This past week, the legendary Q-Masters Billiards of Virginia Beach, VA hosted StraightPoolEye’s Triple Crown Women’s Invitational. The brainstorm of StraightPoolEyes’ founder, Eric Nelson, the $10,000 added event had three divisions – Straight Pool, Ten Ball and One Pocket. Twenty three ladies paid a $450 entry fee for all three divisions.
A players meeting, players auction and draw was held on Sunday night while play in the Straight Pool division started on Monday. All preliminary rounds were fifty point matches while the final match was to one hundred points. Monica Webb defeated Janet Atwell to advance to the finals against the undefeated Joann Mason Parker. Janet finished in third place.
Monica took advantage of a couple of Joann’s missed break shots to shoot out to a big lead. Joann clawed her way back and by the last few racks of the finals, it was neck and neck. The final rack was a nailbiter as both players played cat and mouse but it was Monica who pocketed the last few balls to take the match 100-94. Congratulations, Monica! Good tournament, Joann! Thanks to Straight Pool Tournament Director, Ron Shepard, for running a fine event!
Now, on to the Ten Ball! The tournament played down to the hot seat match which featured the new versus the old guard. Veteran and former US Open 9 Ball Champion Joann Mason Parker was sent west by the straight shooting Kaylee McIntosh. There, Joann faced another veteran player, Liz Taylor. The match went down to the wire 5-4 with Liz moving on to the finals. Joann finished in third place.
Liz Taylor and Kaylee McIntosh
Racing to seven, the final match was a battle between Kaylee and Liz. As this was true double elimination, Liz would have to defeat Kaylee twice to claim the title. Liz won the first set 7-4 to force a second set. It was a squeaker going down to the case game! Liz pocketed the final ball to win the Ten Ball division 5-4! Congratulations, Liz! Good tournament, Kaylee! Thanks to the Ten Ball Tournament Director, Rho Reyes, for doing a first class job!
The final event of the Triple Crown was the One Pocket division. The hot seat match featured Monica Webb and Julie Melman Cone with Monica claiming her seat in the finals. Julie then faced Janet Atwell to vie for the remaining seat in the finals. Julie prevailed leaving Janet with another third place finish. Good job, Janet!
Racing to three, the One Pocket title was claimed in the first set by the undefeated Monica Webb 3-0. Congratulations, Monica! Good tournament, Julie! Thanks to the One Pocket Tournament Director, Alex Shapsevich, for a great job!
StraightPoolEyes would also like to congratulate our first Master of the Table, Joann Mason Parker! Fantastic performance, Joann!
StraightPoolEyes and PoolActionTV.com would like to thank the Behrman family, owners of Q-Masters, General Manager Gary Ornoff his staff for rolling out the red carpet for all the players fans.
We’d also like to thank the Triple Crown tournament sponsors for a fantastic inaugural event! They include becue, Simonis, Aramith, LS2 Helmets, the Punch Zaddy Band, Hanshew Jump Cues, IPKT, BulletproofEnterprise.com, Contractor Equipment & Supply, Olympic Technologies, Inc. and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Jeremy Jones, Larry Schwartz, Mary Kenniston and Justin Cone for their topnotch commentary.
We’d also like to thank our sponsors. They include Acme Cases, Durbin Custom Cues, Clutch Shot Billiards Apparel, Digital Pool, Hanshew Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Aramith, Simonis, Lomax Custom Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX and The Action Palace of Dayton, OH.
Our next event is The Rematch of the Battle4TheBorder – Team Michigan vs. Team Ohio! To be held at the Causeway Bay Hotel & Conference Center, the dates are December 3rd-5th. Hope to see you there!!!
Skyler Woodward and Shane McMinn (Photo courtesy of Pool Action TV)
Skyler Woodward took the loss-side route to meet and defeat Shane McMinn in the finals of the 29th Annual Music City Open, held on the weekend of January 13-17. Brittany Bryant picked the undefeated option in capturing the Ladies title, defeating Liz Lovely in the finals. The $6,000-added Open drew 128 entrants, while the $1,000-added Ladies event drew 64 to JOB Billiard Club in Madison, TN. Selected matches were streamed throughout the weekend via the services of PoolActionTV and its host, Ray Hansen. The booth saw Buddy Hall take a turn at the microphone.
Shane McMinn, who, in a field that included competitors like Woodward, Justin Bergman, Johnny Archer, Robb Saez, and Jeremy Jones (among others), might have been perceived as something of a dark horse at the beginning of the Open event. He was raising a few eyebrows as he moved into his winners' side semifinal match against Woodward. Jeremy Jones, in the meantime, squared off against Richie Richeson. Jones sent Richeson to the loss side 11-2, as McMinn raised a few more eyebrows with an 11-5 victory over Mosconi Cup competitor, Woodward. McMinn went on to claim the hot seat 11-7 over Jones.
On the loss side, the casualty list was growing, and it included Archer, Bergman, Josh Roberts, Alex Olinger, and Jason Klatt (again, among others). By the time Woodward and Richeson showed up, the loss-side list was down to Shane Winters, and geographically appropriate Jonathan "Hennessee from Tennessee" Pinegar. Winters drew Richeson and defeated him 11-1. Woodward got Pinegar and took him out 11-4.
Woodward ended Winters' weekend with an 11-9 victory in the quarterfinals and then eliminated Jones 11-7 in the semifinals. Early in the re-match, double elimination finals, it looked as though it was going to be a grind. Woodward and McMinn fought back and forth to a 7-7 tie in the opening set, before Woodward caught a gear and closed it out with four straight. McMinn had dropped his last 9-ball. Woodward shut him out 11-0 in the second set to claim the title.
In the Ladies' tournament, it was the eventual winner, Brittany Bryant and Stacie Bourbeau in the hot seat match. Bryant had sent Stephanie Goins to the loss side 7-1, as Bourbeau was defeating Liz Lovely 7-5. Bryant claimed the hot seat 7-2 and waited on the return of Lovely.
On the loss side, Goins and Lovely picked up Samantha Patton and Julie Cone, respectively. Lovely and Patton prevailed to face each other in the quarterfinals, won by Lovely. Lovely took advantage of her re-match versus Bourbeau in the semifinals, winning for a shot at Bryant in the hot seat. Bryant closed it out in the finals to take the Music City Ladies title.
In two brackets (A & B) of a Midnight Madness tournament, Justin Bergman went home with the top prize in the A bracket, with Danny Smith in the runner-up slot. Shane Winters took home the top prize in the B bracket, with Josh Roberts in second place.
Dana Aft and Julie Cone met three times during the fourth stop on the Sport 9 Tour, held on the weekend of November 24-25. Aft took two out of the three matches, coming back from the loss side to double dip Cone (no pun intended) in the finals. The $350-added event drew 20 entrants to 6 Pockets Bar and Billiards in Decatur, AL.
They met first among the winners' side final four, when Cone's 7-3 win sent Aft west and Cone into the hot seat match. Facing Cone in the match was Rhonda Moses, who defeated tour director Janeen Lee 7-2. Cone got into the hot seat by the same score over Moses.
Aft's trip back to the finals began against Sonya Hurst, who'd defeated Linda Osborn 7-2 and just survived a double hill match against Cathy McDaniel. Lee faced Kristen Tidwell, who'd gotten by Patty Dietz 7-4 and Keely Tatum 7-3. Aft would win her next three matches by the same 7-2 score, beginning with a victory over Hurst, as Lee was downing Tidwell 7-4.
Aft dropped Lee into fourth place, and Moses into third to earn a second, double-elimination shot against Cone. Aft, who'd won the Women's Division of the 2013 US Amateur Championships two weeks earlier by defeating Melinda Huang in the finals, chalked up her third victory of the year (she'd won a stop on the Simonis Cloth Classic Tour in March) by double dipping Cone in the finals, 7-5 both times.
Tour director Lee thanked Paul McClain and his staff at 6 Pockets Bar and Billiards for their hospitality, as well as tour sponsors Robbie Patel and Professor Q-Ball.
