Arrived in Vegas

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
I'm finally here at the Riviera. Got in in the mid-afternoon and spent most of my day with Jaty Helfert, who is just as impressive in person as on the forum.

Got to see some of the pro event, and the matches provided some great theater. Orcullo vs Feijen was a classic, with both players playing jam up and the match reaching doulbe hill. Feijen seemed to be in control in the double hill rack, but a mistake gave ball in hand and the match to Dennis. Immonen dispensed with Strickland easily. Thornfeldt was impressive in topping Ga Young. Ouschan and Hsin Mei Liu, though close, was a match with quite a few mistakes,with Ouschan the deserving winner. Chen tested Pan up to 5-4, and had a chance to pull within 6-5, but a mistake cost her any chance to stay close, and Pan cruised from there. Pan vs Ouschan should be something special tomorrow. Fisher and Corr are moving forward, and Webb was dominating in a win over Amanda Lampert. Hofstatter won very easily over Lee and will play Allison next.

This equipment is tight, and plenty of balls are jawing out!

Caught up briefly with all of the following today: Eddie Kelly, Allen Hopkins, Lou Butera , Semih Sayginer, Charlie Ursetti, Jeanette Lee, Gerda Hofstatter, Kim Shaw, Thorsten Hohmann, Mark Wilson, Lars Vardaman, Jason Kirkwood, George Breedlove, Belinda Campos and, of course, my good buddies Eddie, Remo and Gail from Amsterdam Billoard Club in New York.

I'm tired and I'm going to sleep, but I'll try to post about the matches as possible. Wednesday, I'll spend much of the afternoon at the Sayginer, Massey , Yow exhibition, but I'll sweat matches Wednesday evening.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Wednesday is in the books, and it was an eventful day for me.

Williebetmore and I went to the early portion of the day session of the pro event. We watched Robles vs Crosby, in which both played fairly well, but Robles prevailed. Hohmann and Manalo both started shakily, and both then caught a stroke. Hohmann seemed to gain control of the match, but made a mistake trying to run out for a 10-7 lead, and the match turned on a dime, with Manalo prevailing double hill.

Missed the majority of the day session, as I went to watch the three cushion event, which was fantastic. Eric Yow performed admirably, but Sayginer had his magic going, and some of it had to be seen to be believed. I left before Massey performed. You won't want to miss this when it's televised. Congratualtions to my friend Ira Lee for putting on such a great event.

For the Carom Cafe regulars, all of the following regulars participated in the staging of the three cushion event: Ira Lee, Min Jae Pak, Michael Kang, and Charlie Brown.

Went back to catch the end of the day session at the pro event, but didn't catch too much. Larry Nevel fell behind 9-5 to Nick Varner, but rallied to win the next six racks for an 11-9 win. Wendy Jans fell behind 8-5 to Julie Kelly, and even had to bank the nine to pull within 8-7. She then gathered herself for an impressive come-from-behind double hill victory. Sarah Rousey played well in beating Kim Shaw, too,

Went to dinner with Williebetmore, his wife, and a few mutual friends of ours. Willie generously paid the bill at the delightful restaurant at The Venetian. He spoiled us all rotten.

After dinner, it was back to the pro event, where I must concede my energy level was starting to become an issue. The classic was Immonen vs Parica, a seesaw affair that was close all the way. When Immonen stole one off of Parica's break to go up 10-9, it looked like Mika might prevail, but he failed to convert his last break, letting the match go hill-hill and Parica broke and ran the next one to prevail 11-10. Just after the last nine ball fell for Parica, I went to bed.

A long but fun day. Today (Thursday), I'll be attending the day session of the pro event with TheOne and the evening session with Jimmy M. I'll be having breakfast with Willibetmore and Rackmsuckr, and I'm looking forward to that, too.

Should be quite a day today, one in which I'll be watching a whole lot of pro pool.
 
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Terry Ardeno

I still love my wife
Silver Member
Hope you have the best time

sjm,

I'm sure many of your fellow posters envy you (in a nice way) for being able to actually be there!
Thanks for the updates. If you see Charlie Ursitti again, please greet him for me. He's a great guy and knows tons. He gave me some vintage posters of Greenleaf, Mosconi, Caras and the like that nicely adorn my pool room.
Hope your time there is filled with many lasting memories. Enjoy!
Terry
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Here are some tidbits from the first session of the day. The three matches I sweated were Stevie Moore vs John Morra, Sarah Ellerby vs Anna Kostanian, and Tony Robles vs Thomas Engert.

Robles vs Engert
After trading racks for 1-1, Robles had ball in hand in each of the next two, but failed to make it count, losing both for a 3-1 deficit. Robles played two solid racks to make it 3-3, but superior tactics led to Engert winning the next two for a 5-3 lead. Tony ran out off a dry Engert break for 5-4, and then tied it up with a 4-9 combo in the next rack. Another dry break followed by a Robles run out, and then a Robles break and run made it 7-5, favor of Robles. Engert banks in the two in the next rack, but fails to complete the runout, and it's 8-5 Robles, who hung out to advance to the next round.

Ellerby vs Kostanian
A couple of bad misses for Ellerby gave Kostanian an early 2-0 and Anna had a tough nine ball up the long rail for 3-0, but missed it, so it was 2-1. Ellerby was supreb in the next three racks, making it 4-2, favor of Ellerby. Anna had a good opening in the next rack, but missed an eay one ball and Sarah ran out for 5-2. anna borke and ran for 5-3, and Sarah caromed in the nine off the one in the next rack for 6-3. Anna breaks and runs out for 6-4,but has a very careless scratch on the four ball in the next rack, giving Sarah a 7-4 lead. Antoher surprising scratch by Anna off a thin cut of the one ball into the side was costly, with Sarah running out for 8-4. Anna runs out off a dry break by Ellerby,so it's 8-5. Anna appears to be running out for 8-6, but misses a not-so-routine eight ball, and Sarah banks it in and makes the nine to end it at 9-5.

Moore vs Morra
Mistake filled early,but John Morra gained with some well-played defense for a 4-1 lead. A long tactical rack, controlled mostly by Stevie, got away and Morra had a 5-1 lead. To be honest, Morra barely broke a sweat after that in this surpirsingly lopsided affair, which Morra won 11-4.

That's all for now. Back to the tournament for me!
 

BVal

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Black-Balled said:
Yeah! What the kid sed;) !

GO MIKE!

Enjoyed the read, BTW!!
I don't think the match starts until 7pm- that is what I heard anyways.

BVal

PS. GO SHANE!
 

beetle

Do I bug you?
Silver Member
Thanks very much for the updates, sjm! Mike Davis is apparently playing very strong. Hope he makes it al the way.
 

mjantti

Enjoying life
Silver Member
Thanks for the updates sjm ! Say hello to Mika from me if you see him :) I expect him to cruise through the loser side to win the whole thing ! :cool:
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Here's the status of the event.

Dennis Orcullo has won the men's hot seat. Van Boening will play either John Schmidt or Mike Davis, and Mike had a 7-3 lead over John when I left the arena.

Karen Corr has won the women's hot seat, and Allison Fisher will play either Jasmin Ouschan or Ga young kim in the semis. Jasmin had a 4-2 lead over Ga Young when I left the arena.

Ga Young won a double hill thriller over Monica Webb to earn her shot a Jasmin, who crushed Hofstatter.

The shocker of the evening session was Immonen vs Davis. Immonen jumed out to a 4-0 lead but dropped 8 of the next nine racks, so Davis led 8-5. Immonen fund his game again and at 9-9, Mika had two simple shots to regain the lead. His miss on the seven stunned the crowd, and I'd guess it's among the easiest shots he's ever missed in competition. Davis was handed a 10-9 lead and previaled in the next rack for the 11-9 win.

In Orcullo vs Van boening, Dennis jumped out to an 8-3 lead, but shane closed to 8-6 and had a chance to run out for 8-7, when a bad miss on a six ball cost him the rack, and Orcullo cruised from there.

Corr vs Fisher was a good one up until 3-3, when Corr turned it up a notch or two. Karen played great pool to earn her spot in the final, 9-4.

Ga Young Kim vs Pan Xiaoting was a stinker, with Pan way off form. In addition, Ga Young's first missed ball came in rack nine, by which time she led 7-1. This was a blowout in every respect.
 
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Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
Allision or Jasmin are going to have a tough time trying to beat Karen twice. She's in stroke. Johnnyt
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Johnnyt said:
Allision or Jasmin are going to have a tough time trying to beat Karen twice. She's in stroke. Johnnyt

I don't believe the true double elimination format is used in even one major championship on the pool calendar. The final is just one set, and always has been at the BCA pro event.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
9 Ball Girl said:
I would love to see a repeat by Jasmin! Go Jasmin!

I'd rate Jasmin's play a little above Allison's to this point, and consider her a slight favorite in the women's semifinal. Just as a year ago, she saved her best pool for Thursday night and was near unstoppable last night.

Corr is playing at a super-high leve right now, and will be very tough to beat in the final.

My new odds to win the title:

Karen Corr 3/5
Jasmin Ouschan 3/1
Allison Fisher 5/1
 
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