Latest tournament happenings and Mosconi Cup 2017

Hello everyone.  I have been keeping up lately with some of the tournament action.  Skyler Woodward 3-peated the Side Pocket Open in Shreveport, LA.  They have never had anyone win that tournament 3 times in a row!

Dennis Orcollo went undefeated in the West State Billiards/POV Pool West Coast Swing One Pocket tournament at California Billiards in Fremont, CA, beating opponents like Shane Van Boening, Jayson Shaw, and Alex Pagulayan.  Dennis beat Alex in the finals to win the tournament.

Also at this stop, Dennis and Tony Chohan each put up $50k for a One Pocket race to 40 match.

Vivial Villarreal smoked the field at an AWBT event recently.  The site was Main Street Billiards (Mesa, Arizona, I believe), July 8th and 9th.  Villarreal went on a tear with 7-1 wins over 3 opponents.  Sunday was much of the same with a 7-1 win and a 7-2 win.

In upcoming tournament news, the US Open 10-ball players have been announced.  The field includes (to name a few):

Shane Van Boening

Dennis Orcollo

Alex Pagulayan

Lee Vann Corteza

Justin Bergman

Francisco Bustamante

Vilmos Foldes

Ralf Souquet

Mika Immonen

Warren Kiamco

Karl Boyes

Alex Kazakis

Thorsten Hohmann

Rodney Morris

Mario He

Skyler Woodward

This tournament will be played July 17-19 at Griff's in Las Vegas.

MOSCONI CUP 2017

As of this writing, the top ten in points for the 2017 Mosconi Cup are:

Shane van Boening
Dennis Hatch
Oscar Dominguez
Rodney Morris
Billy Thorpe
Donny Mills
Hunter Lombardo
Skyler Woodward
Johnny Archer
Ernesto Dominguez

The 2017 Mosconi Cup will be held in Las Vegas.  In my opinion, having the tournament in Las Vegas will give team USA a slight chance of not getting crushed by team Europe...but I just don't see team USA winning.  Might as well start calling it the European Cup.

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 Mosconi Cup Results

Well, another Mosconi Cup has come and gone...to team Europe, again.  Being a US citizen, I had hoped for a different outcome given the fact that Team USA retooled this year and had a stronger team, in my opinion, than in years past.  Unfortunately, I did not get to watch this year's event.  I did see some video clips on YouTube and the environment there looked outright hostile.  The Europeans really get behind their players.

Although Team USA lost again, I feel as though this year's team was much better than in year's past.  The European team over the last few years has taken the Mosconi Cup very seriously by forming the team months early, practicing together, spending time together, and becoming a team focused on winning.  This is something the USA team didn't do, usually throwing the team together weeks before and never spending time together or practicing...and it showed.

This year, Team USA selected Mark Wilson as the team Captain and he handpicked eight players.  The eight potential players were:

Shane Van Boening *
John Schmidt *
Corey Deuel *
Brandon Shuff
Justin Hall *
Oscar Dominguez
Justin Bergman *
Jeremy Sossei

* 2014 Mosconi Cup team members

Team USA had a tough task ahead in this year's Mosconi Cup.  Team Europe had been dominating, winning the last 5 in a row and the last 7 of 8 Mosconi Cup tournaments.  Also adding to the fact that Team USA took a whole new approach to the 2014 Mosconi Cup, they had to travel to Blackpool, England to play on the Europeans' home turf.  Following, last year's drubbing  11-2 loss by Team Europe, Team USA had nowhere to go but up.

In the hostile environment of Blackpool, Team USA started Day 1 pretty well, ending the day with a final matchup of Shane Van Boening vs. Darren Appleton and a chance to take a one point advantage.  Darren ruined those hopes with a 5-3 victory, putting the European team ahead 3-2 at the close of the first day's matches.

Team USA started Day 2 on a high note, tying the score at 3 each, but Team Europe charged ahead to 6-3, winning 3 matches in a row before Appleton/Gray fell in the last match of the day to Deuel/Van Boening, ending Day 2 with a score of 6-4 in favor of Team Europe.

Day 3 started off with a European win to make the score 7-4.  Justin Hall beat Nikos Ekononmopoulos 5-3 to get back to within 2 points, but Team Europe was too strong and won the next 2 matches to pull ahead 9-5.

It was over quickly for Team USA on Day 4 as Team Europe only needed 2 wins to claim the 2014 Mosconi Cup and they cleaned it up in the first 2 matches.  Darren Appleton defeated Shane Van Boening 5-2 and Nikos Ekonomopoulos also defeated Shane Van Boening by the same score to once again claim the Mosconi Cup for Team Europe.

Although Team USA lost by 6 points, there were some positives in my mind.

1.  We actually formed a team vs. previous years where we just threw a team together at the last minute.
2.  We had a non-playing Captain, which I feel is important to actually have time to properly form a team, schedule practices, etc.
3.  We didn't lose by 9 points like last year.
4.  We added youth, which in time could grow as a team and hopefully win.
5.  We play next year in LAS VEGAS!!  

Hopefully this team will be able to stay together for the 2015 event, which will be held on US soil and should provide the advantage to Team USA.

We'll get them in 2015!!!

Coming on strong...Skyler Woodward

If you haven't already heard the name, let me introduce you to Skyler Woodward.  Skyler, according to his Facebook fan page, is 21 years old and is from Ledbetter, Kentucky.  I've been hearing his name more and more lately as he is starting to rack up top 5 finishes left and right.  Starting in January 2014 at the Derby City Classic, he has continued to get hot.  At the Derby City Classic, he placed pretty low in the 9-Ball Banks division at 65th, but placed 13th in the One Pocket tournament.  He won the Bank Pool Ring Game, taking home $6,000 for that win alone.

The next month, February 24 - March 2, he placed 5th in the US Bar Box Championship in Reno, Nevada, and took 3rd in the 9-Ball division.  But he was just getting warmed up...

In March 2014 he placed 5th in the Big Tyme Billiards One Pocket tournament and took home the top prize in the 9-Ball tournament ($4,000).  Later that month, he played in the White Diamond Billiards annual tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana, placing 7th.

In a unique event, Skyler took on Jesse Bowman in Wisconsin June 13 - 14 for a 9-Ball race to 100 event for $20,000!!  After the first night, Skyler was up by just 1 rack, 50-49.  On day 2, after it was all over, Skyler came out on top 100-82.  $20,000!!

July saw Skyler play in the 2014 BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships...he won it.  Rounding out the top 5 were Charlie Bryant, Oscar Dominguez, Dennis Hatch, and Greg Harada, Jr.  Stiff competition!

Lastly, Skyler just won the Smokin' Aces Bar Box Tournament...undefeated, I might add, held August 16-17, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.  Key to this win was defeating Shane Van Boening, not once, but twice!!

I predict we'll be seeing a lot of Skyler in the future!

If you would like to keep up with Skyler, you can follow his Facebook fan page.

2014 Mosconi Cup Team USA and other news

2014 Mosconi Cup Team USA News

So those of you who have not been keeping up with the 2014 Mosconi Cup Team USA news, team captain, Mark Wilson has announced the 8 players vying for the 5 member team.  The 8 players are Shane Van Boening, Corey Deuel, John Schmidt, Oscar Dominguez, Brandon Shuff, Justin Bergman, Justin Hall, and Jeremy Sossei.

Mark Wilson has been working on a practice routine to analyze player performance.  He is doing some pretty high tech stuff with video analysis on an iPad and trying to get the players together to participate in various events together to build team unity and support.

Wilson plans to announce the final team of 5 in October, probably just after the US Open 9-ball Championships.

On another note, in an article in the May 2014 issue of Billiards Digest, Johnny Archer was quoted as saying, "I'm very disappointed. I don't understand why a few of us don't even have a chance to earn a spot on the team.  I know they want to go young, but Corey and John [Schmidt] aren't young."

Here's my thoughts to that statement...STOP YOUR WHINING JOHNNY!!!  It's time for CHANGE!!  Johnny was a part of 17 Mosconi Cup teams and in my opinion, he seems like a nice guy, but only seems to care about himself.  He was team captain a few times and never organized team practices, never brought the team together...it was just "We're team USA, we're badass, and we'll show up and kick Team Europe's butt."  Guess what, Johnny, Team Europe united their team, organized team practices, and showed up to US soil and kicked OUR butts.  Change was overdue.

Other Billiard News

The Billiard Congress of America will hold it's 31st annual Summit on June 24-27.  The BCA's annual industry trade fair will return to Louisville, Kentucky, which has been the host city three times before, the last being in 1990.  The event organizers expect only 75 vendors to show up, the lowest in the 31 year history of the event, however, more on-floor events are planned and more after-hours social events.  The lack of vendors doesn't bode well for the future of the Summit, but the American pool industry seems to be in an evolving state right now.  I'm sure it will be a great event and maybe the change of venue will make future Summits better.

The U.S. Amateur Championships are coming up in November.  November 5-9, 2014 in Tampa, Florida.  The entry window is April 1 - June 15, so if you plan on entering, get signed up.  For more information, visit www.poolplayers.com/usam/

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.

2014 Team USA

Yesterday, (March 21, 2014) Team USA captain, Mark Wilson, announced the squad of 8, which will be eventually narrowed down to 5, for the 2014 Mosconi Cup tournament.  He has picked a good group of pool professionals, with some having been on past Mosconi Cup teams and some young players that have not.

The team of 8:

Name, age

Shane Van Boening, 30
John Schmidt, 40
Corey Deuel, 36
Brandon Shuff, 30
Justin Hall, 26
Oscar Dominguez, 29
Justin Bergman, 26
Jeremy Sossei, 35

Having announced the potential team members this early will hopefully give them time to evaluate the 5 guys that will best work together toward a common goal of winning the Mosconi Cup.  It has been five years since the USA won the Mosconi Cup and were getting left in the dust compared to Team Europe who worked together so much better as a team.

I feel like Mark Wilson has made huge leaps already by naming the potential team members early and making plans to pick the five based on who he feels will bring a good attitude and work ethic.  In years past, Johnny Archer was the team captain, but he also played, which I feel hurt more than helped.  Team USA also did not get together before the tournament to practice, build team unity, or put together a plan.  I feel confident that if Mark Wilson does this and brings a solid, unified team to the 2014 Mosconi Cup, even if we don't win, it will be a huge step in the right direction.

So look for Mark Wilson to narrow this squad of 8 down in the coming months before the November showdown in Blackpool, England.

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.

2014 Derby City Classic Diamond "Big Foot" Challenge

Once again the Derby City Classic held the "Big Foot" Challenge.  This is 10-ball on a 10 foot Diamond table with, I believe, 4.25" pockets.  It was an all-star lineup featuring players such as Ralph Souquet, Efren Reyes, Rodney Morris, Corey Deuel, Neils Feijen, Shane Van Boening, Dennis Orcollo, Earl Strickland, Francisco Bustamante, Darren Appleton, and more.

Each player put up $1,000 with $16,000 added.  The winner got $16,000 and 2nd place $8,000.  I did not get to watch all these matches, but I did watch online via Accu-Stats live stream Sunday night and Monday night (Semi-finals and Finals).

Neils Feijen is a beast.  He handily sent Corey Deuel packing with an opening round defeat 11-2.  He then took down Efren Reyes by a score of 11-8.  In his 3rd round match, he trounced his Mosconi Cup teammate, Ralph Souquet 11-4 to face Shane Van Boening in the Finals.

Shane Van Boening had an opening round match against Dennis Orcollo and beat him 11-8.  He then faced John Morra in a close, hill-hill match that I watched on Sunday night.  It looked like Shane would easily take him down, but with a large lead (6-1, I believe), John Morra came fighting back to eventually make it hill-hill.  Shane managed to get the win.  I also watched the Earl Strickland vs. Francisco Bustamante match.  I really had no favorite between these two, but I figured Earl would have the advantage since he likes these big 10 foot tables with tight pockets and he practices on a 10 foot table.  It wasn't meant to be for Earl.  He was playing good, but Bustamante got a few rolls and defeated him 11-7.  Surprisingly, Earl didn't have a meltdown, although he had the crowd laughing about the bad rolls he was getting.

Shane then faced Bustamante Monday night, which again looked like it was going to be all Shane as he got ahead early 7-3.  Bustamante got the score to 10-8 after Shane missed the 10-ball for the match.  Shane got the win in the next rack.  Final score was 11-8.

The Final was Neils Feijen vs. Shane Van Boening.  Yet again it looked like SVB was going to dominate the match.  Neils won the first 2 games, but SVB took over from there.  Shane won the next 6 games, breaking and running 2, 2 packs and took a comfortable lead 6-2.  Neils capitalized on a Shane miss, but in rack 10, Neils rattled the 10 leaving a tough, table-length bank for Shane.  Shane thought about playing safe, but fired the bank 10 feet down into the corner.  SVB took a 7-3 lead.  The next rack showed just how tough this Diamond 10 foot table was.  Shane got on the 10, but rattled it in the corner pocket.  He left Neils a long, but makeable shot on the 10.  Neils also rattled it, leaving a straight in shot to give Shane an 8-3 lead.

Shane got on the hill with the score 10-3, but Neils wasn't going to go down without a fight.  Shane broke dry in rack 14 and Neils ran out to make it 10-4.  Neils eventually fought to 10-7, but in rack 18 and the final rack of the match, Neils accidentally went off the 8-ball and scratched in the side pocket.  It was over then.  Shane ran out the rest of the rack to take the win 11-7.

I love watching these top players play on this big 10 foot table.  As the commentators said at one point, it really separates the men from the boys.  Banks, One Pocket, and 9-ball is still to be determined at the 2014 Derby City Classic, but after it was all said and done on the "Big Foot", Shane Van Boening is your winner.

Here is the final bracket if you would like to see how your favorite player fared.

http://www.azbilliards.com/tours_and_events/124-derby-city-classic/6069-derby-city-classic-2014-bigfoot-10-ball-challenge/brackets/59-main-event/

Can Team USA make a comeback in Mosconi Cup?

     The 2013 Mosconi Cup was hyped up in the months and weeks before the tournament started.  The United States had selected their top players, bringing back the fiery Earl Strickland, veteran team captain Johnny Archer, top US players Shane Van Boening, Dennis Hatch, Rodney Morris, and even the legendary, Buddy "The Rifleman" Hall as a non-playing co-Captain.  The all-star team was set...and they went down in the worst loss ever.  The previous worst loss by Team USA was 11-5 in 2008.

     So what went wrong?  You just about could not put together a more veteran team of professional pool players.  Each of the Team USA players are some of the best in the world.  Billiards Digest has an extensive article in the January 2014 issue which discusses in length the differences in Team Europe and Team USA's approach to the 2013 Mosconi Cup.  This, I feel, made the difference.

     Team Europe were a cohesive team.  The team Captain, Johan Ruijsink, didn't play.  He was there to coach.  He communicated with his team months before the tournament.  They collectively discussed the tournament.  They arrived together several days before the tournament.  They ate together.  They practiced together...get the picture here?

     Now let's look at Team USA.  Johnny Archer, arguably one of the best players in the US and a veteran of the Mosconi Cup tournament (16 consecutive appearances) was again team Captain.  But the difference being Johnny was also playing in the tournament and he's a pool player, not a coach.  Then there are the other players...Dennis Hatch, Shane Van Boening, who appears to be a pretty nice guy, but does seem to have an air of arrogance (just my opinion here, folks), and we all know the reputation of Earl Strickland.  Lastly, there is Buddy Hall.  I've watched some interviews online and he appears to be a super nice guy.  He's obviously a great pool player, probably one of the best ever.  Here's a quote from the Billiards Digest article by Buddy Hall when asked what he would tell the Team USA players, "I'm not going to say much.  I'm here if they need me."  It sounded like he wasn't even utilized.  Johnny Archer was reported to say that he, "couldn't speak to his players in any authoritative way as a captain, because they were all champions just like he is."  Team USA was doomed before the tournament even started.

     How can Team USA solve this problem?  It needs to start now and I believe the first step in the solution is a team coach.  No offense to Johnny Archer, but the team Captain needs to be a non-playing, motivational coach.  This coach needs to be determined...not a few months before the tournament...now. This coach needs to find a way to bring 5 of the top professional pool players together as a team.  The second and more difficult step is the team itself.  Who is going to play?  AZBilliards.com has a list of the all-time career money earners, since, at least in my mind, more money equals more tournament wins, so just for fun let's pick the team based on the top career money list.  We would have Johnny Archer, Shane Van Boening, Rodney Morris, Corey Deuel, and Earl Strickland...wait, what?  Except for Corey Deuel, this was the 2013 team!!!!!

     Is this the best way to pick the team?  Who else is there?  Continuing down the career money list let's throw some more names out there.  Charlie Williams, John Schmidt, Jeremy Jones, Mike Davis, Gabe Owen, Shannon Daulton, Tony Robles, Mike Dechaine.  I skipped a few that I'm not sure how well they play and after these names the players I'm familiar with start to rapidly dwindle.  The US has a talent problem.  There are a lot of great players in the US, but at Mosconi Cup level?  Probably not.  The talent is pretty vast in Europe and Asia since they have more tournaments and a more structured pool world.

     The article from Billiards Digest quotes Barry Hearn, promoter for the Mosconi Cup tournament, as saying, "There's no leadership in American pool.  Someone has to come up to the plate and figure out how to improve the lot.  American pool is too centered on individual needs."

     Team USA needs help and needs help fast.

 

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 Mosconi Cup Teams

The 20th Mosconi Cup Tournament kicks off December 2, 2013, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  This year will be an epic showdown.  Some of the top names in Men's professional billiards will be doing battle.  Team Europe has won five of the last six Mosconi Cup titles and the last three in a row, so the USA will be looking to bring the title back home.

Team USA

Johnny Archer (Captain)
Buddy Hall (Vice-Captain)
Shane Van Boening
Dennis Hatch
Rodney Morris
Earl Strickland


Team Europe

Johan Ruysink (Non-playing captain)
Darren Appleton
Karl Boyes
Niels Feijen
Mika Immonen
Ralph Souquet

The Mosconi Cup game is 9-Ball with various singles and doubles matches.  Assuming they follow the same rules as 2012, the rules and format can be seen here.

The tournament will be streamed live over the internet and tickets for the event can be purchased through Ticketmaster.  For more information, visit http://www.matchroompool.com/mosconi-cup

My thoughts on this year's tournament.  I believe this is the year team USA will bring the title back to the United States.  Team Europe has a really strong team, but when it comes to 9-ball, there isn't many better than Johnny Archer, Shane Van Boening, and Earl Strickland.  Not to mention the co-captain is the legendary Buddy Hall.  There's no doubt team USA is strong with Earl Strickland having recently won at Turning Stone, Johnny Archer's record-breaking 17th appearance in the Mosconi Cup Tournament and professional veteran, Rodney Morris who won the 2013 US Open 10-Ball Tournament back in July, Dennis Hatch who was on the last USA winning team in 2009 (MVP that year), and Shane Van Boening who seems to win just about everything he enters and arguably one of the best players in the world right now.

So I look for Team USA to win the Mosconi Cup in 2013.

The Decider Results. Shane Van Boening vs. Earl Strickland

Well, it's all over except Earl's rants.  Shane Van Boening swept Earl Strickland in all 3 days of pool in Helena, Montana.

Day 1 was a race to 30 in 9-ball.  Shane Van Boening won by a score of 30-20.

Day 2 was a race to 30 in 8-ball.  Shane strung together 8 racks to finish off Earl 30-22.

Day 3 was a race to 30 in 10-ball.  Shane beat Earl by a score of 30-27.

Here are some stats compiled by Pool-Trax.net

Day 1 - 9-ball

Day 2 - 8-ball

Day 3 - 10-ball

I personally did not watch this event, seriously considered purchasing the PPV live stream, but decided against it.  I would have liked to have watched Shane Van Boening run those last 8 racks on Day 2!!  Maybe it will be up on YouTube sometime.

I really like these one-on-one matchups against top professional players.  I hope many more of these types of events can be held.  Earl Strickland thinks the pros should play on 10 foot tables.  Apparently 8-ball is easier for the pros.

What do you think?

The Decider. Shane Van Boening vs. Earl Strickland

Two of the top professional pool players in the world, Shane Van Boening and Earl Strickland, are facing off this weekend in Helena, Montana in a 3-day match-up of 9-ball, 8-ball, and 10-ball.  The competition is taking place on a 7 foot Diamond bar box table and is being live streamed by POVpool.com.

Yesterday, Shane and Earl played a race to 30 in 9-ball.  Shane Van Boening won the match by a score of 30-20.  Today, the action took place at 1 p.m. Pacific/4 p.m. Eastern and once again, Shane Van Boening came out on top by a score of 30-22.  Shane found his break towards the end of the match and strung together 8 racks to finish off Earl.

Tomorrow, (August 4, 2013) the action starts again at 1 p.m. Pacific/4 p.m. Eastern with another race to 30, this time in 10-ball.

If you would like to tune in and watch live, go to http://povpool.com/decider-tickets/