Tina Soto, Orietta Strickland & Krystle Suarez (Photo courtesy Jesse Garcia . Bound by Imagination)
With the idea of introducing a Ladies Division into their 2020 schedule, the Dallas/Fort Worth 9-Ball Tour ran a ‘trial run’ event on Saturday, September 28. It was, according to tour representatives, a success and plans are moving ahead to include four or five events in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The trial event was won by Krystle Suarez, who, after being awarded a bye in the opening round, was defeated in the second round by Tina Soto, won eight on the loss side and then met and double dipped Soto in the finals to claim the event title. The event drew 35 ladies to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Soto, who’d won her opening round versus Jennifer Hooten, advanced after her defeat of Suarez to send Phoebe Simon and Tam Trinh to the loss side and faced Corina Campbell in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Orietta Strickland squared off against Jessica Demello in the other one.
Soto and Campbell locked up in a double hill fight that eventually advanced Soto to the hot seat match. Strickland joined her after shutting Demello out. With Strickland racing to 7, Soto claimed the hot seat 5-5 and waited for Suarez to complete her loss-side run.
On the loss side, Campbell drew a re-match against Ricki Casper, whom she’d sent to the loss side in a third-round double hill battle. Casper was in the midst of six-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently included two straight shutouts over Christa Ramon and Nina Dolman. Demello picked up Suarez, five matches into her loss-side streak, having recently shut out Jennifer Pavlovick and downed Alicia Stanley 7-4.
Casper extended her loss-side streak, as she successfully navigated her rematch versus Campbell 6-1. Suarez joined her in the quarterfinals with a 7-2 victory over Demello.
Suarez ended Casper’s loss-side journey 7-2 in those quarterfinals and then earned her rematch against Soto with a 7-5 victory over Strickland in the semifinals. She and Soto battled to double hill in the opening set of the true double elimination finals, forcing a second set. Suarez upped her game a bit in the second set, shutting Soto out to claim the trial run of the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s Ladies Division.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, OB Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, and the Dallas 8-Ball League. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for October 19-20, will be hosted by the Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
Shades of Yogi Berra and his musing about ‘Déjà vu all over again.’ On the weekend of June 8-9 at JR Pockets Sports Bar and Grill in Denton, TX, Kelly Jones and Kim Pierce faced each other twice to claim an event title (Stop #4) on the Jerry Olivier Custom Cues Ladies Tour, just as they had on the weekend of April 13-14 (Stop #3) at the Diamond Sports Bar and Grill in Port Arthur, TX. With the same result – Kelly Jones claiming the title, Kim Pierce finishing as runner-up. At this most recent event, however, their first meeting came in the hot seat match (it was in a winners’ side semifinal back in April), while for the second straight time on the tour, they were the event finalists. The $2,000-added event drew 48 entrants to JR Pockets.
Jones’ path to the hot seat match was almost derailed at the outset. She was awarded an opening round bye before facing Michelle Cortez in the second round. Cortez battled her to double hill before giving way. Jones advanced to defeat Rachel Hurst and Belinda Lee, to face Angie Payne in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Pierce, in the meantime, without an opening round bye, defeated Ellen Robinson, Glynda Fuller, Tam Trinh, and Orietta Strickland to draw Ashley Nandrasy in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Jones got into the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Payne and was joined by Pierce, who’d survived a double hill match against Nandrasy. Jones claimed the hot seat 7-5 and waited for the second straight time on the tour for the return of Pierce.
On the loss side, Payne picked up Tara Williams, who’d been defeated by Belinda Lee in the third winners’ side round and defeated Stacie Putnam 7-2, Rachel Hurst 7-4, picked up a forfeit win from Ricki Lee Casper and downed Kim Sanders 7-5. Nandrasy drew Aryana Lynch, who’d been sent to the loss side by Payne in a winners’ side quarterfinal and downed Michelle Yim 7-3 and Ellen Robinson 7-4 to reach Nandrasy.
Nandrasy advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-4 victory over Lynch and was joined by Williams, who’d eliminated Payne 7-2. Williams made it six in a row on the loss side with a 7-2 victory over Nandrasy in those quarterfinals.
Pierce stopped Williams’ loss-side run with a 7-4 victory in the semifinals for a second shot (a second time) at Jones in the hot seat. Second verse, same as the first, as they say. Jones took the semifinal match 7-4 to claim her second Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour title.
A Best of the Rest event with 11 entrants saw Rachel Hurst take the top prize, with Nicole McDaniel in 2nd place. McDaniel was in the hot seat, but left to get home to her family. Corina Campbell finished 3rd and Melissa Smith came in 4th.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at JR Pockets, as well as title sponsor Jerry Olivier Custom Cues, MzTam.com and a “huge shout out” to Rackem TV for providing a live stream. The next stop (#5) on the Jerry Olivier Custom Cues Ladies Tour, scheduled for the weekend of September 14-15, will be hosted by Slick Willie’s Family Pool Hall in Austin, TX.
(left to right: Orietta Strickland, Kim Pierce, Chris Fields, Jennifer Pavlovick)
The OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour, the largest and longest running regional tour in the country, also a member of NAPT (North American Pool Tour), hosted 64 players at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX the weekend of February 4-5. OB Cues has been the title sponsor for this tour since 2008 and we continue to give thanks to them and all they do not only for this ladies tour but for all players, fans, and billiards aficionados worldwide. OB Cues, a leader in the industry with shafts, cues, outstanding customer service plus an offering of billiard accessories and to top it all off, they are located in Plano, TX, with all shafts and cues made in the USA. Be sure to check them out at obcues.com. Thank you OB Cues for all you do.
With 64 players vying for the top prizes in this $2000 added monies event, just as the day was long, sharp shooting, stamina and endurance would become major factors for everyone participating in this two-day event. The tour greeted players from all over DFW Metroplex, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Longview, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana—just to name a few areas.
The tour also enjoyed welcoming many first time players to test their mettle and take a venture into the OBCLT experience and the wonderful hospitality of Rusty’s Billiards. The tour would like to thank Rusty’s owners and staff for their gracious hospitality and years of continued support!
Saturday was an eventful day as sixty-four players were dwindled down to sixteen players who would return on Sunday morning to battle for the $750 1st place prize money. Saturday’s play saw first time OB tour stop player Janet Ybarra, ACS Texas board member, go undefeated as she made her way through the winner’s bracket posting wins over Kathy Knuth (7-1), Brooklyn Kanady (7-3), and Kelly Jones (7-6). On the one-loss side, Aryana Lynch – a relative newcomer to the OB tour and its youngest player at 14 years old – also had a great run in her bid for the final 16. After suffering a first round loss to Shaunte Starley (3-7), Aryana grinded her way through the B side, posting wins over Kienchay Phoutthavong (Kitty) (7-5), Jessica DeMello (7-4), and Hopey Carter (7-5). Although the final round of play on Saturday night saw Rachel Petersen emerge victorious over Aryana (7-4) to move on to Sunday, Aryana posted her best OB tour stop finish to date (tied 17-24th place) and proved that she is definitely a contender!
On Sunday morning, winner side matches were Janet Ybarra (Grand Prairie) vs. Jennifer Pavlovick (Irving); Orietta Strickland (Dallas) vs. Natalie Rocha (Houston); Kim Pierce (Austin) vs. Deedra Trammell (Waxahachie) and Chris Fields (Arlington) vs. Julie Stephenson (Keller).
On the other side of the bracket and still giving it their all were Natalie Mans (League City) vs. Angie Payne (Austin); Tina Soto (Ft. Worth) vs. Corina Campbell (Carrollton); Rachel Petersen (Midwest City, OK) vs. Teresa Garland (Houston) and Gail Roles (College Station) vs. Terry Petrosino (Houston).
In the four winner’s side matches Sunday morning, Kim Pierce emerged victorious over Deedra Trammell (7-0), Orietta Strickland posted a win over Natalie Rocha (7-3), Jennifer Pavlovick won vs. Janet Ybarra (7-3), and Chris Fields defeated Julie Stephenson (7-1). The four B-side matches saw Tina Soto defeat Corina Campbell (7-4); Angie Payne won over Natalie Mans (7-5), Terry Petrosino posted a win over Gail Roles (7-4), and Rachel Petersen wound up on the winning side of her match vs. Teresa Garland (7-4).
Kim Pierce continued her winning streak, sending Chris Fields to the B-side with a score of (7-5) and Orietta Strickland also posted a win against Jennifer Pavlovick (7-1). This set the stage for Kim and Orietta, two undefeated players vying for the hot seat match but Orietta was solid in her play and shooting and secured her spot in the finals with a win of 7-3.
Chris defeated Tina Soto (7-2). Tina, only playing in a couple of OB Cues Ladies Tour events, scored her highest finish to date 5th/6th which was pretty sporty for just her 2nd time at bat. Nice work Tina.
Chris then knocked out Jennifer Pavlovick with a score of (7-3). This 4th place spot was the highest finish ever for Jennifer. She has been playing on the tour for a bit but has been coming on with a surge during these last two years. She is a top shooter and staying consistently strong throughout her tournament play. She will continue to be a force to be reckoned with. Superb finish Jennifer! You go girl!
Next was a rematch between Chris and Kim but Chris ran out of steam playing Kim as the Texas Heat came on strong with a win (7-3), thus securing her spot in the finals to avenge her hot seat loss to Orietta.
In true double elimination format, Kim would need to defeat Orietta twice and that’s exactly what she did. In the first set, it looked to be all Orietta who was up in the match 5-2, but due to some unfortunate rolls and uncharacteristic misses by Orietta, she forgot to shut the front door and Kim came back to score the first set win 7-5.
The second set was a lot like the first. It looked like Orietta was going to take it away as she reached the hill first. However, Kim continued to fight the fight and keep on battling. She was able to finish out some games by capitalizing on some problem position play by Orietta, and making it a hill-hill match. The final game saw Orietta almost running out but she had a tough finish with the 8 and 9 on opposite ends of the table and both near the short rails. A straight in shot on the 8 would be a challenge draw to get position for the 9 ball and it came up short. Orietta then opted to take a long rail kick on the 9 but it rattled out of the corner pocket leaving Kim an easy shot with the 9 ball inches away from the pocket. This was Kim’s very first OB Cues Ladies Tour stop win since playing on the tour. Congratulations Kim and Orietta for a great, great tournament.
Our next stop will be at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX the weekend of March 25-26. Big Tyme is hosting their first OB Cues Ladies Tour event. Thank you to the management and staff for having us. We are anxious and looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Main Event Tournament Payouts – ($2000 added) – 64 players
OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour held their 6th and final tour stop December 3 & 4th at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. Thirty-three players were on-hand to close out the 2016 tour year and see who would take top honors for the annual awards. The owner and manager, Jeff Pitts and the entire bar and wait staff did a wonderful job taking care of all the ladies as always. Rusty’s is a great room to visit and play at, so be sure to hit them up whenever you can!
At the players meeting, board member Monica Anderson announced yearly awards. The Best Sportswomanship Award went to Teresa Garland of Houston, for her positive attitude both on and off the table, regardless of the match outcome. The Most Improved Player was Corina Campbell of Carrollton. Corina had a banner year on the OB tour, finishing 6th in the ranking and posting a second place in one tour stop, earning her well-deserved title of Most Improved for 2016. For the 3rd year running, Tara Williams of Fort Worth secured her first place ranking on the tour by winning four tour stops and finishing 4th in the remaining two, securing the title as 2016 OB Cues Ladies Tour Champion.
Three additional awards are drawn at the tour finale, based on attendance and performance at the tour stops throughout the year. For the Perfect Attendance award, seven players were eligible to be drawn for the $200 cash award. Tara Williams, Orietta Strickland, Jennifer Yo, Natalie Mans, Shayla Neris, Monica Anderson, and Julie Enzensperger were at every event in 2016 and one of them would receive $200 cash even before the tournament started. OB Cues Customer Service Manager, David “Doc” Reyes officiated the draw and Shayla Neris was the lucky recipient of the extra $200. At every tour stop, when a player gets a 9-on-the-snap award or a break and run, they receive a scratch-off. At the end of the year, each player who earned a scratch off also received an entry for a drawing for a $20 scratch-off and that winner was Marilina Nieves from San Antonio. Same rules apply for a break and run and the lucky player whose name was drawn for the $50 scratch-off was Jeannie Kim of Dallas.
On Saturday, the top eight ladies returned to continue in the Main Event on Sunday morning. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) vs. Jeannie Kim (Dallas) and Natalie Mans (League City) vs. Orietta Strickland (Dallas). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Melinda Bailey (Ft. Worth) vs. Tracie Voelkering (Ft. Worth) and Chris Fields (Weatherford) vs. Brittany Williams (Longview).
Eliminated first round Sunday morning at the 7th-8th position was Chris Fields and board member Tracie Voelkering. In the winner’s side matches, Tara defeated Jeannie and Orietta defeated Natalie to set the hot seat match. Moving over to the one-loss side for the 5/6th place matches, Brittany was eliminated by Natalie and Melinda came out the winner over Jeannie. For the next match, Melinda once again persevered, leaving Natalie to settle for the 4th place spot.
Tara made her way through Saturday with wins in a first round tournament matchup over Melinda Bailey (7-3), Shirley Fields (7-1), Jennifer Yo (7-2) and Snowy Belt (7-0). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Orietta was making her way through her Saturday matches with her speedy, yet consistent play. She posted wins over Tina Soto (7-1), Chris Fields (7-4), and Tracie Voelkering (7-2). In the hot seat match, Tara ended up on top in the match 7-3 and waited to see who would be coming through the one-loss side to meet her in the finals.
For the 3rd place match, Melinda was blazing trails and steadily fighting all through the tournament after her 1st match loss against Tara. She had a successful run through the B-side eliminating Orietta to move to the finals against Tara and a rematch for revenge. Congratulations to Orietta for a great tournament!
With Melinda and Tara in the finals, Melinda had quite a run to make it back to the finals surviving three hill-hill matches on her path to the finals. However, in the finals, Tara got out to a quick lead and didn’t look back. Melinda put forth her best effort to try and stop the tour champion’s effort, but came up short, with Tara winning the match with a final score of 7-2. Congratulations to both ladies for an exciting finals match and great tournament finish!
Thanks again to Rusty’s for our first and last tournament this year, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around. A special year-end thank you to the man behind the tour, always supporting the ladies and feeding us bananas, chocolate and other energizing food and goodies, such a great friend and wonderful person, Carter, we love you.
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com. The new Digicue is available so be sure to get you one.
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again in 2017. Our first stop of the 2017 season will at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas, February 4th-5th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or stay up to date with instant news by adding us on Facebook/obcuestour
On the weekend of May 18-19, 2016, OB Cues Ladies Tour made it to one of their favorite stops on the yearly tour calendar at Click’s Billiards in San Antonio. General Manager Miranda Dalka and her exceptional staff extended their awesome hospitality and services the entire two day weekend. They were superb hosts to 35 players and a large group of fans, friends, and family members who came out to join in the weekend festivities. A strong contingent of players from all over Texas came to try their luck and brought out their best pool playing skills as all were vying for the $800 first place prize money. A big, big thank you to Click’s Billiards and Miranda for supporting the tour and we will most certainly be back next year.
Also first and foremost a big high five and utmost thanks to our title sponsor OB Cues. OB Cues, our main sponsor since 2008, is one of the leading pool cues and shafts manufacturers in the world. They have a plethora of quality and intrinsically crafted products to complement your pool playing arsenal. Be sure to check them out at obcues.com—you won’t regret it! They are also made in the USA, in Plano, TX to be specific. Thank you OB Cues!
To precede with the tournament updates, by day’s end on Saturday, the final eight ladies would continue their winning ways in the Main Event competition on Sunday. The final four in the winner’s bracket pitted the three Jennifer’s in the tournament, against the lone stand-out, Tara. Facing each other early Sunday was Jennifer Pavlovick (Grand Prairie) vs Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) and Jennifer Kraber (Austin) vs. Jennifer Yo (also of Austin). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Terry Petrosino (Spring) vs. Kim Pierce (Austin) and Orietta Strickland (Dallas) vs. Natalie Mans (League City).
7th-8th finishers were Kim Pierce and Orietta Strickland. 5th-6th places went to Jennifer Pavlovick and Natalie Mans. 4th place winner was Terry Petrosino and 3rd place winner Jennifer Yo. Jennifer Pavlovick has had a couple of high finishes this year already and we hope to see her continued winning ways in more OB stops throughout this year. Good shooting Jennifer—keep up the great work!
Tara Williams made her way through Saturday with wins over Barbara Wisdom (7-4), Corina Campbell (7-3), and Krystal West (7-0). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and to earn a spot at the hot seat with another win over Jennifer Pavlovick (7-0). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Jennifer Yo was making her way through her Saturday matches, posting wins over some tough opponents. She had wins over Frances Marron (7-1), Michelle Cortez (7-6), and Kim Pierce (7-5). On Sunday morning, she continued her run besting Jennifer Kraber (7-6) for her spot in the hot seat match. In the hot seat match, Tara jumped to a quick lead and didn’t look back, winning her spot in the finals against Jennifer Yo (7-3).
For the 3rd place match, we knew Jennifer would be the victor but we didn’t know which one. Jennifer Kraber didn’t allow Jennifer Yo to keep as close as she had in the winner’s side match and defeated Jennifer Yo (7-3). This would then allow Tara the opportunity to challenge all of the Jennifer’s on Sunday. Big congratulations to Jennifer Yo for this being her highest finish to date in any OB stop. Jennifer was the 2015 OB Cues Ladies Tour Best Sportswoman recipient and we know that she is truly an asset to the tour and we wish her well in continued success in future OB events.
In the finals, in the true double elimination format, Jennifer Kraber would need to beat Tara twice in order to win the event. Both players started out the match strong, but Tara prevailed to win her third tournament of the year. Congratulations to both ladies for a great event! With this third win in 2016 and the last two wins of 2015 for Tara, she broke her own consecutive win record with five wins in a row. Congratulations for an awesome accomplishment Tara! Keep on keepin’ on!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #4 – CK’s Billiards in Dallas, Texas, June 25-26th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Thirty-nine players showed up the weekend of March 19-20th at Legend’s Billiards in League City, TX to play in the second stop of 2016 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. Top players from all over Texas and one new player from Alabama were gunning for the $775 first place prize in this event. With the awesome hospitality offered by Mindy and Craig Cohen and their staff, it was destined to be a great weekend of pool for all of the players.
It was a full day of action on Saturday as thirty-nine players were dwindled down to eight ladies in the main event. On Saturday night, the 9th-12th finishers were Jennifer Kraber, Monica Anderson, Michelle Cortez, and Alicia Stanley. Great job ladies!
Returning on Sunday, the final four in the winner’s bracket were Corina Campbell vs. Robyn Petrosino and Tara Williams vs. Amanda Lampert. The four ladies returning on the one-loss side were Orietta Strickland vs. Angie Payne and Jennifer Yo vs. Ricki Casper. Eliminated in the 7th-8th position was Jennifer Yo and Angie Payne, both of Austin, TX. This was Jennifer’s highest finish to date in an OB Ladies Tour event, Congratulations Jennifer! The 5th-6th places went to Amanda Lampert of Frisco, TX and Robyn Petrosino of Spring, TX; Congratulations Robyn on hitting her highest finish to date as well! 4th place was taken by Ricki Lee Casper of Houston, TX. Congratulations to all the ladies for their great shooting that earned them the spot in the main event on Sunday!
Tara Williams of Fort Worth made her way through Saturday with wins over Adena Sanchez (7-0), Kim Pierce (7-2), Michelle Cortez (7-5), and Monica Anderson (7-2). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and to take the hot seat with wins over Amanda Lampert (7-4) and Corina Campbell (7-3).
Corina Campbell of Dallas set up her highest finish to date by making her way through to the brackets, defeating on Saturday Teresa Garland (7-5), Lorna McEwan (7-5), and Jennifer Yo (7-2). She continued her run on Sunday winning against Robyn Petrosino (7-6), before being taking her first loss in the finals (3-7) against Tara for the hot seat.
For the 3rd place match, Corina was matched against Orietta Strickland of Dallas. Orietta jumped to a heavy lead at 6-2, but after a few unforced errors Corina was allowed back into the match. By continuing to capitalize on the opportunities given by Orietta, Corina was able to tie the match at 6 games to have one game decide who would move on to the finals. In the last game, both players traded safeties throughout the rack, but Corina missed a tough kick on the six to give Orietta ball in hand with four balls on the table. The only problem with the layout was that the 8-9 were tied up on the bottom rail. Orietta pocketed the 6 and played shape on the 7 to break out the trouble 8-9 layout, but when she executed the breakout, the 8-9 remained close together, forcing a combination on the 9-ball. She studied the combination for a minute, then took the shot. All the breath in the room was sucked in as the 9-ball rattled in the pocket but didn’t fall, leaving Corina an 8-9 combo for the match win. Congratulations to Orietta for a great match to watch and another great tournament finish!
With Tara and Corina in the finals match, it was a rematch of the hot seat for the tournament. Just like the hot seat match, both players traded racks early in the set until the match was set at 3-3. Once again, on the seventh game, Tara turned it on and didn’t look back. She finished out the set just as she had the first time they played with a final score of 7-3. Congratulations to Corina for her second place finish and reaching her highest finish to date on the tour!!! With this second win of 2016, Tara has seventeen tour wins and now holds the OB Cues Ladies Tour record for the most wins by a single player. Congratulations Tara on another great accomplishment!
Thanks again to Legends for hosting all the lovely ladies for this second event of 2016, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around.
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #3 – Click’s Billiards in San Antonio, Texas, May 21-22nd weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour held their 7th and final tour stop November 7th – 8th at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. 34 players from as far away as California were ready for the opportunity to earn a Qualifier spot at the 2016 WPBA Masters event in February. The owner and manager, Jeff Pitts and Tim Gildon and all the bar and wait staff did a wonderful job taking care of all the ladies! We greatly appreciate Rusty’s hosting yet another superb event.
Every year, the OB Cues Ladies Tour has 3 major awards given during the final tour event. The awards are Regional Tour Champion, Most Improved Player and Best Sportsmanship. Our worthy and deserving recipients are:
The Best Sportsmanship award, voted on by the tour players, selected Jennifer Yo of Austin for this year’s award. She always has a cheerful and positive attitude that persists throughout every match she plays. Whether winning or losing, you can always count on support, cheering and a big smile from Jennifer.
The Most Improved Player award, voted on by the tour’s board of directors, is Gail Roles of College Station. Gail has shown perseverance and dedication to the game as well as to the ladies tour, that she stood out amongst the rest of the candidates. In the past few years, she has improved her rank consistently year over year to unanimously be voted as the Most Improved Player for 2015.
Unlike the previous year, this year there was no contest as to who this year’s tour champion would be. Tara Williams of Fort Worth secured her first place ranking starting with the first event of 2015 and never looked back. With her four back-to-back tour stop wins to start 2015, no other player would be able to secure enough points to be able to threaten her second tour championship.
On Saturday, thirty -four players were reduced to eight ladies returning on Sunday morning. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Michelle Cortez (Austin) vs. Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) and Melinda Bailey (Ft. Worth) vs Julie Stephenson (Keller). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Terry Petrosino (Houston) vs. Chris Fields (Ft. Worth) and Corina Campbell (Dallas) vs. Kawania Watson (San Antonio). Of the 9 players who were vying for the Qualifier event at Soaring Eagle, only three players remained standing – Michelle, Kawania, and Terry.
Eliminated first round Sunday morning at the 7th-8th position were Terry Petrosino and Corina Campbell. In the winner’s side matches, Omega Tour Founder and Tournament Director Melinda Bailey defeated Julie Stephenson and Michelle Cortez defeated Tara Williams to set the hot seat match. Moving over to the one-loss side, for the 5/6th place matches Julie fell to Chris and Tara came out the victor against Kawania. With Kawania’s elimination, Michelle Cortez of Austin secured the $500 qualifier for the WPBA Masters event. For the fourth place match, Tara once again persevered, leaving Chris to settle for the 4th place spot.
Melinda made her way through Saturday with wins over Merry Viau (7-2), Chris Fields (7-1), and Snowy Belt (7-5). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Michelle was making her way through her Saturday matches with her steady and consistent play. She posted wins over Shayla Neris (7-4), Corina Campbell (7-0), and Sophia Lopez (7-1). In the hot seat match, it was a steady race to the finish line for both players. Michelle won the match 7-4 against Melinda and waited to see who would be coming through the one-loss side to meet her in the finals.
For the 3rd place match, it appeared that Tara was determined to continue her winning streak. She made quick work of the match against Melinda, winning with a final score of 7-0. Congratulations to Melinda for a great, great tournament!
With Michelle and Tara in the finals, it was a repeat of last year’s finals match for the championship stop. Just like the previous year, Tara would need to double-dip Michelle to secure the tour stop win and $775 in first place prize money. However, unlike last year, where the two players went back and forth, this year, Tara came on strong and never let up. Michelle put forth her best effort to try and stop the tour champion’s effort, but came up short in the first set losing 7-4. In the second set, Tara once again turned it on, but this time, Michelle was unable to fight off the effort and succumbed to Tara in the final set 7-1. Congratulations to both ladies for another exciting finals match and great tournament finish! With this sixth tour stop win of 2015, Tara Williams breaks her own OB Ladies Tour record by becoming the only player to win six stops within a calendar year. Congratulations to Tara for an incredible season!
Thanks again to Rusty’s for our first and last tournament this year, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around. A special year-end thank you to the man behind the tour, always supporting the ladies and feeding us bananas, Godiva chocolates, and all kinds of snacks, a great friend and wonderful person, Carter. We love you so much Carter!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. It was a pleasure to see Royce Bunnell on Sunday. You do us proud and we can thank you enough for all that you do. We love OB Cues. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Additional thanks to our sponsor MzTam.com. Tam Trinh of Austin, TX, is one of our tour regular players and also supports our tour with her many creative billiard products and accessories. You can see all of her products as mztam.com. Thank you Tam for your awesomeness.
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again in 2016. Our first stop of the 2016 season will at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas, February 6-7th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Michelle Yim, Tina Malm, Helen Hayes, and Tara Williams
Forty players showed up the weekend of May 2 & 3rd at Clicks Billiards in San Antonio, TX to play in the third stop of 2015 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. Top players from throughout the Texas area and one player from San Diego were vying for the $775 first place prize in this event.
9th-12th finishers were Barbara Wisdom, Tracie Voelkering, Natalie Mans, and Kim Pierce. 7th-8th place went to Jennifer Kraber and Gail Roles (her highest finish to date!); 5th-6th places went to Sophia Lopez and Belinda Lee. 4th place went to Helen Hayes and 3rd place went to Michelle Yim.
Tara Williams made her way through Saturday with wins over Krystal West (7-6), Terry Petrosino (7-2), and Michelle Yim (7-1). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and to earn a spot at the hot seat with another win over Sophia Lopez (7-4). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Tina Malm was making her way through her Saturday matches without much opposition. She posted wins over Angela Garza (7-1), Monica Anderson (7-0), Natalie Mans (7-1) and Tracie Voelkering (7-3). On Sunday morning, she continued her run besting Belinda Lee (7-2) for her spot in the hot seat match. In the hot seat match, both players showed the reason that they made it through their brackets with the tough field that was in attendance this May weekend. After trading racks until tied a four games apiece, a missed safety by Tina after the break allowed Tara a run out to pull ahead 5-4. With the alternate break format, Tara broke and ran the next rack to reach the hill, and then Tina answered back with her own break and run to set the score at 6-5. On the final rack, Tara once again broke and ran to take the hot seat and wait for her opponent.
For the 3rd place match, Tina quickly got a lead over Michelle Yim and didn’t look back, earning a spot in the finals with a 7-1 win. In the finals, in the true double elimination format, Tina would need to beat Tara twice in order to win the event. It was not to be though; both players struggled early on to find the level of play that had allowed them to make their finals appearance. After a few back and forth racks, there nerves settled down, but Tina was already down 4 games by the time she was able to make it on the board. Tara was able to finish out a few racks when up 5-2 to win the event in one set with a final score of 7-2. Congratulations to both ladies for a great tournament! With this third win in 2015 for Tara, she makes only the third player to ever win three consecutive events; Lisa Marr was the first player to complete this feat in 2002 and Leslie Anne Rogers completed this feat in 2004. Congratulations on an awesome accomplishment Tara!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #4 – Legends Billiards in League City, Texas, June 20-21st weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
It may have been Super Bowl Weekend February 1st-2nd but that didn’t stop the 52 ladies who showed up at Rusty’s in Arlington, TX to play in the first stop of 2014 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. There were lots of new faces, lot of veterans, travelers from afar, as well as players who took off for a while but glad to see they are starting back up again. It was an awesome event to say the least and many, many strong match lineups all weekend long from champions all around. Additionally since it was Super Bowl Weekend, players were allowed to wear their favorite professional sports jerseys and here’s a snapshot of some of the ladies all dressed up:
Several marquee players in the running for the $750 first place prize money were the OBCLT Regional Champion from 2007-2011 Lisa Marr; 2012 OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Kim Pierce, 2013 OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Amanda Lampert and 2013 Flamingo Billiards Tour Regional Champion Jeannie Seaver. With all these champions in the house, many folks were saying it was a toss-up who would win this event. Needless to say, it was going to be a slugfest with plenty of tough and strong action to reach the top.
Finishing 13th-16th were Corina Campbell, Jeannie Kim, Melinda Bailey & Rhea Brooks. 9th-12th winners were Mindy Williams, Sara Bork, Tracie Voelkering and Emma Stewart (highest finish to date for Emma). Great job ladies! 7th-8th went to Julie Stephenson and Chris Fields; 5th-6th places went to Tara Williams and Jennifer Kraber. 4th place was Jeannie Seaver and 3rd place went to Lisa Marr. Both Jeannie and Lisa have been gone from this tour circuit for a while. It was great to see them back in action and needless to say, they still have it! Once a champion, always a champion and fun to watch and learn from both of these ladies!
Amanda and Orietta matched up against one another for the hot seat match and it was pretty much uncontested as Orietta won 7-2, giving little chance for Amanda to even get into the match. This semi- finals match between Lisa and Amanda was yet another strong showing between these two players. Having matched up against one another on many other previous occasions throughout the years, Amanda proved too much for Lisa with a win of 7-3.
The finals match between Amanda and Orietta is always a grind and Amanda would have to double-dip Orietta twice to take the crown. The first set was a back and forth battle of shots and safeties and Amanda prevailed the winner of set #1 with a score of 7-3. The second set was a repeat of the first with Amanda scoring the tournament win 7-4. Awesome work Champ!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ player/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #2 – Slick Willie’s at Katy, Texas, March 15th-16th weekend. Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
