By Jerry Forsyth
Dennis Orcollo won a marathon 5-hour One Pocket final against Corey Deuel 5-3 to claim the crown. In a discipline which he is still learning Orcollo's pure shotmaking ability prevailed and enabled him to beat the odds and the field to the top.
Orcollo is a fast learner. He picked up some of the pointers on the game from Jay Helfert before the matches began and then used his powers of observation to absorb the facets he needed to win. Along the way he had to beat Corey Deuel twice as well as other experienced one-holers like Chris Bartram and Larry Nevel. Accustomed to the much faster-paced rotation games like 9-Ball and 10-Ball, Orcollo never lost patience or composure as the One Pocket matches drug out to their conclusions. He never got hurried or resorted to overly-risky moves, though he found few situations that he could not turn to an advantage. He sank numerous two-rail off-angle banks that garnered him the respect of the experienced fans watching him work his magic.
The One Pocket sessions are now over of course, but play continues here at the Rio as we are still in the middle of the 10-Ball event and the 8-Ball has yet to begin.