The Mezz West State Tour is back after a successful end to season 2 with some improvements for season 3. Traditionally, MWST were $2000 added, however, with the addition of several sponsors, we were able to push that added money to a standard of $2500 each event, with 18 events scheduled.
The first stop proved to be a successful one with 106 players from all over the west coast assembling at one of America's finest pool rooms, Hard Times Billiards. Room owners Mike and Karen Markulis are some of the biggest supporters of tournaments for decades and their love for their players continues. The MWST is proud to have three events this season at Hard Times and all the players have rave reviews on playing on their pristine equipment.
Leading the top half of the field was Stockton, CA young gun, Francis Ritarita. Francis, rated a 7 on our tour, has improved dramatically as his play is steadily becoming more consistent. With wins over Aaron Thompson, Bobby Yamasaki, Brendan Crockett, Cole Gibbons, Rudy Estoque, and Tommy "Too Good" Soria; Francis was able to play for the hot seat with solid play for two consecutive days.
The bottom half of the bracket was littered with professional players by the luck of the draw. Heavy hitters such as Mika Immonen, Rodney Morris, Ruben Bautista, Sal Butera, Amar Kang, and Oscar Dominguez all were placed in neighboring positions. However, it was Hungarian sharpshooter and former Junior World Champion, Vilmos Foldes who swam through a river of sharks. His victories included wins over Amar Kang, Jason Freeman, Jaynard Orque, Rodney Morris, Oscar Dominguez, and Jason Williams to set up the hot seat match between Francis Ritarita and himself. However, it was the seasoned pro who put a temporary halt to Ritarita's Cinderalla run to the finals with a dominating 9-4 scoreline.
While Vilmos Foldes dispatched top players to the B side of the chart, it set up marquee matches on who would face the Hungarian for the finals. World Champion Mika Immonen succumbed to San Francisco native, Rylan Hartnett who played excellent to defeat the Finnish champ to a 9-12 finish. The current points leader to the Mosconi Cup points race, Rodney Morris had a massive run through the one loss side with wins over Brendan Crockett, Ernesto Dominguez, Skip Nikakis, and Jason Williams. It wasnt until he faced Oscar Dominguez who himself had recorded several consecutive wins where Dominguez put a halt to the Rocket's quest for first prize. It was Dominguez who then faced Francis Ritarita in the finals of the one loss side and Francis led 8-6 in a race to 9. However, with some gritty safety shots and play, Oscar took the match to end Francis' vision of being the first 7 to win a MWST stop.
The single race finals to 11 between Vilmos Foldes and Oscar Dominguez was an epic battle to say the least These two players fought tooth and nail for every inning and after a quick 6-3 lead by Foldes, a slight hiccup gave all the opportunity Dominguez needed to come storming back. After the dust settled, it was Dominguez who emerged victorious with an 11-8 scoreline and earned himself the first win of season 3 on the Mezz West State Tour.
The staff at MWST would like to thank the Markulis Family and the staff at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento for all their hard work and continued support. In addition, none of this would be possible without our loyal sponsors which include: Mezz Cues (Mezzcue.com), West State Billiards Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Aramith Billiard Balls (Saluc.com), Andy Billiard Cloth (AndyClothUSA.com), Turtle Rack (MezzWestStateTour.com), ZAN Tips (ZAN-Tip.com), Tony Rodriguez of RE/MAX Gold Coast Real Estate, Kurzweil's Country Meats (KurzweilCountryMeats.com), James Hanshew Custom Cues (HanshewCustomCues.com), Cue Sports International (playcsipool.com), Fast and Loose Designs (FastnLooseDesigns.com), Contact Point Media, and On The Wire Creative Media (OTWPromotions.com)
The weekend of August 8-9, 2015 a total of 80 players from all over the west coast, along with several special guests from Philippines, came to compete in the Mezz West State Tour. This event was originally scheduled to be the grand re-opening of California Billiards Club, however, due to a cancellation by the city inspectors, the final inspection was moved to the following weekend after the tour stop. Fortunately, the room owners of the nearest pool room, Edgies Billiards in Milpitas, CA came to the rescue to host stop #6 with only a week's notice. Room owners Sue and Tony went above and beyond to accommodate the stop and everyone commented on how great the event went on their 23 gold crowns.
With all of those monsters in the field, there was no easy draw. In the bottom portion of the bracket, first round was a thrilling matchup between one of the Bay area's top players, Jason Williams and Filipino young gun, Jeffery Ignacio. This match was one not to missed as Jeffery won hill-hill, grinding back from an 8-6 deficit. Jeffery would then find victory over Jimmy Qu, David Espinoza, Alex Aguiar and Ernesto Dominguez before tasting defeat from his road partner Oliver Medenilla in the quater finals. Oliver made his way there with wins over Chris Santana, Larry Bohn, Paul Silva and Yoli Handoko. Oliver played a fantastic set against Jeffery and with that win, found himself playing for the hot seat against tour owner, Oscar Dominguez. Oscar Dominguez made his way through the monster bracket with wins over Corey Deuel, Beau Runningen, Frank Robutz and Bill Skinner.
The hot seat match was a grinder, going back and forth up until it reached 7-7. Oscar then capitalized on a mistake by Medenilla, allowing himself to win the hot seat 9-7.
Meanwhile, on the losers side Brian Parks won seven straight matches over players Michael Langarica, Colin Manzika, Ian Costello, Jaynard Orque, Paul Silva, Jeff Gregory and Mika Immonen before running into Rodney Morris in the 7-8th bracket, where he would find defeat. Rodney Morris went on to win over Jerffery Ignacio and Raymond Fararon. Those victories put in the semi-finals playing Oliver Medenilla for a chance to face Oscar Dominguez in the finals. Unfortunately for Rodney, he was unable to overcome Medenilla and was forced to settle for 3rd.
The finals was a race to 11 and also a rematch from the earlier hotseat match between Oscar Dominguez and Oliver Medenilla. This too was a nail biter. It remained close up until Oscar had the lead at 9-7, when Medenilla fouled and allowed Dominguez to get onto the hill. Medenilla also fell victim to Dominguez the following game and Dominguez would win 11-7.
The Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all their sponsors: Mezz Cues (Miki-Mezz.com), West State Billiard Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Ozzy Reynolds and CSI (PlayCSIPool.com), Ladin Hyundai and Subaru (LadinAutoGroup.com),Zan Tips (Zan-Tip.com), Taom Break/Jump Tips (TaomTips.com), Andy Cloth (AndyCloth.com), PiUs Company, So Cal Tap League, Kurzweil Country Meats, fast&loose desgins (fastnloosedesigns.com), Contact Point Media, Turtle Rack, NYC Grind (NYCGrind.com) and AZ Billiards (AZBilliards.com).
We would also like to thank Tony and Sue, along with the entire Edgie's Billiards staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour.
Also, congrats to Tina Malm for snagging the Top Female $100 bonus!
The Mezz West State Tour returned the weekend of April 25th and 26th to the beautiful Hard Times Billiards of Sacramento, California. The first season was a huge success averaging 88 players per event. This second season started off with a bang accumulating a total of 114 players shattering the all time high of 96 players. Among the locals, strong talent from all over the west coast was in attendance including players from Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. The railbirds and locals were treated to a great display of pool by some great talent including "Rocket" Rodney Morris and "Iceman" Mika Immonen, alongside tour regulars Oscar and Ernesto Dominguez, Johnny Kang, Beau Runningen, Sal Butera and Amar Kang. Several top amateur players also made an apperance including Tommy "Too Good" Soria, Kevin May, Spike Aiardo, Mark Chernin and Rylan Hartnett.
With a field loaded with killers, there was no such thing as a "soft draw". The top of half of the bracket contained Sacramento Hard Times house pro Carl Wilson, Corey Harper, Johnny Kang, Jason Williams, Melissa Herndon, Spike Aiardo, Beau Runningen, Mika Immonen, Tommy Soria and Amar Kang. Battling through the top of that bracket was Phoenix's own Spike Aiardo with wins over Brandon Boatman, Mark Chernin, Jason Williams and Carl Wilson to reach the final four winners side of the event. Meeting him in there was a tough Mika Immonen, who had found victories over Patrick McLoud, Dirk Grundman, Chong Vang, Tommy Soria and Amar Kang. This match was heavily one sided with Mika pulling away to win 9-4, securing his place for the hot seat match.
Meanwhile in the bottom bracket, Ernesto Dominguez, Oscar Dominguez, Rodney Morris, Vilmos Foldes, Jaynard Orque, Dave Hemmah, Bobby Emmons, Paul Silva and Sal Butera all battled it out. Coming through the top of that bracket was Oscar Dominguez with wins over Zaldy Rosaluna, Mike Mitchell, Paul Silva and Ernesto Dominguez to put him in the final four winner side. Vilmos Foldes was waiting for him in the bottom portion of the bracket with tough wins over Emerson Joiner, Dave Gomez, Rylan Hartnett and Rodney Morris. Foldes had Dominguez down 6 to 1 in the blink of an eye, but Dominguez showed heart grinding back to win 9-7 and securing his spot in the hotseat match to face Immonen.
The hotseat was one sided with Dominguez breaking and running 4 racks on Immonen, allowing him to find victory 9-4. Mika would then travel to the one loss side to battle a tough Rodney Morris for his second shot at the finals. Rocket was in dead stroke at this point with wins over Tommy Soria, Geoff Somer, Spike Airado and Amar Kang. Immonen and Morris exchanged break and runs back and forth until it was 4-4. Rodney slowly pulled away winning 9-5. The finals are one extended race to 11 and Morris handled an exhausted Dominguez very easily winning the event 11-4.
This Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all their sponsors: Mezz Cues (Miki-Mezz.com), West State Billiard Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Zan Tips (Zan-Tip.com), Taom Break/Jump Tips (TaomTips.com), Andy Cloth (AndyCloth.com), PiUs Company, So Cal Tap, Kurzweil Country Meats, fast&loose desgins (fastnloosedesigns.com), Contact Point Media, Turtle Rack, NYC Grind (NYCGrind.com) and AZ Billiards (AZBilliards.com).
We would also like to thank Karen, Mike and Rachel Markulis, along with the entire Hard Times Billiards staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour.
The Mezz West State Tour kicked off its second stop of the season at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, CA. The beautiful room of 31 pool tables offered a premium setting for players along with bleacher seating for spectators. A big thank you goes out to Mike and Karen Markulis and their entire staff for supporting our sport and having one of the premier rooms in the country.
After a successful first stop in Los Angeles, the energy and excitement of the tour went north garnering a very strong field of 68 players who played on the very tight equipment Hard Times Sacramento had to offer. The top half of the field was littered with strong players such as returning winner of stop number one, Rodrigo Geronimo of the Philippines. San Francisco bay area resident, Jaynard Orque had a very impressive showing of smooth play with wins over Nick Callado, Oscar Dominguez, Jeff Gregory, John Henderson, before he stumbled to Ernesto Dominguez in the semis. The 59 year old Ernesto had a 1985 flashback winning matches with excellent safety play and decision making. Ernesto won the hot seat over the always dangerous Los Angeles player, Ramin Bakhtiari.
Once on the losers side, Jaynard Orque showed his shot making ability on the table defeating Amar Kang, Oscar Dominguez, and Ramin Bakhtiari consecutively in very close matches to get another chance at Ernesto waiting in the hotseat. In the true double elimination format, Jaynard easily ran away with the first set and defeated Ernesto hill-hill in a tense battle in set number two. The Filipino young gun demonstrated a solid game on extremely challenging equipment and earned $1400 for his efforts. Ernesto settled for $1000.
The top female prize was split between two strong female players from California, MaryAnn Starkey and Barbara Lee.
Oscar and Desiree of the Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all our sponsors: Mezz Cues, West State Billiard Supply, ZAN tips, Turtle Rack, Fast&Loose designs, and our media sponsors; AZBilliards, NYCGrind, and POV Pool. Also, a very special thank you to Chris Kurzweils of Kurzweils Country Meats who donated snacks and jerky to the players and spectators of Hard Times Billiards.
Next stop on the tour schedule is Diamond Billiards in Fresno, CA. For more information please the contact us tab at mezzweststatetour.com or visit our Mezz West State Tour Facebook page. We thank you for your support and look forward to bringing pool back to the West!
