Bustamante on Million Dollar Billiard Shootout Cut to Four

Allen Hopkins’ Million Dollar 9-Ball Shootout has cut 8 of its original 12 players, with the last 4 returning Sunday for the final rounds. This inaugural event is hosted by the Valley Forge Convention Center and will award its winner a $20,000 first-place prize Sunday.

Saturday was the final day for the players to fall into place and either advance to Sunday’s rounds or leave early. In the same format as the previous two days, there were two rounds, each consisting of 25-game matches. There were no major changes in the line-up, though, for the top four players after Saturday’s rounds were the same as after Friday’s: Dennis Orcollo, Corey Deuel, Francisco Bustamante, and Shane Van Boening.

While there were no real blow-outs in the first round Saturday, there were some extremely lopsided scores in the final round. Dennis Hatch, who up to the evening round seemed a strong contender to make it to Sunday’s rounds, only won 9 games against Orcollo. Equally, Tony Chohan, who took 15 games to Marlon Manalo’s 10 in the first round Saturday, only put together 6 games against another Filipino champion, Bustamante, in the second round.

Orcollo is still the games leader at this point with a grand total of 93 out of 150 games played. His break and run-out total is 32. Tied for second place are Deuel and Bustamante, both with 86 total games; however, Deuel leads in the run-outs with 34, compared to Bustamante’s 38. The player with the most break and run-outs is Van Boening, who has 38, though he has the lowest total games won of the top four with 83.

Matt Krah fared the worst in the evening round, only winning 4 games to Deuel’s 21, cementing Deuel’s advancement to Sunday. Krah’s total games won for the event amounted to 53, with 16 break and run-outs. Evan Broxmeyer eked out 5 racks against Manalo in the final round Saturday, bringing his total to 38 games with 3 break and run-outs.

Manalo ended the event only 2 racks behind Van Boening with 81, with Steve Moore and Hatch tied with 78 games. Daryl Peach notched one less, and Johnny Archer had 72. Sunday’s semifinals will be a race to 13 and will feature Orcollo versus Van Boening and Deuel versus Bustamante.