Bata Reyes all set to play for biggest pool pot of P25M

Filipino cuemaster Efren "Bata" Reyes is all set to play against American Rodney Morris for the biggest pot they had ever competed for — that’s $500,000 or P25 million, which is also the biggest prize money ever offered in the history of pool. "The Magician" and "The Rocket" face each other in the final match of the World Open 8-Ball Championship of the International Pool Tour, which takes place at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada. The match is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. local time (4 a.m. Monday in Manila). The prize fund for this tournament is also unpredented — $3 million. And whoever loses the final match gets a much smaller, but still hefty, amount — $150,000 or P7.5 million. The third prize, which went to Finland’s Mika Immonen, is $92,000. In an interview with Sally Timko, who wrote about it in the online magazine insidepoolmag.com, Reyes had this to say the upcoming finale: "I'm excited for tomorrow. This is a lot of pressure for me and Rodney Morris. This is for five hundred thousand. You cannot find another tournament like this. We’ve been playing a lot for how many years, and the prize money we win from the tournament is ten thousand, twenty thousand only. But this is the big one. I hope that this IPT tour is going to be continued. I’m thinking to win tomorrow because a lot of people in our country are expecting us to win." Reyes gave the interview after losing in a no-bearing match with Germany’s Oliver Ortmann, 8-6. Reyes, however, chalked up a record short match in this tournament - defeating American Lee Heuwagen 8-0 in only 24 minutes. That’s according to Deno Andrews, IPT chief operating officer, in the offical website of the IPT. In another interview with Timko, after beating Finland’s Mika Immonen, Rodney Morris said: "Efren is the greatest that ever lived, as far as pool, in my opinion, but he’s fifty-two years old, and I’m in my prime, I think. So I’m ready. If I just play my game, I think I’ll be fine. And I’m not even worried about the money. I mean, I’m excited about it, but if I think about the money while I’m playing, I’m not gonna win. The money’s not even a thought right now. I got one more race to eight. I gotta get eight games tomorrow and that’s it. He’ll never get eight. It just feels great to be playing Efren. He was my idol growing up, and he’s the greatest. I got to watch him a lot of years. Ten years ago this month, I beat him in the finals of the US Open, so I’m excited about that, and I’m excited doing it again. Eight-six would be nice. You heard it here first." Morris is referring to the 1996 US Open 9-Ball Championship which he won, scoring 11-6 against Reyes. All 12 Filipino players who joined the tournament managed to advance to the second round, but only Dennis Orcollo and Francisco "Django" Bustamante made it to the fifth round in the six-round tournament. Here are the rankings and prize money of the Filipino contestants: 5 Dennis Orcollo — $66,000 7 Francisco "Django" Bustanamante — $41,995 14 Alex Pagulayan — $34,365 23 Ronato "Ronnie" Alcano — $26,854 34 Jose "Amang" Parica — $22,322 44 Edwin Montal (Canada-based) — $17,340 50 Ramil "Bebeng" Gallego — $14,220 56 Rodolfo Luat — $11,100 63 Warren Kiamco — $8,815 68 Santos Sambajon (California-based) — $8,485 72 Marlon Manalo — $8,221 Squeezed in between Immonen and Orcollo are Oliver Ortmann of Germany at no. 4 (getting $80,000) and Corey Deuel no. 6 (getting $50,000). - GMANews.TV