First Manny Pacquiao now Dennis Orcollo another Legend from Philippines
Manny did it in boxing Dennis Orcollo is doing it in snooker. Dennis Orcollo is one of the finest cue artists in the World right now. The 31-year-old hails from Surigao Del Norte in the Philippines. The Philippines have produced a lot of world class talents like Efren “The Magician” Reyes who is regarded to be one of the best, if not the best player in Billiards history. There’s also Francisco Bustamante who is also feared in the world of pool. Bustamante and Reyes are both in the twilight of their career and Orcollo is expected to be one of the heirs apparent to the Living Legends of Pool.
Orcollo, who is known also as “The Robocop”, was then an unknown player even in his home country. He rose to stardom when he made a big statement in the 2002 World 9-Ball Championship where pulled off a huge upset against Germany’s Ralf Souquet in the round-of-64 of the tournament. Unfortunately, he was knocked off by his idol Efren Reyes in the Last 32 stage.
Since then, the “Philippines’ Money-Game King” has consistently played well in tournaments that he participated in, like in the 2004 World Pool Championship in Taiwan where he finished 9th place. In 2006, he started to compete in the big-money tournaments in America. He ruled the 8-Ball Division of the US Bar Table Championship and placed 4th in the 9-Ball Division. He also won the title in the Reno Open after defeating much-favored Kim Davenport in the Finals. He followed it up by copping the title in the 9-Ball Hard Times Billiards Summer Jamboree and finished as the runner-up in the One Pocket Division.
In the 2006 International Poor Tour, which offered the richest prize in Pool History, he pocketed $80,000 after finishing 3rd in the IPT North American Championships and bagged $66,000 when he placed 5th in the IPT World Open 8-Ball Championship. His impressive run that year continued when he won the title in the World Pool Masters after crushing Niels Feijen in the Finals.
The year 2006 was indeed the breakout season in his career. Since then he has established himself as one of the best players in Billiards. He actually topped the WPA Ranking for a certain time in his career which only proves that the relatively unknown guy before, has transformed himself into a perennial championship contender. And in 2008, he defeated Niels Feijen once again to bag the title and $40,000 cash prize in the Qatar International Open.
He also had a productive campaign last year. He outclassed Ralf Souquet in the finals of the Predator International 10-Ball championship. He also teamed up with Ronnie Alcano to finish 3rd in the World Cup of Pool, which was ruled by the awesome-duo of Reyes and Bustamante for the 2nd time in their career.
This year, he is also performing well in the Pool Circuit. The Robocop was a member of the Philippine Team which finished second in the World Pool Team Championship which was ruled by Great Britain. In the US Open 10-Ball Championship which has recently ended, he also played well though he fall short when he was eliminated by Francisco Bustamante.
His best performance this year was in the World Pool Masters, which happens to be the biggest in the tournament’s history. The Filipino bested the other 749 cue artists that participated in the tournament when he easily disposed the surprise finalist Toru Kuribayashi of Japan.
Dennis “The Robocop” Orcollo has certainly cemented his status as one of the title contenders in any big tournaments in the Pool Circuit. And in the upcoming World 9-Ball Championships, Orcollo can definitely make an impact especially if he can play well like he did in the World Pool Masters. He is expected to go deep in the tournament and it will not be that surprising if he will come up on top in the World Championship.
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