Riviera Hotel Pro 8-Ball Open Returns To Las Vegas August 1-6 ESPN’s Linda Cohn To Appear In Celebrity Challenge Match The main attraction of the long Las Vegas summer pool season returns to the Riviera Hotel & Casino when the Camel Pro Billiards Series lands in Las Vegas with 96 of the best pro pool players in the world fighting it out for a piece of the $75,000 purse. The pro billiards contest is the main attraction of a week-long pool extravaganza that also includes top amateur competition, mini-tournaments, the “Camel Corner Pocket,” vendors and celebrity appearances. The Riviera 8-Ball Open is the third stop of the Camel Pro Billiards Series and is a rare professional 8-Ball contest. Jeremy “Double J” Jones of Jacksonville, FL, will try to score back-to-back victories and maintain his place as the current points leader. The field will also include Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer of Atlanta, GA, who is due for a victory. Last year’s Vegas event saw ’98 Camel Series Champion Francisco Bustamante of Keil, Germany edge Archer in the final match. Archer recently came up just short against Jones in the final of the second 1999 Camel Series stop in Atlanta. The Camel Pro Billiards Series brings together 96 of the top pro billiards players from around the world to compete for $600,000 in purses and another $300,000 in year-long bonus money. The pro tournament runs concurrently with the American Poolplayers Association’s Camel National Team Championships, which brings 6,000 top amateur cueists to Las Vegas each summer. In addition to the championship contests, hundreds of “mini mania” tournaments will run around the clock on 48 tables. The Camel Corner Pocket, a combination game room, lounge and pool emporium, will provide time out for fun with black light pool tables, Camel’s new Speed Shot contest, a “Challenge the Pro” contest, autograph sessions and music and refreshments. The 1999 version of the Las Vegas event will again feature the annual Pool Party, with a celebrity challenge match, pro challenges, a live band, a magician, and Pool in the Pool, a speed shot game played on an all-weather pool table immersed in the Riviera’s swimming pool. This year, an appearance by ESPN SportsCenter’s Linda Cohn will add excitement to the Pool Party with a challenge match that includes Cohn, Hall-of-Famer Steve Mizerak and WPBA touring professional Ming Ng.