Troy Deocharran, Raxx Owner Holden Chin, Carlo Biado, Niks Biado and Josh Friedberg
In any given year, one does not ‘quietly’ ascend to #5 in our AZBilliards’ Money Leaderboard, yet the Philippines’ Carlo Biado, in the midst of his best recorded earnings year (and it’s only August) appears to have done just that. Over half of his recorded earnings this year came as the result of winning last February’s Predator WPA World 10-Ball Championships in Las Vegas, at which he left Fedor Gorst in the semifinal ‘dust’ and defeated Japan’s Naoyuki Oi in the finals.
He added to his stash of cash this past weekend (Aug. 15-18) as he went undefeated at the $10k-added, Raxx MVP (Mhet Vergara ProAm) Tour Open, defeating Greece’s Alex Kazakis in the finals of the event which drew 74 entrants to Raxx Pool Room on Long Island (West Hempstead), NY.
Though on this side of the ‘ponds’ (Atlantic and Pacific), we have a tendency to focus attention on the WNT rankings and subsequent choices being considered for the USA team that will compete against Europe in the 31st annual Mosconi Cup (scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 3 in Orlando, FL this year), Team Europe is also preparing for the inaugural Reyes Cup (in honor of Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes), scheduled for Oct. 17-20 in Manila. There, Team Europe will face off against an Asian team, which has already chosen Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp and the Philippines Johann Chua as their first picks. Albania’s Eklent Kaci was the first selection for the European team and along with Denmark’s Mickey Krause, will presumably face both the US and Asia in their separate locations.
If Team Asia hasn’t got its sights set on Carlo Biado yet, they might consider doing so, soon. Though not exactly an Asian version of the pool world’s ‘Indiana Jones,’ jetting around the world (with pool cue, not bullwhip) in search of ranking points, his 2024 ‘quiet’ surge to the top of our MoneyLeaderboard, along with recent victories over the best that the international pool community has been able to throw at him (Gorst, in February, for example) speaks to a renewed commitment to improvement. Though he’s currently #27 on the World Nineball Tour’s overall rankings (prior to the RAXX MVP Open), he’s at #9 among the Asian contingent of that worldwide ranking system, which includes competitors from Chinese Taipei, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan and of course, the Philippines. Japan’s Naoyuki Oi, Biado’s opponent in the finals at the World 10-Ball Championships in February, sits at #24 overall and one step ahead of him among Asian competitors at #8.
Oi was in attendance at the RAXX MVP Open, as was Hong Kong’s Robbie Capito, who’s one step higher (#23) on the WNT ranking list than Oi. Biado’s path to the winners’ circle did not put Oi in his way, though he did face Capito in the single-elimination Stage 2 of the event.
In the double-elimination Stage 1, on the winners’ side of the bracket, Biado was challenged by a pair of formidable Europeans before facing one of his countrymen, Bernie Regalario in the last qualifying round for Stage 2. Biado and Mika Immonen were awarded opening-round byes and squared off in the 2nd round. Biado defeated ‘The Iceman’ 9-2 and then, by the same score, defeated Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann. In their first of two meetings in the event’s separate stages, Bernie Regalario got within a game of forcing a double-hill, deciding game, but Biado edged out in front to win 9-7 and in so doing, advanced from the winners’ side of the initial bracket to Stage 2.
Robbie Capito, from the same quarter-bracket, advanced to Stage 2 after defeating Bobby Lewis (3), Lee Vann Corteza (5) and the USA’s Lukas Fracasso-Verner 9-7. Fracasso-Verner had previously defeated Romania’s Babken Melkonyan 9-7 before, to the surprise of more than a few, sending Aloysius Yapp to the Stage 1 loss side 9-7.
Also advancing from the winners’ side of Stage 1 in their respective quarter-brackets were Naoyuki Oi and Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis, Denmark’s Mickey Krause and Spain’s Jonas Souto, Germany’s Moritz Neuhausen and eventual runner-up, Alex Kazakis, who’d defeated two Canadians, Barry Hetherington (0) and John Morra (4), along with Vietnam’s Bui Truong An to advance.
From the loss side of the Stage 1 bracket, Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski and USA’s Tyler Styer advanced, along with the Philippines’ Patric Gonzales and Bui Trong An, who’d shut out his only loss-side opponent, Michael Feliciano to advance. Germany’s Joshua Filler won three on the loss side to advance, while Austria’s Max Lechner won his only loss-side match, downing Chinese Taiwan’s Yu Lung Chang 9-7. Rounding out the advancing loss-side field were Fracasso-Verner, who’d won his solo shot on the loss side 9-4 over Indonesia’s Alvin Anggito and Bernie Regalario, who punched his ticket to Stage 2 with a single loss-side win over The Kaiser, Germany’s Ralf Souquet.
It was an odd group of Mosconi/Reyes Cup hopefuls that gathered on Saturday morning to begin Stage 2 of the Raxx MVP Open. Not ‘odd’ in any behavioral way, but the 16 competitors vying for the event title had an average spot among the top 128 players in the WNT rankings of #37. There were only two among the top 10, although half the field of 16 were among the top 25 in the rankings. Highest among them were Joshua Filler (#6), Wiktor Zielinski (#8), Mickey Krause (#15) and Moritz Neuhausen (#17). At the lower end of the rankings stood Bui Truong An (#128), Bernie Regalario (#80), Lukas Fracasso-Verner (#72) and Patric Gonzales (#69). The winner (Biado) and runner-up (Kazakis) were #27 and #31, respectively.
Biado opened up his Stage 2 campaign by eliminating Fracasso-Verner 11-9, which he followed with an 11-6 victory over Robbie Capito. Biado advanced to meet (for the second time) countryman Bernie Regalario in one of the semifinals. Kazakis, in the meantime, began with an 11-5 win over Max Lechner, which he followed with an 11-7 victory over Moritz Neuhausen to draw Bui Truong An in the other semifinal.
Biado downed Regalario 11-7, as Kazakis was busy eliminating Bui Truong An 11-6. As Biado and Kazakis prepared for the final, Regalario and Bui Truong An stepped away from the tables knowing that as the two lowest-ranked WNT players among the final 16, they’d reached the semifinals, an accomplishment which is likely to do wonders for their confidence, which, as the most important component of advancement in any field, is just as likely to make them harder to beat the next time around, wherever and whenever that might happen.
Biado didn’t waste a lot of time establishing a lead in the event final. And when he got it, he kept expanding it. In the end, he gave up only four of the 17 racks played and claimed the RAXX MVP Open title.
MVP ProAm Tour director Mhet Vergara thanked his co-director Charles ‘Darwin’ Vergara, along with Holden Chin and his Raxx staff for their hospitality, Troy Deocharran, Josh Friedberg, Matt Harricharan and sponsors Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Magicball rack, Inthebox, Queens bodega, J Workshop, Dynamic Tips, Eclat Break Cues.
The next stop on the MVP Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 7-8 will be hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
0 comments