Tim Smith, Albert Luna, Benjie Piamonte, Sam Manole, Ricardo Espinosa, Jesse Rizo, Justin Espinosa and Daniel Schneider
The 4th tour stop of the Predator Arcadia Centex Pool Tour drew 75 players for this 2-day, $2000 added 9-ball event. The Open Division featured many favorites including the current tour point ranking leader, Justin Espinosa, along with his father Ricardo, Predator Pro Team player Daniel Schneider and local favorites Sam Manole, Eric Aicinena & Albert Luna. On the women’s side, several state and national BCA champions were in attendance including Sophie Lopez, Kawania Watson, Cristina Schneider and recently relocated, Tamara Parlette as well as local favorites like Naomi Garcia, Mille Almaraz & Nancy Cardenas.
Pushing through the winner’s side was local player Sam Manole with wins over James Berry 7-1, David Evans 7-5, Christopher Ayers 7-3, Jesse Rizo 7-3, and Tim Smith 7-4. He eventually met current tour leader, Justin Espinosa in the hot seat match where Manole came up short 4-7. Justin found his way to the hot seat with wins over Justin Huber 7-0, Albert Luna 7-4, Eric Aicinena 7-3, Benjie Piamonte 7-2 and Daniel Schneider 7-1.
Stand out performance in their first Arcadia Centex Tour stop were Ricardo Espinosa and Tim Smith. Ricardo won his first few matches before falling to Daniel Schneider 7-3 but continued his run on the 1-loss side with 4 more wins before eventually being eliminated by Daniel Schneider again. Tim Smith had an impressive 3rd place finish with Daniel Schneider rounding out the 4th place spot.
Manole eventually made his way back for a rematch with Justin Espinosa but Justin sealed the deal in 1-set with a decisive 7-1 win which protects his lead in the overall tour rankings.
Cristina Schneider and Mille Almaraz
On the women’s side, Mille Almaraz made her way to the hot seat match with a first-round bye and wins over Ciara Keyes 5-2, Kawania Watson 5-4, and Sophie Lopez 5-3 before being sent to the 1-loss side by Cristina Schneider in the hot seat match. In their first Arcadia Centex events, Christy Grigsby & Sophie Lopez finished in 5th/6th Place followed by Kawania Watson & Tamara Parlette in 7th/8th. Naomi Garcia had a great finish with wins over Barbara Wisdom, Tamara Parlette, Sophie Lopez and Nancy Cardenas to take 3rd place. Nancy Cardenas started the tournament out strong with several wins until she faced the eventual winner, Cristina Schneider and eventually finished in 4th place. Cristina Schneider defeated Mille Almaraz in the finals to earn the win for the First Ladies division of the Arcadia Centex Tour.
A big thank you to all the tour sponsors that make the events possible including Predator Cues, Arcadia Billiard Cloth, Kamui, Brutal Game Gear USA, Outsville, James Hanshew, ROIS Leather and our streaming partners Backwards Billiards.
In her first cash finish in 2021, back in January, Courtney Peters had the misfortune of running into Russia’s Kristina Tkach, who was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak when she showed up in the semifinals of the Michael Montgomery Memorial Tournament at Snookered in Frisco, TX. As it happened, the same misfortune befell hot seat occupant-at-the-time Tara Williams, who lost both sets of the true double elimination final that followed the Tkach/Peters semifinal. Though neither Tkach nor Williams were on hand for the $2,000-added season opener of the Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour, held this past weekend (May 22-23) at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX, Peters did have 36 of some of the state’s best female competitors to contend with, including alumni from the Montgomery Memorial – Tam Trinh, Ming Ng and Robyn Petrosino. Peters went undefeated through the field to claim her first (recorded) event title since she came from the loss side to double dip hot seat occupant Robyn Petrosino on the Gulf Coast Women’s tour back in July, 2018.
The 37-entrant field required a 64-player bracket and Peters was one of only 10 women who played in the opening round of the event; all the other ladies were awarded byes. Peters started by facing and defeating two Teresas in a row and giving up only a single rack through the two matches. She shut out Teresa Ballenger and gave up the single rack to Teresa Garland. Nicole Daniel put up a bit of a fight against her next, but Peters prevailed 7-5 and went back to giving up a single rack in her match versus Michelle Yim. This put her into a winners’ side semifinal against Kim Pierce. The aforementioned (twice) Robyn Petrosino, in the meantime, did get a bye and then defeated Ruth Paine, the also-aforementioned Tam Trinh 7-2 and Stephanie Reyes 7-1 to draw the also-aforementioned Ming Ng in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Peters got into the hot seat match with a 7-5 win over Pierce. And shades of that Gulf Coast Women’s Tour, Petrosino joined her, after surviving a double hill fight against Ng. Three years ago, it was Petrosino who grabbed the hot seat. This year, Peters took it 7-4 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Ming Ng.
On the loss side, Kim Pierce picked up Cristina Schneider, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal, double hill battle to Ming Ng and then, defeated Terry Petrosino 7-3 and won another double hill fight against Janeen Lee. Ming Ng drew Tam Trinh, who followed her defeat at the hands of Robyn Petrosino with a four-match, loss-side winning streak that had most recently included wins over Michelle Yim and Jennifer Kraber, both 7-4.
Ng and Trinh locked up in a double hill struggle that eventually sent Ng to the quarterfinals. Schneider earned the rematch against Ng by defeating Pierce 7-5. Ng defeated Schneider a second time (7-3) to earn her own rematch against Petrosino in the semifinals.
Four of the last six standing in this Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour season opener in 2021 were four of the last six in that Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Tour event won by Peters three years ago; Peters, Ming Ng, Robyn Petrosino and Kim Pierce.
Ng was picking up speed on the loss side. She fought to double hill in her first loss-side match, gave up three racks in her second and in the semifinal rematch against Petrosino, only one. It was not, though, enough, to derail Peters’ undefeated run, which she completed, downing Ng 7-5 in the finals to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Big Tyme Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Jerry Olivier Cues. The next stop on the Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour, scheduled for June 19-20, will be a $2,000-added event, hosted by Skinny Bob’s in Round Rock, TX.
Bern, the capitol city of Switzerland, hosted the Mezz Women’s Swiss Open, the country’s largest women’s tournament of 2016. The women’s pool scene in Switzerland has been steadily dwindling over the past years and the Swiss Championship qualifying tournaments reached very low numbers in the 2015 season. Tournament organizers, Cristina Tschudi and Daniel Schneider, wanted to hold an event that would inject some life into women’s pool in this region and raise the level of competition.
With 58 players representing 11 different nationalities, the tournament featured a star-studded field with multiple Swiss and European medal holders. This two-day 9-Ball event paid a prize fund of 5200 CHF and over 3000 CHF in additional prizes including products donated by Turtle Rack, Zan Tips, Shot Pad and the event organizers. In addition to the main event and the men’s side event, players competed in one-on-one shoot outs and break and run contests to win the additional prizes like Swarovski jewelry sets and pool equipment.
Day one had many close matches and tough competition. Top European players came out strong on day one with Kristina Zlateva (Bulgaria), Claudia Von Rohr (Switzerland), Pia Blaeser (Germany) and Veronika Ivanovskaia (Germany) advancing to day two on the winners side. Other notable results were Swiss players, Noc Steiner and Franziska Jakob, who placed 9th which is their highest finish in a large international women’s event. The four local favorites, Christine Feldmann, Yini Gaspar, Claudia Von Rohr and Cristina Tschudi, did not disappoint as all four advanced to day two and the final 8.
On day two, Zlateva squeaked past Swiss Champion, Yini Gaspar, with a 7-6 win in the first round sending Gaspar to the one loss side. Gaspar made a good run eliminating the other Swiss Champion, Von Rohr in another hill-hill match but the junior German sensation, Blaeser, was too much for her in the next match and Gaspar went out in 5th place. Blaeser faced her road partner, Ivanovskaia, in the first round of the final 8 and lost with a score of 4-7. Blaeser then won over Gaspar but would have to settle for 3rd place as Zlateva ousted her with a decisive 7-1 win in the semifinals. Also finishing in 3rd place was American 8-Ball Champion Cristina Tschudi who lost in the first round of the final 8 to Pia Blaeser but fought her way back with 7-3 and 7-5 wins over Christine Feldmann and Yvonne Ullmann.
Zlateva dominated throughout the weekend losing only 15 games in the entire race to 7 tournament. She steadily ran through the winners’ bracket going undefeated to eventually win the tournament with a dominant 7-3 win in the finals. Also reaching the finals was Veronika Ivanovskaia with wins over Feldmann, Blaeser, and Tschudi. The 22 year old Bulgarian, Zlateva traveled from her home in Madrid, Spain to capture this title. Congratulations to her on this impressive win.
Joey Bourgeois, Jr., Jacob Watson, Lazaro Martinez and Bryan Gonzalez
On Saturday, May 16th, the OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour and Slick Willie’s Burnet in Austin, TX welcomed junior players for the 2015 Texas Junior State 9-Ball Championships. Juniors from throughout the state were invited to participate and earn their spot to the Billiard Education Foundation Junior National 9-Ball Championships in Las Vegas this coming August, where they will be eligible to qualify for the WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships.
The 14 and under division consisted of Bryan Rodriguez from Edinburg, and brothers Gabriel and Lazaro Martinez from New Braunfels. The 18 and under division was represented by Joey Bourgeois, Jr. from Baytown, Jacob Watson from Tyler, and Senate Horton from Boerne. Due to the intimate field and to increase play time, the players played a round robin race to 5 format to whittle each division to two players, then one final race to 7 set for the title. In the 14 and under division, Lazaro won both of his matches, 5-4 over Bryan and 5-3 over Gabriel to gain entry to the final round. Bryan then won over Gabriel 5-1 to earn his spot beside Lazaro. In the 18 and under division, Joey won 5-1 over Jacob and 5-3 over Senate, while Jacob won 5-1 over Senate to set up the final match between Joey and Jacob.
In the 18 and under division finals, Joey struggled to keep the momentum he had obtained in the round robin stage, and made several unforced errors to let Jacob get ahead early in the match. He continued to struggle throughout the match and Jacob continued to capitalize to take the win with a final score of 7-1.
In the 14 and under division finals, Lazaro showed play on a level much higher than his 8-years of age, executing several multiple ball run-outs to ran away with the match 7-0 against Bryan. Bryan played smart safeties in the match, but each time, Lazaro was able to escape the hook by either a good kick or a well-executed jump shot by Lazaro.
Because of the impressed skills displayed by all six participants, and the funds raised by the community, the ladies decided to sponsor the entry fee for each of the boys to participate at nationals. Congratulations, guys!
All players received prize packages including trophies donated by Rusty’s Billiards, cash, gift cards, and pool related gifts donated by Cristina Tschudi and Mz Tam. In addition to the prize packs for the players, many items were donated to raffle for the players participating in the event. Senate Horton and Jacob Watson won the two Mz Tam Custom Cases. Gabriel Martinez and Jacob won the two Premium cues donated by Omega Billiards. Bryan Gonzalez won the Cue it Up Clip, Lazaro Martinez won the Magic Rack, and Joey Bourgeois, Jr. won a billiard book, all donated by Shayla Neris. Senate also won the Kamui scuffer donated by Cristina Tschudi and Lazaro also won the Ninja Turtles piggy bank donated by Tara Williams. Also, the third place finishers received photo prize packages from Blake Ormand Photography. You can check out all the awesome action shots by Blake from the event at: http://www.blakeormand.com/Pool-Billiards/2015-Texas-Juniors/
18 & Under Division
1st Place
Lazaro Martinez, III
New Braunfels, TX
Trophy, Certificate, Paid Entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls, Cash & Sponsored Prizes
2nd Place
Bryan Rodriguez
Edinburg, TX
Trophy, Certificate, Paid Entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls, Cash & Sponsored Prizes
3rd Place
Gabriel Martinez
New Braunfels, TX
Trophy, Certificate, Paid Entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls, Cash & Sponsored Prizes
14 & Under Division
1st Place
Jacob Watson, age 17
Tyler, TX
Trophy, Certificate, Paid Entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls, Cash & Sponsored Prizes
2nd Place
Joey Bourgeois, age 16
Baytown, TX
Trophy, Certificate, Paid Entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls, Cash & Sponsored Prizes
3rd Place
Senate Horton, age 16
Boerne, TX
Trophy, Certificate, Paid Entry to 2015 BEF Jr Natls, Cash & Sponsored Prizes
To raise funds for this event, the OB Cues Ladies raffled donated goods from our event contributors. We would like to send a big thank you to all the players and supporters of this event who helped by purchasing raffle tickets – it would not have been possible without player support!
The OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour would also like to thank the following contributors for helping support the juniors in this event:
Slick Willie’s Family Pool Hall in Austin (www.slickw.com/sites/austin/8440burnet.htm)
Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth and Arlington (www.rustysbilliards.com)
PoolBallHangers.com (www.poolballhangers.com)
Fort Worth Billiards Super Store (www.dfwbilliards.com)
The Billiard Education Foundation gives Special Thanks and Recognition to OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour board members Shayla Neris and Tara Williams for all their efforts and hard work in making this event possible. They secured the location and all the sponsored prizes, and promoted and directed the event which would not have happened without them and their supporters. THANK YOU!!
For more information on sponsoring, hosting, or participating in a Junior State Championship, visit billiardeducation.org or call (303) 926-1039. Complete list of nationwide junior events listed here: http://billiardeducation.org/events/
The OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour is proud to announce that they will be presenting the 2015 Texas Junior State 9-Ball Championships this May 16th in Austin, Texas.
Juniors from throughout the state are invited to participate and earn their spot to the Billiard Education Foundation Junior National Championships in Las Vegas this coming August, where they will be eligible to qualify for the WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships.
The Texas Junior State 9-Ball Championships will be hosted by Slick Willie’s in Austin on May 16th. The doors will open at 11 AM and the event kicks off at 12 PM. The event is open to any player aged 18 and under. There will be two divisions: one for 18 and under coed and 14 and under coed. The top male and top female finisher in each division will be awarded a paid spot to the Junior National Championships and the top 25% of the field will qualify for the national event. Trophies and prizes will be awarded to the top finishing players in each division. Total cost per player is $25 which covers a $15 entry fee and a $10 BEF Annual Membership fee.
The OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour would like to thank the following contributors for helping support the juniors in this event:
Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth and Arlington (www.rustysbilliards.com)
PoolBallHangers.com (www.poolballhangers.com)
Fort Worth Billiards Super Store (www.dfwbilliards.com)
