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.
CSI is pleased to announce that recorded matches from the 2018 US Open Bank Pool Championship have been released on the CSI YouTube Channel. Twelve (12) matches featuring notable players such as Shane Van Boening, Ronnie Alcano, and Warren Kiamco can be viewed in their entirety – absolutely free!
The 2018 US Open Bank Pool Championship was held March 20-22 at Griff's Bar & Billiards in Las Vegas, NV and was made possible by the following sponsors:
Dennis Orcollo shoots under the watchful eye of Mika Immonen
"Cole Dickson was an icon from a bygone era, when pool was about the road; about rattletrap vehicles pulling into small towns, and road warriors hustling the locals for enough money to get to the next town with a stake." – Billiards Digest, 2013
It's hard to know how Cole Dickson and his contemporaries (Jimmy Mataya, Larry Schwartz, Billy Incardona and Grady Mathews, et al) would have fared had they emerged into the world of 21st century pool with its tournaments-all-over-the-place structure. Planes have replaced automobiles, and stepping into a given pool hall might expose you to a combination of the best in the country and world, instead of the hot shots within a country mile. As good as they all were, and some, to a degree, still are, they never had to walk into a pool hall in Iowa and face the likes of Dennis Orcollo from the Philippines, or Mika Immonen from Finland, neither of whom were born when Dickson was starting out on the road.
As the initial stop on a two-week blitz of West coast tournaments, known collectively as the West Coast Swing, the 5th Annual Cole Dickson Memorial Tournament was held on the weekend of July 1-2. Sponsored by West State Billiards and POVPool, the $2,500-added event drew 83 entrants to Family Billiards in San Francisco, and featured a finals matchup between the aforementioned (and defending champion) Dennis Orcollo and "The Iceman," Mika Immonen. Orcollo, coming off the heels of a five-match, loss-side winning streak, downed Immonen to claim his second straight Cole Dickson Memorial title.
With Orcollo already at work on the loss side, having been downed by Rodney Morris in a winners' side quarterfinal, Immonen advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Vilmos Foldes. Rodney Morris faced Family Billiards' room owner and long-time friend of Dickson, Delbert Wong in the other winners' side semifinal. Morris and Immonen advanced to the hot seat match; Morris 7-4 over Wong and The Iceman 7-2 over Foldes. Immonen claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Morris, and settled in for what proved to be a long wait for Dennis Orcollo to finish his loss-side campaign.
As if it weren't enough to be on the loss side at this stage of the proceedings, Orcollo opened that loss-side campaign against Francisco Bustamante, who'd just survived a tough double hill fight against a local veteran, Jason Williams. Orcollo eliminated Bustamante, and then, Lee Brett, to draw Foldes. Wong picked up Steve Lingelbach, who'd advanced past Santos Sambajon and Gus Briseño.
Orcollo downed Foldes 7-3, advancing to the quarterfinals. Wong joined him after a double hill win over Lingelbach. Though home room support went to the man who owned the room, Orcollo ended Wong's run 7-2, and then turned to what proved to be an epic re-match against Morris in the semifinals. The two battled to double hill before Orcollo finished it for a shot at the Iceman.
Though the final race-to-11 would show early, back-and-forth signs of becoming Orcollo's second straight double hill match, Robocop (as he's occasionally known) pulled away at the end to secure an 11-8 win and his second straight Cole Dickson Memorial title.
Corey Deuel drives a run-out pace and ran through the loser’s bracket, beating Canadian Champion John Morra in finals. John Morra chopped through a star studded bracket to get to the point and showed he was in total command until coming up against Corey who held John to only 6 combined in games in both the finals matches on his way to the $10,000 1st place prize.
Vivian Villarreal came out of the loser’s bracket, where she was sent packing by Cindy Sliva who waited on the point. Vivian got through tough competitor Kim Jones, to return to Cindy again. The finals match featured a lot of great play from both women. They both played like champions and Vivian had to struggle to capture the $4000 1st place check. Cindy once again showed why she is one of the Northwest's finest, keeping up with seasoned professional, Vivian Villarreal.
Chinook Winds added $21,000 to the 8-Ball Open events, $17,000 to Men’s division with guaranteed $10,000 for 1st and $5,000 to the Women’s division with $4000 guaranteed for 1st place. Western BCA added an additional $4000 to the events. The Men’s division raced to 7 and the Women's raced to 5. 128 men and 38 women entered, trying to get into the money.
A $1000 added Warm up 8-ball tournament took place Thursday before main event. League players and those entered in Main event were welcome to play. 83 men entered the $25 entry, race to 3, Double elimination event. The short race can be an equalizer with top players. It was a smash event. There was over $3000 in prize money. Rafael Martinez took 1st, Jason Shaw 2nd, Josh Roberts 3rd, Stan Tourangeau 4th, Ace Brown and Corey Deuel 5th/6th, Steve Lingelbach and Marc Vidal 7th/8th.
The Calcutta went off well. Auctioning through both fields took some time but it was well worth it. There was a net $25,280 in the men’s and $6425 in the women's. Paul “Kez Dog” Marquez and Carissa Biggs helped out calling on bidders. It was a fun and exciting event.
It took a lot of hard work producing the Chinook Winds Open event. Co-coordinators/directors Andrew Monstis and Mike Jensen worked 100’s of volunteer hours to make this event successful as it was. It was about pool. It was very rewarding to hear the praise coming from both participants and spectators. The top players all said it was the best event they have ever been too. First timers to the event said they had never seen such a great event. Others said this was the biggest event in the Northwest since “Ocean Shores” event in the early eighties.
Special thanks to Mike Howerton, “Azbilliards”, Lenny Marshall “On The Rail TV”, Ozzy Reynolds of “Cuesports International” Ric and Bonnie Jones of Bad Boys Production and Chinook Winds & WBCA staff for their considerable help.
They say it’s better at the beach and they are right! Chinook Winds Casino Resort is a full service facility and 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 huge gallery of spectators did watch many excellent matches as the Tournament unfolded. People were able to watch and learn what great pool playing is about. The crowds were in awe of top players like Vivian Villarreal, Stacy Allsup, Rebecca Wagner, Kathy MacDonald, Shane Van Boening, Scott Frost, Rodney Morris, Joshua Roberts, Danny Olson, Ace Brown and Jayson Shaw. They were equally dazzled by top local players like Cindy Sliva, Kim Jones, Carissa Biggs, Liz Cole, Danny Louie, Rafael Martinez, Stan Tourangeau, Matt Horner and Randy Baker. These great pool players showed their talent. Mike Massey Shared with the crowd some of his patented trick shots, What fun!
On October 11-17, 2011 the 14th Annual Western BCA Regional 9-Ball Championships were hosted at Chinook Winds Casino & Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon. Players from Washington, Oregon and Idaho converged at what is fondly called “Da Beach” to compete for their share of over $75,000 in prize money. While Western BCA volunteers organized the event, Bad Boys Productions set up the 80 Diamond Pool Tables and tracked all results both on the paper brackets that lined the halls and the online brackets available at www.ctsondemand.com. A moment of silence was held for former Western BCA volunteer Alex Stroup, who succumbed to lymphoma on May 28, 2011. Many players who knew him well dedicated their performance to him. Western BCA dedicated the tournament to his memory and extends their love to his family. The stage was set for the best competition in the Northwest.
Forty-six teams signed up for Master Scotch Doubles and top prize was $1950. With payouts only including the top of the field, competition was fierce. The only restriction teams faced was that only one Grand Master was allowed per team. In a race-to-6 format, alternating break, both teams needed to start out strong to increase their odds of victory.
Out of the 46 teams, only one team had jointly claimed the title previously, and they were defending champions Mike Stevens and Cindy Doty. After a fifth round loss to Glenn Atwell/Shari Ross, their hopes of a repeat performance were dashed by national grandmaster Dan Louie and 1st year regional master Jessica Orth. Louie/Orth would go on to defeat their next opponents Seal/Olson, but then came up short when Atwell/Ross, fresh off their hot seat loss to Violette/Jensen, ground out a gutsy hill-hill nail biter to earn their spot in the final. The first set of the final would also go hill-hill, but this time in favor of Violette/Jensen, who after earning their first titles as Masters, were surrounded by friends and fellow competitors in celebration of their brilliant breakthrough performance.
CINDERELLA SPOTLIGHT: Both Leo Violette and Angela Jensen were playing in their first event as regional masters. Leo won the Open A Singles and Angela took 4th place in the Women’s Open Singles at the Western BCA’s Regional 8 Ball Championships in March. Neither player had any sort of expectations about their performance; however, the way in which they maintained their composure against some of the toughest players in the region, expect to see more titles to come their way. Congratulations to you both!
Open Scotch Doubles featured 83 couples and a top prize of $1550. The final four teams on the A side included McDonald/Adams, Coomes/Sleight, Desmarais/Pridgen, and Fenn/Karpins. Jackson McDonald and Robin Adams continued their strong play defeating Coomes/Sleight, while Fenn/Karpins defeated Desmarais/Pridgen. McDonald/Adams then defeated Fenn/Karpins 5-1 to earn their spot in the final. The final four teams on the B side included Anderson/Beach, Hostak/Morfin, Nguyen/Hughes, and Cadena/Wilson. Hostak/Morfin advanced through the B side of the board, surviving three hill-hill matches and one 5-3 match to earn their shot at the title. Jackson McDonald/Robin Adams had other plans as they defeated Dennis Hostak/Faith Morfin 5-0 in the first set to earn their first scotch doubles title. Great shooting!
Seventy players signed up for Men’s Masters and top prize was $1250. Only eight players made it to the final board. On the A side Clark Smith vs. Rick Copeland and Miguel Morfin vs. Eddie Carrido. Rick and Eddie both continued on the A side to battle it out for the hot seat, which Eddie won 8-4. Dillon Standley defeated Miguel Morfin to earn a spot in the B side finals. Rick, too, was determined to earn a rematch against Eddie, and ended up defeating Dillon 8-3 to play in his first Master singles final. Rick was shooting well and defeated Eddie in the first set of this true double elimination final. He appeared to be in position to close out the second set as well; however, Rick sat on the hill, 7-3 in a race to 8, as Eddie rallied back to tie the set at 7. With Eddie winning the flip for the second set, he would break in the final game. Eddie broke and pocketed a ball. With an extremely tough backcut on the 1, Eddie opted for a 1-9 carom shot on the 9, which he made to win the match and top prize.
Thirty-seven ladies signed up in the Master division and the top prize was $950. The final four ladies on the A side included Shawn Wolf vs. Susan Preston and Suzanne Smith vs. Jessica Orth. Shawn and Suzanne defeated their opponents 7-5 and 7-3 to advance to the hot seat match, which Suzanne won in her closest match of the event 7-6. The remaining ladies on the B side included Barb Thompson vs. Regene Lane (first time Western BCA participant) and Shari Ross vs. Jo Woodward. Barb and Shari would continue in the event, defeating their opponents 7-4 and 7-3. Barb would continue on to defeat Susan, and then Jessica (fresh off her win over Shari.) The only thing in between Barb and another shot at a title was Shawn. Shawn played great and defeated Barb 7-4 to earn a rematch against Suzanne in the final. It was a true double elimination format, so Shawn would need to beat Suzanne twice. Suzanne took an early 4-1 lead, but then faltered when a position error and a poorly executed safety allowed Shawn to get within 1 game. At 4-3, Suzanne and Shawn exchanged racks, neither lady able to get an edge. That 4th game was the last that Shawn would get, as Suzanne played consistently to run out the final two racks from the 5 and the 4 to earn her first Master Singles Title.
One hundred and eight players signed up in the Men’s Open A Division and top prize was $1000. On the A side, Greg Odal played John Brown for the hot seat. Both players had been shooting extremely well. Greg survived three consecutive hill-hill matches prior to the A side final, while John had dispatched his opponents by a larger margin. Greg shot with determination and sent John to the B side by a score of 7-3. On the B side, Phong Nyugen played Roy Garza to earn a spot in the B side final. Phong defeated Roy handily to advance. Phong, who had received his first loss from Greg (hill-hill) a couple rounds earlier, then succumbed to John by the same score. The final was a rematch of the hot seat, with a similar outcome. Greg shot with great determination and focus defeating John in the first set, 7-2. Welcome to the Masters Division, guys!
One hundred and forty-four players entered the Men’s Open B Division and top prize was $750. On the A side, match ups were Brent Kirschenmann vs. Chap Cook and Gary Lewis vs. Mayolo Munoz. Brent and Gary defeated their opponents to square off for the hot seat. Brent then defeated Gary 6-3 to earn his spot in the finals. On the B side, Scott Perry played Paul Bennett and Larry Nathan played Dave Avegio. Scott and Dave both advanced through their matches 6-2 and 6-5, respectively. Chap and Mayolo were eager for redemption and handed Scott and Dave their walking papers 6-4 and 6-0. Chap then defeated Mayolo 6-4 and Gary 6-5 to earn his spot in the final against Brent. Brent was fiercely determined to earn the title and did not let Chap have a game in the first set, winning top prize by the score of 6-0. Welcome to the Open A, gentlemen!
Ninety-eight ladies signed up for the Open event and top prize was $775. Topping the A side, Bernie Foster vs. Rebecca Easley and Kathy Stanley vs. Sara Moore fought to play for the point. Rebecca and Kathy both survived hill-hill battles to earn a shot at the hot seat. Both ladies shot well; however, Kathy edged out Rebecca 6-4. On the B side, final board match ups included Julie Stallings vs. Michelle Hughes and Suwanna Kroll vs. Lynda Moore. Michelle and Suwanna both defeated their opponents, and it seemed that momentum from their wins carried them through their next rounds, where Michelle defeated Sara and Suwanna defeated Bernie. Michelle then played Suwanna and defeated her as well to earn a spot against Rebecca in the B side final. Rebecca was hungry for a rematch with Kathy and defeated Michelle 6-3 to advance. The first set of the final was an epic battle, when tied at 5-5, Kathy made the 9-Ball on the break to win the set and earn the title. Great job ladies and welcome to the Masters!
Thirty-six men signed up for the Senior Singles event and the top prize was $440. The A side final four include matchups of Owen Miller vs. Bill Ruddick and Vernon Joe vs. Mike Knight. Owen and Vernon both advanced through their matches 6-5 and 6-3, respectively. Vernon shot with amazing intensity and defeated Mike 6-0 to earn a rematch in the final against Owen. Owen, however, had plans of his own and with consistent shotmaking and safety play defeated Vernon 6-0 in the first set to earn his Senior Singles Title.
The tournament finished off with the three team divisions: Women’s Team, Men’s/Mixed Team and a brand new division, Men’s/Mixed Open B Team.
Men’s/Mixed Team started with 102 teams fighting for a $3,000 1st place payday. Men’s/Mixed Teams are allowed 1 Master or Grand Master per team. Little Dutch Inn (Tim Desmarais, Clayton Foran and Nick Lopez) a team of all OPEN A players, punished many of those teams with a Master, on their way to an final 14-7 victory over Lloyd’s Team (Joe Landi, Brent Langley and Stan Tourangeau).
The new division, Men’s/Mixed Open B Teams, featured 40 teams for its first time and Probable Cause (Dave Mackey, Jose Velasquez and David Zelany) started winning and never looked back. Facing team Egitserp (Prestige spelled backward–Paul Bennett, Brent Kirschenmann, Martin Seguin and Steve Kesting) in the finals, Probable Cause continued their streak defeating Egitserp 11-9, winning $825.
The Women’s Team event whittled 48 teams down to the final 2 on Sunday. The Gatekeepers (Michelle Barkdoll, Faith Morfin, and Andrea Saenz-Maes) played strong and consistent to make their way to the finals. Like the Men’s Teams, the Open players in this final really stepped up their game; Andrea attributes their wins to Faith and Michelle. The Gatekeepers emerged victorious over Marco… (Shari Ross, Talya Makus, and Kathy Stanley), and earned $1,710 by beating them with a score of 11-7.
Grand Masters Challenge
The Grand Masters Challenge Division was created to give the top 8 men and women Grand Masters and Masters in Western BCA a tougher challenge with a Round-Robin format tournament. At this Regional event, the men played 10-Ball and the women played 9-Ball. The players played sets of 8 games, with the scores tallied at the end. After 3 days of stellar shooting and grueling safety battles, Liz Cole rose above the ladies’ field and Glenn Atwell topped the men’s division to capture the titles of Grand Masters Challenge Champions.
It was Liz Cole who came out on top after the first day. Her opponents noticed her exceptional play early on, with her amazing combos and awesome run-outs, and they knew she would definitely be the one to catch at the end. 2011 8-Ball GMC Champion Linda Carter came within 3 points of catching Liz, but was unable close the gap. In a show of gracious sportsmanship, Linda presented Liz with her beautiful glass Championship trophy.
Likewise on the Men’s side, Glenn Atwell started out strong and never let up as he charged to his pending victory. His steady stroke, calm demeanor and deadly accuracy gave him a strong lead. Dan Louie, who won the Men’s GMC at the 2011 8-Ball Championships, made a valiant attempt to surpass Glenn in points, but fell short by 4 points. In an equally impressive example of sportsmanship, Dan Louie presented Glenn with his Championship trophy.
Western BCA and all of the Grand Masters wish to thank Tiger for their sponsorship and generous donation of a cue stick for a raffle. Scott Virgin of Cherry City League won that raffle drawing. Congratulations Scott! And, Congratulations to our Grand Masters Champions, Liz Cole and Glenn Atwell!!
All the players and winners at this event exhibited outstanding sportsmanship and competition. Congratulations to all the winners! For a more detailed version of this article and complete results, please visit www.westernbca.org. Western BCA looks forward to seeing you all next year at the 8-Ball Championships in March, 2012!
