Week Five Features Battles Between Top Dogs

As the halfway point of the WSOP's third season approaches the Playoff races start to heat up and the contenders start to separate themselves from the rest of the field. This is no more apparent than in the Western Division where three teams sit in a 3-1 tie while the other two teams remain winless until the middle of the week.

POOL FICTION @ EXTREME POOL COMPETITORS - Monday, 6:00

Pool Fiction is mostly responsible for the three-way tie atop the Western Division after beating Freedom 4-2 last week. It was a strong performance, albeit not pretty. But any team that can end a match with Brian, Kalpz and Scotty is going to be very difficult to beat on a normal night. EPC looks like for now it will hang around and actually complete this season. It would take a monumental collapse for them NOT to make the Playoffs considering the top three leagues each have a 3-game lead over the winless teams below. When EPC is interested, the usual lineup has some talent. Jester is 4-0, Cam is 3-1, Pro boy and Jack haven't lost yet either at 3-0 and 4-0 respectively, there's a sense that this is a team that's overachieving. I disagree. It's more like a team that has played Freedom and lost, then beat the three teams that are still yet to win a game. I think PFN is up to the challenge of bringing EPC back down from the top. PFN wins 4-2.

MATCH OF THE WEEK: FREEDOM @ MISCUES - Monday, 7:30

Two teams atop each division, both were 3-0 going into action last week. Freedom's lone loss came last week in Pool Fiction's "return" to WSOP. Miscues hasn't really been tested at all. Both teams kind of run into the problem of not having their full team show every week but given that the match has been rescheduled, you can bet both teams will be at full strength.

For Miscues, this is an opportunity to extend the lead in the Eastern Division. Two players at 4-0, a pair of clinchers for Ant, and a 16-8 record make for an early favorite to win the whole thing. As the only undefeated team in WSOP entering play this week, Ant, Ben, Trey and nerd herd can also look at this as an opportunity to make an emphatic statement.

On the other side of things, Freedom is still 3-1 with the only loss coming in a matchup that always features some Yahoo! shenanigans and momentum swings back and forth. Freedom also lost with its Captain, Pete, absent. It's not unreasonable to think Freedom would've fared much better had it not been left on Matt to run the team. With six matches left, Freedom also has to keep an eye on the stats as well and concern itself with Playoff eligibility. Five players have only played one game each, three made their debut and lost last week.

It should be a much better match for Freedom with Pete back at the helm. But for the second week in a row they play a team that's very good, and also able to focus. Miscues has superior talent, arguably better talkers as well, and I think MC wins both the battle on the table and below the table. MC wins 4-2

SEXY POOLERZ @ DEADSTROKES - Tuesday, 6:00

Finally the West will be down to just one winless team. Sexy Poolerz does have twice as many wins as Deadstrokes (8 to 4). Sexy Poolerz has also been much closer on many occasions. I don't think there's really any question who the better team is here. DS is an absolute mess, DS got swept last week, they'll come close to getting swept again this week. SP wins 5-1.

BREAK AND RUN @ STRAIGHTSHOTS - Wednesday, 6:00

This Eastern Division showdown could also be considered for match of the week. Break and Run has come alive in the past two weeks after losing to Simply Pool Souls. I think the biggest head scratcher in that loss was the interaction between Jordan and Joe (mvp_adept) before and during that match. Before the match Joe appeared to be upset with Jordan in one of the eligibility tourneys. As the Captain for that match, Joe played and lost game seven. He hasn't been involved in the last two matches, BNR is 2-0 in those matches. But keep it in perspective: BNR has only beaten Pool Dragonz and Deadstrokes. Straightshots picked up its signature win on the season by beating up on Xtreme Pool Legendz in week three. SS jumped out to a 3-0 lead, took the fight to what was XPL at the time, nhan is having a solid season at 3-1 with a clincher. I think this is the second-best team in the East and SS will prove it Wednesday night. SS wins 4-2

SIMPLY POOL SOULS @ POOL DRAGONZ - Thursday, 7:00

Pool Dragonz had its best opportunity for a win facing BNR a couple of weeks ago. This is also a good chance to pick up win number one. Simply Pool Souls has come back down to earth after beating BNR to improve to 2-0. Losses to Miscues and Straightshots at the top of the division haven't exactly been surprising. Now SPS sits at exactly .500 - 2-2 with a 12-12 overall record. It's not panic time in SPS though. They're still better than the Dragonz, but DJ has shown an ability to put his team in a position to win against a superior foe. Could be an interesting match, but I think SPS will be fine. SPS wins 4-2.

That's a look at week five. Should be some fun matches. I'll have to miss them while I'm covering high school basketball all week. But I should be back with another broadcast of a match next week (week six), even though there aren't many compelling matches. Time will tell!