On the hill at 8-7 in the opening set of a true double elimination final at the 41st Annual Texas Open over Labor day weekend, Robb Saez took aim at a 9-ball that was to have forced a second set against hot seat occupant, Charlie Bryant. The 9-ball dropped and the second set was . . . wait a minute . . . the cue ball is still traveling, and it drops, too, producing an audible gasp from a roomful of spectators, stunned commentary from the PoolActionTV commentators and a flurry of comments from the on-line chat room, watching the live stream. Bryant followed this most dramatic moment with a less dramatic, though decisive break-and-run rack, which earned him his second Texas Open title, and denied Saez his second. Bryant had won in 2010, Saez in 2011. Chip Compton took the title in 2012 and last year's champion (defeating Bryant in the finals) was Warren Kiamco.

 

One of the oldest, if not the oldest, pool tournaments in the country, the annual Texas Open has had its share of top name winners, including Shane Van Boening (2008), Buddy Hall (1998), Gabe Owen ('99), three-time winners Gilbert Martinez, Jr. ('90, '92 and '93) and Jeremy Jones ('94, '02, '03), and two-time champions CJ Wiley ('96, '97), and now, Bryant, of course. The Texas Open Trophy was named after Bob Vanover, who won the event a total of eight times, including six straight from 1981 to 1986.

 

The $3,000-added Open event drew the full field of 128 entrants to Skinny Bob's Billiards in Round Rock, TX. The $1,000-added Ladies event, in which Vivian Villareal successfully defended the title she'd won last year, drew 32 entrants.

 

In the Open event, the Hillbilly and Robb Saez met first in the hot seat match. Bryant had worked his way through five opponents to meet and defeat James Davis, Jr. 9-5 in a winners' side semifinal. Saez, whose five-match march to the winners' side semifinals had included wins over two former Texas Open champions (Jeremy Jones and David Henson), met and defeated Sean King 9-7. In their first of two, Bryant took the hot seat match 9-6.

 

The loss side still had some lurking former champions (Al Mason, Chip Compton, Henson and Jones, for example), but by the time James Davis, Jr. arrived from the winners' side final four, there was only the one – Jones – left. Davis drew Manny Chau, who'd defeated Barry Emerson and Junior Jueco to reach him. King drew Jones, who'd gotten by Tuan Tran and survived an epic, double hill battle against Shane Manaole.

 

Davis eliminated Chau 9-5 and in the quarterfinals, faced King who'd finished Jones' bid 9-3. King defeated Davis 9-7 and got a second chance against Saez in the semifinals. In another epic, live-streamed, double hill battle, Saez took down King a second time, and got his second chance at Bryant.

Neither player in what proved to be the only set of the finals ever had more than a two-game lead, and just when observers were beginning to feel a shift in momentum, the player down by two (Bryant or Saez, at different times) took command to tie things up. Saez took the lead at 8-7, and was hoping that the next game would not only re-establish a two-game lead, but win the opening set. The stunning drop of the cue ball as he shot at the 9-ball effectively ended the match, as Bryant followed up with a flawless rack to claim his second Texas Open title.

 

Texas Tornado repeats as Texas Open Ladies Champion

 

The ladies' event almost came to a Vivian Villareal versus Belinda Calhoun final. The Texas Tornado worked her way through five opponents to be in the hot seat for those finals. Belinda Calhoun dropped her opening match and won seven on the loss side before being eliminated in the semifinals by Julie Comitini.

 

Villareal had sent Nicole McDaniel to the losers' bracket 7-2 in a winners' side semifinal and in the hot seat match, faced Comitini, who'd defeated Emma Stewart-Davis 7-5 (No confirmation of this, but Stewart-Davis and James Davis, Jr. may have been the Texas Open's premier newlyweds). Villareal took the first of two against Comitini 7-2, and was a single match away from reclaiming the Texas Open Ladies title.

 

The newlywed bride was the one who ran into Calhoun, who'd just eliminated loss-side opponents # 3 (Cindy Cole) and #4 (Kim Pierce). McDaniel picked up Michelle Cortez, who'd defeated Kim Sanders and Ricki Casper. Calhoun and McDaniel advanced to the quarterfinals, where Calhoun chalked up her final loss-side win 7-3.

 

Calhoun's run came to an end against Comitini in the semifinals, but not without a double hill fight. The Texas Tornado descended on the finals table, and swept Comitini out of contention, giving up only a single rack to defend her title.

No one was falling asleep this time as the action kept the spectators on the edge of their chair all evening.

 

The big story was the super play of the newcomers and local players. After 16 years, James Davis Jr.(Austin) had his best finish losing to Sean King (Oklahoma City) in the quarter-finals to grab 4th place. The match went back and forth, but Sean got the break he needed to face professional pool player Rob Saez in the Semi-finals. Sean is a Desert-storm vet making his first Texas Open appearance.

 

Rob and Sean were wearing the same shade of red shirt and it was difficult to tell them apart from a distance. Fortunately, every seat in the house at Skinny Bob’s billiards was a great seat and many people were standing on the bleachers watching the finals from the other side. Rob was wearing the latest edition championship pocket polo shirt that was sold in 6 colors this year.

 

Sean never trailed the entire match, but broke dry Hill-7. Rob was hooked on the 1 ball and had to jump to make the 1 ball and drew it back perfectly for shape on the 2 ball, then made perfect shots back to back, including a 3 ball bank to side pocket to tie the match 8-8. Rob made the 1 ball on the break and ran to the 8 but the cue ball ran a little too long. After cutting the 8 ball thin to the corner, the cue ball hit the edge of the side pocket preventing perfect shape on the 9 which is unusual for Rob as his 9 ball shots are usually perfect. Rob had missed a 9 when it was tied 5-5 with similar shape, but this time he made it. The crowd erupted in appreciation for both players who played their hearts out for the respectful crowd of about 150 patrons.

 

Charlie Bryant, professional pool player/instructor at American Pool Players Association, was competing with a new custom-made James Hanshew cue stick during the tournament. Rob was kicked to the elimination side by Charlie Bryant (Houston) in the hot-seat match and had to win twice if he was to claim the championship a second time in 4 years. Charlie Bryant was down 5-7 when Bryant breaks dry (nothing falls). Rob cuts the 1 thin to the corner, and cue ball runs too far for good shape on 2. The 2 and 7 were tied up on the side rail, and he plays a carom to pocket the 7 ball. He kicks the 2 ball two rails for side pocket and it falls but the 3 ball is hooked, and he kicks it safe leaving cue ball hidden behind the 8 and the 3 is near the 9 ball. Bryant is hooked on the 3 ball after the classic Rob Saez safety he had been making successfully all weekend. Bryant made a seemingly impossible jump-carom 3-9 ball combination across the length of the table to pocket the 9 in the corner pocket! The crowd goes wild! And yes he did plan it; it was not luck. Holy 9-ball combination batman! Maxifantasincredulous! Really, there ain’t enough superlatives in the Texas book to describe how great that shot was, y’all. 😉

 

The finals game-1 match was nearing the 2-hour mark and Bryant was down 7-8 when Rob breaks and makes the 7. Rob runs to the 9 and cue ball runs long of perfect shape. He makes the 9 in the corner but the cue ball spins off the side rail and falls in the top right-hand corner pocket for a foul and loss of game.   And yes Bryant did yell “Hillbilly-on-the-hill after all” in a modest kind of drawl realizing that he might have had to fight it out another 2-hours if Rob had made that shot.

 

Hill-Hill. Bryant breaks and makes the 5 but the 1 ball appears to be hooked because the 6 and 7 are tied up with the cue ball. Bryant cuts the 1 ball thin enough to make it in the corner, but the cue ball kisses the 4 ball near the side pocket on its way to the 2 ball and almost scratches. His shape comes up short, but he cuts the 2 ball that was frozen against the side rail down the rail to the corner with perfect speed and angle, and makes the 6-7 combo, then has perfect position on the 8 ball. He makes a fist pump after making the 6-ball and points to the sky to thank the heavens for his good fortune after the 9 ball falls. He was presented with the beautiful Bob Vanover Trophy by Skinny Bob’s John Cielo at 2:20am Tuesday morning and smiling under that huge hillbilly beard. All competitors deserve a tremendous amount of applause for fantastic action all weekend, the 41st year of the annual championship.

 

2012/2013 Women’s Classic champion Vivian “The Texas Tornado” Villarreal (San Antonio, TX) faced a rematch of the hot-seat match against Julie Comitini in their race-to-7 final game 1. Vivian won the 1st meeting 7-4, and had to sit waiting for the elimination side final to finish. That game went Hill-Hill with Belinda Calhoun getting an early lead, but Julie kept her head down and stayed focused to come from behind. Comitini couldn’t get enough height on a jump shot in the Hill-1 game after an amazing safety by Vivian. Vivian had to break up a 7/8/9 tie-up to get shape and run out that last game to win 7-1 and claim her third Women’s championship in a row! Popular local ladies Nichole McDaniel G.t 4th place and Michelle Cortez and Emma Stewart-Davis got 5-6 place prizes.

 

Another big story that had everybody talking was popular young-gun player Junior Jueco (Austin, TX) who beat favorite 2012 champion Chip Compton (Oklahoma City) in a late Sunday winner-side match after being down 0-7. He won 9 in a row and will be an instant classic match on the PoolactionTV.com replays. Jueco lost to Sean King and received the 7-8 place prizes. Jueco looks like he has so much fun when he plays week after week, no wonder he’s so popular .

 

Congratulations to all!

 

Again this year they provided players with the Magic Ball Rack which is a diamond-shaped, thin vinyl template that has holes where you place the Aramith Belgium tournament billiard balls and get a perfect rack every time. The table has 2 spots marked on the felt where you align the top and the bottom hole, then just place the ball on a hole, and it self-centers itself to perfect spot. On TV, they have a surrogate racking specialist, but here the loser racks for the winner. It is important to have the head ball (one) touching the two balls directly behind it to get a good solid break. It is required to drive 4 balls to a rail on the break, else it is a foul.

 

Thursday night, the warm-up tournament was held and it was won by Tommy Tokoph (Albuquerque, NM) .  Tommy was working on running his second rack in a row and missed a 9-ball in the 3rd game that would have won the match, but let his competitor James Davis Sr. (Austin, TX) to the table for a safety and Tommy fouled and conceded the game. In the 5th game, tied 2-2, Davis runs to the 6b and missed a tough rail shot to let Tokoph back to the table, who then made the 6b on a tough cut to the corner pocket and used 3 rails to get shape on the 7 ball and ran out to make a great comeback victory 3-2 in the single-elimination race-to-3 format.

 

Bob also raffled a handmade “41st Annual Texas Open Championship” cue from James Hanshew of Hanshew Custom Cues. The lucky winner was Jeremy Jones.  This cue will be part of the Open history and Charlie Bryant donated a new jump cue to the raffle making it doubly special. 

 

Trivia question: Who made the Texas Open famous by running out 11 racks in a row in the championship bracket without missing a shot? The Texas Open trophy is named after him: The Bob Vanover trophy.