With a field this fierce at the 3rd U.S Open 10-Ball Championship at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the left side of the bracket looks as scary as the right side. Dennis Hatch was sent West by Efren Reyes in round two. Hatch missed a 10-ball to move ahead 3-0. Reyes clawed back into the match and at 4-4; Hatch missed a makeable shot on the 3-ball and never won a game after that.
Two-time U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion Mika Immonen was defeated 8-4 by recent Ultimate 10-Ball Champion and current U.S. BCA point leader, Mike Dechaine. Alex Pagulayan crushed fellow Filipino Jose Parica 8-3, only to come up short against Raj Hundal in the third round, 8-4. "Giant Killer" Jeremy Sossei escaped an 8-7 nail biter against Mitch Ellerman and rolled through Shaun Wilkie, 8-2.
In the evening feature TAR match between Earl Strickland and Brandon Shuff, Strickland appeared to be struggling. Shuff capitalized on Strickland's errors and did not allow his antics to faze him. Shuff took the set 8-5 with a strong performance. Next up for Shuff will be a showdown with "The South Dakota Kid" Shane Van Boening. Reyes also escaped a close match in round three against Sal Butera. Reyes was down 6-4 when he worked some magic for the fans with a couple table runs and smart defensive play to come back and win 8-6. Reyes and Hundal are set to play next.
On the neighboring table, it was a Valley Forge finals rematch between Ralf Souquet and Rob Saez. Souquet dominated the match the entire time leaving Saez very few opportunities to get on the board. Souquet advances with his 8-3 win and will face Mike Davis next. Davis's match against Hunter Lombardo was the last to finish for the evening, along with Paul Song and top player Kenichi Uchigaki from Japan. Both matches went hill-hill. Lombardo jumped in a tough 1 ball at hill-hill but missed a cross corner bank on the 2. Both players shot at the 4 ball but Davis would be the one to run the rack, taking the set 8-7. At hill-hill, nerves were high. Song hung a 6 ball in the corner that would cost him that match, 8-7. Uchigaki will play Corey Deuel next.
BCAPL Teams Cue Up for Competition:
On the amateur side, team play continues at the 35th Annual BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships. Over 900 teams are competing in 6 BCAPL 8-Ball divisions: Mixed Open, Mixed Trophy, Women's Trophy, Women's Open, Mixed Advanced and Women's Advanced / Master. Additionally, the Mixed Master Team division will start Friday, May 20th and is still taking entries. That division bracket will be added to the CSI CueSports Tournament System (www.ctsondemand.com) once all entries are completed. Also new this year, are three 9-Ball Team divisions; Women's, Mixed Open and Mixed Advanced / Master. The 9-Ball team competition takes place the final two days, May 21-22 of the 11 day pool extravaganza.
CSI 14.1 Booth Is Center of High Run Activity:
There has been a lot of activity at the CSI 14.1 High Run Challenge Booth. A new high run is on the board in the pro division. Danny Harriman holds the new overall high run of 199, scratching on the 200th ball. His accumulative high run of 313 puts him in the lead. We'll be seeing more from Schmidt this week as he attempts to beat that score. Craig Powers holds the high run in the amateur men group at 112, Samm Vidal leads the women at 48, while Peter Lhotka leads the seniors with his 56. The booth will be taking challenges through May 21.
For the complete brackets of both the 35th BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships and the 3rd U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship visit the CSI CueSports Tournament System at www.ctsondemand.com. The Action Report (TAR) is providing PPV live streaming at www.theactionreport.com.
The events are sponsored by Mueller Recreational Products, McDermott Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis, Aramith, the Magic Rack, Billiards Digest and BreakRAK with BCAPL tournament direction by Bad Boy Billiard Productions and U.S. Open 10-Ball tournament direction by CSI Director of Rules and Referees Bill Stock with Ken Shuman from California and John Leyman from New York.
CueSports International is dedicated to creating more choices for all players. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the U.S. Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the U.S. Open One Pocket Championship and the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. Visit www.playcsipool.com, www.playbca.com and www.playusapool.com for more information about CSI and its divisions.
