48th Annual Texas Open 9-Ball
VAN BOENING & FISHER Take Texas Open 9 Ball Titles
On the last weekend of August, the grand finale of the 48th Annual Texas Open 9 Ball Championships took place. Hosted by owners Kim and Tracy Sanders, the newly remodeled Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock, TX was the place to be!
T
he $20,000 added 9 Ball Open had an entry fee of $125. The double elimination event was races to nine and winner breaks. Using a template rack, the nine was racked on the spot with three point rule in effect. After a record-breaking players auction, the brackets were posted and play began.
Seems that Dennis wasn’t the only one in dead stroke as Shane blew though his opponent 9-2! The Women’s Division had a full field of 32 players and races to seven.
After several matches, Allison Fisher and Sakura Muramatsu battled for the hot seat. This was Allison’s first appearance at the Texas Open and she didn’t disappoint defeating Sakura 7-3 to claim her spot in the finals.
Using eighteen brand new Diamond tables, the 160 player field was whittled down by Saturday night to the final 32. A second players auction was held and when it was finished, play resumed. Two players battled their way through the very tough field to the hot seat match – Shane Van Boening and Roland Garcia. The match was all Shane as he defeated Roland 9-3. Over on the one loss side, Dennis Orcollo was in dead punch as he handily dispatched Sky Woodward and Roland with identical scores of 9-4 to face Shane in the finals. Two-time Texas Open champ Woodward would have to settle for fourth place this time and Garcia finished in third place. Good tournament, guys! As this event was true double elimination, Dennis would have to defeat Shane twice for the title. Dennis was looking to sweep both events as he had already claimed the One Pocket title in this event a few days earlier. Shane was looking to claim his second Texas Open 9 Ball title as he had previously won in 2008.
34 | Billiards Buzz • October 2021
Shane Van Boening and Allison Fisher
