Daniel Herring was going to be the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2022 Tour Champion before the first rack was broken at the tour finale, held this past weekend (Nov. 19-20) at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX. Though he’d finish in the tie for 17th/24th competing in the finale, Herring was ahead by 350 points in the tour rankings going into it and effectively, couldn’t be caught. As it happened, his closest competitor for the tour champion title, Joshua Paredes, who finished in the tie for 9th/12th in the finale, was able to narrow the points gap down to 45 points (from 350 to 305) and remain in 2nd place in the rankings. Matt Wilson, who was in a tie for 9th place in the tour rankings going in and finished about 35 points behind Paredes for third place in the final rankings, went undefeated in the finale, claiming his second tour stop title. He’d defeated Herring in the finals of April’s stop. The $3,760-added tour finale drew 36 by-invitation-only entrants to Rusty’s.
After being awarded an opening round bye, Wilson’s path went through Curtis Caldwell and Fahad Alrawi (double hill), before running into Joshua Paredes in a winners’ side quarterfinal. He downed Paredes, double hill and faced Mark Lawson in a winners’ side semifinal. At the other end of the bracket, Doug Winnett opened with a 10-2 win over Jennifer Hooten and then locked up into two straight double hill battles against Robbie Smith and Tony Loeper. Winnett won them both to pick up Alberto Nieto Garcia in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Wilson defeated Lawson 5-3 and was joined in the hot seat match by Winnett, who’d sent Garcia to the loss side 7-2. With Winnett racing to 8, Wilson claimed the hot seat 5-5 and waited on Miguel Hernandez, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Lawson and was working on a five-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him all the way back to the finals.
On the loss side, Hernandez first ran into Curtis Caldwell, defeating him 6-6 (Caldwell racing to 8) and then, facing Don Baker, who’d arrived with Daniel Herring and Joshua Paredes as notches on his ‘gun belt,’ defeated him 6-3. Hernandez drew Garcia, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Lawson picked up Robert Reighter, who’d recently defeated Clint Palaci 7-5 and Tony Loeper 6-5 (Loeper racing to 8).
The two loss-side opponents in the 5th/6th matches advanced; Reighter defeating Lawson 5-3, while Hernandez dispatched Garcia 6-2. Hernandez and Reighter locked up in a double-hill, quarterfinal fight that continued Hernandez’ loss-side run and stopped Reighter’s.
With Winnett racing to 7 in the semifinals, Hernandez took another step. He defeated Winnett 6-5 and got a shot at the event title versus Wilson, waiting for him in the hot seat.
In a straight-up race to 6, the ‘570’ (Fargo Rate, Hernandez) faced the ‘536’(Wilson), Hernandez needing to win two matches to claim the title. Wilson took the first and only set to complete his undefeated run and claim the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s season finale title.
Tour directors thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec, and associate sponsor, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore.
The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2023 schedule is, at the moment, a work in progress. The schedule is expected to be posted ‘sometime in December,’ according to tour representatives.
In the absence of the top five competitors in the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, two somewhat unlikely candidates emerged to finish as winner and runner-up at the 9th stop on the 2022 tour. Jesse Moore, who last year returned to the regional tour tables after what appeared to be an 11-year absence, went undefeated to the hot seat this past weekend (Sept. 17-18). Though he would lose the first set of a true double elimination final to runner-up Joshua Paredes, Moore persevered to take the second set and claim the title. The $1,750-added event drew 49 entrants to Jeffro’s in Canton, TX.
Having cashed three times previously this year, twice on the DFW 9-Ball Tour (finishing 4th and 7th) and once (17th) at Pool Action TV’s 9th annual Big Tyme Classic in Spring, TX in May, Moore was already in the midst of his best earnings year, to date. He’s brought home more cash this year than in the other two years his name showed up on our payout lists, combined; twice last year and once (his first known cash finish) in 2010. The win elevated him from the tour standing’s 30s to 5th place.
Joshua Paredes, whose runner-up finish at Stop #5 on the tour, combined with six other appearances, brought him in to this latest stop on the tour at #9 in the standings, was elevated to #2, five standing-points ahead of the absent Tony Top. With two wins and two runner-up finishes on the 2022 tour, Daniel Herring is at the top of the tour standings and uncatchable for the tour champion title. If Herring were to take a house by the sea somewhere, not compete in the tour’s final two stops and Paredes were to win them both, Paredes would finish five points behind Herring.
After an opening round bye, Moore’s path to the winners’ circle went through Fahad Alrawi, and Daniel Bowman before he ran into a double-hill struggle against David Franklin in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Franklin began the match with six ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 10 and chalked up three of the four he needed to win. Moore had the final ‘say’ in the matter and advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Ruben Juarez. Paredes worked his way through Monty Allbadi, Max Sun, Pasini Taloa and Clint Freeman to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Cameron Cummings.
Moore navigated his way through his second double-hill match, eventually downing Juarez and advancing to the hot seat match. Paredes joined him after defeating Cummings 5-4 (Cummings racing to 7). Paredes, racing to 4, forced Moore into his third straight double hill battle, but Moore closed it at 9-3 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Cummings moved over and picked up Roger Prachyl, who’d recently defeated Michael Pickering, double hill (5-8; Pickering racing to 9) and David Franklin 6-1, was working on a four-match winning streak that was about to end. Juarez picked up Clint Freeman, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Paredes with wins over Daniel Bowman 9-3 and, in a ‘Clint’ duel, Clint Palaci 7-4.
Freeman and Prachyl’s loss-side streaks came to an end with Juarez downing Freeman 5-4 (Freeman racing to 9) and Cummings defeating Prachyl 7-1. Cummings earned himself a rematch against Paredes with a 6-1 victory over Juarez in the quarterfinals, but Paredes defeated him 5-1 in the semifinals that followed.
Paredes began both sets of the true double-elimination final with four beads on the wire in a race to 9. They both chalked up five racks in the opening set, which, added to Paredes’ four, gave him the first-set win. Moore took the second set 9-2 to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the owners and staff at Jeffro’s for their hospitality along with title sponsor Cuetec, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 23-24, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
Carlos Jinez, Jon Rawlins, Dan Bowman and Scott Emory
Dependent on how any number of other players will have their winning points slotted into the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, Daniel Bowman’s victory this past weekend (Aug. 20-21) could elevate him from his previous spot at #84 to among the tour’s top 10 competitors. Bowman, the “long-time player, first-time winner,” (noted tour representatives), accomplished this by going undefeated at the $1,750-added event that drew 93 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
The 554-Fargo-rated Bowman opened up with a win over the 678-rated Roman Bayda and followed up with wins over Don Bullard, Greg Hogue and TJ Thetford to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against the “17-year-old phenom, making a name for himself,” Carlos Jinez. Jonathan Rawlins in the meantime, survived a first-round double hill fight against Mike Ledford, advanced to meet and defeat Burke Garfias, shut out Jesus Sorto and got by Ray Hinton to meet up with Tina Malm in the other winners’ side semifinal. Malm, one of 10 tour-record number of women who competed, had downed the tour’s #1-ranked competitor, Daniel Herring in a third-round, double-hill battle and would finish as the ‘last woman standing,” adding $200 to her cash prize.
Bowman downed the youngster Jinez 6-2. He was joined in the hot seat by Rawlins, who’d sent Malm to the loss side 7-2. Bowman claimed the hot seat with a bit of a flourish, shutting Rawlins out and waiting on Scott Emory, who’d been sent to the loss side by Malm in the fourth round and was working his way back to the finals.
Four matches into his seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had included recent wins over Donald Weathersby 4-5 (Weathersby racing to 9) and Steve Smith, double hill (4-9; Smith racing to 10), Emory picked up a re-match against Tina Malm. Jinez, in the meantime, drew Ruben Adame, who was working on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had recently included the elimination of Max Sun 6-3 and Monica Anderson, who put up a double hill fight that would leave her in the tie for 7th place and second-highest finishing lady in the event.
Jinez ended Adame’s loss-side streak 6-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Emory, who’d restricted Malm’s loss-side effort to a single match, but not before Malm had battled to double hill and forced a deciding game. Emory then stopped Jinez 5-1 in the quarterfinal match.
Emory completed his loss-side trip with a 5-1, semifinal victory over Rawlins, who was racing to 9. Emory battled Bowman to within a game of double hill in the first set of a true double elimination final, but Bowman edged out in front at the end and won the only set he needed 6-3 to claim his first Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Fort Worth Billiard Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 17-18, will be hosted by Jeffro’s Billiards in Canton, TX.
Regional Tours being centered in specific areas of the country, usually attract a regular group of players who are familiar with each other from playing in stops on that tour, as well as other local events. Each stop typically comes down to which of the regulars is playing their best on that particular weekend. Once in a while though, a tour newbie dusts off his cue case and surprises everyone in the field. That was the case at the DFW 9-Ball Tour Tour Stop at Stixx and Stones Billiards in Lewisville, Texas on July 23rd – 24th.
Jon Rawlins, a regular in nearby Denton Texas, ponied up his $80 to enter his first DFW Tour Stop, and went undefeated through the field of 75 players. Rawlins kicked off the event with a 7-0 win over Jim Dixon and followed that up with wins over Joshua Paredes and Raven Rahman on Saturday.
Rawlins came back on Sunday and proved that Saturday was no fluke, as he defeated Alberto Nieto Garcia, Rachelle Dytko and Fahad Alrawi to get to the hot-seat match. Rawlins opponent for the hot-seat, Albert Duran, was on a bit of a roll himself. Duran, a Fargo 519 was getting weight from most opponents all weekend. He only needed to use that weight once, defeating Daniel Herring 4-5 in a first round 10-4 race. Duran went on to defeat Blake West, Pedro Mungia, Aaron Fleming, Jamie Welch and Tony Loeper to take his place in the hot-seat match. That hot-seat match was a 6-5 race and Duran would have needed the weight and more as Rawlins scored a 6-2 win to take the hot-seat.
Duran found Alrawi on the one loss side, and the two competitors went hill-hill before Duran scored the win to earn another shot at Rawlins in the finals. Unfortunately for Duran, the finals were a repeat of the hot-seat match, with Rawlins scoring another 6-2 win for first place.
The DFW 9-Ball Tour will be back in action on August 20th – 21st at Snookered Billiards in Frisco, Texas.
At the start of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2022 season, Neil Saidawi was headed in the wrong direction, so to speak. In the season opener, he finished in the tie for 13th place. In February, he slipped down to 17th and in March, he finished in the tie for 33rd place. In April though, he changed direction, finishing in the tie for 9th place, still a long way in tour standings from Daniel Herring, who sat atop the leaderboard. Last weekend (June 18-19), Saidawi went toe-to-toe against Herring three times, taking the last two in a double elimination final to claim his first (recorded) event title anywhere. The $1,750-added event drew 75 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Until Herring reached the hot seat match to face Saidawi for the first time, none of his six previous opponents had chalked up more than four racks against him, and that, only once, in his winners’ side semifinal match against Telly Shackelford. He’d given up an average of just over asingle rack per match to Cameron Cummings (0), Monica Anderson (2), Jennifer Cayot (1), Tony Ignomirello (1), Surmin Overovic (1) and finally, Shackelford (4).
Saidawi, in contrast, had to battle right from the start. After a bye, he played five matches to get to the hot seat match, three of which went to double hill, including his opening match versus Frank Granados. He followed that with wins over Joshua Paredes 6-4, Isaac Ruiz and Travis Arredondo (both double hill) and in his winners’ side semifinal, Greg Sandifer 6-5 (Sandifer racing to 8). As he came into the battle for the hot seat, he was four matches away from claiming the title and two of those would go to double hill, as well.
One of those two double hill matches was his first encounter with Herring. Herring won it 8-4 (Saidawi to 5) to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Shackelford picked up Arredondo, who’d followed up his loss to Saidawi with victories over Robin Barbour 7-4 and Jesse Moore 6-3. Sandifer drew Juan Parra, who was working on a modest, four-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Tony Top (#2 in tour standings) 7-2 and Surmin Omerovic 8-0.
Shackelford downed Arredondo 7-4, as Sandifer was stopping Parra’s loss-side streak 7-3. Sandifer defeated Shackelford 7-3 in the subsequent quarterfinals and walked right into a semifinal rematch against Saidawi, who chalked up his fifth and final double hill match of the event to earn his spot in the finals.
Saidawi started both of the final two matches with three ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 8 against Herring. He didn’t need them. Saidawi took the opening set 5-2 and claimed the event title by winning the second set 5-3.
Though both Herring and Top, at the . . . top of the tour standings, remained there, advancing further in points, Saidawi’s victory advanced him among the tour’s top 10. And arguably put his fellow competitors in the top 10 on notice that with the 2022 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour now past its midway point, he’s only half done.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 23-24, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
Max Sun, a skill-level 4, a newcomer from Wylie, TX and new to the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, signed on to last weekend’s (May 21-22) $1,750-added event (Stop #5) and went undefeated through a field of 83 entrants to win his first (recorded) regional tour event at Snookered in Frisco, TX. Though he did not have to face the top two competitors in point standings on the tour (Daniel Herring and Tony Top), he did work his way through seven opponents, all of whom entered the tournament with higher Fargo Rates than his own (450). The average Fargo Rate of his opponents was 556, which, on average, from start to finish, gave him a little less than a 1 in 3 chance of winning each of his seven matches.
All of which begs the question, “How did that happen?” To which the only answer is a familiar one – “It happens.”
According to tour director Monica Anderson, though engaged in giving the man the credit he was due for his accomplishment, Sun “capitalized on opponent’s mistakes, and had a few decent runs, and break and runs.”
“(That’s) easy to do if you get the rolls on a barbox table,” she said.
After an opening round bye, the only competitor that Sun faced against whom he played a straight-up race (to 5) was his first against Jim Dixon. He defeated Dixon 5-2, after which he did not face an opponent below a skill level of 7 until he was in the finals against Joshua Paredes (6). After Dixon, Sun downed Carl Oswald (racing to 8) 4-5, Darrell Smith (to 7) 5-0, and Neil Sidawi (to 8) 4-6, arriving at a winners’ side semifinal against Michael Oman. In the meantime, Sun’s eventual hot seat opponent, Mohammed Alrawi, got by Andy Kiesling, Miguel Hernandez and Will Lovos to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Paredes.
Sun chalked up for his first hot seat match with a 4-4 victory over Oman (racing to 8). Alrawi joined him after sending Paredes to the loss side, double hill (7-4). Sun claimed his first hot seat with a double hill win (4-7) over Alrawi.
On the loss side, Oman picked up Rick Stanley, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Paredes and went on to defeat Pete Stovall 9-1 and Will Lovos 10-3. Paredes drew Jimmy Fujimori, working on a modest four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated, in straight-up races to 7, Neil Sidawi and Miguel Hernandez, both 7-4.
Stanley and Paredes advanced to their rematch in the quarterfinals; Paredes, double hill (6-7) over Fujimori and Stanley ousting Oman 9-1. Paredes won the rematch 4-3 (Stanley racing to 10) and denied Alrawi his rematch versus Sun with a 5-5 win in the semifinals (Alrawi racing to 7).
Sun began the finals with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 6. They battled to double hill before Sun closed out his first shot at a final and claimed his first event title.
Aaron Fleming and Blake Kamiab battled twice – hot seat and finals – in an 18-entrant Second Chance event. Fleming came out on top in both of them, downing Kamiab the first time, double hill (2-4) and the second time 2-3. Kamiab had come back from a shutout victory over Matt Delgarza in the semifinals.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour will return to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX, where the 2022 tour began this past January. The $1,750-added event is scheduled for the weekend of June 18-19.
He shot up from the ‘cellar’ of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, where he’d landed after the first tour stop back in January. He then finished in the tie for 5th/6th twice, in February and March; his highest (recorded) finish in any event, anywhere. This past weekend (April 23-24), Matt Wilson made a quantum leap, closer to the top of the tour standings, reaching the hot seat for the first (known) time and then, downing the tour’s current standings leader, Daniel Herring, twice in a true double elimination final. The $1,750-added event drew 93 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
In all three of his matches against Herring, Wilson started out with six ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 10. Even with that six-rack head start, FargoRate calculated his chances of victory at 35.8%. It’s likely that before very long, Wilson will be looking in the rearview at his current FargoRate of 517.
His FargoRate advantage came into play in almost every match Wilson played. He faced only one opponent with a lower rate, tour director Monica Anderson (454), giving her one ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to six and sending her to the loss side 6-3. He advanced through the field to face Paul Villanueva (606) in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Herring (689), in the meantime, was handing out racks to his opponents all day long. The closest FargoRate he faced was in his winners’ side quarterfinal against Robbie Cleland, to whom he gave a single rack in a race to 7. That match went double hill and advanced Herring to a winners’ side semifinal match against Jimmy Davis.
Wilson downed Villanueva 6-5 (Villanueva racing to 8) as Herring sent Davis to the loss side 8-1. In their first of three, Herring allowed Wilson only two of the four he needed, claiming the hot seat 10-2.
On the loss side, Villanueva picked up Cleland, who, after his double hill defeat at the hands of Herring, downed Roman Bayda 7-5 and Clint Palaci 7-1. Davis drew Jessie Moore, who’d lost his opening match to Steven Thorne and then won eight on the loss side, including recent victories over Nico Arriola and TJ Thetford, both 7-4.
Moore made it nine in a loss-side row, downing Davis 7-1. In a straight-up race to 7, Villanueva joined him in the quarterfinals after handing Cleland his second straight loss 7-5. In another straight-up race to 7, Villanueva stopped Moore’s loss side streak 7-4 in the quarterfinals, before having his two-match, loss-side run stopped by Wilson, who allowed him two less racks in the event semifinals than he’d given up in their winners’ side semifinal.
Herring was looking for his third straight tour victory, having won stops #2 & #3 in February and March. Given his 64.2% chance of winning just a single match, even if he hadn’t known that specifically, one would assume that going into the finals, his confidence level would have been high. But so, apparently, was Wilson’s. Both of the true double elimination sets in the final went exactly the same way. With six on the wire, racing to 10, Wilson won each set, having given up only two racks to Herring, claiming the title 4-2, 4-2.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for May 21-22, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
Previously on the Cuetec DFW 9 Ball Tour: In securing the top spot on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s rankings, Donald Weathersby went undefeated on the tour’s season opener in January, thwarting an 11-match, loss-side run by Tony Top in the finals. Daniel Herring, who’d sent Top on his loss-side run in the second round, joined him after falling to Weathersby in a winners’ side semifinal and then, running into Top a second time on the loss side, had his loss-side run stopped before it even got started to finish in the tie for 5th place. On the tour’s second stop last month, Tony Top became the designated, randomly bracket-chosen competitor to derail the efforts of one Aloysius Yapp (runner-up in the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships) which he did, twice, downing him in a winners’ side semifinal and later, the semifinals. Herring, however, downed Top twice (hot seat and finals) to claim his first 2022 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title. Top’s two runner-up finishes kept him atop the early-going of the tour rankings, ahead of Herring by 40, Weathersby (who did not compete in Stop #2) by 120, Clint Palaci by 165 and Yapp (who did not compete in the season opener) by 195 points.
After a short commercial break for Cuetec cues and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, our story shifts to this past weekend (March 19-20), where last month’s top three finishers were once again prepared to do battle on Stop #3. Thanks, in part, to some handicap-matchup assistance provided to his opponents, Yapp only played twice, losing his opening match (to Paul Sifuentes, who would go on to finish 4th) and then, double hill, his first match on the loss side, to Doug Winnett. Palaci played six times, losing his third winners’ side match before being ousted by Miguel Hernandez in his third, loss-side matchup. With Weathersby, once again, absent from competition, Herring and Top were in position to battle for the top spot in the tournament and the tour rankings at the $1,750-added event that drew 79 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
Odds-makers, looking for a final matchup between Herring and Top, were disappointed early (as they no doubt were with the US Open 9-Ball runner-up finishing 25th). Top lost his opening match to Neil Saidawi 6-5 (Top racing to 8) and five on the loss side (including a forfeit) before finishing in the tie for 13th place. Herring, on the other hand, went on an undefeated, seven-match run to claim the title and, for now, the top spot in the tour’s rankings.
Herring got by Matt Dickson, Robbie Cleland, Brandon Clark (double hill) and Matt Devance (shutout) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Joel Nabia. In the meantime, Don Baker, who, prior to this past weekend, had only recorded one previous payout to the AZBilliards’ database, five years ago (9th at a stop on the Omega Tour), went on a six-match tear to the hot seat match, getting by Eric Hammond, Chance Willis, Joshua Paredes, Pedro Mungia and in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Sharik Sayed. With Sayed racing to 10, Baker downed him 4-7 (Sayed racing to 10) and advanced to his winners’ side semifinal against Paul Sifuentes.
Baker got into his first (known) hot seat match with a 6-3 win over Sifuentes and was joined by Herring, who’d defeated Nabia 8-4. Baker got three of the five he needed to claim his first hot seat, but Herring got all nine he needed first to claim it.
On the loss side, Nabia ran into Sayed, who’d followed his loss to Baker with victories over Samuel Escalona 10-3 (Escalona had previously eliminated Top), and Jesus Sorto 9-5. Sifuentes picked up Matt Devance, who’d moved on from his loss to Herring to eliminate Doug Winnett, double hill, and Nando Benavides 8-3.
Sifuentes advanced to the quarterfinals 6-4 over Devance. With Nabia racing to 5, Sayed narrowly defeated him 9-4.
Apparently, impatient with all of this. . . back and forth, Sayed went on a rampage to the finals. He shut out both Sifuentes in the quarterfinals and Baker in their semifinal rematch. Herring didn’t get the ‘rampage’ memo and downed Sayed 6-3 in the finals to claim his second straight Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title in a row and the top spot in the tour rankings.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. Next time on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour: A $1,750-added event, scheduled for April 23-24, to be hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
As a competitor on a regional tour, when the runner-up of the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships, who also finished third at last year’s World 10-Ball Championships and won an event on the CSI Predator US Pro Billiards Series back in September, shows up on the tour’s entrant roster, you have a tendency to pay attention. Pool is all about being in the moment at the tables and avoiding distractions related to who you might or might not have to face somewhere down the line, but when such a competitor pops up on your radar, you do scan the brackets every once in a while. And when you discover that this formidable opponent has only given up five racks through his first 54 games (winning almost nine out of every 10), your focus on the tables may be all well and good, but you do start wondering whether you might be one of the players designated to stop him.
That said, if you enter a tournament as one of three players at the top of a regional tour’s rankings, you might actually look forward to the challenge. It was Tony Top, who entered last weekend’s event as the number #2 competitor in the tour’s rankings, who met the challenge and stopped one Aloysius Yapp, from what might well have been an undefeated run to the title. Twice, in fact. It was, however, Daniel Herring, the tour’s 2021 Tour Champion, who entered the tournament ranked #5 (5th/6th in the season opener) and finished it in the #1 spot, ahead of Top by just two points. He did that by going undefeated through the field. He didn’t have to face Yapp, but he did down Top twice, in the hot seat and finals. The $1,750-added, Stop# 2 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour drew 80 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
Yapp’s ‘take no prisoners’ run through his first five opponents, as he was racing to 10, included two shutouts (Tina Soto and Miguel Hernandez), two matches in which he gave up two racks (his opening match vs. Jeffrey Cho and later, against Fahad Alrawi) and a single match that allowed Crispian Ng a single rack. All of which put him against Top for the first time, in a winners’ side semifinal. Top, with an opening round bye in his pocket, had gotten by his first four opponents – Jim Dixon, Robbie Cleland, Clint Palaci and Tony Loeper – by an aggregate score of 32-14 (70% game-winning average).
Herring, in the meantime, started his journey to the winners’ circle with wins over Chase Laferney (2), Darrell Smith (4), Matt Dixon (3), Sharik Sayed (5) and TJ Davis (4) and came to his winners’ side semifinal match against Juan Parra, sporting a game-winning average a single percentage point lower than Top’s at 69%.
Top began his first match against Yapp with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9 and came within a single game of chalking up as many (actual) racks against him in the single match than all five of his previous opponents combined. He sent Yapp to the loss side 4-7. Herring joined him in the hot seat match after downing Parra 7-2. In a straight-up race to 7, Herring claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Top.
On the loss side, Yapp and Parra picked up Matt Wilson and Sharik Sayed, respectively. Wilson was likely not thinking a lot about Aloysius Yapp when he began his eight-match, loss-side winning streak, initiated by Tony Loeper in the second winners’ side round. Like most people who lose an opening round in a large, double-elimination bracket, he was more likely to be focused on surviving the matches right in front of him. If he was bracket-watching at all, he might have noted that the guy who’d sent him to the loss side, Loeper, was progressing as well, and there was a chance, the way the bracket was working out, that he could get an opportunity for a rematch in the quarterfinal. That didn’t happen, because Loeper fell into the 7/8 slot. Wilson chalked up wins #7 & #8 against TJ Davis, double hill, and Denny Sneed 5-6 (Sneed racing to 9) before falling to Yapp 10-2.
Sayed was working on a modest, five-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Crispian Ng 8-4 and Loeper 9-3. He joined Yapp in the quarterfinals after eliminating Parra 8-4.
Yapp ended Sayed’s brief loss-side streak 8-4 in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch against Top in the semifinals. Top started this match, as well, with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He added four for a second time to end Yapp’s prior-to-him romp through the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball field.
Top now had to turn his attention to winning two matches in a row over Herring, waiting for him in the hot seat. He failed to chalk up two racks against him in what proved to be the only set necessary.Herring completed his undefeated run 7-1 to claim the event title.
Tour director Monica Anderson thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and associate sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop #3 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 19-20, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
Before the 10th stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour was over on Sunday, Oct. 24, tour representatives announced to all those in attendance that Daniel Herring, by virtue of how far he had already advanced in the $1,500-added, ongoing event that drew 84 players to Snookered in Frisco, TX, was the 2021 Tour Champion. It might have provided Jeff Franklin with a touch of motivation, because Franklin subsequently downed Herring twice, in the hot seat and finals, to go undefeated and claim the second-to-last 2021 tour title.
Though he started strong after a bye, downing Zeke Moore 8-3 and Quy Dao 8-1, Franklin would finish, having given up an average of five racks to his six opponents in seven matches (Herring twice). From his second match, he never gave up less than five the rest of the way. He downed Alberto Nieto Garcia (5) and Tony Top (6) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Robert Clark.
Herring, in the meantime, after a bye, started out 8-2 (Domingo Lazaro) and 8-4 (Steve Raynes), and even after his two late losses to Franklin, finished having given up an average of just under four racks to his eight opponents (Franklin twice). After Raynes, Herring downed Jim Calderon 8-2 and then, shut out Miguel Hernandez to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal versus Clint Freeman.
Franklin sent Clark to the loss side 8-6, as Herring was sending Freeman over 8-3. In their first of two, Franklin and Herring battled to double hill before Franklin prevailed and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Clark picked up Miguel Hernandez, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Herring with wins over Prashant Srivastava 6-2 and Jeff Georges 6-4. Freeman drew Tony Top, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Franklin with victories over Mark Nanashee 8-5 and Chris “Woody” Smith 8-4.
Top downed Freeman 8-3. Clark joined him in the quarterfinals with an 8-5 win over Hernandez. Clark advanced one more step, defeating Top in those quarterfinals 8-5, before being stopped by Herring in the semifinals 8-4.
The finals looked as though it was going to be another double hill battle, but it fell short by a single game. Franklin sealed the deal and claimed the event title 8-6.
Tour director Monica Anderson thanked Craig and Jana Lucas and their Snookered staff, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and associate sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore (Albert Trujillo and team). The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s finale, scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 20-21, will be hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
