To women struggling with issues of domestic abuse, self-isolation in their home has the potential to be as dangerous as the Covid-19 virus. The need to escape the violence becomes much more acute and the agencies normally positioned to be of assistance get overwhelmed with aid requests, while at the same time, donations diminish. On Saturday, April 11 at The Hidden Spot in Calgary, the pool-playing Ashton Twins (Bev and Joanne) got together for a benefit 9-ball match; a race to 19 between them and after them, two brothers (Guy and Andrew Nicklin), that solicited donations for a local domestic abuse organization called Gems for Gems.
Five years ago, a friend of Bev Ashton, Jordan Guildford, used a teenage memory to launch a charitable campaign designed to benefit the victims of domestic abuse. As detailed in a blog post by Mica Lemiski on the Hillberg & Berk Web site, when they were teenagers, Guildford and her siblings had pooled the money their grandmother had given them to purchase Christmas gifts for themselves and used it, instead, to purchase a bracelet for their single Mom “that looked like leaves woven together.” Initially, when, upon opening the package, their Mom burst into tears and left the room, the siblings thought that they’d made a mistake, but when she returned, and explained to her children that the gift had, in fact, “reconnected her to being a woman and an individual, the link between jewelry and personal empowerment had been made clear to Jordan.”
Fueled by the memory of her mother and the bracelet, Guildford decided to spearhead a jewelry drive to collect accessories she would give to women in shelters on Christmas. She called the campaign “Gems for Gems,” the intended message being that gems in the community would donate gems to the gems (the women) in shelters on Christmas. With only three weeks to collect, she set a goal of giving 25 packages. She collected enough to do 436 packages.
Now, Gems for Gems is a nationally-registered charity whose mission has expanded beyond the realm of crowd-sourcing jewelry and into that of domestic abuse education and prevention. They still operate the annual jewelry drive, but their outreach now includes a scholarship program and a series of workshops designed to empower survivors.
Bev Ashton and Jordan Guildford became friends while exchanging pleasantries on treadmills at Orangetheory Fitness in Seton, a suburb of Calgary. When Jordan, in conversation with Bev, recently explained that domestic abuse was having a tendency to be more acute in these times of self-isolation, Bev conceived of the challenge match with her sister and set out to make it happen.
They settled on The Hidden Spot location in Calgary and, to maintain self-isolation guidelines, determined that it would be a closed event, with just enough people to make it happen; no spectators, bar patrons, or excess personnel of any kind. They communicated with Valerie Franiel to enlist the support of her E-sports Productions company to set up a live stream and the function of $20 donations to the charity. They launched proceedings earlier than Saturday by offering on their streaming site a set of individual challenge matches between individuals with pool tables in their home and the ‘ghost’ (a hypothetical pool opponent in a structured game).
“Before we started streaming the Ashton twins,” said Franiel, “we had already raised $1,000.”
There were, noted Franiel, only six people in The Hidden Spot when the matches started. And the first glitch in the machinery, so to speak, came when everybody realized that as a result of restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the room’s Internet service provider had suspended service. It took a while, a few hours, for them to get that connection up and running, but when it did, the matches began.
In the end, they raised just over $4,000 for Gems for Gems, as the FB stream drew nearly 10,000 viewers to the six-hour-plus streaming broadcast between the Ashton twins and then, the Nicklin brothers. The donations made each donor eligible to win one of two cues – a $1,000 (Canadian) Viking Custom Cue and a $1,500 (Canadian) Erbez Custom Cue – and a couple of Gems for Gems ‘swag bags,’ valued at $100 (Canadian) each. According to Bev Ashton, Jordan Guildford is more than happy with the donations to Gems for Gems.
“For her,” said Ashton, “$500 would have been cool, so with the $4,000, she was ecstatic.”
“We wanted to do something positive and good,” Ashton added, “while maintaining social distancing and offering some entertainment to people who are sitting bored in their houses.”
And oh yeah, there were a couple of pool matches broadcast on Saturday. The event opened with the Ashton twins, who should have been mic-ed to take advantage of their penchant for sibling trash talk that can border on the hilarious and for those who don’t know them, can occasionally sound vindictive. Joanne Ashton’s Web site, for example, notes that she was born 20 minutes before Bev and that it was the best 20 minutes of her life.
Their Fargo rates are separated by 42 points (Bev/571 and Joanne/613), which, at the outset, in a race to 19, gave the higher-rated Joanne an 81.3% chance of winning the match (Fargo Rate match odds tend to give a higher-ranked player a better chance of winning with longer matches).
“We have different styles,” noted Bev. “But she actually has more titles and has actually worked harder at it.”
Bev figured that the Fargo Rates were about right and generally speaking, represented their long-time hypothetical match score over a hypothetical 100 matches; Joanne, winning about 80 of the 100. It was Bev, however, who came out gunning. After a few back-and-forth matches to start things off, she opened up a substantial lead, which got as far as 10-3, before Joanne started the catch-up routine that would eventually tie them at 16. Win #17 represented Joanne’s first lead of the match, which she followed with two more to win it all.
The Nicklin brothers, Andrew and Guy, played a shorter race to 13. It was a much tighter match that went back and forth to an 8-8 tie, before Andrew pulled ahead to eventually win 13-9.
“Everybody called it the battle of the almost-twins,” said Valerie Franiel, “because they look so much alike that everybody assumes they’re twins, but they’re not. Andrew is older by 13 months.”
According to Franiel, the success of this particular event has prompted her (and her company) to begin arranging for follow-up tournaments to include one this weekend (Saturday, April 18, 2 p.m., Mountain Time), which will feature a “Border Battle,” pitting Canadian Geoff Waterfall against USA’s Phillip Wright, who will each be playing against the ‘ghost’ from their home. Geoff will be in Rock Creek, British Columbia as Wright competes from Owatonna, Minnesota. Watch the E-Sports Productions Facebook page for further info on upcoming matches.
“I’m happy we went through it,” said Bev Ashton of her and Joanne’s benefit match; streaming glitch and eventually, loss to her sister, notwithstanding. “It was professional and fun and good.”
The Ashton Twins and E-Sports Productions' Valerie Franiel thanked Viking Cues, Erbez Custom Cues, The Hidden Spot, Jennifer Miles with Desjardins Insurance, Brutal Game Gear, Philly’s Billiards and Gaijin Custom for their sponsorship of this event.
Modeled after the Mosconi Cup ("with a twist," according to organizers), Cue Sports Live (CSL) held its first Alberta Cup, on the weekend of June 16-18. The 10-ball event pitted two of that Canadian province's cities against each other in teams of seven players each, drawn from six months of qualifiers. The cities of Edmonton and Calgary were represented by teams consisting of five men and two women, selected by slightly different processes. This 1st Annual Alberta Cup, was hosted by The Hidden Spot in Calgary, and saw the city of Edmonton claim the first title 15-13 over the city of Calgary.
Edmonton sported a team made up of seven players, which included their captain Garry Hauck. Eight qualifiers were held from which four males (Hauck, Rob Phillips, Carlos Barbosa, and Roger Colbert) and one female (Sandy Badger) were chosen. Hauck selected one more male (Brian Butler) and one more female (Cathy Metzinger). Calgary did things just a little differently, ending up with a team of seven players and a non-playing captain, Barry Hooey, who was chosen before the qualifying players had been identified. As with Edmonton, the qualifiers produced four males (Jason Onespot, Eric Vargas, Ben Francis, and Albert Augustin) and a female (Joanne Ashton), after which Hooey added one male (Joe Spence) and one female (Bev Ashton)
Edmonton got on the board first in Day One by winning the team match 8-1 (the only match that went to 8; all others were races to 5). Alternating between scotch doubles and singles, Edmonton took the next four, as well, and were up 5-0, having won 21 of the 32 games played. With one match to play on this opening day, a singles match, Calgary was, psychologically at least, in something of a must-win situation. Calgary's captain, Hauck, chose his personal pick for the team, Joe Spence, who stepped up to the challenge and downed Edmonton's Carlos Barbosa 5-1, which was also the score of the day's matches with Edmonton on top.
Calgary had some work to do on Day Two and they started off on the right foot, winning three straight double hill matches. Calgary's Joanne Ashton then downed Edmonton's Cathy Metzinger 5-2 to knot the teams at 5-5.
Edmonton wasted no time getting back into the swing of things, as Day Two progressed. Edmonton Captain Garry Hauck and his scotch doubles partner Rob Phillips defeated Calgary’s Ben Francis and Jason Onespot 5-2 to retake the team lead at 6-5. Edmonton went on to win five more, including a shutout by Edmonton’s scotch doubles team of Brian Butler and Sandy Badger over Calgary’s Erik Vargas and Joanne Ashton. Each team chalked up one more win to complete the Alberta Cup's second day, which ended with Edmonton up 12-6; three more matches away from victory.
As they'd done the day before, Calgary came to the tables on the final day (featuring all singles matches), looking to make up lost ground, and promptly chalked up four games to cut Edmonton's lead to 12-10. Calgary's Joanne Ashton, hoping to get her team within one, was on the hill in game #7 in this match (4-3) against Edmonton's Cathy Metzinger, when she (Ashton) scratched, shooting at the 9-ball. Metzinger closed out the game, putting the two of them at double hill (4-4). Metzinger broke dry and with eight of the 10 balls in holes, Ashton found herself looking at an almost identical layout from the one she'd faced in the previous game.
"Well, this shot looks familiar," Ashton called out, as she took aim at the 9-ball. For the second game in a row, Ashton scratched shooting at the 9-ball, but this time, it cost her not only the game, but the match. It was Edmonton's first win of the final day and gave them the momentum shift they'd been looking for.
Calgary chalked up match #24 to draw them back to within two at 13-11. Edmonton's Carlos Barbosa got to the hill first in game six (4-2) of match #25, but in game seven, missed a tough cut to give Calgary's Jason Onespot the break he needed to finish the rack and draw within one. Onespot broke and ran to force a deciding game. In that deciding game, Barbosa got to the 8-ball, looking at an easy layout on the 9-10, when he miscued and sunk the 8-ball in the wrong pocket. Onespot sunk the 9-ball, and left himself with perfect shape on the 10-ball. He sunk it to cheers from the Calgary fans in attendance, because the team was within one at 13-12.
At 3-3 in match #26, Edmonton's Rob Phillips, playing against Calgary's Erik Vargas, broke and ran to reach the hill first. In game #8, Phillips got as far as the 8-ball, poised to win the game, but scratched. Vargas finished the game, forcing a ninth and deciding game. Phillips promptly broke and ran to win the match, and put Edmonton on the hill at 14-12.
With the Alberta Cup on the line, Calgary's captain Brian Hooey put up the team's eventual MVP and his personal team pick, Joe Spence. Edmonton countered with Roger Colbert. Spence won 5-3, and, as the saying goes, the hometown and room Calgary crowd went wild, with their team now a single game away from double hill at 14-13.
Match #28 pitted Edmonton Captain Garry Hauck's pick, Brian Butler, against Calgary's Ben Francis. Butler took a quick 3-0 lead, but Francis came right back and chalked up two. Francis broke in game six and ran to the 8-ball, before rattling it in the hole, and allowing Butler to finish the game and reach the hill first at 4-2. Francis fought back in game seven to draw within one at 4-3.
Calgary's Francis broke rack #8, and though he sunk the 7-ball, he had no shot at the 1-ball. Francis opted to play safe, looking to take advantage of the three-foul rule to get on the hill with Butler. He reckoned, though, without Butler's experience with the game of snooker. Francis tried twice to put Butler in a foul situation, and not only did Butler foil both attempts, but in the second attempt, he left Francis tough, forcing him to foul. With ball in hand, Butler sunk the 1-ball, and the 2-ball, before lining up and making a 3-10 combination that gave him the match win and his team, the 1st Alberta Cup. The Edmonton team pocketed $4,000 and each team member will have his/her name inscribed on a trophy, which will be held in the winning city until further competition. MVP awards went to Edmonton's Cathy Metzinger, who won four of her five matches, and Brian Butler, who won five out of seven, including the championship match. Calgary's Joe Spence picked up an MVP award, as well, for his five out of seven victories. All three of the MVPs were captain picks for the teams.
Event director Valerie Franiel thanked the owner of the Hidden Spot, Joanne Ashton, for her hospitality during event qualifiers and the actual Albert Cup competition, along with sponsors Cuejo Custom Cues (Darcy Musurichan), Fuss Cupcakes (Kostas Broumas), Recreation World (Jay MacDougall for the Olhausen balls), Elaine Hicks-Reaper from ReMax, Spruce Grove, Discount Custom Apparels (Tim/Ron), Barry Hooey, David Harding, AZ Billiards (Promotions), E&B Plumbing, ScoreSaloon (Jenny Lucas), Fuze Graphics (Curtis Lea), and Jerry W. Briesath.
The entire event was streamed live, courtesy of CueSportsLive, with commentary by Dave Harding, PJ Massicotte, Jim Wych, and a number of participating members from both teams.
According to Franiel, this 1st Annual Alberta Cup featured 213 games, and 33 hours of play, supported by (among other things) endless hours of work by volunteers. There will, she said, be more to come.
The Tornado Open has concluded at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event had several different classifications and it isn't difficult to recognize the names of our winners.
Shane Van Boening claimed the top spot in the Men's Open 10-Ball by double-dipping Josh Roberts in the true double-elimination final with a combined score in the two sets of 16-2. This was rather a surprise as Roberts had been shooting lights out prior to the finals as he had defeated Shane, Dennis Orcullo and Shaun Wilkie in his three previous trips to the table. But in the finals Shane was unstoppable and Roberts only rarely had a look at a makeable shot.
Van Boening's was not the only double-dip of the final evening. Kelly Fisher did the same with Ga Young Kim after Ga Young had earned the hot seat by defeating Allison Fisher 7-3 in the Women's Pro 10-Ball. Kelly Fisher survived her trip to the loser's side by defeating Monica Webb (7-5) and Chezka Centeno (7-6). She then returned to win the title by besting Ga Young Kim 7-5 and then 7-4.
There was also Jack and Jill Scotch Doubles action! Vivian Villareal and Dennis Orcullo took home top honors here by defeating John Morra and Allison Fisher. Karen Corr and Corey Deuel finsihed in third.
The Women's Amateur event was captured by Christy Norris. Bonnie Coats grabbed second while Bev Ashton took the final podium spot in third. In the Men's Amateur division Jimmy Gestwicki took the Gold, Louis Altes the Silver and Kyle Bova took the Bronze.
Look for expanded coverage, results and payouts in the upcoming issue of the Billiards Buzz.
Owner of a couple of wins on the Arizona Women's Billiards Tour this year (April & September), and a 9th place finish in the WPBA's Regional Tour Championships in January, Rebecca Wagner traveled north and west to join a 30-entrant field at the $4,700-added, 3rd Annual Chinook Winds Casino and Resort's 10-Ball Championships (Ladies Division) in Lincoln City, OR on the weekend of October 9-11. She was awarded a bye in the opening round, and lost her first match to Liz Cole. She went on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that put her into the finals against The Duchess of Doom, Allison Fisher, and double-dipped her to take the title.
With Wagner at work on the loss side, Fisher and Susie O'Connor advanced to the hot seat match; Fisher having sent Joanne Ashton to the loss side 5-2 in a winners' side semifinal, as O'Connor was busy surviving a double hill match against Liz Cole. Fisher, who at that point, was boasting a 20-4 advantage in total games played, made it 25-4 with a shutout over O'Connor and waited in the hot seat for Wagner.
Following opening loss-side victories over Sherry Ahola and Melyssa Chasteen, Wagner chalked up two straight double hill wins over Bev Ashton and Kimberly Kirk to earn herself a re-match against Cole. Joanne Ashton drew Cindy Sliva, who'd defeated Deby Welfringer and Bernie Store, both 5-3, to reach her.
Wagner successfully navigated her re-match against Cole 5-3, and in the quarterfinals, faced Sliva, who'd eliminated Joanne Ashton 5-1. Wagner advanced to the semifinals with a 5-3 win over Sliva, and then, as Fisher had done before her, shut out O'Connor.
Apparently in something of a shutout mood, Wagner took the opening set of the true double elimination final against Fisher 5-0. The Duchess of Doom wasn't about to let that stand and put up a strong double hill fight in the second set. Wagner prevailed, though, to claim the event title.
Mary Coffman's been racking 'em up and showing up on WPBA payout lists for nearly 15 years now. Her first appearance in our database shows her finishing in 17th place at a WPBA Regional Tour Championship (RTC), a little less than two months after 9/11. In 2013, she chalked up two victories on the Northwest Women's Pool Association (NWPA) tour, and finished in the money in the other six stops. She also finished in the tie for seventh place at that year's RTC. Last year, she was runner-up to Sheila Clark in an NWPA tour stop. This year, after finishing in the money at the Chinook Winds Open 8-Ball Ladies Division and both the 8-Ball and 9-Ball US Bar Box Championships, she returned to the winners' circle with a come-from-the-loss-side victory at Tour Stop # 6 on the 2015 NWPA Tour. The $500-added event, held on the weekend of September 19-20, drew 20 entrants to Black Diamond Billiards in Spokane, WA.
Following victories over Alicia Kvasnicka and Kim Toops, Coffman faced Kimberly Kirk in a winners' side semifinal. Suzanne Smith, in the meantime, looking for her third win on the 2015 NWPA Tour, had defeated Sharon Bledsoe and Bev Ashton, and squared off against Toni Sakamoto. Kirk sent Coffman to the loss side, and in the hot seat match, faced Smith, who'd defeated Sakamoto. Smith sent Kirk to the semifinals 7-4, and waited in the hot seat for Coffman's return.
On the loss side, Sakamoto drew Phyllis Fernandez, who'd gotten by Tamre Rogers and Toops, both 6-3. Coffman picked up Ashton, who'd shut out Adrianne Beach, and eliminated Lan Phong 7-4 to reach her. The two winners' side semifinalists advanced; Sakamoto 6-2 over Fernandez, and Coffman, surviving a double hill battle versus Ashton.
Coffman downed Sakamoto in the quarterfinals 7-3, and earned herself a shot at Smith in the hot seat with a 7-5 re-match win over Kirk in the semifinals. She completed her trip to the winners' circle with a 9-6 victory over Smith in the finals.
CSI is pleased to announce that the recorded matches from the 2015 BCAPL & USAPL National Championships have been released on the CSI YouTube channel. Twenty-two (22) matches including nine finals and three semi-finals can be viewed in their entirety – absolutely free!
The 2015 BCAPL & USAPL National Championships were held July 22 – August 1 at the beautiful Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The matches were recorded in “The Predator Arena” with high definition equipment and a full production crew. CSI would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to our primary sponsors:
Viking Cues: “The Official Cue of the 2015 BCAPL & USAPL National Championships!”
Omega Billiards: “The Official Store of the 2015 BCAPL & USAPL National Championships!”
Below are the matches on this YouTube playlist:
Match 1: Junior 9-Ball Challenge – Oscar Lopez Jr. vs Daniel Sardoncillo
Match 2: Junior 9-Ball Challenge – Ricky Evans vs Vincent Evans
Match 3: Junior 9-Ball Challenge – Ricky Evans vs Shane Wolford (Semi-Final)
Match 4: Junior 9-Ball Challenge – Lazaro Martinez vs Ricky Evans (Final)
Scotch Doubles is a unique pool event. A successful team in the scotch doubles division takes two players who understand each other’s games almost as well as their own. Each must trust the other’s abilities and communicate as one mind. The best scotch doubles players learn to play in one rhythm. Where one player ends the other takes over.
The finals of the 36th BCAPL National Championships Scotch Doubles events saw the best of the best, Tuesday, May 15th at the Riviera Hotel & Casino. This year there were three BCAPL Scotch Doubles divisions with the addition of the Advanced Scotch Doubles.
In the Open Scotch Doubles, Lisa McNab and Brad Poorman (league #1120) from Saskatchewan, Canada outlasted the other 321 teams to win the coveted top spot winning $3,200. McNab also finished 33rd in the Women’s Open Singles 8-Ball division and 5th in the Women’s Open 9-Ball division.
48 teams formed the new Advanced Scotch Doubles division. The winners of this division’s inaugural year were the husband and wife team of Larry and Andrea Wilson (league #186) from British Columbia, Canada who took home $2,000. In addition to the win in the Advanced Scotch Doubles, Larry Wilson took 5th in the BCAPL 9-Ball Challenge.
The Wilsons overcame another Canadian team in the finals, Russ Whittle and Bev Ashton (league #624). Whittle had a particularly strong day. In addition to placing second with Ashton in the scotch event, he took second in the Men’s Advanced Singles.
The BCAPL Master Scotch Doubles is a favorite among the spectators. The top two teams this year again consisted of some well known names. From New York was the team of Tony Robles Jr. and partner Gail Glazebrook (league #1355) versus Janet Atwell and Wes Largen Jr. (league #1151) from Virginia. A total of 25 teams represented this division. Halfway through the brackets Atwell and Largen Jr. blitzed team Robles Jr. and Glazebrook 7-0. In the finals Robles Jr. and Glazebrook got revenge on that previous loss by taking the first set 7-3. Atwell and Largen Jr. redeemed themselves taking set two 7-3 for the division win and $1,800.
Following the Scotch Doubles event, the team competitions began, with 6 divisions and a total of 875 entries. The halls of the Riviera Hotel & Casino swarmed with colorful matching team shirts representing pool rooms and bars from around the world. Additionally, the CSI US Open 10-Ball Championship marked the halfway point of the 6 day pro level event. The Action Report live streams the US Open action at www.theactionreport.com.
To view online all of the brackets for the 36th BCAPL National Championships, the 2nd USAPL National Championships, the 13th US Open One Pocket Championship and the 4th US Open 10-Ball Championship, visit the CueSports Tournament System at www.ctsondemand.com. You may search by player or team name or can view by division or tournament.
For more information about the BCAPL visit www.playbca.com.
CueSports International (CSI) is dedicated to creating more choices for all players. In the past seven years CSI has directly paid out approximately Seven Million Dollars to players. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the US Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the US Open One Pocket Championship and the US Open 10-Ball Championship. Visit www.playcsipool.com, www.playbca.com and www.playusapool.com for more information about CSI and its divisions.
CSI leads the billiard industry in the development of technology. For more information on the state-of-the-art software systems for league and tournament management visit www.leaguesys.net and www.ctsondemand.com.
