Inaugural Scotty Townsend

If you didn't know Scotty Townsend, there's a good chance you have at least heard the name.  He was a larger than life pool player and legend.  I had heard so many tales of Scotty Townsend while playing pool in North Louisiana that I wasn't sure he was even real.  Until the one day he walked into a pool room in Ruston, Louisiana.  Shenanigan's was the name of the place, no longer in business in Ruston.  The owner knew Scotty and we practically begged him to call Scotty to come up there...and he did.

Tragically, Scotty was killed while riding his motorcycle.  Being from around the Monroe/West Monroe area, The Arena Billiards in West Monroe held the Inaugural Scotty Townsend Memorial Tournament March 13-19, 2017.  There was a HUGE turnout!!

There were some big names that showed up to the tournament including:

Shane Van Boening
Dennis Orcollo
Jeremy Jones
Sky Woodward
Warren Kiamco
Billy Thorpe
Charlie Bryant


One Pocket ($1,000 entry with $5,000 added to the Calcutta)

1st - Billy Thorpe
2nd - Shane Van Boening
3rd - Evan Lunda
4th - Charlie Bryant

10-Ball Ring Game ($100 entry)

1st - Dennis Orcollo
2nd - Warren Kiamco
3rd - Johann Gonzales Chua
4th - Joshua Roberts

Open 9-Ball ($75 entry, $25 Green Fee)

1st - Dennis Orcollo
2nd - Sky Woodward
3rd - Ramil Gallego
4th - Gary Abood


Here are some pics I took during the 9-Ball tournament.

Shane Van Boening warming up.

Warren Kiamco playing right in front of where I was sitting.

Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant.  Skylar Woodward is just behind him in the b/w shirt.

2014 Accu-Stats "Make it Happen" All Star Invitational

I haven't been able to watch all the Accu-stats All Star Invitational matches...hey, some people have to work!  I did watch last night's (April 16) matches between Darren Appleton and Dennis Orcollo at One Pocket and Thorsten Hohmann vs. Shane Van Boening at Straight Pool.  It was WELL worth the money!!

Appleton vs. Orcollo One Pocket

Darren Appleton and Dennis Orcollo battled for nearly 4 hours in a race to 4 One Pocket match.  Both players looked patient and in control, with Orcollo my early favorite.  There were lots of safety moves and the first 2 games took a long time.  Neither player made many mistakes.  The only mistakes coming near the end of the set, Dennis Orcollo left some shots for Darren, which probably cost him the match.

The real highlight of the night was the last rack.  The match went hill-hill at 3 games each.  There was a 60 second shot clock, but the final rack lasted for what seemed like 2 hours.  Both players eventually battled to where they each needed just one ball to win the rack and match.  Darren out-maneuvered Dennis to get the last ball for the win, which put Appleton at a perfect 4-0 score so far in the round robin format of this tournament.

Hohmann vs. Van Boening Straight Pool

Thorsten Hohmann and Shane Van Boening squared off in a 150 point Straight Pool match.  Darren Appleton joined Danny DiLiberto in the commentator booth after defeating Dennis Orcollo at One Pocket.  Darren provided some good commentary throughout the match.

Thorsten Hohmann looked to be in control of the match early, going on a 70+ ball run before eventually missing in one of the lower pockets, which Darren Appleton mentioned several times were playing very tight on that particular Diamond table.  Shane got to the table and ran a few before also missing in the lower pocket.  An added bonus to the match was if a player ran 100 balls, he received a bonus of $500.  For every 50 balls he ran after that, another $500.  Thorsten looked to reach the 100 ball run before shooting an awkward shot down the rail, which almost looked as if he miscued.

Billy and Darren commented that Shane Van Boening really doesn't play or practice much Straight Pool, but said he will pick it up quick if he were to play and practice it more.  They also predicted he would do well at the game due to his superior pocketing ability.

Shane eventually got the score to 113 before Thorsten got to the table and pocketed the remaining 3 balls he needed to win the match 150-113.

To check the current standings, visit the Accu-Stats website.

TAR 39: The Last One

Justin Collett of The Action Report announced they would no longer be doing challenge matches between the top professional pool players.  The Action Report was started in 2007 and had put many matches together in the 7 or so years since starting.  I unfortunately only got to watch 3 matches starting with TAR37, a rematch of TAR #1 (Corey Deuel vs. Shane Van Boening).

TAR39, the last one, was a matchup of Shane Van Boening vs. Efren Reyes.  I was really looking forward to this one as they were playing One Pocket, Rotation, and 9-ball.  I was really excited to hear Rotation was being played one of the nights, since I've never really seen it played, much less by the great Efren Reyes.

One Pocket

Efren had to be the favorite for this event.  He had just gone undefeated at the 2014 Derby City Classic One Pocket event.  It was not to be.

Efren won the first game and Shane won the next two.  Efren won rack 4 to tie it at 2 apiece, but that was it.  Shane won the next 9 games and defeated Efren by a score of 11-2.  It was not clear whether Efren was tired mentally, physically, or just having a bad night, but he was missing balls and coming up short on shots.  In a rare sign of frustration from Efren, on the last rack he sold out and broke the balls wide open.

Rotation

The Rotation event was something I was really looking forward to watching Efren play.  The rules were Filipino Rotation.  Corey Deuel was commentating alongside Robert "Cotton" Leblanc for the first half of the match.  Corey understood the rules, having played before.  It was definitely interesting to watch.  If your opponent plays safe and you get hooked behind a ball, you could spot the ball and give ball in hand behind the headstring to your opponent.  It is an aggressive game.  You don't get rewarded for playing safe in Rotation.

Efren looked a little better in the Rotation event.  He got the score up 9-3 early on Shane and was out maneuvering him, but after the player break, it was all Shane.  At the break,  I believe the score was Efren-11,  Shane -9.  Efren would only win 5 more games after the break.  Shane ran some racks and generally outplayed Efren during the second half, at one point winning 6 in a row.  Final score, SVB-20, Efren 16.

9-Ball

The 9-ball match, I thought, could go either way.  I gave the advantage to Shane because of his big break, but for some reason, he didn't put together any big packs.  Shane might have put together a 2 or 3 pack once or twice and that was it.  Only once or twice did I see Shane come up dry on the break, whereas Efren broke them dry most of the time.  Again, Efren missed balls he should have made.  He even missed the 9-ball.

This match went back and forth to some degree.  They traded games in 2's, 3's, and 4's until the break.  The match was tied at 10 and that's when Shane took over.  After that point, Shane won the next 3, Efren got a couple, then Shane won 5 in a row, eventually winning the match 25-16.

My thoughts on this final TAR match...

I was really disappointed Efren wasn't playing his best.  It was painful to watch him, especially on the One Pocket night, miss balls and get out of line on several shots.  He still made some miraculous shots, but overall, he wasn't playing his best game.  I was very surprised to see Shane win the Rotation match given that he claimed to not know the game.

I know one challenge match doesn't mean a whole lot, since Efren seemed to not be playing his best, but Shane, in my opinion, has proven that he is quite possibly the best men's player right now.  He has one of the most powerful breaks...with control and he can make balls from everywhere.  In the 9-ball match, I can only remember seeing him miss 2 or 3 balls all night long.

Sad to see these TAR matches end.  I really enjoyed watching them and listening to the commentators.

TAR 38 Darren Appleton vs. Dennis Orcollo

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.

The Action Report #37. Rematch of Corey Deuel and Shane Van Boening

For those of you that don't know, online streaming of pool tournaments and matches are blowing up right now (and really over the past few years).  There are several options now for viewing tournaments and specialty matches online.  The Action Report has been putting together challenge matches between some of the top professionals in billiards.  TAR #1 was a matchup of a relatively unknown Shane Van Boening and Corey Deuel.  The match was race to 100, 10-ball, $10,000 per man.

TAR #37 is a rematch of Shane Van Boening and Corey Deuel.  It is an all-around format with the games being Friday, November 1, One Pocket, race to 8, Saturday, November 2, 8-ball, race to 30, and Sunday, November 3, 9-ball, race to 30.

One Pocket:  Friday, November 1, TAR #37 started with a One Pocket race to 8 games match.  From what the commentators said before the 8-ball match started, nether player really shot spectacular in the One Pocket challenge.  With Corey a heavy favorite to win the One Pocket round, it ended up going hill-hill and Corey won 8-7.  I did not watch this event to see how worthy the match was, but in my opinion, when two top players go hill-hill in a match, that's a battle.

8-ball:  Saturday, November 2, Corey and Shane squared off on the second challenge match, 8-ball race to 30.  The commentators predicted Shane to be the heavy favorite in this challenge and I agreed with them.  Shane crushed the balls on the break every rack while Corey opted to soft-break trying to make the head ball in the side pocket, which he did several times.  Corey even broke left-handed a few times (apparently he's been having some arm/elbow issues in his right arm).

After a delay waiting on Corey to finish his Bonus Ball match, they got right to it.  Shane won the lag and broke the balls wide open, but came up dry.  Corey ran out the first game to take the early lead.  Neither player really ran away from the other, except a few strings of break and runs by Shane.  I believe he put together a 3-pack on at least one occasion and a 4-pack once or twice.  Shane was really flustered by Corey's soft-break.  Multiple times Corey left a cluster of balls for Shane to deal with which looked more like a One Pocket table after the break, compared to Shane's thunderous break style.

It was also interesting to see how the players racked the balls.  Toward the end of the challenge, the commentators noted that after the break by Corey especially, there would be a cluster of solids together and the stripes would be together.  In this challenge, the players racked their own using a triangle rack and the only stipulation was that the 8 had to be in the center of the rack, with a stripe and solid on the bottom corners.  The commentators suspected Corey knew exactly what he was doing by racking the balls in a manner that would leave him the solids after making the 1-ball in the side pocket.

I expected Shane to really run away with this one, but due to several dry breaks where Corey would then run out, some easy misses, and the soft-break bothering him, Shane never really took control.  As expected, though, Shane did come out on top by a score of 30-24.

9-ball:  Sunday, November 3.  The final night of this challenge was 9-ball race to 30.  It looked like Shane was going to run away with it.  At one point during the match, Shane was up 22-7 and also put together a 5-pack and a 6-pack early in the match.  Corey started catching back up after the intermission getting the score to 23-18 before Shane took advantage of some misses and safety battles.

Corey had a more consistent soft-break, making the corner ball in the corner pocket, but kept getting the 3-ball froze to the 9-ball.  Shane broke fairly soft, but didn't always leave himself a good shot on the 1-ball.

The commentators and myself were amazed at the consistency that both players were making a ball on the break and leaving themselves (especially Corey, who is good at racking and breaking with the soft-break style) the same pattern almost every time.

Shane wins by a score of 30-18.

Final thoughts:

Overall, I don't think either player on any of the three nights were at the top of their game.  Corey should have and did win the One Pocket night.  Shane should have and did win the 8-ball night and it was a complete toss up, maybe with Shane a slight edge, on who would win the 9-ball match.  Both players are capable of running multiple racks of 9-ball, but it was Shane who did that the most.  Corey only put together a 3-pack.  Corey's soft-break wasn't really working for him tonight.

It was a good matchup.  Shane will face Darren Appleton in TAR #38. (*Edit:  TAR38 will feature Dennis Orcollo vs. Darren Appleton)

I will be live tweeting the match between Corey Deuel and Shane Van Boening tonight and tomorrow night.  The Action Report has set up a rematch of these 2 players from TAR #1.  This is race to 8 One Pocket (Corey won 8-7 last night, Nov. 1).  8-ball race to 30 (Nov. 2) and 9-ball race to 30 (Nov. 3).

www.theactionreport.com for live stream

Live tweets:  twitter.com/onthe9billiards

2013 US Open 10-Ball and One Pocket Championships

     The 2013 US Open One Pocket Championship is just about in the books.  64 players started the tournament and it all came down to Corey Deuel from the loser's side playing undefeated Dennis Orcollo.  Orcollo had blanked Corey earlier in the tournament by a score of 4-0 sending him to the loser's side to face Carlo Biado.  Corey squeaked by Biado 3-2, setting up a rematch in the final with Orcollo.  Winner side matches are a race to 4 and a race to 3 over on the loser side.
     Orcollo is up 3-2 over Deuel at the time of this writing.

     Meanwhile, the 10-Ball Championship continues into day 3.  A few of the matches were delayed due to some pretty severe storms blowing through Las Vegas which knocked out the power, suspending play on some of the matches until the next day.  A few notable matches were both Corey Deuel and Shane Van Boening losing in nail biters to Jin-Hu Dang of China, both by the score of 9-8 in a race to 9.  
     Charlie Williams also lost deep in the winner side in a close one to Denis Grabe 9-8.  Earl Strickland got knocked out of the tournament over on the loser side by Shane Van Boening by a score of 9-5.

     Someone I've had my eye on lately is Jonathan "Hennessee" Pinegar.  I saw this guy play in a tournament in my hometown several years back and he's been showing up at lot lately at the bigger tournaments.  This year at the US Open 10-Ball Championship, he lost 9-6 to Denis Grabe, but has torn through the loser side with wins of 9-1, 9-7, 9-6, 9-6, and at the time of this writing is up 7-5 over Karl Boyes of Great Britain in Round 6.