Rodolfo Luat

Rodolfo Luat (b. December 12, 1957) is a Filipino professional pool player from Angeles City. He is one of the higher-ranking players of Team Philippines and he holds many Asian individual and team titles. Luat turned professional at age 16. He has titles in the Asian Championships and the Philippine Nine-ball Open in 1992. Winner of the 1996 World Open Nine-ball ChampionshipFact|date=October 2007 , Luat has been regarded as a dark horse in many tournaments. "Boy Samson" is a moniker he has carried since the 1970s because of his powerful break.

Career

He won the Taiwan leg of the 2006 WPA Asian Nine-ball Tour beating Hsia Hui-kai, 11-7, in the finals, on his very first try on the annual circuit. He also placed runner-up in the 2006 US Open held at Chesapeake, Virginia, losing to John Schmidt, 11-6, but winning US$15,000 in the process. He participated in the 2006 IPT North American Open held at Las Vegas, Nevada, reaching the fifth round with winnings of US$30,000. He also reached the third round of the rich 2006 IPT World Open held at Reno, Nevada, where he won US$11,100. He also finished runner-up at the 2006 Derby City Nine-ball Division (winning US$8,000), Bank Division (9th place, US$850) and One-pocket Division (18th place, US$500). Capping off the year was his quarterfinal finish at the 17th WPA World Nine-ball Championship held in Manila, Philippines, where he won US$10,000, becoming the second-best placed Filipino after eventual champion Ronato Alcano.

Very skilled players in nine-ball have the tendency to sometimes pocket four or even five balls Cuegloss|On the break|on the break. Luat, at the 2005 APBU/JPBA Japan Open tournament held in Tokyo, sank "six" balls on the break, [http://www.souquet.de/ev/news.ev/2005/news_05_07_JAPAN_OPEN_ev.htm "NEWS - 03-24-05 Japan Open 9-Ball – Reyes defeats Luat"] , by Ralf Souquet, "Souquet.de" blog, 2005; accessed February 11, 2007] two-thirds of the entire rack. (But note that Alex Pagulayan also performed a similar feat at a tournament in the US.)

Titles and achievements

* Quarter-finalist, 2006 WPA World Nine-ball Championship
* Runner-up, 2006 IPT US Open
* Runner-up, 2006 Derby City Nine-ball Division
* Champion, 2006 Taiwan Leg, Asian Nine-ball Tour
* Champion, 2000 Viking Nine-ball Tour Stop 27
* Champion, 1999 Northwest Nine-ball Championship
* Champion, 1996 Camel World Open Nine-ball Championship
* Champion, 1992 Asian Championship
* Champion, 1992 Philippine Nine-ball Open
* Champion, 1991 Asian Championship in Osaka, Japan

Personal life

Luat and his wife have two children.He has a first cousin that is a well known residential builder and engineer in the state of South Carolina,president of ADC (Asian Design and Construction Inc.). He also has five more cousins in South Carolina that are mostly professionals and two in upstate New York.

References

External links

* [http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com/players_detail.asp?player_id=2038 WPA World Nine-ball Championship bio of Luat]
* [http://www.easypooltutor.com/bios15.html A fansite bio of Luat]