(l to r): Juan Parra, Jr., Tim Larson & Jay Murillo
A regular competitor on the Omega Tour and once, according to our records, (six years ago, cashing) on the Lone Star Billiard Tour, Jay "Ryda" Murillo had yet to chalk up a major regional tour win until the weekend of June 22-23. He broke through at Stop #6 on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, going undefeated at the $1,500-added event that drew 82 entrants to Click’s Billiards in Arlington, TX and in the finals, downing the tour’s current #1 player, Tim Larson, who won Stop #5 in May.
Murillo’s path to the winners’ circle went through John Washington, Chase Wheeler, Daniel Herring and Mike Nagaki to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Yousif Ahmed. Juan Parra, in the meantime, got by Tommy Ulbik, Randy Darville, Jason Dutchover (a double hill win) and was responsible for sending Larson to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal that also went double hill. Parra’s 7-8 victory over Larson (racing to 9) set Parra up to meet Amos Bush in the other winners’ side semifinal.
In a straight up race to 7, Parra got into the hot seat match over Bush 7-5. He was joined by “Ryda,” who’d sent Ahmed to the loss side 6-3. Parra ended up on the wrong side of this third straight double hill match, falling to Murillo 6-6 (Parra racing to 7).
On the loss side, Bush met up with Mike Nagaki, who, following his defeat at the hands of Murillo, shut out Alberto Nieto Garcia and eliminated Billy Pinion 7-6 (Pinion racing to 9). Ahmed drew Larson, who, sent over by Parra, defeated TJ Davis 9-5 and Sajal Ghimire 9-2.
Larson moved on to the quarterfinals with a 9-3 victory over Ahmed and was joined by Bush, who eliminated Nagaki 7-4. Larson then survived two straight double hill matches for a shot at Murillo in the hot seat. He won a double hill quarterfinal match against Bush 9-6 (Bush racing to 7), and downed Parra in the semifinals by the same score, with Parra, as well, racing to 7.
Larson’s campaign to wrest the title from Murillo in the potential double elimination final never quite got off the ground. Murillo had chalked up his required six racks, with Larson four racks away from his handicap goal of 9.
A Second Chance event drew 10 entrants and was won by Billy Guy. The runner-up was Marc Gonzales with Casey Dawson finishing third.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Click’s, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Fort Worth Billiards, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball, FargoRate, BCA Pool League, Internet Marketing Solutions (IMS), CSI, Accu-Rack and JB Custom Cue Cases. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for July 13-14, will be hosted by The Hideaway in Dallas, TX.
Rick Stanley came into the 7th stop on the Omega Billiard Tour as its top player, ahead of Mike Voelkering by 70 points. At the end of that July 15-16, $1,700-added event that drew 64 entrants to Open Table in Azle, TX, Stanley had held on to that top spot, with Voelkering, finishing fourth, maintaining his position in second place. Stanley went undefeated through the field to capture the event title.
After four wins each, Stanley and Voelkering went head to head in one of the winners' side semifinals of this most recent event, as Jesse Hernandez (#17 on the tour's rankings list) and Robin Barbour (#16) squared off in the other one. Stanley (racing to 9) sent Voelkering (racing to 7) to the loss side 9-4. Hernandez sent Barbour over 7-3 to join Stanley in the hot seat match. Stanley put an exclamation point onto his victory in the hot seat match by shutting Hernandez out.
Over on the loss side, Voelkering opened his loss-side trek against Fahad Alrawi, who'd defeated Chris Rickman, double hill, and Justin Whitehead 5-2 to reach him. Barbour drew Douglas Pitts, who'd been defeated in the opening round of play and was on a nine-match, loss-side winning streak, that would include, most recently, victories over Jay Murillo 7-1 and Luis Lopez 7-4.
Voelkering and Pitts advanced to the quarterfinals; Voelkering 7-1 over Alrawi, and Pitts, chalking up loss-side win #8, 7-4 over Barbour. Voelkering's opportunity to gain ranking ground on Stanley was spoiled by Pitts, who won his last match of the weekend with a 7-5 win over Voelkering. Hernandez, though, spoiled any hopes Pitts may have been entertaining about an event victory by defeating him 7-2 in the semifinals.
After being shut out in the hot seat match, Hernandez put up a fight in those finals. He managed to chalk up four, but Stanley chalked up his requisite nine, claimed the event title and maintained his top-ranking on the Omega Billiard Tour.
Tour director Melinda Bailey thanked the ownership and staff at Open Table, as well as sponsors Michael Hoang of OMEGA Billiards Supply, FargoRate.com and OB Cues. The next stop on the Omega Billiards Tour, scheduled for Aug. 5-6, will be hosted by Wizards in Richardson, TX.
(l to r): Mike Voelkering, Jay Murillo, David Gutierrez
Seventeen years ago, David Gutierrez chalked up a win at the 27th Annual Texas Open. It was his first appearance in the payout lists of the AZBilliards database, which, with two exceptions, has included cash winnings for him every year since then. The exceptions were 2006 and last year. He won the Texas Open a second time in 2005, and cashed in that event on a number of other occasions. A regular and regular winner on the Fast Eddie's Tour in Texas, and the Lone Star Billiards Tour, he's appeared and cashed in major events like the Derby City Classic, The US Open 9-Ball Championships and The US Bar Table Championships. His best year, according to our records was 2004, in which he won a stop on the Fast Eddie's and Top Dawg Billiards Tour's One Pocket division, along with cash appearances in (among others) two Carolina Opens, a stop on the Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, and the Music City Classic.
On the weekend of June 24-25, after a year of absence from any of our payout lists (which means, basically, that if he won any tournaments, we didn't hear about them), he returned to the Texas stage and chalked up a win on the sixth stop of the Omega Billiards Tour. Gutierrez went undefeated through a field of 85 in the $1,700-added event, that was hosted by Click's Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Five matches that included two shutouts brought Gutierrez to a winners' side semifinal against Amos Bush, the first opponent he faced who was, at the time of the match, ranked among the Omega Tour's top 20 players (#17). Mike Voelkering (#9), in the meantime, met up with Ray Amarro. Gutierrez downed Bush 9-5, and was met in the hot seat match by Voelkering, who'd defeated Amarro 7-4. Gutierrez claimed his first (known) hot seat since 2015 with a 9-1 victory, and waited on Voelkering's return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Bush picked up Jay Murillo, who, after being defeated by Aram Hasan in the third round, was on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak, that included a victory over the tour's #1-ranked player, Rick Stanley, and would take him as far as the semifinals. He'd recently defeated TJ Davis 6-4 and George Merchan 6-2 to reach Bush. Amarro drew Robbie Cleland, who'd been one of Gutierrez' shutout victims in one of the winners' side quarterfinals and on the loss side, defeated Doug Winnett 7-3 and Greg Sandifer 7-6 (Sandifer racing to 8).
Murillo downed Bush 6-4, and in the quarterfinals, ran into Cleland, who'd eliminated Amarro 7-2. With Cleland racing to 7, Murillo chalked up his last win 6-6 over Cleland, before running into Voelkering, who ended Murillo's loss-side streak 7-1. Voelkering put up a bit more of a fight in the finals than he had in the hot seat match, but Gutierrez prevailed 9-4 to claim the event title.
Tour director Melinda Bailey thanked the ownership at staff at Click's for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Michael Hoang of OMEGA Billiards Supply, FargoRate.com, and OB Cues. The next stop on the Omega Billiards Tour, scheduled for July 15-16, will be a $1,700-added event, hosted by Open Table in Azle, TX.
Amos Bush, Tony Sulsar, Rick Stanley and Doug Winnett
Rick Stanley cashed in two events on the Texas-based Omega Billiards Tour in 2016, finishing third in August and runner-up to Danny Williams in September. On the weekend of February 11-12, he completed this somewhat modest climb up the 'finish' ladder with an undefeated win on the tour. The $1,700-added event drew 87 entrants to Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
With victories over Steven Thorne, Bob Youngblood, Denny Steed, Albert Nieto, and Jay Murillo, allowing them each an average of just over three racks per match, Stanley moved into a winners' side semifinal against Doug Winnett. Tony Sulsar, in the meantime, who'd allowed an average of just over 2.4 racks per match against Crispian Ng, Brandon Thrasher, Terrance Cockman, Douglas Pitts, and Hector Guerrero, faced Shan Iyer in the other winners' side semifinal.
Stanley and Sulsar moved into the hot seat match; Stanley 9-4 over Winnett and Sulsar 8-2 over Iyer. Stanley claimed the hot seat 9-4 over Sulsar and waited on what turned out to be the return of Amos Bush, who launched a nine-match, loss-side winning streak to challenge him in the finals.
Bush, who'd been sent to the loss side by Julie Stephenson, double hill, in his second round of play, got by Mike Voelkering, Juan Batista, Rob Lovelace, Douglas Pitts, and Jay Murillo to earn himself a re-match against Stephenson in a battle for 7th place. He downed her 7-1 to draw Iyer. Winnett, in the meantime, picked up Robert Kempf, who'd defeated Barry Emerson 6-6 (Emerson racing to 8) and, in a straight-up race to 6, Hector Guerrero 6-4.
In a straight-up race to 7, Bush picked up loss-side win #7, double hill over Iyer. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Winnett, who'd eliminated Kempf 7-4. Bush then defeated Winnett 7-3.
Bush completed his loss-side run with a 7-5 semifinal victory over Sulsar, earning himself a shot against Stanley in the finals. Stanley, though, was not in the mood to allow Bush a well-earned event victory. He defeated Bush 9-3 (Bush racing to 7) to claim the event title.
Tour director Melinda Bailey thanked the ownership and staff at the Billiard Den for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Omega Billiards, FargoRate.com and OB Cues. The next stop on the Omega Billiard Tour, scheduled for March 25-26, will be another $1,700-added event, hosted by Pockets Billiards in Euless, TX.
On the weekend of April 30-May 1, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by JR Pockets in Denton, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service and an amazing atmosphere, and we very much appreciate each and every one of them!
We were able to extend the field to 85 players for this fourth stop of the 2016 season with guaranteed $1,500-added.
There were several players who were the “talk of the tournament” this weekend. One was Jay Murillo who has been working on his game and found himself placing an impressive 3rd place! He fought hard all weekend and although wished he would have placed even higher, he had a fantastic tournament. Another player talked about was local sharp-shooter Robert Clark. He lost his first match on Saturday morning and never gave up and fought his way back through the one-loss side and won 11 straight matches to find himself in the finals! This leads to the third talk of the tournament: Eventual winner Warren Kaimco. He flew in all the way from the Philippines to play (just kidding, he happened to be in Texas for another tournament the weekend before and was able to fit in this Omega Tour stop). Warren has such a gentle composure and the players loved to have such a champion play among them. Warren was gracious and posed for many photos and also gave advice when players asked, at the same time he was killing it on the pool table.
Warren made his way to the finals over J Brotherton 9-3, Jeff Georges 9-4 (and Jeff said he had him scared, but we aren’t sure based on the score), Jordan Gartenberg 9-2, Hector Guerrero 9-2, Cory Anderson 9-5, and Jay Murillo 9-3. Jay Murillo made his way to third place with great wins over Phillip Kirk 6-0, Trent Stith 6-5, Roman Bayda 6-6, Tony Sulsar 6-6, Mike Rountree 6-5 before being sent to the one-loss side by Warren 9-3. Robert Clark lost to his first match to Gerardo Perez 7-7, and then won against Lorena Garcia 8-3, Tracie Voelkering 8-3, George Merchan 8-0, Larry Land 8-6, Willie Speed 8-4, Barry Emerson 8-7, Jamie Whelch 8-3, Hector Guerrero 8-3, Mike Rountree 8-4, Cory Anderson 8-5 and then Jay Murillo 8-3.
Warren and Robert squared off in the finals and the fans were in for a treat with GREAT shots and safeties between the two players to lead to a hill-hill first set! After several safes back and forth, Warren eventually had a shot and ran out the match hill-hill to not force a second set, and secure an Omega Billiards Tour title!
4th place was filled by Cory Anderson, 5th/6th places were filled by the “mikes,” Mike Rountree and Mike Voelkering who both had a great tournament, and 7th/8th places were filled by Hector Guerrero and Alberto Nieto.
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 JR Pockets owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! She would also like to thank her fabulous team: Heather Farr, Dana Speed, and Jeffrey Georges.
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 June 4-5 at Fox and Hound in Dallas, Texas. $1,500 added and already full with 80 players. We have ten stops total again in 2016. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
On the weekend of September 12-13, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by Clicks Billiards in Arlington, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great food 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.
The field of 80 players was full again of top players and by Sunday afternoon everyone kept their eyes on 2014 Omega Tour Champion, Nick Conner, and newly-crowned Texas Open Champion, Sky Woodward. They seemed to be the players to beat in this $1,500-added tournament.
David Bell placed an impressive 3rd place (his highest finish yet) and Chris (Woody) Smith placed 4th – his highest finish yet as well. Both players played great all weekend and earnt those top spots for sure. Always tough to beat both Cory Anderson and Barry Emerson placed 5th/6th and traveling all the way from Houston (both) Mike Liang and Eric Hsu placed 7th/8th in the tough field of 80 players.
Young gun Sky Woodward made his way to the hotseat with wins over Joseph Pruiett 9-1, Ed Redman 9-1, Mike Voelkering 9-4, Mark Szabo hill hill (9-5) Chris Smith 9-4 and Cory Anderson 9-0. Nick Conner made his way to meet Sky in the hotseat with wins over Jay Murillo 8-4, Mike Liang 8-3, Frank Cherry 8-6, David Bell 8-3, and Berry Emerson 8-2. The hoteast was a GREAT match and it would go hill-hill! Sky would end up on top and sent Nick to the one-loss side where he defeated David Bell 8-4 for a rematch with Sky, this time in the finals. Again, it was a fantastic match of great shots and skill and again it went hill-hill! Would there be a second set in the true double elimination finals? Nope – Sky would win the match hill-hill and seal his first place at this Omega Billiards Tour Stop! Congrat’s to Sky for his great play in Texas the last week, and congrat’s to Nick for an impressive 2nd place against strong competitors (and the only one to get hill hill (twice) with Sky.
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, Poison Break Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and Lucasi and Players Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, Hulsey Custom Cues, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Pro Billiard Service, AZBilliards.com, Billiards Digest, and BilliardsPress.com.
After eight stops this year (one more to go for the final point standings), Greg Sandifer has snuck to first place with 715 points, Daniel Herring is close by in second place with 710 points and Nick Conner has moved into the top 3 with 590 points. Close behind is Cory Anderson with 555 points (4th) and Crispian Ng with 480 points (5th). It’s a tight points race for the end of season Predator prizes! And only ONE more event to go for the rankings!
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Clicks owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend!
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 of the Omega Billiards Tour will be October 10-11 at Speeds Billiards in Arlington, Texas. $1,500 added and limited to 80 players. Still 1 more stops left before the $4,500-added Season Finale! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
On the weekend of March 28-29, the Omega Billiards Tour was honored to play at a new host site, Pucketts in Fort Worth. The pool room, players, and fans were in for a treat as we had several out-of-state and out-of-town players that came to compete. In the end Kevin Chen from Houston would win the $,1,500 added event with 80 players!
Junior National players Devin Poteet (18 years old) from Kentucky and Nick Evans (17 years old) from Ohio came to compete, along with young-phenom Skyler Woodward (only 22 years old) from Kentucky. Kevin Cheng from Houston also came to play and he is a Taiwan sensation and now a crowd favorite here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Also coming from afar was Chris Fields who was celebrating her birthday week in Texas, all the way from Florida.
But don’t let the out-of-towners fool you – there was plenty of tough action right here from the area players!
After a great opening day on Saturday, there was still a lot of great competing going on. By Sunday afternoon, Amos Bush had defeated Chris Fields 8-1, Tim Rice 8-3 and Jay Murillo 8-5 to earn his spot to play in the hotseat. Kevin Cheng defeated Cory Anderson 9-3, Tony Sulsar 9-4, and Alberto Nieto 9-2 to meet up with Amos.
Amos put up a GREAT fight and was the ONLY player to get on the hill with Kevin (and did so in the hotseat match), but Kevin prevailed 9-7 in that match to wait to see who he played in the finals.
On the one-loss side, Daniel Herring was fighting tough. He lost his very first match Saturday morning and clawed through Jeff Georges, David Franklin, Eric Hsu, Norman Small, Bruce Foster, Tony Sulsar, and Jay Murillo to play for 4th place. Daniel then ran into a determined Albert Nieto. On Sunday, Alberto had already defeated Robert Sifuentes 7-4 and Bruce Foster 7-1 before losing to Kevin Cheng. From there Alberto defeated Daniel 7-3 then Amos Bush hill-hill in the semi-finals to win a spot in the finals against Kevin Cheng. Alberto played some really good pool and earned that spot in the finals.
However, Kevin Cheng would continue his stellar play and defeated Alberto in the finals 9-3 and claim the top first place prize!
A HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors Omega Billiards Supply, Predator Cues, Poison Break Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and Lucasi and Players Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, Hulsey Custom Cues, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Pro Billiard Service, AZBilliards.com, Billiards Digest, and BilliardsPress.com.
After three stops so far this year, Daniel Herring is in first place on the Predator Player Points Tracker with 460 points. Cory Anderson is in second with 295 points and Nick Conner is in third place with 220 points.
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank the Pucketts owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! They worked hard to get the place ready for all the players.
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 of the large tournaments across the country.
The next stop of the Omega Billiards Tour will be April 25-26 at JR Pockets in Denton, Texas. $1,500 added and limited to 80 players. Still 5 more stops left before the $4,500 Season Finale! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas! Check out the website for more details: http://www.omegabilliardstour.com/
On the weekend of December 14-15th, young gun Anthony Shea claimed the top prize on the newly inaugurated Omega Billiards Tour's Season Finale of 2013 at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX. Anthony went undefeated to capture the first place prize, making him the youngest winner yet, at a mere 20 years old!
Over $9,500 was given out in monies and prizes this weekend! (Tourney payouts + prizes + player’s auction.) Here is how it all went down….
Anthony started off his tournament run with an upset by defeating last month’s tourney winner, Coy Lee Nicholson, 7-7. Then he defeated Jay Murillo 7-1, TJ Klein 7-2, squeaked by Juan Parra 7-6 to last until Sunday. Steve Raynes was also on a tear and won his first match against the always formidable Crispian Ng 6-5, then William Howard 6-4, Danny Williams 6-3 and Jeff Georges 6-3 to last til Sunday. The always tough Tony Sulsar (after a bye) defeated his next three opponents 8-3 to meet Anthony on Sunday morning. Sky Massingill defeated his 4 opponents 7-4 to meet up with Steve Raynes Sunday morning.
On the winner’s side on Sunday morning, Anthony Shea would defeat Tony Sulsar 7-4, while Steve Raynes sent Sky Massingill left with a score of 6-4. Steve and Anthony would battle it out for the hotseat with Anthony coming out on top 7-2. Sky then defeated David Josephson 7-5 but was stopped by Tour Champion tough Tony Sulsar 8-5. Tony kept on his winning style by then defeating Steve Raynes hill-hill. Steve had a fantastic tourney placing his highest finish to date at 3rd place!!
In the finals, it looked like it would be pushed to two sets, as Tony Sulsar was ahead 7-2. But Anthony kept his composure and kept fighting back until the score was hill-hill. Anthony broke, and then ran out for the win! Hill-hill thriller and his FIRST Omega Billiards Tour title!!
Congratulations to ALL the players for their fine play and great finishes!
Anthony earned $725 plus a beautiful Lucasi Cue for First Place and Tony earned $525 for Second place. Steve Raynes earned $400 for 3rd place (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction).
This event was the Omega Billiards Tour’s Season Finale with $2,000 added! At this event, Predator prizes were given out to the top 3 ranked players and Tony Sulsar claimed 1st place and is now the VERY first Omega Billiards Tour Champion! Tony will get free entry fees into the 2014 Season AND a Predator Sport 4×8 Case, BK Break Cue, and Sport Playing Cue with 314-2 Shaft! Second place rankings went to Coy Lee who finished this last event in First to propel him to 2nd place! Coy Lee will get a Predator Sport 4×8 Case and BK Break Cue. Third place goes to Mike Voelkering who had a stellar year! He will get a Predator Sport 4×8 Case and 314-2 Shaft!
Fourth through eighth places will each receive a free entry into the 2014 BCAPL Nationals! Congratulations to 4th place ranked Crispian Ng, 5th/6th ranked Amos Bush and Jesse Hernandez, and 7th/8th ranked players Steve Raynes and Alberto Nieto!
A HUGE thank you to Predator Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and Lucasi and Players Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Pro Billiard Service, APA of Tarrant County, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.
Tour Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Rusty’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend! 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 of the large tournaments across the country.
The 2014 Omega Billiards Tour calendar is already set with 7 stops and a Season Finale. The first stop will be held at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas January, 11-12, 2014! Each stop is limited to 80 players (an increase from 64) and the monies guaranteed added has increased to $1,500 for each stop!! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!!
The 2014 Schedule is online and payments can be received via the Omega Tour website.
Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!
