Where can amateur players challenge their favorite professional pool players, all while helping to raise money for their favorite billiard charity? Only at the annual BEF Challenge the Stars event.
The popular Challenge the Stars returned this year July 23rd to the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. Keeping with the tradition, the event took place on the Tuesday evening of the singles finals while all the team players rolled in for the annual CSI National Championships. Since its first year, Cue-Tech Pool School’s Randy Goettlicher has been the emcee and this year was no exception.
This year’s event raised approximately $5,500 for the organization through the pro challenge matches and it was greatly due to the support of the many generous silent auction donations which included: a custom Jacoby cue, a McDermott cue, Fury NR series cues and other gift packages from Sterling Gaming, custom leather wallets and bags from Castillo Leather Goods, a one of a kind original oil painting by Tanner Pruess (which will be auctioned at a later date), two Delta-13 Select racks, Dr. Dave gift packages, RT9 Designs poster packs, commemorative signed memorabilia from Mosconi Cup, as well as a signed event t-shirt from the Jay Swanson Memorial tournament courtesy of GoPlayPool.com, a collection of books form Bebob Publishing, Dr. Cue autographed collection, and more donated items from Str8-Shots.com. A special $1,000 donation was also made by Tom Riccobene.
Special Thanks go to Claude Gragg, Randy’s right-hand man, Dave Merrill and his crew of referees who all donated their time, particularly Ed Stephens for the extra donation, and CSI and its staff for all their support. Staff photographer for the evening, Jim Calderon worked tirelessly to ensure all challengers got their photo taken with their pro. Additional thanks also go to volunteers Earl Munson, Tammy Jo and Melvin Leonard, Kathy Coffee, Travis and Tarasa Escoubas, Taren Stewart, Josh Bustos, Cody Escoubas, and Winfield Hong.
The BEF also thanks all the donors, challengers, bidders, and supporters that helped make the event successful and its fundraising efforts pay off. For more information on the Challenge the Stars, Junior Nationals, and other BEF programs, visit the BEF website at www.billiardeducation.org.
The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) was formed in 1993 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity committed to promoting a lifelong love of pool and building the next generation of players through youth programs and academic scholarships. Visit billiardeducation.org or call (303) 926-1039 to learn more about junior billiard programs in your area.
Andrew “ATM” Pettinger, Jay Hlavachek, Matt Driste and Tony Piazza
The inaugural event of the 2012 Felt Pool Tournament Series was a successful one. On January 21-22, Felt Billiards of Englewood, Colorado hosted the 9-Ball Knock Out, a big table 9-ball tournament with two events, an open two-day main event that started Saturday morning and an A’s & Down event that began Sunday morning. As a fun format, players received the option to “BUY A BYE.” At the time of sign up, the first 16 open players and the first 8 amateur players could purchase a guaranteed bye in the second round which also guaranteed they would not play their first match before noon.
The main event kicked off Saturday morning with a 32-player field and the A’s & Down filled with a full 24-player field with 8 byes. A handful of A players opted to also try their luck on Saturday. For Mike Ellis of Aurora, that extra table time on Saturday paid off as he cruised through the field on Sunday.
Saturday drew an elite field of players, spanning three different states. Top player Mike Dudack from Casper, Wyoming came to try his luck, along with women’s professional player Anna Kostanian and husband Peter Sucre of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Players flocked from the North and South. Jim Calderon came from Pueblo, as well as Colorado Springs road partners Ruben Silva and Frank Ubaniak. Fans were also treated to appearances by touring professionals Melissa Little “The Viper” and Laura Smith.
The rail was jam packed all weekend with savvy spectators who demanded a good show and were not disappointed. Along with the top-notch live pool, fans and players were entertained between matches with the broadcast of the live streaming from the 14th Annual Derby City Classic that was shown on the big screen in the dining area. This professional event kept away local top players, Mark Haddad and recent transplant Marc Vidal.
Both main event and Sunday event went smoothly, even accommodating for the regular Sunday afternoon 10-ball tournament which started a couple hours late. All three finals wrapped up by Sunday evening. In the main event, it was a race-to-seven, winner-break format, using the Magic Ball Racks. After escaping a couple close calls from James Winter and Matt Driste, Andrew Pettenger “ATM” went undefeated for all the marbles. Driste, the dark horse who’s been out of the scene until recently, came out like gang-busters, defeating Kostanian 7-0, as well as victories over Jay Hlavachek and Greg Romero before facing “ATM” for the a-side finals.
In the end, Hlavachek came back through the b-side but was no match for Piazza who would claim that match 7-0 and advance to the semi-finals. Piazza also escaped a close call earlier against Urbaniak. After defeating Hlavachek, he also took out Driste but would find himself no match for Pettenger. In the final rack, Pettenger was ahead 6-5 and opted to play a safety on the 8 ball which left Piazza a safety in return. Pettenger was now faced with a long, touchy 8 ball. After much deliberation, he fired at it, missing the pocket but banking it two rails into the opposite pocket leaving himself straight in on the 9 ball and that was all she wrote.
As the main event brought many close matches, the A’s & Down saw quite a few lop-sided ones. Ellis bought himself a first round head start but didn’t really need it. Of his three rounds after that, he only gave up three games and went undefeated until Joe Conway came along. When they first met, Ellis took that match 4-0. Conway would make his way back for a rematch. In the first round of the finals, Conway returned the favor with 4-0 of his own. Keeping with the theme, Ellis prevailed in the second set 3-0 for the title.
Dustin Yeager of Aurora and Winfield Hong of Centennial both also made a splash on Sunday with their third and fourth place finishes. Yeager was a last minute wild card when a player dropped out the day before. The A’s & Down field was filled by Thursday night.
Felt proudly added $700 between the two events and will continue to add even more money to upcoming events. For more information about the 2012 Tournament Series, visit feltbar.com/2012series. Felt Billiards is located at 101 West Floyd Avenue in Englewood, Colorado and is home to the best weekly tournaments, nightly food and drink specials, and a home away from home for players and spectators alike. Check out feltbar.com for more information and a complete calendar of events.
Special thanks go to our sponsors for this event: Rocky Mountain USA Pool League (RockyMountainPool.com), Access Printing in Englewood (AccessPrint.biz), and the Magic Ball Rack courtesy of CueSports International (playbca.com/magicballrack.aspx). Special recognition also goes to Don Posri and Sean Thamrongpradith for their thankless hard work all weekend. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available for the tournament series. Contact Felt for more information.
