2011 Super Billiards Expo

Mar 11, 2011

Ralf “The Surgeon” Souquet collected a cool $20,000 for his first-place finish at the Diamond Open 10-Ball Professional Players Championship, defeating Robb Saez for the second time in the finals. The four-day event attracted a 72-player field to the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA, which hosted the 19th Annual Super Billiards Expo.
The morning’s matches featured Shane Van Boening trying to defend his title from the one-loss side by playing Dennis Hatch, another former winner of this event. Hatch didn’t have much of a chance against Van Boening, though, who quickly eliminated him in fourth place 10-3 to advance to the semifinals.
Meeting him there was Saez, who had just suffered his first loss to Souquet in the hot seat match 10-7. Saez and Van Boening had played the night before in the winners’ side final four, with Saez edging past him 10-9. Saez took an early 5-1 lead but let “The South Dakota Kid” back in the match at that point as the score reached 7-all. A kick shot put Saez up 8-7 and then a break and run-out earned him the hill. However, Van Boening had other ideas and broke and ran out the next game and then tied things up on the hill when Saez badly missed the 4 ball. It was a safety scuffle in the last rack, and it looked over for Saez when he flubbed the 2 ball. But Van Boening returned the favor by rattling the 4 ball, and Saez took that opportunity to clear the rest of the balls to win 10-9.
The finals were an extended single race to 13, with Souquet drawing first blood and going up 4-1. Saez was able to take the next two racks to draw within one game, but Souquet lengthened his lead again by going up 7-4. The match was filled with defensive moves throughout, and the score slowly progressed to 10-7 Souquet. A break and run-out by the German followed, and in the next Saez left an easy 3 ball after executing a dicey jump shot on the 2 ball. Souquet cleared that table to claim the hill. After the safety battle over the 1 ball it looked like the next would go to Saez, but he got out of line on the 7 ball and missed badly, leaving a simple out for Souquet, who won 13-8.
Photo Gallery
The event was live streamed in HD for free by Inside POOL video and will be available on the Inside POOL Youtube Channel later this week.
Final Results:
1st - Ralf Souquet - $20,000
2nd - Rob Saez - $7,000
3rd - Shane VanBoening - $4,000
4th - Dennis Hatch - $3,000
5-6th - Johnny Archer - $2,100
5-6th - Darren Appleton - $2,100
7-8th - Alex Pagulayan - $1,800
7-8th - Gabe Owen - $1,800
9-12th - Jason Klatt - $1,500
9-12th - Mika Immonen - $1,500
9-12th - Dee Adkins - $1,500
9-12th - Steve Moore - $1,500
13-16th - Max Eberle - $1,250
13-16th - Tony Robles - $1,250
13-16th - Rodney Morris - $1,250
13-16th - Shaun Putnam - $1,250
17-24th - Hunter Lombardo - $900
17-24th - Ryan McCreesh - $900
17-24th - Shaun Wilkie - $900
17-24th - John Morra - $900
17-24th - Raj Hundal - $900
17-24th - Matt Clatterbuck - $900
17-24th - Thorsten Hohmann - $900
17-24th - Tommy Kennedy - $900
Courtesy of Inside Pool.