ORCOLLO IN WORLD POOL MASTERS Q’FINALS

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Former world no.1 Dennis Orcollo made mincemeat of Tyler Edey, easily disposing off the young Canadian, 8-3, to advance into the second round of the 2009 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters yesterday at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas , Nevada .

After a relatively slow start that had him losing the lag and missed a 2-9 combination, Orcollo put on a show that featured a string of run outs, impeccable pocketing and superb safety and counter-safety shots to post one of the most impressive wins by far in this $66,000 event that gathered 16 of the world’s best cue artists today.

“It’s a good start, my pocketing and cueing were good and I was able to take advantage of my opponent’s mistakes,” said the 30-year-old stalwart of the star-studded Bugsy Promotions of businessman Perry Mariano, who was left to carry the Philippine flag following a stunning loss of defending champion Alex Pagulayan Saturday.

After splitting the first two racks, Orcollo ran out the next five to take a commanding 6-1 lead. A dry break on the eighth frame allowed Edey one of his limited trips to the table and he cleaned it up to claim his second point.

The Canadian, however, quickly losses control of the table and Orcollo readily assumed it to reach the hill. Edey managed to win the 10^th rack but was called for an illegal break in the 11^th giving the table back to the Filipino ace, who immediately ran it out to secure the victory and move a step closer to the prestigious title and the $20,000 purse that goes with it.

Orcollo will next face former world champion and last year’s runner-up Mika Immonen of Finland , who edged former World Cup of Pool titlist Fu Jianbo of China , 8-7.

Other quarterfinals matches pit Nick van den Berg of Holland against Johnny Archer of the United States , Tony Drago of Malta versus Shane van Boening of the US , and Ralf Souquet of Germany opposite Darren Appleton of England .

It was Van den Berg who dethroned Pagulayan, 8-2, while Archer advanced after trouncing Imran Majid of England , 8-2, and Van Boening made it by beating lone female entry Yu Ram Cha of South Korea, 8-2.

Drago defeated former world no.1 Niel Feijen of Holland , 8-3, while the five-time Masters champion Souquet demolished Russian Ruslan Chinakov, 8-1, and Appleton blasted Raj Hundal of India, 8-3.