U.S. Bar Table 8-Ball Nears Completion

U.S. Bar Table 8-Ball Nears Completionby Rick Davis
Starting on the heels of the 9-ball division, the U.S. Bar Table 8-Ball Championships began March 2 at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Reno, NV. After a disappointing turnout in the 9-ball field, the 8-ball field brought in a jam-packed crowd of over 200 competitors.
Like the 9-ball event, upsets began early as Gabe “The Babe” Owen was defeated in the first round by Damian Overton, and although he managed a four-match string of wins, Owen got the axe from Austin Murphy late Saturday. Current Reno Open champion Rich Orem also took a first-round loss and fell just shy of the final day’s action.
After another round more surprises were offered to the crowd as Gandy Valle was sent West, followed by Rodolfo Luat a round later. Continuing to populate the one-loss side Rafael Martinez defeated Jui-Lung Chen only to follow him over after Antonio Gabica showed him the door.
Clearing out the winners’ side, Kim Davenport defeated Walter Glass, while Ike Runnels defeated Jerry Matchin. Davenport and Runnels will now meet in the winners’ side top four. The other winners’ side pairing will be Gabica and Warren Kiamco, who, after taking the 9-ball division, is still undefeated in the 8-ball brackets.
On the one-loss side the final countdown was in progress to see whom would reach the elusive “finals bracket.” Donald Wirtman faces Glass and Josh Smith meets Matchin in two of the four one-loss-side showdowns. Wirtman had benefited from Stan Tourangeau, who chopped down most of the competition, including Sal Butera, while Ernesto Dominguez knocked out Valle, by far the toughest action on that board, then fell to Smith at the last moment.
The other two pairings of the one-loss side contain South Dakota’s Shane Van Boening versus Jeff Whitehead, and Tyler Edey versus Bill Ganne. Boening knocked out more than his share of top notch players, including Murphy, Orem, and Luat, while in the other pairing Edey strung together four matches to reach the next plateau.
With action back underway, only a handful of rounds separate the eventual winner from the title and lion’s share of the prize fund.
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