering.  Whew!
 
Wrapping up the event late Sunday night were semi final match-ups between Rodney Morris and Jason Williams, Kevin May and Amar Kang, and culminated with Louis Ulrich versus Ernesto Dominguez.  A shocking display of “doesn’t ANYONE want this 7 ball?” commenced between Amar and Alex, which lasted several innings before Amar finally got the pesky maroon into a pocket.
 
In another match between Louis Ulrich and Hillary Morse, Louis slammed in the 9 a stunning 4 times during the break-shot, which unfortunately was re-spotted due to the rule associated with the rack your own format for this event.  This proved to be a running theme on the “stream” table for many players during the break-shot, with the 9 ball usually en-route to the bottom left-hand corner and the 1-ball almost always hitting the rail below the left middle pocket and landing either into or very close to the top right-hand corner pocket. As a result, the best break show, which highlighted this phenomenon, was between Jason Williams and Rodney Morris, with a barrage of early 9 ball combinations and caroms that seriously shortened the length of the match. And in contrast was John Henderson vs. Arturo Rivera in a nip and tuck session, which literally lasted 16 games, and without either player having more than a 1-game lead.
 
Rounding up the finale was Louis Ulrich versus Ernesto Dominguez who would have had to win two races to 8 for the win due to the true double elimination format.  Ernesto took an early 3-0 lead over an obviously tired Louis and it looked like a double set was shaping up. Louis however managed to come back to tie it up, and then rally back and forth to create a hill-hill thriller. The nail biting final game found Ernesto running down to the perfectly lined up 9 with precision play, that is until he fails to close; missing an almost straight 9-ball and leaving a medium difficulty cut for Louis. After the stunned railbirds exhaled, Louis got up and with nary a thought, and sliced the 9-ball effortlessly for the win over a disappointed but ever gracious Ernesto.
 
The top final 8 payouts were Louis Ulrich, $3,000, Ernesto $1700, Rodney Morris $900, Jason Williams $550, Kevin May and Amar Kang at $250, and Rafael Martinez and Ed Ramos at $150.
 
POV Pools live Internet coverage and archived matches can be viewed by going to www.povpool.com.
 
 
Payouts for the 3rd Annual Chet Itow Memorial 9-Ball Tournament
 
1st – Louis Ulrich / $3,000
2nd – Ernesto Dominguez / $1,700
3rd – Rodney Morris / $900
4th – Jason Williams / $550
 
5th/6th – Kevin May / $250
5th/6th – Amar Kang / $250
 
7th/8th – Rafael Martinez / $150
7th/8th – Ed Ramos / $150
 
9th/12th – George Michaels / $100
9th/12th – Craig Oden / $100
9th/12th – Bryce Avila / $100
9th/12th – Dale Alpajora / $100
 
13th/16th – John Henderson / $75
13th/16th – Santos Sambajon / $75
13th/16th – Jose Parica / $75
13th/16th – Jeremy King / $75
 
17th/24th – Mark Tiu / $50
17th/24th – Mary Rakin / $50
17th/24th – Mike Tucci / $50
17th/24th – Alex Pagulayan / $50
17th/24th – George Pagulayan / $50
17th/24th – Jeff Padjan / $50
17th/24th – Ernesto Reyes / $50