Hard Times Billiards, who celebrate their 25th Anniversary this month, added yet another $5,000 from their main sponsor Crooks & Castles to the prize money of their Hard Times 10 ball Open. This event now in its fourth year, saw a field of champions show up to try and get their hands on the $10,000 added prize money.
What with the Bonus Ball players and the other pros from all over the world that will be in Las Vegas for the CSI 10 Ball Championship next week, this event has drawn a who’s who of champions that would have any promoter drooling at such a talented field.
Alphabetically the stars were as follows:
Alex Pagulayan, Carlos Biado (Phi), Chris Melling (Eng), Corey Harper (USA), Dennis Hatch (USA), Dennis Orcollo (Phi), Ernesto Dominguez (Mex), Oscar Dominguez (USA), Francisco Bustamante (Phi), Ike Runnels (USA), Jayson Shaw (Eng), John Morra (Can), Johnny Archer (USA), Louis Ulrich (USA), Manny Chau (Peru), Max Eberle (USA), Mike Davis (USA), Nikos Ekonomopoulos (Greece), Raj Hundal (Eng), Ralf Souquet (Ger), Rodney Morris (USA), Santos Sambajon Jr (Phi), Shane Van Boening (USA), Shawn Putnam (USA), Stevie Moore (USA), Thorsten Hohmann (Ger), Wang Can (Chi) and Warren Kiamco (Phi).
Wow what a line up!!!!
Not surprisingly we saw top players fighting it out in the very first round, as witnessed by the first match-up on the “povpool.com" Free Live Stream match on table one, which showcased the games of Jayson Shaw and Thorsten Hohmann. This match saw Jayson Shaw switching over to the losers side after he missed a 3/10 combo at hill-hill.
WINNERS SIDE LAST EIGHT MATCHES
Louis Ulrich V Arturo Rivera - Chris Fangre V Wang Can - John Morra V Dennis Orcollo - Stevie Moore V Thorsten Hohmann - Dennis Hatch V Francisco Bustamante - Johnny Kang V Raj Hundal - Corey Harper V Carlos Biado - Ruben Escalera V Rodney Morris
LOSERS SIDE LAST EIGHT MATCHES
Alex Pagulayan V Manny Chau - Mike Davis V Nikos Economopoulos - Santos Sambajon Jr V Ernesto Dominguez - Warren Kiamco V Jayson Shaw - Max Eberle V Ramin Bakhtiari - Ralf Souquet V Beau Runningen - Johnny Archer V Shane Van Boening - Kevin May V Chris Melling
This writer thinks you should not be surprised if the winner of this event, now in its fourth year, has PHI behind his name, as the first three events were won by the following players:
2010 Lee Van Corteza
2011 Alex Pagulayan
2012 Dennis Orcollo
2013 ?
HARD TIMES BILLIARDS first emerged on the pool scene back in 1988, and apparently got its name due to the fact that you would probably end up on hard times if you tried to win there. The room over the years has had a reputation of always having a stable of giant killers in house, and that it would be very hard for a visitor to walk out with a pot of gold!
HARD TIMES is situated at the following address:
Hard Times
17450 Bellflower Blvd
Bellflower, CA 90706
Hard Times is a very event oriented room, as witnessed by this event, plus the 17-year old Jay Swanson Memorial and the TAD CUP in its fourth year. The Tad Cup is an event solely for the Amateur, and is sponsored by TAD Cues and will be played on the 3rd & 4th of August 2013.
We will be covering this event on a daily basis, so stay tuned! Streaming of this event may be found at www.POVpool.com.
