PAGULAYAN, ORCOLLO and PIERCE HAVE A BIG TYME IN HOUSTON!!!
By Mary Kenniston
This weekend it was Houston as the place to be for the 6th Annual Big Tyme Classic with The Buddy Hall 9 Ball Open.
The legendary BCA, One Pocket and Bank Pool Hall of Famer was back in Houston and I’m sure he had a great time seeing his old friends and making new ones.
The event kicked off with a 32 player $2000 added One Pocket event – double elimination – races to 4/3, finals one race to five.
It was a star-studded field – the Filipino contingent was well represented: last weekend’s Scotty Townsend Memorial One Pocket champ Alex Pagulayan, BCA Hall of Famer and 2018 Derby City Open One Pocket champ and Master of the Table Francisco Bustamante, last weekend’s US Open One Pocket runner-up Ronnie Alcano, 2018 Andy Mercer Memorial champ Warren Kiamco and the 2018 Bigfoot 10-Ball champ, Roberto Gomez as well as Dennis Orcollo – last year’s Derby City 9 Ball champ and Master of the Table.
Other well-known names included 2017 Derby City One Pocket champ Billy Thorpe, Danny Smith, Sky Woodward, Josh Roberts, John Morra, Chip Compton, Can Salim and Joey Gray.
The field was rounded out by newly inducted One Pocket Hall of Famer Jeremy Jones, old schooler Scott Kitto, Ernesto Bayaua, Manny Chau, Sylver Ochoa, Maurice LeBlanc, Denis Strickland and, of course, Buddy Hall.
First round action had some real tough match-ups: Smith was upended by Gray, Pagulayan beat Kitto, Bustamante defeated Alcano, Ochoa beat Roberts and Kiamco was sent packing by Gomez.
Second round saw Jones dust off Gomez, Compton took care of Thorpe, Woodward beat Orcollo, Morra defeated Ochoa, Bustamante polished off Chau, local Bayaua sent Salim west while Pagulayan did the same to Gray.
Third round had Pagulayan, Bustamante, Woodward and Compton head to the final four match-up on the winners side. Alex took care of Busti while Sky took out Chip.
Hot seat action saw Pagulayan lock up his seat in the finals while Sky went west to see who emerged from the one loss side.
It was Compton over Bustamante leaving Francisco in fourth place. Sky was waiting for Chip. Looking for a rematch with Alex, Sky handed Chip a third place finish.
The finals was one race to five and it was close but when the smoke cleared, Alex had snatched his second consecutive one pocket title with a 5-3 win over Sky. Congratulations to the Lion for another fantastic finish! Great job, Sky!
Meanwhile, Friday night was the start of the Buddy Hall Nine Ball - 128 players in the $10,000 added Open and 37 players in the $1,000 added Ladies event. It was bar box action – double elimination, alternate break and rack your own. The Open had races to 10/8 while the Ladies raced to seven.
The Ladies 9-Ball had quite a few well-known names in the field: defending champ Kim Pierce, last weekend’s Scotty Townsend champ Kelly Isaac, 2017 Junior Norris Memorial champ Gail Eaton , 2017 Space City Open runner-up Ming Ng, Scotty Townsend third place finisher Emily Sumrall and the infamous “Pistol Perez” - Veronica Perez.
When all was said and done, it was Kim Pierce who took it down for the second straight year! Ming Ng was runner-up, Terry Petrosino took third and Robyn Petrosino finished in fourth place. Congratulations, ladies!!!
The Open saw one pocket specialists Pagulayan, Gomez, Kiamco, Jones, Alcano, Thorpe, Gray, Compton, Salim, Chau, Bayaua, Strickland, Ochoa, Hall, Kitto, Bustamante, Roberts, Smith, Derby City 9 Ball runner-up Morra, Side Pocket Open 9 Ball champ Woodward and, Orcollo - last year’s Derby City 9 Ball champ - join the fray.
Others included last weekend’s Scotty Townsend 9 Ball champ James Aranas, White Diamonds champ Tommy Tokoph, Charlie Bryant, Robb Saez, Shane Manaole, Joey Aguzin, Sergio Rivas, Alex Calderon, Mark Gregory, Chase Rudder and Kevin Guimond.
A few tough opening matches saw Morra over Tokoph, Jones defeat Gray, Bustamante over Guimond while Thorpe was upset by Aaron Springs and Saez upset by Ricky Hughes.
Second round had Smith send Roberts west, Pagulayan defeat Bayaua, Ochoa beat Bryant, Gomez over Manaole, Strickland beat Aguzin as Michael Singleton upset Kitto.
Third round saw Gomez win over Pagulayan, Morra defeat Calderon, Ochoa over Hall, Rivas beat Salim, Rudder lose to Chau and Jones defeat Strickland.
Things started tightening up as the fourth round had Woodward take Gomez, Kiamco over Jones, Compton beat Alcano, Rivas lost to Ochoa, Orcollo defeat Morra and Bustamante over Smith.
Tough fifth round action saw Orcollo dust off Bustamante, Ochoa over Chau, Kiamco take Compton while Woodward dispatched Aranas to the one loss side.
There were now four players left on the winners side: Kiamco defeated Woodward to secure his seat in the hot seat match while Orcollo defeated Ochoa to lock up the other berth. Dennis took no prisoners as he sent Kiamco to wait for an opponent.
On the west side of the chart, Jones had been methodically moving through the one loss side after his defeat by Kiamco and ran into the straight shooting Aranas. Jones defeated young James leaving him with a respectable fourth place finish. Seeking revenge, Jeremy knocked Warren out of the tournament and left him finishing third while he marched into the finals against the undefeated Orcollo.
Since the event was true double elimination, Jeremy would have to defeat Dennis twice to take the title. The well respected Houston native had the whole town rooting for him and it paid off. Jones took the first set 10-9.
The second set started off close with Dennis in the lead 3-2 and 5-4. An unfortunate scratch in the corner by Jeremy saw Dennis finally pull away and ended up on the hill 7-4. It was Jeremy’s break and four balls rocketed into the pockets. He ran out and took a break – score 7-5. In the final game of the tournament, a couple of killer safeties by Dennis and great kicks by Jeremy were the highlights of the match but it wasn’t enough to keep Dennis from claiming the title – 8-5.
Congratulations to Dennis for a well-played event. Jeremy played a great event too! Good job, JJ!
Big Tyme owners Jim Henry, Deborah Sharp, Mark Avery and Bob McFerrin and their their staff did a great job making the hundreds of players and fans feel at home. General Manager Billy Sharp as well as Tournament Director Teresa Garland and her assistant, James Bulice, did a great job to keep things running smoothly on a very hectic weekend.
The tournament was sponsored by the great Buddy Hall and Roddy Lucio of Star City Amusement. Thank you to both!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank our fans and sponsors for another great event! Our sponsors include Steve Lomax of Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, John Barton of JB Cases, James Hanshew of Hanshew Custom Cues, GoPlayPool.com, Mike Durbin of Durbin Custom Cues, Kamui, Simonis and Club Billiards of Wichita, KS.
We’d also like to thank Buddy Hall, Jeremy Jones, Alex Pagulayan and Joey Aguzin for hopping into the booth and doing commentary from time to time!
Our next event is next weekend - the $8,000 added Dixieland Classic II at Cue Time Sports Bar and Grill in Spartanburg, SC – April 5th-8th. Hope to see you there!!!