MANILA, Philippines – With nerves cool as ice, partners Roberto “Pinoy Superman” Gomez and Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo easily dispatched Team Finland on Saturday and secured a semifinals seat in the 2010 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
Gomez and Orcollo of Philippines Team B sealed a marvelous 9-1 win over Finnish duo Mika Immonen and Markus Duva with superb breaks during their quarterfinals match at Robinsons Place Manila.
Orcollo, formerly ranked as the world’s No. 1 player, credited local spectators for their victory.
"With the audience there's a lot of confidence there as they are always very supportive of the Philippines, and that's why we played really nice tonight," said Orcollo, a former fisherman from Bislig, Surigao del Sur, in a report posted on the tournament website.
Team Finland suffered a meltdown in their quarterfinals match against Gomez and Orcollo while the Filipinos played with steady hands, giving them an 8-0 advantage.
Immonen and Duva finally sprung to life in the 9th rack to notch the scores at 8-1.
Team Finland seemed headed for another rack when Immonen, the current World No. 1 player, committed a costly error that allowed Philippines Team B to score the victory.
"We played a great game and it was our best performance, but maybe we can play better tomorrow,” said Gomez.
The Filipino duo will face Taiwanese partners Chang Jung-Ling and Ko Pin- Yi in the semifinal round of the $250,000 tournament on Sunday.
A victory over Taiwan will send them to a finals match against the winner between semi-finalists China and Germany.
The winning team will take home the $60,000 (roughly P2.5 million) top prize and the tournament trophy.
source abs cbn
Subject: Gomez, Orcollo outplay Finland to book semis seat 
Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:01 am
