No one is ever going to accuse Dennis Hatch of playing 10-ball like an old school 14.1 player. In his mach against Sal Butera, he proved, at least to moi, that he never met a rail he didn’t like. Repeatedly, Dennis would choose to power his way for position on the next ball, frequently going two, or three rails. Even from the rail it’s intimidating to see him move the ball around with such power and confidence. Dennis wins 9-6.
On the adjoining table, John Schmidt leaps out to an early lead over veteran Jose Parica and is quickly on the hill, but can’t close it out. Jose scratches and claws his way through several racks and comes out on top after a couple of crucial safety battles. John loses to Jose, 9-8. Three quarters of the way through the 11 A.M. round, a kerfuffle breaks out over at the TV table. Ronnie Wiseman, engaged with Marcus Chamat, is bellowing loud enough to disturb the entire tournament room that if he’d had “any” idea that the players would be forced to play by such absurd rules he would not have come and has no intention of “ever” playing in such an event in the future. Afterwards I ask Ken, doing duty as the TD, what Ronnie’s beef was and he says Ronnie was shocked to discover that if a player miscued on the break, it was BIH for his opponent. You would think a player as experienced as Ronnie would have come across this once or twice before… Oh yea, Ronnie lose to Marcus, 9-5.
Other passing observations, these from the 1 P.M. match ups: Chris “Smooth Criminal” Bartrum almost snoozes his way to a forfeit against Mike Davis Jr., claiming a wake-up call from the front desk never came in. (Am I the only one who knows most cell phones nowadays can double as a reliable alarm clock?) Ga Young Kim seems totally stymied by Shaun Willkie’s smart, deliberate play, at one point pounding her fist down on the rail after a missed opportunity. Shaun wins 9- 3. Tony Drago is a changed man. I see him actually slow down a tad (not much, really) and actually play several graceful safeties on his way to defeating Yukio Akagariyam, 9-3.
One other thing or two: after watching several matches now, two things are readily apparent: first, the rails are giving many of the players fits. The CB comes off a rail and just seems to keep going an extra diamond or two. Position is constantly being over-run. The other thing is that there are certain shots that, unless they are hit with brain surgeon-like precision, are just not going to go on these tables. I have seen Ortmann, Hatch, and Schmidt all nail the same shot and they have all seen the ball jaw.
On my second day here I can quickly see that a real problem is developing for me. As I look at the boards, more and more of the match ups are intriguing for one reason or another. One that I’m particularly interested in is the Efren -- Johnny Archer match up, scheduled for 3 P.M. And, there will also be Corey Deuel vs. Raj Hundal.
Lou Figueroa
On the adjoining table, John Schmidt leaps out to an early lead over veteran Jose Parica and is quickly on the hill, but can’t close it out. Jose scratches and claws his way through several racks and comes out on top after a couple of crucial safety battles. John loses to Jose, 9-8. Three quarters of the way through the 11 A.M. round, a kerfuffle breaks out over at the TV table. Ronnie Wiseman, engaged with Marcus Chamat, is bellowing loud enough to disturb the entire tournament room that if he’d had “any” idea that the players would be forced to play by such absurd rules he would not have come and has no intention of “ever” playing in such an event in the future. Afterwards I ask Ken, doing duty as the TD, what Ronnie’s beef was and he says Ronnie was shocked to discover that if a player miscued on the break, it was BIH for his opponent. You would think a player as experienced as Ronnie would have come across this once or twice before… Oh yea, Ronnie lose to Marcus, 9-5.
Other passing observations, these from the 1 P.M. match ups: Chris “Smooth Criminal” Bartrum almost snoozes his way to a forfeit against Mike Davis Jr., claiming a wake-up call from the front desk never came in. (Am I the only one who knows most cell phones nowadays can double as a reliable alarm clock?) Ga Young Kim seems totally stymied by Shaun Willkie’s smart, deliberate play, at one point pounding her fist down on the rail after a missed opportunity. Shaun wins 9- 3. Tony Drago is a changed man. I see him actually slow down a tad (not much, really) and actually play several graceful safeties on his way to defeating Yukio Akagariyam, 9-3.
One other thing or two: after watching several matches now, two things are readily apparent: first, the rails are giving many of the players fits. The CB comes off a rail and just seems to keep going an extra diamond or two. Position is constantly being over-run. The other thing is that there are certain shots that, unless they are hit with brain surgeon-like precision, are just not going to go on these tables. I have seen Ortmann, Hatch, and Schmidt all nail the same shot and they have all seen the ball jaw.
On my second day here I can quickly see that a real problem is developing for me. As I look at the boards, more and more of the match ups are intriguing for one reason or another. One that I’m particularly interested in is the Efren -- Johnny Archer match up, scheduled for 3 P.M. And, there will also be Corey Deuel vs. Raj Hundal.
Lou Figueroa
