By the time the 1st Annual Cole Dickson Memorial Tournament was drawing to a close on Sunday night, June 30, most of the drama was playing out on the loss side, where six of the final 10 matches went to double hill, including the final four. Amar Kang, in the meantime, was sitting in the hot seat, waiting for an opponent, who turned out to be Mark Tiu. Kang completed an undefeated run with a victory over Tiu in the finals to claim the $4,000-added event title that had drawn 104 entrants to Family Billiards in San Francisco, CA.
According to Daniel Busch, whose POVPool crew live-streamed selected matches for free throughout the weekend, this Cole Dickson Memorial Tournament has been added to the front end of what's been known for the last four years as the West Coast Swing, a series of tournaments which starts in Northern California and ends up in Las Vegas with the BCA Nationals, during which the CSI One-Pocket, 8-Ball and 10-Ball Championships are held. The tournament's namesake, Cole Dickson, a legendary hustler who headed out on the road with Grady Matthews when he was 15, died of cancer at the age of 62 in April.
Kang's uninterrupted path through the field of 104 concluded with four matches in which he gave up only nine racks, total, over 37 games. He defeated two brothers (of three playing) in a row; Jason Williams, among the winners' side final eight, and Marshall Williams, among the winners' side final four, both 7-2. He was met in the battle for the hot seat by Danny Gokhul, who'd sent Tiu west, double hill. Kang sent Gokhul to the semifinals and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
On the loss side, Marshall Williams and Tiu ran right into the series of four, loss-side matches that would conclude events on that side of the bracket. Williams drew Deo Alpajora, who'd been defeated by Mary Rakin in the second round of play, and was in the midst of a nine-match winning streak that would take him to the quarterfinals. He'd defeated Chris MacDonald 6-3, and survived a double hill match against Ike Runnels to chalk up wins # 6 and # 7. Tiu picked up Jason Williams, who'd been sent west by Kang and then defeated his other brother, Jared, 6-4 and Tommy Lipps 6-3.
Tiu won all three of his loss-side matches, double hill. The first against Jason Williams, set him up for a quarterfinal match against Alpajora, whose double hill win over Marshall Williams left the last Williams brothers standing, Marshall and Jason, in the tie for 5th place. Tiu then stopped Alpajora's loss-side winning streak, double hill, in the quarterfinals, and then, in a re-match from the winners' side final four, eliminated Gokhul, double hill, in the semifinals. Kang wasn't having any of this, and secured the event title with a 7-2 finals win over Tiu.
February 24th & 25th, 2012; there was certainly something for everyone in Mountain View, CA., thanks to the infamous California Billiard Club, its owner Chris Swart who hosted the 3rd Annual Chet Itow Memorial 9-Ball Tournament. Nuclear engineer “Chet” who created and built this great venue was honored in the grand style, which was indicative of the great efforts that he put into the creation of the hall. The true “double elimination” event kicked off at noon on Saturday, February 25th with a race to 8 on both sides, and a winner break format.
Any one of the over 4,000 pool enthusiasts who tuned in this last weekend to Point Of View (POV) Pool’s free live internet coverage of this event, were treated to a multitude of not only legendary player match-ups, but also to a host of the unusual and dramatic antics that are ever present amongst these individuals.
Thanks to hall owner Chris Swart, a “$3000 Added” incentive packed the house and drew in 101 participants including many of the billiard worlds’ most elite players. Locals as well as those who tuned into the live internet stream got their pool fixes watching the likes of Rodney “The Rocket” Morris, Jose Parica, Louis Ulrich, Santos Sambajon, Rafael Martinez, House Pro Dave Hemmah of Hard Times – Bellflower, “Team Mexico” – Oscar and Ernesto Dominguez, Amar Kang, and last but not least, world renowned champion and two time consecutive winner of the infamous “Swanee” – Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan.
Walk in patrons and attendees alike were packed in all weekend long, taking advantage of the 3000 sq ft plus “viewing” area, ordering from a fantastic full menu, and topping it all off with a trip to the fully stocked bar complete with an efficient and friendly staff. In short, it was a setting for a pool player’s “Paradise”!
Early upsets in the event included last year’s winner, Santos Sambajon and runner up Oscar Dominguez. Also knocked were Alex Pagulayan, and long time veteran Jose Parica was pushed early to the one loss side by “Combination” Jason Williams, who eventually shot his way up to 4th place in the event! Jason Williams put on quite a show during the weekend and was motivated by an eagerness to play and win over Rodney “The Rocket” Morris. Those who remained to stroke their way up the chain included Rodney Morris, Ernesto Dominguez, Kevin May, Amar Kang, Rafael Martinez, Ed Ramos, and eventual winner, Louis Ulrich.
Antics were abound during the course of the tourney with Amar Kang giving Alex Pagulayan a mini Golf swing lesson before their match, and quite a commentary stint on POV Pool’s live stream with local Emilyn Callado. And of course all were treated to the usual short riff of Alex’s legendary karaoke. Guest commentators joining Daniel Busch, owner of POV Pool and co-commentator Barbara Lee, included Jeff Gregory, local “Women Power” stars Mary Rakin, Emilyn Callado and OMGWTF’s – Melinda Huang. Additional commentators included, pool veteran – John Henderson of The Cue Sports Journal (Soon to re-launch), Scott White, Bucktooth (Who’s claim to fame is “beating everybody”), and Oscar Dominguez who stated “Well now everyone pretty much knows my life story”!
Unfortunate news during the event was for Jun Almoite, who had to forfeit on Saturday to attend to “The Princess of Pool” – Mary Avina, who fell ill enough for hospitalization due to a high fever associated with a bout of the flu. The good news is, all is well and Mary is home and recovering. Whew!
Wrapping up the event late Sunday night were semi final match-ups between Rodney Morris and Jason Williams, Kevin May and Amar Kang, and culminated with Louis Ulrich versus Ernesto Dominguez. A shocking display of “doesn’t ANYONE want this 7 ball?” commenced between Amar and Alex, which lasted several innings before Amar finally got the pesky maroon into a pocket.
In another match between Louis Ulrich and Hillary Morse, Louis slammed in the 9 a stunning 4 times during the break-shot, which unfortunately was re-spotted due to the rule associated with the rack your own format for this event. This proved to be a running theme on the “stream” table for many players during the break-shot, with the 9 ball usually en-route to the bottom left-hand corner and the 1-ball almost always hitting the rail below the left middle pocket and landing either into or very close to the top right-hand corner pocket. As a result, the best break show, which highlighted this phenomenon, was between Jason Williams and Rodney Morris, with a barrage of early 9 ball combinations and caroms that seriously shortened the length of the match. And in contrast was John Henderson vs. Arturo Rivera in a nip and tuck session, which literally lasted 16 games, and without either player having more than a 1-game lead.
Rounding up the finale was Louis Ulrich versus Ernesto Dominguez who would have had to win two races to 8 for the win due to the true double elimination format. Ernesto took an early 3-0 lead over an obviously tired Louis and it looked like a double set was shaping up. Louis however managed to come back to tie it up, and then rally back and forth to create a hill-hill thriller. The nail biting final game found Ernesto running down to the perfectly lined up 9 with precision play, that is until he fails to close; missing an almost straight 9-ball and leaving a medium difficulty cut for Louis. After the stunned railbirds exhaled, Louis got up and with nary a thought, and sliced the 9-ball effortlessly for the win over a disappointed but ever gracious Ernesto.
The top final 8 payouts were Louis Ulrich, $3,000, Ernesto $1700, Rodney Morris $900, Jason Williams $550, Kevin May and Amar Kang at $250, and Rafael Martinez and Ed Ramos at $150.
POV Pools live Internet coverage and archived matches can be viewed by going to www.povpool.com.
Payouts for the 3rd Annual Chet Itow Memorial 9-Ball Tournament
1st – Louis Ulrich / $3,000 2nd – Ernesto Dominguez / $1,700 3rd – Rodney Morris / $900 4th – Jason Williams / $550
5th/6th – Kevin May / $250 5th/6th – Amar Kang / $250
7th/8th – Rafael Martinez / $150 7th/8th – Ed Ramos / $150
