Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Shane Van Boening will begin the defense of his World Pool Championship title against Japan’s Masato Yoshioka in Kielce, Poland from February 1-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltics, DAZN in the USA as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
The American will look to become only the second player in history to defend the title following in the footsteps of Earl Strickland in a packed arena at Targi Kielce. 46 countries will be represented in the 128-player field as it is whittled down to the Last 64 over the first two days of action before it’s straight knockout to the end where one will claim the $60,000 first-place prize and the world crown.
The draw was completed with the top 64 players from the Nineball World Rankings against an unseeded player from the other 64 in the hat. Standout first-round ties include 2015 world champion Ko Pin Yi facing James Aranas of the Philippines whilst 2022 semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef faces the tricky prospect of Johann Chua. 2004 world champion Alex Pagulayan was unseeded and will meet Michael Schneider.
World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide takes on Billy Thorpe and Shane Wolford‘s mission for a spot on Team USA at the 2023 Mosconi Cup takes on Pia Filler. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz had a year to remember last year and will begin his Nineball campaign against So Shaw of Iran.
Double elimination matches are all race to 9, with all matches from the Last 64 a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 13.
Table 1 will be live on broadcasters worldwide including Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA, Canada, and Italy, as well as on Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide. See where to watch here.
Table 2 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.
Table 3 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.
The legendary JOB Billiards Club in Madison, TN – a suburb of Nashville – presented the $7,000 added 35th Annual Music City Open this past week. Featuring multiple minis as well as the Open and Ladies Nine Ball events, there was action galore!
Joining JOB’s owner Ricky Gamble in special sponsorship was PoolActionTV.com as well as Aramith, Simonis and Diamond Billiard Products.
All events were played on seven foot Diamonds and play kicked off with on Wednesday evening with a single elimination race to seven nine ball mini tournament. The field was whittled down to Jesus Atencio & Mickey Krause – they split the pot. There was another mini tournament on Saturday night – these two split the pot again!
Players were back on Thursday night for the players auction, meeting & draw. A full field of 128 players entered this race to eleven winner breaks tournament.
Roberto Gomez began his march to the hot seat match after defeating Matt Moore (11-4), Jaime Mitchell (11-3), Rich McDonald (11-1), Johnathan (“Hennessee”) Pinegar (11-9), Jeffrey de Luna (11-9) and Billy Young (11-10).
The hot seat match was close but it was Gomez who locked up his seat in the finals 11-7. Mason would have to await an opponent on the one loss side.
Jeffrey de Luna edged out Mickey Krause (11-10) and then faced Koch to see who would advance to the finals. Jeff defeated Mason 11-4 and moved on to the finals. Mason finished in third place.
Since this was true double elimination, de Luna would have to defeat Gomez twice to win the tournament. However, it was not to be as Roberto won 11-9 to add the Music City Open title to his resume! Congratulations, Roberto! Good event, Jeff!
April Larson and Tina Malm
The Ladies Nine Ball division began on Friday night with 49 players playing in this race to seven winner breaks tournament.
Tina Malm advanced to the hot seat with wins over Casey Baldridge (7-4), Elizabeth Shilliam (7-2), Amanda Wilder (7-0), the always tough April Larson (7-5) and Janeen Lee (7-1).
The hot seat match was close but Malm closed it out with a 7-5 victory over Lovely. Liz headed west to await an opponent.
After losing a nailbiter to Heather Middleton in the fourth round 7-6, Kelly Isaac then edged out Amy Theriault (7-6) and beat Melissa Young (7-2) and Janeen Lee (7-0) until she was eliminated by April Larson (7-2). Kelly finished in fourth place.
Larson then defeated Lovely (7-4) to move into the finals. Liz finished in third place.
Again, since this was true double elimination, April had to defeat Tina twice to take the title. April won the first set 7-4 but Tina took the decider and the title with a 7- 4 win!Congratulations, Tina! Great effort, April!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Ricky Gamble and his staff for their exemplary efforts in taking care of all the players and fans.
We’d also like to thank Tournament Director Jason Hill for doing an excellent job in running all the different events.
PoolActionTV.com would also like to thank our sponsors and fans. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Simonis, Aramith, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, Savage Billiards, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
And on to the Derby City Classic! Be sure to stop by our Aramith Action Room! The dates are January 20th-28th! Hope to see you there!
Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, IA hosted their seventh annual extravaganza and, as usual, it was a huge success. In addition to the Cue Expo, there were four events – One Pocket, Nine Ball, a Banks Ring Game and Open Nine Ball.
Owners Jim Landrum and Randy welcomed hundreds of pool players, fans and cuemakers to their beautiful room.
Presented by Diveney Cues, Big Dog Billiards and PoolActionTV.com, the $18,000 added event featured a One Pocket Championship, a Nine Ball Championship (played on nine foot tables), a Bar Table Nine Ball Championship and a Banks Ring Game. Other sponsors included Jacoby Custom Cues, Anderson Animal Hospital, Kamui, Simonis, Aramith, Diamond Billiard Products, 1 of a Kind Billiard Supply and Pechauer Rogue.
As previously reported, this year’s event kicked off on Wednesday with the $5,000 added One Pocket Championship. Tony Chohan double-dipped Sky Woodward to take the title.
Friday night saw the $10,000 added Nine Ball event begin with a players auction followed by a players meeting and draw. The field of nineteen players paid a $500 entry fee to compete on the beautiful nine foot Diamonds. The format was old school nine ball – double elimination with races to eleven and winner breaks.
In the top portion of the bracket, Josh Roberts started out fast and loose as he defeated Kenny Nguyen 11-3, Roberto Gomez 11-9 and Shane Wolford 11-6. After drawing a first round bye, Corey Deuel had wins over Brandon VanOverbeke 11-9 and Marcus Genson 11-7 before running into Roberts. Before you knew it, Josh had smoked Corey 11-4 to arrive at the hot seat match.
In the lower part of the bracket, Sky Woodward also drew a first round bye and then beat Vitaliy Patsura 11-9 and Tony Chohan 11-7 to move to the hot seat match.
The hot seat match was to be played the following day because Saturday night was for the bank fans! A field of eight competed in the $1,000 added Banks Ring Game. Eight men posted a $250 entry fee. After several hours, Roberto Gomez and Fedor Gorst were the last two standing. Fedor defeated Roberto for the winner-take-all cash! Congrats, Fedor! Good effort, Roberto!
The following day saw Woodward and Atencio as well as Chohan and Deuel struggling to survive. It was Woodward who emerged11-7 and Deuel eked out his win 11-10.
Next round – the hot seat match! With both players in dead punch, it was no surprise that the match was close – until the end. Fedor pulled away to an 11-8 finish – locking up his seat in the finals. Josh had to cool his heels to await the results of the Deuel-Woodward match.
Fighting to stay alive, Sky put his pedal to the metal leaving Corey to play catch-up. Ahead 3-0, Deuel came back to 3-2 only to see Woodward pull away again to 5-3. Finally tying it up at five apiece, Corey would again fall behind as Sky took a two game lead. Jockeying back and forth, Deuel reached the hill first – his first lead in the match!
Sky tied it up at 10-10 – the final game saw both players come to the table with shots and safeties. Corey had the first open table of the game and hung the six! Sky leaped out of his chair and ran the remaining balls leaving Deuel in fourth place.
Duking it out for that open seat in the finals, Josh rocketed out to a 3-0 lead – and then miscued! Sky came to the table, won a couple and then the players went back and forth until mid-match. Woodward pulled away and never looked back as he defeated Roberts 11-6. Josh finished in third place.
As this was true double elimination, Sky would have to beat Fedor twice for the title. The match went neck and neck until Gorst pulled away at six apiece.Final score – 11-6.
Congratulations to Fedor for a well-played event!Good job, Sky!
While the big table nine ball event was underway, the $2,000 Open Nine Ball began. 167 players ponied up their $25 to play in this double elimination, alternate break, race to seven event. When the smoke cleared, it was the undefeated George Walters and challenger Brandon Heldenbrand in the finals.
Brandon won the first set 7-4 forcing a second set. George regrouped and took down the second set 7-2. Congratulations, George! Well played, Brandon!
Congratulations to Fedor Gorst, Tony Chohan and George Walters for becoming the 2022 Big Dog champions!!!
What a week!!!
Thanks again to Jim Landrum and Randy Hanson for hosting such a great event. They and their staff rolled out the red carpet for both players and fans.
In addition, PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Tournament Director Ray Hansen and his assistant, Jason Hill, for keeping things going without a hitch.
We’d also like to thank our commentators Larry Schwartz, Mary Kenniston, Josh Roberts and Ray Hansen for a great job.
Last, but not least, thanks to our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include JB Cases, CR’s Sports Bar, Hanshew Jump Cues, EnvironmentalAssessments.com, Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diveney Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore.
Our next event is the $20,000 One Pocket Champions Challenge featuring Evan Lunda and Josh Roberts. Held at the world famous Buffalo’s in Jefferson, the dates are July 28th-30th. Hope to see you there!!!
Fishers still alive in the WPBA 9-Ball Pro Players Championship.
He’d played twice already. On Friday night at 9:30, Earl Strickland stepped to the tables of the Super Billiards Expo’s arena in search of his second win in the Diamond Open 9-Ball Professional Players Championship. On Thursday, after a bye, he’d lost his opening match, double hill, to Alan Rolon Rosada and at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, downed Tyler Henninger 9-6. Both matches were very lightly attended. Modest crowds, dotting the three-level risers to either side of the 16 tables, laid end to end, side by side.
Friday night, though, was different. This was weekend-is-here Earl the Pearl time. And he got himself an audience. While there were certainly people in the crowd of some 200 or so spectators who were itching to see a show; not a pool show necessarily, but an Earl show, as only he can bring it. Instead, they got the professional ‘Earl’s here to win’ show, full of rock-solid shooting that saw him take control of a 2-2 match and win six in a row before some of the audience had even settled in. People (though not many) started leaving, like baseball fans leaving a stadium when the score is 12-0 in the seventh inning, wanting to get ahead of the traffic jam. Those who remained were switching their attention between what was left of Earl’s match and what was going on at the tables on either side of him (Shannelle Lorraine and Ada Lio were playing south of him, while Jesus Atencio and Mason Koch were battling it out north of him).
Gomez managed to chalk up three racks and the remaining crowd went wild. Very quietly and not for long.
Earl finished off Gomez, quickly, only giving up one more rack and moved to the lobby outside the arena where folks gathered around the hand-written brackets to see who was coming up against who in today’s (Saturday) matches. Earl was scheduled to play Bart Czapla at noon, in a match that will determine whether he advances to the 16-player, single elimination phase of the event. The first round of that phase will play out at 6 p.m.
Earl was among those looking to see what was coming up next, and he took the opportunity to play to the audience that had been relatively quiet during his win over Gomez. They were lined up two or three deep around him, cameras at the ready, as he gave them a genteel comedian to play with. Standing for one shot with a broad grin on his face, he said that the woman to his left was prettier than he was, riffing on this to talk about his sagging limbs and a “face that looked like a truck hit me and then backed up.” Manifestly not true, but it got a laugh. He embellished on that central joke for a while before moving on to chat with spectators who’d obviously been paying strict attention to his match as it played out; questions and comments about shot situations and potential solutions, back and forth.
Jayson Shaw, still on the winners’ side of the bracket, looking to advance to the final 16 today, as well (2:30 p.m. against Billy Thorpe), joined the throng gathered around him and it took about two seconds for them to launch into a discussion about the tables and how they ‘played’ in a given match.
“I hit this shot,” said Shaw at one point, “that went into the hole and bounced out. The cue ball jumped up onto the rail, travelled all the way down table, jumping over the side pocket and then went back on the table, giving me a straight shot at the 4-ball.”
Lives of the legends playing out in one of their homes away from home.
The two Fishers continue to play for advancement to the final 16 of the WPBA Pro Players event
Competition at the WPBA 9-Ball Pro Players Championship will dominate the afternoon schedule at the pro player arena. All 16 women who step to the tables at 2:30 p.m. today, haven’t played a match since Thursday; half of them on Thursday afternoon and the other half on Thursday night.
On Friday afternoon, the Fishers, Allison and Kelly, squared off in a game of 8-ball that was not part of the official proceedings and did not involve cue sticks, felt cloth or actual pockets. Instead, they settled into another kind of table to play an 8-Ball Pool Board Game that’s on display and being pre-sold (prior to publication) to attendees at the SBE from a vendor booth surrounded by cue manufacturers. Kelly is acting as the game’s Brand Ambassador and has been at the booth where it’s being demonstrated a number of times, playing against, among others, Darren Appleton, who reportedly broke and ran the first game of it he played.
While the game doesn’t employ any of pool’s tactile qualities with cues or aiming skills (there are basically no missed shots if you’ve lined up the cue and target properly), it does manage to offer a degree of strategy and tactics, very similar to the kinds of decision-making involved in the actual game of 8-ball. There are opportunities for bank shots (played out on strict horizontal/vertical target paths) safety play and you can scratch, for example, all of which plays out in ways unique to the board game.
Though new to the game, Allison won the single game against Kelly. They could play a real game of 9-ball against each other before the end of the women’s tournament, but only, for starters, if both of them advance to the event’s final 16. Kelly, who’s only played a single match so far, defeating Jessica Barnes on Thursday night, was to play Liz Taylor at 2:30 today and if successful, would play the winner of an Ashley Burrows/Emily Duddy match in the opening round of the single-elimination phase at 8:30 p.m. Allison, who played two women from the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) on Thursday (Judie Wilson and Kathy Friend) will be facing Angela Janic at 2:30 and if successful, will also play at 8:30, against the winner of a Monica Webb/Kim Newsome match (check the SBE Web site for streaming options).
Other competitors, still on the winners’ side of the bracket, looking for a slot among the final 16 women, include Emilyn Callado, Brittany Bryant, Caroline Pao and LoreeJon Brown. On the loss-side of the bracket, at noon today, also looking for advancement to the final 16, will be,among others, Janet Atwell, Jennifer Baretta, and both Kia Burwell and Judie Wilson, representing the JPNEWT. Matches at 6 p.m. on the loss-side of the bracket will determine the eight loss-side competitors among the Sweet 16.
Super Seniors get underway, as Amateur Ladies, Seniors continue, with Juniors in the wings
The original Super Seniors tournament, with long lines hoping for a waiting-list entry, gathered early this morning, while the 996-entrant Open Amateur event looked to enter its Final 16 phase at 1 p.m. today. The four-brackets of the Amateur Ladies event is still ongoing, as is the (plain, so to speak) Seniors tournament. Two junior competitions (17U & 12U) are set to begin today, as well.
The 21-year-old Russian Fedor Gorst is certainly not a stranger to the U.S. Pro Billiard Series’ format, having won back-to-back Arcadia Arizona Opens.
Friday evening, Gorst saw plenty of the dramatic twists and turns that can occur in the short-race, shootout-deciding matches as he jumped out to big advantages in the first set only to lose the second and have to survive a shootout to advance. It wasn’t easy, but he punched his ticket for the final day of play of this weekend’s Apex Wisconsin Open, defeating American Chris Reinhold and Canadian John Morra to advance at Ho-Chunk Resort and Casino to advance.
After a straight sets victory against Mason Koch to begin his day, Gorst was able to take advantage of two scratches and a missed shot by Reinhold to cruise to a 4-1 opening set victory. The script completely flipped in the following set, with Reinhold breaking and running the opening rack and winning the next game when Gorst missed a 2 ball in the side pocket. The Russian appeared to be positioned to climb onto the scoreboard after a Reinhold error but missed a 3 ball in the corner pocket in one trip to the table and scratched in the side pocket in the next, handing his opponent a 3-0 lead.
Gorst clawed out two victories thanks to a Reinhold scratch and a safety exchange in the fifth rack. He had a chance to tie the match in the next game but missed a combination shot on the 10 ball. He had another opportunity after Reinhold scratched during a safety battle but missed the 8 ball, allowing the American to close out the set, 4-2, and force a shootout. The two competitors were perfect through the first four innings of the spot shot contest, but when the format moved the cue ball back a diamond and switched to sudden death, Gorst pocketed his first shot while Reinhold missed.
A couple of hours later, Gorst was facing Morra for a chance to reach Saturday’s single-elimination phase. The first set was nearly a carbon copy of his opening round against Reinhold, with the Russian using two break and runs, a victorious safety exchange and a Morra miss to pitch a 4-0 shutout. After he used a risky bank shot on the 1 ball to run out the opening rack of the second set, it appeared Gorst could be making quick work of his Canadian counterpart. That was until Morra used a safety battle along with a break-and-run to take a 2-1 lead.
Gorst took advantage of a scratch on the break by his opponent to tie the score then used a successful table-length jump shot on the 1 ball to run the rack and take a 3-2 lead. As he cleared the balls in the sixth game, Gorst appeared to be closing out the set but drew the cue ball halfway down the table and into the corner pocket while trying to secure position on the 5 ball. Morra made him pay for the mistake, clearing the rack to tie the score and then using a carom shot on the 10 ball to steal the game, win the set, 4-3, and force a shootout.
Although he struggled with ball pocketing in the second set, Gorst was robotic in the spot shot contest, pocketing four straight balls while his opponent missed twice.
The Russian began the tournament with an opening round victory against Eklent Kaci, who also advanced to the final 16 with three consecutive straight sets victories over Justin Martin, Thorsten Hohmann and Kuwait’s Omar Al Shaheen.
Kaci was virtually perfect in his opening set against Al Shaheen, breaking and running three consecutive times and surviving a short safety exchange to pitch a 4-0 shutout. The Kuwaiti, who was a runner-up in last year’s World Pool Championships, used a break-and-run and a misplayed safety on the 8 ball by Kaci to win the first two matches of the second set. Kaci’s opportunity to mount a comeback arrived in the third rack when his opponent failed to pocket a ball on the break, as the Albanian cleared the table and then won the next two racks to take a 3-2 lead. Al Shaheen had an opportunity to tie the set but wasn’t able to secure position on the 9 ball, then misplayed a safety on the ball which allowed his opponent to close out the rack for a 4-2 win.
Meanwhile, Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Darren Appleton continues to play more and more like the competitor who won the World 9-Ball championship a decade earlier, defeating former U.S. Open 9-Ball champion Mika Immonen in straight sets, 4-1, 4-2. Immonen, who has been appearing at the top of leaderboards more frequently himself in recent months, rallied on the one-loss side by defeating Evan Lunda in straight sets to earn a spot of his own in Saturday’s final day of competition.
Qualifying for the single-elimination phase from the winner’s side are Appleton, Dimitris Loukatos, Filipino Lee Van Corteza, Michigan Open champion Aloysius Yapp, Robbie Capito, South Dakotan Danny Olson, Jesus Atencio and World Pool Masters champion Alex Kazakis. The remaining eight players on the one-loss side include Kaci, Gorst, Immonen, Denis Grabe, Roland Garcia, Jeremy Seaman, Mickey Krause of Demark and Kuwait’s Bader Alawadhi.
The seeding will be re-drawn and competition will begin Saturday morning.
The Apex Wisconsin Open is the second event of the year for the Predator U.S. Pro Billiard Series and the first ever to be staged at Ho-Chunk Resort, a sprawling facility north of Madison which offers a 302-room hotel as well as spacious gaming and convention space.
Follow the Apex Wisconsin Open draw on the Predator US Pro Billiard Series FargoRate’s dedicated page
The Apex Wisconsin Open is streamed for free all week on Billiard TV and the World Billiard TV YouTube channel.
Go to Billiard TV to watch 24/7 Billiard Videos on any device
With a total of ten divisions being contested over five days, the 2021 Billiard Education Foundation’s Junior National Championship at the South Point Hotel & Convention Center was going to have a number of players celebrating hard fought wins, but the player walking away with the most accolades was South Carolina’s Landon Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth didn’t just turn in one undefeated performance. He went undefeated to win both the 18 & Under Boys Division and the 16 & Under Boys Division. Hollingsworth had an early scare in the 18 & Under Division, going hill-hill before beating Indiana’s Jake Sollman. After that win, it was pretty much smooth sailing as Hollingsworth won twenty three of his next twenty eight racks to take the hot-seat, defeating Ohio’s Riley Adkins in the process. Adkins made quick work of Eric Roberts in the semi-final match 7-1, and then took his best shot at Hollingsworth in the finals. In the end though, it was Hollingsworth with an 11-7 win over Adkins, for the division win.
Hollingsworth was tested in the 16 & Under Boys Division, not only by reigning 14 & Under Boys Division Winner (from 2019) Lazaro Martinez III, but also Joey Tate. After sending Tate to the one loss side in the final four on the winner’s side, Hollingsworth faced off against Martinez for the hot-seat, and Martinez took him to hill-hill before Hollingsworth won the match. Martinez then lost in the semi-final match to Tate, giving Tate an opportunity to avenge his that earlier loss to Hollingsworth. The final match was a close one, but didn’t start out that way. Hollingsworth rushed out to a 9-3 lead, before Tate turned it on and pulled back within two racks at 9-7. Tate kept up the pressure and was within one rack at 10-9 down when he missed a 9-ball while stretched across the table, to leave Hollingsworth with ball-in-hand on the case 9-ball for the title.
The two rack difference in the finals was stressful enough on the parents and fans in attendance, but the finals of the 14 & Under Division did them one better, with a hill-hill final match to determine the Champion. Minnesota’s Harry Leinen had defeated Kyle Yi, out of Texas, in a 9-5 hot-seat match. Yi was right back in the finals, and took Leinen to hill-hill before Leinen deposited the final 9-ball for the title.
Aryana Lynch
In the 18 & Under Girls Division, eventual winner Aryana Lynch was tested from the starting gun, as she won back to back hill-hill matches (Bailey Barber and Hayleigh Marion) to get things started. After a relatively stress free 7-2 win over Savanna Wolford, Lynch was again tested, this time by Tiana Jiang in Jiang’s first real competition in over a year. Lynch finally sent Jiang to the one-loss side 9-7 and Sofia Mast then defeated Jiang 7-3 to setup the final match between Mast and Lynch. That final match went Lynch’s way 11-6 for the title.
With all of the drama in the other divisions, the 16 & Under Girls Division really had very little drama to speak of. Minnesota’s Kennedy Meyman put on a 9-ball clinic, beating four opponents and not allowing one of them past two racks. Meyman’s final record for the entire division was thirty four wins out of a total of thirty nine racks. She defeated Elli Gonzales for the hot-seat and again in the finals by a combined record of 20-3.
The 14 & Under Girls division was the only division that had a defending champion involved in the finals. Reigning champion Skylar Hess took the hot-seat with a 9-8 win over Virginia’s Hayleigh Marion. Marion was back with a vengeance in the finals, and defeated Hess in another close match, 11-9, for the title.
This year’s event saw the addition of two new divisions for the players to compete in. The 10-ball division was open to any players 22 and younger in a unique “triple elimination” format. While players had to lose three matches to be eliminated from this one, Wisconsin’s Mason Koch showed that the best way to make sure you don’t lose three matches is to not lose any of them. Koch defeated Ricky Evans for the hot-seat, and then Florida’s Justin Toye in the finals.
The 8-ball division was also something new this year, and the field of 65 male and female competitors proved how popular it was. This division saw Lazaro Martinez III in the hot-seat, after a 3-0 win over brother Gabriel Martinez. In the finals though, it was Gabriel taking control and defeating Lazaro for the division win.
Also in play at this event, were two blind draw scotch doubles events that saw Lazaro Martinez III team up with Joey Tate to win the 22 & Under Scotch Division and Landon Hollingsworth teaming up with Savannah Easton to win the 16 & Under Division.
Dates are already set for the 2022 Junior National Championship and the event will take place on June 21st – 25th, right back at the South Point Hotel and Convention Center.
Justin Toye
Gianna Fiore
Rob Johnson, Shane Tyree, Cecil Messer and Tom Rossman
The brackets at the 2021 Billiard Education Foundation Junior National Championship are working their way towards the end and some brackets already have hot-seat occupants.
In the 16 & Under Girls division, Kennedy Meyman from Minnesota has cruised into the hot-seat. Meyman turned in a combined score of 23-4 to take the hot-seat and will await the winner of Hayleigh Marion and Elli Gonzales in the finals.
The 18 & Under Girls has Aryana Lynch in the hot-seat, after a marathon 9-7 victory over Tiana Jiang today. Jiang will face either Sofia Mast or Savanna Wolford in the semi-finals early Friday morning.
Rounding out the Girls divisions, Skylar Hess sits in the 14 & Under Girls hot-seat, after a hill-hill win over Hayleigh Marion today. Marion is facing Bethany Tate today, with the winner earning their place in the finals against Hess.
The Boys Divisions have a few more matches to go. In the 18 & Under Boys division, Landon Hollingsworth will take on Riley Adkins for the hot-seat on Friday.
Hollingsworth will also compete for the 16 & Under hot-seat, in a match against Lazaro Martinez III on Friday.
In the 14 & Under Boys division, Kyle Yi and Harry Leinen will compete for the hot-seat on Friday morning.
The 8-ball division sees the possibility of an all Martinez hot-seat match on Friday with Lazaro Martinez III and Gabriel Martinez both in the final four on the winner’s side.
Finally, the 10-ball division has Mason Koch in the hot-seat with a 9-7 win over Ricky Evans. Evans will go to battle with Justin Toye on Friday morning to determine who faces Koch in the finals.
All of the action can be followed this week with online brackets at compusport.ca and BBTV is streaming select matches on his YouTube and Facebook pages.
The North Central Pool Tour (NCPT) hosted its fifth event of the year at Pyramid Sports Bar and Pizzeria on Saturday, June 29. Twenty-seven players signed up to compete in the open 10-ball tournament. By the end, the two players vying for the top spot were Scott Cohen (McHenry, IL) and Mason Koch (Menasha, WI).
Young gun Koch cruised through the A side to claim the hot seat. He downed Joe Ulanowski (7-2), Olivia Cheng (7-4), Tom Karabatsos (7-4), and Marcus Wronski (7-4) on his undefeated streak. He even sent fellow finals contestant Scott Cohen (7-4) to the one-loss side in a late-round A-side match. Undeterred, Cohen rebounded with solid wins against Donald Branson (6-3), Andrew Mackey (6-5), and Marcus Wronski (6-2) to secure a rematch against Koch.
In the final set, one race to nine, Koch started off strong. He was quickly up 2-0 on Cohen, snagging his second win with a bank on the 10. But then Koch made some uncharacteristic mistakes. Cohen closed the gap–and then some–winning the next six games in a row. Koch attempted a late-match rally with some impressive play, even making a four-rail bank shot on the 9. But the late hour may have affected his focus as he then missed two 10 balls. Cohen cleaned up the match with a 9 to 4 finish.
To watch streamed matches from this event, visit the RailbirdsTV’s YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy7rtHkZxl4&feature=share. To see a full list of players and the brackets, visit challonge.com. The final standings for the event are:
The NCPT thanks Pyramid Sports Bar and tour sponsor Eric Nelson for adding $300 to this event. A big thanks, too, to RailbirdsTV for streaming all the action. The new tour directors for the NCPT (Vanessa Hood, Laura Semko, Rho Reyes, and Laura Bendikas) are sincerely grateful to Kelly Nickl for all her work over the past 3 years. She set the groundwork for the successful continuation of this tour.
The NCPT will be hosting two ladies division events July 20 at City Pool Hall and August 24 at Red Shoes Billiards. At least one more open event is also in the works for the fall. Visit the NCPT facebook page or NCPTplay.com for more details! You can also find the NCPT on Instagram and Twitter.
