Roger Espiritu finally reached the top of the mountain in Corner Pocket\u2019s Monday 9-Ball Tournament last Jan. 10 at the Garapan sports bar.<\/p>\n
Espiritu began his quest for Monday\u2019s billiards crown on a high note, skunking James Cabrera, 4-0, serving notice to the 15 other pool sharks on the venue that he brought his \u201cA\u201d game.<\/p>\n
Other opening round results had Zheng Jian Qing beat Alex Ayeras (4-2), Luis Fajardo sweep Nolan Cultura (3-0), Erick Santos dominate Primo Rivera (4-1), Manny Mariano made mincemeat of Rommel Crisostomo (3-1), Joey Lucido turn back Leonard Sablan (4-2), Jerry Soriano defeat Mario Diola (4-1), and Rolly Villanueva upset Vic. S. Hocog (3-1).<\/p>\n
Espiritu continued to showcase his mastery of the green felt table in the second round, when the player they dubbed \u201cThe Ghost\u201d outlasted close friend and fellow 5-handicapper Santos, 4-3.<\/p>\n
Lucido, Villanueva, and Zheng joined him in the semifinals. Lucido drubbed Mariano (5-1), while Villanueva surprised Soriano (4-1) and Zheng swept Fajardo (5-0).<\/p>\n
The Ghost continued his spooking ways in the Final Four, as he drilled Zheng, 4-0, to advance to the finals. Villanueva, who stopped Lucido\u2019s amazing run, 4-1, joined him.<\/p>\n
In the finals, Espiritu encountered rough sailing against the heady Villanueva, but made shots when they counted the most in a 5-2 victory.<\/p>\n
After winning Monday, Espiritu had a letdown of sorts in the Thursday 9-Ball Tournament at Corner Pocket three days later.<\/p>\n
The Ghost lost to up-and-coming cue artist Boyet Sequico, 4-1, in the first round. Other opening round results had Hocog beat Leonard Sablan (4-2), Villanueva sweep Mariano (3-0), Senen Pangilinan top Rivera (4-1), Soriano skunk Crisostomo (4-0), and Cabrera skunk Mel Pangelinan (3-0). Erick Caisip, another former champ, got a bye.<\/p>\n
Hocog, Villanueva, Pangilinan, and Sequioco continued their strong play in the second round. Hocog upended Caisip (4-1), Villanueva got the better of Soriano (4-3), and Sequioco ousted Cabrera (4-1).<\/p>\n
In the semis, Hocog and Villanueva prevailed with the former surprising Pangilinan, 4-1, and the latter denying Sequioco, 4-3.<\/p>\n
Hocog and Villanueva figured in a well-played championship with the match going into an eighth and deciding game where Hocog pulled out all the stops to annex the title.<\/p>\n
Corner Pocket’s Monday 9-Ball Tournament rolls off every Monday beginning at 9pm. The competition uses a handicap system to give beginners a chance against top-caliber players. Entry fee is $10 and first place and second place are guaranteed prize money.<\/p>\n
The Thursday 9-Ball Tournament, meanwhile, is played on the fifth day of the week. Play starts at 8:30pm. Participants must fork over $15 to enter the double-elimination competition.<\/p>\n
Both Monday and Thursday 9-ball tournaments use the rules of the Billiards Congress of America. For more information, contact Corner Pocket owner and resident pool historian Ken Phillips at 233-POOL (7665).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roger Espiritu finally reached the top of the mountain in Corner Pocket\u2019s Monday 9-Ball Tournament last Jan. 10 at the Garapan sports bar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}