This past week players converged on Michael’s Billiards in Fairfield, OH for the $12,000 added Midwest Open Billiard Championship III.
After snapping off last week’s McDermott Classic was Billy Thorpe in addition to the reigning Derby City Classic Master of the Table Fedor Gorst, Bayou State Classic One Pocket champ Roberto Gomez, Music City Open champ Shane Wolford and Sandcastle 9-Ball Open champ Greg Hogue. Also there was former US Open Bank Pool champ Louis DeMarco, former US Open One Pocket and Derby City Classic Nine Ball champ Warren Kiamco, Shannon Murphy, Johnathan (“Hennessee”) Pinegar, Alex Olinger, Chris Gentile,Richie Richeson, Liz Lovely, veterans Dee Adkins and Mark Jarvis as well as young guns Eric Roberts, Kashton Keeton, Riley Adkins and Dylan Waugh.
Featuring six events in addition to the all around champion award, local sponsors included Simonis, Aramith, Diamond Billiard Products, Meyer Custom Cues, Seybert’s Billiard Supply, Robert Frost Solar Solutions, JFlowers Cues, Nit Free, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH, PoolActionTV and Michael’s Billiards.
This year’s event opened this past Monday evening with the $3,000 added One Pocket division. Fifty one players paid entry fees of $100 to enter this modified double elimination tournament. Rules were alternate break with races to three until down to the final sixteen. From there, it was a redraw with races to four and a race to five finals.
Whittled down to the final four, Billy Thorpe defeated Warren Kiamco and Roberto Gomez beat Fedor Gorst – both matches 4-1. The two-time Derby City One Pocket champ Thorpe and Gomez – the holder of multiple one pocket titles in the last three years – duked it out in the finals with Thorpe claiming the title 5-2.
Tuesday night was the $1,000 added Pro Ten Ball Invitational followed by the much anticipated $500 added Bank Ring Game.
Played on nine foot Diamonds, eight players entered this $500 entry fee single elimination event. Format was alternate break with races to eleven – finals was a race to thirteen.
Opening round action saw Shannon Murphy spank Kash Keaton and Roberto Gomez blitz Brent Worth – both matches 11-1. Shane Wolford toasted Zach Marquardt 11-3 while Billy Thorpe had a tougher time with Warren Kiamco but managed to pull out an 11-9 win.
Down to four players, Murphy downed Thorpe 11-6 while Gomez bested Wolford 11-7.
The finals was all Gomez as he took the title over Murphy – score 13-4.
Twelve players ponied up their $500 entry fees for the Bank Ring Game and began battling it out. Finally down to two players, Fedor Gorst defeated Shannon Murphy to take the title.
Wednesday night saw the start of the $3,000 added 9 Ball Banks division. Featuring sixty six players, this race to four tournament was also modified double elimination. As in the one pocket tournament, once down to sixteen players there would be a redraw with single elimination from there. Finals were one race to five.
The final four were Louis DeMarco versus Shane Wolford and Billy Thorpe versus Nathan Wallace. Going down to the wire, Shane moved into the finals 4-3 and Billy smoked Nathan4-1. The finals was all the red hot Thorpe as he dusted Wolford 5-1.
The $500 added Ladies 8 Ball tournament began on Thursday night with twenty nine players posting their $50 entry fees. Played on seven foot Diamonds, this double elimination touurnament were races to 4/3 with alternate breaks. Tina Larsen and Tracy Cantrell tore through the field to meet in the hot seat match. Tina took the match 4-2 and sent Tracy to the loss side to await the results of the match between the always tough Liz Lovely and Christine Deturk. Christine edged out the match 3-2 but was blitzed by Tracy leaving her in third place.
Since this was true double elimination, Cantrell would have to defeat Larsen twice to win the tournament. It was close but in the end, it was Larsen who claimed the title 3-2.
The $3,000 added Nine Ball division began on Friday evening with 107 players. With a $100 entry fee, this was also modified double elimination. Played on the seven footers, the format was alternate break with races to seven. The final sixteen were redrawn and it was single elimination from there with races to nine – race to eleven in the finals.
Down to the final four, Shane Wolford eliminated Matt Carman 9-3 and Alex Olinger defeated Louis DeMarco 9-6. The final match was neck and neck all the way. Tied at nine apiece, Shane got on the hill first and closed it out 11-9.
Congratulations to this year’s champs – Billy Thorpe, Roberto Gomez, Fedor Gorst, Tina Larsen and Shane Wolford! And, congratulations to Billy for winning the All-Around Championship!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank the Medley family – owners of Michael’s Billiards – and their staff for going the extra mile to make both players and fans welcome. We’d also like to thank Tournament Director Jason Hill and his assistant, Cody Myers, for ably running the various events.
We’d like to thank commentators Larry Schwartz, Dee Adkins, Nathan Wallace and Ray Hansen for a great job!
We’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors for another fantastic event. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Simonis, Aramith, Lomax Custom Cues, Durbin Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Savage Billiards, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next stop is The Rack One Pocket Championship in Livonia, MI. Dates are March 30th-April 2nd! Hope to see you there!
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