Inaugural events in the pool world, can be fraught with any number of issues. It takes a clear idea of what needs to be done and an extraordinary amount of perseverance and assistance to assure that it does. It requires the patience of a saint and the temperament of a seasoned psychiatrist, especially when the inaugural event draws a long list of Atlantic coast pool veterans, as the inaugural $5,000-added B & L Open 10-Ball Championships did this past weekend (Feb. 19-20), drawing 106 entrants to Center Pocket Café and Billiards in Bowie, MD.
“I think they did a great job,” said the event’s winner, Shaun Wilkie, who went undefeated to claim the title, downing runner-up, Raphael DaBreo twice; in the fourth round and again, in the finals.
Wilkie noted that while the inaugural B & L Open 10-Ball Championships weren’t Kilgore and Li’s ‘first rodeo,’ from his perspective, their previous tournament experience tended towards smaller venues and decidedly smaller crowds. The Center Pocket Café and Billiards venue helped, too, in that with 29 tables, they were able to keep matches moving throughout the two-day event.
“Those extra tables can get you more players, moving through the bracket,” said Wilkie. “Speeds it up.”
“Sometimes, too, you get pool rooms wanting their tables back (for use by the general public),” he added, “but the room made sure that all of the tables were available. We had tables available for the whole first day.”
Runner-up Raphael DaBreo, who has, as he put it, “dabbled’ in the experience of running tournaments himself, noted that the B & L organization was “very punctual and professional the way they ran it.”
“From the player meetings right on through getting everyone playing by noon,” he said. “They were super transparent, too, and if they keep going in the direction of their inaugural event, they have a bright future ahead of them, in my opinion.”
DaBreo also noted that the ongoing proliferation of tournaments and operators is likely a reaction to what players in these tournaments perceive about them; that they’re not done well, and that they, personally, could do a better job.
“I’ve always felt that you wouldn’t have so many tournaments and operators, if someone was doing it right,” he said. “But sometimes you run into situations where it’s not being done well; funds are disappearing or there are discrepancies with skill levels or with local tournaments, maybe someone hasn’t paid. There always seems to be something that comes up.”
“They did it right,” he added of B & L’s inaugural efforts at a much larger event.
They join a wealth of tournament organizations, promoters and tournament directors who get it right, as well, more often than not. Once established, though, the good ones rarely get the credit they deserve. Their efforts can be taken for granted in tournament narratives that focus on the players, so here and now, at B & L’s inaugural ‘big’ event, credit where credit’s due.
Wilkie and DaBreo ran through a gauntlet of the aforementioned Atlantic coast’s best to reach the finals. The five competitors Wilkie defeated on his journey to the hot seat match could have been the final five in any number of Atlantic coast tournaments over the past decade. Wilkie opened against Brian Dietzenbach and Joey Mastermaker, defeating them both 7-2, before running into DaBreo, whom he sent to the loss side 7-4. And as if that wasn’t enough, he drew BJ Ussery in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Ussery got to within a game of double hill, but Wilkie finished it at 7-5 to draw Thomas Haas in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Kang Lee, in the meantime, got off to a shaky start, with Josh Thiele battling him to double hill. Lee prevailed to send Coen Bell, Henry Cha and John Moody, Sr. to the loss side and face Thomas Zippler in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Wilkie downed Haas 7-4, as Lee dispatched Zippler 7-5. Wilkie gave up just a single rack in the battle for the hot seat and waited in it for DaBreo’s return.
On the loss side, the two Thomases (Haas and Zippler) ran right into their second straight loss. Haas had the relative misfortune of running into DaBreo, who was four matches into his loss-side streak, that had most recently included the elimination of John Moody, Sr. 6-2 and Derek Benavides. 6-3. Zippler picked up a re-match against Paul Krimes, who’d sent him to the loss side in a match that kept Krimes out of the winners’ side quarterfinals. Krimes won five straight to get to the rematch, including victories over Justin Muller 6-4 and to the surprise of many (likely, his opponent among them), BJ Ussery 6-4.
DaBreo downed Haas 6-1, while Krimes was wreaking his 6-1 vengeance on Zippler for the earlier defeat. Krimes’ satisfaction with the results of his rematch was short-lived, as DaBreo didn’t grant him a rack in the quarterfinals that followed.
The semifinals weren’t really the ‘pre-party’ to the finals that DaBreo was hoping for. Lee battled tooth and nail to double hill before DaBreo prevailed for his second shot against Wilkie, waiting for him in the hot seat.
The finals weren’t too much of a ‘party’ for DaBreo, either. Wilkie completed his undefeated run with a 7- 2 win over DaBreo to claim the inaugural B + L 10-Ball Championship title.
It was Wilkie’s first win since he won the MD State Bar Table 10-Ball Championship this past November. A tumultuous couple of months followed that saw him place 25th in Turning Stone XXXIV last month (Jan. 6-9). On January 25, the man who’d started him playing pool, his grandfather, passed away. He’d been spending a lot of time, before and especially after, with his grandmother, and in a way, brought his grandfather with him to the tournament.
“I had him in my heart the whole time,” he said, “and I was really happy to pull it off, for me and him.”
Brian Kilgore and Lai Li thanked the ownership and staff at Center Pocket for their hospitality, as well as all of the players who signed on to make their inaugural B & L 10-Ball Championship a success.
While the 2019 Maryland State 8-Ball Bar Table Championships didn’t get quite the ‘name draw’ of its predecessor, the 2019 Maryland State 9-Ball Bar Table Championships, the two did share a winner. Back in March at Brews & Cues in Glen Burnie, MD, Brandon Sluzalis went undefeated through a field of 104 to claim the first MD State 9-Ball Bar Table title. On the weekend of July 27-28, at the same location, Sluzalis got into the hot seat of the 8-Ball Bar Table Championships, and in the end, won it, though not before he was challenged and defeated once, by Tom Zippler, who’d won five on the loss side to reach him for a true double elimination final. The event drew 100 entrants to Brews & Cues.
Sluzalis, who’d faced and defeated the likes of James Aranas, Shaun Wilkie and Brett Stottlemeyer in the March 9-Ball event, did not run into them playing 8-ball in Glen Burnie. Stottlemeyer and Wilkie did compete, just not against Sluzalis. It took him five matches to get into the hot seat, downing Rusty Hamilton 6-1, and Tony Conn 6-4, before picking up a forfeit win over Marko Stanley. He advanced to defeat Dwayne Laub 6-3 and picked up Gary Kline as an opponent in a winners’ side semifinal.
Zippler, in the meantime, had defeated Lance Fessler 6-1, Mark Ford 6-4 and Derick Daya 6-1 before being sent to the loss side by Rick Molineiro 6-3. Molineiro advanced and drew Steve Fleming in the other winners’ side semifinal.
By identical 6-1 scores, Sluzalis and Molineiro sent Kline and Fleming to the loss side, and squared off against each other in the hot seat match. Sluzalis sent Molineiro to the semifinals 6-2 and waited for Zippler to finish his loss-side run.
On the loss side, Kline drew Zippler, who’d defeated Brian Dietzenbach and Rick Winpigler, both 6-4, to reach him. Fleming picked up co-event director Rick Scarlato, Jr., who’d defeated his fellow event director Loye Bolyard 6-4 and Matt Haines, double hill.
A pair of 6-2 victories sent Fleming and Zippler to the quarterfinals, eliminating Scarlato and Kline. A third 6-2 win sent Zippler to the semifinals and a rematch against Molineiro, who’d added a few matches to Zippler’s weekend.
Zippler exacted his revenge on Molineiro 6-4 and turned to face Sluzalis in a true double elimination final. A single race to 10 would have yielded the same result as the two races to 6 did. Zippler, on the wings of that intangible ‘momentum’ took the opening set 6-4. Sluzalis came back in the second set to win it and the 8-ball Championship 6-3. The hypothetical ‘race to 10’ would have gone double hill with Sluzalis winning it 10-9.
Event directors Rick Scarlato, Jr., and Loye Bolyard thanked the ownership and staff at Brews & Cues for their hospitality, as well as sponsors McDermott Cues, Billiard Sports Network, Lights Out Billiards Apparel, Phillippi Custom Cues and TAP Pool League (Chesapeake Region).
(l to r): Reymart Lim, Raymond Walters, Zoren James Aranas
In his first-ever appearance on the Action Pool Tour (APT), Zoren James Aranas from the Philippines went undefeated through a strong field of 48 entrants, beginning what proved to be a six-match march to the winners' circle with an opening round shutout, and finishing with victories over the APT's top-ranked player, Shaun Wilkie in the hot seat match, and Reymart Lim in the finals. The Aug. 5-6 event, Stop # 8 on the APT, was hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
In a concurrently-run Ladies event that drew 10 entrants, USA Atlantic Cup Challenge team member Sierra Reams avenged an opening round loss to Gwen Townsend to defeat her in the finals and capture the Ladies' title. Reams also competed in the Open event.
In the Open event, after shutting out Leo Taborn, Aranas defeated Chad Pike and Greg Sabins, both 9-2, to arrive at a winners' side semifinal with an aggregate score of 27-4. Aranas faced Bill Duggan. Wilkie, in the meantime, who'd played an extra preliminary round, had defeated Roy Taylor, Jim Bilderback, Nilbert Lim and Dwight Cherry to arrive at his winners' side semifinal with an aggregate score of 36-13, and faced Reymart Lim. Aranas sent Duggan to the loss side 9-4, and faced Wilkie, who'd sent Lim over 9-7. Aranas claimed the hot seat 9-6 over Wilkie and waited on what turned out to be Reymart Lim's return.
Lim moved over to pick up RJ Carmona, who'd been defeated by Duggan in a winners' side quarterfinal, and then, on the loss side, defeated Scott Haas 7-4 and survived a double hill match against Eric Moore to reach him. Duggan, in the meantime, picked up Dwight Cherry, who'd navigated his way through two straight double hill matches, against Dave Hunt and Brian Dietzenbach.
Carmona ended up on the wrong end of his second straight double hill fight, which advanced Lim to the quarterfinals against Duggan, who'd eliminated Cherry 7-4. Lim, picking up speed, downed Duggan in the quarterfinals 7-3, and then allowed Wilkie just a single rack in the semifinals. In a single race to 11, Aranas stopped Lim's run 11-7 to claim his first APT title.
In the Ladies event, Gwen Townsend's defeat of the eventual winner, Sierra Reams, 6-1 in the opening round, set her (Townsend) up for a winners' side semifinal against Barbara Yeager. Daisy Lim, who'd defeated Jackie Duggan 6-3 in her opening round, faced Soo Emmitt in the other winners' side semifinal.
Townsend shut Yeager out and in the hot seat match faced Lim, who'd defeated Emmitt 6-3. Townsend claimed the hot seat 6-4 over Lim, and waited on Reams.
On the loss side, Reams got by Melissa Mason and Jen Giampa, both 6-2 to draw Emmitt. Yeager drew Duggan, who'd picked up an opening round, loss-side bye and defeated Kitty Nguyen 6-2. Reams and Yeager advanced to the quarterfinals; Reams 6-1 over Emmitt, and Yeager 6-4 over Duggan. Reams survived a double hill quarterfinal against Yeager, and then, in the semifinals, defeated Daisy Lim 6-2. Reams completed her run, avenging her opening round loss, with an 8-6 win over Townsend in the finals.
A 13-entrant, Second Chance Tournament saw Nilbert Lim go undefeated through the field, downing Kenny Daughtrey in the hot seat match 4-2 and Scott Haas in the finals 6-3.
It was, in a way, the final that might have happened at the 2017 VA State 10-Ball Championships in February, had it not been for Dennis Orcollo. At that event, the second stop on the 2017 Action Pool Tour (APT), Orcollo was sent to the loss side by Shaun Wilkie in a winners' side semifinal, and immediately picked up Mike Davis, who was in the middle of a six-match, loss-side winning streak. Orcollo shut Davis out, advanced to the finals and claimed the title with a victory over Wilkie.
On the weekend of April 15-16, at the fourth stop on the APT, Wilkie and Davis got the chance they never had to face each other in the earlier tournament. They met twice in this one; once in the hot seat and again, in the finals. Davis took the first one, but Wilkie came back to chalk up a 'deuces wild' victory in the finals. Wilkie claimed his second match against Davis (who was playing in his second APT event of the year), and, following his victory on the tour's second stop, picked up his second APT title of the year. The event drew 70 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
In a concurrently-run Ladies event, which drew a short field of 11 entrants, Nicole King and Tina Malm played twice as well, each looking for their second title on the APT Tour. Malm had taken the season opener in February, and King claimed Stop #3 last month. Like Davis in the Open, Malm claimed the hot seat, but like Wilkie, King came back from the semifinals to defeat Malm in the finals and claim the title. It was the second time in a row on this young APT season that Wilkie and King had won the Open and Ladies titles.
Wilkie got off to a flying start in the Open. After an opening round bye, he played four matches to get into a winners' side semifinal match against Larry Kressel (runner-up to Chris Byers in the Amateur event of the Super Billiards Expo earlier in the month). He'd given up only five racks total in those opening four matches, which included a shutout over Jenny Acot, a single rack each to Steve Ball and Aldrin Manreal, and three against Greg Sabins in a winners' side quarterfinal. Davis, too, opened with a shutout (over Jon Crider) and gave up only six racks in his four-match run to a winners' side semifinal against Alex Parker. Davis gave up three to Jamey Mellott, two to Justin Powers and (obviously picking up some speed) one to Chris Funk.
Wilkie sent Kressel to the loss side 7-3, as Davis was sending Parker over 7-1. In what proved to be their only double hill match, individually or together, Davis claimed the hot seat, and waited for Wilkie to get back.
On the loss side, Kressel drew Matt Krah, who, following a defeat at the hands of Parker, downed Jamey Mellott 6-3, and Jimmy Varia 6-4. Parker picked up Brian Dietzenbach, who'd lost to Kressel, and then defeated Tom Zippler 6-3, before surviving a double hill battle versus Greg Sabins. Kressel eliminated Krah 6-2, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Dietzenbach, who'd ended Parker's weekend 6-4.
Kressel appeared to be a man on a mission in those quarterfinals, and shut Dietzenbach out for a crack at Shaun Wilkie in the semifinals. It turned out to be something of a 'mission impossible' as Wilkie allowed Dietzenbach only two racks in those semifinals for his own second shot against Davis in the hot seat. Now, it was Wilkie who was on a mission. Mission accomplished with a 9-3 win over Davis in the finals.
King wins her second Ladies APT event of the year
Nicole King's second straight Ladies APT victory took five matches to claim, two of them in matches against Tina Malm. King opened with a shutout over Giulletta Dahl, and a 5-2 win over Kristin Horgen, before coming up against Judie Wilson in a winners' side semifinal. Malm played only four matches total. An opening round bye was followed by a 5-1 victory over Deeqa Nur, which set Malm up in a winners' side semifinal against Sharita Green.
King downed Wilson 5-3, while Malm was chalking up a shutout over Green. Malm claimed the hot seat 5-3.
On the loss side, Wilson picked up Nur, who, following her defeat at the hands of Malm, had (after an opening round, loss-side bye) Lai Li 4-1. Green drew Sierra Reams, who'd defeated Tina Scott 4-1 and Melissa Mason, double hill, to reach her.
Nur survived a double hill fight against Wilson, and in the quarterfinals met up with Reams, who'd shut out Green. Nur took the quarterfinals 4-2 over Reams, but was shut out by King in the semifinals. King downed Malm 7-2 in the finals, denying Malm her second APT title to claim it for herself.
After being edged out by Dennis Orcollo in the 2017 VA State 10-Ball Championships last month (Feb.), Shaun Wilkie returned to the tables with a vengeance and went undefeated at the March 11-12 stop on the Action Pool Tour. On his trip to the hot seat (racing to 8), only one of his six opponents (Reymart Lim) got within two racks of him, giving him a win percentage to that point of 77% (48-14). Only his opponent in the finals (racing to 10), Chris Futrell, got as close as three racks, knocking his overall percentage down to 73% (58-21). The event drew 54 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
In a concurrently-run Ladies event, Nicole King came back from a double hill loss to Barbara Yeager in the battle for the hot seat to defeat her in the finals and claim the title. The ladies' event drew eight entrants to the same location.
In the main event, Wilkie faced four opponents to get into a winners' side semifinal against Reymart Lim. He shut out two of those four opponents (Jose Vega-Hernandez and Troy Simmons), after giving up two racks to Nilbert Lim (no relation to Reymart) and sandwiching an 8-3 win over Corey Bress into the middle. Futrell, in the meantime, found himself facing Bill Duggan in the other winners' side semifinal.
Reymart Lim chalked up more racks against Wilkie in their winners' side semifinal (six) than all of Wilkie's previous opponents combined, but it wasn't enough. By the same score, 8-6, Duggan sent Futrell to the loss side. Wilkie sent Duggan west 8-3 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Futrell picked up Brian Dietzenbach, who, after being defeated by Reymart Lim in his first match, arrived at the 5/6 matches on the heels of a six-match, loss-side winning streak, including a shutout victory over Troy Simmons and a 7-2 win over Eric Moore. Reymart Lim drew RJ Carmona, who'd been sent west by Futrell in a winners' side quarterfinal. Carmona got by Corey Bress 7-4 and just did defeat Nilbert Lim 7-6.
Carmona completed back-to-back victories over the Lims with a 7-5 victory over Reymart. In the quarterfinals, he faced Futrell, who'd ended Dietzenbach's loss-side winning streak 7-1. Futrell then eliminated Carmona 7-5 to face Duggan a second time in the semifinals. Futrell gave up only two racks to earn a second shot against Wilkie. Wilkie completed his undefeated run with a 10-7 victory over Futrell in the finals.
In the Ladies' event, five of the 14 total matches played went to double hill. Three of those five were played by Nicole King, who won two of them. She played back-to-back double hill matches to get into the finals. Following a 6-4 victory over Cheryl Pritchard, King defeated Daisy Lim, double hill, in one winners' side semifinal, as Barbara Yeager was busy downing Gwen Townsend 6-4. Yeager claimed the hot seat, double hill over King and waited for her to return.
On the loss side, Lim picked up Meredith Lynch, who, following a defeat at the hands of Yeager in the opening round, had survived a double hill match against Jacki Duggan to draw Lim. Townsend drew Judie Wilson, who'd eliminated Pritchard, double hill.
Lim and Townsend advanced to the quarterfinals, having given up only a single rack between them against Lynch and Wilson (Wilson chalked up the solo rack, against Townsend). Townsend then defeated Lim 6-3 in the quarterfinals before being defeated in a double hill match by King in the semifinals. King came back and downed Yeager 8-4 in the finals to claim the event title.
On the weekend of October 8-9, Hungarian-born, California resident Vilmos Foldes appeared in his first Action Pool Tour (APT) stop at the First Break Cafe, in Sterling, VA – the 10th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament. He went undefeated through the field of 58, defeating the tour’s (at the time) #2-ranked player, Eric Moore, twice, to claim the event title. Foldes’ first victory on the tour doesn’t move him among the tour’s top-ranked players, because the ranking system is derived from accumulated points. Moore, on the other hand, who has appeared in six of the tour’s eight stops to date, earned enough points as this most recent event’s runner-up to move past the tour’s #1-ranked player, Brandon Shuff, who did not compete.
It was an impressive performance by Foldes, who arrived to compete in a winners’ side semifinal against Brian Deska, having given up only one rack in 29 games played. Foldes shut out his first three opponents, before giving up the single rack to Brian Dietzenbach in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Moore, in the meantime, arrived at his winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Bruce Choyce, having given up 10 racks in 38 games (4, 3, 2 and 1, though not in that order).
Deska, who, back in March, won nine on the loss side to meet and defeat Shuff and claim his first APT title of the year, and then, a month later, won his second APT title, was defeated by Foldes 7-2. Moore, meanwhile, downed Choyce 7-2 to meet Foldes in the hot seat match. Foldes claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Moore, and waited in the hot seat, with his 89% win total, for Moore to return.
On the loss side, Deska picked up Bobby Stovall, who’d fallen to Choyce in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Christopher Wilburn 6-2 and Kenny Miller 6-1. Choyce drew Dietzenbach, who, following his defeat at the hands of Foldes, shut out Pat Carosi and downed Brett Stottlemyer 6-1.
Almost predictably, two double hill battles ensued, for the right to advance to the quarterfinals. The winners’ side semifinalists (Deska and Choyce) were eliminated by the winners’ side quarterfinalists, Stovall and Dietzenbach. Dietzenbach then stopped Stovall’s run with a shutout in the quarterfinals.
Moore, though, stopped Dietzenbach’s four-match, loss-side streak, which had included two shutouts. Moore earned himself a second shot at Foldes with a 6-3 win over Dietzenbach in the semifinals.
Moore put up a fight in the finals that saw him chalk up as many racks, as all of Foldes’ previous opponents’ combined. Foldes claimed his first APT title with a 9-6 win.
With three events to go, including next month’s VA State 8-Ball Championships (Nov. 12-13 at Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA), and airfare to the US Bar Table Championships in Las Vegas at stake (both the top and second-ranked player receive entry to all three divisions of that event, and hotel accommodations), Moore is currently in the top-ranked driver’s seat, with Brandon Shuff right there beside him.
Whitman comes from the loss side to capture Women's title
Jundel Mazon of the Philippines has been among the top 10 finishers in 10 events this year, including a stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour (2nd), the NC State 8-Ball Championships (3rd), the Gotham City Classic (7th), the US Open 9-Ball Championships, the 4th Annual Steinway Classic, the Houston Open and 42nd Annual Texas Open (all 9th), but he has only won twice, both times on the Action Pool Tour. In September, he defeated Brandon Shuff in the finals to take the APT's seventh tour stop. On the weekend of November 14-15, he defeated Shuff a second time in the finals to take the tour's ninth stop and become the second player to win the VA State 8-Ball Championships, which drew 36 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
In a concurrently-run Women's event, Kim Whitman won three on the loss side to meet and defeat Barbara Yeager in the finals to become the second VA State 8-Ball Women's champion. The Women's event drew nine entrants.
Mazon's path through the 36-entrant field avoided a confrontation versus the event's defending champion, Mike Davis, who was sent to the loss side by Danny Green in the third round, and eliminated by Nilbert Lim in the matches that determined the tie for seventh. Following a bye and a second round shutout over Luther Pickerall, Mazon did have to face the APT's top-ranked player, Shaun Wilkie (runner-up to Davis in 2013) in a match that went double hill, before advancing Mazon to a match versus Green. He defeated Green to face Larry Kressel in a winners' side semifinal. Shuff, in the meantime (third in 2013), faced Reymart Lim.
Mazon downed Kressel 7-5, as Shuff was sending Lim over 7-3. In their first of two, Mazon defeated Shuff 7-2 and sat in the hot seat, waiting for him to get back.
On the loss side, Kressel picked up Nilbert Lim, who'd just eliminated Cary Dunn and Davis, both 6-4. Reymart Lim ran into Danny Green, who'd defeated Brian Dietzenbach and Shannon Fitch, also both 6-4. Lim battled to double hill before being ousted by Green, who, in the quarterfinals, met Kressel, who'd shut Lim out. Green and Kressel battled to double hill before Green advanced for a shot against Shuff in the semifinals.
Shuff took the semifinal match versus Green 6-2 and got a second shot at Mazon in the hot seat. To no avail, as Mazon took the extended, single race 9-2 to capture the VA State 8-Ball Championships title.
In the Women's event, unattended by the 2013 winner and runner-up (Cheryl Pritchard and Jackie Rivera) Kim Whitman and Barbara Yeager battled twice for the title; once in a winners' side semifinal and again, in the finals, in two very different kinds of matches. The small field dictated that a single match put both of them into the winners' side semifinals; Whitman had defeated Sierra Reams 6-4 and Yeager had shut out Soo Emmett. Sheri Bruner and Jacki Duggan, in the meantime, squared off in the other winners' side semifinal.
Duggan advanced to the hot seat match with a 6-2 victory over Bruner, and was met by Yeager, who'd shut Whitman out. Yeager claimed the hot seat 6-3 over Duggan and waited for what turned out to be the fateful, and quite different second match against Whitman.
On the loss side, Bruner picked up Reams, who'd defeated Emmett 5-2. Whitman drew Nicole Fleming, who'd eliminated Tina Scott 5-3. Bruner and Whitman advanced to quarterfinals; Bruner 5-2 over Reams and Whitman 5-3 over Fleming. Whitman gave up only a single rack to Bruner in the quarterfinals, and completely shut out Duggan in the semifinals. In sharp contrast to their meeting in the hot seat match, Yeager and Whitman fought to double hill before Whitman prevailed to take the Women's title.
Brian Deska turned in a dominating performance during his undefeated run through a field of 79 entrants, on hand for the April 12-13 stop on the Action Pool Tour. Deska finished with a 36-9 overall record (80%), and didn't give up a rack in either of his first two matches. The event, the fourth of the Action Pool Tour season, was hosted by the First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA.
Rick Glassock and Paul Oh squared off in the other winners' side semifinal; Glasscock coming in on the heels of three straight double hill fights (against Brian Dietzenbach, Shanna Lewis and Steve Wigglesworth) and a single shutout over Rafael Reyes, which put him among the final four winners with a 24-15 record. Oh was the only one of the four who'd not received a bye in the opening round, and joined the final four winners with a 30-12 overall record against five opponents; (in order) Leo McDaniel, Matt LeMire, Matthew Siple, David Zecena and Kim Whiteman.
Deska's toughest match all weekend was against Krah, whom he sent to the losers' bracket 6-3, while Glasscock was busy chalking up his second straight shutout, over Oh. In their first of two meetings, Deska defeated Glasscock 6-2 and waited in the hot seat for their second.
On the loss side, Krah moved over and picked up Rafael Reyes, who, after being shut out by Glasscock had defeated Alan Duty and Tuan Chau, both 5-3. Oh drew Paul Helms, who'd been sent to the losers' bracket by Kim Whitman and was in the midst of a five-match, loss-side run that would take him to the quarterfinals. Krah downed Reyes 5-1, as Helms was busy handing Oh his second straight shutout.
Krah went one step further, defeating Helms in the quarterfinals 5-1, and then locking up in a double hill battle against Glasscock in the semifinals. Glasscock hung on to win it for a second chance against Deska.
Deska would give up more racks (4) in the finals than he'd given up to any opponent all weekend, though given the fact that the final match was a race to 9, instead of 6, his winning percentage in the finals (69%) was an actual improvement over his toughest match; the 6-3 (66%) win over Krah in one of the winners' side semifinals.
The event victory movEd Deska up a notch in the Action Pool Tour rankings, from third to second place. Shaun Wilkie, who finished in the tie for 7th place, maintained his top ranking, while Dan Madden, who finished 45th, slipped into third place. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for May 10-11, will be held at Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
The Action Pool Tour's Lambros Cues Round Robin Tournament is an annual invitation-only event for the tour's top 10 players to compete for a $2,000 Lambros Cue. In conjunction with this annual event, tour director Ozzy Reynolds conducts an Open 9-Ball Tournament and an awards ceremony, highlighting the season's best performances.
This year's event, held on the weekend of September 28-29 at First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA, recognized Brett Stottlemyer as the tour's 2012-2013 #1-ranked player, earning him free entry to October's US Open 9-Ball Championship. Reynolds took first place in the Round Robin tournament, while Brandon Shuff took home the top prize in the Open 9-Ball tournament that drew 32 entrants.
Reynolds changed things up a bit in the Round Robin Tournament this year. Previously, the 10 invited players would compete in a series of matches, culminating in a winner, based on the best overall performance (Brian Deska won this last year). This, however, led to circumstances in which players who were statistically out of the running for the top, Lambros Cue prize, would stop playing. This year, Reynolds created a four-player, single elimination set of matches (semifinals and finals), based on the Round Robin's top four players at the end of the matches.
"It worked really well," said Reynolds, "and added some intensity to the event."
The round robin matches, nine of them, used three different games. In short races to three, the first two games played were 9-ball, the second two were 10-ball games, while a double hill game (if necessary) was an 8-ball contest. The absence of Larry Kressel (#7), and Mike Davis (#5) allowed Brandon Shuff (#11) to move up and join the invited 10. It also advanced Shaun Wilkie (#12), but in his absence, Paul Oh (#13) became the 10th competitor.
Stottlemyer, and Dan Madden (#4) started strong with back to back shutouts, but over the course of the next seven matches, they were overtaken by Shuff, Reynolds (#4), Dominic Noe (#2) and Dave Hunt (#6). Noe chalked up an 8-1 record, which included two shutouts and four, double hill wins. Shuff finished with a 7-2 record, which included four shutouts. His two defeats, both double hill, came in matches against Reynolds and Noe. Reynolds finished 8-1, having given up his only match to Noe in a shutout. The last of the semifinalists was Hunt, who started out slowly, losing three of his first four, but edged Stottlemyer for the last semifinal spot by a single game (Stottlemyer had given up 17 racks, Hunt gave up 16).
The pairings for the semifinal matches pitted Reynolds against Hunt, while Shuff faced Noe. Reynolds defeated Hunt 3-1, while Noe battled Shuff to double hill before prevailing to enter the finals against Reynolds. Reynolds completed his 10-1 day with a 3-1 victory over Noe that earned him the Lambros Cue, valued at $2,000.
In the Open 9-Ball event, Brandon Shuff came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to double dip Danny Green in the event finals. Green, who'd only been able to attend two of the tour's 13 stops and thus, entered the 9-Ball Tournament ranked #41 on the tour, went through the tour's top ranked players to get into the hot seat. Following a bye, he took out Danny Mastermaker (#8), Dave Hunt, Dan Madden, and in a winners' side semifinal, Brian Deska, to get into the hot seat match against Shuff. Shuff, on the other hand, faced only one, top-ranked player – Ozzy Reynolds – whom he defeated 5-2 for a spot in the other winners' side semifinal versus Brian Dietzenbach. Shuff downed Dietzenbach 7-1 to face Green in the battle for the hot seat.
Green took that hot seat match 7-5, and waited on Shuff's return. Deska, in the meantime, had moved west to meet up with Dominic Noe, who'd defeated Reynolds 5-2, and Chris Bruner 7-2 to meet him. Dietzenbach picked up Danny Mastermaker, who'd shut out Pat Carosi, and downed Dan Madden 7-3.
It was Mastermaker and Deska in the quarterfinals; Mastermaker, having defeated Dietzenbach 7-5, as Deska was busy overcoming Noe by the same score. Deska took command of that quarterfinal match to win it 7-2, and though he put up a fight in the semifinals, Shuff prevailed 7-5 for a second shot at Green.
Shuff took the opening set of the double elimination final 7-4, and completed his 6-1 day with a 7-3 victory in the second set.
The Action Pool Tour also awarded another Lambros Cue, this one valued at $1,200, to Dan Madden who came out on top of a season-long competition in participation points. Madden had acquired a winning participation-point total of 167 points, based on attendance at 12 of the tour's 13 events in the 2012-2013 season. In addition, Debbie Davis was recognized as the tour's top female performer, having finished at #23 in the overall rankings, from participation in nine of the 13 tour stops.
Mike Davis followed his win in the Open portion of the George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament on Labor Day weekend by traveling four hours south to Herndon, VA and winning the season finale of the Action Pool Tour. In so doing, Davis stopped an eight-match, loss-side winning streak by Danny Green, who faced him in the finals. The event drew 64 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
Davis started strong, winning his first four matches by an aggregate score of 28-6. He shut out Steve Luskey and Doug Grams, while giving up three racks each to Jimmy Varias and Dan Madden. This set him up to face Chris Bruner in one winners' side semifinal, as Larry Kressel and Jimmy Endara squared off in the other. Davis was tested by Bruner and had to win a deciding 13th game to advance to the hot seat match, where he was met by Endara, who'd sent Kressel west 7-2. Davis then prevailed 7-4 over Endara and sat in the hot seat, waiting on Green.
Meanwhile, on the loss side, Green, who'd won his opening match and then fell to Brandon Shuff 7-4 in the second round, was chalking up the wins. He was tested by Sean Sporleder in his opening, loss-side match, but survived a double hill battle to move on and shut out Rocky Guell. He followed up with victories over Kim Whitman, Matt Kravitz, Dave Hunt and Brian Dietzenbach to pick up Bruner, coming over from the winners' side semifinal. Kressel came over and met up with Dan Madden, who, following his loss to Davis, had defeated Dominic Noe 5-3 and just did get by Brandon Shuff, double hill.
Madden won a second straight double hill match, defeating Kressel, as Green was busy getting by Bruner 5-2. Green took the quarterfinal match 5-3, and then got a shot at Davis with a 5-2 win over Endara in the semifinals. Davis, though, stopped the streak with a 7-4 win in the finals that, in effect, ended the regular season of the Action Pool Tour.
Brett Stottlemyer, who finished in this event in the tie for 13th place, finished the season at the top of the Action Pool Tour rankings, and as a result, earned free entry to next month's US Open 9-Ball Championship. Dan Madden's fourth place finish in this event moved him up to second place. Tour director Ozzy Reynolds and Dominic Noe entered the tournament in second and third place, respectively, and finished with their positions reversed; Noe in third, and Reynolds in fourth, as Noe finished in the 9/12 slots, and Reynolds in the tie for 17th place.
Though this was the last point-earning stop on the tour, there is one more event left on the tour calendar – the Lambros Cue Round Robin tournament, scheduled for September 28-29 at First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA. The tour's top 10 players will participate in a series of round robin matches, and this year (unlike in the past), the top four finishers in the round robin will square off in a single elimination event, leading to a winner, who'll receive a $2,000 Lambros Cue. Prizes will be awarded at the event to the top players of the season, as well as awards for Best Sportsman, overall participation, top female performer, best sponsor and best room.
