World 8-ball: Tale of breaks and heartbreak

It all boiled down to breaking.

With Ronnie Alcano and Dennis Orcollo hardly making any mistake on pocketing, the fight for the world 8-ball pool crown came down to the first shot of every rack.

And Alcano proved to be the better player with just one scratch and a dry break as he went on to pounce on Orcollo’s two scratches and two dry breaks to pound out an 11-8 victory in the World 8-ball Pool Championship final late Wednesday at the Fujairah Bustan Centre in Fujairah, UAE.

Orcollo’s second dry break was the heartbreaker as it foiled the reigning World Pool League champion’s bid to force an 8-8 tie after trailing by as many as five racks, 2-7, in the early going of the race-to-11 All-Filipino title duel.

Taking the cue, a confident Alcano, the reigning world 9-ball champion, cleared the 16th rack in less than three minutes to go up by two racks again, 9-7, then had a run out in the next rack to go unassailably ahead.

Orcollo broke on the 18th and made a run out but Alcano would allow no more chances, breaking and running the final rack to take his second world title in four months.

"I’m really happy to win here on my first participation especially coming from my victory in the world 9-ball championship," said Alcano, who pocketed $25,000 (P1.2 million) for his feat.

It was just a quarter of what he received in ruling the world 9-ball tilt in Manila last November, where he won $100,000 (P4.8 million). But it was enough to stake his claim as the best pool player in the world today.

Orcollo, who ruled the World Pool League last year, settled for $12,500 (roughly P600,000).

The match between two buddies who shared the same hotel room and the center stage in the final round was a closely fought affair with Alcano coming up dry on the first break and Orcollo running out.

Orcollo scratched on the next break and Alcano ran out. Then they traded break and runs for three racks before Orcollo scratched on the break again and Alcano made a run out.

After five racks, the score stood at 3-2 in favor of Alcano, who then hit top form and seemingly almost decided the outcome of the match by opening a five-game lead at 7-2.

At this stage, Alcano looked to be the more confident player, at times seeming to play at twice the speed of his opponent.

In truth, Alcano gave Orcollo very few opportunities for a fightback.

One of those was in the 10th rack where Orcollo found his break again and ran the game out. He got another chance when Alcano scratched and snatched the rack then worked his way through a very difficult layout to close within, 5-7. – Dante Navarro