Pinoys in the hunt at Guinness Speed Pool.
The world's best Pool players are in a hurry, and playing terrific Pool, with a twist.
The Guinness World Series of Pool Speed Pool tournament kicked off in Surabaya, Indonesia, last Friday with 40 players from around the world.
Each player is to play two five-rack sessions against the clock using modified ten ball rules. After the two sessions are played on Saturday, the 32 players with the fastest times proceed to a knockout bracket where they square off against opponents.
England's Chris Melling was the quickest in the first round, blazing through five racks in a total of four minutes and twenty seconds.
Each player breaks a ten ball rack then takes down the balls in any sequence, but he or she must pot the ten ball last. Every miss and every foul adds ten seconds to his time. Any scratch or cue-ball-off the- table foul is a 20-second penalty.
Melling also holds the record for the fastest rack, solving one rack in just 36 seconds.
Second after one round was fellow Englishmen Karl Boyes, who breezed through his racks in a mere 4:24. In third place was Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines, who looked smooth in posting a 4:31. Thorsten Hohmann was next with a 4:40.
Jeff De Luna was the next-best Pinoy at 5:20. Zamboanga's Roberto Gomez went out in the first pairing and timed in at 6:43.
In the arena at the Ciputra World Mall two tables were set up, with two players playing each of the five racks simultaneously, but not against each other. All 40 players were shown on TV. After all players have had two five-rack runs, the fastest 32 will be seeded and proceed to the knockout stages where they try to run out racks faster than an opponent. All elimination matches will be over five racks, except the final, which will be over seven racks.
The winner of the event banks US$41,500.
Other notables in the event were Mika Immonen (5:48), Shane van Boening (5;18), Yukio Akagariyama (6:05), and Ko Pin Yi (5:40).
Among the handful of ladies participating is The Black Widow, Jeanette Lee, who is participating here with her Pool-playing husband, George Breedlove (5:36.)
However, Lee's error-filled 7:35 in the first set means she will need a better time in her second run tomorrow to avoid being one of the eight players axed.
Speed Pool has proven to be a hit with the fans, as the sight of top players scampering around the table shooting balls has filled the seats. The patterns are very different from normal 10 ball because there is a greater emphasis on landing straight on, because stop-shots save time.
The clock stops ticking after the ten ball is sunk and only after the cue ball stops moving, so players have been doing their best to land straight on the money ball.
Quick thinking and decision-making is essential to dismantling the rack in the quickest and most efficient manner.
Just like in 8 Ball, you can pocket balls in any order except for the ten, and since you don't need to make a ball on the break, a soft break from the center of the headstring seems to be working for many players.
Live coverage of the event is on Star Sports at noon on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will feature the second round of 5-rack sessions for most players. Sunday's matches will be the knockout games.
"I learned a lot just by watching the other players" said Darren Appleton, the newly-minted world 9 Ball champ whose 6:37 left him far off the pace. "I'll be better tomorrow for sure." He also added that "Chris (Melling) was the quickest but Karl Boyes, Thorsten Hohmann and Dennis really made it look easy."
Follow Bob Guerrero on Twitter @bhobg333.
