A big congratulations to Shane Van Boening and Jeremy Jones, who took 1st and 2nd place, respectively this weekend, earning the top two prizes of $6,000 and $3,000 at the "Andy Mercer Memorial 9-Ball Tournament"!
The Rum Runner Lounge in Las Vegas - home of 'The Andy Mercer Memorial 9 Ball Tournament', celebrated its 23rd annual, 3-day event to a packed house of players and spectators, gunning for yet another weekend of the toughest 'bar-box', 9 ball performances of our time.
A 64-player field, studded with an almost equal ratio of professional giants and hopeful killers in their wake, Mosconi Cup veteran and 2003, U.S. Open Champion, Jeremy Jones from Baytown, Texas took the high road to the Hot-Seat of the event, facing off with Shane VanBoening on the final day, only to get 'double-dipped' in two races to 6, ending in scores of 6-3 and 6-0. Shane's electrifying display of cue ball control and one lucky shot on the 7-ball kept Jeremy in his chair for most of the finals. Jeremy's visits to the table were somewhat undeserved, having only a few opportunities to kick, play safe or push away.
Donnie and Johnny Meet The Giants!
3rd place winner, Donnie Branson looked very promising on day three and facing off with with both winners. First, knocking Shane to the one-loss side (6-2), only to follow up with his first loss to Jeremy Jones (6-4). Donnie's next match ended with Shane serving a rather bitter pill of 6 games in a row (6-0), reducing Donnie to the 3rd place position.
5th/6th place winner, Johnny Kang's draw was tough from the 'get-go', immediately defeating jim Blakeman (6-2) and Sal Butera (6-5) on Day 1, followed by Frank 'The Barber' Almanza (6-5) on Day 2. On day 3, Johnny suffered his first loss to Donnie Branson (6-2), only to forge ahead two more wins to Ramin Bahktiari (6-5), Oscar Dominguez (6-3) and finally losing to Ronnie Alcano (6-5)
Watch Out For The Volcano!
4th place winner, Ronnie 'Volcano' Alcano had some well deserved wins against King-Kong' (6-5) and the 'Giant Killer', Ray Skenandore (6-5) and then to Johnny Kang on the one-loss (6-5). Ronnie was untouched until day three, took his first loss against Jeremy Jones (6-4) and finally his second loss to a rather determined Shane (6-3) who had nothing on his mind but to defend his 2-time consecutive championship title.
Max Runs 6 Straight Racks After King-King Refuses The Push!
7th/8th place winner Max Eberle, astounded the crowd with 6 straight racks, run from the break against Bernardo 'King-Kong' Chavez, who refused a push-out by Max on the first rack. King-Kong sat in his chair, writhing and hopeful for a shot, getting up only to rack the balls each time Max closed out. This match was streamed live, commentated by Daniel Busch and Lenny Marshall and can be viewed on demand at POV Pool's YouTube Channel.
Max's historic performance on POV Pool was a well deserved one, after losing in the first round of play on day one to Donnie Branson (6-5), then beating Brian Miller (6-2), King Kong (6-0), Ismael 'Morro' Paez (6-0), Thomas Butler (6-0), Fach Garcia (6-1), Mitch Ellerman (6-2) and then losing to Ernesto Dominguez (6-4).
Congrats To Team Mexico!
Happy Birthday Oscar Dominguez, who turns 28 today! Oscar earned his 7th/8th place position just underneath his father's finish at 5th/6th place. Oscar's wins included a streamed match with Brett Lee (6-3). He then beat Ramin Bahktiari (6-1), Fach Garcia (6-1), lost to Shane (6-2), eliminated Sal Butera from the one-loss (6-3), and finally getting ousted by Johnny Kang (6-3).
Also hit early to the one-loss was Ernesto Dominguez, who notched his belt a number of tough matches against Southwest Cues', Al Lawrence (6-4), Frank Almanza (6-5), POV Pool's night-time commentator, Joshua Edgar (6-2), Max Eberle (6-5) until finally losing to Shane in a hill/hill match.
Live Streamed Matches
Sponsored by Kamui Tips, The Orange County APA, John English and The Public House 1739, there were almost 40 recorded matches which were streamed live by Daniel Busch of www.povpool.com, which will begin posting to YouTube sometime next week. POV Pool would like to thank it's commentators for some excellent coverage of this event: Justin Acker, James Murphy, Stacy Allsup, Jeremy Jones, Mitch Ellerman, Lenny Marshall, Robert Leblanc, Frank Almanza, Jimmy 'Pretty Boy Floyd' Mataya, Joshua Edgar's, 'POV Pool, After Dark' show, Don McClelland, John English and many, many other players and spectators who joined in, to say hello on the stream and pay tribute to the late, Andy Mercer, who may very well be smiling upon us.
Special Thanks!
Thanks also to Geno Hill, Gordy Hill, Jim Blakeman, Mike Ganz, the Rum Runner Staff and many other new friends and strangers who made this event possible. Additional promotional support and thanks go to Max Eberle’s Pro Academy, Ramin Bahktiari and MaryAnn Starkey of GoPlayPool, Amy Encinias and Nichole of Vegas Billiards Buzz Forums, AZ Billiards, Alvin Nelson, JR Calvert of Inside Pool Magazine.
Results and Payouts
1st $6,000 Shane VanBoening
2nd $3,000 Jeremy Jones
Losing 6-3, 6-0 to Shane VanBoening
3rd $1,700 Donnie Branson
Losing 6-0 to Shane VanBoening
4th $1,000 Ronnie Alcano
Losing 6-3 to Shane VanBoening
5th/6th $700 Johnny Kang
Losing 6-5 to Ronnie Alcano
Ernesto Dominguez
Losing 6-5 to Shane VanBoening
7th/8th $500 Oscar Dominguez
Losing 6-3 to Johnny Kang
Max Eberle
Losing 6-4 Ernesto Dominguez
9th/12th $350 Ramin Bahktiari
Losing 6-5 to Johnny Kang
Sal Butera
Losing 6-3 to Oscar Dominguez
Mitch Ellerman
Losing 6-2 to Max Eberle
Losing 6-2 to Ernesto Dominguez
13th/16th $250 Ray Skenandore
Losing 6-3 to Ramin Bahktiari
Losing 6-5 to Sal Butera
Fach Garcia
Losing 6-1 to Max Eberle
Losing 6-4 to Ernesto Dominguez
