Efren Reyes
To the surprise of virtually no one, Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante ended up squaring off against each other in the finals of the 5th Annual Chuck Markulis One-Pocket event on October 11-12 at Hard Times in Sacramento, CA. Reyes prevailed in the race-to-4 finals of the $1,750-added event that had drawn 60 entrants.
They had both advanced among the winners' side final four, but while Reyes sent Reid Stensrud west (all matches were quick races-to-2), Santos Sambajon managed to force Bustamante into playing a few more games than he'd planned on. In the hot seat match that followed, Reyes sent Sambajon to the semifinals, and waited for Bustamante's return.
Bustamante moved west to meet up with Amar Kang, who'd defeated Bee Davidson and Oscar Dominguez. Stensrud picked up Ernesto Dominguez, who'd gotten by Tony Melendez and Ronny Alcano. Bustamante and Stensrud advanced to the quarterfinals, where Bustamante prevailed for a second shot at Sambajon.
Bustamante took advantage of his second chance against Sambajon, advancing to the finals against Reyes. Reyes won the race-to-4 final matchup to take the One-Pocket event title.
The concurrently-run 9-ball event was still in progress, as of late Sunday night, and was expected to finish up on Monday, October 15.
