Johnny wins in Las Vegas
by Webmaster of JohnnyArcher.net
The BCA 9-Ball Championship was held May 14-20th at the Riviera in Las Vegas, NV. Out of 64 International players of this invitational-only event, Johnny Archer came out on top, winning first place and $15,000!!!
Johnny's
Tournament Stats:
| Defeats Jose Parica |
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| Defeats Howard Vickery |
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| Defeats Buddy Hall |
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| Defeats Fong-Pang Chao |
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| Defeats Marcus Chamat |
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| Lost to George "Ginky" San Souci |
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| Defeats Mika Immonen |
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| Defeats George "Ginky" San Souci |
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Johnny
didn't feel too good going into the tournament. He was having problems
with his arm and his neck was bothering him and so he didn't practice that
much. "When I did practice, " Johnny said, " it didn't go real well"
and therefore his confidence was down.
Johnny said he got lucky with his first match, which was against Jose Parica. Johnny was down in the match but ended up winning, 11-7. But with each match, Johnny won and his confidence got stronger and stronger.
When
Johnny played Ginky for the hot-seat, he said "I didn't play particularly
well; I didn't play bad, just not particularly well." The match was
close, but then Ginky got up. "I made errors on some combinations."
Johnny was asked if he was tired, "I was a little tired, but it did not
cost me the match. He played well and I made a couple of mistakes."
Then
Johnny played Mika Immonen for the semi-finals, which was taped for ESPN
for later broadcast. Johnny said it was a "weird match." In
the practice room, he didn't feel that confident; he didn't practice well.
"Then I practiced on the main table and I practiced well," Johnny said.
"The lag meant a lot the way the rack was breaking and I practiced the
lag. I got out a few times and Mika didn't have a chance." Johnny
won 7-0.
Johnny
added that the break was very important and that he let off on his break,
so that he could control the cueball more.
Johnny felt better going
into the finals - the rematch against Ginky - because he had just played
real well in the match against Mika. Johnny confided, "the first
two or three games would be important to win because of the rack."
Johnny added, "the lag was very close; from one side it looked like he
won and from the other side it looked like I won" (Johnny won the lag after
the tournament director, Steve Tipton, used a cue to measure).
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"I ran the first couple of games, and then I made a mistake on the 3 ball when it was 4-3. Then Ginky got up 6-5. Then Ginky missed the 1 ball and that was it." Overall, Johnny said, "I missed a couple of shots, but other than that, I thought I played pretty well."
Asking Johnny about the 3 ball he missed, he said, "I made that mistake on the 3 and I lost the momentum. When he missed the 1 ball when it was 6-5, I knew that it would be my last chance and I needed to take advantage of it." It cost Ginky the match. Johnny ran out the last three games to win!
Talk
after the tournament was suggested that that the player coming from the
one loss side had an advantage in the events using the Sardo Rack because
they had a chance to adjust to the rack while the player in the hot seat
had not had any experience with the Sardo yet. I asked Johnny this
and he said "a slight advantage, yes.... because of what happened in the
final match - I was breaking 60% and he was hitting as hard as he could.
So, there was a slight advantage because I knew about it." Johnny
said he heard that the corner ball went every time, so he wanted to make
sure he controlled the cueball and not to scratch, to make sure he controlled
the game.
Complete results
and coverage.
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