Going into the DFW 9-Ball Tour finale, held on the weekend of Nov. 10-11, the 2018 Tour Championship title was still very much in play. CJ Wiley stood atop the 10-stop point standings, poised to win it all, though Paul Guernsey and TJ Davis were a hair-width 40 and 80 points away (680-640-600). Had Guernsey won the final tour stop, with Wiley as runner-up, they’d have tied for first place. If Davis had won with Guernsey as runner-up, they’d have tied for first place. Had Wiley faltered in his quest for the event win and Tour Champion title, there were numerous ways it might have turned out.
But he didn’t falter. He faced seven opponents, including Jeremy Jones twice (early and late), played 84 games, winning (on average) three out of every four of them and finished undefeated to claim both the season finale and 2018 Tour Championship titles. The $5,000-added event drew 64 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
As it turned out, Wiley and Davis faced each other in the hot seat match. Wiley had gotten by Neil Nabil Saidawi and Douglas Pitts before running into Jeremy Jones for the first time. In races to 9, handicapped with Fargo Ratings, Jones chalked up more racks against Wiley (6) in their third-round meeting than any other opponent Wiley faced all weekend, including Jones in their later meeting in the finals. Wiley then advanced to meet and defeat Phil Auteri, which set him up to face Jordan Gartenberg in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Davis, meanwhile, had defeated Michael Montgomery, Cody Wright, Brian Horvath and Greg Sandifer to draw Jersey Jack Lynch in the other winner’s side semifinal. Davis sent Lynch to the loss side 8-2, as Wiley shut Gartenberg out to join him. Wiley assured himself a minimum second place finish by defeating Davis 9-2. Davis moved to the semifinals, having secured a minimum third place finish.
On the loss side, Jones was at work on the seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would earn him a re-match against Wiley in the finals. A victory over Denny Sneed put Jones into the first money round (13th-16th) where he defeated Oscar Araujo 9-4. He advanced to eliminate Greg Sandifer and Tim Larson, both 9-5, to draw Gartenberg, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Jersey Jack Lynch drew Corey Flud, who’d been sent to the loss side by Jones in the second round and was on his own seven-match, loss-side quest for a re-match, against Jones. Flud eliminated Billy Guy, Douglas Pitts, Suliman Abu Salem and Steve Raynes, before defeating Clint Palaci, double hill, and Phil Auteri 7-3 to draw Jersey Jack.
Flud earned his quarterfinal re-match against Jones with a 7-5 victory over Lynch. Jones did his part with a 9-2 victory over Gartenberg. Flud started the quarterfinal with two on the wire in a race to 9. Jones defeated him a second time 9-4, and then moved on to give up only a single rack in a semifinal win over Davis.
Their Fargo Rates are 37 points apart with Jones given the edge over Wiley, 749-712. Wiley defied the FargoRate Match odds, giving him a roughly 30% chance of winning (29.6% to be precise). Jones chalked up the second-highest number of racks against him in the tournament, but Wiley took the match 9-5 to claim both the event and Tour Champion title.
Wiley finished the event as he’d started it, at the top of the tour rankings. TJ Davis and Paul Guernsey (who finished the event in the tie for 25th) switched places; Davis, finishing second and Guernsey finishing third. In addition to awarding the Tour Championship to Wiley, the tour gave a Best Sportsman Award to Billy Guy.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty's Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Fort Worth Super Billiards Store JB Cases, Outsville (Accu-Rack), Granite Guyz, BCAPL/CSI and Dallas Eight-Ball League.
Sitting atop the early-season standings on the Predator Cues’ DFW 9-Ball Tour, CJ Wiley went into the finals of that 2018 tour’s third stop with a win and runner-up finish to his credit. Thanks to TJ Davis, Wiley had to settle for his second straight runner-up finish. On the weekend of March 24-25, Davis completed an undefeated run with two straight victories over Wiley, in the hot seat match and finals. While this allowed Wiley to retain his position at the top of the standings chart, Davis’ victory allowed him to jump up two steps, to settle in (for now) the runner-up spot. The $1,700-added event drew 105 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Davis and Wiley faced four opponents each on the trip to their respective winners’ side final matches. In their first four handicapped matches, Davis and Wiley, both racing to 9, faced an exactly equal average opponent, racing to 6; Davis faced one 7, two 6s and a 5, as Wiley squared off against two 7s, a 6, and a 4. Wiley did just a little better in the average score department over the first four matches (9-2.5 over Davis’ 9-3.2).
Davis picked up Tony Sulsar (racing to 8) in his winners’ side semifinal match, while Wiley drew Jordan Gartenberg (racing to 7). Davis downed Sulsar 9-5. Wiley joined him in the hot seat match with a 9-3 win over Gartenberg. Davis took the first of two over Wiley 9-4, which put him in the hot seat and guaranteed that he’d be recording his best finish, to date, on the 2018 tour (he’d finished 9/12th and 4th in the previous two events).
Sulsar, looking to improve on his 9th place spot on the tour standings, moved to the loss side and picked up Tony Top, who’d most recently defeated Alberto Nieto Garcia 7-3 and Isaac Leyendecker 7-2 to reach him. Gartenberger drew Justin Whitehead, who was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had seen him eliminate the #2 player in the tour standings, Rick Stanley, as well as, most recently Corey Flud (#6) 8-3 and Tim Larsen 8-6.
Top downed Sulsar 7-6 (Sulsar racing to 8), as Gartenberg ended Whitehead’s loss-side winning streak, double hill. Gartenberg, already assured of his best finish, to date, on the 2018 tour, took another step, downing Top in the quarterfinals 7-5 to earn himself a re-match against Wiley in the semifinals.
Gartenberg fought furiously in that semifinal match, forcing a single deciding game. Wiley, however, won it 9-6 (Gartenberg racing to 7) to earn himself a second shot at Davis in the hot seat. Davis and Wiley duplicated their 9-4 score from the hot seat match, and Davis claimed the event title.
Last Lady honors went to Alicia Stanley, with a second-place split between Tracie Voelkering and Ricki Casper. A Second Chance event drew 12 entrants, and was won by Dee Davis. In a rare Second Chance appearance, Rick Stanley finished second.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Store, JB Cases, Dallas Eightball League, Outsville (AccuRack), Fargo Rate, BCAPL/CSI, Internet Marketing Solutions and Granite Guyz. The next stop on the Predator Cues’ DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for April 28-29, will be hosted by JR Pockets in Denton, 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 October 10-11, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by Speeds Billiards in Arlington, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service 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 75 players and $1,500 added was full again of top players and by Sunday there was no front-runner as too many great players were still left competing!
Mike Nagaki would have wins over Robin Barbour, 7-4, Mike Arebalo 7-2, Alberto Nieto 7-6, Steve Game 7-4, Cory Anderson 7-5 and then Nick Conner 7-4 in the hotseat to find himself in the finals! Nick Conner had wins over Jay Diaz 8-2, Mike Rountree 8-6, Mike Stankiewics 8-3, Jordan Gartenberg 8-2 and then Greg Sandifer 8-2 before he was sent to the one-loss side by Mike Nagaki.
After losing to Nick Conner in the second round, Mike Rountree started his tear and defeated Chris Smith 7-4, Juan Parra 7-6, Friday Abismo 7-4, Anthony Shea 7-5, Phillip Palmer 7-1, Alberto Nieto 7-1, Cory Anderson hill-hill, and then Crispian Ng 7-3. He was finally defeated by Nick Conner (again) but Mike finished an impressive 3rd place and his highest yet!
This left only Mike Nagaki and Nick Conner remaining in the tourney. Nick would win the first set 8-5 to force a second set. Then the next set went to a tough hill-hill with great play, and Nick came out on top to win his first stop of the year!
Congrat’s to Daniel Gilmore and Aberto for placing 7th/8th, Greg Sandifer and Cory Anderson for placing 5th/6th, Crispian for 4th, Mike Rountree for 3rd, and Mike Nagaki for HIS highest finish of 2nd place! And to Nick Conner for nabbing first place!
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 nine stops this year, Greg Sandifer has grabbed first place in the Predator Player Points Rankings by only FIVE points over Nick Conner. Nick Conner was Tour Champion last year and Greg Sandifer is the Omega Billiards Tour Champion now this year! Nick is ranked 2nd this year, Daniel Herring finished an impressive 3rd place in the rankings, Cory Anderson finished the season ranked 4th, with Crispian Ng finishing in 5th place. The top three players will all receive Predator Prizes! Places 4th through 8th will receive a FREE entry into BCAPL Nationals in 2016! 6th place was filled by Steve Raynes, 7th was Tommy Ulbik and 8th place was Philip Palmer. What a fantastic season for these guys!
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Speed’s Billiards 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 is the SEASON FINALE Nov 14-15 at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. AT LEAST $4,500 added and players who played in three events this season are eligible to play. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
