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Two longtime Break and Run members combined efforts with a pair of new additions to this season's team as BNR won 4-3 over Money in the Bank Tuesday night.

The first two games combined to take nearly an hour. Leadoff men lnpkl (Joey, MIB) and alverdaishot (Don, BNR) exchanged taps all the way through the late stages of the opening game. A natural reluctance to attempt even a moderately difficult run-out set the stage for Joey to make the first near-fatal mistake. After failing to jam the six-ball into the bottom right pocket, Don had a chance to put BNR on top. But his shot on the 12 bounced out of the upper right pocket and MIB gained a 1-0 advantage.

If game one was a novel, game two was an encyclopedia of conservative play do's and don'ts. Longtime Break and Run player arctic_cat_limited (Chip) made the decision to try and ice MIB's Typical_Male_ (Brandon). What followed was a 30-minute stalemate. After Brandon's attempt at either potting his 14 ball or using it to block the lower right pocket, Chip went to work. Chip potted the five ball and broke everything open enough to get a look at a run. After potting an easy 3-7 combo at the end of the run, a long 8ball shot secured the win and a 1-1 tie.

In the third game, Break and Run Captain brownie_2oo2 (Dina) made what proved to be a critical error. Money in the Bank called ReallyBigAssNegro (Mike) with the break. Dina's response, without the break, was easily one of her best runners xlx_skill_xlx (Jordan). Mike had a delay in breaking after getting disconnected due to lag. But on returning, the long-awaited break left a wide-open table. It took merely a couple of minutes for Mike to do what Jordan himself had done to so many teams to break a tie or finish a match - run from the break to the 8 with relative ease. And MIB reclaimed the lead at 2-1.

Game four proved to be one of the longest games in MLP history that did not involve excessive safeties. Indiana_elite looked to move MIB to within one win from victory. On the other side, the always-amusing pi.l2ate (Palp) who I will someday stop confusing with the old-school player xx_romper_xx. With a relatively small number of safety shots, the game's length came from Palp being booted five times due to severe lag. Indy tried to finish out but his run started to fall apart with just a few stripes remaining. Palp got booted one more time but returned to clear away what was left of solids and level the match at 2-2.

With the match leveled and BNR bailed out by Palp in the fourth game, Dina used the same tactic again. This time with zl_stu_lz matched up against ta.lent (Matt). Matt broke similar to Mike in game three. But unfortunately for MIB, nothing fell the only time Matt got to see the cue. Stu sunk a 12-3 combo in the top right pocket with an open table, and never had a single problem the rest of the way, seven-balling Matt and giving BNR a lead for the first time all night. After the game, Matt complained that the run was too easy, and brought up bank competition sets in an attempt to draw attention away from the fact that Stu had just ran him with zero trouble. After an observer was removed from the match, Matt and Stu exchanged their final childish remarks and the match continued with BNR ahead 3-2.

As expected xxl_themachine_lxx (Simon) did register to play for Money in the Bank and they needed him in game six. Break and Run called on xCHRISx to close it out. Chris decided with four stripes left on the table to leave either a bank off the top rail into the bottom middle pocket or a difficult combo into the top middle. The 9-11 combo missed the mark, and Simon would finish off a very quick three-minute sixth game with a similarly easy seven-ball run. So with the teams squared at three wins each, it was time for a mini-rivalry to be renewed.

Money in the Bank Captain sir.pommington called himself and Break and Run put the match in the hands of luckyslam4 (Jason). Pommy's break made nothing and left a wide open table for Jason to run. But Jason was deliberate and slow as usual, prompting many comments from impatient spectators. After nearly snookering himself with three stripes remaining, Jason's play got even slower and more cautious. The 13 ball did go into the bottom right pocket but it left Jason with a key decision to make. Jase elected to run the ten ball along the bottom rail into that same bottom right pocket but couldn't move either solids in the way of the eightball. A shot on the final stripe - the 11 - left the cueball right above both the five and eight, and left Jason with a slightly complicated shot to win. The plan: Kick the eightball off of Pommy's solid and into the bottom middle pocket.

"I thought I had to just barely touch his for a little re-direction, nothing major," he said. "Was a fine line between hitting too much of his and not any. Apparently I got the not any."

Jason's shot missed everything. And Pommy had an open table to try and take down the reigning MLP Champions. Pommy left a dangerous shot on the three ball that he was just able to sneak into the bottom middle pocket. But with two balls left, he bounced a routine shot on the two ball off the lip of the top middle pocket and gave the cue back to Jason. Jason's shot covering half the length of the table made his teammates cringe as it rattled in the top left pocket. But that quickly turned into celebration as the eight disappeared into the pocket and BNR secured the 4-3 victory.

Time of Match: 2h 25m

Save: MIB_xxl_themachine_lxx (1)

(Clinch)/[Decider]: BNR_luckyslam4 (1) [1]

Break and Run: 1-0 (4/3) Next: @ Pool Fiction 1-0 (4/3)

Money in the Bank: 0-1 (3/4) Next: vs Ultimate Outlaws 0-0 (0/0)

Full match recording available below on ustream:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/4595045