By Mike “Tiger”
Chris Baggett, from Port Lavaca, playing his first Texas Open and who had never used a measle ball before made a great come-from behind run of 9 in a row against local favorite John Palmore. John was up 6-0 when Chris found his stroke and played some interesting shots I had never seen before to come from behind and send John to the one-loss side. Baggett faces E. Brown next who won 9-5 against J. Marquez who will get Palmore in their elimination match
On Saturday, August 31st thru the 2nd, 128 elite players from around the world are competing for over $10,000 in Open Division prizes at the longest running 9-ball tournament in US history. Sunday, the Women’s’ Classic 9-ball event began, more on that later.
Again this year they are providing players with the Magic Ball Rack which is a diamond-shaped, thin vinyl template that has holes where you place the Aramith Belgium Super Pro tournament billiard balls and get a perfect rack every time. The table has 2 dots marked on the cloth for the top and the bottom alignment holes, then just place the ball on a hole, and it self-centers itself for a perfect rack. In 2010, they used a metal triangle rack called the Delta-13. Players have always complained about the racking process – it takes too much time and players can tilt the rack for an advantage. On TV, they have a surrogate racking specialist, but here the loser racks for the winner. It is required to drive 4 balls to a rail on the break, else it is a foul. We play Texas Express Rules where the winner breaks.
On the table behind the Palmore match Skinny Bob regular Rich Anglin had some good chances against D. Richardson, but Richardson held on to win 9-7. Rich tied the match 7-7 but missed a 3-ball cut to the side pocket to let Richardson back at the table, and he never got another decent chance to make a run. Leroy Mathis, Houston, took care of Hal Perry from Houston 9-5. Leroy faces Richardson next and Anglin faces Perry who is also from Houston.
James “Junior” Davis, Jr. closes out Justin Boyd 9-3 on table 8 and will face E. Bayaua next who beat T Mooney 9-4.
David “LD” Henson ran out 7 racks to beat L. Rivera 9-0 who I watched and seemed like he never made 2 balls in a row. LD faces P. Hill next and Rivera plays B. Rivera.
Silver Ochoa from Austin had little trouble with local Matt Wong. Matt won the lag, but couldn’t get anything to fall and Silver just kept running out. When Matt gets to the table, Silver always leaves him a tough shot, and when Matt tries to play safe, Silver makes a great shot and strings together a long run-out. The game was better than the 9-0 score indicates. Silver came up empty on the break twice. At 5-0, SO makes the 8b on break, a 1-5 combo, a great cut on the 4b and kisses off the 6b to side pocket I didn’t think anyone could make, but misses the 7b. Matt makes a great try at the 8b bank to side pocket but misses the 9b. At 7-0, SO makes nada on break, but MW hooks himself on the 2b and has to play safe. SO later makes a terrific shot on the 4b to make the cue ball kiss the 6b to break up being tied up with the 9b and runs out the rest. At 8-0, SO makes the 1b and 2b on the break and runs-out to face Tracey Sanders in the second round.
Holy 9-ball combo Batman! Tracey makes four 9b combos in a tough match against Martin Salinas on Table 8. With the match 3-1 Tracey, Martin breaks and makes nada. TS plays safe on 1b. MS plays safe but leaves TS a shot. TS plays a great long cut shot on 1b to corner pocket, banks the 2b to opposite corner pocket and leaves himself a partially hooked 3b on end rail near the 9b. TS plays a nearly impossible cut on 3b but the 9b starts rolling for the side and looks like it is going to hang on the pocket but falls in as the cue ball almost scratches in the corner. 3-1, TS missing a 3-6 combo, MS misses a tough 7b cut to corner pocket. TS misses 8b. 4-2. MS makes nada on break, TS plays safe on 1b. MS fails to get safe on 1b, but TS makes a great 1-9 combo in the corner pocket. 5-2 TS makes 2 successful safes. 6-2 TS makes the 1b on break and runs to the 8 and makes the 8-9 combo. Later TS still up 6-5, MS makes 4b and 8b on break has to jump for the 2b in corner pocket and misses. TS runs out. 7-5 TS makes the 4b and misses 1b. MS plays safe and TS makes a 3-6 combo to stay on the table and runs out. 8-5. TS makes nada on break. MS tries a long end rail bank on 3B and it almost goes in, and Trace Sanders ends the game with another 9-ball combo using the 6b this time. Malinas faces Matt Wong in the 1st elimination round.
Doctor Bill Hyde plays Jackie Jackson in a long match on table 11. This table is kind of in a bad location with a lot of people moving around. Bill missed some easy shots probably due to the distractions but hung on to win 9-5 using his excellent mastery of the safety. Bill will calculate where the cue ball will come to rest just in case he misses a tough shot so the other player doesn’t have an easy run out. Bill faces T. Wallace next and Jackie faces R. Flores.
Skinny Bob regulars Steve Pennington and Earl Ponce played on Table 13. Earl had a great come-from behind victory last year but was no match against Pennington who took it 9-0 in a quick match. Pennington faces Adrian Lloyd, formally from Great Britian, in the second round and Ponce faces G. Sitz.
Jacob Warriner played a great match against Jeremy Jones last year, and drew left-hand shooting Gordon Vanderveer from Dallas this year on table 12. GV up 4-1 and makes the 4b on break. GV plays safe on 1b. JW grabs his jump cue, but puts it back. JW takes a long time looking at every option: Jumping, 2-rail bank with cue, but finally decides to play an intentional foul to tie up the 2b with the 9b. Unfortunately it backfires on him. With ball in hand, GV is able to position the cue ball for a 2-ball/9-ball kiss combo and JW goes to get a tournament official to watch the shot. GV makes the tough shot under pressure. In the next games after several safeties, GV scratches on the 6b and JW runs out. JW wins the next 2 games and comes up empty on the break down 6-4. More safetys and JW has to kick at the 1b and lets GV at the table who plays a 2-5 combo to side pocket but the 6-7b looks tied-up so they bang the 2b around the table a while. GV winds up making the 6b but misses the 7b down the rail, and JW misses the 9b on an easy cut shot and is visibly upset with himself. He is giving this match away with 9b misses. GV wins 9-4 and faces B. Walker. Walker beat S. Massingale 9-5 who will play Jacob in the 1st elimination round.
m) to receive your money back. This gives us time to contact the next alternate for your spot. You cannot sell your spot to a buddy. It will go to the next alternate. Any alternates not picked will receive a refund. Just give us some time to process it.
