Image courteousy of  Marcus Hoffstaeter

The players were playing for 10k a corner and it is rumoured another 50k was being wagered amongst the onlookers. Shane’s reputation as the current leading US player is further strengthened after beating one of pool’s greatest legends in a high pressure arena.

More of Marcus’ photos of the match at the bottom of THIS PAGE.

TAR will have this classic match on DVD in coming months.

From Sunnyday at AZB:

…even better, Shannon Dalton and Billy Incardonas were in the commentator’s booth and they were cracking up the whole room that was listening. Some of us who were wearing head phones to check the sound quality had to take the head phones off sometimes to stop from laughing uncontrollably!

Yes, room was packed from wall to wall, people standing over chairs… and heads bobbing up and down from the hall way trying to catch a glimpse of the action…

As the game got toward the end, I looked around the TARPIT and could see Marcus Chamat, Scott Frost, Busty, Danver Barger, Brian Gross, Lee Van Corteza… ( there could have been more but room was dark, except the table) all top name pros were sweating the action among-st the normal fans.

Yes, when Shane was running out to win the set, lights did go out for few seconds. Someone leaned on the light switch and the whole back role yelled, “Busty leaned on the wall! Come on Busty”. No one really know who leaned on the switch, but it was an affectionate poke made at the Champion

After the game broke, there was no immediate woofing of any rematch, but I am sure, they (team Filipino) are back to their drawing board trying to neutralize this loss.

Get a feel of the progress of this game by reading the ongoing coverage on this AZB thread.

Efren made the best shot so far a 2 rail kick out of a dead hook, and Left Ralf in jail as he thinned the OB and the CB only rolled 3″ after the hit the CB rolled about 11′ before the hit, talk about touch.

Yeah, this shot was pretty special. Souquet played a masterful safety to send the two ball two rails under a cluster near the bottom right corner. While I don’t remember the exact position, the gist of it was this. Before Efren’s shot, the balls looked like this, and I’ve showed Efren’s kicking line:

The remarkable result after Efren’s slow speed two rail kick was this:

Then came Souquet’s masterful response, hooking back by kicking to the bottom rail, inducing Efren to sell out.
Souquet played it like this:

The lethal result was that the cue ball was left buried under the three ball cluster, and Efren was in big trouble. This sequence was the defensive highlight of the match, and clearly showcased the skills of two of the all-time greats. Ralf ran out on his very next turn in a rack that, if memory serves, gave him a 10-8 lead.

These guys are good!

Mika is super solid as well, and plays with total confidence. He just overwhelms the balls and makes them do his bidding. He is in control of the table at all times. Francisco is the money man. You can sense his hunger to win. He just wants to mop you up if you’re his opponent. He pounces on every opportunity and makes you pay.

Lee Van is simply one more in the long line of filipino champions. He has a shot for every situation, and executes it to perfection. The filipino background in rotation equips them to handle anything that comes up on the table. They are not fazed by having to shoot an awkward combination or tricky billiard.

All are in the money now, guaranteed $2,500 each. Tomorrow the matches are worth another $2,500 minimum.
I had a quick bite with Fatboy after the matches. I told him I was going online, and he said to tell everyone hi.

I lost my first One Pocket match 3-2. All three of my matches have been 3-2. I played Bob M??? from Conneticut, an old friend of Lisciotti’s. He plays pretty good, and my game is pretty ragged. I feel like I suck. I’m so unhappy with my game. I need to practice but I never do.