Chris in NC
09-30-2002, 01:02 PM
I attended the Open only from Thursday afternoon until Saturday morning and had a great time as always. As I was with 2 of my best customers and an employee on the trip (first time for all 3 of them), I apologize for not getting the opportunity to meet and spend time with a number of the CCB'ers that were in attendance. I'd like to share a few thoughts from my experiencea at the Open.
First, I thought the event was very well attended - at least on Thursday and Friday when we were there. I heard nothing but positive things from the players and the spectators as to how well this event is run in every aspect. I thought it was quite strange that there was a full house for the 7pm Friday evening matchup between Earl and Corey, but then a mass exit after that match concluded. The arena never filled up anymore than maybe 60% for any of the evening's later sessions - which lasted until nearly 2pm with a number of great matches. That was fine with us - as it allowed to sit much closer to the matches we were concentrating on.
As far as advice to anyone who may be attending a tourney like this in the future as a spectator, I would strongly suggest in order to get maximum enjoyment from the experience, that it is best to focus your full attention on just one match at a time - preferably the table you are sitting closest to. That's hard to do at an event like this - with so many great players playing at the same time on different tables. But I've found that when you try to watch 2 or more matches at once, you just don't get in to any single match and all the nuances that go with it.
There was alot of talk at this event about the young Russian players - Stalev as well as the 2 teenagers who both made it to Thursday night still in the winner's bracket. Yes, there were all no doubt talented - particularly the 17 year-old who looked like he was 14. One of the highlights of our 2 days was when this young Russian defeated Tony Mougey in a hill-hill thriller in a loser's bracket match on Friday. Mougey was not the best of sports throughout the match trying to intimidate his younger opponent - which had the crowd pulling even harder for the young player. Mougey ended up hooking himself on the 7-ball in an easy run-out in the hill-hill game, and the kid was able to hold on for the win. I will say that having attended the BCA junior nationals, the U.S. has no lack of talented young players as good and in most cases even better than these two teenagers! Straun, Runnigan, Hennen, Banks, Hall, McMinn, Gray and Bateman are just a few that come to mind immediately that all could have potentially faired quite well at this event - if they received a favorable draw.
The younger player that impressed me the most was Alcano, the young Phillipine player. I heard he lost a hill-hill match to Alex late Saturday night which must have been a great match to watch. He came a long ways through the one-loss bracket with numerous wins over strong players. I predict he'll soon be on the heels of the top 3 Phillipine players - Reyes, Bustamante and Pugalayan.
Also, one couldn't help but be amazed by Luc Salvas. In one of the best matches I witnessed (which took place at the same time as the Deuel v Strickland match) was between Rodney Morris and Luc. Luc should have been out on the hill-hill game, but carelessly left himself very tough shape on the 6-ball. After Luc played a decent safety, Rodney made a great shot on the 6 and ran out for the win. The next match for Luc was against Frankie Hernandez, who had just come off a fantastic hill-hill match win over Parica. Well, Luc was up 9-1 before Frankie knew what hit him (after about 20 minutes) and Luc went on to win 11-3. When this man is hot, he can no doubt be one of the most impressive and dangerous players in the world - and unquestionably with his speed the most fun to watch!
The action at the poolroom (Q-Master's) on Thursday and Friday night was memorable as always. This place was still packed at 5 in the morning! I got to witness some great games, though most of the top tourney players just seemed to mill around talking trash and unable to make a game and/or find a backer. Keep an eye on a big young black kid named Tony Chowan. I'd never heard of him before this weekend and don't know where he's from, but he can really shoot. I also got to see Tony Watson and Omar Kang (who both recently came here to our room) both in action giving up weight against other players and winning. Although I could speculate a few reasons, I just can't figure out exactly why Tony Watson hasn't been able to put it together in tournament play at this level.
I finally got to see Jose Parica playing one-pocket. He was matched up against an older gentleman in a one pocket game. Jose was giving him some weight, and appeared to have his hands full as this old man could really shoot. I was dissappointed to see a couple of relatively unknown WPBA tour players who appeared to be taking advantage of a couple of local gals in a scotch doubles match. My guess is these two local gals had no clue these two ladies were on the women's pro tour, but it was clear they were playing way out of their league and probably didn't even know it. I'm sure if they had to sense to ask around, they could have easily found out.
I purchased a Josey Sneaky Pete model from the Josey booth before leaving. Both Tony Watson and Shaun Putnam play with one, and both speak very highly of the cue. They both claim that it has as little or even less deflection as a Predator shaft - which I've played with for 5 years. After trying it out here yesterday, I was disappointed that this was not proven to be the case for me. The Predator 314 shafts still have less deflection and squirt than any other cue that I have tried, and until I find something better I will not switch.
We're already making plans to return to the Open next year, hopefully for one more day this time! - Chris in NC
First, I thought the event was very well attended - at least on Thursday and Friday when we were there. I heard nothing but positive things from the players and the spectators as to how well this event is run in every aspect. I thought it was quite strange that there was a full house for the 7pm Friday evening matchup between Earl and Corey, but then a mass exit after that match concluded. The arena never filled up anymore than maybe 60% for any of the evening's later sessions - which lasted until nearly 2pm with a number of great matches. That was fine with us - as it allowed to sit much closer to the matches we were concentrating on.
As far as advice to anyone who may be attending a tourney like this in the future as a spectator, I would strongly suggest in order to get maximum enjoyment from the experience, that it is best to focus your full attention on just one match at a time - preferably the table you are sitting closest to. That's hard to do at an event like this - with so many great players playing at the same time on different tables. But I've found that when you try to watch 2 or more matches at once, you just don't get in to any single match and all the nuances that go with it.
There was alot of talk at this event about the young Russian players - Stalev as well as the 2 teenagers who both made it to Thursday night still in the winner's bracket. Yes, there were all no doubt talented - particularly the 17 year-old who looked like he was 14. One of the highlights of our 2 days was when this young Russian defeated Tony Mougey in a hill-hill thriller in a loser's bracket match on Friday. Mougey was not the best of sports throughout the match trying to intimidate his younger opponent - which had the crowd pulling even harder for the young player. Mougey ended up hooking himself on the 7-ball in an easy run-out in the hill-hill game, and the kid was able to hold on for the win. I will say that having attended the BCA junior nationals, the U.S. has no lack of talented young players as good and in most cases even better than these two teenagers! Straun, Runnigan, Hennen, Banks, Hall, McMinn, Gray and Bateman are just a few that come to mind immediately that all could have potentially faired quite well at this event - if they received a favorable draw.
The younger player that impressed me the most was Alcano, the young Phillipine player. I heard he lost a hill-hill match to Alex late Saturday night which must have been a great match to watch. He came a long ways through the one-loss bracket with numerous wins over strong players. I predict he'll soon be on the heels of the top 3 Phillipine players - Reyes, Bustamante and Pugalayan.
Also, one couldn't help but be amazed by Luc Salvas. In one of the best matches I witnessed (which took place at the same time as the Deuel v Strickland match) was between Rodney Morris and Luc. Luc should have been out on the hill-hill game, but carelessly left himself very tough shape on the 6-ball. After Luc played a decent safety, Rodney made a great shot on the 6 and ran out for the win. The next match for Luc was against Frankie Hernandez, who had just come off a fantastic hill-hill match win over Parica. Well, Luc was up 9-1 before Frankie knew what hit him (after about 20 minutes) and Luc went on to win 11-3. When this man is hot, he can no doubt be one of the most impressive and dangerous players in the world - and unquestionably with his speed the most fun to watch!
The action at the poolroom (Q-Master's) on Thursday and Friday night was memorable as always. This place was still packed at 5 in the morning! I got to witness some great games, though most of the top tourney players just seemed to mill around talking trash and unable to make a game and/or find a backer. Keep an eye on a big young black kid named Tony Chowan. I'd never heard of him before this weekend and don't know where he's from, but he can really shoot. I also got to see Tony Watson and Omar Kang (who both recently came here to our room) both in action giving up weight against other players and winning. Although I could speculate a few reasons, I just can't figure out exactly why Tony Watson hasn't been able to put it together in tournament play at this level.
I finally got to see Jose Parica playing one-pocket. He was matched up against an older gentleman in a one pocket game. Jose was giving him some weight, and appeared to have his hands full as this old man could really shoot. I was dissappointed to see a couple of relatively unknown WPBA tour players who appeared to be taking advantage of a couple of local gals in a scotch doubles match. My guess is these two local gals had no clue these two ladies were on the women's pro tour, but it was clear they were playing way out of their league and probably didn't even know it. I'm sure if they had to sense to ask around, they could have easily found out.
I purchased a Josey Sneaky Pete model from the Josey booth before leaving. Both Tony Watson and Shaun Putnam play with one, and both speak very highly of the cue. They both claim that it has as little or even less deflection as a Predator shaft - which I've played with for 5 years. After trying it out here yesterday, I was disappointed that this was not proven to be the case for me. The Predator 314 shafts still have less deflection and squirt than any other cue that I have tried, and until I find something better I will not switch.
We're already making plans to return to the Open next year, hopefully for one more day this time! - Chris in NC