Update from Vegas: Klattaclysmic Performance in 9 Ball Pro-Am

Jason Klatt playing in Thailand. 

The 2014 BCAPL national championships are now underway and the winners are beginning to be crowned. Day one and two featured the 9 ball challenge, considered to be the most prestigious pro/am event along with the 10 ball challenge which starts today. Thursday also featured the Kamui challenge match between Shane Van Boeing (USA) and Ko Pin Yi (Taiwan).

Straight-Pool is proud to announce that Jason Klatt originally from Manitoba, Canada has claimed Canada's first title of this years Championships. The field in the 9 Ball Pro-Am included numerous top amateur players from the U.S. along with a many top pros including; Warren Kiamco, Dennis Hatch, Oscar Domiguez, Ernesto Dominguez and Dennis Orcollo among many  others.

Klatt had no easy path along his way to an undefeated victory. Most notably he had wins over Oscar Dominguez, Skyler Woodward and Warren Kiamco in the winners side of the draw. On the losers side Kiamco came back after his earlier loss to Jason. In the final our correspondent Jason explained to me that Warren won the lag and failed to make a ball on the break. Klatt then proceeded to run out that rack and broke and ran the next 6 racks and out! in the race to 7 winner breaks format. He played well this whole tournament as Klatt mentioned he had strung multiple racks together a few times in this tournament to close out sets.

Klatt now adds the BCAPL 9 ball challenge to his already impressive list of bar table titles which include the U.S. Bar Table 8-Ball Champion and Valley Forge pro/am champion. When Jason and I were growing up in Manitoba we traveled a lot to Minnesota, North Dakota and the surrounding area where the most popular game was bar table pool. These tournaments were very competitive and although Jason was very young at the time he did very well. I was able to pick up a couple of titles myself and still remember experiences from those training grounds when I have a chance to play on the bar table.

Other notable finishes from the 9-ball challenge;

Ryan Solleveld (mb) 65th place including a 7-1 victory over Dennis Hatch

Stan Tourangeau (BC) 33rd

Larry Wilson (BC) 49th

9-Ball Mens Open division

Darcy Gilkes (MB) 65th (300 entrants)

all results and draws can be found at ctsondemand.com

Ko Pin Yi Photo by Michael Brown

By Erik Hjorleifson

Another feature event on Thursday was the Kamui challenge match promoted by CSI. This clash was billed as a race to 21 winner breaks 10 ball. CSI brought together two young guns one from the east and one from the west. This match-up brought together arguably the two most talented players from each region. The match was tight the whole way with the score being tied at 16 before Ko pin Yi eventually pulled away for 21-17 win.

To my knowledge the only other players to ever defeat Van Boening in a challenge match setting are Earl Strickland, Alex Pagulayan and Dennis Orcollo, losses which have all been avenged. Hopefully we will be able to see a rematch between these two great players in the future.

Stay tuned to Straight-Pool as we will be back tomorrow with all the results from today's action.

Side Note: Semi-Professional Roger Miller from Ottawa, Ontario will be playing in the Final 12 of the American Rotation event. He will also be sending in updates from Vegas, we here at Straight-Pool wish him good luck and enjoy your trip.