It was “all in the family” this past weekend, August 23rd-24th, 2014 at the Lone Star Billiards Tour event held at Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock, Texas. James Davis, Jr. “Bastrop, Jr.” and James Davis, Sr. “Bastrop, Sr.” captured first and second, respectively, in the open 9-ball division while Frank Ferrer, Jr. captured the amateur 9-ball division, upgrading his status to “open” division player. The tour would like to thank Skinny Bob’s owners John and Sue Cielo for hosting another first-rate event, their 5th year as Lone Star Tour hosts. The Tour is proudly sponsored by Poison by Predator Cues, Delta-13 Rack, Ozone Billiards, ImproveYourShot.com, and APA of North Harris County.

 

First round action started Saturday at 3pm. James Davis, Jr. steadily worked his way through the winners’ side with wins over Jason Bagby, 7-4, Rudy Esteves, 7-5, David Henson, 7-6, and Manny Chau, 7-5. Another local favorite, Brian Sanders, made his stand as well, defeating Cesar Garcia, 7-5, Chuck Adams, 7-4, James Davis, Sr.,  7-3, and finally Blaine Barcus to reach Bastrop, Jr. for the hot seat. New to the tour, Dallas player Roman Bayda suffered a second round loss to Barcus, 7-1, but made his way through the one-loss to finish in the money. Junior Jueco, Bagby, and Chris Smith also finished 9th-12th. John Eagle lost his bid for the final four winners’ side to Barcus, 7-3, and was subsequently eliminated by James Davis, Sr., 6-4. Frank Ferrer, Jr., suffered a loss in the same round to Chau, 7-5, and was eliminated by Henson, 6-4. These turn of events staged an all-too familiar shoot-out with veteran champions, Henson and Davis, Sr., playing for third place. On the east side, Davis, Jr. squeezed by Sanders to secure the hot seat, 6-5. Davis, Sr. squeezed by Henson and Sanders by the same score, 6-5. Father and son decided not to play the final match and instead split the winnings. It was agreed that Junior retain the title, perhaps a belated wedding gift after tying the knot with Emma Davis (formerly Stewart) at BCA Nationals this past July. They are expecting their first child, a boy, later this year. 

 

In the amateur division, Frank Ferrer, Jr. faced off with Cesar Garcia for the hot seat. Ferrer’s victims included Aaron Isbell, 6-2, Cielo Velasquez, 6-0, Chris Salinas, 6-2, and John Eagle, 6-1. Garcia ousted David Escobedo, 6-4, Roger Senn, 6-4, Jason Bagby and Chad  Hensen, 6-5. James Dugger suffered a first round loss and won 6 consecutive matches while Bagby made his way into the final four on the losers’ side as well. Dugger fell to Jacob Warriner, 5-4, while Bagby advanced over Rudy Sanchez. It was Hensen over Warriner and Bagby over Eagle. Hensen eliminated Bagby, 5-3, while Ferrer dominated Garcia for the hot seat. Hensen took down Garcia, but fell to Ferrer in the first set of the finals. 

 

Congratulations to all the Poison VX Cue raffle winners; Jimmy Krone, Jerry Riley, James Smiser, and Chris James.

 

The Lone Star Finale is October 4th-5th at Bogies Billiards & Games, Houston, Texas. The ladies’ Gulf Coast Tour Finale will be on Saturday, October 4th, at the same venue. For more information, visit www.LoneStarBilliardsTour.com.