The Diamond Pool Tour concluded their 2016 regular season on October 22nd – 23rd with a field of 39 players playing 8-ball on the 7’ Diamond Smart Tables at Skip & Jan’s Sports Bar in Gilbert.
This stop was unique in that it featured more “A” players than “B” players. The “A” player bracket held 22 top players with 21 of them looking to keep Mitch Ellerman from winning a record fourth consecutive tour stop. If he was going to win it, it would have to be from the one loss side, after a third round hill-hill loss to New Mexico’s Mickey Provencio. The winner’s side came down to Scott Frost scoring a 7-5 win over Bobby Emmons. On the one loss side, Ellerman showed that he was going to give up on win #4 without a fight. Ellerman scored wins over Brian Reich, Eric Young, Ben Hrabina, Chuck Evans and Emmons to earn his spot on the final bracket.
The 17 player “B” bracket came down to two new players, as Brian Poore took on Steve Stowers for the “B” bracket hot-seat. Poore had scored tough hill-hill wins over both JR Ascension and Evan Brinkman, sandwiched around a 7-1 win over Adam Kroll, in his run to the hot-seat match, while Stowers had scored lopsided wins over Victor Garcia, Rick Schmitz and Susan Williams on his run. The match for the hot-seat was another lopsided win for Stowers, has he defeated Poore 7-1. Poore took the loss in stride and eliminated Tucson’s John Schramm 7-3 to earn his spot on the final board.
Scott Frost took the overall hot-seat with a 7-2 win over Stowers on Sunday. Ellerman was still busy trying to notch win #4, and quickly eliminated Brian Poore 7-3 in a very deserving 4th place finish. Ellerman then defeated Stowers 7-3 and it was Frost vs Ellerman for the tournament win. While the tournament win would have given Ellerman his 4th straight, it was only fitting that the tour’s other player with three consecutive wins, Scott Frost, was the one to keep him from win #4. Frost won the finals in one round with a 7-6 victory.
Ellerman can still take solace in winning the “A” player points list, and even though he was not in attendance at this event, Oscar Avila took the “B” player points list win. Both players will win a prize package including a custom QB cue, Volturi case and Hanshew jump cue. Those prize packages will be presented to the players at the tour’s finale on November 17th – 20th at Casino Del Sol in Tucson.
Tour staff thanked Natalie and her staff for hosting another great event, as well as “Fast” Lenny Marshall for streaming matches all weekend and Rick Schmitz for the best photos in Arizona.
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 kicked off their 2016 season the same way they kicked off their 2015 season, with Scott Frost topping a huge field of “A” and “B” players. The season opener this season was 9-ball on the freshly reclothed 9’ tables at Bull Shooters in Phoenix. Not only did noted table mechanic (and legendary player) Ernesto Dominguez redo the vast majority of the tables at Bull Shooters before the event, but he also stuck around to compete in the event.
A record tying field of 94 players was split between 36 “A” players, and 58 “B” players. Frost started his trek to win the “A” bracket with wins over Emilio Maestas, Eric Young and Navin Talreja. A 9-3 win over top Arizona talent Chuck Evans, was followed up by a nail biting 9-8 win over Dominguez. Frost then cruised to the “A” bracket hot-seat with a 9-5 win over Mitch Ellerman. Ellerman would then defeat Paul Grande 9-3 on the one loss side.
The “B” bracket saw Tucson’s Tonee Allin display top level play all weekend, as he defeated Chris Carpenter, Chan Phan, Joe Guerra, Evan Brinkmann, Manny Luevano and then Oscar Avila Sr. for the hot-seat. On the one loss side. it was Karloz Chavez bouncing back from a 2nd round loss to win nine straight matches, including a 9-4 victory over Avila.
When the two brackets came together, Frost made quick work of Allin 9-2, to take the overall hot-seat. On the one loss side, Ellerman made even quicker work of Chavez, with a 9-0 win. Ellerman then sent Allin back to Tucson with a 9-5 loss, and got ready to take on Frost again in the finals. The finals saw Ellerman hand Frost his first loss with a 9-7 scoreline in the first set of the finals. Ellerman looked to be on his way to the double-dip in the second set, as he led the match early 3-1. A couple untimely mistakes by Ellerman were all that it took though, as Frost came back and won the second set 9-5.
Tour organizers expressed their thanks to Mike and Julie Bates at Bull Shooters, for hosting another great event, Rick Schmitz for the great photos, and “Fast” Lenny Marshall for two days of non-stop streaming coverage of the event.
The tour’s next stop is scheduled for May 14th at Stingers Sports Bar in Phoenix. The event will be bar table 9-ball.
The Mezz West State Tour headed to Phoenix, Arizona for its 9th stop of the season at the beautiful Bull Shooters establishment owned by Mike Bates. Mike and his staff worked tirelessly all weekend to accommodate the 87 player who convened to this legendary room with 43 tables of all types. Players from all over the west coast and along with several international stars in attendance, the crowd was not disappointed to a world class demonstration of 9 ball.
The top half of the bracket was led by one pocket specialist and high stakes action player Scott Frost. Frost had a strong support group as he played some high powered 9 ball defeating Danny Gokhul, Tommy Tokoph, Bobby Emmons, Chuck Evans, and finally Beau Runningen to play for the hot seat.
Meanwhile, leading the bottom half of the bracket was Hungarian Attila Bezdan. Attila is in the United States on a sports visa with road partner and best friend Vilmos Foldes to play on the Mezz West State Tour. The always jovial Attila had some solid play with wins over Jason Gilbert, Brian Begay, Mitch Ellerman, and Vilmos Foldes to get the chance to play Scott Frost for the hot seat. After a very impressive start, the young Hungarian allowed Frost into the match with some errors and Frost took full advantage. After some fortunate rolls on behalf of Attila, he capitalized on his fortune with intelligent safes and pocketing sending the "Freezer" to the west side of the bracket.
On the one loss side Vilmos Foldes awaitEd Scott Frost after two very hard fought victories over Oscar Dominguez and Beau Runningen. Frost jokingly told Attila he would "double dip" him in the finals but Vilmos was quick to say he wouldn't be playing in the finals. The friendly trash talk was the perfect backdrop to what became an incredible match by Foldes and Frost. Having only the 7 and 9 ball left in the hill hill game, Frost left himself a bit too straight and tried to punch the ball over for position on the 9. This caused the 7 ball to jaw in the hole leaving Foldes a hanging 7 and routine 9. A poor position play on the 9 left Foldes a predicament of back cutting the 9 or firing cross side which Vilmos shot at warp speed making it and sealing Frost's fate in the hill hill game. The all Hungarian final was played out with Attila winning his first event ever on the Mezz West State Tour.
The MWST would like to thank their sponsors for their continuous support of bringing pool back to the west coast. In addition, a very special thank you to "Fast" Lenny Marshall for donating his time and hard work for the Live streaming. Also a congrats to Tina Hess for being the top female finisher and receiving $100 bonus.
Mezz Cues (miki-mezz.com), West State Billiards Supply (weststatebilliardsupply.com), ZAN tips (Zan-tip.com), Kurzweils Country Meats (kurzweilscountrymeats.com), AZbilliards.com, NYCGrind.com, POVPool.com, Marty Carey Jump Q, ontherailtv.com, Turtle Racks, and fast&loose designs.
The Desert Classic Tour closed out their 2014 season at Bullshooters in Phoenix on December 6th and 7th, and Mitch Ellerman took the opportunity to remind the Arizona pool player community that he is still the man to beat on the Desert Classic Tour.
Chuck Evans looked to be on his way to another strong finish until he ran into Ritonya on the winners side. The loss to Ritonya was followed by by a loss to Will Sexton and Evans finished out of the money.
A welcome guest on the tour for this event was WPBA veteran Sarah Rousey. Rousey admitted that she was out of stroke and took a “two and out” finish after losing to Sexton and Ray Robles.
Sunday play got underway with six players left in the running. Ellerman and Ritonya were the final two on the winners side, with Tim Daniel, Dennis Orender, Brian Reich and Rudy Alameda all hoping they could still win the event from the one loss side.
Daniel ended Orender’s tournament with an 8-5 scoreline, and Reich sent Alameda back to Tucson in 5th place with an identical 8-5 score.
The match for 3rd and 4th place came down to a notable finish that said quite a bit about Brian Reich. Reich and Tim Daniel were tied at hill-hill and Reich had a tough shot on the 5 ball. With the fans staring at the 5-ball to see if Reich would make a good hit, Reich tapped the cue ball with his cue. Reich presented a surprised Daniel with ball-in-hand and Daniel gladly ran out the rack for the win. While someone who doesn’t know Reich might have been surprised by him calling the foul on himself, anyone who knows him would have expected nothing less.
Back on the winners side, Ellerman was running out at will and turned in a 10-3 trouncing of Ritonya for the hot-seat.
It took some time for Ritonya to recover from the loss to Ellerman and he came out slow in the semi-final against Daniel. Ritonya would come back to make it a hill-hill match, but Daniel would win the case game to win the match 8-7 and earn the right to take his shot at Ellerman in the finals.
Unfortunately for Daniel, he discovered just how hard it is to beat a motivated Mitch Ellerman as Ellerman cruised to a 10-1 win in the first and only set of the finals.
Tournament director Dennis Orender expressed his thanks to Mike and Julie Bates, as well as all of the staff at Bullshooters for hosting another great tournament.
While this event signaled the end of the 2014 season, plans are already underway with lots of changes for the upcoming 2015 season. In addition to the new junior program announced in these pages last month, many more announcements regarding format changes and sponsorship can be found in this month’s paper on page 8.
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.
Traditionally, in order to win a pool tournament, a player either takes the hot-seat or beats the person in the hot-seat. There are those rare occasions though, where that is not the case. The opening event on Desert Classic Tour's 2014 schedule at Bullshooters in Phoenix on February 22nd and 23rd was one of those rare occasions as Chuck Evans won the event from the one loss side and never faced Mitch Ellerman in the hot-seat.
Saturday play saw the field of forty four players battle it out to see which eight players would qualify for Sunday play. While Saturday usually has it's fair share of upsets, Saturday play at this event saw mostly top players beating other top players. The day featured very few surprises.
Possibly the biggest upset of the day came at the end of the biggest story of the day, that being the outstanding play of Sara Miller. Sara won her first three matches on Saturday – with wins over Sam Yonki, Tenadore Lee and Ray Robles – before dropping a match to Chuck Evans. On the one loss side, Sara found Mike Williams waiting. Mike had just eliminated Sara's fiancé Tres Kane, but that didn't phase Miller as she quickly ended Williams' tournament with a 7-2 beat down.
Sunday began with four players left on each side of the board. The winners side saw Bret Huth with a dominating 8-2 win over Chuck Evans, and Mitch Ellerman with an equally dominating 10-3 win over Jim Henrickson.
Meanwhile, the one loss side saw Miller picking up where she left off on Saturday and eliminating Ken Gouso 7-4, while Brian Reich was sending Andy Kachur to the rail 8-3.
Miller kept on rolling in the next round, and defeated Henrickson 7-3, with Reich succumbing to Evans in a tough hill-hill match.
The match for the hot-seat saw Ellerman take a hill-hill decision over Huth, and then have to forfeit out of the tournament in order to catch his flight for the US Barbox Championship.
Sara Miller's magic weekend finally came to an end as she appeared to run out of gas against Chuck Evans. Evans took control of a 1-1 match and won seven straight games for the 8-1 victory.
The semi-final match, which also served as the final match with Ellerman halfway to Reno, saw Chuck Evans taking control early and racing to the hill at 7-3. Huth had problems getting any started until Evans was already on the hill. At 3-7 down, Huth made one last charge and he brought the match to within one game at 6-7 down, before Evans regained control and won the match 8-6.
Jon Smith reaffirmed his dominance on the Diamond 7’ tables with an undefeated run through a field of thirty five other players at the Desert Classic Tour’s 2013 Season Finale at Skip & Jan’s in Tempe.
As is always the case on the Desert Classic Tour, Saturday play saw many marquee matches and top players finding themselves scraping to stay alive on the one loss side. Tour points leader Mitch Ellerman had notable wins over Max Maurer, Doc Rice and Brett Huth before dropping a match to Tres Kane. Ellerman watched Kane race to a hill-0 lead before winning seven straight games against Kane to completely change the dynamic of the match. Ellerman would not get past seven though, as Kane put the match away 8-7. Ellerman scored wins over Pete Lhotka and Mike Sandoval late Saturday to earn his ticket to Sunday play.
Sunday play saw four undefeated players joined by two players on the left side of the board come back to determine a final winner. Tres Kane kept his winning streak alive with an 8-5 win over Chuck Evans, and Jon Smith sent #2 ranked Dennis Orender to the one loss side in an 8-6 match,
On the one loss side, Brian Reich and Mitch Ellerman were waiting for opponents. Reich had lost to Bobby Emmons in the first round on Saturday, but scored nine straight wins to keep his hopes of scoring his first DCT win alive. Brian would run over Chuck Evans 8-1 while Ellerman dropped an 8-8 decision to Dennis Orender.
Next up, Reich would eliminate Orender in fourth place with an 8-4 scoreline.
Back on the winners side, Jon Smith was scoring an 8-4 win of his own, over Tres Kane.
The semi-final match between Reich and Kane couldn’t have been much closer, with the score tied four times before Tres finally won the final two games for the 8-6 win and a rematch against Jon Smith in the finals.
The finals saw Smith take an early 2-0 lead and never look back. Kane did his best to stay with Smith, but just didn’t have the firepower to ever catch up as Smith extended his lead and took the first and only set of the finals 8-4 for first place.
New Mexico’s Mickey Provencio completed a hard fought undefeated run through the field of forty eight players to win the Desert Classic Tour’s November tourstop at Bull Shooters on November 2nd and 3rd.
It was an impressive run that included a win over tour points leader Mitch Ellerman on Saturday and a win over #3 ranked Dennis Orender on Sunday. Ellerman bounced back from the loss to Provencio with a win over Mike Sandoval to earn his place in Sunday’s matches.
A top player who did not make Sunday play was #4 ranked Nick De Leon, who started things off with a win over Prescott’s Bob Soto, but then lost back to back matches to Sammy Martinez and Mike Sandoval.
Sunday play on the winners side saw Chuck Evans defeat Mike Williams 8-4 and Provencio defeat Orender 8-7.
On the west side of the board, Ellerman ran over Pete Lhotka 10-4 and Bernie Pettipiece earned a tough 8-7 win over Tres Kane.
Mike Williams then eliminated Ellerman in a hill-hill 8-9 victory, and Pettipiece sent Orender to the rail 8-3.
The hot-seat match was another close one, with Provencio handing Evans his first loss 8-7.
After Williams eliminated Pettipiece, the semi final match between Williams and Evans got underway. Mike had started his day with an 8-4 loss to Evans, and he was determined to avenge that loss. Williams cruised to an early 4-0 lead and scored an 8-4 win of his own to eliminate Evans and earn Williams a shot against Provencio in the finals.
The final match saw both players go on runs, as Provencio took a 3-0 lead, only to see Williams come back to tie things at 4-4. Another Provencio run saw him take a 6-4 lead and Williams again come back to tie things at 6-6. Finally, it was Provencio’s turn for another run as he won the final two games to win the first and only set of the finals 8-6.
The Desert Classic Tour will bring their 2013 Season Finale to Skip and Jan’s on December 6th – 8th. That event is expected to be at least a $2,000 added event.
