Max Eberle
It was an exciting weekend in Mountain View, CA as California Billiard Club hosted the first stop on the California Pool Players tour the weekend of June 12-13. Forty-six players from as far as Grants Pass, Oregon, Fresno and Los Angeles came to compete for a piece of the $3700 prize fund.
The dual bracket format had an even mix of Pro/A and B/C players racing to 7 in 9 ball. The top 16 who returned on Sunday for a redrawn, mixed final money bracket were (A)J. Gregory vs (B)E. Urbano; (A)R. Mistica vs (A)M. Eberle; (B)T. Ansari vs (B)K. Koo; (A)A. Kang vs (B)E Ramos on the winners side, and (A)D. Alpajora vs (B)C. Robinson; (B)O. Perez vs (A)R. Aldana Jr; (A)B. Crockett vs (B)E. Diwa; (B)H. Spenea vs (A) J. Orque on the one loss side.
Deo Alpajora had a strong third place finish with wins over Changa Robinson, John Warren, Rylan Hartnett and Ramon Mistica, before falling to Amar Kang.
In the end, Max Eberle of Los Angeles went undefeated with wins over Ed Ames, Ryan Long, Jaynard Orque, Jeff Gregory and Amar Kang. In the hot seat match, Max got the upper hand sending Amar to the one loss side. Amar's path took him to wins over Colin Mazaika, Bonnie Plowman, Robert Aldana and Ramon Mistica.
In the final race to 9, Amar led early but Max was never too far behind. He began his tear when Amar missed the 9 in game 12 and Max tied up the match at 6. Max won the next 2 games to get to the hill. Amar broke in game 15 but scratched. They traded shots on the 4 until Max pocketed the ball and easily ran the rest of the table for the win.
Said Max: "The new California Pool Players Tour has a great format that will spark the participation of all levels of players in California. It's a great way for amateurs to have a fair shot at a strong finish, and for the stronger players to test themselves and win some decent prize money. I plan on playing as many CPPT stops as possible!"
Tour founders Vincent Paul Bramwell, LouAnne Laflamme and Christy Hawley extend their gratitude to California Billiard Club for hosting the first stop, to all the players for coming out, and to all the fans who came to watch the action. The Tour cannot be successful without you! We'll be back next month at Break Time Billiards in Modesto on July 17-18. Advance registration is being taken at our website www.CaliPoolPlayersTour.com. TAR will be live streaming the event, so make sure you stop by or tune in!
