2006 IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship The Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (July 22 - 30, 2006)

Hitman" Is The Champion
Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann proved to be the ultimate party spoiler for the Filipinos. He defeated "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo in the very exciting finals match-up. The two protagonists proved to be very worthy finalists, as the match went to double hill. Hohmann overcame a 7-6 lead by Manalo by tying on a game break by Manalo and then a break and runout on the final rack - final score 7-8 Hohmann.

Hohmann takes home a healthy $350,000 and Manalo should be happy with his not-so-bad $99,000 payout for coming in 2nd.

Final 6 Round-Up
The dream of having an all-Filipino finals did not materialize. Former World Pool Chapion Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann spoiled the party by defeating all Filipinos in the Final 6. Hohmann's only defeat was in the hands of fellow German Ralf "The Kaizer" Souquet.

"The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes was only able to win only 2 out of 5 matches and finished 4th in the tournament . Efren takes home $65,000.

Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo had a big chance to end up as the other finalist but he failed to win his match against Hohmann. Orcullo had another chance had compatriot Marlon Manalo defeated Hohann also. In the end, Orcullo finished 3rd in the tournament, taking home $80,000.

The finalist therefore are:

* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Philippines) [23-5 82.14%, 199-127 61.04%]

* Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann (Germany) [21-7 75.00%, 197-147 57.27%]

Statistically, Manalo has the edge, but when Manalo faced Hohmann in the Final 6, Hohmann trashed Manalo 8-1. But statistics and history should be thrown out the window as these two pool stars go at it in the finals. The Asia vs Europe, Philippines vs Germany finale will be a best of 15 games with the winner taking home a whopping $350,000.

Round 5 (Round of 18) Round-Up
This could be considered as the worse round for the Filipinos in the tournament. Hightened pressure and exhaustion due to the length tournament might be taking its toll on our campaigners. Four out of seven Filipinos were eliminated today - Django Bustamante, Alex Pagulayan, Ronny Alcano and Rodolfo Luat bos out of competition and will take home $30,000.

A difference for the day would be Efren "Bata" Reyes who seems to thrive on pressure by riding on experience. Efren swept the round, winning all of his 5 matches.

There are now only 6 players left in the tournament. It is a virtual Asia vs Europe scenario as the Final 6 is composed of 3 Filipinos, 2 Germans and a Russian.

Here is the Final 6 in order of statistics: [matches (win-loss), games (win-loss)]

* "The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes (Philippines) [20-3 86.96%, 179-112 61.51%]

* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Philippines) [19-4 82.61%, 166-100 62.41%]

* Ralf "The Kaizer" Souquet (Germany) [19-4 82.61%, 168-103 61.99%]

* Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo (Philippines) [17-6 73.91%, 174-132 56.86%]

* Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann (Germany) [17-6 73.91%, 158-127 55.44%]

* Evgeny Stalev (Russia) [16-7 69.57%, 153-114 57.30%]

Round 5 will be in a round-robin format also, top 2 players will be meeting up in the finals for a chance to win $350,000.

Round 4 (Round of 36) Round-Up
Majority of Team Philippines survived Round 4, a round which saw plenty of blue chip players bowing out of competition. There were lots of close calls, but the Filipinos won the matches that counted most. The Efren Reyes, Ronny Alcano and Alex Pagulayan got the close calls, but all won their final matches to get through. Most notable was the win of Alcano over American Hall-of-Famer, the firebrandish Earl "The Pearl" Strickland, which went to a hill-hill match that saw Strickland being eliminated off the tournament. The team did not come out without casualties though, Antonio Lining and Santos Sambajon Jr. got eliminated but they took home $17,000. In terms of statistics, Marlon Manalo still leads the tea and the entire field of competition as well.

Members of Team Philippines who are still active in the tournament: [matches (win-loss), games (win-loss)]

* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Group 81) [16-2 88.89%, 136-71 65.70%]

* "The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes (Group 79) [15-3 83.33%, 139-86 61.78%]

* Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo (Group 80) [14-4 77.78%, 139-106 56.73%]

* Francisco "Django" Bustamante (Group 80) [13-5 72.22%, 136-72 65.38%]

* Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan (Group 81) [13-5 72.22%, 127-91 58.26%]

* Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat (Group 79) [12-6 66.67%, 131-100 56.71%]

* Ronato "Ronny" Alcano (Group 80) [13-5 72.22%, 128-101 55.90%]

Blue chip players eliminated in this round aside from Strickland are Nick Van Den Berg, Alex Lely and Neils Feijen of The Netherlands, American Corey "Prince of Pool" Deuel and former World Champion Mika "The Iceman" Immonen of Finland.

Round 5 would still be in a round-robin format, top 2 players of three 6-man groups will advance. Seven of the 18-man field, that would be 38.89% of the field are Filipinos. Other countries still represented are USA (3), England (3), Germany (2), Australia (1), Russia (1) and Sweden (1).

Round 3 (Round of 60) Round-Up
Team Philippines remains strong after Round 3. Not one of the nine remaining Filipinos is booted out of this round. Most of the team has toyed with fate by losing their initial matches but came out strong in the final matches. After a very strong showing in the first few days of competition, Django Bustamante was almost eliminated after winning only two of his matches - same with Rodolfo Luat, Ronny Alcano and Santaos Sambajon Jr. The team though has taken inspiration from Efren"Bata" Reyes, Antonio "Nickoy" Lining and "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo - all of which has won all their matches in the 3rd round. Manalo now takes the helm from Bustamante in terms of leading the Filipinos in terms of statistics.

Members of Team Philippines who are still active in the tournament: [matches (win-loss), games (win-loss)]

* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Group 75) [12-1 92.31%, 100-45 68.97%]

* "The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes (Group 74) [12-1 92.31%, 103-50 67.32%]

* Antonio "Nickoy" Lining (Group 77) [11-2 84.62%, 101-55 64.74%]

* Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo (Group 76) [11-2 84.62%, 102-74 57.95%]

* Francisco "Django" Bustamante (Group 74) [10-3 76.92%, 99-48 67.35%]

* Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan (Group 76) [10-3 76.92%, 92-57 61.74%]

* Ronato "Ronny" Alcano (Group 73) [10-3 76.92%, 94-69 57.67%]

* Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat (Group 76) [9-4 69.23%, 95-68 58.28%]

* Santos Sambajon Jr. (Group 74) [9-4 69.23%, 91-76 54.49%]

Notable names who have fallen in the 3rd round are Americans Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer and Hall-of-Famer Nick Varner.

Round 4 will be in a round-robin format wherein each match is a race to make 8, and then the top 3 players from each group of 6 will advance to Round 5. Only 18 out of 36 players will make it to the next round.

There are now 9 Filipinos in a 36-man field of competition. Filipinos no equal the number of Americans remaining in the competition. The next most number of representatives left are The Netherlands and England which both has four.

Filipinos now make-up a quarter (25.oo%) of the field. Filipinos and Americans make-up half of the field.

Round 2 (Round of 120) Round-Up
Team Philippines is still making a romp. Out of 10 remaining members in Round 2, only one was not able to make it to Round 3. Gandy "YangYang" Valle dropped 3 out of 5 matches, including matches against compatriots Orcullo and Alcano. Valle takes home $5,000. Bustamante still leads the team in stats.

Members of Team Philippines who are still active in the tournament: [matches (win-loss), games (win-loss)]

* Francisco "Django" Bustamante (Group 63) [8-1 88.89%, 70-25 73.68%]

* "The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes (Group 62) [8-1 88.89%, 71-33 68.27%]

* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Group 70) [8-1 88.89%, 68-36 65.38%]

* Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo (Group 64) [8-1 88.89%, 70-45 61.21%]

* Ronato "Ronny" Alcano (Group 70) [8-1 88.89%, 70-47 59.83%]

* Antonio "Nickoy" Lining (Group 65) [7-2 77.78%, 69-37 65.09%]

* Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan (Group 69) [7-2 77.78%, 61-35 63.54%]

* Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat (Group 67) [7-2 77.78%, 67-43 60.91%]

* Santos Sambajon Jr. (Group 69) [7-2 77.78%, 69-50 57.98%]

Filipino-Canadian Edwin Montal also failed to make the cut. He dropped 4 out of 5 matches including one against Philippine Team member Santos Sambajon Jr. (who was so impressive in the 2nd round, winning all his matches)

Some big timeplayers who failed to qualify for the next round include 1995 WPA World Poll Champion Oliver "The Machine" Ortmann from Germany and Hall-of-Famer Mike "The Mouth" Sigel of the USA.

Round 3, is still in a round-robin format wherein each match is a race to make 8, and then the top 3 players from each group of 5 will advance to Round 4. Only 36 out of 60 players will make it to the next round.

Team Philippines is down to 9 members but basic probability shows that Team Philippines now has an improved 15.00% (9-man team / 60-man field) probability of winning the tournament.

Round 1 Round-Up
Team Philippines was very impressive in Round 1. Seven Filipinos, lead by Francisco "Django" Bustamante swept their team assignments, to end up on top of their group. Overall, 10 of the original 12 were able to get into the 2nd round. Bustamante leads the team in stats.

Members of Team Philippines who are still active in the tournament: [matches (win-loss), games (win-loss)]

* Francisco "Django" Bustamante (Group 45) [4-0 100.00%, 32-4 88.89%]

* Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan (Group 42) [4-0 100.00%, 32-8 80.00%]

* "The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes (Group 45) [4-0 100.00%, 32-11 74.42%]

* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Group 46) [4-0, 100.00%, 32-12 72.23%]

* Antonio "Nickoy" Lining (Group 53) [4-0 100.00%, 32-13 71.11%]

* Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo (Group 48) [4-0 100.00%, 32-16 66.67%]

* Ronny Alcano (Group 48) [4-0 100.00%, 32-21 60.38%]

* Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat (Group 53) [3-1 100.00%, 31-17 64.58%]

* Gandy "YangYang" Valle (Group 48) [2-2 50.00%, 27-21 56.25%]

* Santos Sambajon Jr. (Group 57) [2-2 50.00%, 29-27 51.79%]

Some unblemished records from Team Philippines would surely go though, as Bustamante and Reyes are grouped together in Group 45 also Orcullo and Alcano should face each other in Group 48.

Two Filipinos were eliminated in Round 1, Warren Kiamco had a 2-2 win-loss card to end up 4th in Group 25 while Jose "Amang" Parica had it 1-3 to end up 4th in Group 30. Both would take home $2,000. Filipino-Canadian Edwin Montal was also able to make it inin the 2nd Round to represent Canada. He had a 3-1 record and is now grouped with Santos Sambajon Jr. in Group 57.

Round 2, is still in a round-robin format wherein each match is a race to make 8, and then the top 3 players from each group of 6 will advance to Round 2. Only 60 out of 120 players will make it to the next round.

Basic probability shows that Team Philippines now has an improved 8.33% (10-man team / 120-man field) probability of winning the tournament.

Go Team Philippines!
The Philippine Team, headed by Hall-of-Famer Efren "Bata" Reyes, will embark on a fantastic quest to win the first ever IPT sanctioned tournament, the prestegious 2006 IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship. The Philippines has a 12-man team to go up and compete in a 200-man field of competitors.

Team Philippines is composed of (in bracket is their Round 1 group assignments):
* Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan (Group 4)
* "The Magician " Efren "Bata" Reyes (Group 9)
* Francisco "Django" Bustamante (Group 10)
* "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo (Group 12)
* Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo (Group 15)
* Ronato "Ronny" Alcano (Group 16)
* Gandy "YangYang" Valle (Group 20)
* Warren Kiamco (Group 25)
* Antonio "Nickoy" Lining (Group 26)
* Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat (Group 27)
* Jose "Amang" Parica (Group 30)
* Santos Sambajon Jr. (Group 38)

Another Filipino is also in contention but is representing Canada, Filipino-Canadian Edwin Montal (Group 35).

In Round 1, each group will duke it out in a round-robin format wherein each match is a race to make 8, and then the top 3 players from each group of 5 will advance to Round 2. That would mean only 120 players will make it to the next round.

Basic probability shows that Team Philippines stands a 6.00% (12-man team / 200-man field) probability of winning the tournament.