Mitch Ellerman beat Oscar Dominguez in the finals 11-8. It ended just after 2:30 AM this morning. Pretty tough to play a 192 player field in two days. We had 26 tables to play on. If I had 32 tables, I could handle 256 players.
The unheralded Mike Mitchell finished third. He is Fatboy's childhood buddy from Modesto. Eric always raves about how good Mike plays and I saw it first hand this weekend. He plays top speed pool and can play with anyone. One more "unknown" champion. If he ever shows up in your town and sneaks into a tournament, bet on him!
As for Mitch, the man (only 22) plays jam up pool. Along with Justin Bergman, Mike Dechaine and John Morra, they are the top young talent in North America today. All four of these guys can play with anyone anywhere. Even in the Philippines, they will have to bring out their big guns to deal with these young men.
Mitch just simply outclassed a very strong field from beginning to end. I was VERY impressed with his game. Big, powerful, dominating is how I would describe his play. He reminded me a lot of a young Dennis Hatch. Mitch will next be playing at the NCS tourney in Vegas this coming weekend and then back to Reno to defend his 2008 Eight Ball title.
The man is a serious player. I didn't ask him, but if he wanted a backer for ANY event, I would be glad to accommodate him. No one has to like it against Mitch. Oscar is only 23 himself and already a very talented player. I saw some deficiencies in his game though. He occasionally loses focus and misses a ball he shouldn't. This always seems to happen at critical points in his matches, while under pressure. If he can learn to deal better with pressure, he can become a champion just like his dad.
1. Mitch Ellerman $2,500
2. Oscar Dominguez 1,500
3. Mike Mitchell 1,000
4. Jose Parica 750 (certainly the best 60 year old player on the planet).
5-6. Sal Butera & Louie Ulrich 525
7-8. Max Eberle & Corey Harper 400
9-12. Ernesto Dominguez, Morro Paez, Curtis Johnson & Victor Castro 300
13-16. Justin Bergman, Rafael Martinez, Scott Frost & Ramin Baktari 200
As you can see, this was a very strong field. We paid down to 64th place.
The unheralded Mike Mitchell finished third. He is Fatboy's childhood buddy from Modesto. Eric always raves about how good Mike plays and I saw it first hand this weekend. He plays top speed pool and can play with anyone. One more "unknown" champion. If he ever shows up in your town and sneaks into a tournament, bet on him!
As for Mitch, the man (only 22) plays jam up pool. Along with Justin Bergman, Mike Dechaine and John Morra, they are the top young talent in North America today. All four of these guys can play with anyone anywhere. Even in the Philippines, they will have to bring out their big guns to deal with these young men.
Mitch just simply outclassed a very strong field from beginning to end. I was VERY impressed with his game. Big, powerful, dominating is how I would describe his play. He reminded me a lot of a young Dennis Hatch. Mitch will next be playing at the NCS tourney in Vegas this coming weekend and then back to Reno to defend his 2008 Eight Ball title.
The man is a serious player. I didn't ask him, but if he wanted a backer for ANY event, I would be glad to accommodate him. No one has to like it against Mitch. Oscar is only 23 himself and already a very talented player. I saw some deficiencies in his game though. He occasionally loses focus and misses a ball he shouldn't. This always seems to happen at critical points in his matches, while under pressure. If he can learn to deal better with pressure, he can become a champion just like his dad.
1. Mitch Ellerman $2,500
2. Oscar Dominguez 1,500
3. Mike Mitchell 1,000
4. Jose Parica 750 (certainly the best 60 year old player on the planet).
5-6. Sal Butera & Louie Ulrich 525
7-8. Max Eberle & Corey Harper 400
9-12. Ernesto Dominguez, Morro Paez, Curtis Johnson & Victor Castro 300
13-16. Justin Bergman, Rafael Martinez, Scott Frost & Ramin Baktari 200
As you can see, this was a very strong field. We paid down to 64th place.
