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.
On the weekend of January 9-10, the Omega Billiards Tour Season Finale was hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service and an amazing atmosphere, and they took care of all us all weekend long covering very long hours and we very much appreciate each and every one of them!
We were able to extend the field to 97 players! Highest number so far on the Tour, and it was a great way to open the 2016 Omega Billiards Tour Season!
Always a top contender Daniel Herring had a heck of a tourney with wins over Trent Stith 7-2, Gary Pope 7-0, Thomas Barrington 7-1, Phillip Palmer 7-6, Tony Matthew 7-4, and Friday Abismo 7-2 to make it to the hotseat match. Tony Sulsar was making strides on the top half of the board with wins over Shane Minihan 8-6, Casey Dawson 8-0, a hill-hill thriller match over 18-year-old Devin Poteet 8-7, Eric Hsu 8-2, Larry Land 8-1, and Mike Voelkering 8-3.
The young gun Devin made a tear on the one-loss side after he lost hill-hill against Tony Sulsar. He defeated Noreen Moy 8-0, Jamie Welch 8-4, Nick Conner 8-5, Curtis Cardwell 8-4, Chris Ferguson 8-5, Crispian Ng 8-5, and Friday Abismo 8-4. Mike Voelkering would have a GREAT finish – he played with a lot of focus all weekend and placed an impressive 4th after a tough loss against Devin 8-5.
In the hotseat match Tony Sulsar and Daniel Herring were battling it out Daniel came on top 7-2. This meant rematch for Devin and Tony in the semi-final match and it was another nail biter and close match with Tony inching out the win 8-6. Congrats to Devin for his fantastic 3rd place!
Tony then got another chance at Daniel Herring in the finals. Tony would need to defeat Daniel twice, and twice he did, 8-2 and 8-4. BIG congrats for a hard fight to Daniel for placing an impressive 2nd place! And also to Tony Sulsar who made up for his lack of high finishes last year to start the season out with the FIRST PLACE title!
Congrats also to Friday and Greg Sandifer for 5th/6th place, and Tony Matthew and Crispian Ng for 7th/8th places.
Congrats to ALL the players and fans for a great event!
A HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors Omega Billiards Supply, Predator Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and OB Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, Irving Ink and Thread, AZBilliards.com, Pool School, and BilliardsPress.com.
This year OB Cues is our Ranking sponsor and will be donating three OB Cues to the top ranked 3 players at the end of the year! BCAPL/CSI has joined again and will be giving away 5 BCAPL free entry fees the 2017 BCAPL Nationals.
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Rusty’s Billiards owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! She would also like to thank her fabulous team: Heather Farr and Dana Speed.
A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, main sponsor of the Tour and owner of Omega Billiards Supply in Hurst, TX. Michael and Omega Billiards Supply are well known for the huge booths at many large tournaments across the country.
The next stop will be held Feb 20-21 at The Billiard Den in Richardson, Texas. $1,500 added and limited to the first 80 PAID players (already full). We will have ten stops total again in 2016. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
Gary Lutman, Dave Cole (Coles’ Carom Room owner), Sergio Rivas (Photo courtesy of Ricky Bryant)
You'd have thought the game assignments would be reversed. As the 'big boys' were duking it out playing 8-ball, though, twice as many lower-tier players were battling in 10-ball at the Coles' Carom Room Spring Classic on the weekend of April 24-26. Sergio Rivas, presumably a sophomore in high school, went undefeated through a field of 32, on-hand for the $1,000-added 10-Ball event at Coles' Carom Room in Beloit, WI.
Rivas and Gary Lutman met twice to decide it, and both times, played to double hill. Lutman had sent Gene Albrecht to the losers' side in one winners' side semifinal, while Rivas sent Kyle Boers over in the other. Rivas took the first of two against Lutman 11-10, and sat in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Albrecht picked up Chad Elston, who'd defeated Gil Hernandez and Duncan Kaufman. Boers drew Scott Cohen, recent winner over Adam Behnke and Jamie Welch. Albrecht and Boers got right back to work, handing Elston and Cohen their second losses, and facing each other in the quarterfinals.
Boers advanced over Albrecht and then had his two-game, loss-side effort halted by Lutman in the semifinals. It could have gone two, but it went only one. Rivas and Lutman battled to a second double hill match, before Rivas won it to claim the title.
