BCAPL UPDATE: Another Canadian Winner, Morra Wins First Match

By Erik Hjorleifson 

The action continues from the BCAPL National Championships at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. Friday marked the beginning of the 16 player invitational Pro 10 ball tournament. Play also continued in the Amateur bar able tournaments as well as the Pro/Am ten ball tournament.
 
Straight-Pool is once again pleased to announce our second Canadian winner of this years championships, Ben Liu from Calgary, Alberta. He was  the winner of the open 9-ball division which boasted over 300 players. Randy Bagot from Winnipeg, Manitoba was also in the final with Ben so we were guaranteed our second Canadian Champion of the week. Congratulations to both players and good luck to them the rest of the week.
 
In the Pro/Am 10 ball challenge, the most prestigious of the bar table events, along with the Pro/Am 9 ball challenge we have two Canadians left in the mix. Stan Tourangeau from B.C. had a nice win over Ernesto Dominguez, eventually losing to Josh Roberts. He remains in the tournament with only 8 players left and will try to fight his way back to the final today. Jason Klatt, winner of the Pro/Am 9 ball challenge, won his first three matches in the ten ball tournament eventually losing to Mitch Ellerman from Arizona, who advanced to the winners side final. Klatt remains in the tournament at the start of today and will attempt, along with Tourangeau, to make his way back to the final.

 
 John Morra from Toronto, Ontario has begun his quest in the 16 player invitational 10 ball tournament. The  format is a race to 9 round robin. Players are placed in groups of 4 with each group being comprised of a player from North America, Philippines, Asia and Europe. The player with the best match record in each group will advance to the single knockout semi final and final stages of the tournament. Morra's first match was against Ralf Soquet from Germany in which he came away with a thrilling 9-8 victory, banking in the 4 ball en route to a pressure packed run out in the deciding game. Morra is currently playing his second match against Efren Reyes.

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.

Daily BCAPL Championships and Challenge Matches Updates

BCA venue photo by Jason Klatt

By: Erik Hjorleifson

One of the most anticipated weeks in the Pool community is upon us and that is the the 2014 BCAPL International Bar Table  Championships. This series of week long tournaments includes 24 different divisions which will see play in 9 ball, 10 ball and 8 ball in women's and men's singles, teams and scotch doubles divisions. The singles tournaments are open to anybody of amateur status and pros are allowed to enter  the 9 ball and 10 ball challenge divisions. The men's open 8 ball division is the  single largest tournament in the world, boasting 1500 plus entries.

This year the amateur tournaments will also be complemented by two extremely prestigious professional  events promoted by Cue Sports International. The events are 16 player invitationals with a who's who of pool filling out the list of players. Participants will compete in a round robin format with each group being comprised of one player from Europe, North America, Asia and the Philippines. The player with the best record in the round robin stage will advance to the single knockout semi-final and final stages. There will be 8 ball and 10 ball divisions and they will be sure to be two of the most hotly contested tournaments in the history of pool.

Along with the pro tournaments, Cue Sports International will also be promoting a series of challenge matches. Below is the list of scheduled matches:

July 17 8 pm EST

Shane Van Boening vs. Ko Pin Yi
10 ball race to 21


July 21st 9pm EST

Corey Deuel and Mike Dechaine vs. Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes
Scotch doubles 8 ball race to 21

July 22nd 9 pm EST

Dennis Orcollo vs. Chang Jun Lin
9 ball race to 21

All matches, as well as the invitational tournaments, can be purchased at playcsipool.com, just click under the  events icon and follow the links.

Straight-Pool will be following all the action and we will be giving daily updates from the amateur and professional tournaments. We will  be focusing on the results from our Canadian talent and will have photo and written updates from our correspondents John Morra and Jason Klatt. Morra will be playing in the invitational pro tournaments and Klatt will be playing in the open bar-box table 9 ball and 10 ball tournaments. Stay tuned for all the results; it promises to be a great week of pool.

Some of the players we will be following, and hopefully some others who will make waves down there include:

(Maritimes) Colin Maloney

(ON) Harvey Shognosh, Pod Shognosh, Brittany Bryant, Maureen Van De Ven, Kayla Jones, John Morra.

(MB) Ryan Solleveld, Darcy Gilkes, Jason Klatt

(SK) Blaine Burns 

(AB) Kevin Osborn, Joanne Ashton, Bev Ashton

(BC) Andrea Wilson

The Korean Assassin Strikes Again on Women's Tour

Hanna Kwon, Maureen Van De Ven, Kayla Roloson. Photo by Edwidge Cavanna 

By: Markus Noé

On The Snap Billiards and Lounge in Stoney Creek, Ontario was where 19 Canadian amateur women came for a chance at a title.  This was the second $500 added event of the newly formed Billard Feminin Tour , started by player and promoter Edwidge Cavanna.

Tino Barbieri, a semi-professional player, commentator and promoter from Montreal, took to the road for the 6 hour hike to Stoney Creek to support the tour and help out where he could. Barbieri quickly noticed that the level of competition in the G.T.A was a step higher then what he saw at Le Skratch Brossard in the previous tournament. He explained his thoughts on why when he said, " I credit the higher level of play here to the VNEA competitive leagues, which most of these women play in, as well as the larger population."

Barbieri was not the only one to drive up from Quebec as three others joined him. Corrine Johnson who is from my neck of the woods Cornwall, ON, which is near the Quebec border, also made the trip. Johnson, who is an accomplished player, is coming back to the game after taking a few years off to start a family. She played well finishing 5th overall. Her only loss came late in the day, and she was forced to forfeit the tournament because she was unable to return for day 2.

Hanna "The Korean Assassin" Kwon, winner of the inaugural tournament, was in fine form again. Slaying her way to the winner side final where she met up with multiple VNEA provincial champion and veteran Maureen Van De Ven.  Van De Ven was too much for Kwon in this set and she lost her first match in two tournaments (7-4), forcing her to the losers side final.

Kwon waited patiently as the 17 year old Kayla Roloson worked her way through the losers side bracket. Roloson is a multiple top female finisher in the Canadian Junior Amateur Championship and was a two time Junior VNEA International Champion when she was 14-15 years old. She also boast a 95% G.P.A. Roloson is a bright and upcoming talent to watch out for. However Kwon, a more seasoned talent, was too much for Roloson as she dropped this set 7-3 finishing in an impressive 3rd place.

This set up a rematch between Van De Ven and Kwon. The Assassin had her back against the wall from the start of this set going down 5-1 to the veteran. However, digging in and showing a great deal of heart, Kwon battled all the way back winning 7-5. This being a true double elimination format, Kwon had to settle in for one more set. Carrying on her moment from her previous two matches, she went on to easily win the second set 7-3 to become the first back to back winner on the tour.

Kwon with her trophy

A big thank you goes out to Suzanne Peters, owner of the venue, as well as Edwidge Cavanna (Promoter), Tino Barbieri and the guy who set up the stream for all us to watch, Wayne Dwyer. Dwyer is a sanctioned referee who also streams the Canadian Championships. The next tournament will take place at Dooly's Neufchatel on August 23. More info on the upcoming events can be found on the Billiard du Canada Facebook page.

3rd Time is the Charm for Jacques Sauvé

Jaucques Sauvé winning reaction,photo by Markus Noe

By: Markus Noé

This past Saturday Rack-M-Up Billiards hosted the 5th tournament out of 8 scheduled for the second season of the Summer Series. Continuing the tradition as of late, the series saw its 5th different winner in Jacques Sauvé (7), a long time local player who has had multiple runner up finishes this year.

The day started poorly for Sauvé, losing his first match to one of the previous winners Kevin Thibeault (4). I was watching this match and saw that Sauvé was in control of most racks, however he missed four 9 ball attempts which Thibeualt converted every time regardless where it was on the table.The full table cross corner Thibeault hammered in to win pretty much summed up that first set for Jacques.

From there Sauvé began grinding out the losers side of bracket beating Platon Liolos, who ended my day early in his previous match. Sauvé continued on his pace systematically winning all his matches until he got his second chance at Thibeault in the B side final.

After dropping the first two games Sauvé began to catch form and quickly got to the hill at 6-2. However, as it happens from time to time, the case game can be the hardest to win. This proved to be true for Sauvé as he missed a 6 ball leaving an easy out for his opponent. With the scoreline 6-3 this was a was a double hill match as Thibeault only had to go to (4). Keeping his cool, Sauvé found a way to win. With another top 3 finish Thibeault was bumped up to a (5) at the end of this tournament.

Jeff Flemming, another previous winner, waited patiently in the hot-seat after cruising through all of his opponents. He was looking to be the first two time winner this year but it was not to be as some early mistakes led to a 2-0 lead for Sauvé, and he never looked back winning 7-2. Only three tournaments left to get the 4 needed to qualify for the Grande Finale that will have lots of added money and a Calcutta.

Below is a video I recorded of final few shots to have a little fun and catch the winning reaction.

Prize Money                        
Jacques Sauvé-$160
Jeff Flemming-$100
Kevin Thibeault-$60
Dave Hookimaw-$40

Quebec Update: Scotch Doubles Events Held in St. Hyacinthe

6A Winners David Deschenes & Pat Desbiens

On Saturday July 5th Dooly's St.Hyacinthe, located about 45 minutes east of Montreal, hosted two scotch doubles 9 ball tournaments. Owner Elvis Joubert, along with his friend Raphael Houde, frequently host these types of tournaments during the Montreal Federations off season. The format of this tournament was alternate break with the 9 ball not counting off the break. 

The two tournaments were played simultaneously with some players deciding to play in both. There were 11 teams  in the 6A tournament. This meant the overall ranking between the two players had to equal or less than 6A. The possible teams were A /Pro, AA/SP or AAA/AAA.  

There were top players in this event such as professionals Dany Nguyen and Ghrislain Champagne as well as AAA player Pat Desbiens, all of whom were participants in the recent Classique du Billiard in Thetford Mines. Desbiens was the winner of the 3A event in that tournament.

 On Paper, a team with two AAA's would be one of the favourites to win this tournament and in this case it turned out to be true. For the second time in a row the team of Patrick Desbiens and David Deschenes, both 3A, proved to be too strong as they left St-Hyacinthe the winners. They also took home the lions share of the Calcutta which totaled  $570. 

In the 2A there were 21 teams that showed up for a chance at the top prize. The possible teams in this division were C / AAA, B/AA and A/A. Taking third place in this tournament was the team of Patrick Pelletier and Marie-France Blanchette. First and Second were split, due to time restraints, between Pascal Roy/Bertrand Richards and Phillipe Roy/Melissa Pelletier. The prize pool was $735 plus $900 in Calcutta. 

These tournaments are very popular among the players and often well attended. It is understandable why, as they are a pool hall who caters to the players. An example of this is that all the tables will be re-clothed with tournament blue this week in preparation of the upcoming tournament season. 

I would like to thank Luc Paquette for sending me all the details necessary for this update. You may remember Paquette from his great work as one of the main commentators for the streams at the Classique du Billard. 



Payouts: 6A 1-$350,2-$155,3-$100
             2A 1-$350,2-$200,3-$105,4-$80

Big Red Instructional: Part 2 of Bridging

Hello again everybody, I had a nice ten days in Qatar for the World Nine Ball Championships. I was only able to come away with one match win but I was pleased with my performance overall, as I lost two close matches while my opponents played well. Today we are going to continue our instructional about bridging, focusing mainly on bridging from the rail.

In the first article we talked about the open bridge; before I begin today's piece I would like to clarify a statement which I made regarding the open bridge. Previously I stated that an open bridge is used on 70% of shots. I just wanted to make it clear that I meant 70% of shots that are not rail shots, in other words the cue ball is accessible from the bed of the table.

While watching some matches at the World Nine Ball Championships, I noticed a bridge that was coming up quite often, even more than I had previously realized. I call this the over the top bridge from the rail, meaning that your index finger is over the top of the cue lying on the rail.

There are three main bridges that are used when playing shots off the rail.


#1 An over the top bridge

#2 A level open bridge

#3 An off the back of the rail bridge

The first bridge you always want to look for when playing shots from the rail is an over the top bridge. Any time you are drawing a ball or playing a shot with follow at medium speed or more, this is the ideal bridge. It is actually a very easy bridge to execute.When using this bridge, make sure you bend your thumb underneath your palm to about you ring finger then place it down on the rail with the cue lying on the rail. This creates a very solid base and tight controlled area for your cue to stroke through. The second part of this bridge is the most important part of execution because this is an area where most pros and amateurs differentiate.

You want to "press" your index finger over the top of the cue, and not lie it flat over the top of the cue. This creates a tighter bridge which is always the goal for all bridges. Notice now that relative to the angle your cue is taking on the shot, you will either have two or three contact points with your cue. The three contact points are the knuckle of your thumb, the inside of your middle finger and the knuckle created by pressing your middle finger. When the cue is elevated to play draw you will usually have two points.

Note: This bridge can be used for very long distances from the cue ball and very short distances from the cue ball.

The second most common bridge from the rail is an open style bridge, mainly used for hitting balls at a pocket weight speed and when following the cue ball. It is very important to note here that although this is an open style bridge it is not the same as the open bridge used when the cue ball is in the middle of the table. The main difference is that you take your thumb away from the top knuckle of your index, which creates a type of backwards letter J shape. This allows you to again lie the cue flat on the rail, which is of the utmost importance. If you use a normal open bridge on top of the rail you will be creating an unnecessary and detrimental angle with your cue.

The third most common bridge from the rail is a bridge where you bring the back of your hand off the rail which allows you to create a type of extended rail at the same level as the actual rail. I would only suggest using this bridge on slower speed pots and pots that are lower in difficulty. Depending on the angle of the shot you might have 3 fingers as the base of the bridge or all four fingers.  Somehow this bridge can give you a little more feel but I would use it only sparingly because the back of the bridge is floating and is weaker.

Some players, particularly professionals and I, would say mostly Filipino pros will actually use a close bridge on the rail, the same as the one used on the bed of the table. But I will tell you right now that your hands have to be very flexible in order to keep the bridge low enough. They would only use this bridge when trying to power draw a ball off the rail. There are also rare situations where you will use a raised open bridge to dig into the very bottom part of the cue ball.

 In summary, look to use the three bridges that I outlined with frequency relative to the order that they were presented in. Note that the exact meticulous execution of how the bridge is formed is very important. I'll be back in couple of weeks with my next article. Finally I am very happy to announce that Canadian champion Paul Potier is now on-board with the Straight-Pool team and will also help out our readers with instructional advice.

By: Erik Hjorleifson