Max Sun, a skill-level 4, a newcomer from Wylie, TX and new to the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, signed on to last weekend’s (May 21-22) $1,750-added event (Stop #5) and went undefeated through a field of 83 entrants to win his first (recorded) regional tour event at Snookered in Frisco, TX. Though he did not have to face the top two competitors in point standings on the tour (Daniel Herring and Tony Top), he did work his way through seven opponents, all of whom entered the tournament with higher Fargo Rates than his own (450). The average Fargo Rate of his opponents was 556, which, on average, from start to finish, gave him a little less than a 1 in 3 chance of winning each of his seven matches.
All of which begs the question, “How did that happen?” To which the only answer is a familiar one – “It happens.”
According to tour director Monica Anderson, though engaged in giving the man the credit he was due for his accomplishment, Sun “capitalized on opponent’s mistakes, and had a few decent runs, and break and runs.”
“(That’s) easy to do if you get the rolls on a barbox table,” she said.
After an opening round bye, the only competitor that Sun faced against whom he played a straight-up race (to 5) was his first against Jim Dixon. He defeated Dixon 5-2, after which he did not face an opponent below a skill level of 7 until he was in the finals against Joshua Paredes (6). After Dixon, Sun downed Carl Oswald (racing to 8) 4-5, Darrell Smith (to 7) 5-0, and Neil Sidawi (to 8) 4-6, arriving at a winners’ side semifinal against Michael Oman. In the meantime, Sun’s eventual hot seat opponent, Mohammed Alrawi, got by Andy Kiesling, Miguel Hernandez and Will Lovos to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Paredes.
Sun chalked up for his first hot seat match with a 4-4 victory over Oman (racing to 8). Alrawi joined him after sending Paredes to the loss side, double hill (7-4). Sun claimed his first hot seat with a double hill win (4-7) over Alrawi.
On the loss side, Oman picked up Rick Stanley, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Paredes and went on to defeat Pete Stovall 9-1 and Will Lovos 10-3. Paredes drew Jimmy Fujimori, working on a modest four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated, in straight-up races to 7, Neil Sidawi and Miguel Hernandez, both 7-4.
Stanley and Paredes advanced to their rematch in the quarterfinals; Paredes, double hill (6-7) over Fujimori and Stanley ousting Oman 9-1. Paredes won the rematch 4-3 (Stanley racing to 10) and denied Alrawi his rematch versus Sun with a 5-5 win in the semifinals (Alrawi racing to 7).
Sun began the finals with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 6. They battled to double hill before Sun closed out his first shot at a final and claimed his first event title.
Aaron Fleming and Blake Kamiab battled twice – hot seat and finals – in an 18-entrant Second Chance event. Fleming came out on top in both of them, downing Kamiab the first time, double hill (2-4) and the second time 2-3. Kamiab had come back from a shutout victory over Matt Delgarza in the semifinals.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour will return to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX, where the 2022 tour began this past January. The $1,750-added event is scheduled for the weekend of June 18-19.
It seemed as though a majority of the nation’s pool players were competing in Texas over the September 7-8 weekend. Half of that hypothetical majority (93) was competing at the Houston Open in League City, while the other half (96) was apparently at Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX for the $1,500-added, 9th stop on the Dallas-Ft. Worth 9-Ball Tour. In both events, the eventual winner went undefeated, while the runner-up battled back from an early loss to challenge the hot seat occupant. In the Houston Open, it was Dennis Orcollo stopping an 11-match, loss-side winning streak by Roberto Gomez (separate story). In the DFW Tour stop, it was Tim Larson stopping the 10-match, loss-side winning streak of Jeremy Jones.
Larson’s victory, his second on the 2019 tour, added to what has already been his best earnings year to date and cemented his position at the top of the DFW Tour’s standings, ahead of Greg Sandifer and TJ Davis. Jones, whose best earnings year to date in a career dating back 21 years, was in 2003, was looking for his first win on the 2019 DFW Tour, having won the 2018 season final of the tour. Earlier this year, he’d won the Derby City Classic’s One Pocket Mini event, had three other cash finishes at Derby City and a 65th finish at the US Open 9-Ball Championships.
They almost met in the event’s third round. Larson opened with a 9-1 victory over Monica Anderson, as Jones was enjoying the benefits of an opening round bye. Larson then defeated Jim Smith 9-4 and advanced to face Juan Parra, who had just sent Jones to the loss side 7-5. Larson went on to defeat Parra, Jim Talmon and Jud Hunter to face TJ Davis in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Denny Sneed, in the meantime, squared off against Jesus Sorto in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Larson defeated Davis 9-6 and was joined in the hot seat match by Sneed, who’d sent Sorto to the loss side 8-3. Larson claimed the hot seat and waited (no doubt with some concerns) for Jones to complete his 10-match, loss-side winning streak.
On the loss side, Jones won his first four matches by an aggregate score of 40-6. Things tightened up a bit in his next three, which led him to pick up Davis, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. He defeated Jeff Georges, Amos Bush and Greg Sandifer by an aggregate score of 30-17 (5, 5, and 7, respectively) to face Davis. Sorto drew Chris Gaither, who was working on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had recently included victories over Jud Hunter 7-5 and Mohammed Alrawi 7-2.
Sorto ended Gaither’s streak 7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Jones, who’d eliminated Davis 10-5. Jones, returning (for the moment) to earlier loss-side form, gave up only a single rack to Sorto in that quarterfinal match (10-1).
Jones didn’t give up many more than that to Sneed in the semifinals. Jones won it 10-3 for a shot at Larson in the hot seat.
Larson started the opening set of true double elimination finals with ‘one bead on the wire’ in a race to 10. He completed his undefeated run with a 9-6 victory over Jones to claim his second 2019 DFW 9-Ball Tour title.
A Second Chance event that drew nine entrants was won by Dakota McBride, with Cameron Cummings as the runner-up. The best female finisher in the event was 16-year-old Aryana Lynch, the BCAPL’s 2018 Women’s 9-Ball Singles Champion and 2019 Women’s 8-Ball Singles Champion, who finished in the tie for 13th amidst the field of 96. Along the way, as a skill level 6, she defeated skill level 7 players Juan Parra, Corey Flud and Rodney Williams.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered Billiards, as well as tour title sponsor Predator Cues and main event sponsors Ft. Worth Billiards Superstore, JB Cases, Accu-Rack, CSI, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball League, BCAPL, RackEm TV (streaming sponsor), FargoRate, and IMS (Internet Marketing Solutions). The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 19-20, will be hosted by the Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
After eight stops on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, Tim Larson has retained his top spot in the tour standings. On the weekend of August 3-4, however, the owner of the #3-spot in those tour standings, Greg Sandifer, went undefeated, downing Larson twice (hot seat and finals) to claim the event title and edged up a single spot to take over the #2 spot in the standings. TJ Davis, who owned that #2 spot prior to this past weekend’s event, finished in the tie for 7th/8th, which earned him enough points to slip only a single spot into third place. The $1,500-added event drew 77 entrants to CK Billiards in Dallas, TX.
Sandifer’s seven-match path to the winners’ circle saw him give up more than three racks to an opponent only three times. After an opening round bye, he advanced through Casey Dawson 8-2, Mohammed Alrawi 8-3, Ricki Casper 8-2, and Amos Bush 8-5 to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against JP Kinman. Larson, in the meantime, though after a bye, he’d open with a 9-2 win over Darrell Smith, found himself facing stiffer opposition. He got by Robin Barbour 9-6, Randy Staggs 9-1 and Jesus Sorto 9-6 to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal match against Robert Clark.
Sandifer and Larson advanced to the hot seat in matches that reflected their earlier efforts. Sandifer downed Kinman 8-2, as Larson held off Clark 9-6. Sandifer, who’d had only one opponent reach as far as five racks against him until he played in the hot seat match, gave up six to Larson, but he claimed the hot seat 8-6 and waited on Larson’s return.
On the loss side, Kinman picked up the always-dangerous Jeremy Jones, who’d been defeated in a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal match by Robert Clark and then downed Andrew Talton 10-2 and TJ Davis 10-5 to face Kinman. Clark, in the meantime, drew Doug Winnett, who was in the midst of a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that included recent victories over Jeffrey Wadsworth 7-1 and Amos Bush 7-2.
Winnett spoiled any potential rematch between Clark and Jones by defeating Clark 7-5. Jones, in the meantime, eliminated Kinman 10-5. Jones then put an end to Winnett’s loss-side winning streak, double hill, in the quarterfinals; 10-6, Winnett racing to 7.
As of this past weekend, 260 players had figured in the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s eight events so far, some of them, multiple times and many of them, all eight times. It was Jones’ first recorded appearance on the 2019 tour and as he moved into the semifinals, he was looking at the possibility of moving into the top 20 of the tour’s standings (if he ended up claiming the event title), among the top 27 or so if he finished as the runner-up and among the top 37 or so if he finished in third place.
He and the tour’s #1 player in the standings, Larson, battled to a predictable double hill point, before Larson (who started with ‘one on the wire’ in a race to 10) dropped the last 9-ball in the match’s 17th rack to earn himself a second shot at Sandifer in the hot seat. Larson, who’d finished as runner-up in the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s stop in June, repeated as runner-up in this one. Sandifer shaved a rack off of Larson’s performance against him in the hot seat match, downing him 8-5 to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at CK’s for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Fort Worth Billiards, Granite Guyz, Dallas 8-Ball, FargoRate, BCA Pool League, Internet Marketing Solutions (IMS), CSI, Accu-Rack and JB Custom Cue Cases. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Sept. 7-8, will be hosted by Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
