Rafael Martinez
Rafael Martinez, a wily veteran pool player if ever there was one, was coasting along pretty smoothly in the early going of the $10,000-added Chinook Winds 10-Ball Open, held on the weekend of October 11-12 in Lincoln City, Oregon. Through 25 games in the opening three rounds, he'd given up only five racks. Then he ran into Damian Pongpanik, who not only sent him to the loss side, but did so by shutting him out. Martinez moved to the loss side, won five and then beat Danny Gokhul twice in a true double elimination final to claim the title.
With Martinez at work on the loss side, Pongpanik moved into a winners' side semifinal against Pete Gates, as Gokhul squared off against Todd Marsh. Identical 7-4 wins by Gohkul and Gates put the two of them into the hot seat match, won by Gokhul, 7-2.
Martinez did not get the opportunity he no doubt fervently desired for a re-match against Pongpanik. After defeating Nick Kruger 7-5 and Darin Walding 7-2, Martinez drew Marsh, while Pongpanik squared off against Stan Tourangeau (another wily veteran), who'd defeated Michael F. Jensen 7-1 and shut out Bob Zack.
The two veterans chalked up identical 7-2 scores over Pongpanik and Marsh and met each other in the quarterfinals. Martinez gave up only a single rack in those quarterfinals, and then downed Gates 7-2 in the semifinals.
Martinez was challenged in the true double elimination finals, but prevailed in both sets. He took the opener 7-5, and improved on that in the second set, winning it 7-3 to snatch the event title from Gokhul.
