Efren "Bata" Reyes

Efren "Bata" Reyes had to dig deep into his bag of tricks to beat compatriot Alex Pagulayan while Dennis Orcollo, considered the country’s best money player today, dropped his first game before sweeping the rest to reach the six-man final round of the tournament.

Losing steam was Francisco "Django" Bustamante, who was unbeaten in 18 game after four rounds, after he could only muster two wins in the fifth round of his group where Americans Rodney Morris and Corey Deuel advanced.

Bustamante actually met his waterloo at the hands of Morris, a native Hawaiian, who took the Filipino star out with a gutsy 8-7 triumph to remain in contention for his first major pocket billiards championship. In his 8-7 win over Taiwanese Hui Kai-sha, the Filipino billiards star was bothered by an overeager fan as he was about to clean up the rack.

"Well, when I was shooting the ball I was looking at the other balls, scared to make a foul again. And I just go like that," Bustamante said, making a stroking motion. "I was shooting the ball and someone took a shot of me with a camera. That’s why I stopped and got lucky I didn’t miss the shot. I saw the flash."

"I’m just playing good and getting the rolls. A combination of the guys playing bad and at the right time. My breaks have been pretty good, I just try to hit them firm. Not out of my capabilities, just hard enough to move them around and park the cue ball," Morris said.

"I’m in for tomorrow, I’m in the final six. It’s very exciting. I lost in the final thirty-six last time. The break did it this time—I have been working on it religiously, that’s all I worked on," he added.

The heavily-built Morris said he kept in shape despite the grueling schedule by working out and going straight to bed after each round. "After a match I just walk away and try to take my mind off pool. Every night I have just enough energy to have a bowl of soup and go right to bed," he said.

Reyes entered the final round at the expense of Pag­ulayan, carving out a close 8-6 decision over the 2004 World 9-Ball Pool champion to gain his third win to make it.

Like Bustamante, the Canadian-based Pagulayan could only card two victories in the six-man field. His only triumphs were against Michael Hill, 8-1, and Dmitri Jungo, 8-7. Besides Reyes, his losses were against Thomas Engert, 6-8, and Oliver Ortmann, 4-8.

Ortmann, who had a 4-1 win-loss record after the round, topped the group and joined Reyes in the finals.

Despite being eliminated, Bustamante still earned $41,495 (P2,096,000) for placing seventh overall while Pagulayan took home $34,365 (P1,700,000) in winding up in 14th spot organized by multimillionaire Kevin Trudeau.