Schmidt Scores at Reno Open

Schmidt Scores at Reno OpenBy InsidePOOL Magazine StaffAfter sailing through the winners' bracket, John Schmidt emerged victorious over Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan in the finals of the Reno Open at the Sands Regency Hotel and Casino in Reno, NV, to win 9-5. This five-day event brought some of the top players in the world to show their skills in the 202-person field.The Reno Open is a twice-annual tournament that is held in conjunction with the USPPA event, once in December and once in June. The Sands Regency has been the gracious host of both events for almost twenty years.Pagulayan was knocked into the one-loss side of the charts in the third round by Jose Parica and has fought all the way through 11 matches to emerge in the final match, with wins over players such as Dan Wallace 9-4, Chris Szuter 9-3, Santos Sambajon 9-5, Nick Kruger 9-5, "Mad Max" Eberle 9-4, and Corey Harper 9-2. Schmidt has cruised through the winners' bracket with scores over Vince Tedesco 9-4, Wei Ni 9-0, John Horsfall 9-7, Jose Parica 9-3, Chris Szuter 9-2, and Shawn Putnam 9-3.
In the hot seat match, Schmidt defeated Shawn Putnam, Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour's Player of the Year, 9-2, sending Putnam off to battle Pagulayan in the match for third place. Pagulayan, who relegated Arizona player Dan Wallace to fourth place by winning their match 9-4, had a tremendous victory there; Putnam had him 6-3 when Pagulayan won to bring the score to 6-4 and then ran the rest of the set out to win 9-6. In the true double-elimination finals, both players were unwilling to let the other gain the upper hand, and they tied at 5-all. At this point, Pagulayan began leaving some opportunities for Schmidt that he took advantage of, and with a combo on the 9 ball, Schmidt was on the hill. He broke and didn't get out, and then Pagulayan engaged him in a safety battle that went for a couple of innings each. However, Pagulayan eventually left Schmidt the out he needed, and he ran the remaining balls out to win the final match 9-5.

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