ORCULLO TO COMPETE IN WORLD POOL MASTERS

REIGNING International Predator 10-ball champion Dennis “Robocop” Orcullo will compete in the 2010 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters slated on May 12 to 16 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Orcullo, top player of star-studded Bugsy Promotions, expects an uphill battle in the 64-man field from over 20 countries in this $10,000 total pot prize weeklong-event with the winner getting the lion share of $20,000.

“I’m ready. It’s a big challenge for me, but I will do my very best for flag and country,” said the former fisherman from Bislig, Surigao del Sur, Orcullo, member of the Philippine billiards team who bagged the silver medal in the first-ever World Team Cup in Hannover, Germany early this month.

Ceferino “Perry” Mariano, president of the star-studded Bugsy Promotions and co-founder of the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) said “Let’s hope and pray Dennis and other Filipino bets will continue to play well and again bring honor to the country this year,”

Aside from Orcullo, fellow BMPAP top players and world-renowned cue artists Efren “Bata” Reyes, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan and Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza will lead the charge for the Filipinos as against those coming from Austria, Canada, China, Chinese-Taipei, England, Finland, Germany, Holland, India, Korea, Malta, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Malta, Mexico, and the USA

World Championship titlists the likes of World Ten-Ball Champions Darren Appleton and Mika Immonen, World 9-Ball Champions Johnny Archer, Thorsten Hohmann and Daryl Peach and World 8-Ball Champion Ralf Souquet.

Seasoned professionals David Alcaide, Niels Fiejen, Marcus Chamat, Charlie Williams, Rodney Morris, Corey Deuel, Shane Van Boening, Ko Pin-yi, Fu Jian-bo, Raj Hundal, Oscar Dominguez, Tyler Edey, John Schmidt, Tony Drago, Allison Fisher, Yu Ram Cha, and Jasmin Ouschan are also must-see players.

Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn commented, “I am very excited about the future of the Masters. It did very well and was very prestigious as a 16 player invitational but now is the time to take the event to another level and then beyond.We’ve increased the field to 64 with the aim of having qualifying tournaments all over the world and that is the model the Masters will follow now and in years to come.”

“It gives every aspirational pool player in the world the chance to play in Vegas in one of the game’s biggest competitions and compete against the superstars of pool. “It is my every intention to build the World Pool Masters up into an event comparable to the World Championship when Matchroom Sport promoted it from 1999 to 2007.”

The first two days of the event feature double elimination play on a multi-table set-up as the field reduces from 64 down to 32.

The event then goes to single elimination and the last 16 is played out in a single table arena setting in front of the TV cameras, culminating in the final on the evening of Sunday, May 16.

Television is produced by Matchroom Sport and will be seen as 15 x one hour programmes in 14 countries around the world with more to be added to the list.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO.