Ruben Adame came to last weekend’s (Feb. 18-19) Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour stop (#2) having cashed in a previous (recorded) event only once, in August of last year, sharing 5th place with Tina Malm. He went home this past weekend with the first (recorded) regional tour victory on his resume, having gone undefeated at the $2,000-added event that drew 78 entrants to Tailgaters Sports Bar in Frisco, TX.
Adame battled below, at and above his ‘weight’ (7) in the event. Through eight matches, he faced three opponents ‘below’ and three ‘at’ his level. In the hot seat and finals, he defeated two competitors ‘above’ his level to claim the event title. Three of his eight matches went double hill, including his opening match against Marc Oler (below), his third-round bout against Lucah Gianino (below) and his fourth round match, in a straight-up race to 7, against Jonathan Rawlins. He followed the win over Rawlins with a victory over Rodger Shaffer (below) that put him into a winners’ side semifinal against Peter Stovall in what would be another straight-up race to 7.
In the meantime, Josh Hemsoth was advancing to meet him in the hot seat match. Hemsoth, awarded a bye in the opening round, played five matches to get there, all of them against opponents below his ‘weight’ level of 8. With one exception, all of Hemsoth’s opponents on his way to the hot seat match got two ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 8. The exception was Jennifer Hooten, who got four ‘on the wire’ in Hemsoth’s first match. She battled him to double hill before he advanced, downing Joe Pelayo (2), Keith Diaz (3), and shutting out Chase LaFerney to arrive at the other winners’ side semifinal against Miguel Hernandez.
Adame got into the hot seat match with a 7-5 victory over Stovall and was joined by Hemsoth, who’d survived a double hill battle against Hernandez. Adame, facing his first opponent above his rank, was awarded a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 8. He didn’t need it. He allowed Hemsoth only a single rack and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Clint Freeman, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Hernandez, went on a five-match run that propelled him all the way into the finals. He survived a double hill battle against Joseph Geesling and downed Rawlins 9-2 to draw Stovall. Hernandez picked up Tim Larson, who’d lost an opening-round, double-hill match to Jeff Turney and was working on a 10-match, loss-side streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals and had recently eliminated Rodger Shaffer 9-2 and Brian Cady 9-3.
Freeman advanced to the quarterfinals 9-3 over Stovall and was joined by Larson, who’d shut out Hernandez. Freeman ended Larson’s lengthy loss-side battles 9-4 in those quarterfinals and then, by the same score, downed Josh Hemsoth in the semifinals.
In the true double-elimination finals, Ruben Adame got two ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9 against Freeman, which, as in his hot seat match, he didn’t need. He took the opening and, as it turned out, only set 7-4 to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Tailgaters for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and associate sponsor Fort Worth Super Billiards Superstore. The next stop (#3) on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 25-26, will be hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
Mosconi Cup competitor, ‘Chris Robinson,’ adopts stepfather’s name and wins on Father’s Day
There are a couple of story lines beyond the always-obvious winner and loser information that is interconnected with this past weekend’s 6th stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour (June 19-20). One, related to Father’s Day and the other, related to an 11-match, loss-side winning streak that almost snatched victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat.
The name in the top headline may or may not be familiar to you. Chris Reinhold may be more familiar to you as a member of the USA’s 2020 Mosconi Cup team, when he was known as Chris Robinson. In a Facebook message, posted on Father’s Day, presumably as he was competing on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, Robinson announced that, going forward, he would be Chris Reinhold.
In the post, Reinhold noted that he had been raised by his stepfather, Jarod Reinhold, and that he had made him “the man he (was) today.”
“You name it, he was there for me,” he wrote. “In my eyes, he’s my real father. I couldn’t have asked for a better role model or father figure and I’m forever grateful.”
“This,” he went on to explain, “is the reason why my name is Chris Reinhold! It means the world world to my family, who raised me, and also, to myself.”
He then went out and on Father’s Day, won the $1,500-added 9-ball tournament that had drawn 88 entrants to Snookered in Frisco, TX. He had some words in his Facebook pages about that, too.
“I was playing with aggression, passion and confidence,” he wrote in a later post. “The past few months have been rough/trying mentally for me and my pool game.”
“I found the spark for pool again (at a) junior clinic at Sandites Billiards in Oklahoma,” he added. “I saw myself in all of them (and) it re-ignited (the) passion that I’d been lacking the past few months.”
While the results, however it had turned out, would not have altered anything about what he said, his trip to the winners’ circle took a single-loss detour in the opening set of the event’s true double elimination final, when Robert Clark, at the tail end of a 10-match, loss-side winning streak, defeated Reinhold to force a second set. Reinhold took up the gauntlet, so to speak, and won the second set to claim the event title that he’ll forever remember as his first as ‘Chris Reinhold.’
Reinhold probably experienced a few anxious moments at the outset as he faced “good friend” Sargon Isaac in the opening round and found himself down 8-3, racing to 9. He won six straight to win it, and then, downed Juan Parra, Eric Smith, Fahad Alwari and Matt Wilson to draw Robin Barbour in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Chase LaFerney, in the meantime, after an opening round bye, defeated Darrell Smith, JP Kinman, Ruben Flores and Joe Pelayo to pick up Jordan Gartenberg.
Reinhold moved into the hot seat match following a 9-1 victory over Barbour. Ferney joined him after surviving a double hill match versus Gartenberg. Reinhold claimed the hot seat 9-2 over Ferney and watched, as Clark continued and eventually completed the loss-side run that would put him into the finals.
On the loss side, it was Gartenberg who drew Clark, seven matches into his loss-side run that had most recently eliminated the tour’s top-ranked competitor, Daniel Herring 8-5 and shut out Ruben Flores. Barbour, who’d originally sent Herring to the loss side after a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal battle, picked up Brandon Sizemore, who’d defeated Greg Sandifer, double hill, and Jesse Hernandez 7-5 to reach him.
Barbour and Sizemore battled to double hill before Barbour advanced to the quarterfinals. Clark joined him after chalking up loss-side win #8 over Gartenberg 8-4. Clark then eliminated Barbour 8-3 and then effectively dashed any hopes Chase LaFerney may have been entertaining about a rematch versus Rienhold, by shutting him out in the semifinals.
Given Reinhold’s performance up to and including his claim of the hot seat, it’s unlikely that Clark caught Reinhold by surprise in the opening set of the true double elimination final. Clark did, though, come into those finals with that hard-to-define boost of momentum from winning 10 straight. It helped him to an 8-6 victory in the opening set. Reinhold defeated him 9-5 in the second set to claim the event title, his first in almost exactly two years, when he won the 7th Annual Cole Dickson 9-Ball Tournament on the weekend of June 29-30, 2019.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Fort Worth Billiard Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 24-25, will be hosted by Rusty’s in Arlington, TX.
(l to r): Gerardo Perez, Daniel Herring & Kevin Guimond (photo:Jesse Garcia, Bound by Imagination)
While the top point leaders in the Predator DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings list (#1 through #5) were languishing on the loss side of the Oct. 19-20 bracket of the tour’s 10th stop – only two of them finished in the money (#1 Tim Larson, tied for 7th and #5 Jay Ryda, tied for 17th) – #42 (Gerardo Perez) and #63 (Daniel Herring) advanced through the 88-entrant field and battled twice to claim the event title. Perez was the undefeated winner of the $1,500-added event, hosted by the Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
All but one of the top five on the standings list – #4 Amos Bush – had competed in all nine of the tour’s events, and Bush had only missed one. It was Gerardo Perez’ sixth appearance on the 2019 tour and his best finish had been in a tie for 9th place last month. Herring had competed in only three of the tour’s stops, with a best finish of a tie for 13th place in August (He’d won a stop on the tour just over a year ago). They both battled players higher in the points list during their trek to the finals, but neither of them faced any one of the top five, though as it turned out, it was not for lack of trying. Greg Sandifer (#2) was on the loss side at the end of the opening round. Larson, Davis, Bush and Ryda all moved over after the third round.
Herring and Gregory battled to double hill before Herring prevailed and advanced to the hot seat match. He was joined by Perez, who’d defeated Emerson 7-4 (Emerson racing to 8). With Herring racing to 8, as well, Perez claimed the hot seat 7-5 and waited on Herring’s return.
Over on the loss side, Sandifer and Bush had been knocked out before the first money round (33rd-48th). TJ Davis made it to that first money round (17th-24th), but went home with just the $160. Tim Larson, who’d been sent to the loss side by Emerson, was in the midst of a very brief winning streak that had started in the first money round and after three wins, including a 9-1 victory over Chris Rickman, had ended with a defeat at the hands of Jersey Jack Lynch, who advanced to pick up Emerson. Gregory drew Kevin Guimond, who, after losing to Larson in the third round, was in the midst of an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d recently eliminated Crispian Ng 9-6 and Walter Heunerfuerst 9-5 to draw Gregory.
Emerson downed Lynch 8-1. Guimond joined him in the quarterfinals after a 9-3 win over Gregory. In the semifinals, with Guimond racing to 9, he and Herring battled to a double hill standstill before Herring ended it for a second shot against Perez in the hot seat.
With Herring racing to 8, he and Perez fought to 6-7, double hill, before Perez ended it to claim his first event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at the Billiard Den, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues and main event sponsors Ft. Worth Billiards Superstore, JB Cases, Accu-Rack, CSI, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball League, BCAPL, RackEm TV (streaming sponsor), FargoRate, and IMS (Internet Marketing Solutions). The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of November 16-17, will be the tour’s Season Finale at Rusty’s in Arlington, TX.
On the weekend of February 20-21, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by The Billiard Den in Richardson, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service and an amazing atmosphere, and we very much appreciate each and every one of them!
We were able to extend the field to 88 players for this second stop of the 2016 season. And it was tough to predict who would come out on top with all the talent in the field.
Always a top contender, Crispian Ng, had a great tournament with tough matches over Chase LaFerney 7-5, teammate Robin Barbour 7-5, Alberto Nieto 7-4, Jim Colling 7-5 and best friend David Josephson 7-5. Stevie Collins was fighting through the bottom half of the bracket with wins over Kyle Rowland 7-0, Chris Smith hill-hill, George Merchan 7-2, Ian Perez 7-1, and Anthony Schaeffer 7-2 before finding Crispian in the hotseat. Crispian would win another close one in the hotseat match over Stevie by a score of 7-5.
Gerardo Perez would place his highest finish with an impressive 3rd place! He lost his second match hill-hill then won TEN matches in a row to meet up the Stevie Collins in the Semi-Final match. Stevie would win 7-3 to find a spot in the finals, but a HUGE congrats to Gerardo for his fine play all weekend. Denny Sneed placed high again in the Omega with a 4th place finish, with David Josephson and Anthony Schaeffer both placed their highest finish with 5th/6th places out of 88 players. Special shout out to George Merchan for placing 7th/8th (his highest finish to date) and to Ian Perez for his 9th place finish in his first Omega Tour event.
The finals were a tough, tough battle between Stevie Collins and Crispian Ng. Crispian is a BCAPL Nationals 9-Ball Champion and Stevie Collins is also a top player (and this was his home pool room). Both players wanted the win badly and it showed. First set went a thrilling hill-hill with Stevie never giving up, forcing a second set. Then the second set went hill-hill again! Stevie continued his great play and ran out 7 balls to win the game, the match, the finals, and the tournament! His first Omega Billiards Tour win! Congratulations also to Crispian for fighting hard all weekend for his second place finish. He’s always hard on himself, but he played so good all weekend and deserves lots of kudos as well.
Congrats to ALL the players and fans for a great event!
A HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors Omega Billiards Supply, Predator Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and OB Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, Irving Ink and Thread, AZBilliards.com, Pool School, and BilliardsPress.com.
This year OB Cues is our Ranking sponsor and will be donating three OB Cues to the top ranked 3 players at the end of the year! BCAPL/CSI has joined again and will be giving away 5 BCAPL free entry fees the 2017 BCAPL Nationals.
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank The Billiards Den owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! She would also like to thank her fabulous team: Heather Farr and Dana Speed.
A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, 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 large tournaments across the country.
The next stop will be held March 19-20 at Clicks in Arlington, Texas. $1,500 added and limited to the first 80 PAID players (already full). We will have ten stops total again in 2016. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
