Bata, Orcollo, Manalo advance

The Philippines kept its flag hoisted in Las Vegas Friday after sending three players to the Final Six of the $2 million IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship at The Venetian Hotel.

Efren Reyes, the 1999 world 9-ball champion, will be joined in Saturday’s round-robin phase by compatriots Dennis Orcollo and Marlon Manalo who are also very capable of winning the title.

The top two players from the Final Six will advance to the championship match with a huge $350,000 (P17.8 million) awaiting the winner. No Filipino cue artist has won a purse this big in a single tournament.

Joining the three Filipinos in the big-money round are Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann of Germany and Evgeny Stalev of Russia. These are three of the world’s best.

Whatever happens, the three Filipinos are already assured of $40,000 each. Fifth place is worth $50,000, fourth $65,000, third $80,000 and second $99,000 (P5 million).

Filipinos who took an exit Friday were former world No. 1 Francisco Bustamante, Alex Pagulayan, Ronnie Alcano and Rodolfo Luat. But they will go home smiling, each one carrying a $30,000 check.

Of the six players who made it through, Reyes, now 51 but still a force to reckon with, carries the best record so far in the tournament. He has won 20 of his 23 matches.

Coming in with the next best record are Souquest and Manalo at 19-4, Hohmann and Orcollo at 17-7, and Stalev at 16-7.

Eight-ball is played with 15 object balls and a cue ball. To win a game, a player must legally pocket the eight ball after pocketing his group of balls, either solids or stripes.

A game can also be won by sinking the 8-ball on the break or through any combination as long as the 8-ball is not struck first. The winner of a game can decide whether or not he breaks on the next.

Reyes swept his five matches Friday, beating Luat (8-7), Stalev (8-7), Darren Appleton of the United Kingdom (8-5), Quintin Hann of Australia (8-3) and Larry Nevel (8-4) of the US.

Orcollo won three of five matches. He prevailed over Alcano (8-2), Souquet (8-4) and Bustamante (8-4) before losing to David Matlock of the US (5-8) and Daryl Peach of the UK (6-8).

For his part, Manalo advanced the way Orcollo did. He won against Pagulayan (8-6), Gabe Owen of the US (8-3) and Marcus Chamat of Sweden (8-3) before losing to Hohmann (3-8) and Rico Diks of the Netherlands (3-8).