NEWS - August 21, 2005 – Turning Stone Casino Classic V – Success for Django

M. Zuglan - D. Hatch - F. Bustamante - D. Janes

For the fifth time, the final event of the Joss North East Tour was organized in the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. 128 players competed for a total prize money of app. $ 45,000, while the winner cheque was $10,000.

In round one, I played Vu Nguyen (USA), and after intermediate scores of 4-0 and 4-3, I won the match 9-3. In my second match against Canadian Danny Hewitt, I already looked like the loser, but finally, I could turn around the match from 5-8 into a 9-8 win. In round three, it came to the revenge against Dutchman Niels Feijen. From the beginning, I was leading and made use of two mistakes committed by my opponent at 7-4 to finally win the match 9-5. In round 4, „Gipsy“ Mark Pantovic was waiting for me, an opponent I did not know before. The match started a bit slowly and after a 12 minute time-out used by my opponent at 4-2, I pulled through to win 9-2. However, a few mistakes made by my opponent made it easier for me. In round 5, the clash against „Magician“ Efren Reyes (PHI). I started well and was leading 3-0. But at 3-1 and 3-2, I missed very good opportunities to decide the match and finally lost 6-9. Right after this match, I had to play Earl Strickland. A match with a few mistakes on both sides, and once again, Strickland could not refrain from insulting me. He not only put very loudly my capacities as a player in question, he also claimed that he was the only one to have knowledge and expertise and all others were purely lucky. In addition, he was only tired after all his matches. I really feel a lot of sympathy for him. By the way, I won the match 9-8.

Arena

On the final day, my first opponent was Jeff Kennedy from Canada. Again I started well and was leading 3-0. Then I missed ball after ball and was suddenly trailing 3-5. I imposed myself a shot-clock and now played in a different pace. Shortly after, I had won the match 9-5. My next opponent was „Scorpion“ Johnny Archer from the USA. I was leading 4-2 and gave away an easy rack. Then I missed my next opportunity at 6-5. At 7-7, I had a shot with a triple option. I could have potted with a combination the 7 ball and the 2 ball and at the same time, play safety on the 2 ball. Bad enough, both the 2 ball and the 7 ball ended up hanging above the pocket and there was a good position on the 3 ball. The safety on the 2 ball slipped through by half a centimetre and Archer made use of the opportunity. He won this and the next rack to win 9-7. I had to make do with rank 5. Then Archer lost to Dennis Hatch (USA) and finished fourth. Efren Reyes and Dennis Hatch had to play for a spot in the final. The US player was leading all along the match until 8-6 and then missed two match points. At 8-8, Reyes lost the cue ball upon the break and Hatch made his third match point to win 9-8. The final between Francisco Bustamante (PHI) and Dennis Hatch was played in a race to 13. Bustamante seemed to be the winner, but Hatch came back to 9-8 and the match seemed undecided again. The player from the Philippines went on to 12-9, but Hatch came back again to 11-12. But then “Django” assured the next rack to win 13-11 and for the second time the title of the Turning Stone Casino Classic.

Bustamante