Austin favorite James “Bastrop” Davis Sr. was cool, calm, and collected, as he made his way through a field of 32 top competitors to capture the Open 9-Ball Division of the Lone Star Billiards Tour Texas Open Warm-Up III held this past weekend, August 10th-11th, 2013 at Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round, Rock, Texas. In the final, Davis Sr. overcame European player Patrick Werren, 9-3, securing an undefeated, third tour victory. Amidst a field of 48 Amateur Division players, last year’s runner-up Chelo Velasquez captured his first tour victory over Raymond Cardenas, 7-1. Velasquez went undefeated as well without a single opponent surpassing 3 games. The event drew 80 players and paid out over $6,000 in prize money in addition to a free 9-ball division entry for each winner into the Space City Open II slated for December 6th-9th, at Bogies Billiards & Sports Bar, Houston, Texas.
In the Open Division, Bastrop’s path to victory included wins over David “Little David” Henson, 7-1, and Ed “Big Ed” Ambrose, 7-1, while Garett Sitz of College Station, Texas entered his bid for the hot seat ousting Pittsburg native Bob Guzik, 7-5, and upsetting Patrick Werren, 7-6. Steve Pennington upset Waco’s Doug Young, 7-6 and bested Cesar Garcia, 7-1, while local player Brian Sanders disappointed a wave of talent including Erik Renteria and Kevin Guimond. On the west side, Ambros eliminated Renteria, 6-5, and Henson sent Guimond packing, 6-2. Comeback players John Palmore and Brian Anderson were stopped in 9th-12th positions by Werren and Coffman, respectively. On the second day, races increased to 9 on the winners’ side and 7 on the one loss side. Winners’ side action saw Sitz fall to Davis Sr., 9-7, and Sanders steamroll Pennington, 9-3. Davis Sr. and Sanders teed off for a nail biter of a hot seat match. It was 8-6 Davis’ favor when Sanders answered back tying the match at 8. The shot of the match came when Davis Sr. kicked at a triple combination, the 1-ball to the 9-ball to the 8-ball, lined up towards the side pocket. As the shot was executed, long rail with deliberation and proper speed, the cue ball struck the 1-ball, hitting the 9-ball, in turn pocketing the 8-ball. Concluding the shot, the cue ball died, settling in front of a difficult 1-ball/9-ball combination, headed for the same pocket. With cue in hand, he pinpointed his aim, addressed the cue ball, and successfully pocketed the 9-ball. The crowd had little time to catch their breath as Werren forged ahead on the one-loss side eliminating Ambros, 7-1, Pennington, 7-1, and finally Sanders 7-5, to meet Davis Sr. in the finals. A young Werren shot out of the gate, taking a 2-0 lead. In the third game, Werren missed a routine 7-ball hooking the veteran player behind the 8-ball. Davis Sr. kicked one rail, long, and pocketed the 7-ball in the corner. The crowd gasped, followed by an explosion of clapping. Davis Sr. capitalized that game, consequently breaking and running the next rack. Werren answered back with an eight ball run, racking up his third game, but it would be his last as Davis Sr. replied with a 7 game shutout, besting Werren, 9-3.
Amateur Division action saw 36 players eliminated the first day, bringing back the final 12 for Sunday. It appeared as if last year’s Amateur Division Champion Frank Ferrer Jr. might repeat while last year’s runner-up Chelo Velasquez threatened a first-time win. After an impressive run by Victoria’s Alex Cardenas, he was sent west by contender and cousin, Raymond Cardenas. Flip Edwards fell to Ferrer, 7-6, Velasquez dominated David Neumann, 7-3, and David Escobedo struck down Colt Jackson, 7-5. On the west side, A. Cardenas bested Justin Wyly, 5-2, and Cesar Garcia eliminated Edwards, 5-3. It was Neumann over Brian Anderson, 5-1, and Jackson over Paul Jobe, 5-2. The level field played down with little or no upsets as R. Cardenas fell to Ferrer Jr. on the east side, 7-6, and Velasquez pounded on Escobedo, 7-3. Duking it out on the one loss side, A. Cardenas eliminated Edwards, 5-1, and Neumann thrashed Jackson, 5-1. Escobedo squeezed by A. Cardenas, 5-4, and R. Cardenas sent Neumann packing, 5-2. Hot seat action saw Velasquez torture Ferrer Jr., 7-1, while R. Cardenas left Escobedo in 4th place. R. Cardenas executed revenge on Ferrer Jr., staging his first Amateur Division final. Even though Velasquez underwent recent shoulder surgery on his stroking arm, it didn’t seem to hinder him as he slaughtered R. Cardenas in the final, 7-1, grasping what was denied him in 2012.
The Lone Star Tour would like to thank Skinny Bob’s Billiards and staff for hosting another first rate event.
The Lone Star Billiards Tour is sponsored by Poison by Predator Cues www.poisonbilliards.com, Delta-13 Rack www.delta-13.com, APA of North Harris County www.facebook.com/apanorthharriscounty, www.ImproveYourShot.com, and Ozone Billiards www.OzoneBilliards.com. Live streamed, recorded matches from this event may be viewed at www.ustream.tv/channel/lonestarbilliardstour. The complete event photo album can be found at www.facebook.com/lonestartour.
The Tour Championships will be held October 12th-13th, 2013 at Bogies Billiards in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit www.LoneStarBilliardsTour.com.
On the weekend of August 3rd-4th, Amos Bush not only won the Omega Billiards Tour's 5th stop of 2013 at Clicks Billiards in Arlington, TX, he did after losing his very first match! Winning 12 straight matches in a row, including a double dip in the finals, Amos captured the first place prize and moved himself squarely into the top 5 Rankings!
Amos lost his very first match to the always formidable Jesse Hernandez 7-4. But that didn’t stop him – he went on a rampage and defeated Jim Colling 8-5, Anthony Shea 8-0, Willie Speed 8-4 and Jeff Georges 8-3 to make it to Sunday. On Sunday he defeated Shannon Modesitt 8-4 then Corey Flud 8-0. He then ran into a determined Tony Sulsar (winner of the last two stops), and that match went hill-hill with Amos coming out on top 8-7. Then Amos had a rematch with Jesse and won 8-4, and also toppled over the always-tough Crispian Ng (newly BCAPL Nationals 9-Ball Champ) 8-5 and then Mike Voelkering 8-5 to earn a spot in the finals.
Mike Voelkering had another fantastic tournament placing 3rd. He made it into the hotseat match with only one opponent getting over 3 games against him. In the hotseat match, a heartbreaker carom on the 9 barely hung in the pocket for an almost hill-hill match. He fought hard against Amos in the semi-final but Amos was shooting good all weekend, also, and Amos won 8-5. Congrat’s to Mike for placing 3rd!
Undefeated till the finals was a determined Jack Lynch (known as “Jersey Jack”). He had an excellent tournament and defeated a lot of good players to get to the finals! He had wins over Tony Matthew 7-1, Danny Williams 7-6, Dylan Weinheimer 7-5, Corey FLud 7-3, Walter Huenerfuerst 7-2 and Mike Voelkering 7-5 where he then waited for Amos to make his way for the final match-up.
In the finals, Amos caught a gear and won the first set 8-1. In the second set, Jersey was able to capture 4 games, but again Amos prevailed and won the second set 8-4. Amos earned $560 plus a beautiful Lucasi cue for First Place and Jersey earned $450 for Second. Mike earned $300 for 3rd place (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction).
A BIG shout out to newcomer Walter Huenerfuerst for placing 5th in his first Omega Billiards Tour event and also to Robert Sifuentes who might now be considered the “Giant Killer” as he got past several high-ranked players to place an impressive 7th place – his highest finish yet!
The Predator Player Points Tracker is for sure tested now with only one more stop left for the season to see who wins the coveted Predator prizes at Season Finale! Tony Sulsar remains in 1st place, with Crispian Ng in 2nd and Mike Voelkering moving up to 3rd. The top 3 ranked players earn Predator Prizes at the end of the year and everyone is anxious and ready to place higher and higher in the stops to move up on the list! CSI / BCAPL are giving free entries to the 2014 BCAPL Nationals for players ranked 4th-8th at the end of the year, also. Thank you to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Lucasi Cues, Players Cues, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.
Tour Directors Melinda Bailey and Brian Anderson would like to thank Click’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend! A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, who is the main sponsor of the Tour and owner of Omega Billiards Supply in Hurst, TX. Michael and Omega Billiards supply are well known for the huge booths at many of the large tournaments across the country. The last stop on the Omega Billiards Tour is scheduled for October 5-6 at Speed’s Billiards in Arlington, TX. All of the six events for 2013 on the Omega Billiard Tour's inaugural season have been filled to their 64-player capacity, with a 60+ waiting list! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!!
Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!
On the weekend of June 22nd-23rd, Tony Sulsar claimed the top prize on the newly inaugurated Omega Billiards Tour's 4th stop of 2013 at Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX. Tony has now won his second Omega tournament in a row! Over $8,000 was given out in monies and prizes this weekend! (Tourney payouts + prizes + player’s auction.) Here is how it all went down….
At last month's tournament, Tony Sulsar went undefeated to win the tourney, but this time his road to the finals was derailed by a determined Sky Massingill which stopped Tony getting to the hotseat match undefeated. Sky would have a fabulous tournament defeating William Howard, Adam Pontious, Charlie Smith, Willy Orozco, and then Tony to meet local Dylan Weinheimer in the hotseat. Dylan, who is a beast on the table, proved that easily by winning over Sam Hargrove, Vince Miller, the always formidable Greg Sandifer, consistent Mike Voelkering, and David Josephson. He then prevailed with a hill-hill win over Sky in the rocking chair to have a seat in the finals.
Tony would make an impact on the one-loss side by first defeating the talented Barry Emerson hill-hill, Curtis Cardwell, and then Sky to secure his spot in the finals. Brian Anderson and Greg Sandifer both placed 7th/8th and had a great tournament. Barry and David Josephson would place an impressive 5th/6th (their highest finish yet) and Curtis had a fantastic event placing 4th! Sky would also have his highest finish to date placing 3rd and we know he will be in the winner’s circle soon on the Omega Tour.
In the finals, Dylan and Tony had their work cut out for them. On this handicapped tour, they both race to 8 (the handicaps range from 5 to 9) and the fans were in for a treat as both players performed very well with their smooth strokes and excellent cue ball control! One could not help but improve their game just by watching these two players. The first set was a nail biter and went hill-hill. The second set was not as close, but still fantastic play with Tony coming out on top and winning 8-4. Dylan placed an impressive 2nd place while Tony captured the first place monies, including a beautiful Lucasi Hybrid cue. Tony’s long day came to an end around midnight after capturing the coveted 1st place crown. A BIG congrats to all the players! There were several new faces and numerous high finishes for the tour’s regulars.
The Predator Player Points Tracker will be tested for only two more stops to see who wins the coveted Predator prizes at the end of the year! Tony Sulsar now sits in 1st place, with Crispian Ng in 2nd and Jesse Hernandez in 3rd. The top 3 ranked players earn Predator Prizes at the end of the year and everyone is anxious and ready to place higher and higher in the stops to move up on the list! CSI / BCAPL are giving free entries to the 2014 BCAPL Nationals for players ranked 4th-8th at the end of the year, also. Thank you to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Lucasi Cues, Players Cues, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.
Tour Directors Melinda Bailey and Brian Anderson would like to thank Rusty’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend! A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, who is the main sponsor of the Tour and owner of Omega Billiards Supply in Hurst, TX. Michael and Omega Billiards supply are well known for the huge booths at many of the large tournaments across the country. The next (fifth) stop on the Omega Billiards Tour is scheduled for August 3-4 at Clicks Billiards in Arlington, TX. All of the six events for 2013 on the Omega Billiard Tour's inaugural season have been filled to their 64-player capacity, with a 50+ waiting list! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!!
Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!
