Strickland Defeats Ouschan at IPT World OpenEarl Strickland and Jasmin Ouschan met in the final round of the World Open 8-Ball Championship this evening, with Strickland coming away the 8-6 winner. This was easily the most anticipated match of the day, with a large, standing-room-only crowd gathered around. Neither had lost a match, so it was guaranteed that both would advance no matter what the outcome.Strickland was practicing when Ouschan approached the table for the match, and he gestured to the table to allow her to practice as well; however, Ouschan declined. “Oh, you don’t need to practice,” said Strickland as an aside. When the time came, Ouschan won the lag but came up empty. Strickland rattled his first attempt, but Ouschan missed an early solid, and Strickland took the lead at 1-0. Discuss the IPT World Open 8-Ball ChampionshipVisit the IPT World Open 8-Ball Championship Image Gallery
From there, the players seesawed through the match. Several problems with the break ensured that Ouschan was usually in the lead, though she made a couple of key errors that cost her heavily. About halfway through the match, Strickland began keeping up a running dialogue with audience members. Ouschan’s cue ball flew off the table at 5-4 her lead while breaking, and Strickland cleared to knot the score. Regaining the lead when Strickland hooked himself on his last solid in the next rack, Ouschan then missed a solid in the following game to allow Strickland to tie the score at 6-all. “Everybody’s gonna win but me on this tour,” said Strickland as he addressed his second stripe, calmly pocketing ball after ball. After breaking and running out to reach the hill 7-6, Strickland missed a very thin cut on the 9 ball down the rail after getting out of line, but Ouschan missed her first shot—the 1 ball in the side. “It’s getting hairy here at the end,” Strickland observed, studying the rack. It didn’t seem to matter much, as he picked his way through to an 8-6 victory. “You play great … but I play better,” he informed Ouschan after their match.Afterward, Strickland happily pontificated, “Well, it’s always difficult to play a woman, because they haven’t played in men’s pool a lot, and you always want to pull for them and sometimes you feel like you’re kinda alone, but I just sat there and said the heck with it, I qualified for the next round … now if it would have been to get in or something, that would have been a different story.“She’s a good young talent—I think she plays too slow and she’s hurting her own game. I think the whole game needs to speed up. That’s my opinion—take it for what it’s worth. The game’s too slow—speed it up. I think we will have more viewers and more interest.“It was a tough match—she should have won, she jumped off the table once. I don’t know what’s in store for tomorrow, I haven’t seen my draw. Guys are gonna have to play good to beat me—I’m playing good, I really think I am, even though I have come close to losing matches, I showed my experience at the end of that match … I played good today and feel good about my game. I just gotta pick my break up. I scratched a few times on her and gave her some games, but she’s a good player and pockets balls well, but she ain’t no Jean Balukas.”Ouschan reported after the match, “Well, I already saw a lot of videos about him and heard a lot of rumors about how he acts on the tables, I was prepared for it, and yeah, he’s talking a lot and making a big show but I don’t care. I mean, I try to concentrate on my game and focus.“I started out very well—I have some tough shots and had a really good stroke. I think I didn’t make so many mistakes, but I made them at the wrong time. So I think that turned the match. I’m pretty satisfied with how I played today. I’m gonna get some sleep and rest so I am full of energy tomorrow. And I am looking forward to it.“The thing is, there are not really a lot of women tournaments in Europe, so it’s mostly men, and I am always playing them, so I am prepared to play against men. But I really like it that we have such a big tour and it’s mixed so everyone can play against everyone.” Round 1 GROUP 1T. HohmannS. MooreL. JonesW. KiamcoJ. RaneyGROUP 2M. ManaloC. WilliamsS. TownsendT. KennedyR. GonzalezGROUP 3D. OrcolloN. VarnerG. AtwellM. MasseyJ. BroadhurstGROUP 4E. ReyesL. HeuwagenG. HofstatterO. BulunmazM. LeBronGROUP 5R. SouquetD. HarrimanD. BasavichE. DominguezR. KellerGROUP 6E. StalevC. MellingD. AlcoberroD. WestM. CerneroGROUP 7M. ChamatM. JuvaD. JungoK. FisherB. FriendGROUP 8D. PeachM. LohtanderS. JonesM. EberleJ. KutcherGROUP 9D. MatlockJ. SchmidtJ. KaplanJ. FuscoT. JonesGROUP 10D. AppletonP. PotierM. SchmidtA. MurphyO. AmineGROUP 11R. AlcanoS. EllerbyW. CatledgeD. AlcaideM. KennistonGROUP 12F. BustamanteR. HyblerJ. WimsM. DavisW. CraneGROUP 13A. PagulayanK. BeckerJ. KucharoC. BryantF. AlvarezGROUP 14R. DiksC. MorrisG. WatsonD. ReljicL. CarterGROUP 15G. OwenJ. YoungerA. HopkinsT. RoblesG. MathewsGROUP 16C. WuJ. MeltonC. JoynerH. ChuJ. WhiteGROUP 17L. NevelJ. WetchI. MajidS. Van BoeningT. GohGROUP 18Q. HannR. LuatJ. JonesJ. ParicaE. LauranceGROUP 19A. LiningJ. WaldenP. HarrisonS. SantlM. ManabuGROUP 20R. MartinezB. HunterM. ZimmermanK. CorrA. FrankenGROUP 21C. DeuelM. SigelH. VickeryA. WheelerH. ThornfeldtGROUP 22D. AdkinsO. OrtmannK. McCreadyL. SchwartzL. TraversGROUP 23I. PutnikT. EngertT. ChohanT. DragoZ. JakuljGROUP 24M. HillF. HernandezJ. BeckleyF. KazuoG. LeonardoGROUP 25N. FeijenT. HoaJ. CalderonA. CarvajalL. ChenmanGROUP 26E. StricklandJ. OuschanT. StormR. AcostaP. FuscoGROUP 27M. ImmonenT. FrankB. NunanR. WisemanJ. MiniciGROUP 28J. KirkwoodM. MarquezJ. MaciasV. FacquetM. WebbGROUP 29N. Van den BergB. GroceD. PascasiW. IncardonaM. GulyassyGROUP 30S. TotT. OkumuraB. JahnkeD. Di LibertoE. KellyGROUP 31A. LelyG. TakamiR. EckertP. BrienzaM. SakaiGROUP 32S. SambajonH. TakenakaL. GayB. GollonB. DaviesGROUP 33R. HundalG. BreedloveK. DavenportS. TourangeauA. CzetliGROUP 34R. MorrisL. SalvasR. MckennaL. ButeraT. EdeyGROUP 35Y. BeaufilsT. GarrahanA. FisherH. HsiaJ. Di ToroGROUP 36S. PutnamD. BroxsonS. DaultonP. HoltzB. SalehGROUP 37R. GallegoS. ButeraF. PetroniT. JudetR. MartinGROUP 38J. ArcherN. RayboneC. BartramA. ToshikawaJ. RobertsGROUP 39K. BoyesJ. ShawE. MontalR. DodsonC. ColensoGROUP 40D. HatchG. SchaarA. KlasovicJ. MillerI. RunnelsVisit the IPT for the latest news on their North American Open 8-Ball Championship.

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