James Davis Sr. and Efren Reyes
The Sixth Annual Senior One Pocket Championship was held this past weekend at Bogies in Houston, TX. PoolActionTV.com & Bogies added $3000 to this double elimination event.
To qualify for this event, players had to turn 65 before the end of this year. They came from around the country and ponied up their $200 entry fees. Races were to four on the winners side and to three on the one loss side.
After the players meeting and a rousing players auction, play began.
First round saw Houston’s own James Christopher defeat Jim Tomassoni, 2019’s runner-up Ike Runnels beat the always tough Robert Newkirk and veteran Hall of Famers Nick Varner and Efren Reyes battled it out to a 4-3 finish – Reyes took the win.
Second round matches included Tom Wirth, author of One Pocket: A Game Of Controlled Aggression, eking out a 4-3 victory over defending champ James Davis Sr. and 2019’s third place finisher John Palmore sending Christopher to the west side.
Wirth squeaked out another 4-3 win over Palmore while Runnels sent Gabby Pouncey packing in the third round.
In fourth round action, Wirth’s luck ran out as Runnels sent him to the one loss side and Reyes mercilessly skunked Wayne Catledge. Both Runnels and Reyes advanced to the hot seat match.
Meanwhile, on the west side of the chart, Gabby and James Sr. were duking it out to see who would play the loser of the hot seat match. It was close but James Sr. prevailed 3-2.
The hot seat match saw Efren defeat Ike 4-2 sending him over to play James Sr. Both men fought hard to get into the finals but when it was all over, James Sr. had won 4-2.
Since this format was true double elimination, James Sr. would have to defeat Efren twice to claim the title. James Sr. rocketed out to a 3-0 lead & it looked like he would claim the first set. Efren, however, was having none of it and clawed his way back to tie it up at three apiece! It looked like the match was almost over and then Efren faltered on his out ball! James leaped out of his seat to win the final game and forced a second set.
Looking like he was a little hot under the collar after failing to lock up the title in the previous match, Efren took dead aim and BOOM!!! Eight and out for the first game, claimed the second game and finally won the last game, set and title!
Both players played exceptionally well and left us all wanting for more! Congratulations, Efren! Great job, James Sr.!
We’d like to thank our own Ray Hansen & his able assistant, Adam Cooper, for doing a great job keeping the tournament running smoothly. We’d also like to thank Cody Parrish and his staff for taking such good care of all the players and fans.
Also deserving praise were commentators Jeremy Jones, Larry Schwartz, Nick Varner, Tom Wirth and OnePocket.org’s Steve Booth.
And, of course, we can’t forget to thank our fans and sponsors. They include Lomax Custom Cues, JB Cases, Hanshew Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Durbin Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, The Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is at Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, IA for the Midwest Billiards & Cue Expo – dates are July 14th-18th! Hope to see you there!
