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“Yikes!” or “Whew…”: IPT North American Groupings Announced

“Yikes!” or “Whew…”: IPT North American Groupings Announced
Jul 14, 2006, 9:44 AM

Several top pool pros won’t be sleeping too soundly for the next week, now that they know the identities of their opponents in the first round of the International Pool Tour’s North American 8-Ball Open Championship.

Among those who might have trouble catching some “zees” are Karen Corr, Cory Deuel, Charles “Hillbilly” Bryant, and Kim Davenport. On the other hand, Allison Fisher and 13-year-old Austin Murphy look to be pretty well rested.

The $2 million, 200-player event — with a $350,000 first-place prize — kicks off Sunday, July 23, at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Nev.

The IPT announced the first-round groupings — composed of 40 sets of five players each — on Thursday. After round-robin play, the top three finishers in each group will proceed to the next round. Eliminated players from the first round will each receive $2,000.

The complete list of groupings is available at the IPT Web site: www.internationalpooltour.com.

However, we’ll point out a few of the more remarkable first-round matchups to get the inevitable debate and buzz started. In no particular order:

Group 20 — International Incident
A big-time pro is going home with $2,000 — and the lonely, agonizing plane ride could be transcontinental. The round’s toughest group is topped by former world 9-ball champions Mika Immonen (Finland) and Oliver Ortmann (Germany). They’re closely followed by tough-as-nails American Charles “Hillbilly” Bryant and the wily Gandy Valle from the Philippines. If “Gentleman” Jim Raney (USA) can make it out of this group, he deserves a $10,000 bonus.

Group 14 — Cakewalk
It’s dangerous to call any group a “gimme,” because there are so many relatively unknown international players in the IPT. You can bet there will be several surprises along the way. But Brit snooker and 9-ball ace Allison Fisher looks like a lock to get past group 14, populated by middling and/or obscure players Grady Matthews (USA), Andreja Klasovic (Serbia/Montenegro), Marko Lohtander (Finland), and Jeff Abernathy (USA).

Group 32 — Dogfight of the Sleepers
Fans might not know all these names, but one or two of these guys are sure to be around late in the event. The group features rough road player Steve Moore (USA), 2006 Derby City Master of the Table winner Jason Miller (USA), resurgent 9-ball pro Kim Davenport (USA), and Canadian aces Paul Potier and Tyler Edey.

Group 18 — Bloodbath
A top player is going to go down here. This one looks like the semifinals roster from a Reno Open, with multitalented Shannon Daulton (USA) facing off against Canadian stalwart (and, coincidentally, 2005 Reno Open winner) Ronnie Wiseman, former BD Player of the Year Cory Deuel (USA), Chicago 8-ball machine Ike Runnels, and sneaky veteran Pete Fusco (USA).

Group 2 — No Rest for the Invader
Ireland’s Karen Corr will have her work cut out for her against Holland’s top pro Niels Feijen, China’s no-nonsense Wei-Liu, underrated 8-baller Greg Hogue (USA) and Hall-of-Famer Ray Martin. But Corr went 4-1 in the first round of December’s IPT King of the Hill event, so look for her to pass with honors.

Group 5 — Let’s go, Austin!
Okay, we’re (unofficially) rooting for 13-year-old Austin Murphy, who is no slouch, by the way. He just won his second consecutive title at the BCA Junior Nationals, and he can hold his own against the big guys. He has an excellent chance to get out of his first-round group, where he will face Danny Basavich (USA), Hall-of-Famer Ewa Laurance (USA), and little-known qualifiers Sam Monday (USA) and Anthony Ginn (England).

BCA Junior Nationals Brings 97 Players to Arizona

The 2006 BCA Junior Nationals got under way on July 5 at the University of Arizona student union with a total of 97 hopefuls in four divisions.

The 18 & Under Boys Division has wooed back last year’s winner, 18-year-old Justin Bergman, who also won in 2003. In his last year of eligibility, he hopes to take home his third title with a repeat performance. Last year’s third-place finisher, Kevin Peterson, is anxious to decorate his trophy stand, however. He and Bergman will face off today, July 6.

There is also an impeachment campaign for the returning champion in the 14 & Under Boys Division. International Pool Tour player Austin Murphy, 13, is back and so is last year’s runner up Landon Shuffett. Shuffett dropped a match on Wednesday, but Murphy has dominated all of his matches so far in the event.

The 18 & Under Girls Division has a field of six players. Anna Kostanian won in 2005, after two years of runner-up finishes. She looked to be en route to a second straight title on the first day of play, going undefeated. The 2004 champion, Mary Rakin will serve as the last line of defense in their hot-seat match today.

The 14 & Under Girls Division also has a returning champion as Chelsea Hardwick looks for another title win in her division.

Buddy Hall Makes Way For Understudy in IPT’s First Event

The International Pool Tour announced today that Hall-of-Famer Buddy Hall has withdrawn from the IPT North American 8-Ball Open Championship to be held July 27-30 at The Venetian-Las Vegas. Hall expressed regret for his withdrawal, citing personal reasons: “At this time, I will not physically be able to play the length of time needed to be competitive at the Venetian. I am getting better everyday, and I am very thankful for the IPT, and looking forward to my return at the next tournament!”

Hungarian Vilmos Foldes was chosen to fill Mr. Hall’s vacancy due to his two third-place finishes in the 2006 IPT Tour Card qualifying tournaments. Foldes will have the opportunity to earn points toward attaining a 2007 IPT Tour Card and was thrilled by the news. “I have dreamed of this day for pool and for me. I am very happy to be invited by Kevin [Trudeau] and Deno [Andrews]. I now will tell my father the good news,” he said.

Hall anticipates he’ll be ready to play by the next event, the IPT World 8-Ball Open Championship, which will be held Sept. 2-10 at the Hilton in Reno, Nevada.

The North American Open will consist of 200 players: 150 IPT Members and 50 players who qualify through 25 qualification events throughout North America and abroad. Qualification Tournament details for open tournaments, including dates and locations are listed on www.internationalpooltour.com.

Ten New Players Qualify for the IPT

In the second-to-last week of qualification tournaments, 10 new players have earned the right to play in the International Pool Tour’s “IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship,” which will be held July 22 at the Venetian, Las Vegas:

Anthony Ginn
Corey Harper
Gary Abood
Jianbo Fu
Jonathan Penegar
Karl Boyes
Louis Condo
Scott Frost
Teddy Garrahan
Wei Liu

By placing first or second in their respective qualifiers, these players will be playing for more than $2,000,000 in prize money and a first place prize of $350,000, as well as a place on the money list at the North American Open. Each of them are also guaranteed a minimum of $2,000 for qualifying and playing, even if they fail to win a single game at the event. If they do well at the event, they have the chance to be in the top 100 on the money list at the end of 2006, thus qualifying for a 2007 tour card. IPT officials say that a 2007 tour card is worth a minimum of $100,000.

There are still spots left in two of the five remaining qualification tournaments, each taking place starting June 23:

Las Vegas, NV: Lou Butera’s Pool Sharks
Tulsa, OK: Magoo’s

Orcollo Continues His Hot Streak at Reno Open

Dennis Orcollo, who also recently won the U.S. Bar Table 8-Ball Championship and the Hard Times IPT Qualifier, proved he can hold his own in 9-ball as well, with a run through the field of 159 players at the Reno Open.

Orcollo was smoking the competition, scoring notable wins over Corey Deuel, Tim Hall and Rich Geiler, before taking the hot-seat on Sunday with a dominating 9-1 win over former Reno Open champion Kim Davenport.

Davenport was a die-hard, however, dropping to the one- loss side where he had to face Texan Jui-Lung Chen. Chen’s appearances are rare, but he made the most of this one with wins over Victor Ignacio, Chris Bartram, Bobby Hunter, Gandy Valle, Warren Kiamco and Gabe Owen. He had to settle for third though, as Davenport earned a hard fought 9-7 win to set up a rematch with Orcollo in the finals.

Orcollo looked on his way to another dominating win in the finals as he sprinted out to an early 5-1 lead. Davenport showed his tenacity though, winning six straight games to take the lead, 7-5, and then took the match, 9-7, to force a second set in the true double-elimination finals.

In the second set of the final, Orcollo got to the hill first at 8-7, but scratched on the break and watched in dismay as Davenport tied the match at hill-hill with a flawless table run. Davenport broke the final game and made a ball, but had no position on the 1 ball. Davenport pushed out to a long straight shot on the one and Orcollo took advantage with a slow rolling shot on the 1, followed by a shakey table run to earn the 9-8 victory.

IPT Announces Live European Broadcasts

The International Pool Tour has announced its newly-minted deal with Eurosport and British Eurosport, which will show live, prime-time coverage of every round of all major IPT events in 2006.

The Pan-European network will also air a number of produced IPT highlights programs, including the recent “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout.” Plans call for approximately two hours nightly of live coverage.

The announcement was made by IPT Founder Kevin Trudeau at a major press conference held May 31 at the Hard Rock Café in London. Eurosport, the first pan-European sports channel created in 1989, is now available in 19 different languages, reaches over 107 million homes and over 240 million viewers across 54 countries. British Eurosport, which will also provide live coverage of the IPT, is the most widely available sports channel in the U.K., reaching over 10 million homes.

The first live IPT event to be aired on Eurosport will be the North American 8-Ball Open Championship held at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas from July 22-July 30. Players will be competing for $2 million, the largest prize money in the sport’s history.

IPT Holds Press Conference in London Relating to International Television Deals

International Pool Tour founder Kevin Trudeau, along with IPT Executive Director Jon Denny and IPT Tour Director Deno Andrews, is expected to make several major announcements about the global television deals that have been signed by the tour, including unprecedented live coverage of all 2006 events.

The event, held today at the Hard Rock Café in central London, is being called the biggest press conference in the history of pool, with dozens of representatives of major U.K. and European newspapers, magazines and television networks expected to attend.

Top IPT European players are scheduled to attend the media event, including Ronnie O’Sullivan and Raj Hundal of the U.K., Neils Feijin and Nick Van Den Berg of the Netherlands, France’s Vincent Facquet and Gerda Hofstatter, originally from Austria.

Stay tuned to Headstring News for any breaking news items that result from the press conference.

IPT Announces Qualifier Venue in Toronto

The International Pool Tour has announced that Danny Green’s Billiards, in Toronto, Canada, will host an IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship Qualifier on June 3-5.

This qualifying tournament will be a double-elimination, race-to-10 competition. The first and second place competitors will secure spots in the 2006 IPT North American 8-Ball Open Championship, which will be held July 22-30 at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Nev. Players who advance to the Venetian will compete for their share of an unprecedented $2,000,000 prize fund and a historic first place prize of $350,000. Full entry into IPT qualification tournaments is $1,000, with a second option to enter for a $500 fee.

The full schedule of all 25 IPT qualification tournaments for the IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championships is available online at www.internationalpooltour.com. Any person, of any age, man or woman, from any country, can play in these truly “open” tournaments.

Hofstatter Graduates With Honors

Gerda Hofstatter, ninth-ranked player in the Women’s Professional Billiard Association and member of the International Pool Tour, graduated from the prestigious New York University on May 11.

Hoftstatter, who is originally from Austria, studied business, specifically leadership and management. She graduated with honors and now holds a bachelor’s of science degree.

IPT’s King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout to Occupy Sunday Prime-time Slot on OLN

The International Pool Tour has secured a major television package to air the lucrative tour’s debut event, the action-packed “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” series on the Outdoor Life Network [OLN]. The network will carry the six IPT shows in prime time, with the first show set to premiere at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, June 4.

The Comcast-owned OLN is currently available in almost 70 million households nationwide. The network is best known for its coverage of the National Hockey League, the prestigious Tour De France, the America’s Cup, Davis Cup tennis, the A1 Grand Prix series and the “Survivor” reality series in syndication.

“OLN is known for its coverage of some of the most prestigious and competitive international events in sports,” said Jon Denny, Executive Director of the IPT. “This new partnership signifies that pool is now a major television sport and that the International Pool Tour is a ready for prime time property.”

The International Pool Tour’s “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” features the world’s greatest players competing for more than $1 million in prize money. The series will be shown on OLN over six consecutive Sundays, culminating in a two-hour finale on Sunday, July 9, in which Mike Sigel and Efren Reyes face off in the final.

The “IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” was produced by the International Pool Tour in association with A. Smith & Company, the executive producers of network hits such as “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Skating with the Stars” and many major television sports events including pro football.