Justin Hall (Photo courtesy of Poolaction.tv)
Billed as the second stop on the Efren Reyes Retirement Tour, sixteen of the top one pocket players on the planet and over a hundred nine-ball players stampeded to Buffalo’s Billiards in Jefferson, LA for their Fourth Annual Pro Classic. There were two divisions: the $10,000 added Pro One Pocket event and the $2000 added Open Nine-Ball.
The double elimination one pocket event had a $2000 entry fee with all races to five. Play began on Thursday night and everywhere you looked, there was world class one pocket. Tony Chohan and Corey Deuel marched through the field undefeated and met in the hot seat match. As with the previous matches, top-notch one pocket skills were displayed by both players and Chohan edged out the match 5-4 to claim his spot in the finals.
On the other side of the chart, Justin Hall defeated Dennis Orcollo in another close one, 5-4. Dennis finished in fourth place. By a score of 5-2, Corey had earlier sent Justin to the one loss side so Hall was looking for revenge. After a five hour match, it was Justin who emerged the victor leaving Corey in third place.
The finals began with Tony Chohan rocketing out to a 3-0 lead and it looked like victory was imminent. However, Justin Won the next three games to tie it up at 3-3 and then 4-4! Justin won the final game forcing a second set in the true double elimination format.
This time, it was Justin who leaped out to a 2-0 lead. Tony fought back and tied it up at two games each but then Justin forged ahead to take the hill first with a score of 4-2.
Tony fought back to make it 4-3 but Justin made short work of the last game as he took down the title – final score 5-3. Congratulations to Justin for a well-earned victory! Good job, Tony!
Saturday was opening day for the $40 entry 9 ball event. The format was double elimination, all races to seven with alternate breaks. When the smoke cleared on Sunday afternoon, Efren Reyes was the last man standing after defeating Roberto Gomez in the hot seat match and awaiting an opponent for the final match.
On the one loss side, Jeremy Jones and Billy Thorpe duked it out for a shot at Roberto – Jeremy prevailed leaving Billy with a fourth place finish. Gomez was determined to get another shot at Efren and he got his wish. Jeremy had to settle for third…
To win the tournament, Roberto would have to defeat Efren two sets. The first set was all Roberto as he raced to a 5-0 lead and an eventual 7-2 victory. The final set was much closer. Mid-set it was 5-4 Gomez and then hill-hill! One game for all the marbles! Doesn’t get much better than this, sports fans!!!
The crowd held their breath as Roberto broke and ran the final rack to take the title. Congratulations to Roberto for a well-played event! Good job, Efren! Looks like he has plenty of firepower left and is still a formidable threat!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank James Leone, owner of Buffalo’s Billiards, and his staff for going the extra mile to show players and fans the Big Easy spirit. Tournament Director Steve McDonald had another well run event – thank you, Steve! Thanks to sponsors Attorney Joseph Long, Benwah Law Firm, Laguna Beach Daquiris, Bayou Billiards, Sound Advice USA, Lucky Coin Amusement and, of course, Buffalo’s Billiards, for their support.
We’d also like to thank Scott Rabon, Larry Schwartz, Jeremy Jones, Josh Roberts and Billy Incardona for their expert commentary.
Thanks to cuemaker Steve Lomax of Lomax Cues for donating a beautiful $2000 cue!
And, last but not least, thanks to all our fans and sponsors for another great event. Our sponsors include Steve Lomax of Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, John Barton of JB Cases, James Hanshew of Hanshew Custom Cues, GoPlayPool.com, Mike Durbin of Durbin Custom Cues, Kamui, Simonis and Club Billiards of Wichita, KS.
Our next event is the first stop of the WPBA Signature Tour. It will be held at Emerald Billiards in New Iberia, LA – the dates are June 21st - 24th. It will be live streamed free of charge on Facebook and YouTube. Hope to see you there!
