Las Vegas, NV. – May 24, 2012 – The last day of the CSI 4th US Open 10-Ball Championship, held May 14-19 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, was a battle of three world champions, all from the Philippines, and a young gun from the United States. Three matches were scheduled, the quarter, semi and final.
Orcollo, Bustamante, and Pagulayan
The quarter final was between 25 year old US player, Mike Dechaine, and recent BCA Hall of Fame recipient Francisco Bustamante. In the past two years Dechaine ramped up his game from feared New England player to participant on the pool world stage. In 2011 he was a member of the US Mosconi Cup team and won the Ultimate 10-Ball Championship.
Bustamante is a legend, a multiple world champion and one of a handful of players whom other professional players hope to challenge at least once in their career, win or lose, just to say they did. On this day, Bustamante prevailed against rising star Dechaine 9-4 at the premier CueSports International (CSI) event. Dechaine took home 4th place and $4,800.
Now it was down to three, all former world champions. In the semi-finals Bustamante was pitted against fellow countryman, Alex Pagulayan. After a two year hiatus from pool competition, Pagulayan has been playing as fearless as ever. In this match he started off in the lead as Bustamante struggled, but not for long, as Busty caught a gear and beat Pagulayan 9-7 relegating “The Lion” to a 3rd place finish and $6,500.
Waiting in the hot seat was Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo. In the finals against Bustamante, Orcollo dominated from the first rack. The CSI US Open 10-Ball Championship final race was to 11. The winner was required to win two ahead with a maximum cap of 15 games to win. The final match took less than two hours with Orcollo quickly taking the win 11-5 and $15,000.
At age 33, Orcollo is currently one of the best players in the world. Ranked #6 on the World Pool Billiard Association men’s list, he first burst on to the world pool scene in 2002 as a relative unknown, taking his first world championship. His list of wins in the past 10 years has been highly regarded. In addition to the CSI 4th US Open 10-Ball Championship, it includes the 2011 DCC 9-Ball Division, the 2011 World 8-Ball Championship, the 2010 World Pool Masters, the 2009 Predator International 10-Ball Championship, the 2008 Qatar World Open 9-Ball Tournament, the 2006 US Bar Table Championships 8-Ball Division and the 2006 Reno Open, just to name a few.
The 4th US Open 10-Ball Championship was sponsored by CueSports International (CSI), Simonis Cloth, Aramith, OB Cues, Mueller Recreational Products, and the Magic Ball Rack with live stream coverage by The Action Report (TAR).
In 2013, the 5th US Open 10-Ball Championship will be moved from May to July and held at a new venue, the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas in conjunction with the 37th BCAPL National Championships. To view online all of the brackets from the 36th BCAPL National Championships, the 13th US Open One Pocket Championship and the 4th US Open 10-Ball Championship, visit the CueSports Tournament System at www.ctsondemand.com. You may search by player or team name or can view by division or tournament.
For more information about the BCAPL visit www.playbca.com.
CueSports International (CSI) is dedicated to creating more choices for all players. In the past seven years CSI has directly paid out approximately Seven Million Dollars to players. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the US Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the US Open One Pocket Championship and the US Open 10-Ball Championship. Visit www.playcsipool.com, www.playbca.com and www.playusapool.com for more information about CSI and its divisions.
CSI leads the billiard industry in the development of technology. For more information on the state-of-the-art software systems for league and tournament management visit www.leaguesys.net and www.ctsondemand.com.