The Diamond Pool Tour returned to Pockets Billiards in Tucson on October 1st – 2nd, for stop #7, with a field of 43 players playing 9-Ball on the 9’ tables. Although the top Tucson players put up a fight, it was Mitch Ellerman turning in his third straight tour stop win.
The “A” bracket only held 14 players, and it was Ellerman and Tucson’s Chris Paradowski making their way through the winner’s bracket to meet up for the “A” bracket hot-seat. That match would go to Ellerman 9-6. Tim Daniel had lost his first match of the event, but scored an impressive run through the one loss side with dominating wins over AJ Jones, Tonee Allin, Jeff Webb and George Teyechea to face off with Paradowski in the semi-final match. Paradowski did the Tucson fans proud though, with a 9-6 win over Daniel.
The “B” bracket consisted of 29 players with the Tucson players showing that they were more than ready to take on Phoenix’s best. The “B” bracket hot-seat came down to two Tucsonians with Eric Beeler defeating John Polaski in a hard fought 9-7 match. On the one loss side, Manny Luevano was proving that his 9-2 loss to Jack Murray in the first round was just a fluke. Luevano then went on a seven match winning streak that included notable wins over Rick Schmitz, 2015 “B” player of the year Joey Barrera, 2016 “B” Player of the year candidate Oscar Avila Sr. and Polaski in the semi final match.
The 7th place finish by Avila was made possible by the come-back match of the weekend on Saturday night. Trailing Tim Christopher 8-2, Avila then proceeded to win seven straight games for the 9-8 win to earn him his spot in the Sunday bracket.
When the brackets came together, Ellerman made quick work of Beeler for the overall hot-seat 9-3. On the one loss side though, Luevano was having fun defeating Tucson players and he kept the string going with a 9-7 win over Paradowski. Luevano wasn’t even done then, as he went on to eliminate Beeler in third place 9-4. That left Luevano with the unenviable task of having to beat Ellerman twice in the finals. He put up a fight, but it was Ellerman winning the first set 9-5 for first place and his third straight win.
With the tournament win, Ellerman locked down the “A” player points list, with an insurmountable lead over Scott Frost. The “B” player points list sees Avila at the top, with a 115 point lead over Karloz Chavez. It would take a very high finish in the final stop of the year for Chavez to catch Avila on the list.
Tour staff expressed their thanks to Curtis Johnson and his staff for taking care of the players all weekend. Rick Schmitz once again proved why he is the best billiards photographer in Arizona, with a selection of great player shots.
The Diamond Pool Tour wasn’t done for the month though, as they held their final regular tour stop of the season three weeks later at Skip and Jan’s in Gilbert.
The AWBT’s yearly trip to Tucson on October 25th and 26th saw Bernie Store get her first win of the year, and regain her spot at the top of the AWBT points list with just one event to go. The event also saw the emergence of a player, Tina Hess, who looks fully capable of winning events on tour.
The extra distance to Tucson may have dissuaded the Nevada players, but Tucson and Southern California were both well represented along with most of the top ladies from the Phoenix area in the field of 25 players.
It took no time at all for the upsets to start piling up as both Barbara Lee – Runner up from last month – and Susan Wilbur dropped first round matches. Lee would still make it to Sunday play, but Wilbur would not get past Sonia Flores on the one loss side.
Tour veteran Susan Williams came up just short of Sunday main event play as she won her first two matches and then lost to last month’s winner (and World traveller) Sara Miller 7-5. Things went from bad to worse for Williams as she lost to Alicia Streenz 7-5 in her next match and was eliminated out of the money.
The final four on the winners side on Sunday morning were Bernie Store, Sara Miller, Tucson’s Michelle Trevino and Tina Hess. Hess recently moved to Phoenix from Indiana, but she has been playing on regional tours across the country for many years and was expected to make a splash on the tour in a short period of time.
The final four on the one loss side were Alicia Streenz, Anne Gray, Barbara Lee and Sonia Flores.
Sunday matches got underway and the winners side saw Store send Sara Miller to the one loss side 7-3 and Hess defeat Trevino 7-2. Bernie would capture the hot-seat with a hard fought 7-5 win over Hess.
On the one loss side, Streenz and Flores settled for 7th place after losses to Gray and Lee. Gray had lost her second match of the event, but had put together an impressive run of four wins on the left side of the board and Michelle Trevino became win #5 for Gray. Trevino was joined in 5th place by Barbara Lee as Sara Miller handed Lee loss #2 by the score of 7-3.
Sara Miller kept her hopes for a repeat win on tour alive with a decisive 7-3 win over Anne Gray, but those hopes would be dashed in the semi-final match as Miller lost to Hess 7-2.
Store came out on fire in the final match and raced to what looked like an insurmountable 8-1 lead. Hess mounted a comeback and took advantage of a couple missed shots by Store to get back within two racks at 8-6 before missing a six ball that left Store four balls for the tournament win. Store would run out for the final 9-6 win.
Store was complimentary of her finals opponent when it was all over. She commented, “(Tina) plays a very good game, I think she’ll be able to compete with the top contenders in the AWBT.”
Store also commented on her lack of time in the winners circle so far this year. She said “(I) can’t believe this was my first win this season. I’m excited that I won an event before the season was over. Hopefully winning more than one event next season, but placing high in most of the events has kept me in the top. It’s been fun, only my 2nd year playing and I won the tour last year, trying to win this season too.”
Hess had great things to say about her fellow competitors and the tour itself after the event finished. “The pool hall we played at in Tucson was one of the nicest rooms I have ever played in. (They had) great tables, food etc. The women who play on this tour are awesome. I learned … just by watching some of the talented players play. Tres and Kristie do a great job running the tour as well. I felt welcomed from the very beginning here.” said Hess.
Although she failed to cash in the main event, Susan Williams cruised through the second chance event on Sunday and took first place with a 5-2 win over Rayna Gainey.
Tour director Tres Kane passed on the tour’s thanks to Pockets Owner Lenny and his son Curtis Johnson for hosting and adding $300 to the main event and $50 to the second chance. He also thanks the friends of the AWBT for adding $100. Tres and fellow tour director Kristie Ortega also added $70 to the second chance event.
On October 19th and 20th, Pockets of Tucson played host to 21 ladies of the AWBT. Susan Williams came away with her second championship in a row by beating Bernie Store 9-7 in the one set final. The win left Susan10 points behind Bernie in the race for the Tour Championship with one event still to play.
Susan eased her way into the tournament with a first round bye and then had wins over Jaye Succo (7-4) and Sara Miller (7-6) to make Sunday’s final 4 winners. Williams dispatched Amanda Pulley (7-0) but then lost to Store (7-4) for the Hot seat. Bernie’s path to the finals also started with a bye and then wins over Renay Justus (7-5), Jodi Hirning (7-4), Rebecca Wagner (7-5), and then Williams to win the hot seat. Bernie had to wait while Susan took on Rebecca Wagner. Rebecca was sent to the Loser’s side by Bernie but then won a close (7-6) match over Sara Miller and then bested her Las Vegas road partner Stacy Allsup (7-3). This set up a match between the two Tour Champions. In a very close set that went down to the last 9-ball Susan eked out a 7-6 win.
In the one race to nine final Susan jumped out to a big early lead and it appeared that the final was going to be a walkover. With Susan needing only 2 games, Bernie dug in and crawled her way back into the match to get to 7-8. Not wanting it to get to hill hill, Susan won game 16 and the match 9-7 for her second tournament in a row. These ladies put on a great show for the many fans who came out from the Tucson pool scene.
The other Sunday finalists were Stacy Allsup who came all the way from Las Vegas in 4th place. Sara Miller finished in 5th, stopped only by two heartbreaking 6-7 losses. Amanda Pulley, one of the AWBT’s young guns, also took home 5th money. Always in the cash, Susan Wilbur was 7th, along with Jodi Hirning making her second consecutive final 8.
The AWBT welcomed several new ladies from the local bar table leagues. While no Tucson woman made the final 8, these ladies exhibited plenty of skills and we look forward to having them compete and cash in our future events. A big thanks goes out to Tracie Hamman for her work in getting these girls out to play.
Sunday’s Second Chance had an additional $50 added to it by Pockets owners Lenny and son
Curtis Johnson (thanks). Lois Schnitt, who only played the Sunday event, beat Jaye Succo to win the 13 player redemption event. Lois’ fine play left us wondering about where she would have placed in the main event. Great Job Lois and thanks to all the ladies who came back to play on Sunday.
Thanks to Lenny Johnson and son Curtis for hosting and adding a total of $350 to our event.Thanks to the always friendly and capable staff of Pockets who make this a favorite stop each year.Thanks to the Tucson pool fans who came out in large numbers to root our ladies on.Thanks to The Friends of the AWBT for adding $200.Thanks to my co-director Kristie Ortega and Scott for putting on another fine event.
Our next event will be November 16th at Bullshooters.
