Jon was coming off a great finish at the Turning Point Casino Tournament in New York, were he placed 4th.  Well, he did it again in his very next tournament!  Jon had another high finish only one week later at the BCA Open 9-Ball Championships held at the Riviera Casino in Las Vegas, NV May 13-19, 2001.

Although Jon had another great tournament, when asked how he felt about placing 4th he replied, "I don't feel good, because I wanted to win."  Watching Jon play at the Riviera, he was playing perfect and careful.  Jon studied the table, ran out when it was possible and played excellent safes when he couldn't run out.  

I asked Jon which match was his toughest, and he said it was against Corey Deuel (who ended up winning the tournament).  This match was one away from being taped for ESPN.   Although Jon has played on TV a couple of times already, I asked him if he felt disappointed that he didn't make it to the TV round and he said, "yea,"  but he was just as disappointed that he didn't win the tournament.  Seems to me he wanted to win, more so than be on TV.  Of course in this tournament, that went hand in hand.  The semi-finals and finals of this tournament were taped for later broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.

Overall, Jon has improved in this tournament over the last few years.  In 1999, Jon placed 13th-16th, and in 2000 he placed 9th-12th.  What an awesome improvement all the way up to 4th place!