Scott Frost and Bobby Emmons (Photo courtesy of Rick Schmitz)
A new tournament format and new sponsors helped to draw eighty six players to Skip & Jan’s Sports Bar in Tempe, AZ on February 7th and 8th for the Arizona State Barbox 10-Ball Championship and season opener of the new Diamond Pool Tour presented by Casino Del Sol Resort (formerly the Desert Classic Tour).
With the field divided between “A” players and “B” players, the “A” bracket held twenty nine of the top players from Arizona and New Mexico. This bracket was won by Scott Frost, who had tough matches with Arizona bar table specialist Jon Smith and local hot-shot Bobby Emmons at the end of his quest. On the one loss side, Donivan Pedroncelli scored impressive wins over Smith and Donald Mangahas before falling to Emmons 7-4.
The “B” bracket held a whopping fifty seven players with no clear cut favorites in sight. The bracket was won by New Mexico’s Linn Vissage, who defeated recently crowned AZ State Senior Barbox Champion Guyle “Tom” Fielder 7-2 for the hot-seat. Fielder then dropped a lopsided 7-0 decision to Spike Aiardo on the one loss side.
The two brackets combined on Sunday afternoon and Frost took the final hot-seat with a 7-2 win over Vissage. On the one loss side, Emmons ran over Aiardo 7-1 and then sent Vissage back to New Mexico with a 7-4 win.
This left Emmons and Frost facing off for the tournament win. The first set went to Emmons 7-4, but Frost looked to have the advantage in set #2. Emmons came back from an early deficit though, and tied the score at 6-6, setting up one game for the title. Emmons would get out of line during a fairly routine out in that final game and Frost pounced on the unexpected chance back at the table. Frost effortlessly ran out the remaining balls for the title.
Thirteen players came back on Sunday to compete in the Neil’s Garage Cabinets Second Chance tournament. This event would see Burt Balancad put together an undefeated run with wins over Matt Gagne, Bernie Store, junior player Nick Kline and Steve Blackburn in the finals for the win. Blackburn would finish in second place and Kline would take third. Kline was also the winner of the “top junior” bonus, sponsored by the Phoenix APA league.
The Greenmail Top Female Finisher bonus went to Bernie Store and there was no winner of the Greenmail Bounty, as 2014 Desert Classic Tour season finale winner Mitch Ellerman was not in attendance at this event. The Greenmail Bounty will be on Frost at Stop #2, on the 9’ tables at Bullshooters on March 14th and 15th.
Event organizers expressed their thanks to Natalie at Skip & Jan’s for hosting this great event, Cassie at Skip & Jan’s for being a complete rock star in putting up with all of the players over two days, Rick Schmitz for the great photos and “Fast” Lenny Marshall & George Teyechea for the great job of streaming both days of the event.
In the seven year history of the Desert Classic Tour, a “B Player” has never won an open event. It was thought by a handful of players that a “B Player” could never win an open event. It took Burt Balancad to correct that misconception.
Twenty nine players made their way to Stingers on November 1st and 2nd to play 9-Ball on the 7’ Diamond tables, and Balancad was almost unstoppable.
As is always the case, day one contained more than it’s fair share of upsets and surprising results. Brett Huth went “two and out” with losses to last month’s winner Oscar Avila & Paul Grande. Ben Sutherland was another “two and out” victim on Saturday. Tres Kane looked to be in danger of the same fate after losing in the first round to Robin Clark, but Kane would correct his path and plow through the one loss side to make Sunday play.
The two players who set themselves ahead of the pack on Saturday were Balancad and “The Mailman” Chuck Evans. Balancad had day one wins over Jerry Stuckart, John Ritonya, Jude Espinoza and Pete Lhotka. Evans stayed with Burt – win for win – all day with wins over Jack Ritonya, Junior Jiron, Brian Reich and Oscar Avila.
Sunday dawned with six players still shooting for the win. Things weren’t looking good for Balancad early in the hot-seat match, as Evans led the 8-7 race 5-2. Balancad then took control and won five of the next six games for the 7-6 win.
On the one loss side, Tres Kane eliminated Oscar Avila 8-5 and Reich sent Pete Lhotka to the seats to join Avila in 5th place.
Reich then beat Kane 8-4 for fourth place.
The semi-final match saw Evans take an early 3-0 lead and force Reich to try to mount a comeback win. The match went back and forth with Evans regaining a three rack lead at 7-4. That was when Reich shifted into a different gear and won four straight games for the 8-7 win.
The first set of the double elimination finals saw each player go on a run. Reich started things off with a three game run, taking a 3-0 lead. Balancad quickly tied things at 3-3, only to watch Reich then win five games in a row for the 8-3 victory, forcing a second set.
The second set was Balancad’s turn to come out and take an early lead. He won the first three games for a 3-0 tally. Reich would then win two games, but Balancad would not allow him to catch up. Balancad pushed his lead back to three games at 5-2 and then traded racks with Reich and won the case game for the 7-4 win.
The Desert Classic Tour will hold their season finale on December 6th and 7th at Bullshooters for a $2000 added 10-Ball event on the 9’ tables.
Enjoying a large increase in participation this year (with some divisions up 50-100%), the 2013 Pure X Cues ACS National Championships capped off a banner year of growth for the nine-year old American CueSports Alliance (ACS). The New Tropicana Las Vegas proved to again be an attractive venue for the event, as scores of entertainment venues are conveniently located in this section of The Strip! And most attendees stayed at The Trop. Players enjoyed online coverage in all divisions throughout the event via onsite monitors and their smart phones. A record $36,500 in added prize monies drew players from throughout North America to twenty-three divisions of competition. Despite the large turn-out, players such as Mike Singleton, Beth Fondell, Dustin Gunia, Jessica Frideres and the team Wrecking Crew (LA) still earned top honors in multi-events. All flow charts are still viewable by accessing www.compusport.us; then “Tournaments”; then “ACS Nationals.” With the jump in attendees, ideal dates in mid-May and the attractive location, many participants projected that these Championships on its 10th anniversary “will be even bigger next year!”
Singles action began at the first of the week with handicapped 9-ball. Mike Singleton of Sulphur, LA, improved on his past mediocre performances in the Nationals to outlast 69-year old Lyn Wechsler (Rochester, NY) for the Men’s 9-Ball Singles honors. On the distaff side, past 8-Ball champion Beth Fondell (Owatonna, MN) remained undefeated throughout, including her one final’s set against Phoenix, Arizona’s Bernie Store to earn her Women’s 9-Ball Singles crown! Results from the many divisions of 8-ball singles included: Dustin Gunia (Omaha, NE) displaying dominating form to defend his Men’s Advanced Singles 8-Ball crown over Lyn Wechsler (Rochester, NY) ; Beth Fondell (Owatonna, MN) obtaining a rare double by outlasting defending champion Jessica Frideres (Fort Dodge, IA) on the last ball of the deciding set to claim the Women’s Advanced 8-Ball Singles title – 7-6; Ben Sutherland (Peoria, AZ) losing to Julian Russell (Fort McMurray, ON/CAN) in the first set of the finals, only to recover to gain the deciding set for the Men’s Open 8-Ball Singles championship; Toni Barnes (Shawboro, NC) scoring a title with a one-set finals defeat over Sophia Morquecho (Glendale, AZ) for the Women’s Open 8-Ball Singles laurels; once-defeated Dennis Coolen (Bridgewater, NS/CAN) outdistancing Joe Herne (Hogansburg, NY) in two sets for the Men’s Standard 8-Ball Singles division success; and Melanie Jacobs (Hogansburg, NY) besting Frances Jensen (Calgary, AB/CAN)in one set for the Women’s Standard 8-Ball Singles glory.
In the senior-aged 8-ball singles divisions, Carl Coffee (Pueblo, CO) took down Claude Gragg III (Arlington, TX) in the first set of the finals for the Men’s Senior (55+) 8-Ball Singles crown – leaving Gragg to take the runner-up position for the second straight year; Debbie Snook (Boone, CO) stopped three-time defending champ, Shawn Modelo (Antioch, CA), in the winner’s bracket finals and then took the Women’s Senior (50+) 8-Ball Singles title by upending Linda Asleson (Billings, MT) in two sets in the tourney finals; and Richard Foley (Ketchikan, AK) delegated undefeated Charles Smith (Whitesboro, TX) to the runner-up position for a second straight year in taking the Super Senior (65+) Singles 8-Ball Singles title in two sets!
The two Scotch Doubles 8-Ball divisions showcased perhaps the most dominant amateur scotch doubles team in the country, with defending champions Dustin Gunia and Jessica Frideres (NE/IA) capturing the Advanced Scotch Doubles division with a comfortable one-set win over Labernaline Store/ Steve Stowers (AZ); and the team of Arlene David/ Bill Mason (VA) needing just one set as well to claim victory over Sophia Morquecho/ Burt Balancad (AZ) in the Open Scotch Doubles category.
With the ACS schedule in the latter portion of the week allowing non-conflicting accommodation of entry into both 9-ball and 8-ball team competitions, there was still plenty of competition to keep every player involved – especially those out of the money who automatically qualified for free second-chance team divisions! In the Men’s Advanced 8-Ball Team division, defending champion Dick’s Pick [Ronnie Allen, Jimmy Moore, Greg Kuhl, George Huffman, Chris Akey and James Carmona] (Las Vegas, NV) reloaded but with the same results to take down Jitnot (NS/CAN) in the title match in two sets – after Jitnot had originally claimed the hot seat. The Women’s Advanced 8-Ball Team division showcased Victoria’s Secret [Susie Miller, Linda Asleson, Jonella Staus and Teresa Keller] (MT) outpointing Colorado’s T’s Bar in the round-robin format. In the Men’s Open 8-Ball Team competition, once-defeated Wrecking Crew [Mike Singleton, Blaine Stanford, Jamie Spivey, Rodney Browne III and Luke Coffey] took two sets from No Flash (AZ) in the title match. The Women’s Open 8-Ball Team division’s San Antonio’s Fuhgettaboutit [Barbara Wisdom, Kenyon Juo Young, Sophie Lopez, Kawania Watson and Maria Lopez] survived a deciding set over After Eight (FL) for the title.
Harbor Hills (WI) [Al Carmody, Mark Schmidt, Tim Gamerdinger, Tom Decker and John Schlapman] needed only one set in the Men’s Standard 8-Ball Team division final’s clash to make Comrades (GA) the bride’s maid. In the Women’s Standard 8-Ball Team division, British Columbia’s Venus Envy [Theresa Warren, Susan Johnston, Susan Kottke and Roxanna Alton] took off the deciding set of the finals to repel New York’s Mohawk Chicks for the crown.
The 3-person 9-ball team divisions featured some of the top 8-ball team placers as well. Undefeated Gotta Have It [NE/IA] [Jerrod Frideres, Jessica Frideres and Dustin Gunia] turned back Las Vegas’s Dick’s Pick in the first set of the finals for the Men’s Advanced 9-Ball Team title. Open 8-Ball Team runner-ups – After Eight (FL) [Flori LeHart, Michelle Jarrell, Janet Smith and Jamie Toennies], succeeded in ousting Miller Time (FL) for the Women’s Open 9-Ball Team laurels. In the Men’s Open 9-Ball Team category, Wrecking Crew (LA) [Jamie Spivey, Mike Singleton and Luke Coffey] doubled up on its Open 8-Ball Team win to capture this title as well with a two-set finals sweep over 9 Ball Shockers (AZ).
In the 9th Annual ACS National Artistic Pool Championships, Dennis Brown of Creston, BC claimed another title for Canada, edging out hundreds of entries. ACS would like to especially thank our title sponsor – Pure X Cues, as well as Gary Benson and his tournament direction staff at High Country Promotions, as well as the exhibiting vendors and the host site – the Tropicana Las Vegas! The ACS Nationals is already looking to returning to the Tropicana May 10-17, 2014! The ACS is a national non-profit, member-governed association which will sanction any local pool league (whether player-run or owner-operated) via a $10 annual sanction fee. Contact the ACS at 1-888-662-1705 or www.americancuesports.org for complete information on sanctioning your league!
The ACS currently sanctions leagues in 38 states and enjoys reciprocal relations with its sister organization in Canada (Canadian Cue Sport Association – CCS). Twelve state associations are affiliated to ACS; and the ACS offers the Midwest ACS Championships each January at the Riverside Resort & Casino in Iowa. The ACS produces a national amateur Pure X All American Tour each Fall thru Spring and offers certification for both instructors and referees dedicated to the sport.
