The very nature of double elimination pool tournaments lends itself to the realization that it’s not generally how many matches or games you win, but how many you play overall and when you win them. Brian Cady was winner of the February 22-23 stop on the Predator DFW 9-Ball Tour. He took two out of three over Louie Pacheco, claiming the hot seat and the second set of the true double elimination final. He finished with a game-winning average of 63% (59-34). Pacheco finished with a game-winning average of 59% (71-49). Cady was third in the game-winning percentage sweepstakes, though, tied with 4th place finisher Jeff Georges, and behind 7th/8th place finisher TJ Davis (51-28/65%). Winner in that category was Jeremy Jones, who, at 68-30, played five more games than Cady, 22 less than Pacheco and finished 9th/12th having won 69% of his games. The $1,500-added event drew 97 entrants to Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
According to tour representative Monica Anderson, Cady was certainly what you’d call “under the radar” in this event (he’s a newcomer to our database as of this date) and was not originally going to compete.
“It was his daughter’s 7th birthday on Saturday,” said Anderson, “but his wife told him he could play since his daughter would just want to know what he would buy her.”
Good thinking on the daughter’s part, because Pop came home with just over $1,000, which she can now leverage into some serious swag of her choosing.
Daddy made it past Saturday in the field, advancing to face Joe Pelayo in a winners’ side semifinal, as Pacheco squared off against Mike Sauer in the other one. Cady downed Pelayo 7-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Pacheco, who’d sent Sauer to the loss side 8-2. Cady took his first of three against Pacheco 7-3, and sat in the hot seat, assured of a minimum $680 donation to his daughter’s swag fund.
On the loss side, where Jeremy Jones, among others, still lurked in the ‘field of dreams’ (so to speak), Pelayo and Sauer walked right into their second straight loss. Sauer fell 8-3 to JP Kinman, who’d been sent to the loss side by Pelayo in a winners’ side quarterfinal and started his loss-side work by eliminating Jones, double hill (8-9) and then TJ Davis 8-5. Jones had been defeated, double hill by Pacheco, in the 4th round and was working on a brief, two-match, loss-side winning streak, having defeated Juan Parra, before Kinman eliminated him. Pelayo was sent home 7-4 by Jeff Georges, who’d defeated Eric Smith 7-5 and Brendan Fuller 7-3 to reach him.
Kinman took the quarterfinal match over Georges 8-4, but had his four-match, loss-side streak terminated by Pacheco. They battled in a straight-up race to 8 to double hill before Pacheco prevailed for a second, and as it turned out, third shot at Cady in the hot seat.
As the lower handicap, Cady started each of the two final matches with a single bead on the wire in a race to 8. Pacheco’s momentum from the semifinal likely helped him in the opening set, which he won 8-3. Cady, though, with thoughts of having missed his daughter’s 7th birthday celebration for this, turned things around in the second set and won it 7-4 to claim the title and collect the cash for the daughter’s now-no-doubt extravagant gift.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Billiard Den for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Business Sponsor Ft. Worth Billiards Superstore and Associate Business Sponsors Aramith Balls, Outsville Racks, Rasson Billiards and JB Cases. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for March 28-29, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
(l to r): Juan Parra, Greg Sandifer & Jeff Georges (Photo by Jesse Garcia, Bound by Imagination)
Juan Parra tried for a win on the 2019 DFW 9-Ball Tour three times; in May, June and October. His best effort was his first when he finished 3rd. His worst was the last in which he finished in the tie for 13th. At the tour’s season finale, on the weekend of November 16-17, he broke through to record a victory for the first time since he won a stop on the DFW 9-Ball predecessor, the Omega Tour in 2017. Parra had to get by the #2 player on the standings list going into the final event, Greg Sandifer, twice. The $3,000-added event, open only to tour members who’d competed in at least four of the tour’s 11 events in 2019, drew 56 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Parra and Sandifer wove their separate ways through the field to arrive at their first meeting, battling for the hot seat. Parra got an opening round bye before defeating Dario Gomez, Donnie Gregory and Curtis Caldwell to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Jesus Sorto. Sandifer’s path went through Gert Ehing, Chris Woody Smith, Jud Hunter and Jeff Georges to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal matchup against Amos Bush.
Sandifer gave up only a single rack to Bush in an 8-1 victory that put him into the hot seat match. Parra joined him following his 7-5 win over Sorto. In their first of three, Sandifer claimed the hot seat 8-4.
On the loss side, Sorto picked up Jeff Georges, who, following his defeat at the hands of Sandifer in a winners’ side quarterfinal, had defeated Friday Abismo 7-5 and the #1 competitor in the tour standings, Tim Larson, double hill (7-8). Bush drew Jesse Hernandez, who’d lost his second match, double hill to Sorto, and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end. Sorto and Hernandez would each fall one match short of a rematch.
In a straight-up race to 7, Georges downed Sorto 7-4. Bush and Hernandez battled to double hill before Bush prevailed to join Georges in the quarterfinals. Bush then won his second straight double hill battle in those quarterfinals.
Both combatants in the semifinals were looking for a rematch in the finals against Sandifer. If the score proved to be any measure of the desire, Parra apparently wanted it more and won handily 7-1.
With Sandifer racing to 8, Parra took the opening set 7-6. He did Sandifer one better in the second set, winning it 7-5 to claim the season finale title.
A Second Chance event drew seven entrants and was won Alberto Nieto Garcia. Billy Guy was runner-up and Rachelle Dytko was third.
In ceremonies following the event, Tim Larson, who’d competed in each of the tour’s 11 events, won two of them and finished as runner-up in a third, was acknowledged as the 2019 Tour Champion. Highway Sigadi won the tour’s 2019 Best Sportsmanship award.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards for their hospitality as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Super Store, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball, FargoRate, BCA Pool League, JB Custom Cue Cases, Accu-Rack, CSI and Internet Marketing Solutions. The 2020 DFW 9-Ball Tour season will begin where the 2019 season ended, at Rusty's Billiards in Arlington, TX on the weekend of January 18-19, 2020.
It seemed as though a majority of the nation’s pool players were competing in Texas over the September 7-8 weekend. Half of that hypothetical majority (93) was competing at the Houston Open in League City, while the other half (96) was apparently at Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX for the $1,500-added, 9th stop on the Dallas-Ft. Worth 9-Ball Tour. In both events, the eventual winner went undefeated, while the runner-up battled back from an early loss to challenge the hot seat occupant. In the Houston Open, it was Dennis Orcollo stopping an 11-match, loss-side winning streak by Roberto Gomez (separate story). In the DFW Tour stop, it was Tim Larson stopping the 10-match, loss-side winning streak of Jeremy Jones.
Larson’s victory, his second on the 2019 tour, added to what has already been his best earnings year to date and cemented his position at the top of the DFW Tour’s standings, ahead of Greg Sandifer and TJ Davis. Jones, whose best earnings year to date in a career dating back 21 years, was in 2003, was looking for his first win on the 2019 DFW Tour, having won the 2018 season final of the tour. Earlier this year, he’d won the Derby City Classic’s One Pocket Mini event, had three other cash finishes at Derby City and a 65th finish at the US Open 9-Ball Championships.
They almost met in the event’s third round. Larson opened with a 9-1 victory over Monica Anderson, as Jones was enjoying the benefits of an opening round bye. Larson then defeated Jim Smith 9-4 and advanced to face Juan Parra, who had just sent Jones to the loss side 7-5. Larson went on to defeat Parra, Jim Talmon and Jud Hunter to face TJ Davis in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Denny Sneed, in the meantime, squared off against Jesus Sorto in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Larson defeated Davis 9-6 and was joined in the hot seat match by Sneed, who’d sent Sorto to the loss side 8-3. Larson claimed the hot seat and waited (no doubt with some concerns) for Jones to complete his 10-match, loss-side winning streak.
On the loss side, Jones won his first four matches by an aggregate score of 40-6. Things tightened up a bit in his next three, which led him to pick up Davis, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. He defeated Jeff Georges, Amos Bush and Greg Sandifer by an aggregate score of 30-17 (5, 5, and 7, respectively) to face Davis. Sorto drew Chris Gaither, who was working on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had recently included victories over Jud Hunter 7-5 and Mohammed Alrawi 7-2.
Sorto ended Gaither’s streak 7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Jones, who’d eliminated Davis 10-5. Jones, returning (for the moment) to earlier loss-side form, gave up only a single rack to Sorto in that quarterfinal match (10-1).
Jones didn’t give up many more than that to Sneed in the semifinals. Jones won it 10-3 for a shot at Larson in the hot seat.
Larson started the opening set of true double elimination finals with ‘one bead on the wire’ in a race to 10. He completed his undefeated run with a 9-6 victory over Jones to claim his second 2019 DFW 9-Ball Tour title.
A Second Chance event that drew nine entrants was won by Dakota McBride, with Cameron Cummings as the runner-up. The best female finisher in the event was 16-year-old Aryana Lynch, the BCAPL’s 2018 Women’s 9-Ball Singles Champion and 2019 Women’s 8-Ball Singles Champion, who finished in the tie for 13th amidst the field of 96. Along the way, as a skill level 6, she defeated skill level 7 players Juan Parra, Corey Flud and Rodney Williams.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered Billiards, as well as tour title sponsor Predator Cues and main event sponsors Ft. Worth Billiards Superstore, JB Cases, Accu-Rack, CSI, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball League, BCAPL, RackEm TV (streaming sponsor), FargoRate, and IMS (Internet Marketing Solutions). The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 19-20, will be hosted by the Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
Juan Parra took two out of three over Alberto Nieto, double dipping him in the finals, to win the season opening event of the Omega Billiards 9-Ball Tour, held on the weekend of January 14-15. The $1,700-added event drew 90 entrants to Rusty's Billiards in Arlington, TX,
Parra was more or less breezing along on the winners' side of the double elimination bracket, advancing to one of the winners' side semifinals, having given up, through five matches (48 games), only 14 racks. Then, Parra had his first match against Nieto, who'd arrived on the scene having given up 18 racks through four matches (he'd been awarded an opening round bye). They battled to double hill, before Nieto advanced to the hot seat match. Kenny Rowell, in the meantime, downed Phillip Palmer 6-3 in the other winners' side semifinal to join Nieto in the battle for the hot seat. Nieto chalked up a second double hill win to claim the hot seat over Rowell.
Parra chalked up a second, double hill win, defeating Anderson in the quarterfinals, and then sent Kenny Rowell home 7-4 in the semifinals. The true double elimination finals saw Parra chalk up two 7-5 wins to claim the event title.
Tournament director Melinda Bailey thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty's Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors OB Cues, Michael Hoang of Omega Billiards Supply and FargoRate.com. The next stop on the Omega Billiards 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for February 11-12, will be hosted by The Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
On the weekend of August 6-7, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by Wizards in Richardson, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service and an amazing atmosphere. Sixteen tables allowed us to open the filed up to 102 players! New record of attendees for the Omega Billiards Tour!
Sharik Sayed from Missouri planned a trip to see his friends the same weekend as the Omega Tour to be able to hang out with them and also play some pool. And play pool he did! Sharik started his tourney streak with wins over Stevie Collins 8-0, Andrew Talton 8-3, Ruben Juarez 8-2, Jeff Georges hill-hill, CJ Wiley 8-6, and Daniel McAdams 8-2 before finding himself fighting for the hot seat against Rick Stanley. Rick had wins over Phillipe Tieu 8-4, Robin Barbour 8-2, Anthony Schaeffer hill-hill, Mike Voelkering 8-5 and Curtis Cardwell 8-3 before meeting up with Sharik.
In the hostseat match it was anyone’s game but Sharik came out on top 8-4 over Rick.
After CJ Wiley lost to Sharik Sunday morning, he then defeated Douglas Pitts 9-5, Joel Betancourth 9-0, Curtis Cardwell 9-3, Mike Voelkering 9-4 and then Rick Stanley 9-4 to earn his spot in the finals with Sharik!
The finals started off close but then Sharik pulled ahead to win the final match with a score of 8-5 to capture his first Omega Billiards Tour stop! Big congrats to Sharik going undefeated! Congrats to CJ Wiley for his great 2nd place finish, to Rick Stanley for his highest finish yet with 3rd place, and to Mike Voelkering for a great finish in 4th place!
5th/6th places were filled by newcomer Daniel McAdams and Curtis Cardwell, and 7th/8th places were filled by Joel Betancourth and Nick Conner.
Congrats to ALL the players and fans and sponsors for another great event!
A HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors Omega Billiards Supply, OB Cues, and BCAPL/CSI. 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. After 7 stops, Tony Sulsar leads the Rankings with 640 points, Crispian Ng is second with 535 points and CJ Wiley is close in third place with 510 points. Only two more stops to go for raking points before the Finale!
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Wizards owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! She would also like to thank her fabulous team: Dana Speed, Jeff Georges, and Ginger Abadilla.
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 September 17-18 at Speeds in Arlington, Texas. $1,500 added and already full with 85 players. We have ten stops total in 2016. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
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 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 February 22-23, Jersey Jack Lynch claimed the top prize at the second stop of the 2014 Omega Billiards Tour at the Billiard Den in Richardson, TX. Jersey captured that first place spot by winning through a tough field of 80 players!
Over $9,500 was given out in monies and prizes that weekend! (Tourney payouts + prizes + player’s auction.)
Steve Collins made his way to the hotseat with a first round bye, then wins over Jeff Georges 6-3, Linh Nguyen 6-2, Willie Speed 6-2 and then a nail biter 6-7 over David Gutierrez to meet Jersey in the hotseat match.
David G would go on the one-loss side and defeat birthday boy Steve Raynes 9-5, Frankie Juarbe 9-2 then Nick Conner 9-6.
Jersey was doing damage in the hotseat match and won over Steve Collins 7-2 which pitted Steve Collins and David against each other on the one-loss side for the semi-finals. Steve Collins would win hill-hill (6-8) over David, which sealed Steve to play a re-match with Jersey Jack in the finals.
It was late in the night when the finals started and the first match would go hill-hill! Steve would prevail over Jersey Jack in the first set hill-hill to force a second match in this true double elimination tournament.
Jersey wasn’t done though and made a comeback and prevailed with great play and a score of 7-3 to win his first Omega Tour stop!!
Jersey earned $925 for First Place and Steve Collins earned $530 for Second Place. David had another great tourney placing 3rd and earned $400 and Nick Conner rounded out the top 4 with $340 for his fine play (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction). Special mention to David “Doc” Reyes and Frankie Juarbe for placing their highest finish yet on the tour: 5th/6th!
Congratulations to ALL of the players for their fine play and great finishes!
This event was the Omega Billiards Tour’s second stop with $1,500 added with 80 players!! The Predator Player Tracker is back on and the top three players at the end of the year will win a plethora of Predator Prizes! Five more stops to see who gets all the Predator products! Further, fourth through eighth places at the end of the year rankings will each receive a free entry into the 2015 BCAPL Nationals!
A HUGE thank you goes out to 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, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Pro Billiard Service, Wallace Custom Cues, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.
Tour Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank the Billiard Den 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 5 more stops and a Season Finale. The third stop will be held at JR Pockets in Denton, Texas April 26-27, 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.
http://www.omegabilliardstour.com/
Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!
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!!!
On the weekend of August 3rd-4th, Amos Bush not only won the Omega Billiards Tour's 5th stop of 2013 at Clicks Billiards in Arlington, TX, he did after losing his very first match! Winning 12 straight matches in a row, including a double dip in the finals, Amos captured the first place prize and moved himself squarely into the top 5 Rankings!
Amos lost his very first match to the always formidable Jesse Hernandez 7-4. But that didn’t stop him – he went on a rampage and defeated Jim Colling 8-5, Anthony Shea 8-0, Willie Speed 8-4 and Jeff Georges 8-3 to make it to Sunday. On Sunday he defeated Shannon Modesitt 8-4 then Corey Flud 8-0. He then ran into a determined Tony Sulsar (winner of the last two stops), and that match went hill-hill with Amos coming out on top 8-7. Then Amos had a rematch with Jesse and won 8-4, and also toppled over the always-tough Crispian Ng (newly BCAPL Nationals 9-Ball Champ) 8-5 and then Mike Voelkering 8-5 to earn a spot in the finals.
Mike Voelkering had another fantastic tournament placing 3rd. He made it into the hotseat match with only one opponent getting over 3 games against him. In the hotseat match, a heartbreaker carom on the 9 barely hung in the pocket for an almost hill-hill match. He fought hard against Amos in the semi-final but Amos was shooting good all weekend, also, and Amos won 8-5. Congrat’s to Mike for placing 3rd!
Undefeated till the finals was a determined Jack Lynch (known as “Jersey Jack”). He had an excellent tournament and defeated a lot of good players to get to the finals! He had wins over Tony Matthew 7-1, Danny Williams 7-6, Dylan Weinheimer 7-5, Corey FLud 7-3, Walter Huenerfuerst 7-2 and Mike Voelkering 7-5 where he then waited for Amos to make his way for the final match-up.
In the finals, Amos caught a gear and won the first set 8-1. In the second set, Jersey was able to capture 4 games, but again Amos prevailed and won the second set 8-4. Amos earned $560 plus a beautiful Lucasi cue for First Place and Jersey earned $450 for Second. Mike earned $300 for 3rd place (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction).
A BIG shout out to newcomer Walter Huenerfuerst for placing 5th in his first Omega Billiards Tour event and also to Robert Sifuentes who might now be considered the “Giant Killer” as he got past several high-ranked players to place an impressive 7th place – his highest finish yet!
The Predator Player Points Tracker is for sure tested now with only one more stop left for the season to see who wins the coveted Predator prizes at Season Finale! Tony Sulsar remains in 1st place, with Crispian Ng in 2nd and Mike Voelkering moving up to 3rd. The top 3 ranked players earn Predator Prizes at the end of the year and everyone is anxious and ready to place higher and higher in the stops to move up on the list! CSI / BCAPL are giving free entries to the 2014 BCAPL Nationals for players ranked 4th-8th at the end of the year, also. Thank you to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Lucasi Cues, Players Cues, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.
Tour Directors Melinda Bailey and Brian Anderson would like to thank Click’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend! A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, who is the 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 last stop on the Omega Billiards Tour is scheduled for October 5-6 at Speed’s Billiards in Arlington, TX. All of the six events for 2013 on the Omega Billiard Tour's inaugural season have been filled to their 64-player capacity, with a 60+ waiting list! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!!
Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!
