The second stop on the Showdown Tour was held on December 11th and 12th at Shooters in Toronto. Many of the top players in Ontario competed to be the Showdown champion. The talented field of 64 players included some of the up and coming young players like Erik Hjorleifson, Eric Hildebrand, John Morra, Jason Klatt, Desmond Csanyi, Stefan Csanyi and Mike Roberts. As hard as these young players fought, the current world 9-ball champion, Alex Pagulayan, dominated the event.
Twelve players returned Sunday for the money rounds. Once again the fans in attendance witnessed some excellent pool. Alex Pagulayan defeated Sam Siolas (9 – 5), Mario Morra (9 – 7) and Eric Hildebrand (9 – 3) to earn the hot seat. Sunday also say some true heartbreaking matches as Andrew Attard, Sam Siolas and Jason Holdoway all lost gut wrenching hill hill matches. One of the true highlights of the event was the excellent play and cue ball control from Paul Thornley. Paul lost his second round match on Saturday to Dave Parker (9 – 8) and then battled his way across the b-side defeating Mike Young (7 – 4), Richard Murray (7 – 4), Desmond Csanyi (7 – 4), Gary May (7 – 2), Dave Parker (7 – 5), John Jorgensen (7 – 3) and Andrew Attard (7 – 5) eventually losing to Mario Morra (7 – 6) and finishing 4th.
The final was a rematch between Alex Pagulayan and Mario Morra. Alex was able to build an early 5 – 1 lead in the race to eleven but Mario fought hard to keep the match within reach. Mario won game seven and then followed up with a break and run in game eight to make the score 5 – 3. In the ninth game, Mario hung the four ball and Alex took advantage by running out the rack and then broke and ran in game ten to go up 7 – 3. Mario was able to take game eleven and make the score 7 – 4 but the rolls began going Alex's way as he took the next four games to win the match 11 – 4.
Complete payout results:
1st Alex Pagulayan - $2100*
2nd Mario Morra - $1100*
3rd Eric Hildebrand - $700*
4th Paul Thornley - $500*
5th/6th Andrew Attard, Sam Siolas $325 *
7th/8th John Jorgensen, Jeff White $150
9th/12th Harry Chaggaris, Jason Holdaway, Erik Hjorleifsen, Dave Parker - $75
(* includes player auction)
Randy Fawcett won the consolation tournament for all players that were knocked out two straight. The next Showdown event will be held at Pool Paradise in Waterloo on February 19th and 20th, see you there!
Photo courtesy of John Kenyon
