SJM at 1/2 the International 9-ball
If you aren't in the mood for a long post, turn back now.
I'm back from Virginia after attending the final three days of the International Open. It was a grand old time in which I watched great pool, went to the BCA Hall of Fame dinner, caught up with many friends and even made a few new ones.
The Tournament Itself
When I arrived Thursday morning, the buzz was still strong from the match the night before in which SVB trailed Maximilian Lechner of Austria 9-0 and rallied to win the next ten racks to earn a chance to break the balls on the hill. The comeback would ultimately fall short, but the match will be remembered by all who were lucky enough to watch it. By week’s end, we’d learn that this was not really an upset for the ages, but instead a “here I am” moment for the youthful, and relatively unknown, Austrian with a big game.
Thursday’s matches were fairly unspectacular to this fan’s eye. Perhaps the nail biter of the day was Darren Appleton vs Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz. In a glacially slow affair, Appleton seemed in control until a terrible miss let the Spaniard tie it at six. It was back and forth from there, and the quality was high, but Appleton made no mistake about it in the home stretch and prevailed. Dennis Grabe won a good one over David Alcaide 11-10..The classic match of the day, however, was surely Appleton vs Filler, in which the Darren of old made an appearance and he pushed the WPA #1 to the limit to reach double hill. Rack twenty one came down to a safety that Darren had to play with a jacked up cue, and he wasn’t up to the challenge. After knocking the one ball into half a pocket, Filler ran out for the victory.
Friday’s play was, in a word, breathtaking.
One of the great batlles I’ve ever witnessed was Justin Bergman vs Alex Pagulayan. Really well played back and forth, but a Bergman error enabled Alex to gain an 8-6 lead. What followed was breathtaking. Rack 15 came down do safety play, and Bergman outdueld the man I consider the second best defensive nine ball player we have ever seen to pull within 8-7. Bergman broke, but rack 16 would also come down to safety play, and Justin prevailed again fr 8-8. Rack 17 was the same, and produced one of the great safety battles I have ever witnessed.Bergman played three perfect safeties and Alex, with brilliant play, escaped twice and then hooked back. Bergman surely deserved better than this, but stayed composed and kicked in the one, followed by a runout to gain the lead 9-8. There was more safety play down the stretch, and despite Alex’s fine play, Justin continued to outmove him and prevailed 11-8. This is the only time I have ever seen anyone beat Pagulayan by consistently outmoving him. I’ve often called Bergman America’s best defensive player on this very forum, but even I was amazed at the level he produced in this very memoarable match.
Alex Kazakis and Jayson Shaw produced a great one, too, with a spot in the last four riding on the match. Both were brilliant up to 7-7. The Twilight Zone moment of the match occurred in rack 16 with Shaw ahead 8-7. Here’s what happened. Let’s preface this with some procedural guidelines, First, the referee is instructed to remove the rack template immediately after the break. Second, when the referee approaches the table to remove the template, the shot clock operator is instructed to stop the clock until the template has been removed.and the referee has walked away. So here’s what happened. With perhaps 20 left on the shot clock, Shaw approached the rack, attempting to remove the template that the referee had forgotten to attend to. Realizing he couldn’t remove the template without disturbing the balls, he opted to leave the template there. This was followed by three errors in procedure. First, the referee, unsolicited, came to the table to remove the template. Second, the shot clock operator failed to stop the clock. Third, the ten seconds to shoot warning was never issued because the referee was busy removing the template. Sure enough, the shot clock expired, and it was ruled, correctly in my view, that this would not be considered a shot clock expiration foul. Shaw, it was judged,had been denied his procedural rights and was allowed to play on, running that rack and one more for a 10-7 lead on his way to victory. The always classy Kazakhs was, understandably, upset. Even Shaw, a friend and Mosconi teammate of Kazakis, felt bad for Alex, but weird stuff happens from time to time, and on this occasion it happened in a big match in a big event.
The dominant performance of the day surely belonged to James Aranas in an otherworldly demonstration of power pool. I didn’t see the TPA scores, but my guess is that Aranas played around .970 in the 11-1 drubbing of Orcollo. When the crowd applauded loudly at match end with sustained approval, even Orcollo joined in the applause.
Saturday was for the last four standing: Bergman and Shaw remained on the loser’s side with Josh Filler and Maximilian Lechner still undefeated.
Shaw vs Bergman had the feel of a Bergman blowout as Justin ran out impressively to an 8-3 lead. Shaw fought back to pull with within 9-6, but rack 16 produced the defining moment of the match. Shaw misfired on a bank that hit the point on the side pocket's cushion and ended up going in the corner. By every reckoning, Bergman deserved to be breaking on the hill at 10-6 and one must reckon he'd have won from there, but Shaw caught a stroke from that point on to score an 11-9 victory. You had to feel for Justin who was, at very least, Shaw's equal in the play, but one bad roll seemed to doom him on this occasion and it was Shaw moving on. Bergman, as I and so many others have often noted, is America's second best player.
Lechner played really well to win the hot seat over Filler, and it set up a semifinal of Shaw vs Filler. Filler was the better man in gaining a 7-4 lead, but Josh's game dropped off in the late stages and Shaw was brilliant down the stretch to gain the victory and advance to the final.
Lechner came out of the gate slow in the final allowing Shaw to take early control but Lechner fought back bravely all the way to 12-11 in the race to 13. Rack 24 had to be seen to be believed. After a choppy sequence, Lechner was lucky to hook Shaw on the one ball but Jayson jumped it in. Unfortunately, he was not rewarded and faced a far more difficult jump at the two ball. He jumped it in and ran out to win the match 13-11. Wow!
Great event for sure.
The Hall of Fame Dinner
Mike Panozzo, editor of Billiards Digest, ran the show with his usual brand of excellence.
The presentation portion of Friday evening’s hall of fame banquest opened with well-known pool author R.A. Dyer speaking about the Janscos and placing their contributions to pool and its lore in proper perspective, speaking of the days in Johnston City as well as the continuation of the event at the Stardust in Las Vegas. The Hall of Fame plaque was then presented to the granddaughter of one of the Janscos. The pictoral history of these Jansco events was displayed and was absolutely fantastic, too. Even Eddie Kelly looked like a kid!
Next came a special presentation to John Schmidt for his historic run of 626 in straight pool. It was done tastefully and John addressed the gathering with humility and gratitude. To hi s credit, John refused to steal the spotlight and spoke a bit about inductee Alex Pagulayan and how special a player Alex was and had been.
It was then Greg Sullivan’s turn and he was introduced very skillfully by Pat Fleming, who placed Greg Sullivan’s many accomplishments as a promoter, innovator and manufacturer in pool in a proper light. When it was Greg’s turn at the microphone, though, he just about broke down from the emotions of the moment. He said what he could, but without saying much, he still managed to work the room and stir deep feelings among the attendees. He is a beloved figure in pool with good reason and I think his mini-breakdown added to the flavor of the evening.
After being introduced by Canadian snooker legend Paul Thornley, Alex Pagulayan would not show any nerves in addressing the gathering. He related that he was attracted to pool for ---- you guessed it ---- the gambling. He amused the crowd with story after story, adding his light touch, and delighted in the presence of his family. Alex was a true entertainer and everyone enjoyed listening.
Concluding Remarks
It was a memorable few days for me in Virginia and thanks to Pat Fleming and his staff for putting on such a good show.
If you aren't in the mood for a long post, turn back now.
I'm back from Virginia after attending the final three days of the International Open. It was a grand old time in which I watched great pool, went to the BCA Hall of Fame dinner, caught up with many friends and even made a few new ones.
The Tournament Itself
When I arrived Thursday morning, the buzz was still strong from the match the night before in which SVB trailed Maximilian Lechner of Austria 9-0 and rallied to win the next ten racks to earn a chance to break the balls on the hill. The comeback would ultimately fall short, but the match will be remembered by all who were lucky enough to watch it. By week’s end, we’d learn that this was not really an upset for the ages, but instead a “here I am” moment for the youthful, and relatively unknown, Austrian with a big game.
Thursday’s matches were fairly unspectacular to this fan’s eye. Perhaps the nail biter of the day was Darren Appleton vs Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz. In a glacially slow affair, Appleton seemed in control until a terrible miss let the Spaniard tie it at six. It was back and forth from there, and the quality was high, but Appleton made no mistake about it in the home stretch and prevailed. Dennis Grabe won a good one over David Alcaide 11-10..The classic match of the day, however, was surely Appleton vs Filler, in which the Darren of old made an appearance and he pushed the WPA #1 to the limit to reach double hill. Rack twenty one came down to a safety that Darren had to play with a jacked up cue, and he wasn’t up to the challenge. After knocking the one ball into half a pocket, Filler ran out for the victory.
Friday’s play was, in a word, breathtaking.
One of the great batlles I’ve ever witnessed was Justin Bergman vs Alex Pagulayan. Really well played back and forth, but a Bergman error enabled Alex to gain an 8-6 lead. What followed was breathtaking. Rack 15 came down do safety play, and Bergman outdueld the man I consider the second best defensive nine ball player we have ever seen to pull within 8-7. Bergman broke, but rack 16 would also come down to safety play, and Justin prevailed again fr 8-8. Rack 17 was the same, and produced one of the great safety battles I have ever witnessed.Bergman played three perfect safeties and Alex, with brilliant play, escaped twice and then hooked back. Bergman surely deserved better than this, but stayed composed and kicked in the one, followed by a runout to gain the lead 9-8. There was more safety play down the stretch, and despite Alex’s fine play, Justin continued to outmove him and prevailed 11-8. This is the only time I have ever seen anyone beat Pagulayan by consistently outmoving him. I’ve often called Bergman America’s best defensive player on this very forum, but even I was amazed at the level he produced in this very memoarable match.
Alex Kazakis and Jayson Shaw produced a great one, too, with a spot in the last four riding on the match. Both were brilliant up to 7-7. The Twilight Zone moment of the match occurred in rack 16 with Shaw ahead 8-7. Here’s what happened. Let’s preface this with some procedural guidelines, First, the referee is instructed to remove the rack template immediately after the break. Second, when the referee approaches the table to remove the template, the shot clock operator is instructed to stop the clock until the template has been removed.and the referee has walked away. So here’s what happened. With perhaps 20 left on the shot clock, Shaw approached the rack, attempting to remove the template that the referee had forgotten to attend to. Realizing he couldn’t remove the template without disturbing the balls, he opted to leave the template there. This was followed by three errors in procedure. First, the referee, unsolicited, came to the table to remove the template. Second, the shot clock operator failed to stop the clock. Third, the ten seconds to shoot warning was never issued because the referee was busy removing the template. Sure enough, the shot clock expired, and it was ruled, correctly in my view, that this would not be considered a shot clock expiration foul. Shaw, it was judged,had been denied his procedural rights and was allowed to play on, running that rack and one more for a 10-7 lead on his way to victory. The always classy Kazakhs was, understandably, upset. Even Shaw, a friend and Mosconi teammate of Kazakis, felt bad for Alex, but weird stuff happens from time to time, and on this occasion it happened in a big match in a big event.
The dominant performance of the day surely belonged to James Aranas in an otherworldly demonstration of power pool. I didn’t see the TPA scores, but my guess is that Aranas played around .970 in the 11-1 drubbing of Orcollo. When the crowd applauded loudly at match end with sustained approval, even Orcollo joined in the applause.
Saturday was for the last four standing: Bergman and Shaw remained on the loser’s side with Josh Filler and Maximilian Lechner still undefeated.
Shaw vs Bergman had the feel of a Bergman blowout as Justin ran out impressively to an 8-3 lead. Shaw fought back to pull with within 9-6, but rack 16 produced the defining moment of the match. Shaw misfired on a bank that hit the point on the side pocket's cushion and ended up going in the corner. By every reckoning, Bergman deserved to be breaking on the hill at 10-6 and one must reckon he'd have won from there, but Shaw caught a stroke from that point on to score an 11-9 victory. You had to feel for Justin who was, at very least, Shaw's equal in the play, but one bad roll seemed to doom him on this occasion and it was Shaw moving on. Bergman, as I and so many others have often noted, is America's second best player.
Lechner played really well to win the hot seat over Filler, and it set up a semifinal of Shaw vs Filler. Filler was the better man in gaining a 7-4 lead, but Josh's game dropped off in the late stages and Shaw was brilliant down the stretch to gain the victory and advance to the final.
Lechner came out of the gate slow in the final allowing Shaw to take early control but Lechner fought back bravely all the way to 12-11 in the race to 13. Rack 24 had to be seen to be believed. After a choppy sequence, Lechner was lucky to hook Shaw on the one ball but Jayson jumped it in. Unfortunately, he was not rewarded and faced a far more difficult jump at the two ball. He jumped it in and ran out to win the match 13-11. Wow!
Great event for sure.
The Hall of Fame Dinner
Mike Panozzo, editor of Billiards Digest, ran the show with his usual brand of excellence.
The presentation portion of Friday evening’s hall of fame banquest opened with well-known pool author R.A. Dyer speaking about the Janscos and placing their contributions to pool and its lore in proper perspective, speaking of the days in Johnston City as well as the continuation of the event at the Stardust in Las Vegas. The Hall of Fame plaque was then presented to the granddaughter of one of the Janscos. The pictoral history of these Jansco events was displayed and was absolutely fantastic, too. Even Eddie Kelly looked like a kid!
Next came a special presentation to John Schmidt for his historic run of 626 in straight pool. It was done tastefully and John addressed the gathering with humility and gratitude. To hi s credit, John refused to steal the spotlight and spoke a bit about inductee Alex Pagulayan and how special a player Alex was and had been.
It was then Greg Sullivan’s turn and he was introduced very skillfully by Pat Fleming, who placed Greg Sullivan’s many accomplishments as a promoter, innovator and manufacturer in pool in a proper light. When it was Greg’s turn at the microphone, though, he just about broke down from the emotions of the moment. He said what he could, but without saying much, he still managed to work the room and stir deep feelings among the attendees. He is a beloved figure in pool with good reason and I think his mini-breakdown added to the flavor of the evening.
After being introduced by Canadian snooker legend Paul Thornley, Alex Pagulayan would not show any nerves in addressing the gathering. He related that he was attracted to pool for ---- you guessed it ---- the gambling. He amused the crowd with story after story, adding his light touch, and delighted in the presence of his family. Alex was a true entertainer and everyone enjoyed listening.
Concluding Remarks
It was a memorable few days for me in Virginia and thanks to Pat Fleming and his staff for putting on such a good show.
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