Shane Van Boening (Photo courtesy Dave Thomson - Mediumpool.com)
The big story of the day came when, with only eight players remaining in the 9-ball event all had a loss and Alex Pagulayan received his second loss from Mika Immonen, who started the match with a five pack. At that point, Pagulayan's fate for the Master of the Table would lie in how well Shane Van Boening would finish in the 9-ball. All Van Beoning needed to do was make it to the finals and receive a minimum 120 points to pass Pagulayan up for the all-around.
For the next few rounds, “The Lion” waited in agony, playfully heckling Van Boening from the balcony. In the semifinals match between Neils Feijen and Van Boening, Feijen was ahead 4-2 and it was looking very promising. A turnover allowed Van Boening a chance at the table and the opportunity to take the next four racks to get on the hill. As Pagulayan watched his all-around chances slip away, Feijen got a handle on the break and regained control of the match. At hill-hill, Feijen cut in a tough 2 ball and opted for the safety on the 4 ball. Without any hesitation, Van Boening, jumped in the 4 ball with outside-draw, three rails around the table for perfect shape on the 5 ball, with his full length playing cue. This would advance Van Boening into the finals against Dennis Orcollo and secure him $20,000 for Master of the Table by a mere .2 points.
Orcollo was the final player to use his buy-back and defeated Mika Immonen 7-1 to arrive in the winner's circle. In the finals, from Van Boening's break, Orcollo took that rack and broke and ran the following four to go ahead 5-0. Van Boening got to two games but his efforts were not quite enough to stop Orcollo's run. Final score: 7-2.
Master of the Table:
1st Shane Van Boening $20,000
2nd Alex Pagulayan $3,000
3rd Dennis Orcollo $2,000
The final rounds of the Straight Pool Challenge were severely delayed today until after the 9-ball finals due to Feijen's progress in the main event. A boisterously spirited Pagulayan had been waiting all evening after his 9-ball elimination to play his straight pool match and started with an open break. Pagulayan kept fans entertained as Appleton took the championship 100-31. This $10,000 added event was made possible by Diamond Billiards, Bob Jewett, Angel Levine, Stu Mattana, Ultimate 10-Ball Challenge, and Richard Burns.
Last night's full 64-player field 9-ball mini had $1,000 added, courtesy of Predator Cues. Charlie Williams went undefeated to take the $1,000 for first.
The AzBilliards 2011 DCC Coverage page was made possible by CueBallTracker.com and PoolDawg.com.
