Professor-Q-Ball's Pool & 3-Cushion News

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Professor-Q-Ball’s

Publisher/Editor Graphic Design Photographers

Rack for February/March 2016 Issue 1 • Vol XVII

☜The Derby City Classic

6/9

Alex is Master Again Shane VanBoening 9-Ball John Brumback (-Ball Banks

2016 Music City 9-Ball Open

12

Woodward, Bryant, Bergman and Winters Win

Space City Open IV

☜Orcullo goes Undefeated

20/21

2016 Wisconsin Junior State 8-Ball • BEF24 Accu-Stats 10 Ball

32

Van Boening Wins

Turning Stone XXV

36

Iceman claims $8000

Mosconi Cup • PartyPoker

38

Team Europe Wins

German Tour Champions

46

☜Ina Kaplan and Roman Hybler Tour Champions

Pool Instructional… Cue More Accurately…Mark Finkelstein Chico Billiard Academy…Jacqueline Karol Another Easy One…Robert Byrne The Victory Spirit-Heart, Mind, and Body…Tom Rossman Kicking with Purpose…Mike Roque Bank Dipsy Doodle…Tim Chin Funny Business…Tom Simpson Bar Box 8-Ball…Marty Kaczmarowski DPM Universal Pocket and Carom Billiard Systems 83…Darrel Martineau

10 14 15 15 16 17 22/23 23 40

Departments … Places to Play National Tournament Directory

33-35 45

USBA Newsletter • 3-Cushion Tacoma Elks #174 Qualifier Amazin Billiards Qualifier President’s Desk Rushville Il. Billiard Club Press Release The Shot You Never Think of…Phil Panzera Carom Cafe Qualifier Doral Billiards sends Three to Nationals Qualifier Upcoming USBA Tournaments 4 PQB February/March

26 27 27 28 29 29 30 31

Paul Frankel Gary Tate Ricky Bryant Joseph Ratke Josh Gilmore

Contributing Writers Samm Diep • Tom Simpson • Darrel Martineau • Robert Byrne • Tom Rossman • Marty Kaczmarowski • Jacqueline Karol • Ricky Bryant• Tim Chin • Mike Roque • Mark Finkelstein • Phil Panzera SPECIAL AFFILIATIONS

APA, BCA, WPBA, USBA, AZBilliards.com, ACS, TAP PQB News is a bi-monthly publication dedicated to providing pool & 3-cushion news. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. Professor-Q-Ball is not responsible for claims made by it’s advertisers. All dates, times and added tournament money is subject to change without notice. All persons interested in submitting articles for publishing consideration, are welcomed.Material submitted becomes the property of Professor-Q-Ball. Submissions may be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All advertising, articles, and photos must be submitted by the 15th prior to the issue date to be considered for the following issue.

Subscriptions Rates • $25/year PQB National Pool & 3-Cushion News 2916 Waterleaf Dr. • Germantown, TN 38138 (901) 756-2594 • Email: paul@professorqball.com Published bi-monthly. . Postmaster:Send address changes to Professor-Q-Ball, 2916 Waterleaf Dr., Germantown, TN. 38138

Advertiser Locator Atlas Billiard Supplies Billiard Pro Shop, Lakeland TN Billiardbook.com Championship Cloth Chinook 8-Ball Championship CueCube CueStik * Katana Diamond Billiards FairGame 3-Cushion Tournament Jacoby Cues Krome Billiards • Arkansas Open Longoni Cues McDermott Cues Mueller Cue Sales/Repair PQB Learning Trick Shots PQB Subscription Simonis Cloth SouthHaven Recreation Center SuperBilliardsExpo TAP• Rally in the Valley The Rack • Memphis Summer Classic Tiger Carom Cues TopRackBilliards Tom Simpson, Master Instructor Service Directory

43 42 31 19 47 23 BC 5 44 25 43 42 11 13 18 40 44 IC 17 3 41 18 37 44 46 39


18th Derby City Classic 9-Ball

T

Story/pictures pages 6-9 submitted by Ricky Bryant

he 9-Ball event started on the 6th day of the DCC with 406 players. The 9-Ball event was a Marconi Cup point’s event as selected by Matchroom Sports. The event was a race to 9, winner breaks and rack your own. The nine on the break counts. The events at DCC were no jump cue events but jumping was allowed, with a full cue, in the 9 ball and 10 ball. The reigning champion Warren Kiamco, having lost to Marc Vidal in the 5th round was eliminated by Tony Chohan in the 7th round. There were 27 players going into round 8 on Saturday, the final day of play. There were 12 players eliminated. The 11th round had 6 players remaining, Alex Pagulayan, Jefferey Ignacio and Shane VanBoening with no losses. Eliminated in this round was Jason Klatt by Pagulayan, and LeeVann Corteza by VanBoening. Also, Jefferey Ignacio got his first loss at the hand of Dennis Orcollo. Then there were 4. In round 12, Dennis Orcollo took a 6 to 0 lead over Pagulayan and looked to be cruising home when he missed. Alex took the chance to move ahead at 7 to 6 but in the blink of an eye the match was at Hill-Hill. Alex was running out when a “Fan” trying to take a picture flashed his cell phone in Alex’s face, not once but twice. With the disruption Alex missed an almost straight in shot. Dennis came to the table and sent Alex to the rebuy window and the “Fan” ran out the door, and is probably still running or hiding. In the

other match Shane VanBoening was making short work of Jefferey Ignacio putting him out. Dennis Orcollo got the bye in round 13 and Shane VanBoening faced Alex Pagulayan. It was as if Shane had faced an army of Filipino players on the last day, having eliminated in previous rounds, Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, LeeVann Corteza and Jefferey Ignacio and two more standing between him and the championship. But the “Lion” Alex Pagulayan coming off his hill – hill lost to Orcollo, took the match to double hill and sent Shane to the rebuy window. This leveled the field with 3 players remaining and everyone on their last life. Pagulayan shouting to Shane he didn’t have to re-buy, but we know he could not get that lucky. But Alex did get the bye and a free ride to the final. Shane, facing yet another Filipino champion, would come from behind to win out 9 to 7 over Orcollo, who finished in third place. The final, was set as a rematch of round 13 with Alex Pagulayan versus Shane VanBoening. Shane looked unstoppable taking the first two racks then getting a 9 on the break. Shane proceded to extend the lead to 8 to 0. But Alex showed his Lion heart, fighting back to take the next 4 racks making kicks and banks like the Pool “Gods” were on his side. Shane closed out the match to become the DCC 9 Ball Champion, his 4th.

Master of the Table

Warren Kiamco stopped Efren Reyes. Shannon Daulton’s 55th finish in the 9-ball eliminated him. Before the start of the 9 Ball finals, it was announced that Alex Pagulayan had secured his first Master of the Table. This also adds another mile stone accomplishment for Alex making him the first to hold all four of the Derby City Titles, having won the One Pocket earlier in the week and the other 2 in previous years. Congratulations Alex. Efren Reyes took second for $3,000 and John Brumback third for $2,000.

The Master of the Table points are earned in the three main events of the DCC, 9-Ball Banks, One Pocket and 9-Ball. The higher you finish the more points you receive. There was a short list of players in the hunt for the Master of the Table and prize of $20,000, Shannon Daulton, John Brumback, Justin Hall, Efren Reyes and Alex Pagulayan. Hall eliminated himself when he over slept to miss his 9 ball match and also missed the buy-back. Imran Majid stopped John Brumback’s run for the title and 6 PQB February/March


OnePocket

T

he One Pocket event started with 397 players, a race to 3 and was played over 5 days with 14 rounds of play. In the 10th round the field was down to 12 players. Nine were on one loss. Mike Davis, Shannon Murphy and Jayson Shaw were the 3 players without a loss and still holding a buy-back. The 10th round would see 4 players eliminated. Alex Pagulayan over Justin Bergman Corey Deuel over James Baraks Dennis Orcollo over Shane VanBoening Jason Shaw over Carlo Biado Round 11 was down to 8 players with Jayson Shaw having no losses and still holding his buy-back. Shannon Murphy would level the field by putting Shaw into the one loss pool. In the other elimination matches Alex Pagulayan defeated Dennis Orcollo, Corey Deuel defeated Mike Davis and Niels Feijen defeated Efren Reyes. Shannon Murphy got the bye in the 12th round moving to the semi-final. Eliminated in the 12th round were Corey

9-Ball Banks

T

he major sponsors for 9-Ball Bank were Diamond Billiard Products, CYCLOP Pool Balls and Simonis Cloth. The DCC consist of three events which were played with CYCLOP pool balls on Diamond 9 foot tables covered with Simonis cloth. The event had a field of 476 players. The event was single elimination with one buy-back option at the discretion of the player. There was a redraw every round of the remaining players after each round. The event spanned five days and fourteen rounds. There were six players going into round 12, John Brumback with no losses and Alex Olinger, Dennis Orcollo, Earl Strickland and Billy Thorpe, each with one loss. Alex Olinger eliminated Dennis Orcollo, Jayson Shaw eliminated Earl Strickland and John Brumback eliminated Billy Thorpe. There were three players remaining going into round 13. John Brumback, with no losses, eliminated Alex Olinger. Jayson Shaw got the bye and with the Brumback win the free ride to the finals.

Deuel by Alex Pagulayan and Jayson Shaw by Niels Feijen. Alex Pagulayan got the bye in the 13th round and the pass to the final, round 14. Niels Feijen ended Shannon Murphy’s run to move to the final. Even with the 60 second shot clock on the Accu-Stat table, the final day matches ran late and the final did not kick off until almost midnight with Alex Pagulayan, the defending Champion from 2015, verses Niels Feijen. Niels said he had been working on his One Pocket game and took a close first game. Alex played a fast second game to level the race to three at 1-1. The third game took over an hour and was the longest of the match. At one point Alex was leading minus 4 to minus 5, yes MINUS. Alex finally got an opening and ran a large package then only took a couple of more rounds to pull ahead 2 to 1. Alex took a big lead in the fourth game then waited for an opening to finish the match. At 2:20 AM Friday January 29th Alex Pagulayan was crowned the 2016 DCC One Pocket Champion. Brumback, undefeated and holding a buy-back, had the upper hand going into the finals. Shaw would have to defeat Brumback twice to win the event. Shaw was up for the task taking the first game 5 to 4. John came back to level the field a 1 each with a 5 to 1 win in the second game. The third game was action packed with safeties and moves. But Shaw prevailed taking the game 5 to 4 and the first to the hill. With Jason on the hill and being down 2 to 1 in a race to 3 a player holding a buyback might have decided to ease up and go for another set but anyone that knows Brumback knows he never quits. John dominated the fourth game 5 to 2 which made it a Hill-Hill match knotted at 2 apiece. John broke and made a ball then dropped 3 clean banks. Jayson missed a shot and John made another bank to get on the hill. Jayson missed again and John had an easy bank to win the match and Championship. I told John he played the fifth game like he didn’t have buyback money in his pocket and he said “I wanted to save that $50, Rick”. What a Champion and this is his third Derby City Classic 9-Ball Banks title and puts him in the running for his possible second All Around Championship. February/March PQB 7


T

his was the fourth year for the BIGFOOT 10-ball challenge which was the only Pro event at the Derby City Classic. All of the other events were Pro-am. The event started by Greg Sullivan, the owner of Diamond Billiard Products, Inc., with a vision of a Pro Tour played on 10 Foot tables. He feels the games need to be harder for true Pros and the 10 foot tables accomplish that better than tighter pockets. There were only sixteen professional players invited to compete in the event. This year the FargoRate system was the basis for inviting players. The top 12 players in the world, based on their Fargo Rating, were invited. If any of the top 12 declined, the next player on the list is invited until the 12 spots are filled (for more information on FargoRate visit www.fargorate.com). The remaining 4 were invited at the discretion of Diamond. The entry for each player was $1,000 for the single elimination event. Diamond added $16,000 to bring the total prize fund to $32,000. The event is played with CYCLOP balls on a Diamond 10 foot table covered with Simonis cloth. All of the matches were played in the ACCUSTATS Arena on live stream and will be available on DVD. This event uses a standard single elimination bracket format beginning with a random draw and was a race to 11. The event in its fourth year has only had two winners who were both in the field of 16. This was Shane VanBoening the only two time winner, 2014 and 2015, and Dennis Orcullo, 2013. The first round was played over two days, Friday and Saturday: Lee Van Corteza 11 over Ruslan Chinakhov 10 Dennis Orcollo 11 over Carlo Biado 10 Alex Pagulayan 11 over Kevin Cheng 10 Efren Reyes 11 over Darren Appleton 9 Shane VanBoening 11 over Niels Feijen 5 Francisco Bustamante 11 over Ko Pin Yi 8 Jayson Shaw 11 over John Morra 7 Skyler Woodward 11 over Justin Bergman 5 Sunday was day 3 of play and with the single elimination format the field of 16 was now down to 8. The fourth round 2 matches with results were: Jayson Shaw 11 over Skyler Woodward 4 Dennis Orcollo 11 over Lee Van Corteza 7 Efren Reyes 11 over Francisco Bustamante 7 Shane VanBoening 11 over Alex Pagulayan 4

8 PQB February/March

Jayson Shaw All players advancing out of round 2 are in the money and guaranteed a minimum of a $4,000 pay day. The match ups and results of the two semifinal matches were: (note amount is the player’s payout) Jayson Shaw 11 over Efren Reyes 8 ($4,000) Shane VanBoening 11 over Dennis Orcollo 9 ($4,000) This would set up a final between Shane VanBoening and Jayson Shaw. Shane won the lag but Shaw, “Eagle Eye”, took the first rack. The first seven racks had the breaker loosing. Jayson Shaw was breaking great with one or both of the balls on the second row going in the side. In the eighth and ninth rack Shaw put together break and runs. He had a dry break on rack ten but went on to win and then another break and run in rack eleven, going up 8 to 3. But Shane was not done taking the twelfth and thirteenth racks bringing the score to 5 to 8. After misses by both players in rack 14, Shaw extended his lead and took the final two racks to win 11 to 5. Jayson Shaw 11 over Shane VanBoening 5 Jayson Shaw became the third winner in the four year history of the event.


Truman Hogue Ring Game

he Banks Ring Game is always a fan favorite. There are 6 players who pay a $1,000 entry with Diamond adding $3000. The standard rules are in place with the following exceptions. 10 ball rack is used instead of 9. Kicks of 3 rails or more count until play is down to 2 players No safety play if more than 2 players This year a time limit of two and half hours was set The players are given 30 chips valued at $50 each. The ball value starts at $50 and increases in different racks until it maxes out at $1,000 per ball. There is a draw for shooting position and re-draws during the game. Play is continued until one player has all the chips. The winner of the ring game gets $6,000 and second place gets $3,000. The players for 2016 were: Shannon Daulton, Billy Thorpe, Skyler Woodward, Francisco Bustamante, Gabe Owen and John Morra Gabe Owen was the first casualty followed closely by Skyler Woodward. John Morra and Billy Thorpe hung in to almost the 2 hour mark. Daulton and Bustamante agreed to up the stakes to $800 a ball and to shoot out without safeties. Bustamante kept making a bigger and bigger dent in Daltons chip stacks until Dalton was all-in and Bustamante made the last Bank. But both were happier than the other 4 with Busta-

mante getting $6,000 and Daulton $3,000. When a player is out of chips he is eliminated. The first out was Billy Thorpe and Francisco Bustamante. Justin Hall was on life support but made a few to stay in. Skyler Woodward was the next to go. Daulton and Morra were shooting good and Hall was still hanging around. Shannon Daulton would pull up short next. Morra appeared ahead but Hall caught a gear to go ahead. Hall and Morra swapped chips back and forth until the value maxed at $1,000 a ball. Morra was down 6 to 3 but pulled ahead at 5 to 4. Hall finally retook the lead and went on to win the 2015 Ring Game. Hall was a past Banks Ring Game winner at the Southern Classic in Tunica, MS.

2016 Derby City Classic

8 Reyes, Efren Paid out 95 Places

T

Master of the Table 1 2 3

Pagulayan, Alex Orcullo, Dennis VanBoening, Shane

9-Ball Banks-474 players 1 Brumback, John 2 Shaw, Jayson 3 Olinger, Alex 4 Orcullo, Dennis $1,900 5 Strickland, Earl 6 Thorpe, Billy Paid out 124 Places

One Pocket-397 players 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Pagulayan, Alex Feijen, Niels Murphy, Shannon $4,000 Deuel, Corey Shaw, Jayson Davis, Mike Orcullo,Dennis

$20,000 $2,500 $2,500 $10,000 $4,800 $2,500 $1,900 $1,900

$1,725

Nine Ball 406 player

1 VanBoening, Shane 2 Pagulayan, Alex 3 Orcullo, Dennis 4 Ignacio, Jefferey 5 Corteza, LeeVan 6 Klatt, Jason Paid out 92 Places

$16,000 $7,250 $5,300 $4,000 $3,000 $3,000

Bank Ring Game-6 players 1 2

Bustamante, Francisco Daulton, Shannon

$6,000 $3,000

BigFoot 10 Ball Challenge-16 players $12,000 $6,000 $2,700 $2,700 $1,725 $1,725

1 2 3 4

Shaw, Jayson VanBoening, Shane Orcullo, Dennis Reyes, Efren

Total 2015 DCC Payouts Grand Total

$16,000 $8,000 $4,000 $4,000

$207,675 $300,475 February/March PQB 9


Chico Billiards Academy

by Jacqueline Karol • House Pro at Oais Bar & Grill Chico Ca., League Operator & Tournament Director .

ABC’s

H

ere’s an exercise I call “the ABC’s”. This is a great drill to do with someone that you are trying to teach or learn from. Throw out 3 object balls out on the table, and mark them with hole reinforce stickers so you can accurately set up the same thing and practice repeatedly. Shoot them in rotation as in the game of 9-ball, and start with the cue ball from 3 different starting positions: A, B and C. Mark A, B and C with stickers also. Cue ball position A should be where you would put the cue ball if you had ball-in-hand - your ideal angle and distance from the ball. B and C should be challenging but not unreasonable. They should be set up as longer distance, tougher shots. Discuss this with a more advanced player so you can learn their thought process and type of stroke required. This exercise makes you appreciate having the correct angle on your present shot because it affects the difficulty and ability of pocketing the rest of the balls. It also forces you to practice less than ideal angles so you are better prepared for where your opponent left you or you accidentally left yourself. Notice what your averages are in running them out each time from each of the 3 cue ball starting positions. This also helps you see where your weaknesses are. Next time you see one of these shots in a game and know you are not comfortable with it, you might decide to play safe instead, or pocket the shot in front of you and set yourself up to play safe for the next shot. Here’s an example. Position A (diagram 1) is the ideal place you would put the cue ball if you had ball in hand. It’s close to the object ball and placed on the left side of the object ball’s line to the pocket. You basically have position the entire time the cue ball is moving towards the next shot, so it is high percentage. Speed control and a little low English are all you need. Tip: you want the cue ball to hit the rail – imagine you are hitting it with just enough speed to hit the rail. The rail

14 PQB February/March

will absorb some energy giving you an even higher chance of getting the shape you want. The key to having a high average run out here is not getting too big of an angle on the 8-ball to avoid being snookered behind the 9-ball. Getting straighter on the 8 also helps you more easily draw back for a straight shot on the 9-ball. Position B (diagram 2) requires high inside (right) English.

Again, your goal is to run into the rail to get as straight as possible on the 8-ball. Practice allowing for deflection here and hitting the ball with a smooth follow through. Feel the shot.

For cue ball position C (diagram 3), it is reasonably easy to pocket the 7-ball, but getting position on the 8-ball is a lot more challenging. Shoot with high and a little inside English and go 3 to 4 rails. The key to this shot is making the cue ball hit the proper spot on the 2nd rail and shooting it hard enough to get to your target zone on the 8-ball. If you find that you are not comfortable with this shot, you may want to consider just playing safe now, or simply pocket the 7-ball with a natural rolling cue ball and play position to play safe on the 8-ball.


2016 Music City Open 9-Ball Championships Nashville, Tennessee

by Steve McDonald, Tournament Director

I

t was the 29th annual Music City Open at JOB Billiards Club in Nashville, TN held January 13-17, 2016. The event was sponsored by Budweiser, Alex Brick Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis Cloth, The AccuRack by Outsville, and Rockin’ Ray Hansen’s poolactiontv.com. Rockin’ Ray covered all the action this year via live streaming on pool actiontv.com. Check out his site at poolactiontv.com. Tournament Directors Steve McDonald and Bob Hunt had a very busy weekend, as the largest field in years showed up. A full field of 128 open division players and a field of 47 ladies division players, one short of a full field, convened at JOB’s for the competition that was held on 7-foot Diamond Smart Tables with Simonis 860 Cloth. Diamond Billiard Products provided and sponsored all new rail rubber for all the tournament tables, so the tables were playing like new. Thank you Diamond! Action got kicked-off Wednesday night with a 9-ball, race-to-7, single elimination mini tournament. A full field of 64 players entered this event and Skyler Woodward got off to a great start as he topped the field with a win and Nick Hickerson placing second. Skyler went on to win the main event also. The main tournament format is 9-ball, winner breaks, double elimination, race-to-11 in the Open Division and race-to-7 in the Ladies Division. This tournament has always been a full double elimination format, and this year the Open went the full two rounds. In the open division, Skyler Woodward came from the one loss side to double dip Shane McMinn in the finals. US Open champ Jeremy Jones came in third and Shane Winters finished fourth. We had 12 PQB February/March

two Hall of Famers to play, Buddy Hall and Johnny Archer. In the ladies division, Brittany Bryant went undefeated thru the entire tournament to beat Liz Lovely in the final with Stacie Bourbeau finishing third and Samantha Patton taking fourth. On Saturday night, it was the JOB’s legendary Midnight Madness event. This is always an action packed event. This year, due to great interest, we had two events….an A and B Midnight Madness with 8 top players in each event and with two winners of $4000 each. It is a single elimination format, race-to-11. It is a $500 entry fee, winner take all!! So that is $4,000 to each of the two champs! This year Justin Bergman won event A and Shane Winters won event B. Sadly Cue Maker Alex Brick passed away not long ago and one of the last cues Alex made, a beautiful $2000 Alex Brick Custom Cue was raffled off and given away just before the finals. The lucky winner was Robert Cole, a local JOB’s patron. Tournament Results: Open Division – 128 Players – $6000 Added 1st Skyler Woodward(top left) $4,000 2nd Shane McMinn $2,630 3rd Jeremy Jones $1,725 4th Shane Winters $1,100 5th/6th Richie Richeson / Johnathan Pinegar $790 ea Ladies Division – 47 Players – $1000 Added 1st Brittney Bryant(left) 2nd Liz Lovely 3rd Stacie Bourbeau 4th Samantha Patton 5th/6th Julie Cone / Stephanie Goens

$1,110 $765 $420 $305 $230 ea

Mini Tournament – 64 players 1st Skyler Woodward 2nd Nick Hickerson 3rd/4th Johnathan Pinegar / Josh Roberts

$550 $350 $190 ea

Midnight Madness A – 8 players Winner-take-all 1st Justin Bergman(bottom left)

$4000

Midnight Madness B – 8 players Winner-take-all 1st Shane Winters(bottom right)

$4000


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February/March PQB 25


The Iceman Immonen goes Undefeated to take Turning Stone XXV photo by Tony Fox

H

e won the first Turning Stone event, 15 years ago. On the weekend of January 7-10, The Iceman (Mika Immonen) came back from the semifinals to defeat hot seat occupant Erik Hjorleifson at Turning Stone XXV. The $25,000-added event drew 128 entrants to the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY. Though his draw through the bracket would allow Immonen to avoid competitors like (among others) Jayson Shaw (looking to chalk up his fourth straight Turning Stone title), Rodney Morris (looking for his second, overall), Johnny Archer (looking for his seventh overall title) and Mike Dechaine (looking for his second) Immonen did have to get by Brandon Shuff, and in a winners’ side semifinal, Shaun Wilkie. Hjorleifson, in the meantime, was having his own problems (all solved), including our Player of the Year, Pin-Yi Ko, Mike Davis, Mario Morra (double hill), and in the other winners’ side semifinal, Oscar Dominguez, who (looking for his second Turning Stone title since Turning Stone XIII), along the way, had sent (among others) Jeremy Sossei, Jennifer Baretta, Shaw, and Hunter Lombardo to the loss side.

Turning Stone Classic 9 Ball (left) Mike Z, Mika and 2nd place finisher Erik Hjorleifson Immonen, having earned his shot at the re-match versus Hjorleifson, took full advantage. He completed his search for a second Turning Stone title since he’d won the first one by defeating Hjorleifson handily 13-2.

The event was $25,000 added with a total prize fund of $41,400. There were 128 players (full field) 1st Mika Immonen (Fin) $8,000 2nd Erik Hjorleifson (Can) $5,000 Immonen sent Wilkie to the loss side 9-4, and in the hot seat 3rd Oscar Dominguez $3,600 match, faced Hjorleifson, who’d sent Dominguez over by the 4th Rodney Morris $2,600 same score. Hjorleifson took the first of two against Immonen, 5/6th Cheng, Yu Hsuan (Taiwan), Shaun Wilkie also 9-4, and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Immonen’s return. $2,000 each 7/8th Hunter Lombardo, Jayson Shaw $1,600 each On the loss side, Wilkie ran into Morris, fresh off a sixth, 9/12th Dennis Hatch, Mike Dechaine, Mario Morra loss-side win that had included the elimination of Jennifer (Can), Joey Cicero (Can) $1,200 each Baretta, Archer, and Hunter Lombardo. Dominguez drew Yu Hsuan Cheng, who’d just finished eliminating Dennis Hatch 9Payout paid through 32 places 7 and Shaw, 9-3. Dominguez ended Cheng’s weekend, as Morris 13/16th $850 each ended Wilkie’s. Dominguez then defeated Morris 9-2 in the 17/24th $550 each quarterfinals, before his own short-lived visit to the loss side 25/32nd $300 each came to a 9-5 end in the semifinals versus Immonen. 36 PQB February/March


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