Congratulations to Russian Legion for winning the Professional Division of the 2010 PSP Mid-Atlantic Open!  The mostly-Russian team faced off against Edmonton Impact out of Canada (2010 PSP Phoenix Pro Champions) to fight for the title.

Teams from all over the United States and abroad competed in three days of non-stop paintball action across five fields at the Paintball Central Sports Park of Rock Hill, SC for this weekend’s PSP Mid-Atlantic Open.  This is the highest level of competition in the world, so the following teams who came out on top deserve much respect and recognition:

Pro Paintball, RaceTo-7
1st Russian Legion powered by Sly Equipment and MacDev
2nd Edmonton Impact powered by KEE Action Sports
3rd San Diego Aftermath powered by DYE Precision
4th Los Angeles Ironmen powered by DYE Precision

Division 1 Paintball, RaceTo-5
1st Chattanooga CEP
2nd Total Karnage Orlando
3rd New England Hurricanes powered by KEE Action Sports
4th New Jersey Jesters

Division 2 Paintball, RaceTo-5
1st upTon 187 cRew powered by KEE Action Sports and Planet Eclipse
2nd Arsenal Predators
3rd Mirabel Impact, first time this CXBL team has competed in the PSP
4th Senate

Division 3 Paintball, RaceTo-4
1st D.C. Monstars
2nd Boom II
3rd NCPA All-Stars powered by College Paintball
4th Underdogs

Division 4 Paintball, RaceTo-4
1st Annihilators EDGE
2nd Avarice
3rd NJ Jesters Kids
4th Goon Squad

Division 3 Paintball RaceTo-2
1st Golden State Pirates powered by Golden State Paintball
2nd Detroit Action
3rd MLP
4th L A S T C A L L

Division 4 Paintball RaceTo-2
1st Atlanta Breakout
2nd Wreckage Krew
3rd Richmond Rage
4th XCAVATORS

Congratulations and thank you to all of the teams, sponsors, fans, referees, crew and staff who all made this year’s PSP Mid-Atlantic Open such a successful event.  We look forward to seeing everyone at the world’s largest paintball tournament, the PSP World Cup, being held at Fantasy of Flight in Lakeland, Florida October 21 – 24, 2010.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now go ahead, give it a try and put your knowledge to the test. Lets see what you got! Enter in your picks at PBPickem.com! It will remain open until midnight July 24th and is updated at the end of each day with the user submissions.If you’re looking to compete against a group of friends or just want to test your Pro team knowledge, fill out a Pick’Em. It’s a completely FREE way to be more involved in the upcoming event for individuals that might not be able to attend. Previous season field layouts and Previous event match by match scores are also maintained. Also, the Pick’Em form has been updated to be more iPhone friendly, so you can do something fun while stuck in traffic. Good luck!

PSP Field:

Friday, June 25, 2010

8:00 am            Los Angeles Ironmen vs. San Diego Aftermath

8:45 am            LA Infamous vs. Dynasty

9:30 am            Edmonton Impact vs. Sacramento XSV

10:15 am            Dynasty vs. San Diego Aftermath

11:00 am            LA Infamous vs. Sacramento XSV

11:45 am            Edmonton Impact vs. Los Angeles Ironmen

1:00 pm            Vicious vs. Entourage

1:45 pm            Chicago Aftershock vs. Boston Red Legion

2:30 pm            Tampa Bay Damage vs. X-Factor

3:15 pm            Boston Red Legion vs. Entourage

4:00 pm            Chicago Aftershock vs. X-Factor

4:45 pm            Tampa Bay Damage vs. Vicious

Saturday, June 26, 2010

8:00 am            LA Infamous vs. San Diego Aftermath

8:45 am            Sacramento XSV vs. Los Angeles Ironmen

9:30 am            Edmonton Impact vs. Dynasty

10:15 am            Sacramento XSV vs. San Diego Aftermath

11:00 am            Dynasty vs. Los Angeles Ironmen

11:45 am            Edmonton Impact vs. LA Infamous

1:00 pm            Chicago Aftershock vs. Entourage

1:45 pm            X-Factor vs. Vicious

2:30 pm            Tampa Bay Damage vs. Boston Red Legion

3:15 pm            X-Factor vs. Entourage

4:00 pm            Boston Red Legion vs. Vicious

4:45 pm            Tampa Bay Damage vs. Chicago Aftershock

PSP: Semi Pro

Rumors are circulating that the PSP may be doing away with the semi-pro division. If this were to take place, we anticipate that a few semi pro teams would be invited into the pro paintball division.

• Rumors indicate that FIERCE Semi-pro is taking Chicago and quite possibly the remainder of the season off due to members refocusing their attention on their families.

• Raiden has also been in the rumor mill recently and sources suggest the team is dealing with personality clashes and player departures.

• The Palm Beach Vipers are currently restructuring (reported here) and focusing on their divisional teams. The semi-pro team has been disbanded.

• SK Moscow played PSP Phoenix and according to Gary Baum of Paintball Photography are planning on returning at PSP World Cup.

• X-Factor‘s semi pro squad has been rumored to be repositioning themselves in division 1 though no official confirmation has been received.
• Scottsdale Elevation competed in PSP Phoenix and we

• RNT-Allstarz recently combined forces for the Chicago Open and potentially the remainder of the season with Indianapolis Mutiny.

• Entourage has several players with PRO experience including Mark Lack, James “Kekoa” Ferguson, Dalton Vanderbyl and Ronnie Filippone. Ryan Martin played with RNT in Phoenix because Entourage had too many pro players. We can expect to see Ryan Martin play with Entourage in PSP when the team goes PRO.

• San Diego Aftermath has been spotted in the APPA registration database as registered for PRO at the Chicago Open. At the Phoenix Open, SDA’s pro players were Steven Pitts & Alex Goldman and staffing was Patrick Hughes. Patrick has been playing with Oakland BLAST but is rumored to be returning to SDA when the team goes pro.

Potentially, we could see RNT-Allstarz/Mutiny, Aftermath and Entourage moving into the PSP Pro Paintball Division. The only problem with three teams moving up is that it would create an odd number of total teams and create a need for by-games.

NPPL: Division 1

Arsenal Predators and Hollywood HK are pulling out after the Huntington Beach event, leaving only 3 teams to fight for the series title.

• Arsenal Predators will be switching over to the PSP format. The team had a solid run in 2009, leading the division 2 series and winning both Huntington Beach and DC Challenge events. They are a solid group of guys and we are eager to watch the team transition into the race-ball format. Division 1 PSP is going to get real interesting!

• Hollywood HK was rumored to have been banned from the NPPL. While we are not exactly sure what transpired, we do know that the PBFashion/HK booth was shut down at HB due to alcohol.  on the other hand will be running their Crash at the Coast clinic and considering their options.

The lack of division 1 teams could be attributed to the prizes based on teams attending in the division (and with three the prizes are very slim). With that being said, the league now has only 3 division 1 teams and sources suggest they are incorporating them into the pro schedule, creating a Pro/Am series of games.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Credits Center 50 Films and Gold Chain Productions

Third Place: Early Chip Leader Busts
Raney Stanczak played an outstanding tournament, but lost his momentum late, resulting in a third place finish. He watched helplessly as Joseph Cheong took over the chip lead and dominated the later states of the tournament. Stanczak managed to double up a few times and moved back into contention, but he was knocked out by his adversary late when he moved all in with  . Cheong insta-called with  and watched happily as five blanks fell on board, making the pocket Q’s the best hand. Stanczak, a student who has played Paintball professionally, earned $7,609 in his first time to cash in a WSOP Circuit event. [ Link to original article ]

Raney has played with numerous pro paintball teams over the years, including Escondido Aftermath, San Diego Dynasty, Newport Entourage, and Hostile Kids. After NPPL Vegas last year, Raney decided to take some time off and focus on his education and card playing.

• Sacramento XSV just spent the last two weeks practicing against San Diego Dynasty and Los Angeles Ironmen in Southern California and will be taking the weekend off. Players will be playing at their local fields and we would be willing to wager you will find a ton of them at Rich Telfords paintball park, Extreme Paintball, located in Modesto, CA.

• LA Infamous will be playing against San Diego Dynasty at Camp Pendleton paintball park in Oceanside, CA. Speaking of DYNASTY, word is the boys in blue will be spending several days next week finalizing game plans and playing the field at a paintball park just around the corner from the PSP Phoenix event location.

• Tampa Bay Damage will be practicing against Total Karnage at Central Florida Paintball park.

• Los Angeles Ironmen, Scottsdale Elevation, SK Moscow and Escondido Aftermath will be battling it out at the Aftermath Arenas in Southern California.

• Omaha’s VICIOUS will be playing against DSSP8NTBALL.com at Metro Paintball Games in Council Bluffs, IA.

• The Russian Legion is rumored to be posted up in Northern California, possibly at Dave Baines very own Capital Edge Paintball Park. Word is the team is hard at work preparing to bring on another season of good old fashion domination of American paintball teams.