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Thursday-Sunday 6-9 May 2010
Francisco Bustamante checks out the Championship Ring for size.
BUSTAMANTE CAPTURES FIRST WPBL BONUS BALL EVENT
The World Professional Billiard League held it's first ever event this weekend. It was a huge success for all involved. It was held in Canada at the beautiful, McPhillip Station Casino in Winnipeg. Statistically, the two best players were found battling it out in the finals. That is what tournament director Barry Bremner and owner, Larry Chiborak predicted prior to the inaugrual event, "The Super Series of Billiards".
"The game of Bonus Ball uses a scoreboard and time clock, and they operated flawlessly", stated Chiborak. "The players made a few mental mistakes due to the challenge of having to think fast on their feet, but at the end of the event, all eight players were showing why they are called professionals!" Bremner said..."Corey Deuel, who seemed at odds with the new game, came storming back on the final day, playing flawless! I was very impressed with the size of his heart. Most players would have packed it in the final day. That was not the case with Deuel. I expect Corey to be vastly improved in the next event"
"Read More..." for further details!
SUNDAY PLAY-OFFS
There was a movie in the 60’s about a gunslinger who hauled a coffin behind his horse and took out an entire force with a gattling gun hidden inside the coffin. This character was named “Django” Francisco “Django” Bustamante acted the part of gunslinger all weekend and took out anyone in his way! What an outstanding performance he put on. In a race to five, after Archer ran the first two tables to go up two games to nothing, this gunslinger won five straight to win the tournament. Here’s how today’s action played out to set up the final.
The noon match featured the fifth place finisher, John Schmidt against the 6th place finisher, Erik Hjorleifson, a “raised in Winnipeg” product. In this consolation event, Erik got a couple of bad breaks, scratching after making his object ball, once in each of the first two games, allowing “Mr 400” to go up two games to none in a race to three. After a back & forth battle, Schmidt prevailed in the third game to finish fifth in the standings after event number one. This event was a great experience for “Big Red.” "I need to practice more to bring my game up. Banking was so important this weekend.", noted Erik.
In the quarter final match up, The “South Dakota Kid”, Shane Van Boening, who finished third after the round robin portion of the tournament, was up against his Mosconi Cup team mate, fourth place finisher Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer. Johnny jumped out quickly to a one nothing lead and Van Boening won three straight, two of them in over-time, to get to the hill. Archer fought his way to the hill as well and ran out the final game to win the prize of facing Nick “The Kentucky Colonel” Varner in the semi-final.
The semi final, like the quarter final, was a race to four. Varner came back from being down seven – nothing to capture the first game nine – seven. At that point "The Scorpion" once again found his stinger and won four straight games to sideline Mr. Varner. What a great tournament Nick Varner had though. If retirement was ever really on his mind, that has been put on the back burner. Bonus Ball brought out all the skills that Varner has specialized in the past and brought him back into the spot light. Without a doubt, Nick varner was quite a show!
With the quarter final and semi final matches, Johnny had won seven of his last eight games and was on a roll! Bustamante was well rested for the final. Winning the round robin, rewarded him with a birth into the play-off finals, while Johnny had just come through some pressure situations and had a couple of barn burners to get there. Archer came out very focused in this race to five and ran out the first two games. That’s when Bustamante took over and proved to be too much for Archer on this night. Francisco was very strong from Thursday evening right through the entire event and was deserving of the win. What an amazing three and a half days of Bonus Ball and the "Super Series of Billiards was just that...super!
Mike Massey was also on hand and had a crowd everywhere that he went. The World Champion Trick Shot artist was a crowd pleaser for sure. Mike Massey was the player that convinced Larry Chiborak to use only three pockets in his game to help make Bonus Ball more challenging for seasoned players. It was a great addition to the game to great billiard entertainer.
Rick Sparling, media representative for the World Wide Sport of Billiards
The Championship Ring.
Click the poster to visit the official tournament web site.
THE SCORPION STINGS ON DAY THREE!
The Scorpion, Johnny Archer, sprung to life on Saturday, the final day for the regular round robin portion of the inaugural Bonus Ball event. With the top four players advancing to the play-offs on Sunday, Johnny came alive today after a slow start, winning only six of his first sixteen games on Thursday & Friday. Saturday’s performance was enough to edge out John Schmidt for the fourth and final play-off spot. Johnny played loose today, and played the crowd as well. The spectators and the organizers are happy to see Johnny make the final four. He is a real crowd pleaser, not to mention one very talented Bonus Ball player.
Shane Van Boening.
Shane Van Boening, fresh off a big win in the Aruba Ten Ball tournament, kept the wheels turning and after a very strong start to this event, held on enough to finish in a solid third place. Shane will play Johnny in the quarter final match at 1:30 pm on Sunday, May 9 with the winner advancing to the semi finals. Shane’s cue ball control has been nothing short of brilliant in this event to date. He is also a fast learner of Bonus Ball.
Nick Varner.
Nick Varner! There are no nick names, no puns, nothing except amazement as to how well this gentleman has learned this game so quickly. We sat in amazement as to how well he executes and despite the fact that Nick has had many faux pas over this weekend, he’s still managed a second place finish and will be waiting for the winner of Archer versus Van Boening this afternoon. I have never seen so many banks made in one day as this eight time world champion has made today. Wow! Nick woke up on Friday evening after being crushed by Charlie Williams. Nick has earned a bye to the semi-finals.
Francisco Bustamante.
Doctor Bustamante was in attendance at the clinic once again today and things went just as he had planned. Talk about putting on a Bonus Ball exhibition! One of the funniest lines of the day was when Johnny Archer was playing Francisco and said, “You already have first place locked up, you don’t have to win EVERY game you know!” The only player to split with Bustamante was Corey Deuel. For Corey it was a case of too little too late! In defense of Corey taking it on the chin in the round robin event, he was one of the better players on the final day of round robin play. "Django", by virtue of his first place finish in the round robin, earned a bye into the finals.
Corey Deuel.
Corey Deuel with John Schmidt looking over his shoulder!
Fifth and sixth place finishers, John Schmidt and Erik Hjorleifson will face off Sunday, May 9th for a consolation match at high noon. With any luck at all and a couple of shots each they’d like to take back, these players could have very easily made the final four. I guess if it’s any consolation, (pun) we’ll get to see them play again on Sunday. John made so many great shots this week end it makes you wonder how he missed out of the final four and for Erik, playing at home adds that extra bit of pressure that just made him try maybe a bit too much. Still a great player by anyone’s measure! You can go to playbonusball.com and click on the WPBL header to see the final round robin results.
Charlie Williams.
BUSTAMANTE “BUSTS ‘EM UP” ON DAY TWO!
Click the poster to visit the official tournament web site.
Dominant performance by Francisco “Django” Bustamante
The Filippino super star, very likely sealed a play-off berth for Sunday, with still a full day to go in the regular portion of the tournament. Nick Varner, who has 8 various world championships under his belt, was the only one to win a game against Django! Bustamante finished his day’s work with 11 victories out of 12 games!
Francisco’s banking ability was responsible for many of his wins on this day.
An awesome display of bonus ball!
Shane Van Boening won ¾ of his games (9/12) on day two and is sitting in second place only 5 points back of Bustamante. Great white ball control has enabled Shane to put on a clinic and finish games that most wouldn’t!
Lady luck wasn’t with the player wearing #13 on his back!
Corey “The Prince of Pool” Deuel couldn’t buy a break and time after time either scratched or left a ball hanging or just rolled an inch too far or not far enough for his next shot. Corey, uncharacteristically, never won a game during Friday’s matches.
Hometown favorite, Erik “Big Red” Hjorleifson, gave a good account of himself and rebounded nicely after being one of Bustamante’s victims. Erik had a solid day finishing in 3rd spot just 7 points back of Shane and tied with Nick Varner.
Everyone will be gunning for the 6 available play-off spots tomorrow (Saturday) and mathematically, everyone still has a chance. Since bonus ball is very much a “thinker’s game”, the players will be focused and concentration will be a key factor to determine who will advance to Sunday’s play-offs.
It’s a horse race between Archer, Schmidt and Deuel to see which one will prevail and make the play-offs. Every point is paramount at this stage.
Click the poster to visit the official tournament web site.
Click the poster to visit the official tournament web site.
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