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Hard Work Pays Off For Barrera On Diamond Pool Tour

Joey Barrera (Photo courtesy of Rick Schmitz)

Sometimes the hard work that a player puts in for one event pays dividends in other events. That was the case for Joey Barrera as his preparation for this year’s Saguaro Cup helped him score an undefeated win at the Diamond Pool Tour’s 3rd stop of the season at Freezer’s Ice House on June 9th – 10th.

 

Barrera’s 604 rating saw him giving up spots to some players that sounded impossible on paper. His first match of the event saw him giving up five games in a race to eight to Brandon Jewell. To make matters worse, Jewell broke and ran the first rack. Barrera is not known for ever giving up though and he bore down to win eight of the next nine racks for a hill-hill victory. “That win definitely gave me motivation for the rest of the event” said Barrera.
Barrera went on to score wins over Ricky Teyechea, Eric Beaver, Jose Gonzalez, Tim Daniel and then Joe Guerra for the hot-seat.
 
The field of 73 players held a fair share of players competing in their first tour stop of the season, and that lead to a number of players enjoying their first tour cashes of the season including David Friedel, Bryan Bach, Scott Vogelsberg, Jose Gonzalez, Dave Mark, Bill Vander Weyst and Guerra.
 
Dave Mark dropped a match to Tim Daniel late on Saturday night, but bounced back with wins over Brian Long, Josh Murphy and Vander Weyst to earn another shot at Daniel on the one loss side. Mark would settle for 4th after dropping that match to Daniel 9-5. Daniel would then go on eliminate Guerra 9-5 to earn another shot at Barrera in the finals.
 
Daniel had lost to Barrera 7-3 on the winner’s side and knew the 9-7 race in the finals would be a tough one. Barrera came out quick and took a 2-0 lead, but Daniel came back to win the next five racks. The players traded the next six racks for a 8-5 Daniel lead but Daniel would get no farther as Barrera won the next two racks for the hill-hill win and first place.
 
Barrera’s #1 fan, Cheryl Timmonen, felt that all of the practice for Saguaro Cup had certainly helped Barrera bring his ‘A-Game’ on this weekend. “He has been putting in an average of 25 hours of practice a week, on top of a full-time job” she said.
 
Daniel’s second place finish (his second in two events) was more than enough to keep him in first place on the tour points list, and Barrera’s win moved him to second place. Stop 2 winner, AJ Jones, holds third place on the list with Nick De Leon and Tom Dilorenzo filling out the top five spots.
 
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Ellerman Back In Diamond Tour Winner’s Circle

Mitch Ellerman (Photo courtesy of Rick Schmitz)

The Diamond Pool Tour held their 6th stop of the year – and first stop at Metro Sportz Bar – on September 10th – 11th, with a field of 56 players playing 9-ball on the 7’ Diamond Smart Tables. While the event held it’s fair share of surprises, it was Mitch Ellerman notching his second straight tour stop win.
 
The “A” bracket’s field of fifteen players saw Mitch Ellerman ride the top of the bracket with wins over Bret Huth, Jason Sweet and Scott Frost. Meanwhile on the bottom half of the bracket, it was last year’s “A” player points list winner Brian Reich making his mark. Reich had wins over Chuck Evans, Mike Sandoval and Bobby Emmons to earn his place against Ellerman for the hot-seat. While Ellerman’s win over Reich was not a real surprise, what was surprising was the 9-0 scoreline. On the one loss side, Frost was looking for another shot at Ellerman. Frost eliminated Sandoval, Emmons and Reich to earn that shot. 
 
One nice addition to the “A” bracket was another appearance by Arizona pool veteran Tommy Dilorenzo. Tommy came out of retirement at the August stop at Kolby’s with mixed results. This month saw more of the player that Arizona is familiar with, as Dilorenzo had wins over Bryan Bach and Aaron Purdy. Dilorenzo’s two losses, to Ray Robles and Chuck Evans, were both hill-hill matches that could have gone either way. It’s good to see Tommy back in action and we expect pool fans will see his “A” game in full force very soon.
 
In contrast to the “A” bracket, the “B” bracket’s 41 players saw an early surprise with points leader Karloz Chavez going “two and out” in the event. Chavez lost a hill-hill decision to Susan Williams and was then eliminated by Manny Luevano 9-7. The top half of the bracket was won by Oscar Avila, while the bottom half was won by Metro regular Eric Osburn. Both players fought their way through more than their share of close matches to get to the hot-seat match, and then that match was another close one with Avila earning a hill-hill win over Osburn. The one loss side saw George Bell on a roll. Bell had lost to Rick Schmitz in his first match of the day, but he was still alive eight matches later. After eliminated Mike McGovern 9-6, Bell went on to send Osburn to the cheap seats 9-5.
 
While the tournament saw a number of Metro regulars come out to support the tour, two players that earned attention were Susan Williams and junior player Nathan McGovern. Williams, the sole female in the field kept up her winning ways after the first round match with Chavez. Williams went on to beat Dana Moore and Tim Rachu, before falling to Osburn in round four. Williams came back on Sunday, but was eliminated early Sunday by George Bell. While McGovern, the only junior player in the field, didn’t win any matches, the pool gods were not kind in the draw they gave him. After a second round loss to Seth Johnson, McGovern had to then take on Luevano. McGovern gave it his all, and we hope to see him at a future event to give it another try. 
 
Before Sunday player could get underway, tournament director Chuck Parrill and Metro Sportz Bar owner John Upshaw had to reconfigure the room to make room for a larger than originally expected football crowd. John and Chuck didn’t miss a beat as they roped off six tables and gave the tournament players as much space as they could manage for day two of the event. 
 
When the brackets came together, it was a rematch from a month ago with Ellerman facing Avila for the overall hot-seat once again. This match went to Ellerman 9-4. On the one loss side, Frost was eliminating Bell in 4th place 9-3. Seeing his rematch with Ellerman only a match away, Frost then made quick work of Avila in a 9-0 match. The overall final match went one set, with Ellerman scoring a hill-hill win for his second straight Diamond Pool Tour win.
 
Ellerman’s win gives him a 200 point lead on the “A” players points list, with two events left to play. Barring Ellerman missing an event, Frost will have a tough time catching him. The “B” players points list, on the other hand, is much closer. Chavez’s “two and out” was the opening that Avila needed to catch him, and Avila now enjoys a 40 point lead over Chavez. Rick Schmitz is in a distant third place, 135 points back. 
 
As always, “Fast” Lenny Marshall provided excellent streaming coverage of the event, and Rick Schmitz took great pictures of all of the tour competitors. John Upshaw and his staff did a great job of taking care of the players and fans all weekend long. 
 
The tour will finish up it’s regular season in October with two stops. Pockets in Tucson will host big table 9-ball on October 1st – 2nd, and then Skip and Jan’s will be the location for Barbox 8-ball. These two stops will be the last chance that players have to play in the requisite two events in order to qualify for the season finale at Casino Del Sol in Tucson on November 17th – 20th. 

 
The Diamond Pool Tour is proudly sponsored by:
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