Mike Dechaine
Play began bright and early at 10:00 AM at the US Open 8-Ball Championship, with forty eight players still harboring hopes of earning the $11,000 available in first place prize money. Thirty nine players had already been eliminated here at the Rio in Las Vegas, with another sixteen players fated to join them after the first round of the day.
Erik Hjorliefson led Corey Deuel 2-1 before the wheels fell off and Deuel won eight straight games for the 9-2 win, sending Erik back to Canada in 33rd place.
Filipino Raymond Faraon had a longer trip home after his 9-4 loss to Johnny Archer on the TV table. Faraon failed to get out twice after making a ball on the break in this match, and that was two times too many against a veteran the likes of Archer.
Other players who were eliminated in the first round of the day included Tony Chohan, Jeremy Sossei, Justin Bergman and Amar Kang.
Noon play saw the winner’s side in action, and there was no shortage of marquee matches. Mike Dechaine rebounded from an early 0-2 deficit and defeated Oscar Dominguez 9-5.
Warren Kiamco won what was most likely the match of the day with his hill-hill win over Darren Appleton. Neither player could take any control in this match, and neither player managed a lead of more than one rack. It finally came down to Kiamco, who had won the opening lag, breaking and running the rack to send Appleton to the one loss side.
Other noon winners were Craig Riley over Jason Klatt, Shane Van Boening over Tony Robles and Jeffrey Ignacio over Rafael Martinez on the winners side. The one loss side saw the eliminations of Johnny Archer, Alex Pagulayan, Dennis Hatch and Scott Frost. Frost came up short in a comeback attempt against Danny Olson. Olson led the match 6-2, but Frost came back to tie it at 6-6 before losing to Olson 9-7.
The 2pm round did see a successful comeback by Jayson Shaw as he clawed back from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Tony Robles 9-8. Darren Appleton couldn’t find his game after the heartbreaking loss to Kiamco and went on to lose to Skyler Woodward 9-6 in the 2pm round. Oscar Dominguez’s campaign also came to and end at the cue of Thorsten Hohmann in another hill-hill match.
The 4pm round saw action on both sides of the brackets with Shane Van Boening showing the remaining players that he isn’t letting up in his quest for another tournament win. He ran over Jeffrey Ignacio 9-3 in a match that wasn’t even that close. Other 4pm winners were Mike Dechaine over Warren Kiamco 9-5, John Morra over Ike Runnels 9-4 and Rodney Morris over Craig Riley 9-3.
By the 6pm rounds, the long hours under heat were finally starting to get to the players. John Morra took on Rodney Morris on the TV table in one of the winners side final four matches, and it was definitely a match that Morra will want to forget. Morra missed balls in the first two racks and it was all downhill from there as Morris showed no mercy in a 9-2 final scoreline. The other final four winners side match saw Mike Dechaine taking on reigning US Open 8-Ball Champion Shane Van Boening. Shane led this match 4-1 before Dechaine won five straight games to take a 6-4 lead. Shane would fight back, but not be able to overcome the two rack deficit as Dechaine won the match 9-7.
The final round of the day contained two matches on the one loss side with Rafael Martinez facing Skyler Woodward and Jason Klatt taking on Dennis Orcollo. Woodward came out strong early against Martinez, but faded down the stretch as Martinez came back for the 9-7 win. The Orcollo/Klatt match was slightly less competitive as Klatt seemed lost at the table and lost to Orcollo 9-1.
This leaves six players with hopes of winning the event. Mike Dechaine will face Rodney Morris for the hot-seat, while Shane Van Boening takes on Rafael Martinez and John Morra plays Dennis Orcollo on the one loss side.
To follow the tournament in real time please visit PlayCsipool.com where you can find links to the live streaming and to the constantly updated brackets.
