Philippine Billiards

This BlogSite is for all Philippine Billiard fans. Most articles would be news regarding Philippine cue-artists' conquest of the world via the pool table. Ratings of top-billed Pinoy billiard players and features on budding stars would be posted too.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Filipinos Ruled The World Championship Bar Table Tournament

Gold Country Casino & Hotel, Oroville, CA
- Dennis Orcullo topped the World (9-Ball) Championship Bar Table Tournament, winning it over compatriot Jose "Amang" Parica.

On the way to the finals, Orcullo topped the qualifying rounds and then defeated American Hall of Famer, Johnny Archer, 9-3 in the semis to gain a twice-to-beat advantage.

Parica also won against Archer in the losers' bracket, setting up an All-Filipino final.

In the finals, Parica won the first game 9-7, to set-up a do-or-die game. But eventually, Orcullo prevailed winning the game 9-3.

Orcullo took home a decent $12,000 from the February 22-26 event
.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

International Pool Tour (IPT) - Good News for Philippine Billiards!

The International Pool Tour (IPT), a pool organization which sets up the very first organized big-money pool tour, was officialy launched last year. Looking forward, the establishment of the tour seems to be good news for Philippine billiards.

The IPT's slogan goes: Real Pool. Real Rules. Real Money.

REAL MONEY
Last year, Filipino cue-masters got a taste of how lucrative the pool tour can be by joining just one tournament - the 2006 IPT "King of the Hill". Filipino Hall of Fame, Efren Reyes, won the event and took home with him $200,000. Another Filipino legend, Francisco Bustamante, finished 3rd and took home $70,000. Filipino billiard star, Marlon Manalo, won for himself $60,000
for placing 4th. Jose Parica, another Filipino legend, had a mediocre showing but was still able to earn $6,500.

Aside from the big money, the IPT offers more good news for Filipino pool players.

REAL POOL
All IPT tournaments are to be played in 8-ball. This would mean that luck should be less of a winning factor, and winning should depend more on skill. This in contrast to the more popular game of 9-ball, where luck is a big factor. One can bet that many perennial World Pool Championship campaigners won't even be able to make it to qualify for the IPT just because it is played in 8-ball. But this should not be true for Filipino players, who are masters of different pool events.

REAL RULES
Aside from being played in 8-ball, the tournament rules are really only for the skillful, that even 8-ball champs would have a tough time. Tables would be slower and would have smaller pockets. Rules does not allow breaking from the side rails and the using of jump cues. Surely only the skillful players would prevail, And and there should be no lacking of pool skills among Filipinos.

All IPT events promises to be high-profile and televised and will abide by the following rules:

  • All events will be 8-Ball
  • 4 1/2 pockets
  • Slow nap cloths
  • No breaking from the side rails
  • Winners break
  • No shot clocks
  • No jump cues
  • All tournaments will be round-robin with the exception of the final match
  • All final matches will be a race to 8 with the best 2 out of 3 sets winning the match
Reyes, Bustamante, Manalo and Parica are the only Filipino players that have automatic passes for the 2006 tour. Other Filipino stars would have to go through the qualifying tournaments to join the tour.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Efren Reyes Wins The 2006 Derby City Classic One Pocket Event

Executive West Hotel, Louisville, KY - The One Pocket Hall of Famer Efren "Bata" Reyes did what was expected of him as he topped the One Pocket Event of the 2006 Derby City Classic by defeating Jason Miller 3-0 in the finals. He cashed in $11,000 for the event. It was the 4th time that Reyes joined the event, and in all 4 times he became the champ - 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006.

He was beautiful to watch in the finals. He made everything he went for, with the exception of one shot. It was described as the finest example of one-pocket in a final match by several spectators.

Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan was able to reach the semis but Reyes defeated him 3-1, he finished 3rd, with $3,400 for the event. The other finalist and eventual 2006 Derby City Classic "Master of the Table" winner, Jason Miller, got lucky by drawing a bye for the finals, leaving the 2 Filipinos to battle it out in the semis.


One Pocket
Requiring an intricate combination of strategy and finesse that all billiards players admire, One-Pocket sets a slower more deliberate pace. It is a game of chess played on a billiard table, with feints, advances, retreats and attacks. Allowed only one pocket to score points, each player must still use the entire table as his playing field, calling upon every skill, shot and ability in his repertoire. He must exhibit the patience and wisdom to protect his position and the cunning to seize opportunity immediately. This is a game that often attracts the premier players , those who with time and attention have honed their skills to a fine, overall edge. -www.derbycityclassic.com-



2006 Derby City Classic Results (Jan 6 - 14, 2006) - Filipinos Did Not Disappoint

9-Ball Event
1st Place - Ralf Souquet (GER)
2nd Place -
Rodolfo Luat (PHI)
3rd Place - Efren Reyes (PHI) & Johnny Archer (USA)

9-Ball Bank Event
1st Place - Jason Miller (USA)
2nd Place - Jason Kirkwood (USA)

One Pocket Event
1st Place - Efren Reyes (PHI)
2nd Place - Jason Miller (USA)
3rd Place - Alex Pagulayan (PHI)

"Master of the Table"
1st Place - Jason Miller (USA)
2nd Place - Efren Reyes (PHI)
3rd Place - Alex Pagulayan (PHI)

Sunday, February 12, 2006

2005 Philippine Billiard Players Ranking

Before 2006 starts heating up with cue stick action. Let's review how Filipino player's did last year by ranking them based on how the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) ranked them. Although, most of us would agree that the money list is the most important list, the WPA ranking gives us an objective view on the quite complex world of pool, since the Philippine's has yet to come up of a way of ranking it's world-class billiard players. Here's how the list went...

1. Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan
The Filipino-Canadian's best achievement in 2005 was to win the 2005 US Open. Also, he topped the Derby City Classic Ring 10-Ball and the SML Entertainment 9-Ball Championship. He finished 12th in the 2005 WPA rankings inspite ending up 11th in the 2005 Players Money List.

2. "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo
Considered as the future of Filipino billiards, the former snooker player proved his worth by winning the very lucrative 2005 Texas Hold Em Billiards, and earned himself a whopping $100,000. He also became the champion of the 2005 Reno Open. He finished 16th in the 2005 WPA rankings inspite ending up 3rd in the 2005 Players Money List.

3. Francisco "Django" Bustamante
The future Hall of Famer had a rough year. He topped plenty of minor competitions but failed to to finish strong on the majors. He landed 1st place in the Weert Open 10-Ball Ring Game, the All Filipino Billiards Open, the 2005 Masters 9-Ball Championship and the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Finale. His biggest pay day in 2005 was when he finished 3rd in the IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Shoot Out and earned $70,000. He finished 18th in the 2005 WPA rankings inspite ending up 4th in the 2005 Players Money List.

4. "The Magician" Efren 'Bata' Reyes
It was not the best year for this Hall of Famer in terms of tournaments won. He indeed won several tournaments like the Derby City Classic Master of the Table (where he ruled the Derby City Classic Bank Division, Derby City Classic One Pocket and the Derby City Classic 9-Ball), 2005 Japan Open and the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, Jakarta Stop. No easy tournaments to win, but much was expected from the one considered by many as the best ever player to ever play the game. He played very poorly in the 2005 World Pool Championship. But just when everyone already counted him out, he won the tournament that really mattered. He defeated fellow Hall of Famer Mike Sigel to win the IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Shoot Out and was able to take home a whopping $200,000. He finished 22nd in the 2005 WPA rankings inspite ending up 1st in the 2005 Players Money List.

5. Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat
* Finished 2nd in the 2005 Japan Open.
* Finished 48th in the 2005 WPA rankings.

6. Dennis Orcullo
*
Finished 59th in the 2005 WPA rankings.

7. Ramil "Bebeng" Gallego
*
Finished 67th in the 2005 WPA rankings.

8. Santos Sambajon
The California-based Filipino won the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour, Rhode Island Stop, but biggest win would be topping the Skins Billiard Championship where he took home $73,500.00. He finished 70th in the 2005 WPA rankings inspite ending up 8th in the 2005 Players Money List.

9. Gandy "Yang Yang" Valle
Yang Yang defeated, World 9-Ball Champ, Chia-Ching Wu to win the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, Singapore Stop. He finished 73rd in the 2005 WPA rankings.

10. Antonio "Nikoy" Lining
* Finished 3rd in the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, Manila Stop.
* Finished 91st in the 2005 WPA rankings.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

2005 Billiard Players Money List (Men)

Six Filipino cue-masters made it to the Top 20 of the 2005 Players Money List. The only country that topped that was USA with 7 entrants. But if one would just look at the top 10, there were 4 Filipinos who made it versus only 3 Americans. Also, doing the math, the Filipino's still out did everybody else. The list should prove that the Pinoys still dominated the world of pool in 2005. Don't worry, I already did the math! Hehe...

1. Efren Reyes (PHI)

$279,169.00
2. Mike Sigel (USA)
$250,000.00
3. Marlon Manalo (PHI)
$199,500.00
4. Francisco Bustamante (PHI)
$140,272.00
5. Chia-Ching Wu (TPE)
$109,500.00
6. Johnny Archer (USA)
$100,104.00
7. Thorsten Hohmann (GER)
$ 96,635.00
8. Santos Sambajon (PHI)
$ 89,669.00
9. Corey Deuel (USA)
$ 87,482.00
10. Mika Immonen (FIN)
$ 83,642.00
11. Alex Pagulayan (PHI)
$ 80,824.00
12. Nick Van Den Berg (NED)
$ 63,100.00
13. Fong-Pang Chao (TPE)
$ 57,500.00
14. Po Cheng Kuo (TPE)
$ 46,000.00
15. Rodney Morris (USA)
$ 44,998.00
16. Buddy Hall (USA)
$ 44,385.00
17. Niels Feijen (NED)
$ 43,200.00
18. Charlie Williams (USA)
$ 41,950.00
19. Jose Parica (PHI)
$ 40,994.00
20. Shawn Putnam (USA)
$ 39,679.00

Philippines
$830,428.00 (40.34%
)
USA
$731,777.00 (35.54%)

Taiwan
$213,000.00 (10.35%
)
Holland
$106,300.00 (5.16%
)
Germany
$ 93,635.00 (4.55%
)
Finland
$ 83,642.00 (4.06%)


Also, it shows how Asia continues to dominate the game, with the Filipinos and the Taiwanese leading the way...

Asia
$1,043,428.00 (50.68%
)
N.America
$ 731,700.00 (35.54%
)
Europe
$ 283,577.00 (13.77%)