Kristina Tkach has been a busy young woman. Since March, she’s chalked up three major titles, commencing with her win at the 2019 Super Billiards Expo’s Women’s 9-Ball Championship, followed by a May victory in a European tour event and just last week (Aug. 8-11), a WPBA victory at the Sondheim Diamond Invitational in Iowa. She had no sooner made it back home to Virginia (Roy’s Basement), when she signed on to the August 17-18 stop on the Action Pool Tour, where she went undefeated to claim that event title. The event drew 41 entrants to Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD.
Not only did Tkach work through a field dominated by men (36 of the 41), she defeated the top-ranked player in the Action Pool Tour’s standings and winner of the last two stops on the tour, Chris Bruner. Twice.
Tkach embarked on her trip to the winners’ circle with an 8-1 victory over Skylar Hess and then, defeated the 2018 runner-up in the tour’s rankings, Jason Trigo 8-3 (this was only Trigo’s third appearance on the 2019 tour). Tkach then defeated Elva Abernathy 8-4 to draw Brian Bryant in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Bruner got into the hot seat match with an 8-2 victory over Wilkie. Tkach joined him after defeating Bryant 8-4. Tkach then claimed her first of two over Bruner 8-6 and waited in the hot seat for him to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Wilkie picked up Scott Roberts, who’d been sent to the loss side by Brian Bryant (8-5) and then defeated Scott Haas, double hill, and then, Thomas Haas 7-1. Bryant drew Matt Krah, who’d been sent to the loss side by Wilkie, shut out Chuck Sampson and defeated Chris Funk 7-5.
Wilkie and Krah advanced to the quarterfinals, both 7-4, over Roberts and Bryant. Wilkie gave up only a single rack to Krah in those quarterfinals to earn his rematch against Bruner.
Bruner and Wilkie battled to within a game of double hill, but Bruner edged out in front near the end to win it 7-5. With the intangible of momentum presumably on his side, Bruner turned his attention to the young woman waiting for him in the hot seat (and how many times, one wonders, has that happened?)
Tkach and Bruner did battle it out to a 19th and deciding game in the finals. Tkach, though, had the last ‘word,’ as it were, and dropped the final 9-Ball to claim the event title.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. Don Steele and Alavaro Valle battled twice (hot seat and finals) for it. Steele took them both, taking home $100 after a 5-2 win in the hot seat and shutting Valle out in the finals. Valle took home the $75 second-place prize.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Champion Billiards Sports Bar, as well as sponsors CSI, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Chix Cabinets, and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). The next stop on the Action Pool Tour (#9), scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 14-15, will be a Double Points event, hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
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.
“To be 70 years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be 40 years old.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
On Saturday, February 18, Don Steele, in his 70s, proved this point with a successful day on the Western New York Tour, defeating its 40-something tour director, Nick Brucato, twice, to claim the event title, at approximately 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. The $150-added event drew 21 entrants to Breaker’s Billiards in Pittsburgh, PA.
From among the winners’ side final four, Steele squared off against Richard Namie, as Brucato took on Al Landy. Steele got into the hot seat match with a 6-4 victory over Namie, as Brucato was busy surviving a double hill match against Landy. In their first of three, Steele and Brucato battled to double hill before Steele prevailed to sit in the hot seat, waiting for Brucato’s return.
Namie moved to the loss bracket and picked up Nick St. James, who’d defeated Roger Jackson 6-3, and Paul Mottey 6-5. Landy drew Butch Weimer, who’d been sent to the loss side by Steele from among the final eight winners, and then defeated Smitty Smith 6-4, and Delbert Hall 6-3. Weimer made it three on the loss side in a row with a 6-3 victory over Landy, moving into the quarterfinals against Namie, who’d defeated St. James 6-4.
Weimer chalked up his final victory of the day, with a double hill win over Namie, and had his four-match, loss-side streak stopped by Brucato in the semifinals. Brucato got a second chance against Steele with a 6-3 victory over Weimer, and followed that up by allowing Steele only a single rack in the opening set of the true double elimination final.
In the second set, through the first six games, Brucato had once again given up only a single rack. On the hill now, Brucato watched Steele battle back to knot things at double hill, and then, with dawn approaching, complete his undefeated day to capture the event title.
Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Brucato, as tour director, thanked the ownership and staff of Breaker’s Billiards, commenting that this most recent stop had been successful enough to warrant plans for future, regular stops on the Western New York Tour at this facility.
