I just got back to my room after watching the end of Souquet’s win over Reyes. Here’s a shot by Souquet that I found particularly impressive. It occurred while Souquet trailed early in the match and needed to make something happen. To clarify, the cut on the one was so thin that the scratch back across the table was an issue. Souquet cut it thin and played remakable three rail shape with inside english into a small position zone to get to the two, setting up a critical runout. I’m guessing at where most of the balls were, but the ones that mattered in this position were the one, the two and the three obstructing balls that made the position path so difficult to accomplish. Three different scratches had to be avoided on this shot, and if Souquet missed his position line long, he would have probably hooked himself.

Morra’s match with Van Corteza was an interesting one. This was a somewhat choppy match, and the Van Corteza that dismissed Van Boening easily on Saturday night wasn’t the one that showed up for thi match. When Van Corteza missed a relatively simple ten ball that would have made it 3-3, Morra hit him with three racks for a 6-2 lead. At 7-3, Van Corteza crapped in the ten ball to pull within 7-4, but at 7-5, Van Corteza made two errors, one of which left Morra a relatively easy carom chance to make the ten ball. When Morra hit it very poorly, the momentum of the match shifted dramatically, with Van Corteza grabbing a seemingly safe 12-8 lead. Surpirsing many onlookers, Morra fought the good fight to pull within 13-12, and he had an opportunity to tie it at 13-13 if he could execute a fairly tricky carom on the six ball, but he wasn’t up to it, and the miss sealed his fate, with Van Corteza advancing.

Video from www.insidepool.com

Stevie Moore 6  v Mika Immonen 15
Busta 15 v Appleton 3
Efren 9 v Souquet 15
Corteza 15  v Morra 12

From Sunnyday:  Souquet makes 4 balls off the break including the 10 ball, per rule 10spots back up and he runs our effortlessly. Final 4 tomorrow are Mika, Corteza, Busty and Souquet.Good nite everyone. My phone is out of juice.

Morra led 6-1 early on, later trailed  7-12.

$10,000 first. $5,000 second. $2,500 for 3rd & 4th.

That’s all for now…. will update more later.

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

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