Sixteen players are still fighting for the prestigious Predator World Straight Pool Championship title in New Brunswick, NJ, at the Hilton Hotel. Held this week through Sunday, this event began with 64 of the world’s top 14.1 players and will end Sunday with one in the winner’s circle.
Eight players still stake out the winners’ bracket. Mika Immonen just felled U.S. 14.1 bastion John “Mr. 403” Schmidt 150-73 and will advance to play former world 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann, who just defeated fellow countryman Ralf “The Surgeon” Souquet 150-47.
Defending champion Oliver Ortmann fell to Mike Dechaine by a thin 150-140 margin and now will have to struggle through the one-loss side. Dechaine’s next opponent will be Niels “The Terminator” Feijen, fresh off a strong 150-10 victory over Ignacio Chavez.
Corey Deuel, recent Million Dollar 9-Ball Shootout champion, sent Raj Hundal to the west side 150-104 and will next play Francisco Bustamante, who just bested Danny Harriman 150-111. And German champion Thomas Engert advanced to the winners’-side final eight with a 150-50 win over Dominic Jentsch. Engert’s next opponent will be Dutch player Nick Van Den Berg, just off of a 150-103 win over Radislaw Babica.