At the start of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2022 season, Neil Saidawi was headed in the wrong direction, so to speak. In the season opener, he finished in the tie for 13th place. In February, he slipped down to 17th and in March, he finished in the tie for 33rd place. In April though, he changed direction, finishing in the tie for 9th place, still a long way in tour standings from Daniel Herring, who sat atop the leaderboard. Last weekend (June 18-19), Saidawi went toe-to-toe against Herring three times, taking the last two in a double elimination final to claim his first (recorded) event title anywhere. The $1,750-added event drew 75 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Until Herring reached the hot seat match to face Saidawi for the first time, none of his six previous opponents had chalked up more than four racks against him, and that, only once, in his winners’ side semifinal match against Telly Shackelford. He’d given up an average of just over asingle rack per match to Cameron Cummings (0), Monica Anderson (2), Jennifer Cayot (1), Tony Ignomirello (1), Surmin Overovic (1) and finally, Shackelford (4).
Saidawi, in contrast, had to battle right from the start. After a bye, he played five matches to get to the hot seat match, three of which went to double hill, including his opening match versus Frank Granados. He followed that with wins over Joshua Paredes 6-4, Isaac Ruiz and Travis Arredondo (both double hill) and in his winners’ side semifinal, Greg Sandifer 6-5 (Sandifer racing to 8). As he came into the battle for the hot seat, he was four matches away from claiming the title and two of those would go to double hill, as well.
One of those two double hill matches was his first encounter with Herring. Herring won it 8-4 (Saidawi to 5) to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Shackelford picked up Arredondo, who’d followed up his loss to Saidawi with victories over Robin Barbour 7-4 and Jesse Moore 6-3. Sandifer drew Juan Parra, who was working on a modest, four-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Tony Top (#2 in tour standings) 7-2 and Surmin Omerovic 8-0.
Shackelford downed Arredondo 7-4, as Sandifer was stopping Parra’s loss-side streak 7-3. Sandifer defeated Shackelford 7-3 in the subsequent quarterfinals and walked right into a semifinal rematch against Saidawi, who chalked up his fifth and final double hill match of the event to earn his spot in the finals.
Saidawi started both of the final two matches with three ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 8 against Herring. He didn’t need them. Saidawi took the opening set 5-2 and claimed the event title by winning the second set 5-3.
Though both Herring and Top, at the . . . top of the tour standings, remained there, advancing further in points, Saidawi’s victory advanced him among the tour’s top 10. And arguably put his fellow competitors in the top 10 on notice that with the 2022 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour now past its midway point, he’s only half done.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 23-24, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
As a competitor on a regional tour, when the runner-up of the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships, who also finished third at last year’s World 10-Ball Championships and won an event on the CSI Predator US Pro Billiards Series back in September, shows up on the tour’s entrant roster, you have a tendency to pay attention. Pool is all about being in the moment at the tables and avoiding distractions related to who you might or might not have to face somewhere down the line, but when such a competitor pops up on your radar, you do scan the brackets every once in a while. And when you discover that this formidable opponent has only given up five racks through his first 54 games (winning almost nine out of every 10), your focus on the tables may be all well and good, but you do start wondering whether you might be one of the players designated to stop him.
That said, if you enter a tournament as one of three players at the top of a regional tour’s rankings, you might actually look forward to the challenge. It was Tony Top, who entered last weekend’s event as the number #2 competitor in the tour’s rankings, who met the challenge and stopped one Aloysius Yapp, from what might well have been an undefeated run to the title. Twice, in fact. It was, however, Daniel Herring, the tour’s 2021 Tour Champion, who entered the tournament ranked #5 (5th/6th in the season opener) and finished it in the #1 spot, ahead of Top by just two points. He did that by going undefeated through the field. He didn’t have to face Yapp, but he did down Top twice, in the hot seat and finals. The $1,750-added, Stop# 2 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour drew 80 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
Yapp’s ‘take no prisoners’ run through his first five opponents, as he was racing to 10, included two shutouts (Tina Soto and Miguel Hernandez), two matches in which he gave up two racks (his opening match vs. Jeffrey Cho and later, against Fahad Alrawi) and a single match that allowed Crispian Ng a single rack. All of which put him against Top for the first time, in a winners’ side semifinal. Top, with an opening round bye in his pocket, had gotten by his first four opponents – Jim Dixon, Robbie Cleland, Clint Palaci and Tony Loeper – by an aggregate score of 32-14 (70% game-winning average).
Herring, in the meantime, started his journey to the winners’ circle with wins over Chase Laferney (2), Darrell Smith (4), Matt Dixon (3), Sharik Sayed (5) and TJ Davis (4) and came to his winners’ side semifinal match against Juan Parra, sporting a game-winning average a single percentage point lower than Top’s at 69%.
Top began his first match against Yapp with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9 and came within a single game of chalking up as many (actual) racks against him in the single match than all five of his previous opponents combined. He sent Yapp to the loss side 4-7. Herring joined him in the hot seat match after downing Parra 7-2. In a straight-up race to 7, Herring claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Top.
On the loss side, Yapp and Parra picked up Matt Wilson and Sharik Sayed, respectively. Wilson was likely not thinking a lot about Aloysius Yapp when he began his eight-match, loss-side winning streak, initiated by Tony Loeper in the second winners’ side round. Like most people who lose an opening round in a large, double-elimination bracket, he was more likely to be focused on surviving the matches right in front of him. If he was bracket-watching at all, he might have noted that the guy who’d sent him to the loss side, Loeper, was progressing as well, and there was a chance, the way the bracket was working out, that he could get an opportunity for a rematch in the quarterfinal. That didn’t happen, because Loeper fell into the 7/8 slot. Wilson chalked up wins #7 & #8 against TJ Davis, double hill, and Denny Sneed 5-6 (Sneed racing to 9) before falling to Yapp 10-2.
Sayed was working on a modest, five-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Crispian Ng 8-4 and Loeper 9-3. He joined Yapp in the quarterfinals after eliminating Parra 8-4.
Yapp ended Sayed’s brief loss-side streak 8-4 in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch against Top in the semifinals. Top started this match, as well, with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He added four for a second time to end Yapp’s prior-to-him romp through the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball field.
Top now had to turn his attention to winning two matches in a row over Herring, waiting for him in the hot seat. He failed to chalk up two racks against him in what proved to be the only set necessary.Herring completed his undefeated run 7-1 to claim the event title.
Tour director Monica Anderson thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and associate sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop #3 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 19-20, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
With his victory this past weekend (Oct. 17-18) on the CueTec Dallas-Fort Worth 9-Ball Tour, Donnie Gregory turned an otherwise (for most people) disastrous 2020 into his best recorded earnings year to date. It took him five events to record what was his previous best earnings a year ago in 2019. It’s taken him only three 2020 events to surpass his 2019 earnings. This, of course, does not include money he may have earned by collecting additional monies outside the realm of official tour payouts or in tournaments not recorded with us for posterity.
Gregory had to earn this latest win, too. He made it to the hot seat, but the competitor he sent to the semifinals – Clint Palaci – came back to haunt him in the opening set of a true double elimination final. Gregory hung on to win the second set and claim the event title. The $1,500-added event drew 73 entrants to The Billiards Den in Richardson, TX.
Gregory was battling for advancement right from the start of this one. Awarded an opening round bye, he won his first four matches (all but one were straight up races to 7) by an average score of 7-5, including two double hill wins over Steve Raynes and Brian Cady. In between, in his second round, he defeated Walter Huenerfuerst (racing to 8). He then defeated Curtis Cardwell 7-4 in a winners’ side quarterfinal to face Jerry Yang in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Palaci, in the meantime, had a slightly less harrowing run to the winners’ side final four, averaging 7-4 wins against his four opponents; Keith Atkins (4), Doug Winnett (double hill), Brendan Fuller (1), and Aaron Ramijio (6), to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Moe Harbaji.
Gregory got into the hot seat match with his ‘easiest’ victory to that point, a 7-2 win over Yang. Palaci joined him after sending Harbaji to the loss side 7-4. Gregory enjoyed his ‘easy’ 7-2 win over Yang so much that he repeated it to claim the hot seat over Palaci.
On the loss side, Yang and Harbaji walked right into their second straight loss. Yang had picked up Tony Top, who’d been defeated in the event’s opening round and was on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak, which had recently included victories over Robin Barbour 8-6 and Aaron Ramijio 8-4. Harbaji drew Juan Parra, who was working on a much more modest two-match, loss-side streak that started when he’d been defeated by Yang in one of the winners’ side quarterfinals. He’d opened on the loss side with victories over Jamie Cummings and Curtis Caldwell, both 7-5.
Top and Parra advanced to the quarterfinals; Top, stretching his loss-side streak to nine matches with an 8-6 win over Yang and Parra, downing Harbaji 7-4. Parra then stopped Top’s streak with a 7-4 win in those quarterfinals.
Clint Palaci, in turn, ended Parra’s short, loss-side journey 7-5 in the semifinals.
Momentum may have been the reason that someone came up with the idea of a true double elimination final. As the hot seat occupant is relaxing somewhere, or even just practicing, he/she is not engaged in actual competition and it can arguably take an edge off the ‘knife’ that is his/her competitiveness. Thus, a single win by the designated semifinalist seemed . . . unfair somehow, so someone came up with the idea of an extra match with both competitors having chalked up one loss.
Palaci took the opening set of this true double elimination final 7-4. In their straight-up race to 7, they battled to within a game of double hill in the second set, before Gregory pulled out to win it 7-5, claim the event title and go $600 over his previous best recorded-earnings year.
In addition to the 16 straight payout winners, cash was disseminated to the ‘last standing’ competitor in three different skill levels (SL). Tour director Monica Anderson and Joey Salazar tied for the privilege among SL4s. Dennis Hall took home the SL5 cash and Moe Harbaji grabbed the SL6 money. Anderson picked up extra cash as the ‘last standing’ female.
Anderson thanked Marcy Rothberg and her Billiards Den staff for hosting the event, as well as title sponsor CueTec Cues and Associate Title Sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour will be the tour finale, scheduled for November 14-15 at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
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.
As it turned out, both finalists in the 4th Annual Royce Bunnell Memorial Tournament, held over the long weekend of December 13-15, were looking to boost their 2019 resume; one, by chalking up only his second (recorded) victory of the year and the other, with a first (recorded) cash finish anywhere in over two years. Given the date, it was likely to be their last 2019 tour/event victory and/or cash finish. Shane McMinn, who went undefeated to claim the title, had won the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s season opener back in January. For runner-up Gary Abood, the Bunnell Memorial became his first (recorded) cash finish in any event since he finished 4th at the inaugural Scotty Townsend Memorial 9-Ball Tournament in March of 2017. The $2,000-added Bunnell Memorial, organized and sponsored by OB Cues, drew 68 entrants to the Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
Shane McMinn’s path to the winners’ circle opened with a bye and three straight matches in which he allowed his opponent – in order, Greg Sandifer, Noel Villalobos and Isaac Wooten – only a single rack. McMinn advanced to down Ryan Robinson 7-3 and draw his first match against Abood in a winners’ side semifinal. Abood had arrived after chalking up one 7-2 victory over Alberto Nieto and three, 7-3 wins over Jason Judd, Billy Pinion and Corey Flud. Randy Staggs, in the meantime, squared off against Steve Raynes in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Staggs got into the hot seat match with a 7-4 win over Raynes. Abood chalked up twice as many racks against McMinn in the winners’ side semifinal than all of McMinn’s previous opponents combined, necessitating a 13th deciding rack. McMinn dropped the last 9-ball and moved on to the hot seat match. McMinn returned to form, allowing Staggs only a single rack as he claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Raynes picked up Gerardo Perez, who’d lost his opening match to TJ Davis and was in the midst of an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals and had most recently included victories over Ryan Robinson 7-5 and, in a successful rematch, TJ Davis, 7-4. Abood drew Juan Parra, who was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had included recent victories over Jeff Sullivan 7-3 and Walter Huenerfuerst 7-2.
Abood and Perez advanced to the quarterfinals with identical 7-5 victories over Parra and Raynes, respectively. Abood then ended Perez’ loss-side winning streak 7-4 in those quarterfinals and earned a second shot against McMinn with a 7-4 victory over Staggs in the semifinals.
Unlike their double hill, winners’ side semifinal match, the finals saw McMinn return, once again, to the form that ultimately earned him the event title. He gave up two racks to Abood in the 7-2 finals, ending with an aggregate score of 35-15; a 70% winning percentage. To Abood’s credit, his runner-up finish came as the result of having won just over half of the racks that McMinn had lost.
McMinn and Abood figured prominently in two other events that were part of the 9-Ball Royce Bunnell Memorial. The weekend began with a 32-entrant, 8-Ball Mini Tournament, which was won by Gary Abood with OB Cues President Jesse Garcia as the event’s runner-up. There was also a Banks Ring (Chip style) Tournament, won by McMinn, with Jeff Sullivan finishing as runner-up and Chris “Woody” Smith in 3rd place.
David “Doc” Reyes, Customer Service Manager for OB Cues, who’s been the main promoter and ‘head of the spear’ in the organization of this annual memorial event, along with the President of OB Cues, Jesse Garcia and CEO Mark Griffin (both of whom competed) thanked Marci Rothberg and her Billiard Den staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors (representatives), OB Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore (Albert Trujillo), John Eagle Honda Dallas (JP Kinman, GM), Outville Racks (Chris Renfro), Granite Guyz and Dallas 8-Ball League. Reyes and Jennifer Hooten directed the event, while RackemTV sponsored the stream with commentary by Billy Guy and Marc Gonzalez as commentators.
(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.
(l to r): Juan Parra, Jr., Tim Larson & Jay Murillo
A regular competitor on the Omega Tour and once, according to our records, (six years ago, cashing) on the Lone Star Billiard Tour, Jay "Ryda" Murillo had yet to chalk up a major regional tour win until the weekend of June 22-23. He broke through at Stop #6 on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, going undefeated at the $1,500-added event that drew 82 entrants to Click’s Billiards in Arlington, TX and in the finals, downing the tour’s current #1 player, Tim Larson, who won Stop #5 in May.
Murillo’s path to the winners’ circle went through John Washington, Chase Wheeler, Daniel Herring and Mike Nagaki to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Yousif Ahmed. Juan Parra, in the meantime, got by Tommy Ulbik, Randy Darville, Jason Dutchover (a double hill win) and was responsible for sending Larson to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal that also went double hill. Parra’s 7-8 victory over Larson (racing to 9) set Parra up to meet Amos Bush in the other winners’ side semifinal.
In a straight up race to 7, Parra got into the hot seat match over Bush 7-5. He was joined by “Ryda,” who’d sent Ahmed to the loss side 6-3. Parra ended up on the wrong side of this third straight double hill match, falling to Murillo 6-6 (Parra racing to 7).
On the loss side, Bush met up with Mike Nagaki, who, following his defeat at the hands of Murillo, shut out Alberto Nieto Garcia and eliminated Billy Pinion 7-6 (Pinion racing to 9). Ahmed drew Larson, who, sent over by Parra, defeated TJ Davis 9-5 and Sajal Ghimire 9-2.
Larson moved on to the quarterfinals with a 9-3 victory over Ahmed and was joined by Bush, who eliminated Nagaki 7-4. Larson then survived two straight double hill matches for a shot at Murillo in the hot seat. He won a double hill quarterfinal match against Bush 9-6 (Bush racing to 7), and downed Parra in the semifinals by the same score, with Parra, as well, racing to 7.
Larson’s campaign to wrest the title from Murillo in the potential double elimination final never quite got off the ground. Murillo had chalked up his required six racks, with Larson four racks away from his handicap goal of 9.
A Second Chance event drew 10 entrants and was won by Billy Guy. The runner-up was Marc Gonzales with Casey Dawson finishing third.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Click’s, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Fort Worth Billiards, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball, FargoRate, BCA Pool League, Internet Marketing Solutions (IMS), CSI, Accu-Rack and JB Custom Cue Cases. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for July 13-14, will be hosted by The Hideaway in Dallas, TX.
(l to r): Juan Parra, Jr., Daniel Herring & Tony Top
Daniel Herring has been at the Texas tables for about a decade now, chalking up his first recorded appearance on a payout list at a stop on the Fast Eddie’s Tour in January, 2008. He started appearing on the payout lists of Melinda Bailey’s Omega Tour a few years after that and in February, 2015, he broke through to win a stop on that tour; his first, and until this weekend (Sept. 8-9), his only recorded victory on a tour. At stop #9 on the DFW 9-Ball Tour (which grew out of the Omega Tour), he went undefeated through a field of 89 entrants, on-hand for the $1,500-added event, hosted by Clicks in Arlington, TX.
Herring started strong, giving up only two racks over his first 19 games, and seven over his next 23 (four of those to his eventual finals’ opponent, Juan Parra) to arrive at what proved to be his first double hill challenge in a winners’ side semifinal against Angelo Inness. Tony Top, in the meantime, who played an extra match in a preliminary round to get the field to a 32-match opening round, gave up 12 racks in the 52 games that it took him to reach the other winners’ side semifinal against Philip Palmer.
Herring survived the double hill battle over Inness and advanced to the hot seat match and a battle against Top, who’d sent Palmer to the loss side 8-5. Herring claimed the hot seat 8-6, and waited on the return of Parra.
On the loss side, Palmer picked up Parra, who, following his defeat at the hands of Herring, had eliminated Tommy Ulbik 7-3 and the tour’s #2-ranked competitor, CJ Wiley, double hill (in the absence at this event of the tour’s #1-ranked player, Chase Rudder, Wiley’s finish in the 7/8 slot moved him into the #1 ranking spot). Inness had the misfortune of running into Tim Larson, who, following a defeat in the event’s opening round (to Josh Keller) was in the midst of a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals.
Parra and Palmer locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Parra to the quarterfinals. Larson chalked up what proved to be his last victory 8-4 over Inness and joined him. Parra ended Larson’s loss-side run 7-4 in those quarterfinals, and then, double hill, stopped Top’s short-lived, loss-side run in the semifinals.
Herring completed his undefeated run with an 8-4 victory over Parra in the finals to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Click’s for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ft. Worth Billiard Superstore, JB Custom Cue Cases, Solutions, Granite Guyz, BCAPL, CSI, Dallas 8-Ball, Accu-Rack and Fargo Rate. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Oct. 20-21, will be a $1,500-added event, hosted by Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
Daniel Herring, Denny Sneed, Friday Abismo and David Gutierrez
Back in June, after a somewhat protracted absence from the pool scene, Houston’s David Gutierrez returned to the fold, so to speak, to win the sixth stop on the Omega Billiard Tour, going undefeated through a field of 85. Two and a half months later, on the weekend of September 9-10, at the ninth stop on the tour, Gutierrez rebounded from a loss on the winners’ side to challenge Friday Abismo in a true double elimination final. They battled to double hill, twice, with Gutierrez winning the first set and Abismo winning the second to claim the event title. The $1,700-added event drew 92 entrants to Speed’s Billiards & Games in Arlington, TX.
Abismo navigated his way through five winners’ side matches against Jesse Wilcoxson, Kiengchay Phoutthavong, Mark Szabo, Viet My and Steve Raynes to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Daniel Herring. Gutierrez, in the meantime, won three winners’ side matches, against James Thorpe, Robin Barbour and Tony Top before being sent to the loss side 5-5 by Charley Elders (Gutierrez racing to 9). Elders followed him over when he was defeated by Juan Parra, who moved into the other winners’ side semifinal against Denny Sneed.
Abismo defeated Herring 7-2, as Sneed sent Parra west 7-1. Abismo claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Sneed and waited for Gutierrez to complete the seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would put him into the finals against Abismo.
On the loss side, it was Parra who drew Gutierrez, four matches into his sloss-side streak, having most recently downed Jersey Jack Lynch 9-5 and Oscar Araujo 9-3. Herring picked up Carl Bodeker, who’d been sent to the loss side by Sneed in a winners’ side quarterfinal and defeated Viet My 7-5 and Tony Sulsar 7-4.
Gutierrez defeated Parra 9-4, and in the quarterfinals met up with Herring, who’d eliminated Bodeker 8-5. Gutierrez was gaining momentum at this juncture, and took the quarterfinal match 9-3 over Herring. He got his shot at Abismo in the hot seat with a 9-2 win over Sneed in the semifinals.
Abismo was granted two games on the wire in each of the two matches against Gutierrez in races to 9 for the double elimination final. Both matches went double hill, with Gutierrez winning the opener 9-8. Abismo kept battling and took the second set 9-8 to claim the event title.
Tour director Melinda Bailey thanked the ownership and staff at Speed’s for their hospitality, along with sponsors Michael Hoang of OMEGA Billiards Supply, FargoRate.com and OB Cues. The next stop on the Omega Billiard Tour, scheduled for October 14-15, will be a $1,700-added event, hosted by The Hideaway in Dallas, TX.
