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Gomez, Gabriel, Saez, Martinez and Casper/Larson Take Space City Open

Roberto Gomez

Last week, players made their way to the $8,000 added Space City Open X. Held at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX – a suburb of Houston – owners Billy Sharp, Jim Henry, Mark Avery and Matthew McFarren and their staff laid out the red carpet for both players and fans.

The tournament kicked off on Thursday night with the $1,000 added 9 Ball Banks event. This single elimination race to four event saw a full field of 32 players post their $100 entry fees. After the players auction, meeting & draw, the action began.

After being scarce on the tournament trail since the birth of his daughter two years ago, Robb Saez made up for lost time as he rocketed through the bracket taking down Alan Poisel 4-1, JC Torres 4-0, Mark Nanashee 4-2 and Ernesto Bayaua 4-0. In the bottom portion of the chart, Alex Calderon squeaked by Jeff Sullivan 4-3 and then dusted off Leon Contreras 4-1 and Raed Shabib 4-0 before running into Roberto Gomez. The match was a good one but Alex prevailed 4-2. 

That win put Calderon into the finals against the red hot Saez. Alex went down 4-1 – guess baby needed a new pair of shoes! Congratulations, Robb! Good job, Alex!

Starting on Friday night was the main event – the $3,500 added Open 9 Ball. Drawing a full field of 128 players, this double elimination event had a $75 entry fee and was played on seven foot tables. Races were to 9/7 with winner breaks.

Bogies was getting their money’s worth with their house pro and defending champ, Roberto Gomez, as he marched through the field. He was never seriously threatened as he defeated Timothy Lapointe 4-0, Richard Hughes 9-4, John Weeks 9-2, Javier Alienes 9-4, Ernesto Bayaua 9-1 and Blaine Barcus 9-3 to arrive at the hot seat match.

Another man slicing through the field was Oklahoma’s John Gabriel. He started with wins over Pedro Oviolo 9-2 and Calvin Chappell 9-3 before a tough one with young gun Lazaro Martinez. John barely survived that one 9-8 and then coasted past Cesar Arechiga 9-0. Next were Joey Torres and Ryan Robinson – they went down 9-6 and 9-3 and John also arrived at the hot seat match.

The hot seat match was all Roberto as he spanked John 9-3 and locked up his seat in the finals. John headed west to play Bayaua who had eliminated Saez 7-4. Robb finished in fourth place. Then, it was John who beat Ernesto by the same score – 7-4. He finished in third place.

Knowing he had to defeat Roberto twice to take the title, John put up a tough fight but when it was all over, Gomez had gotten his revenge for John knocking him out of the one pocket event and defended his title! He won the match 9-6. Congratulations, Roberto! Good event, John!

Lazaro Martinez III

Sunday was the start for both the $500 added Ladies 9 Ball and the $500 added Junior 9 Ball events. The players auction, meeting and draw for the juniors was first followed by the same for the ladies.

Twenty three boys and girls paid a $35 entry fee to play in the double elimination event played on the seven foot Diamonds. They raced to 7/5 with winner breaks.

Former BEF Junior National champ and defending champion Lazaro Martinez defeated Carlos Jinez 7-5, Mary Grigsby 7-1, Vania Davila 7-0 and Kailye Stevens 7-2 to arrive at the hot seat match.

Kyle Yi was the victor over Oscar Ruiz 7-2, Hunter Jackson 7-0, Tyler Miller 7-0 and Larissa Almendarez 7-5 to claim the other seat in the hot seat match.

Kyle then defeated Lazaro 7-3 to go on to the finals. Lazaro headed to the one loss side to face Carlos Jinez who had beaten Kailye Stevens 5-3. Kailye finished in fourth place. 

Looking to get back into the finals, Lazaro made short work of Carlos 5-1 leaving him in third place.

Needing to defeat Kyle twice to both defend and claim the title, Lazaro won the first set 7-4. The final set was a battle but it was Lazaro that took the title 5-3. Congratulations, Lazaro! Good event, Kyle!

Thirty two ladies filled the field posting their $45 entry fees. They also raced to 7/5 with winner breaks on the seven footers.

April Larson made her trek to the hot seat by defeating Vivian Christopher and Bridget Parker by the same score – 7-1. She then beat Crystal Cisneros 7-4, the always tough Ming Ng 7-3 and awaited her opponent in the hot seat match.

Making her way through the bottom of the bracket was Ricki Casper. She defeated Michelle Abernathy 7-1 and Robyn Petrosino 7-3 before going to the wire with Michelle Yim 7-6 and then winning over Tam Trinh 7-5. 

Ricki Casper

The hot seat match began and both players fought hard but in the end, Ricki had edged out April 7-6! April headed west.

Waiting for her was Ming. She had just beaten Robyn – she finished in fourth place. The match began to see who’d be in the final match. April came out on top 5-3 leaving Ming in third place.

Due to the late hour, the ladies decided to split the honors. Congratulations to both players!

The $1,000 added One Pocket event also started on Friday night. Having a full field of 32 who paid $100 to enter, the format was again single elimination with races to four. Following the players auction, meeting & draw, the matches began.

Still on fire from his runner-up finish in the banks event, Alex Calderon tore through the top half of the bracket skunking both Sonny Bosshamer and Raed Shabib but had rougher matches against Ernesto Bayaua and Marvin Diaz. He won both matches 4-2 and landed in the finals.

Quietly making his way through the bottom portion of the bracket was Oklahoma’s John Gabriel. He won his first match over Joey Barnes 4-2 and continued with wins over Ryan Baselman and Ryan Robinson – both 4-1. Down went Superman as John defeated Roberto Gomez 4-2 to get to the finals.

The final match started late and went long into the early morning hours and at the end, it was John taking top honors 4-2. Great tournament, John! Good showing, Alex! 

John Gabriel

Congratulations to this year’s champions and to Roberto Gomez for taking down the $1,500 All Around Bonus!

PoolActionTV.com would again like to thank owners Billy Sharp, Jim Henry, Mark Avery and Matthew McFarren and their staff as well the event sponsors. They are Outsville, Diamond Billiard Products, Brutal Game Gear, Poison by Predator, Jerry Olivier Custom Cues, Simonis, Aramith, Predator, Immediate Smiles Dentures & Dentistry of Spring, TX, Alamo Billiards of Houston, TX, and Fort Worth Billliards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.

We’d also like to thank Tournament Director Teresa Garland and her assistant, Jason Hill, for juggling all the various events.

In addition, thanks to Larry Schwartz and Ray Hansen for their excellent commentary.

PoolActionTV.com would also like to thank our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, Savage Billiard Apparel, Immediate Smiles Dentures & Dentistry of Spring, TX, Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX. 

Our next event is the 35th Annual Music City Open Nine Ball Championships at JOB Billiard Club in Madison, TN – a suburb of Nashville. Dates are January 11th-15th – hope to see you there!

And, here’s wishing everyone happy holidays and a healthy and prosperous new year!

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Tokoph Takes The Title

Justin Espinosa and Tommy Tokoph

Congratulations to Tommy Tokoph for winning the Covid 9-Ball Classic! This was a full 64-player bracket due to safety number restrictions. The event was held at Damifino Billiards in Angleton, Tx.

Great weekend for a 9-ball tournament. It all started Saturday with 64 players. Sunday play featured the last 16 remaining, in the end, it came down to Justin Espinosa vs Tommy Tokoph in the finals. Justin went undefeated all weekend to earn the first spot in the finals. Tommy fought his way through the one-loss side to earn the 2nd spot.

First set seemed to go one way as Tommy won the match 7-0. Next up was the 2nd and final set, games went back and forth with Justin taking the first lead of the match 5-4. Tommy fought back and played meticulously to secure the win with a score of 7-5, double dipping Espinosa. Fantastic match play fellas!

Leon Contreras earned a hard-fought 3rd place with some amazing shooting. Good job by Chris Robinson securing 4th place. Fantastic job everyone!

Additional raffle Congratulations to James Lompe, who won the nice JB case and Blane Barcus for winning the Aramith TV Ball set!

We would like to give a hearty thanks to Damifino Billiards owner David Wauson, and his staff for hosting this amazing tournament.

PoolActionTV.com would also like to give a huge thanks to Larry Schwartz for his expert commentary.

We would also like to thank all our regular sponsors and fans for another fantastic event! Our sponsors include Lomax Custom Cues, John Barton of JB Cases, Durbin Custom Cues, Aramith, Hanshew Custom Cues, Simonis, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore and Diamond Billiard Products . Thanks for your support!

Lot of high powered action brewing! We’ll announce our next event when we have all the details! Thanks again!

www.PoolActionTV.com

Orcollo and Gomez repeat as winner and runner-up at 29th Houston Open

(l to r): Dennis Orcollo, Legends co-owner and tournament director Mindy Cohen & Roberto Gomez

Dennis Orcollo and Roberto Gomez repeated their performance at the 28th Houston Open by finishing as winner and runner-up at the 29th Houston Open, held this past weekend (Sept. 7-8). Gomez decided to spice things up this year. Instead of advancing to a winners’ side semifinal, being sent to the loss side (by Francisco Bustamante), winning three there and challenging Orcollo in the finals as he did last year, Gomez lost his second match to Orcollo 9-2 and then proceeded to win 11 on the loss side to meet Orcollo in the finals. That part of their 2018 meeting stayed the same, albeit with Gomez chalking up a few less racks (9-6 in 2018, 9-2 in 2019). The $7,500-added event drew 93 entrants to Legends Billiards in League City, TX.
 
Orcollo was awarded an opening round bye and sent Gomez on his loss-side journey in the second round, before navigating his way through two straight double hill wins over Sajal Ghimire and Josh Roberts. He then defeated John Morra 9-3 to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against what Legends Billiards co-owner and tournament director Mindy Cohen called a “blast from the past,” an older Filippino player, Edgar Acaba.
 
Robb Saez, in the meantime, who’d finished in the tie for 7th place last year, when defeated by Warren Kiamco, followed an opening round bye with victories over Ray Hansen, Manny Chau, Jerry Alvarez and Leon Contreras, before squaring off in the other winners’ side semifinal against Alex Calderon.
 
Orcollo downed fellow countryman Acaba 9-5 and in the hot seat match faced Saez, who’d sent Calderon west 9-6. Orcollo then sent Saez off to the semifinals 9-4 and waited in the hot seat for Gomez to finish his somewhat epic loss-side journey.
 
With six notches on his loss-side belt, Gomez defeated Leon Contreras 7-1 and chalked up a surprising strong victory against Josh Roberts 7-3 to draw Acaba in his first loss-side match. Calderon drew John Morra, who’d defeated Brian Sanders 7-3 and Jerry Alvarez 7-5 to reach him.
 
Gomez and Calderon advanced to the quarterfinals on the heels of identical 7-5 victories over Acaba and Morra, respectively. And then, building momentum, Gomez chalked up loss-side win #10, eliminating Calderon 7-4.
 
Gomez reduced his opponents’ number of racks by an additional one, as he spoiled Saez’ bid for a rematch against Orcollo 7-3 in the semifinals. In a ‘déjà vu all over again’ scenario, Gomez and Orcollo greeted each other as finalists at the Houston Open for the second straight year.
 
Second verse, same as the first. Gomez needed to defeat Orcollo twice. He only chalked up two racks in the first set, eliminating the need for a second. Orcollo walked away with his second straight Houston Open title.
 
In addition to paying out the top 24 finishers in the event, the Houston Open paid $150 to the top female finisher in the event, which proved to be three women who tied for the prize. They were all from the same family and split the money – Madonna Springs, Gayla Toms and Shyenne Toms (age 12).
 
Co-owners of Legend Billiards and tournament directors Mindy Cohen and Ted Dean thanked their entire staff for their cooperation and assistance during the weekend run of the tournament, as well as Jerry Olivier Cues for contributing the $1,200 cue that got raffled and was won by Elizabeth Sturges. Cohen and Dean also thanked Ray Hansen and his entire PoolActionTV staff for streaming selected matches of the event all weekend.

Chinakhov takes two out of three over Loftis to win 4th Annual Texas Open 10-Ball Championships

Ruslan Chinakhov (Photo courtesy of Erwin Dionisio)

Since January 1 of this year, Russia’s Ruslan Chinakhov has (according to available records here at AZBilliards) earned $247.11 per day shooting pool (not including any Calcutta earnings), which would put him on track to reported earnings of $90,197.11 by December 31, almost triple what he’s reportedly earned in any year since 2007. Chinakhov is reportedly back home in Moscow, after a blistering hot month-and-a-half here in the US of A. Following an eight-man shared victory at the Derby City’s 14:1 Challenge (and other payouts from multiple events), a successful one-on-one, 10-ball challenge versus Oscar Dominguez and a victory in the Virginia State 10-Ball Championships, Chinakhov flew to Round Rock, TX, where, on the long weekend of February 15-18, he chalked up a victory on the 4th Annual Texas Open 10-Ball Championships. Chinakhov went won eight of his nine matches in Texas, downing Kenny Loftis in the hot seat match, losing the opening set of a true double elimination final to Loftis, and then taking the second set to claim the event title. The $4,000-added event drew 128 entrants to Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock.
 
In addition to a Jack & Jill Scotch Doubles Tournament, an Open Banks Rails Game, an Open 10-Ball Tourney (all on Thursday, February 15), and two (Open and Ladies) Ring Games on Friday, the annual event also featured a $1,000-added Ladies 10-Ball tournament, which drew 32 entrants and saw Jennifer Kraber go undefeated through the field to claim that event title (separate story).
 
Though both of the previous two Texas Open 10-Ball Championships were in attendance at this year’s event, neither figured into Chinakhov’s victory. Those two previous champions, Manny Chau (2017) and Skyler Woodward (2016) were shut out in a winners’ side match (Chau by James Dabel, Woodward by Loftis) and faced each other in the seventh, loss-side round (determining the four-way tie for 13th). Woodward advanced with a shutout over Chau, and then, three rounds later, ran into Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, who defeated him in a double hill match (any bets that “Hillbilly” had himself a nice growl/grin/handshake for the ‘young whippersnapper’ Woodward at the end of that match?).
 
Though Chinakhov earned the headline for this event, it should be noted that runner-up Kenny Loftis was the surprise competitor. Loftis, in all of his (reported) pool-playing career since 2011, has earned as much as Chinakhov is projected to make (see above) in the next six-and-a-half days. The surprise commenced with his winners’ side shutout over Sky Woodward, continued with a subsequent, double hill win over “Hillbilly,” and reached its peak when he defeated Chinakhov in the opening set of the true double elimination final.
 
“He certainly was the surprise of the weekend,” said Skinny Bob’ Billiards’ owner, John Cielo. “He’s been consistent finishing in the money in these annual 9-ball and 10-ball events, but he’d never made the top eight before.
 
“He played outstanding,” Cielo added.
 
Through his first 43 games against five opponents (Rich Anglin, Pat Castro, Ray Lopez, Shane Manaole and Alex Calderon), Chinakhov gave up a total of eight racks. Half of those were surrendered in his winners’ side quarterfinal against Calderon, which set him up to face Ronnie Alcano in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Loftis, in the meantime, who’d given up 11 racks through his first 46 games against Charlie Morra, Leon Contreras, Jason Harkrider, Sky Woodward (the shutout) and Ruben Bautista, squared off against Bryant in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Loftis and Bryant fought their double hill battle, which advanced Loftis to the hot seat. Chinakhov joined him after shutting out Alcano. In their first of three, Chinakhov moved into the hot seat with a 7-5 win over Loftis.
 
On the loss side, “Hillbilly” picked up Woodward, who was in the midst of a four-match, loss-side winning streak that included victories over Robb Saez 7-3, and Roberto Gomez 7-4. Alcano drew Ruben Bautista, who’d defeated Jeffrey Luna 7-5 and eliminated the ever-dangerous Jeremy Jones in a double hill match.
 
Bryant chalked up his double hill win over Woodward, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Alcano, who’d defeated Bautista 7-3. Alcano then ended Bryant’s bid 7-3, before himself being eliminated, by Loftis in the semifinals 7-5.
 
One has to imagine that the results of the first double-elimination set of the finals came as a surprise to both Chinakhov and Loftis; Chinakhov, because of how things had been going for him since 2017 had turned into 2018, and Loftis because of how things had been going for him since he started showing up on regional tour payout lists here at AZBilliards seven years ago. Loftis took that opening set 7-5.
 
In the second set, Chinakhov regained control. He gave up only two racks to Loftis in that second set and claimed the event title.
 
“He impressed me,” said tour director James Davis, Sr. of Chinakhov’s performance, “and I’m not easily impressed.”
 
“He’s tall,” Davis added, “and has the most powerful break I have ever seen. He makes every shot look so simple, just an amazing player.”
 

Manny Chaus Em Down On The Tiger Tour In Houston Texas

Manny Chau, Jim Henry (room owner) and Jason Pearce

The Tiger Tour stop #3 of the season was changed at the last minute to a new venue Big Tyme Billiards , and we had 55 players show up, as there was some APA event going on the same day it took some of our players, but anyhow we played it down to the final 3 and they finished up along side the second chance event on Sunday. I will update you to the final 12 spots, all of whom cashed.

The winners side final 4 pitted Jason Pearce against Ernesto Bayaua and it was a thriller and the final score was 9-8, on the other half of the winners side Manny Chau put on an exhibition against Jason Brown, Jason won the lag and that was the end of him basically, after not getting out the first rack Manny cleaned the table, then Jason did not see the table again until the score was 8-0, Manny laid down a 7 pack on him. The final score of this match was 10-1. This matched Manny up against Jason for the hot seat match, Manny had to give up 2 games to 10 and the final score was 10-7 in favor of Manny.

The round of 9/12 on the one loss side saw Lil Hand Gus Correa get by Danny Lee, Brian Rosenbaum ousted David Chow, Sonny Bosshamer edged Leon Contreras, and Derek Fontenot got by Victor Rojas.

Toe round of 7/8 saw 2 hill hill matches and in a very unlikely finish we saw some crazy stuff in the case game as Sonny B got by Derek and on the other half Gus nudged Brian R.

The round of 5/6 Ernesto oust sonny B and Jason B. sent Gus packin. This setup the final 4 and Ernesto got by Jason B. pretty handily. Now the final of the one loss side pitted Ernesto gettting a rematch with Jason P. and as before these 2 played a very close match but in the end the result was the same, Jason P came out on top to advance and get a shot at Manny in the finals.

The finals was a close one and in the end Manny squeaked out a hill hill win, giving up the 2 game spot. Congrats to both players on a great run.

The Second Chance Event on Sunday had 20 players in it. The top 4 spots got paid and those results are below, this is a handicapped event also. 1st- Victor Rojas $330, 2nd- Will Felder $245, 3rd- Chase Rudder $165 and 4th- Brent Thomas $80

We would like to thank everyone for playing and expect to see everyone at our next event April 21-22 at Bogies Billiards. Also Mike Gulyassy will be on hand at this event for all your cue repair needs and he always brings a big assortment of cues to sale. So come check out what hes got.

Thanks to all of our sponsors that make these events possible:
Tiger Products- www.TigerProducts.com
Omega Billiards- www.OmegaBilliards.com
Muellers- www.Muellers.com
htownbilliards- www.htownbilliards.com
CSI- www.playcsipool.com
Jay Helfert– www.JayHelfert.com
Mike Gulyassy- www.babysproshop.com
Magic Rack

Ricky “The Rocket” Hughes Wins Stop 2 On The Tiger Tour Texas

Mike Alonzo, Ricky Hughes, Sylver Ochoa

Ricky “The Rocket” Hughes Wins Stop 2 On The Tiger Tour Texas

The Tiger Tour held stop #2 of the season at Slick Willies off of Dairy Ashford on Westheimer on the weekend of Feb 18/19th . The event drew 90 players, not bad after event 1 of the season drew 96, I think everyone is liking the new handicap system we put into play. So this event was played down to the final 16 players on Saturday whom would come back to fight it out for the cash on Sunday.

Winners side final 8 matches included Andy Jethwa getting by Jason Pearce 9-5, current BCA open champion Mike Alonzo knocked Cesar Arechiga west by a score of 9-7, Ricky Hughes got by Chuck Adams 8-1, and Tom Wallace won 9-3 over John McGarvey. Now in the final 4 portion Ricky Hughes won a thriller over Tom Wallace 8-7, and Mike Alonzo sent Andy Jethwa packin 9-4. This setup the hot seat match next between Machine Gun Mike and Ricky The Rocket, Mike had to give Ricky 2 games on the wire to 9 and the score ended up being 7-2 in favor of Ricky.

The round of 13/16 on the one loss side saw Joey “The Tiger” Torres edge Leon Contreras 9-8, Sylver Ochoa 9-2 over David Chow, Bobby gonzales 9-6 over David Massie, and U.S. Amateur Champion Ernesto Bayaua 9-4 over Teddy Hernandez.

The round of 9/12 saw Jason Pearce end Joey Torres run 9-4, Sylver ended Cesars run 9-6, Ernesto 9-4 over Chuck, and Bobby G. 9-1 over john Mcgarvey.

The round of 7/8 had Sylver cruising past Jason P 9-1 and Ernesto squeaked by Bobby G 9-7.

The round of 5/6 had Sylver getting by Tom Wallace 9-4 and Andy handily over Ernesto 9-2. This set up the final 4 match on the one loss side with Andy facing off against Sylver, it was a great match and in the end Sylver won his 7th match in a row on the one loss side by a score of 9-7.

Now the one loss side finals had Sylver against Mike, and Mike put on a show here as he was getting a 1 game spot from Sylver and he blanked him by a score of 8-0. Wow.

The finals is now set and it is Ricky The Rocket hughes on the winners side against Machine gun Mike Alonzo, Ricky gets a 2 game spot to 9, and this match was game for game all the way to 7, which brought the end with the final score being 7-7. Congrats to Ricky Hughes.

The Second Chance Event on Sunday had 26 players in it. The final 6 with payouts are listed below.

1st- Victor Rojas $340
2nd- Ming Ng $210
3rd- J.C. Torres $130
4th- Wendell Moser $80,
5/6th- Grady Cooper,Danny Lee $40

Thanks to all of our sponsors that make these events possible:
Tiger Products- www.TigerProducts.com
Omega Billiards- www.OmegaBilliards.com
Muellers- www.Muellers.com
htownbilliards- www.htownbilliards.com
CSI- www.playcsipool.com
Jay Helfert– www.JayHelfert.com
Mike Gulyassy– www.babysproshop.com
Magic Rack

Slow -N- Low Takes Down The Tiger Tours Huge Season Opener

Billy Sharp, Bobby Gonzales and Richard Rodriguez

The Tiger Tour Texas formely the Tiger Amateur Tour last season kicked off its new season January 21-22nd at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring,Tx. This event is now open to all players, but with a handicapped format and it drew 96 players to the main event and another 20 in the Second Chance Event for a total of 116 entrants and the total prize pool of $12,170. The handicaps range from C, C+, B, B+, A, A+, AA, AAA.

The event kicked off Saturday with 96 and was played down to 24 players whom all made the cash. We had 16 come back on the one-loss side and 8 on the winners side. The winners side matches went like this: Rodney Stewart(B+) over John Conkin(B+), Richard Rodriguez(B) over Wendell Moser(B), David Chow(B) over Sonny Demetro(A), and Bobby Gonzales(A) over Yoko Joe(B+). This left 4 on the winners side and Richard got by Rodney in one semi-final and in the other semi-final Bobby snuck by David. This pitted Bobby against Richard for the hot seat match and it came down to hill hill with Bobby going to 9 and Richard to 7, in the end Richard got the nod.

So to the one loss side round of 17/24. Current U.S. Open Amateur Champion Ernesto Bayaua(A+) was shot down by Cesar Arechiga(B), Ronnie Felder(B+) got by Derek Fontenot(A+), J.C. Torres(B+) shot Blaine Barcus(A) full of holes, Jerald Jackson(A) bested Robert Hitchcock(B), Belinda Lee(B) sent Jimbo Buller(B+) packin, Brian Rosenbaum(A) got by last seasons tour champ Sonny Bosshamer(A), Leon Contreras(A) nudged Arnel Abola(B) out, and Ty Few(A) destroyed the only (AAA) player in the event James Baraks.

So now the round of 13/16. Cesar got by Ronnie F., Jerald sent young gun J.C. Packin, Brian ended the run of Top Woman Belinda, and Ty in his usual form squeaked by Leon.

The 9/12 round saw these matches. Cesar ousted Yoko, Sonny D. blasted Jerald, Brian squeaked by Wendell, and Ty won a hill hill thriller against John C.

The 7/8 round matches were Cesar(B) kept rollin and got by Sonny D(A)., and Brian(A) got by Ty(A).

Next was the 5/6th round matches and Cesar Arechigas(B) strong run came to a crazy hill hill close as Houdini got the miracle win here, and yes it was a miracle. On the other side Brian(A) ended a deep run by David Chow(B). Good job Cesar and David.

The 4th place match was a rather quick one as Brian Rosenbaum(A) wasted no time in sending Rodney “Houdini” Stewart home. Great run Rodney.

This left the final 2 on the one loss side and it was two (A) players about to do battle in the race to 9 to see who would get to the finals. In the end it was a tight match but Slow N Low Bobby Gonzales got the nod and the chance at a rematch with the guy whom defeated him earlier.

The finals: Richard Rodriguez(B) the winner of the hot seat would have to play the man he defeated earlier hill hill Bobby Gonzales(A), and at the end of the first set it was another thrilling hill hill match and Bobby got the nod. These two decided to split the money at stake and flip for the title and points, Bobby got the nod and was the season opener champion. Congrats to both players, they both played great.

The Second Chance Event drew 20 players with $250 added, and it paid 4 spots. At the end of this eevnt it saw sharp shooter and hose pro (AA)Billy Sharp take it down, second went to Blaine Barcus(A), third was Victor Rojas(A) and fourth was WPBA player Nicole Keeney(B+). The payouts were as follows for this event. 1st- $275, 2nd- $200, 3rd- $140, 4th- $75.

We would like to thank Big Tyme Billiards for hosting the event, Big Tyme is the newest pool room in the greater Houston area, this was the weekend of their 1 year anniversary. Owners Mark Avery, Jim Henry, Bob McFerren and Deb Sharp do a wonderful job.

We would also like to send out a special thanks to all of our sponsors:
Tiger Products – www.TigerProducts.com
Mueller Recreational Products – www.muellers.com
Omega Billiards – www.omegabilliards.com
Jay Helfert – www.JayHelfert.com
CSI/BCA/Magic Rack – www.csipool.com
Mike Gulyassy – www.BabysProShop.com
Htownbilliards – www.htownbilliards.com

The next event of the season will be held February 18-19 at Slick Willies (Dairy Ashford & Westheimer). We look forward to a big turnout at this venue as always.

For more information you can visit the website address at www.TigerAmateurTour.com

Jason Pearce Punishes All On The Tiger Amateur Tour

Jason Pearce and Leon Contreras

The Tiger Amateur Tour held stop #11 of the season the weekend of November 5/6th at the home of the Houston Open, Legends Billiards. We had a great showing for the main event with 81 players showing up to do battle, and what a battle it was. This event had $1,000 added, $750 to the main event, and $250 to the Second Chance Event.

So with 81 players we played down to the final 16 players whom all made the cash. We brought back 8 on the winners side for Sunday and their matches with scores are as follows. Ricky Hughes knocked Jerry Avery to the one loss side 9-4, Manuel Ayala bested Victor Rojas 9-5, Jason Pearce squeaked by Sonny Demetro 9-7, and Leon Contreras got by Jake Pallando 9-4. This set up the final 4 of the winners side and it saw Leon run thru Jason P. 9-4, while at the same time Manuel was roasted Ricky 9-5. The hot seat match pitted Manuel against Leon, and they battled close up to 6-6, then Leon edged away for a 9-6 victory and king of the winners side.

The one loss side round of 16 saw Ishmael Ramirez get by Daniel Coffman 9-6, Will Felder ousted Jerald Jackson 9-4, Jason Bacon 9-4 over Kenny Price, and Grady Cooper sent Roman Bayda home 9-4.

The round of 12 saw Jerry get by Ismael 9-8 in a thriller, Victor sent Will packing 9-6, Sonny got by Grady 9-6, and Jake bested Jason B. in another hill hill thriller 9-8.

The round of 8 saw Jerry concede midway thru the match with Victor due to fatigue, Jerry is pushing 70 and had a great run in this event. Also Sonny got by Jake by a score of 9-7.

The round of 6 matched Jason Pearce up with Victor Rojas, and Jason got the win by a score of 9-5. On the other side of the bracket Sonny took care of Ricky “The Rocket”Hughes 9-7.

This set up the final 4 and on the one loss side Jason P. squared off with Sonny D. once again, like earlier in the event Jason got by Sonny 9-7.

The one loss side final was now set, it was Jason Pearce against Manuel Ayala, this match was close all the way thru, in the end Jason got the nod 9-7.

The Finals: The Tiger Amateur Tour was going to produce yet another first time winner on the tour, Leon Contreras won the hot seat earlier and was eagerly awaiting for his chance at the title. His opponent would be none other than Jason Pearce, a player Leon had sent to the one loss side earlier in the event. But this time would be different as Jason shot spectacular and double dipped Leon by scores of 9-6, then 9-4 to take the title and nearly $2,400 for 1st. Congrats to both players for their first appearance in the Tiger Amateur Tours Finals.

The Second Chance Event had 17 players enter with $250 added to it. At the end of the event Forest Boyd from Dallas had won his 2nd Second Chance Event in a row on the tour. He took home $240, Danny Lee got 2nd ($180), Lee Brown 3rd ($120) and David Parker 4th ($60).

** Also on a side note the Tiger Amateur Tour would like to congratulate tour regular Ernesto Bayaua whom could not attend this event as he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Event held in Florida, and he did more than qualify as he snapped it off, he had a lot of support at this Legends tourney as there was plenty of us sweating the stream and rooting him in. Congrats again.

We at the Tiger Amateur Tour would like to think Mindy and Craig Cohen for allowing us to hold an event at their room.

We would also like to thank all of our sponsors Tiger Products, Htownbilliards, Mueller Recreational Products, Jay Helfert, Dreamline Promotions, and Mark Griffin of CSI.

The Season Finale is the next event, it will have $3,000 added and be held at Deep Pockets Billiards in Alvin,Tx. December 2-4th . Players that have qualified for this have until November 18th to pre register, after that date the field will be opened to players whom have played once during the year, at which point it will fill fast, so don’t try and wait cause you will be left out.

For more info you can visit the tour website at www.TigerAmateurTour.com