When you think of top-notch players in various regions all across the country, the name Julio Burgos just doesn’t jump to the front of anyone’s list. According to Peter Ghostine, tour director of the AllOutPool Tour, that is likely to change. And soon. Burgos’ skills have been recognized, most recently on Saturday, June 16 at the 5th stop on the AllOutPool Tour, when he won nine on the loss side to defeat John Ditoro in the semifinals, and Anthony Meglino, double hill, in the finals to win his first-ever major tournament. The event drew 46 players to Beyond Billiards in Davie, FL.

 

“He’s new,” said Ghostine. “He’s very young, in his 20s, and he’s just coming out of his shell.”

 

Even in that metaphoric shell, Burgos’ skills have been noted. Though the only recorded instances of his appearance on anyone’s payout list occurred this year, when he finished 65th at the Derby City Classic’s One Pocket event in January and 17th at the 4th Texas 10-Ball Championships a month later, he entered Saturday’s handicapped tournament bearing the same handicap as the much more readily-recognized Anthony Meglino. The finals between them was a straight-up race to 11.

 

“We’ve been tracking his (progress) on the road, so we pretty much know his potential,” said Ghostine. “The data’s not there yet, but we’ve seen enough to know that he’s ranked that high.

 

“He’s capable,” he added, “of beating anybody.”

 

And he did, on Saturday. He beat 11 ‘anybodys;’ one in his opening round (Jason Sheerman, 8-6) and after a loss to Cristobal DeBarros (9-7), nine more on the loss side, and then, the final.

 

As Burgos toiled away on the loss side, his final two opponents advanced to the winners’ side semifinals. Meglino faced John Foster, as DiToro squared off against Tony Kolbe. Identical 8-4 victories sent Meglino and DiToro to the hot seat match, and eventually, in that hot seat match, DiToro to the semifinals.

 

With four loss-side wins to his credit (over Chad Scarborough, Michelle Ceglarek, Sandy Cheng, and TD Peter Ghostine), Burgos defeated Scott Franck 9-1, and Erick Poveda 9-3 to draw Kolbe, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. John Foster picked up Sam Kantar, who’d been shut out by DiToro in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Laz Figueroa 7-3, and William Rubin 7-4.

 

Burgos advanced to the quarterfinals, 9-2 over Kolbe (all scores are indicated with appropriate on-the-wire figures already added). Foster joined him by eliminating Kantar 8-2. Burgos then defeated Foster, double hill (8-7), in those quarterfinals and completed his loss-side run with a victory over (not just anybody, but wily veteran) John DiToro 8-5 in the semifinals.

 

At 9-9 in the race-to-11 finals, Meglino was on the verge of reaching the hill first, but miscued, affording Burgos the opportunity, which he took. Meglino did tie it up to force the deciding game, but the final rack went to Burgos, who chalked up his first victory on the AllOutPool Tour, or anywhere else, for that matter. It will likely not be his last.

 

In addition to the regular payouts, Janis Sessions picked up $50 as the event’s top female finisher. Tony Vierra won the event’s Made-in-USA RYO Rack raffle, valued at $200. Tour director Peter Ghostine thanked the ownership and staff at Beyond Billiards, as well as sponsors Dennis Searing, Billiard Engineering and RYO Racks. The next stop on the AllOutPool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 21-22, will be hosted by Shooter’s Billiards in Port St. Lucie, FL.

 

Boynton Beach, Fla. (Dec. 3, 2011) – Amazing grace, great talent and good cheer made for an exciting day of competition at the Flamingo Billiards Tour Holiday Open 9-Ball Event on Saturday at Slate Billiards in Boynton Beach, FL.  At the end of it all, Anthony Meglino edged out David Broxson for his second Flamingo Billiards Tour Open 9-Ball victory.

Competition abounded with notable pro players “TK” Tommy Kennedy and “Iron” Mike Davis in town.  Filling Slate’s holiday décor of familiar South Florida competitors was Meglino, Broxson, John Foster, Randy Epperson, and Javier Chirino.  Topping it all off was the revered, feared, and respected Toby Sweet.   

In one of the day’s great matchups, Meglino went toe-to-toe with Sweet to stay on the winner’ side.  Like a master testing his young grasshopper, Sweet, down 5-1, gave Meglino a few lessons in the art of billiards.  Sweet came back to win the next four racks and just when it looked like Sweet would tie the match, Sweet got a bad roll as the cue ball froze up on the five, leaving Sweet with no shot and a difficult safe that cost Sweet the match.  Meglino continued on, outshooting Randy Epperson only to be stopped by David Broxson, who shot strong through to the hot seat.  

Broxson came up through the winner’s side finishing off another exciting and nail-biting hill-hill match with Tommy Kennedy.  After that, Broxson sent veteran player John Foster west.  Foster later matched up with Meglino in yet another exciting and hotly contested double hill match attempting to make it back to the finals. However, Foster would have to settle for third.

In the final race to 11, Meglino got off to a late start, trailing Broxson 4-0.  Meglino finally got on the score board and Broxson responded equally, giving himself a 5-1 lead.  In game seven, Meglino was faced with a jump shot, and in true form Meglino not only jumped but amazingly jump-banked the one and ran the rest of the rack, score 6-2.  What may have been the turning point in the match, before long Meglino was up 8-7.  Broxson then missed a key five-ball shot in rack 16, giving Meglino a 9-7 lead.  Broxson was left with a kick shot in the next rack which he barely missed, leaving Meglino out and on the hill, 10-7.  However, Broxson wasn’t going to be stopped easily, as he broke and ran the next rack, score 10-8.  Meglino broke next but came up dry.  However, he got back to the table and proceeded to run out, but uncharacteristically overcut the six leaving Broxson a tough long rail shot which he made along with the remaining rack, score 10-9.  It was Broxson’s turn to break and it looked like he would tie the match, as an easy 4-9 combo was begging for attention.  But he didn’t get shape on the three, and left himself with a difficult rail shot because the cue ball stopped just in front of the eight-ball, forcing Broxson to shoot over the eight.  Broxson shot the three and got shape for the combo, but the three bobbled in the corner and refused to drop.  Meglino pocketed the three and proceeded to make the 4-9 combo match-winning shot.

Other notable matches included Mike Davis’ loss to John Foster.  Davis was favored to win the event.  Another upset included Tommy Kennedy’s double-hill loss to Broxson and then being knocked out of the event by Davis.

Some of the event matches can be viewed at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/flamingo-open-9-ball and http://www.ustream.tv/channel/billiardcommunity-com.

The FBT, a WPBA-Recognized Regional Tour, is the stepping stone to the WPBA for women in Florida who want to qualify for Women’s Professional Billiard Association events.  The 2011 Winter Open was the second 9-Ball event open to both male and female players.

Many thanks to everyone who came out to play, to room owners Mike Bradford and Joe Sistarelli, (www.slatebilliards.com), for being great hosts and to Boynton Billiards (www.boyntonbilliards.com) for their support of the Flamingo Billiards Tour.