Matt Braden headlines Viking Amateur Tour’s Big Weekend

David Maddux, Matt Braden and Matt Bulfin

July 26 & 27th 2008 The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tours Amateur Event presented by Roaring Loin Energy Drink was hosted by Breakers Sports Bar & Grill, Knoxville, TN.  The event had a spectacular record breaking field of 137 players which included 7 free entries and 23 league discounts in the main event.  The events consisted of a Friday night mini tournament which was capped at 32 players.  That was followed up by the main $2,500 added event which drew in 97 players and finally a Midnight Madness winner take all $200 entry fee event with 8 players.
 
Participants from eight different states battled it out for their share of the $10,620 prize fund.  The action started Friday night with a mini tournament and continued until the early morning hours on Monday. The Friday night mini event was won by Daniel Autry and the Saturday Midnight Madness event was surprisingly won by underdog Jeff Tabet.
 
In the main $2500 Added Amateur event Matt Braden went undefeated thru the bottom half of the 128 player tournament chart while his opponent Matt Bulfin went undefeated thru the top half of the 128 player chart when the players met in the finals of the winners bracket to see who would win the hot seat it was Matt Braden who came out the victor by a score of 9-5. At the same time this match was in play the quarterfinals was taking place on the left side of the chart between Jimmy Weemes and David Maddux with Maddux beating Weemes 7-3.  This set up the semi final match between Maddux and Bulfin both players battled it out during the grueling match with  Maddux reaching the hill firs.  With the score at 6-3 Maddux but missed a very makeable 4/9 combo to take the win which allowed Bulfin back to the table and the opportunity to come back to take the victory 7-6.   This win brought Bulfin to the finals and back into battle again against Matt Braden for his shot at the championship in the true double elimination format featured by The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour.  With the first set score knotted at 5/5 each player it was Bulfin that found a way to win the first set 9-5. Braden made a come back in set two to take the first place prize 7-3.
 
If pool is your game, Breakers Sports Bar & Grill definitely was the place to be this past weekend.  The action was non-stop through out the entire weekend and broadcast on Breakers live feed at ( www.breakerssportsbar.com ) for all that could not be present to enjoy the tremendous play that took place.  As usual Bob Moore and his staff at Breakers Sports Bar & Grill went above and beyond to provide a great host location for The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tours Amateur Event players this weekend.
 
Additional coverage of the event was provided by www.AZbilliards.com and the finals were filmed for www.AZBtv.com by Jerry Forsyth who graciously came out to the event to interview the players and film the finals.   The finals will be available for viewing on AZBtv.com on July 31st and may be viewed free of charge.
 
Go to: www.viking9balltour.com for more information about participating in, hosting or sponsoring the Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour events.
 
The Friday night Mini Tournament Payouts
1st $625 Daniel Autrey
2nd $400 Matt Braden
3rd $275 Roger Hawkins
4th $100 Robert Green
5th $30 Joe Pierce
6th $30 Jeff Tabet
 
The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour Amateur Event Payouts are as listed:
1st $1700 Matt Braden
2nd $1200 Matt Bulfin
3rd $880 David Maddux
4th $600 Jimmy Weems
5 /6th $400 each Gary Gilliam / James King
7 /8th $250 each Tony King / John Visotsky
9 /12th $150 each Dan Autrey / John Boutwell / Ed Hancock / Mike Janis
13 / 16th $100 each Eddie Miller / Nathan Wagner / Jeff Tabet / Gary Cairnes
17 /24th $50 each Scott Eller / Robert Green / Darren Watkins / Jesse Luttrell / Matthew Williamson / Wes Covington / Eddie Tipton / James Price
 
The Saturday Nite Midnite Madness Tournament Payout
$2130 Jeff Tabet
 
The Viking Cue Raffle this weekend was won by Racheal Williamson form Mississippi. Rachel won a $700 Viking Cue.