Got home Monday from four days at the Super Billiards Expo, the first one I attended in a few years. Here are my impressions:
The Expo
I've never been much if an enthusiast for the game's equipment but I stilled checked out the cues and the tables and the cases which all seemed nice. If you went to the Expo to shop, there was plenty to look at and buy.
The Amateur Competition
Over the four days, I didn't watch any of the play on the bar tables. I've never been much of a fan of bar table pool.
The Three Cushion
This, for me, was the highlight of the Expo. There were three challenge matches all with prize money involved, featuring two top three cushion pros, Mazin Shooni and Hugo Patino and America's two best rotation pool players, Shane Van Boening and Mike Dechaine. The first match was scotch doubles, with Patino/Van Boening vs Shooni/Dechaine. I saw some of it, but wasn't there at the end and don't know who won. In the challenge match between Patino and Shooni, Patino was the victor. In the challenge match between Van Boening and Mike Dechaine, Mike won by a score of 21-13 in about thirty innings. All four participants enjoyed it, and so did the onlookers.
Pro Events
There were three events, the men's 10-ball, the one pocket, and the women's 9-ball. The first two events ran from Thursday to Sunday and the women's event was just Saturday and Sunday.
The 10-ball
A very strong field offered a mix of very fine pool and some pretty sloppy stuff, but the cream rose to the top, offering a very credible last six of SVB, Orcullo, Hohmann, Dechaine, Kiamco and Shaw.
The last matches on Saturday night were good ones. Dechaine, who'd been knocked very convincingly to the B side by Hohmann earlier in the event drew Thorsten once again and this time, Mike won a double hill thriller. It was the second win in a row over a world 9-ball champion for Mike, as he'd beaten and eliminated Immonen to reach the match with Hohmann. Kiamco fought the good fight in his match with Shaw, but Jayson was too good in the end, so Shaw and Dechaine, the two superstars of the Joss tour, joined Shane and Dennis in Sunday's action.
Starting Sunday, it felt a lot like the 2014 US Open 9-ball, which had a final four of SVB, Orcullo, Dechaine and Nick the Greek. This time, the final four were SVB, Orcullo, Dechaine and Shaw.
Sunday's matches were all hard fought. Shaw beat Dechaine in a good one while Dennis was winning the hot seat, which brought a semifinal of Shaw vs. SVB. Shane appeared to be about to win, but went wrong on a seven ball at 9-7 and ended up losing a double hill thriller, 10-9.
That brought us a final of Orcullo vs. Shaw, a seesaw battle with a lot of good play and a stumble or two by each player. This time, it looked like Shaw would win, but he went wrong on a seven ball at double hill and it cost him the title, 13-12. Well played, Dennis Orcullo.
As for the Mosconi Cup angle, Shuff had two wins including a win over Sossei, Sossei had two wins including a win over Strickland, but he drew Shaw immediately after and wasn't quite up to the challenge, Oscar D and Skyler W both went two and out. Johnny Archer was there, and he won a couple of matches, but his form is well below the Archer of old. Deuel, if memory serves, played one pocket only. Justin Bergman won a couple of matches and is playing solid pool. As already noted, Shane and Dechaine both reached Sunday's final four, and, along with Justin Hall, who played so well in the last Mosconi, and Sossei, who was brilliant at Derby City, they are surely the most obvious members of the next US Mosconi team if playing form is what it is all about this year. Shuff and Bergman, to me, look like the best candidates for the fifth spot.
The One Pocket
A sprinkling of top pros hooked up with some strong amateurs and the amateurs held their own. The last eight included Deuel, Hall, Wines, Morgan, Kiamco, Kielar, Brown and the last player' name is eluding me. The semis were both hard fought, but Deuel outlasted Wines and Brown took down Kiamco. Brown won the final with surprising ease, a rare Cinderella story. Well done!
The Nine Ball
The ladies event brought a weaker than usual field and the inexplicably long races to ten ensured that the matches took forever (Saturday night's play went past 4:00 AM). Previous winners Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Jeanette Lee, and Karen Corr were all absent, opening the door for a Cinderella story. Three ladies shone above the rest and they were Dawn Fox, Dawn Hopkins and Caroline Pao. Caroline played well to win the hot seat and Hopkins prevailed over Fox in the semifinal. In a good final, it got all the way to 9-9, double hill. It came down to a safety just slightly misplayed by Pao on the seven ball, but Hopkins still faced a very tough cut up the long rail and hit it perfectly to set up the run out that won her the title. Well played, Dawn Hopkins.
The Big Picture Regarding the Pro Events
The pro events were very poorly run, with table assignments a mess, scheduling a horror show, and the way the room was set up was pretty ridiculous. If you didn't have a VIP seat ($20 cost per session), you could only see half of the matches, and if you did, there just weren't enough seats for everybody in the VIP section. Table assignments were never preannounced, so you couldn't even plan your seating in advance. From a fan's standpoint, the event was not a good one.
On the Side
The strange, inefficient, way in which the tournaments were coordinated offered the pros a lot of downtime, and many of them looked for action in their downtime. Among the more amusing action propositions came at the breaking booth, where breaks were measured on the radar gun. A fellow whose name escapes me has a very strong one handed break and he bet Mike Dechaine getting a spot of 5 mph on the wire. The best break out of five would be the only one that would count. After a 25.9 mph one handed break by his opponent , Dechaine had to come up with 31 mph to win and he did 32.1 mph to take down the bet. Mike next bet that, given twelve attempts, he could hit a 35 mph break, with an agreement that the break would count even if he fouled. He hit a 36.1 mph break on his third attempt to win that bet.
Socially
I brought a non-pool playing friend of mine with me on Thursday and she enjoyed it very much. I caught up with many pool friends and if I saw you, it was a pleasure. The social highlight for me surely came on Sunday night when I went out for a steak dinner with Jerry Briesath, Scott Lee and Jamison Neu.
Conclusion
On the whole, I found the event disappointing. The poor setup and coordination of the pro events ruined things for me, as the pro events are what I'm there for. Still, the expo was nice and the three cushion was great fun. The food was pretty bad, as is usually the case at the expo. Thanks to all who made the expo happen, but I, for one, was not very impressed.
The Expo
I've never been much if an enthusiast for the game's equipment but I stilled checked out the cues and the tables and the cases which all seemed nice. If you went to the Expo to shop, there was plenty to look at and buy.
The Amateur Competition
Over the four days, I didn't watch any of the play on the bar tables. I've never been much of a fan of bar table pool.
The Three Cushion
This, for me, was the highlight of the Expo. There were three challenge matches all with prize money involved, featuring two top three cushion pros, Mazin Shooni and Hugo Patino and America's two best rotation pool players, Shane Van Boening and Mike Dechaine. The first match was scotch doubles, with Patino/Van Boening vs Shooni/Dechaine. I saw some of it, but wasn't there at the end and don't know who won. In the challenge match between Patino and Shooni, Patino was the victor. In the challenge match between Van Boening and Mike Dechaine, Mike won by a score of 21-13 in about thirty innings. All four participants enjoyed it, and so did the onlookers.
Pro Events
There were three events, the men's 10-ball, the one pocket, and the women's 9-ball. The first two events ran from Thursday to Sunday and the women's event was just Saturday and Sunday.
The 10-ball
A very strong field offered a mix of very fine pool and some pretty sloppy stuff, but the cream rose to the top, offering a very credible last six of SVB, Orcullo, Hohmann, Dechaine, Kiamco and Shaw.
The last matches on Saturday night were good ones. Dechaine, who'd been knocked very convincingly to the B side by Hohmann earlier in the event drew Thorsten once again and this time, Mike won a double hill thriller. It was the second win in a row over a world 9-ball champion for Mike, as he'd beaten and eliminated Immonen to reach the match with Hohmann. Kiamco fought the good fight in his match with Shaw, but Jayson was too good in the end, so Shaw and Dechaine, the two superstars of the Joss tour, joined Shane and Dennis in Sunday's action.
Starting Sunday, it felt a lot like the 2014 US Open 9-ball, which had a final four of SVB, Orcullo, Dechaine and Nick the Greek. This time, the final four were SVB, Orcullo, Dechaine and Shaw.
Sunday's matches were all hard fought. Shaw beat Dechaine in a good one while Dennis was winning the hot seat, which brought a semifinal of Shaw vs. SVB. Shane appeared to be about to win, but went wrong on a seven ball at 9-7 and ended up losing a double hill thriller, 10-9.
That brought us a final of Orcullo vs. Shaw, a seesaw battle with a lot of good play and a stumble or two by each player. This time, it looked like Shaw would win, but he went wrong on a seven ball at double hill and it cost him the title, 13-12. Well played, Dennis Orcullo.
As for the Mosconi Cup angle, Shuff had two wins including a win over Sossei, Sossei had two wins including a win over Strickland, but he drew Shaw immediately after and wasn't quite up to the challenge, Oscar D and Skyler W both went two and out. Johnny Archer was there, and he won a couple of matches, but his form is well below the Archer of old. Deuel, if memory serves, played one pocket only. Justin Bergman won a couple of matches and is playing solid pool. As already noted, Shane and Dechaine both reached Sunday's final four, and, along with Justin Hall, who played so well in the last Mosconi, and Sossei, who was brilliant at Derby City, they are surely the most obvious members of the next US Mosconi team if playing form is what it is all about this year. Shuff and Bergman, to me, look like the best candidates for the fifth spot.
The One Pocket
A sprinkling of top pros hooked up with some strong amateurs and the amateurs held their own. The last eight included Deuel, Hall, Wines, Morgan, Kiamco, Kielar, Brown and the last player' name is eluding me. The semis were both hard fought, but Deuel outlasted Wines and Brown took down Kiamco. Brown won the final with surprising ease, a rare Cinderella story. Well done!
The Nine Ball
The ladies event brought a weaker than usual field and the inexplicably long races to ten ensured that the matches took forever (Saturday night's play went past 4:00 AM). Previous winners Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Jeanette Lee, and Karen Corr were all absent, opening the door for a Cinderella story. Three ladies shone above the rest and they were Dawn Fox, Dawn Hopkins and Caroline Pao. Caroline played well to win the hot seat and Hopkins prevailed over Fox in the semifinal. In a good final, it got all the way to 9-9, double hill. It came down to a safety just slightly misplayed by Pao on the seven ball, but Hopkins still faced a very tough cut up the long rail and hit it perfectly to set up the run out that won her the title. Well played, Dawn Hopkins.
The Big Picture Regarding the Pro Events
The pro events were very poorly run, with table assignments a mess, scheduling a horror show, and the way the room was set up was pretty ridiculous. If you didn't have a VIP seat ($20 cost per session), you could only see half of the matches, and if you did, there just weren't enough seats for everybody in the VIP section. Table assignments were never preannounced, so you couldn't even plan your seating in advance. From a fan's standpoint, the event was not a good one.
On the Side
The strange, inefficient, way in which the tournaments were coordinated offered the pros a lot of downtime, and many of them looked for action in their downtime. Among the more amusing action propositions came at the breaking booth, where breaks were measured on the radar gun. A fellow whose name escapes me has a very strong one handed break and he bet Mike Dechaine getting a spot of 5 mph on the wire. The best break out of five would be the only one that would count. After a 25.9 mph one handed break by his opponent , Dechaine had to come up with 31 mph to win and he did 32.1 mph to take down the bet. Mike next bet that, given twelve attempts, he could hit a 35 mph break, with an agreement that the break would count even if he fouled. He hit a 36.1 mph break on his third attempt to win that bet.
Socially
I brought a non-pool playing friend of mine with me on Thursday and she enjoyed it very much. I caught up with many pool friends and if I saw you, it was a pleasure. The social highlight for me surely came on Sunday night when I went out for a steak dinner with Jerry Briesath, Scott Lee and Jamison Neu.
Conclusion
On the whole, I found the event disappointing. The poor setup and coordination of the pro events ruined things for me, as the pro events are what I'm there for. Still, the expo was nice and the three cushion was great fun. The food was pretty bad, as is usually the case at the expo. Thanks to all who made the expo happen, but I, for one, was not very impressed.
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