Sudden Death 7-Ball Begins in Baltimore

Sudden Death 7-Ball Begins in Baltimore By InsidePOOL StaffEight of the finest players in the world were invited to Baltimore, MD, to compete in the Sudden Death 7-Ball event at the ESPNZone, presented by Billiards International, Ltd. The morning and afternoon rounds have ended, leaving only four players remaining to battle it out for the $25,000 first-place prize. The format consists of two races to 7, alternate breaks, and in the case of split sets, there is a one-game sudden death tiebreaker. Allen Hopkins, promoter and player, is the referee for this event.In the first match of the morning, Danny "The Springfield Flash" Harriman and Tony Robles of New York met, with Robles coming back from a 5-4 deficit in the first set to win 7-4. In the second, however, the two traded games until it reached 5-all. Harriman broke and ran out to reach the hill, and then a position error by Robles in the following rack led to Harriman getting out to win 7-5. He won the lag for the tiebreaker and ran out the rack to move on to the semifinals.
The second match, between Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer and Alex Pagulayan, started off strong, but "The Lion" fizzled out halfway through and began making uncharacteristic errors, allowing Archer to win the first set 7-5. More mistakes in the second set by Pagulayan, who despite this played very well on the whole, led to Archer winning by the score of 7-5.Two young guns faced off in the third match, which was between John Schmidt, winner of the 2003 Reno Open in June, and Thorsten Hohmann, reigning world champion. Hohmann completely dominated the first set, while Schmidt blundered through it, and the cool German missed only one ball to win the first set 7-1. Schmidt settled down in the next set, although Hohmann seemed just as unstoppable, and the two made it a hill-hill match, with Schmidt winning 7-6. However, in the sudden death tiebreaker, Schmidt won the lag and missed a long cut on the 1 ball, leaving an opening for Hohmann to win the match.The defending champion, Francisco Bustamante, matched up with Niels Feijen in the final match of the afternoon. Feijen, who recently took second place in the Gabriels Las Vegas 9-Ball Open to Efren Reyes, seemed to have difficulty getting into the game, and soon Bustamante won the first set 7-2. The second set didn't go much better for the Holland native, who gave it a valiant effort, but Bustamante's skills at 7-ball are outstanding, and before long, the second set ended by the same score of 7-2 Bustamante.Tonight's matches will be Harriman versus Hohmann at 6:00 p.m., Archer versus Bustamante at 7:30 p.m., and the winner of those two matches will play at 9:00 p.m. Trick Shot Magic began today with four preliminary matches to determine the four players for the televised programs. Andy Segal defeated 2002 Trick Shot Magic runner-up Stephano Pelinga, Charles Darling defeated 2002 Trick Shot Magic champion Tom Rossman, Mike Massey defeated David Pearson, and Sebastian Giumelli defeated Michael Mossin. Televised matches for Trick Shot Magic will begin Thursday afternoon.Visit InsidePOOL for the latest in the sport of billiards and pool.

Pool Balls and Billiard Balls at LOW PRICES!!!

About the Author:
Inside Pool Magazine publishes billiard news. Definitive Synergy creates pool and billiard management software.