The Action Report continues to put together some nice match-ups between some of the world's best pool players. This match-up was a race to 7 One Pocket, race to 30 8-ball, and a race to 30 10-ball. I had a hard time deciding who would win the event overall. Both players shoot really strong.
Friday, January 17, One Pocket race to 7
The commentators, Jay Helfert and Robert Leblanc, both seemed to agree that the slight edge in this match would go to Dennis Orcollo. That was not the case, however. The first 2 or 3 games went fairly quickly with some mistakes by both players early on. Dennis scratched at least twice in the first couple of games and Darren left Dennis an out.
Dennis looked strong in the first game, winning 8-0, but Darren came right back in game 2 and won by a score of 8-3. Both players traded games and it seemed the player breaking was a favorite to win the match. Neither player went ahead by more than one game until late in the match when Darren Appleton started heating up and took the win 7-5.
The One Pocket match lasted right at 5 hours, but it looked like it would last much longer. In game 4, both players started off the game going -3, before Darren finally pulled out the win. Game 6 was extremely long with Darren winning 8-3 after lots of safeties back and forth.
Darren won by a score of 7-5.
Saturday, January 18, 8-ball race to 30
This was a pretty close match the entire time. Neither player got ahead by more than about 6 games. There weren't any significant packs put together, 2 here, 3 there. Toward the end of the match both players looked fatigued. The commentators mentioned Dennis Orcollo said he was tired toward the end, stating he didn't get much sleep the night before.
Overall, it was a pretty decent match. Darren was breaking from the side, hitting the 2nd ball square, which usually tied some balls together, making the outs tough, compared to Dennis who was breaking near the middle of the table, hitting the head ball square. Darren ,throughout the match, consistently ran out the tougher racks. Even though it was apparent Darren was making the tougher outs and playing better than Dennis, he never could catch back up to Dennis after he got ahead 9-1 early.
The highlight of the match came when Dennis was hooked on the 8-ball and made an extremely difficult 2 rail kick for the win. I hope that makes it to YouTube for those that didn't get to see.
Dennis won the 8-ball event 30-22.
Sunday, January 19, 10-ball race to 30
Both players were playing much better than the previous night. The commentators noted that 8-ball is a lot more mentally challenging than 10-ball and I would have to agree. The 8-ball event seemed like it lasted forever, starting at 5 pm Pacific and ending around 12 am. The 10-ball match also started at 5 pm Pacific and ended just after 11:30 pm.
It was a close match with neither player taking a large lead. It looked like Darren was going to get out to a big lead, breaking and running the first 3 racks. They tied at 15, 17, 20, 21, and 22, but from then on, it was pretty much all Darren. Darren's break was consistently better than Orcollo's pocketing balls and allowing the break and runs. Orcollo just couldn't seem to make a ball on the break and several times making a ball, but leaving himself no shot on the first ball.
Just as we thought Darren would take the match, Dennis pulls out the last 5 games when the score was 29-25 to win 30-29. An exciting last day to the 3 day event sees the match go hill-hill for all the money. What a great match-up of these two top players.
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