At the height of Josh Brothers’ pool career, defined by us here at AZBilliards as his best earnings year (2010), he finished among the top five competitors in 18 of the 19 (recorded) events in which he cashed that year. He won 10 of them; nine on the Mezz Pro Am Tour and was that year’s Maryland State Champion in a November event at which Manny Chau finished in the tie for 5th place. Twelve years later, this past weekend (Sept. 17), Brothers went undefeated at the B & L Billiards Tournaments’ 2nd Annual Fargo Open 9-Ball Championships and had to come from behind in the finals versus Manny Chau, who’d won seven on the loss side to challenge him. The event drew 78 entrants to Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD.
Brothers, racing to 8 throughout, was moving right along through his opponents (racing to between 5 and 7), who were chalking up an average of three or four racks against him; Sam Roberts (3), Josh Mohammed (2), Shawn Toni (4) and Rick Molineiro (2). This set Brothers up in a winners’ side semifinal match against Tom Zippler. Marvin Ramirez, in the meantime, racing to 5, got by Jenn Benton (1), Brandon Vaughan (3), junior competitor Nathan Childress (4, racing to 8), Curtis Branker (4, racing to 6) and Derek Crothers (4, racing to 7), which set him up to face Matt Krah in the other winners’ side semifinal. Krah had been responsible for sending Manny Chau to the loss side in the third round.
Brothers advanced to the hot seat match 8-4 over Zippler and was joined by Ramirez, who’d defeated Krah 5-5 (Krah racing to 7), sending him west to an immediate rematch against Chau.
Brothers shut Ramirez out to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Chau had chalked up loss-side wins #3 & #4 against Rick Molineiro 8-5 and Mike Saleh, double hill (8-6), when who should show up but the man who’d made all that extra loss-side work necessary, Matt Krah. Zippler drew Derek Crothers, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Ramirez with wins over Richey Orem 7-2 and Scott Haas 7-4.
Krah had a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 8. He could have been given five of them, because Chau eliminated him 8-2. Crothers downed Zippler 7-2 and then had his brief, loss-side run stopped by Chau in the quarterfinals 8-1.
Chau had his hands full in the double hill semifinals that followed. Ramirez started the match with three ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8 and won four of the five he needed to win. Chau chalked up his eight and turned to face Roberts waiting for him in the hot seat.
Fresh off his double hill win in the semifinals, Chau opened the finals with five straight racks before Brothers got on the board. Brothers went on to win seven of the next nine games; #6 put him on the hill, #7 gave him the championship.
Co-tour directors Brian Kilgore and Lai Li thanked the ownership and staff at Bank Shot Bar & Grill for their hospitality, as well as all of those who came to play, to whom they extended their congratulations.
“We ended up a little short of our (attendance) goal,” noted Kilgore, “but with 78 unbelievable, game-ready competitors, we couldn’t be too upset.”
Special congratulations were extended to the winner and runner-up for “a roller coaster final set,” as well as to B & L regular and third-place finisher, Marvin Ramirez, in his first time “going deep” in one of the organization’s singles events.
“An unbelievable run,” said Kilgore, “beating two ‘700’ Fargos and multiple monsters along the way.”
If it had been a horse race, the trio of Josh Brothers, Shayne Morrow and Russell Redhead would have yielded an outstanding trifecta payout. None favored, really, although Brothers, who won the Dynaspheres Cup 9-Ball Memorial Day Shootout this past weekend (May 28-29), was the third pick among those expressing an opinion. Ahead of him were Shaun Wilkie and Lucas Fracasso-Verner, who finished 24th and 17th, respectively, as Brothers came from the loss side to double dip Morrow, chalking up his first (recorded) event win in almost a decade; since he won a stop on the Mezz Pro Am Tour in February of 2013. The event, held under the auspices of and streamed by Billiard Sports Network (BSN Media), drew 55 entrants to Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD.
“That was the great thing about this tournament,” commented BSN Media owner and event tour director, Jake Lawson. “You had two guys who were not favored on paper (finishing) 2nd and 3rd. And Shayne (Morrow; 3rd) won the hot seat.”
“So, pretty crazy weekend,” he added. “It’s why I love doing this.”
Neither of the two competitors favored in the event faced the winner. Wilkie didn’t make it out of the second winners’ side round or the third loss-side round. Fracasso-Verner won two on the winners’ side but only one on the loss side.
After an opening round bye, Brothers’ path to the hot seat match went through John Moody, Sr., Vietnam’s Tuan Chau (who would later, on the loss side, eliminate Wilkie), and eventual third-place finisher, Russell Redhead, arriving at a winners’ side semifinal against Scott Haas. Morrow, in the meantime, defeated Donald Painter, Justin Mast, Jimmy Varias and Curtis Branker to arrive at his winners’ side versus Jeff Jones, Jr.
Morrow fought a double hill battle before advancing to the hot seat match, as Brothers sent Haas to the loss side 7-2 and joined him. In his second straight double hill battle, Morrow, at 6-6, took a chance on an extraordinary, not to mention low-percentage, three-rail bank shot at the 9-ball that travelled back from what looked to be an impossible angle off the second rail to hit the 3rd rail and travel cross-table to drop into a side pocket. He was in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Jones drew Redhead, who’d followed his loss to Brothers with victories over Fred Crislip, Jr. 6-3 and a double hill win over Thomas Haas. Scott Haas picked up Eric Yoo, who was working on a four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated Tuan Chau (fresh from his elimination of Wilkie) 6-4, John Newton 6-3 and Mike Miller (double hill).
Scott Haas put a stop to Yoo’s loss-side trip 6-4 and in the quarterfinals faced Redhead, who’d knocked Jones out 6-2. Redhead chalked up his last match victory eliminating Haas 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Brothers stopped Redhead’s streak at three in the semifinals to earn himself a rematch against Morrow, waiting for him in the hot seat. Brothers took the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-4. He and Morrow battled back and forth to 5-5 and a single game for all of the proverbial marbles. Brothers won it.
Tour director Jake Lawson thanked the ownership and staff at Bank Shot Bar and Grill, as well as sponsors Dynaspheres, Championship Billiard Fabric, Lucid Ballsports (Predator Arena Light), JB Cases, Gina Cunningham (Keller Williams Integrity), East Coast Prime Meats, Integrity Cues, Break Out Apparel Co., AZBilliards, Premier Billiards, Cue Score, The League Room, American Billiard Covering, B&R Productions (Rich France & Bruce Carder), DFE Billiards Service/XLR. For information on BSN Media productions, including upcoming Dynaspheres Cup 8-Ball, 9-Ball and Juniors 9-Ball competition, visit their Web site at http://www.thebilliardsportsnetwork.com/.
(in foreground, l to r): Rick Scarlato, Jr., Johann Chua, Jesus Atencio & Loye Bolyard
A little shy of a year ago (Nov. 26, 2017), Johann Chua from the Philippines was in Amagasaki, Japan (about four hours southwest of Tokyo) collecting the 1st place prize in the All Japan Open Championships. The victory capped what proved to be Chua’s best recorded earnings year to date; a year in which during the single elimination phase of the Super Billiards Expo’s Player Championships (April, 2017) he’d defeated, in order, Mika Immonen, Jayson Shaw and Dennis Hatch, before being eliminated in the finals by Shane Van Boening.
When Chua arrived on scene at the 2018 Maryland State 10-Ball Bar Table Championships on the weekend of Nov. 3-4, he had yet to chalk up a 2018 victory, at least one that appeared in our records. He wasted little time, marching through the field of 95 entrants, chalking up wins in nearly three out of every four games he played (71%), defeating Jesus Atencio twice and claiming the event title. The annual event, held under the auspices of On The Hill Productions, drew its 95 entrants to Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD.
Chua arrived at the winners’ side semifinals, to face Derick Daya, on the heels of four victories and an aggregate game score of 28-8 (77%). Atencio in the meantime, sporting an even better four-match winning percentage (80%; 28-7) squared off against Kevin West. Chua notched his winning percentage up a bit with a 7-2 win over Daya, while Atencio lowered his percentage as he survived a double hill battle against West (the only opponent to chalk up more than two racks against him). Chua claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited for Atencio to get back from the semifinals.
Wilkie, who’d been sent to the loss side in a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal by West, did his part to assure an event quarterfinal rematch with a 7-3 win over Daya. West followed suit by downing Davis 7-5. Wilkie and West came within a game of a second double hill fight in those quarterfinals, but Wilkie closed it out, edging ahead to win it 7-5.
He was not as fortunate in the semifinals against Atencio that followed. This did go to double hill and this time, it was Atencio advancing for a second shot against Chua with a victory over Wilkie. Chua duplicated his hot seat efforts with a second 7-4 win over Atencio to claim the event title.
Tour directors Rick Scarlato, Jr. and Loye Bolyard thanked the ownership and staff at Bank Shot Bar & Grill for their hospitality, as well as sponsors McDermott Cues, Lights Out Billiards Apparel, TAP Pool League (Chesapeake Bay), Billiard Sports Network, Phillippi Custom Cues, Navigator Premium Tips and Chalk, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, and Roy’s Basement.
According to Loye Bolyard, On the Hill Productions is in the midst of preparing its 2019 schedule, which will include Championship events in 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball. Bolyard expects the schedule to be completed in the next week or two.
Max Schlothauer, who's been on the pool scene for over a decade and was seen, most recently, placing third in the Super Billiards Expo's Amateur Championship, signed on for his first Action Pool Tour stop on the weekend of June 1-2, as the tour was celebrating its second year. He ended up defeating the tour's #1-ranked player, Brett Stottlemyer twice, and double dipped tour director Ozzy Reynolds in the finals to capture the event title. The event drew 42 entrants to VIP Billiards in Catonsville, MD.
Schlothauer and Reynolds met first in the battle for the hot seat. Schlothauer had begun his first-ever Action Pool Tour campaign by sending Stottlemyer to the loss side 9-6 in the opening round of play. He'd followed that with victories over Teresa Thomas, Alvin Thomas, and Dan Madden, at which point, he moved among the winners' side final four and matchup against Jimmy Varias.
Reynolds, in the meantime, who'd been awarded an opening round bye and survived a second round, double hill fight against Trevor Dentz, went on to defeat Rick Glasscock, Cheryl Sporleder and among the final four winners, met up with David Hennessy.
Schlothauer sent Varias west 9-3, as Reynolds advanced to the hot seat match to meet him with a 9-7 victory over Hennessy. In his second successful double hill match, Reynolds won the first of three over Schlothauer, and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
On the loss side, Stottlemyer was at work on the eight-match winning streak that would bring him all the way back to the semifinals. He won his fifth against Cheryl Sporleder 7-2, and his sixth against Dominic Noe 7-1, which set him up to face Varias. Hennessy met Dave Hunt, who was on a seven-match, loss-side streak of his own, surviving a double hill match against Shaun Wilkie and defeating Don Steele 7-2, to pick up Hennessy.
Hunt advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-1 victory over Hennessy, and was met by Stottlemyer, who'd eliminated Varias 7-5. Stottlemyer won his seventh on the loss side (denying Hunt his eighth) with a 7-5 victory, setting up a re-match from the first round, in the semifinals. Schlothauer won his second against Stottlemyer 7-3 and earned a second shot against Reynolds.
Schlothauer took the opening set of the finals 9-7. In the race-to-7 second set, he defeated Reynolds 7-2 to capture the event title.
The husband and wife team of Sean and Cheryl Sporleder took home some prize money from the event. Sean won the Second Chance tournament, defeating Curtis Branker in the finals, while Cheryl, who finished in the tie for ninth place, captured the $100, highest female finisher prize.
Anthony Luong (owner of First Break Cafe), Brian Deska, Mike Davis and Ozzy Reynolds
From a brief, one-win, two-quick-loss appearance at the US Open 9-Ball Championships, Mike Davis travelled about four hours north to Sterling, VA, where on Sunday, October 30, he went undefeated to capture the event title at the 6th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial 9-Ball Tournament. The $1,000-added event drew 51 entrants to First Break Café in Sterling.
From among the winners’ side final four, Davis defeated Eddie Abraham 9-7 to get into the hot seat match against Brian Deska, who’d defeated Alan Duty 9-6. Davis sent Deska to the semifinals 9-6 and waited in the hot seat for his return.
On the loss-side, Abraham picked up Curtis Branker, who’d picked up a forfeit victory from Kevin West and defeated tour director Ozzie Reynolds 7-2. Duty drew Shaun Wilkie, who’d gotten by Jeremy Perkins 7-3 and just did squeak by Brandon Shuff, in a double hill match.
Abraham and Wilkie advanced to the quarterfinals; Abraham with a 7-2 win over Branker, and Wilkie, 7-4 over Duty. Abraham moved on to the semifinals versus Deska with a 7-5 victory over Wilkie. Deska then earned a re-match with Davis on the heels of a commanding 7-1 victory over Abraham.
In a true-double elimination final, Deska put up a fight that came within a game of going two sets. Davis, though, persevered, taking the 17th and deciding rack to capture the event title. Lai Li picked up $75 as the event’s highest finishing female.
