2006 IPT World Open 8-Ball Championships
Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, Reno, Nevada, USA (Sept 2-10, 2006)

"The Magician" Is The World Open Champion
"The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes wins the inaugural IPT World Open 8-Ball Championships to pocket the $500,000 grand prize. He won it over "Rocket" Rodney Morris in the tune of 8-6.

The $500,000 grand prize was the biggest ever in the history of professional billiards.

Round of 6
It will be USA vs Philippines in the finals. "Rocket" Rodney Morris of Hawaii posted a 4-1 record in this round to be the first finalist. Meanwhile, living-legend Efren "Bata" Reyes posted a 3-2 record to tie Mika "The Iceman" Immonen. Reyes has a 60.0% games won record versus Immonen's 57.1%, hence Reyes earned the 2nd finals slot.

The finals match will be USA's chance for vengeance. As the Team USA was in the finals defeated by Team Philippines in the recently concluded World Cup of Pool. Morris was part of the Team USA and Reyes was part of the Philippine team.

The finals will be an almost even match owing to both players' almost similar tournament record. Rodney Morris won 195/323 (60.37%) games in 20/28 (71.43%) matches. Efren Reyes also 198/330 (60.00%) games also in 20/28 (71.43%) matches.

Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo bowed out in the Round of 6 with a 5th place finish. He earned for himself a decent $66,000 pay check.

Round of 18 (Round 5)
It was a tough day for the Philippine Team. Django Bustamante got eliminated after being perfect in the first 4 rounds of elimination. Everyone in the team struggled to make it through. Reigning Philippine 9-Ball Champion, Alex Pagulayan, also failed to move on.

Efren Reyes and Dennis Orcullo will be representing the Philippines and Asia in a seemingly world war casting of the Final 6 (33.33%). There are 2 representatives from US and Europe as well. Half of the group are also former WPA 9-Ball World Champions, namely Immonen, Ortmann and Reyes.

THE FINAL 6
1. Rodney Morris - USA
2. Mika Immonen - Finland
3. Oliver Ortmann - Germany
4. Corey Deuel - USA
5. Dennis Orcullo - Philippines
6. Efren Reyes - Philippines

Round 4 Review
Ronny Alcano, Nickoy Lining and Amang Parica are axed in the 4th round. Only 4 Filipinos will enter the next round, the Round of 18 (22.22%).

Remainders of Team Philippines:
1. Django Bustamante
2. Efren Reyes
3. Dennis Orcullo
4. Alex Pagulayan

Bustamante continues to lead the way with his perfect record.

Round 3 Review
Rodolfo Luat and Ramil Gallego are the latest Pinoy casualties. This now leaves 7 Filipinos out of 36 players (19.44%).

Remainders of Team Philippines:
1. Ronny Alcano
2. Django Bustamante
3. Efren Reyes
4. Nickoy Lining
5. Dennis Orcullo
6. Alex Pagulayan
7. Jose Parica

Two-time world number one Django Bustamante continues to lead the team with a clean slate, he now also leads the entire pack of players having the best record.

Fil-Canadian Edwin Montal also exited in the 3rd round.

Round 2 Review
Warren Kiamco, Marlon Manalo, Santos Sambajon Jr. fell by the wayside leaving 9 Filipinos out of 60 players (15.00%).

Here's a complete list of remaining Filipino players:
1. Dennis Orcullo
2. Django Bustamante
3. Efren Reyes
4. Ronny Alcano
5. Alex Pagulayan
6. Antonio Lining
7. Rodolfo Luat
8. Ramil Gallego
9. Jose Parica

Bustamante continues to lead the team with his unblemished record.

Earl "The Pearl" Strickland is one of the big names who was not able to make it to the next round.

Round 1 Review
Fresh out of a win in the inagural staging of the World Cup of Pool, Team Philippines has sent out resounding warning to all competitors. There are 12 Filipinos in a pool of 200 players, and none were eliminated in Round 1. In fact 7 Filipinos went pass Round 1 undefeated, Kiamco, Manalo, Orcullo, Reyes, Alcano, Bustamante and Pagulayan all went through unscathed.

Here's a complete list of Team Philippines:
1. Warren Kiamco
2. "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo
3. Dennis "Surigao" Orcullo
4. "The Magician" Efren "Bata" Reyes
5. Ronato Alcano
6. Francisco "Django" Bustamante
7. Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan
8. Rodolfo "Boy Samson" Luat
9. Ramil "Bebeng" Gallego
10. Santos Sambajon Jr.
11. Jose "Amang" Parica
12. Antonio "Nickoy" Lining

Filipino-Canadian Edwin Montal, who is representing Canada was able to get pass the first round too.

Thorsten Hohmann, champion of the 2006 IPT North American 8-Ball Open shockingly failed to qualify for Round 2.

There are now 12 Filipinos among 120 (10.00%) remaining players.