As it turned out, all the winners of the events on Sunday had already claimed prizes of a similar nature before in their careers.

 

Gareth Hibbott bounced back from the disappointment of losing his World Individual and Doubles crowns earlier in the week by ousting Mark White 7-6 to become the IPA's Senior Champion for the first time.

 

In both the main Singles and Doubles, Hibbott had failed to get past the Last 16 in either defence. However, he still made sure of silverware with impressive wins over Andy Lucas, Steve Wall, Darren McVicar and Geoff Allen on route to the final.

 

White had played extremely well himself throughout the competition claiming highlight victories over Andy Blurton and Paul Harkness along the way.

 

Unfazed by the cameras in the main arena, White led 6-4 but was left helpless as his opponent cleared from his dry break, and then broke and dished from his own to force a decider.

 

White did make balls off a crunching split in Frame 13, but whilst on a clearance for the title, adrenaline perhaps caused him to over hit a positional shot when just three more pots away.

 

Although nearly ruining it himself, Hibbott coolly cleared up to bag yet another major honour.

 

The Doubles Championship continues to give us value for money and entertainment. Played in a 'Scotch' format with a 'BlackBall ShootOut' should the scores be tied at 6-6, there have been plenty of stories this week.

 

Plymouth pairing of Jez Graham and Darren McVicar had certainly been in the thick of it. In their Last 16, Quarter-Final and Semi-Final fixtures they found themselves 6-5 down and staring elimination. 

 

Yet each time they managed to muster the twelve frame, and then hold their nerves in the Pool equivalent of a 'Penalty ShootOut'.

 

However, despite taking an early 3-0 advantage in the Final, it was long time friends Clint I'Anson and Jordan Church who blistered back with seven straight frames for the victory, and a £2,500 payday.

 

Church, who has made the switch to the IPA circuit this year, is a former two time WEPF World Junior Champion.

 

For I'Anson, it was the second time in three years he had tasted success in this tournament; back in 2015 he partnered Jack Whelan at the Magna Centre in Sheffield. 

 

But that wasn't Clint's last participation. He instantly returned to the arena for the inaugural Mixed Doubles final with Deb Burchell. Burchell was looking to end her week on a high after being dethroned as the two time Ladies Champion in the Last 16, and become the first winner again of another IPA World Title.

 

In a gripping final, Burchell and I'Anson recovered from 3-1 down against Welsh team of Jonathan Busnell and Kirsty Davies to go 4-3 up, but eventually winning 5-4. 

 

So much drama and entertainment the week has conjured, it seemed a fitting and deserving climax to have it go all the way.

On the weekend of July 11th and 12th, a very talented group of 79 pool players escaped the blistering heat of Phoenix, Arizona to compete in the Mezz West State Tour's 5th event of their 17 stop season. Room owners of Bull Shooters, Mike and Julie Bates have one of the premier pool rooms in the nation boasting a huge array of tables, full kitchen, and full bar catering to both the recreational and serious pool fan. This is the second time the tour has visited Bull Shooters and the players thoroughly enjoy the venue. 

 

Several of the tour "regulars" were in attendance who came from California and Nevada to compete against the top players from the Arizona area including Bernie Pettipiece, Tim Daniel, Bobby Emmons, Tres Kane among others. Leading the top half of the tournament board was co founder of the MWST, Oscar Dominguez with wins over Mike Massey, James Main, Nick De Leon, Bobby Emmons, Tim Daniel, and Beau Runningen setting up for the hot seat match.

 

The bottom half of the bracket was lead by one pocket specialist Bernie Pettipiece with wins over Marshall Anonby, Michael Langarica, John Ritonya, George Tehachea, and Mark Whitehead to face Dominguez for the hotseat.

 

Meanwhile on the one loss side, early tounament favorites such as Sal Butera, Dave Hemmah, Rodney Morris, Vilmos Foldes, Brian Parks, and Ernesto Dominguez all faced early defeats making the one loss side littered with top players and amateurs. Once the dust settled, it was former Junior National Champion Beau Runningen clawing his way through the B bracket with wins over Bobby Emmons, 17 year old sharpshooter Chris Robinson, and Bernie Pettipiece to set up an all Southern California finals between Dominguez and Runningen for the title in the single extended race finals. After a few critical mistakes by Oscar, Beau capitalized with solid safety play and firepower to take tour stop #5 and first prize.

 

The top female bonus was awarded to Melissa Herndon and we would like to thank all our sponsors and players for their continued support.

 

The Mezz West State Tour would like to thank all their sponsors: Mezz Cues (Miki-Mezz.com), West State Billiard Supply (WestStateBilliards.com), Zan Tips (Zan-Tip.com), Taom Break/Jump Tips (TaomTips.com), Andy Cloth (AndyCloth.com), Ozzy Reynolds and CSI (PlayCSIPool.com), PiUs Company, So Cal Tap, Kurzweil Country Meats, fast&loose desgins (fastnloosedesigns.com), Contact Point Media, Turtle Rack, NYC Grind (NYCGrind.com) and AZ Billiards (AZBilliards.com). 

 

We would also like to thank Mike and Julie Bates, along with their two daughters and the entire Bull Shooters staff for hosting the event. We would also like to thank all the players for coming out and supporting the tour. 

 

The Mezz West State Tour was held in gorgeous La Mesa, California at its premier room, On Cue Billiards. The Nooris family welcomed 88 players including none other than “The Magician” himself, Mr. Efren Reyes. It was quite a treat for both players and spectators to watch and interact with the legend himself during the two day event. 

 

The top half of the bracket was packed with talent as it contained not only Rodrigo Geronimo, Ramin Bakhtiari, Vilmos Foldes, Johnny Kang, James Cabal, Dan Wallace, Dave Gorham, Rodney Wynn and Victor Castro but also Efren Reyes. Foldes and Reyes met up in the final 16 of the winner side in a TV table face off. Foldes fought hard, but was out matched by Reyes with a score of 9-4. Reyes’ bracket got no easier, as Rodrigo Geronimo was waiting for him following his 9-3 victory over James Cabal.  This Filipino match up went back and forth to the bitter end with Rodrigo pulling away a 9-7 victory and sending the Magician to the losers side. This win secured Geronimo’s spot in the final 4 of the winners side where he would defeat Victor Castro, who had tough wins over Mark Whitehead, Ray Pajarillo and Dave Gorham. Geronimo would go on to defeat Castro 9-6 to find himself waiting to battle it out for the hot seat. 

 

The bottom half of the bracket was no cake walk either as Oscar Dominguez, Attila Bezdan, Kenichi Uchigaki, Ruben Bautista, Sal Butera, Beau Runningen and Melissa Hernadon made up just a few of the great players that filled up this portion of the chart.  Second round of the winners side found Beau Runningen taking on Toyko player, Kenichi Uchigaki. Beau made a heart filled effort but fell short, sending Uchigaki further into the winners brackets and himself to the losers side. Uchigaki proceeded to find wins over Branch Talley, Larry Bohn and Sal Butera all of which allowed him to face off against Oscar Dominguez in the final 4 winners. Dominguez made his way there with wins over Melissa Hernadon, Amir Shoshan and Attila Bezdan. This was hard fought battle between the two international friends, but ended with Kenichi Uchigaki taking down Dominguez 9-6. This win ensured Uchigaki to face off with Geronimo for the hot seat. The match up one sided early on with Geronimo taking the win 9-5, putting him in the hot seat.

 

Meanwhile, the action continued on the losers’ side where team Hungary faced off. Vilmos Foldes defeated his best friend and road partner 9-4 knocking Attila out of the competition. Vilmos would then go on to beat Sal Butera in a hill-hill, nail bitter which came down to a safety battle on the 8 ball in the final game.  However the hill-hill matches were not over for Foldes just yet, as Victor Castro played his heart out but fell short to Foldes in the following round.  On the top side of the losers bracket, Oscar Dominguez found himself fighting back against Efren Reyes, who at one point led the match 8-2. Dominguez came with great out after great out, eventually tying the match at 8-8. In the case game, Reyes was up to break. Reyes broke in two balls and skillfully made an incredible out on Dominguez, forcing Oscar to settle for 5th/6th.

 

The 3rd/4th match found Foldes and Reyes once again. Foldes found his revenge on Reyes winning 9-6 and sending him to the losers side final against Uchigaki. Uchigaki, who was feeling ill and very jet lagged opted allow Foldes to move onto the finals by forfeit.

 

The finals between Vilmos Foldes and Rodrigo Geronimo was a match to be seen. In true double elimination format Foldes would have to defeat Geronimo twice to claim victory. Foldes easily handles Rodrigo winning the first set 9-3. The second set was much more of a grind with many break and runs, kicking and safety play. Rodrigo eventually grinded down Foldes and took his victory in a close 9-7 win. This win would make Rodrigo a three time tour stop winner this season. 

 

Also, a congrats to Melissa Herndon for being the top female finisher and receiving a $100 bonus.

 

The MWST would like to thank their sponsors for their continuous support of bringing pool back to the west coast. In addition, a very special thank you to Daniel Bush and POV POOL for their hard work providing the live streaming. Mezz Cues (miki-mezz.com), West State Billiards Supply (weststatebilliardsupply.com), ZAN tips (Zan-tip.com), Kurzweils Country Meats (kurzweilscountrymeats.com), AZbilliards.com, NYCGrind.com, POVPool.com, Marty Carey Jump Q, POVPOOL.com, Turtle Racks, and fast&loose designs.