Gomez, Bayaua, Compton, Almaraz, and Martinez, III Earn Titles
Roberto “Superman” Gomez captured the Space City Open IX, 128-player 9-ball division, defeating John “Mr. Smooth” Morra in the finals, 9-2, 7-5, taking home his first 9-ball division title. Gomez earned a well-deserved, $1,500 bonus, and new “All-Around” title, for his stellar play across all three divisions. Taking home first titles, Houston’s Ernesto Bayaua showed off his skills, defeating Alex Calderone in the one pocket division final, 4-3, while Oklahoma’s Chip Compton ousted Las Vegas’ Gary Lutman in the 9-ball banks division final, 4-3. In the ladies open 9-ball division, Mille Almaraz went undefeated, besting Ming “The Empress” Ng in the finals, 7-4. Finally, in the junior 9-ball division, Lazaro “Little Laz” Martinez, III, defended his 2019 title, marking up three consecutive title wins in his division.
The Derby-like, Space City Open IX, was held December 2nd-5th, 2021, at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, Texas, with four days of free live streaming provided by Southern Streaming. The event featured 178 players, competing in five divisions, over four days. The event drew players from Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nevada, and even Canada. Roberto Gomez returned to defend his 2019 one pocket title, along with champions John Morra, Chip Compton, Tommy Tokoph, Ernesto Bayaua, Manny Chau, Alex Calderone, Charlie Bryant, and WPBA Touring Professional, Loreejon Jones, all vying for a piece of the $56,195 payout and $1,500 “All-Around” bonus.
Space City would like to thank those who were instrumental in the production of this event; John Newsome, Kim Newsome, Ruth Paine, Chuck Adams, Mike Fabacher with Southern Streaming, owners and staff at Big Tyme Billiards, Mike McDonald and Alamo Billiards, Poison by Predator Cues, Predator Cues, Outsville Billiards, Jerry Olivier, and Brutal Game Gear. Vendors for this event included Jerry Olivier Cues and Cue Repair, Joe Salazar Connoisseur of Custom Cues, and Brutal Game Gear. Special “thanks” to Jerry Olivier Custom Cues and Cue Repair and Brutal Game Gear who added an additional $500 to this year’s junior division.
The open, ladies, and junior 9-ball divisions were played on twenty-four, Diamond bar tables. The one pocket and banks were played on six, nine foot tables. Predator Arcos II ball sets and Accu-Racks were used on all tables, supplied by event sponsors Predator Cues and Outsville Billiards, respectively. Big Tyme Billiards provided a smoke-free environment, and some of the best playing equipment Texas has to offer, for the billiard extravaganza.
Roberto Gomez (Chris Castaneda)
The true double elimination, 128-player open 9-ball division kicked off Saturday morning at 10am, and concluded on Sunday evening. In the final sixteen on the winners’ side, Ernesto Bayaua sent Manny Chau west, 9-2, Eric Aicinena overwhelmed Felipe Yniguez, 9-4, and John Morra overpowered Joey Bourgeois, Jr., 9-3. Las Vegas’ Scott Kitto slid by Andy Jethwa, 9-7, Roberto Gomez denied Kenneth Price, 9-5, and Austin’s Justin Espinosa eased past Steve Lenz, 9-8. Derek Fontenot beat Eric Cantrell, 9-4, and San Antonio’s Rick Moreno outplayed Jessie Moore, 9-4. The next round witnessed Aicinena oust Bayaua, 9-4, Morra deny Kitto, 9-3, and Gomez detour Espinosa, 9-3. Rounding out the final four, Fontenot bested Moreno, 9-3.
Advancing to the hot seat, Morra thwarted Aicinena, 9-2, while Fontenot upset Gomez, 9-4. Morra defeated Fontenot in the hot seat match, 9-6. On the one-loss side, Steve Lenz fought his way into the final eight with wins over Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, 7-3, Price, 7-3, and Bayaua, 7-2. Blaine Barcus eliminated eight players, including Cantrell, 7-3, Moore, 7-2, and Kitto, 7-4. Chau dusted off New Mexico’s Donivan Pedroncelli, 7-3, Cesar Arrechiga, 7-2, and Espinosa, 7-2, while Moreno ended Bourgeois, Jr., 7-3. Barcus maintained momentum, ousting Lenz, 7-4, but falling to Gomez by the same score. Chau handily beat Moreno, 7-2,and Aicinena, 7-4. Gomez defeated Chau, 7-2, and Fontenot, 7-1, to meet Morra in the finals. In the first set, Morra could not gain ground, while Gomez had the break down cold. Gomez dominated the first set, 9-2. In the second set, Morra seemed to regroup, but Gomez inched ahead to capture the second set, 7-5, and his first, Space City, open 9-ball division title.
Ernesto Bayaua
In the single elimination, 38-player one pocket division, teeing off in the final eight, Alex Calderone defeated Roberto Gomez, 4-2, while Kenneth Price made quick work of J.C. Torres, 4-1. Ernesto Bayaua slid past John Morra, 4-3, and John Gabriel overwhelmed Mark Nanashee, 4-1. Final four action witnessed Calderone eliminate Price, 4-1, and Bayaua escape Gabriel, 4-3. In the final match, it was a fight to the finish for Calderone and Bayaua. Players traded safeties and games, for hours, until a determined Bayaua pulled ahead to close out the set, 4-3, earning his first Space City, one pocket division title.
In the single elimination, 36-player 9-ball banks division, final eight action witnessed Chip Compton defeat Alex Calderone, 4-1, and John Morra shut out Kenneth Price, 4-0. Local favorite, Tommy Tokoph, curbed Mark Nanashee, 4-1, and Gary Lutman sent Gabriel packing, 4-1. Down to the final four, Compton struck a blow against Morra, 4-2, and Lutman upset Tokoph, 4-3.In the final match, Compton edged out Lutman, 4-3, to win his first, Space City, 9-ball banks division title.
Mille Almaraz
The 34-player, ladies open 9-ball division, featured defending champion, Ming Ng, returning champion, Natalie Rocha, Indiana’s Toni Tucker, and Canadian, WPBA Touring Professional, Suzanne Peters. Making their way to the winners’ side, final four, La Le overcame Mary “Princess” Avina, 7-6, Michelle Yim, 7-4, and Suzanne Peters, 7-2, while Ming “The Empress” Ng passed Michelle Abernathy, 7-3, Toni Tucker, 7-4, and Christy Grigsby, 7-4. Mille Almaraz detoured Ruth Paine, 7-3, Yvonne “The Casher” Asher, 7-1, and Natalie Rocha, 7-6. Laurie Clouette came on strong, with wins over Sara Bork, 7-4, Brandi Scott, 7-5, Loretta Miller, 7-2, and Teresa “Princess of Pool” Garland, 7-6. On the west side, reaching the final eight, Tucker shut out Rocha, 5-0, while Garland took out McHaney, 5-3. Peters overwhelmed Pierce, 5-2, and Petrosino sent Grigsby home, 5-3. On the winners’ side, Ng bested Le, 7-2, and it was Almaraz over Clouette, 7-2. In her hot seat match debut, Almaraz took down the defending champ, 7-5, further securing her position in a very tough field. Back on the one-loss side, Tucker took out Garland, 5-2, and Le, 5-3, while Petrosino ended Peters, 5-3, and Clouette, 5-0. Tucker claimed five matches before Petrosino stopped her run, 5-3. This was Petrosino’s eighth, match win, an incredible run to reach the final three, after losing her very first match to Melissa Smith, 7-5. Petrosino was forced to settle for third place, after suffering a 5-3 loss at the hands of Ng. The rematch between Almaraz and Ng was set in motion. A confident Almaraz took control of the first set, and did not look back. She defeated Ng, 7-4, to capture her first, Space City, women’s open 9-ball division title.
Lazaro Martinez III
The junior 9-ball division commenced on Sunday, featuring 13 competitors from across Texas. On their way to the winners’ side, final four, Gabriel Martinez defeated Aniyah Maldonado, 7-2, and Ace Smith, 7-2, while Lazaro “Little Laz” Martinez, III, bested Vania Davila, 7-0, and Jayden Holt, 7-1. Mary Grigsby outran Makenzlee Cameron, 7-4, and Cameron King, 7-4, while Kevin Gallegos slid past Nathan Garay, 7-6, and Eva Grigsby, 7-4. On the one-loss side, after suffering a first round loss to Holt, Tyler Miller was on a mission, eliminating Davila, 5-2, King, 5-0, and Maldonado, 5-3. Holt dusted off Cameron, 5-1, while Smith ended Garay, 5-2. Smith vanquished Holt, 5-2, and along with Miller, reached the final six, and the money. On the east side, the Martinez brothers faced off in the final four, with Gabriel advancing, 7-1, while M. Grigsby lost her bid for the hot seat to Gallegos, 7-2. G. Martinez made quick work of Gallegos, 7-0, to capture the hot seat. On the west side, Laz ousted Miller, 5-2, and M. Grigsby defeated Ace, 5-3. Laz went on to eliminate Grigsby and Gallegos, to meet brother Gabriel in the finals. Gabriel gave it his best shot, but was outmatched by Laz, suffering a two-set defeat. With this victory, Laz secured his third, consecutive, Space City, junior 9-ball division title.
The Space City Open is the largest pool tournament in Texas, featuring five divisions, and is held annually, the first week in December. For more information, visit www.SpaceCityOpen.com.
Texas is a big state, all 268,820 square miles of it. Female Texas pool players who’ve been competing against each other for any number of years might argue that while it may be a big state, it’s a small world after all.
This past weekend (Nov. 20-21), Jennifer Kraber, whose been making entries into her AZBilliards’ profile since the turn of the century, came from the loss side in the second stop of the 2021 On the Ball Ladies Tour and double dipped Courtney Peters to claim the event title. The last time these two met, pre-pandemic in February 2020, in the Ladies division of the 6th Texas Open 10-Ball event, Kraber got into the hot seat with a victory over Peters and downed her again in the finals. Kraber and Ming Ng, who met in the battles for 5th/6th at this event, had battled in the finals of the inaugural stop of the On The Ball Ladies Tour last month (Oct. 16-17), at which Ng claimed the title. They’d also squared off in the finals of the 2018 Texas Open 10-Ball, won by Kraber. Ng had defeated Kraber in the finals of the 45th Texas Open that same year. Kraber had defeated Ng in the finals of the Houston Open in 2015, while five years earlier, in the same event, they’d finished as runner-up (Ng) and 3rd (Kraber) to Amanda Lampert.
Small world. The $3,000-added 9-Ball event that drew 34 women this past weekend, was hosted by perennial big state, small world host, Skinny Bob’s in Round Rock, TX.
Kraber’s path to the winners’ circle ran through a bye, Darcy Durham 7-4 and Natalie Rocha 7-2, before coming up against Kim Pierce in a winners’ side quarterfinal. They battled to double hill before Pierce prevailed to draw Courtney Peters in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Peters had arrived after downing Michelle Cortez 7-5, shutting out Erica Hanlon, surviving a double hill fight versus Nicole McDaniel and in a winners’ side quarterfinal, sending Cristina Schneider west 7-4.
Meanwhile, Ming Ng was working her way through the lower portion of the bracket against Mary Grigsby 7-2, Teresa Garland 7-1 and Mille Almaraz 7-5 to draw Kim Sanders in the other winners’ side semifinal. Sanders had sent Carmel Luttrell 7-1, Jenna Bishoff, double hill, and Christine McClamma 7-2 to the loss side.
Sanders sent Ng over 7-5 for what turned out to be a match versus Kraber. Peters shut out Pierce to join Sanders in the hot seat match. Peters gave up only a single rack to Sanders to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Ng ran right into Kraber, who, following her defeat at the hands of Pierce, had eliminated Michelle Yim 7-1 and Jenna Bishoff, double hill. Pierce drew Nicole McDaniel, who was working on a four-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had recently included elimination wins over McLamma 7-3 and Michelle Cortez, double hill.
Kraber and Ng battled to a predictable double hill juncture, before Kraber advanced to a rematch against Pierce in the quarterfinals. Pierce had won her second straight double hill match, versus McDaniel to advance.
They’d battled to double hill in their winners’ side match and apparently Kraber wanted nothing to do with that a second time, in the quarterfinals. She gave up only a single rack to Pierce and advanced to a semifinal match against another Kim, Sanders. Kraber won that 7-4 to earn herself a double-elimination shot against Peters in the finals.
Kraber took the opening set 7-5. She followed it with a 7-4 win in the second set to claim the second stop of the On The Ball Ladies Tour.
A $100-added Best of the Rest Tournament drew 16 players on Sunday. Autumn Duncan downed Mille Almaraz in the finals. The tour also announced three End of Year award winners: Ming Ng – Tour Champion, Most Improved Player – Courtney Peters and a Best Sportsmanship award to Michelle Cortez.
Tour representatives thanked Kim and Tracy Sanders and their staff at Skinny Bob’s for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor On the Ball Co., and Draw Nation Streaming for providing the live stream. The next stop of the On the Ball Ladies Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Jan. 29-30, will be hosted by Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX.
Tim Smith, Albert Luna, Benjie Piamonte, Sam Manole, Ricardo Espinosa, Jesse Rizo, Justin Espinosa and Daniel Schneider
The 4th tour stop of the Predator Arcadia Centex Pool Tour drew 75 players for this 2-day, $2000 added 9-ball event. The Open Division featured many favorites including the current tour point ranking leader, Justin Espinosa, along with his father Ricardo, Predator Pro Team player Daniel Schneider and local favorites Sam Manole, Eric Aicinena & Albert Luna. On the women’s side, several state and national BCA champions were in attendance including Sophie Lopez, Kawania Watson, Cristina Schneider and recently relocated, Tamara Parlette as well as local favorites like Naomi Garcia, Mille Almaraz & Nancy Cardenas.
Pushing through the winner’s side was local player Sam Manole with wins over James Berry 7-1, David Evans 7-5, Christopher Ayers 7-3, Jesse Rizo 7-3, and Tim Smith 7-4. He eventually met current tour leader, Justin Espinosa in the hot seat match where Manole came up short 4-7. Justin found his way to the hot seat with wins over Justin Huber 7-0, Albert Luna 7-4, Eric Aicinena 7-3, Benjie Piamonte 7-2 and Daniel Schneider 7-1.
Stand out performance in their first Arcadia Centex Tour stop were Ricardo Espinosa and Tim Smith. Ricardo won his first few matches before falling to Daniel Schneider 7-3 but continued his run on the 1-loss side with 4 more wins before eventually being eliminated by Daniel Schneider again. Tim Smith had an impressive 3rd place finish with Daniel Schneider rounding out the 4th place spot.
Manole eventually made his way back for a rematch with Justin Espinosa but Justin sealed the deal in 1-set with a decisive 7-1 win which protects his lead in the overall tour rankings.
Cristina Schneider and Mille Almaraz
On the women’s side, Mille Almaraz made her way to the hot seat match with a first-round bye and wins over Ciara Keyes 5-2, Kawania Watson 5-4, and Sophie Lopez 5-3 before being sent to the 1-loss side by Cristina Schneider in the hot seat match. In their first Arcadia Centex events, Christy Grigsby & Sophie Lopez finished in 5th/6th Place followed by Kawania Watson & Tamara Parlette in 7th/8th. Naomi Garcia had a great finish with wins over Barbara Wisdom, Tamara Parlette, Sophie Lopez and Nancy Cardenas to take 3rd place. Nancy Cardenas started the tournament out strong with several wins until she faced the eventual winner, Cristina Schneider and eventually finished in 4th place. Cristina Schneider defeated Mille Almaraz in the finals to earn the win for the First Ladies division of the Arcadia Centex Tour.
A big thank you to all the tour sponsors that make the events possible including Predator Cues, Arcadia Billiard Cloth, Kamui, Brutal Game Gear USA, Outsville, James Hanshew, ROIS Leather and our streaming partners Backwards Billiards.
Together, between the Gulf Coast Regional Women’s Tour, the old OB Cues Tour and the current Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour, Tara Williams and Gail Eaton have chalked up 22 (recorded) event titles (more, if you count tours and events other than those three) in careers that go back 12+ (Williams) and 22 +(Eaton) years. At this past weekend’s (Saturday, July 31) stop #3 on the Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour, they finished runner-up (Eaton) and 3rd (Williams), having both lost a match to a competitor, Mille Almaraz, who recently moved back to Texas from Las Vegas and was competing on the tour for the first time. Eaton, who’d won the last stop on the tour in June, and Williams faced each other in the event’s semifinals, as Almaraz went undefeated in the $2,000-added event that drew 27 entrants to Stixx and Stones in Lewisville, TX.
Almaraz’ path to the winners’ circle went through three straight 7-3 wins, over Jessica DeMello, Cristina Schneider, and Christy Grigsby, to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Courtney Peters. Tara Williams, in the meantime, started off with wins over Julie Collins 7-3 and Marlina Nieves 7-2. She then dispatched Gail Eaton to the loss side 7-4, to arrive at her winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Kim Pierce.
Williams shut Pierce out and advanced to the hot seat match. Almaraz joined her after sending Peters to the loss side 7-2. Williams and Almaraz came within a game of double hill, but it was Almaraz, who edged out in front to claim the hot seat 7-5.
On the loss side, Eaton had followed her loss to Williams with a double hill win over Natalie Rocha and a 7-5 victory over Cristina Schneider to draw Peters. Kim Pierce drew Kim Sanders, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Peters and then, eliminated Marlina Sieves 7-2 and Michelle Cortez 7-4.
Eaton defeated Peters 7-4, while the two Kims fought to double hill. Kim Sanders prevailed to join Eaton in the quarterfinals. Eaton earned her rematch against Williams with a 7-4 win over Sanders.
In what was likely the ‘marquee matchup’ of the tour’s 3rd stop, the two wily veterans squared off to determine who would earn a second shot at the ‘newbie’ waiting for one of them in the hot seat. The match lived up to its unstated billing as the ‘one to watch.’ Eaton and Williams battled to double hill, before Eaton prevailed a second time.
It wasn’t over yet, though. Eaton chalked up and moved right into the finals, where she ran into her second straight double hill fight. Almaraz sealed the deal to claim her first Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour title.
Tour representatives thanked John and Anju Bergman, and their Stixx and Stones staff for their hospitality, as well as their new tour sponsor the On the Ball Company, which, as of the next stop – #4, a $2,000-added event, scheduled for Oct. 16-17 at Bogies Billiards in Houston, TX – will be known as the On the Ball Ladies Tour.
