The beautiful coastal town of Santa Cruz, CA was the scene of the third stop of the California Pool Players Tour hosted by Surf City Billiards & Café the weekend of August 14-15. Special thanks to owners Calvin Lee and Doug Millan for welcoming us to their gorgeous room and for their exceptional hospitality. Check this place out if for no other reason than the food, where everything is prepared from scratch and is magnificent. Compliments to the chefs!!
Thirty players – 19 B/C bracket players and 11 Pro/A bracket players – battled for the $2,150.00 in prize money. Summer weekend plans and high season room rates contributed to the lower turnout. However, we welcomed several new members to the Tour from the Santa Cruz area as well as from Arizona. Thank you players!
Tournament winner Diego Vidal Lona, a Capitola-area A player, started with a first round bye, defeated Robbie Lyng 7-2, lost to Gus Briseno 3-7, and defeated Al Markasky 7-2 to make it to Sunday. Lona got an automatic pass on Sunday when Paul McCaffrey was a no show, and after another bye defeated Michael Reddick 7-1 for a rematch with Gus Briseno, who was sent to the left side by his road partner and eventual finalist, Robert Emmons. Lona easily defeated Briseno 7-3, Teymour Ansari 7-3, and Fred Stanfield 7-1 to reach the finals.
Robert Emmons claimed the hot seat by defeating Paul Bramwell 7-3, Ken Mendoza 7-3, Ramon Mistica 7-4, Gus Briseno 7-2, and Fred Stanfield 7-5. In the final, single race to 9, Lona took a commanding lead 4-0. Emmons fought his way to 7-5 but Lona was just too strong by that point and put him away 9-5.
Many thanks to our sponsor Magic Rack, for providing their product for use at our tournaments, to West Coast Gurus for providing the live streaming, which went very well in spite of a few hiccups with the shared wi-fi at the facility, and to Ken Mendoza of Jaide Billiard Services, for providing on-site cue repair.
Stop #4 is September 25-26 at Family Billiards in San Francisco, and we return to Surf City for Stop #5 on October 16-17, when hotel rates should be more reasonable – check our website or Facebook page for updated information.
The November 13-14 regional championship tournament at California Billiard Club in Mountain View is just around the corner, where at least $1,250 will be added to the prize fund. Players must compete in three stops in order to qualify for this event, so register in advance on our website www.calipoolplayerstour.com to guarantee your spot in any of the upcoming tournaments. We look forward to seeing everyone!
