Terry Petrosino and Angie Payne (Photo courtesy of Marty Jones)
The kickoff of the 2019 JO Ladies Tour was held at Big Tyme Billiards in North Houston on the weekend of January 12th-13th. 54 women came out to compete in a double elimination, race to 7, 9-Ball match on Diamond Bar Boxes. Prior to the start of each tournament, a players’ meeting is held and this one was quite special. A major announcement made was the addition of Strokin’ Billiards, owned and operated by brothers, Tuan and Nam Nguyen. Strokin’ Billiards will be providing the fashion of the tour and adding $100 to the “Best of the Rest” Tournament at each stop. We are excited to have Strokin’ as part of the JO Tour and look forward to the amazing designs that will be available! Check them out at www.strokinbilliards.com!
The JO Ladies Tour also commemorated the years of service and dedication given by Monica Anderson and Shayla Neris, both who resigned from board positions at the end of 2018. Also resigning from the tour was our “Tour Angel”, Carter Nakashima. We are actively looking to fill that spot, so applications are being accepted… As always, our fearless sponsor, Jerry Olivier, was on site to provide flawless cue repair and sales of his great playing cues! To order one of his fabulous cues go to www.jocues.com!
The battle of the 54 ladies went late into Saturday night and the remaining 12 returned to play on Sunday. On the winners’ side was a showdown between Angie Payne vs Chris Fields and Terry Petrosino vs Kim Pierce. The B Side featured Robyn Petrosino vs Shayla Neris, Jeannie Cockman vs Orietta Strickland, Michelle Yim vs Natalie Mans, and Jennifer Kraber vs Tam Trinh. When it was all said and done, the hot seat match featured Angie Payne from Austin and Terry Petrosino from Houston. Terry sent Angie to the other side to duke it out with 2018 Tour Champion, Orietta Strickland from Dallas, and it was Angie who came out on top. Angie hadn’t played in an Tour stop in quite some time and she was on a mission. She beat Terry in the first set, however, Terry wasn’t going to let her get away with the second set. Terry nabbed the first place trophy and prize money of $800! Congratulations!
The second day of the stop isn’t all about the main event. The Best of the Rest tournament is held on Sunday and it is no less competitive than the main event. 24 ladies returned to play and then there were 2 remaining. Ellen Robinson from San Marcos and Yvonne “Casher” Asher from Houston were the last 2 standing and split the winnings of $210 and were declared the Best of the Rest.
A huge thank you to Big Tyme Billiards (www.bigtymebilliards.com) and Billy Sharp for hosting the event. Big Tyme is truly a players’ pool hall with its wide open spaces, Diamond Bar Boxes, 9’ Diamonds and Gold Crowns, and friendly staff! We appreciate it and look forward to returning next year!
We hope to see everyone at the next stop! From Diamond Bar Boxes to 9’ Gold Crowns, we head out to Round Rock, TX (just north of Austin) to Skinny Bob Billiard’s (www.skinnybobs.com), home of the Texas State 9 and 10 Ball Opens, the weekend of March 9-10th. Come on out and enjoy some great pool and meet the women of the JO Ladies Tour! For more information, please contact one of the Board members: Teresa Garland, Natalie Mans, or Yvonne Asher.
The JO Ladies Tour is a sanctioned Division II tour of the North American Pool Tour (NAPT). Good Luck to these 14 women who will represent the JO Tour in the upcoming NAPT Division II Championships held at Bull Shooters in Phoenix, AZ, February 21-24: Jennifer Kraber, Michelle Cortez, Nicole McDaniel, Kim Pierce, Natalie Mans, Yvonne Asher, Teresa Garland, Tam Trinh, Ellen Robinson, Robyn Petrosino, Kim Sanders, Shayla Neris, Julie Collins, and Kelly Jones. Let’s hope one of these ladies brings the championship to our tour!
(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
January 28th-29th weekend was the 1st Tour stop for the OB Cues Ladies Tour and 51 ladies were anxious to start the New Year with some high spirited competition, fun and as some players call it, OBCLT therapy. It was great to see many, many new faces as well as familiar OBCLT family faces. A special welcome to Shar Vanderstyne who came to play on our tour all the way from San Diego, California. Thank You Ladies for keeping our tour #1 in the country.
Rusty’s in Arlington, Texas was our host site for this weekend and it was indeed a welcome to have their fantastic staff and management host us once again. Special thanks to Hutch, Jeff, Tracie, and all the other Rusty’s staff and organization for a job well done.
Special Thanks to our main tour sponsor OB Cues and new co-sponsor Pool300. The tour is now starting our 18th year in existence and we are proud to claim the status as the largest women’s amateur regional tour in the world. Thank you OB Cues and Pool300 for all that you do for us. Thank you for allowing us to continue to pursue our pool dreams and seeing our tour friends, fans, supporters and sharing in our journey along the way. Be sure to check out our sponsors at www.obcues.com and www.pool300.com
Finishing 9th/12th was Jennifer, Angie, Michelle and Monica. In 7th/8th it was Amanda and Orietta, and 5th/6th was Julie and Melinda. Great shooting and awesome tournament, ladies!
4-time OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Lisa Marr finished 4th. The semi-finals matchup was between Terry Petrosino and Kim Pierce. Terry always a contender with her playing consistency and strong shooting skills finished 3rd giving Kim a rematch with Ming who won the hot seat match between herself and Kim earlier in the day. Kim, having an awesome tournament, had some extra special motivation as she was celebrating her birthday weekend, as well as achieving her highest tour stop finish ever. Although Kim was shooting strong in the finals match, Ming, always a tough opponent and champion through and through, emerged as the victor in the one-set finals match with a score of 7-5. Fantastic finish to both ladies!
Main Event Tournament Payouts – $2000 added monies
