World Pool Series, day 1
People drifted in slowly for the first day but they all showed up. First match on the TV table was Chris Melling vs Vincent Facquet.
You could see some uneasy strokes from both players in couple games, but that quickly went away after getting used to the conditions. There were a lot of referee calls in this match and soft breaks from Vincent Facquet.
Chris Melling hit high gear, started potting, and couldn’t stop. Vincent ended up falling 13–8. Some tempers roared over rules and criticism but nothing really came of it.
Johnny Archer was over on Table 15 in a valiant battle against Kim Laaksonen but couldn’t seal the deal with his final 8-ball. The match as 11–12 as Johnny fired the 8-ball towards the side pocket. He knew as soon as he stroked it that it was just a hair too thin and watched it bounce off the rail. You could see his heart drop like a rock as it touched the rail. It’s especially a shame because everyone was hoping to see a high-end shootout. He ended up losing 11–13.
Next up on the TV table was Imran Majid vs Jason Klatt.
Imran came out very strong without missing or safetying a ball for several games. His break had a consistent corner ball pocket whereas Jason’s often came up dry or with a scratch. This let Imran capitalize on alternate break and get a huge head start. At one point, Imran was leading 7–1. However, Jason was able to figure out the break and his stroke followed suit as he tightened up the score.
Jason was able to tighten up to 9–10… but Imran started to run away again and ended up taking down the victory. The final score was 13–10 for Imran. It was the best comeback of the day for Jason, but unfortunately wasn’t quite enough.
The final match of the TV table was Francisco Bustamante vs Vilmos Földes. It was played at the same time as other great matches such as Earl Strickland vs Ike Runnels (13–7) and Del Sim vs Francisco Ruiz (4–13).
The entire match was even keel. It’s difficult to keep your eye on 4 tables at once, but any time you’d look at the TV table, the score was even. Francisco made it a bit hard on himself by scratching on an 8-ball shot and also mishitting a clear 8-ball shot. He fought hard until the end. Everyone in the room watched along as he racked the table at 11–12 hoping for a shootout to end the day. He missed one key-ball and Vilmos took over. Vilmos sealed the deal 13–11.
