Darren Appleton over Rafael Martinez 15-11
Efren Reyes over Parica 15-11
Ralf Souquet over Marcus Chamat 15-12
Lee Van Corteza over Shane Van Boening 15-9
Francisco Bustamante over Hennesse 15-7
Mika Immonen over Hillbilly Charlie Bryant 15-11
Stevie Moore over Corey Duel 15-7
Morra over Dechaine 15-11
The eight winners play again tonite at Midnite. The brackets look just like what you see above. Ralf vs. Efren etc. Winners tonite are guaranteed $2,500.

Highlights last night – Francisco played a fantastic match, nearly flawless. Lee Van may have been the second most impressive (he’s got Shane’s number). Mika and Charley had a real battle, so did Darren and Rafael (who still makes the most spectacular shots of anyone). Jose and Efren match was also hard fought (still battling for supremacy after three decades+). Matches all lasted two and half hours or more. Ralf vs. Marcus the longest, over three and a half hours. Corey may have played the worst match, totally out of synch, miss miss miss.

Interesting, not one hill-hill match. 15-12 was the closest. They’ll be closer tonite, my prediction.

One final comment – Maybe the best display of pool talent in one room, all playing at the same time, ever assembled! The place was packed and they were hanging off the walls trying to see. I had trouble finding a seat.
~ Jay Helfert

——————————————

Email me at info@ this domain with any details or post it to that AZB forum thread.

Article HERE.

While I’m no fan of the FTC or the FDA for that matter, it seems karma might have found its gloves in this case.

And for those that are wondering, the debt hasn’t been paid in my mind. Not only were the participants not given the 4 tournaments & 2nd year possibility they were guaranteed, but more importantly many qualifiers paid thousands to try to get into something that didn’t happen. i.e. The 2nd HUGE season.

There is a critical difference between ambitions and promises.  Men with itegrity know it.

Discussion HERE.

Discussion is HERE:

Tony Sorto demonstrates a perfect run out in Honduran Pool, a version of what was called Chicago Pocket Billiards long ago, which somehow became the basis of the versions of pool played throughout Latin America.

The original rules of Chicago Pocket Billiards can be found on page 36 of this pdf file.

Discussion of the Video is HERE.

A description of the video and the shots played is pasted below, from FastMikie’s  youtube description.

For the first time ever, recorded on video!

Something extraordinary happened at FastMikie’s Fun House today. And I got it on video! Tony Sorto (“El Maestro”) did in fact run a perfect rack at Honduran rotation pool.

Honduran rotation is extremely challenging, and is the ONLY game they play in Honduras, the birthplace of Tony Sorto.

It starts with the 1-ball on the foot spot, and the other 14 balls frozen on the rails in ascending order, as you see in the video. The game requires a wide range of skills including banks, combinations, as well as pinpoint accuracy and extraordinary touch.

This is the first time a perfectly run rack has been recorded on video. Yes, it is that challenging! Try it!

1. The one ball is a natural spot shot, from behind the head string, but positioned so that the cue ball falls onto the inside edge of the 3-ball, bumping it just off the rail. This sets up a later bump on the 6. That’s right, on this opening shot we are playing 6 balls ahead!

2. The 2-ball is easily enough pocketed but the flawlessly played strategic draw into a bump on the 6-ball is a key setup in the run.

3. The 3-ball is easy only because the play on the 1-ball popped it out. In this shot, Sorto gives a good bit of inside english to kill the travel, avoiding trouble with the side pocket and offering shape on the 4-ball.

4. The shot on the 4-ball is classic Sorto. Gobs of inside english, with a rail-first hit on the 4-ball cause the cue ball to go downtable under the 15 ball, and then back uptable in a most unexpected display of control and touch, delivering the cue ball to the 5-ball.

5. The 5-ball is relatively simple because of the spectacular position off the 4-ball, and because the 6-ball is waiting near the side pocket, thanks to the perfect shot on the 2-ball. It seems as if there is some Grand Plan going on here, and there is!

6. The 6-ball is so simple, but remember that this easy 6-ball was set up earlier by a shot on the 2-ball. Now it may become clearer that this game is quite a bit more than it appears.

7. Sorto is heard to speak for the second time in this video when he says “Not what I wanted, but I’ll take what I get.” And then he proceeds to lay the object ball cross corner with such confidence that he doesn’t even watch the lazy slow roll to the hole. Sorto stays down through it all, with utter confidence that it will drop.

8. The 8-ball is a combination on the 9-ball, and he left himself perfect on it with his spectacular shot on the 7-ball. He sinks the combination and the cue ball follows to the head rail and back out for the bank on the 8-ball.

9. The 8-ball is banked almost nonchalantly, surprisingly gently, coming off the rail for natural shape on the 10-ball.

10. The 10-ball gets inside english, of course, but with strong follow-through and top english as well. I love this shot, one of the first he taught me. It’s almost a diagonal, downward-twisting motion of the cue at delivery. The action it produces is poetry, coming around nicely, three cushions for the 11.

11. The 11-ball is a carbon copy of the 10-ball, but of course different, especially with regard to speed and touch, but Sorto handles it flawlessly.

12. The 12-ball is surprising in its simplicity, but it leaves you wondering because it is so far away from the 13, which now seems impossible. Could he be playing for the three ball combination?

13. This shot is absolutely stunning, on several levels. First of all, it is completely unexpected, and it happens so fast, with such incredible force, and with such deadly accuracy…. well, the senses are overloaded on this one.

14. Sorto knows he is closing in on a perfect rack. After such an adrenaline pumping shot on the 13, it would be easy to shoot the next shot too quickly, but Sorto shows the wisdom of his many years with this game, and and he is shown taking a bit of extra time on the bank shot into the side pocket. And he comes 3 rails for shape on the 15.

15. A shot like this is where many a choke would occur, but Sorto nails it with such an abundance of confidence that one could truly say that he achieved the limit with this shot. The screaming in the background is FastMikie, himself. Sorto said nothing, as is his way.

And there you have it. A historic moment in the world of pool. Congratulations, Tony Sorto for showing us the world class shot-making skill that it takes to complete a perfect rack in Honduran rotation, and to do it on video, first time ever,
so all the world can enjoy it and learn from it. Fantastic!

Gracias, Maestro.

For more, visit
Diar of a Pool Shooter – The Adventures of FastMikie
at http://poolshooter.blogspot.com

This video recorded at FastMikie’s Fun House in Del Mar, CA.

It bodes well for a bright future of pool entertainment for fans of the game.

Justin Collett (JCIN from the AZB Forums) provides a compelling presentation of the short and dynamic history of The Action Report’s first 18 months HERE.

Hello to everyone on AZBilliards.com. We would like to say thank you to all of you that have supported us this year in one way or another. We know that without the pool enthusiasts like yourself this sport would have a hard time surviving.
We know that there are alot of you out there who have been to our exhibitions and pool schools as part of the Legends And Champions Pool Tour and we have enjoyed every minute of it. Hopefully we entertained you ang gave you something fun to remember from 2008.

We would like to wish all of you and your families a very merry Christmas and a VERY happy new year. Hopefully we will get to see more of you next year, All the best,
Johnny Archer & Earl Strickland.

Nice to know the pros are making an effort to reach their support base through the forums.

AZB discussion is HERE.

I went and bought a pool table about a month or so ago and play about five hours a day on it. Four months ago I couldn’t walk the round trip across the street to the mailbox w/o running out of breath. Now I walk about a mile each morning and God knows how many around the pool table, house, yard and stores w/o a problem. I take zero medication now?that’s right zero.

Read Johnny’s full testimony and the discussion HERE.

Books and Info available below:

www.8-ballbible.com/

www.amazon.com/8-Ball-Handbook-Winners-Larry-Schwartz/dp/0970124406

forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=123855