Johnson wins nine on the loss side to challenge him in the finals
When Curtis Cardwell won his first Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour stop last year, tour representative Monica Anderson made note of the fact that Caldwell had been a “long-time player, (who’s been with us since the tour began in 2017); very loyal, very dedicated, always a contender at every event and just a damn nice guy.”
“His first win (at 2023 Stop #7 last July),” she added, “has been a long time coming.”
As it turned out, 2023 became Cardwell’s best recorded earnings year since he brought home $50 finishing 13th on the Texas Am Tour back in 2011. His second DFW 9-Ball Tour win, this past weekend (April 20-21) – at the same location as his first win last year, at the VFW in Sherman, TX – didn’t take as long. He did it a little differently this year. Last July, he worked through five matches on the loss side and double-dipped another tour veteran, Jonathan Rawlins, in the final. This year, in his first appearance on the tour, he won seven straight, jumping from nowhere in the tour standings to among the tour’s top 10. The $1,500-added Stop #4 on the 2024 tour drew 51 entrants to the VFW in Sherman.
Cardwell got by Robbie Smith (2) in the opening round before facing last year’s tour champion and this year’s current 2nd place competitor in the standings, Gus Briseno. Cardwell allowed Briseno only a single rack, advancing to lock up in a double-hill fight and win versus Hector Guerrero. In his winners’ side quarterfinal, he faced the competitor that he’d double-dipped in the finals to earn his first win last year, Jon Rawlins. Cardwell defeated him 7-5 to draw Dan Bowman in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Meanwhile, Steven Adkins was working his way to meet Cardwell in the battle for the hot seat. He defeated Neil Sidawi, double hill, Joshua Paredes 6-1, and Max Sun 6-4 to pick up Mitch Owen in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Cardwell defeated Bowman 7-2, as Adkins and Owen fought a double-hill fight for advancement to the hot seat match. Adkins won it and put up an almost double-hill battle for the hot seat. Cardwell closed it out at 7-5 to claim it.
On the loss side, Bowman picked up Mark Johnson, whose third-place finish in last month’s stop on the tour brought him into this event as 4th overall in the tour standings. Johnson had lost his opening match to Joshua Paredes, double hill, and set out on a nine-match, loss-side streak that would take him all the way to the finals. He’d recently eliminated Doug Winnet (loss-side win #5) 7-4 and Robbie Smith 7-1. Mitch Owen drew Kirit Patel, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Bowman, and on the loss side, downed Cody McComas 7-3 and eliminated Jon Rawlins, double hill.
Owen defeated Patel 6-5 (Patel racing to 7) and in the quarterfinals, faced Johnson, who’d eliminated Bowman 7-5. Johnson defeated Owen by the same 7-5 score and then, eliminated Adkins 7-3 in the semifinals.
Johnson stepped into the finals to play his 11th and possibly, his 12th match (four, or five more matches than anyone else). If anyone had the right to expect a little assistance in the momentum department, it would have been him. By the same token, 10 matches do have a way of taking their toll. Curtis Cardwell completed his six-match, undefeated streak with a 7-4 victory over Johnson to claim his first 2024 title and his second Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at the VFW in Sherman for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Cuetec and Associate Sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 18, will be hosted by Rusty’s in Arlington, TX.
Krystle Suarez, Bailey Barber, Monica Anderson and Tiffany Pryor
Two days after going undefeated on the DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour, Monica Anderson, part of a committee of tour members who run the tour, was still riding high on the joy-trip of winning her first regional tour event. The $500-added event drew 35 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
“Finally snapped one off,” she wrote in an e-mail sent to us here at AZBilliards, primarily to provide us with links to the event’s brackets, photos and payouts for use in preparing a report.
“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then,” adding by phone, two days later, “and, it only took me 5,858 games to do it.”
Though Anderson dates her pool career back as far as 1999, when she got started playing on a BCAPL team, her first appearance in our database came when she won $10 finishing 25th at a stop on the Hunter Classics Tour in 2002. Not only did she go undefeated to claim $615 more than that 2002 payout, she (rated as a ‘4’) defeated a ‘7’ (Krystle Suarez) in the finals. Suarez, who’d lost her second match, won seven on the loss side to face her, the last few of which were witnessed with increasing concern by Anderson.
“I hope it’s Krystle,” she told someone during the wait, “because she should be tired.”
And she was. When they finally met, Suarez asked, probably rhetorically, “I have to double-dip you, don’t I?”
She did. And then, she didn’t. Though as a long-time player, well aware of the game’s ups and downs, Anderson was cognizant that when those finals started, all that was important was the table in front of her and take it, as the sports cliché indicates, one ball, one game at a time. Nevertheless, the win surprised her.
“Oh, hell yes!” she said. “I felt I was playing well, but the biggest thing was, that given the opportunities, I closed it out and finished like I was supposed to.”
Anderson’s journey to the winners’ circle, following an opening round bye, went through Jannon Talmon, Nichole Clark and Bailey Barber, which set her up in a winners’ side semifinal against Tera Saunders, who’d been responsible for sending Suarez to the loss side in the second round. Tiffany Pryor, in the meantime, opened with a double hill win over Julie Stephenson and followed up with wins over Chouie Almora, Sisyne Bolajoko and April Gonzales to arrive at her winners’ side semifinal against Francisca Riza Pili.
Both matches, battling for the right to play in the hot seat match, went double hill. Anderson over Saunders, Pryor over Pili. Anderson, in a straight-up race to 4, claimed the hot seat 4-2 and waited, somewhat anxious and confident simultaneously, for Suarez to complete her loss-side run.
Pili and Saunders moved to the loss side and walked right into their second straight loss. Saunders drew a rematch versus Suarez, who had already chalked up four, loss-side wins and was looking for more with a little redemption to boot. She’d given up only four racks in those four matches, and only one over the last two of them; one to April Gonzalez and none at all to Desiree Collins. Pili picked up Bailey Barber, who reached her by defeating Kailye Stevens and Janna Talmon by an aggregate score of 10-1.
Suarez chalked up a successful rematch against Saunders 7-2, as Barber was busy making her loss-side aggregate score 15-2, eliminating Pili 5-1. Suarez then defeated Barber 7-3 in the quarterfinals and, for a shot at Anderson, waiting for her in the hot seat, Tiffany Pryor 7-2 in the semifinals.
Anderson began the finals with three ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 7, but would need to win only once. Suarez took a quick, early lead in the opening set.
“I broke, she ran,” said Anderson, “and then she broke and ran.”
“I had to change something,” she added, noting that at 0-2, she “started playing safeties and defense a bit more.”
The strategy worked. Anderson won three of the next four and it was knotted at ‘3’ with Anderson on the hill.
“She missed a crucial shot at the 8-ball,” said Anderson. “I made that 8-ball, but left myself with a long bank on the 9-ball.”
“I nailed it,” she added, finishing claiming her first regional tour title.
Tour representatives, including Anderson, thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Cuetec, Fort Worth Billiards Store, Kamui and Doc’s Billiards Office. The next stop on the DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, October 15, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
Carlos Jinez, Jon Rawlins, Dan Bowman and Scott Emory
Dependent on how any number of other players will have their winning points slotted into the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, Daniel Bowman’s victory this past weekend (Aug. 20-21) could elevate him from his previous spot at #84 to among the tour’s top 10 competitors. Bowman, the “long-time player, first-time winner,” (noted tour representatives), accomplished this by going undefeated at the $1,750-added event that drew 93 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
The 554-Fargo-rated Bowman opened up with a win over the 678-rated Roman Bayda and followed up with wins over Don Bullard, Greg Hogue and TJ Thetford to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against the “17-year-old phenom, making a name for himself,” Carlos Jinez. Jonathan Rawlins in the meantime, survived a first-round double hill fight against Mike Ledford, advanced to meet and defeat Burke Garfias, shut out Jesus Sorto and got by Ray Hinton to meet up with Tina Malm in the other winners’ side semifinal. Malm, one of 10 tour-record number of women who competed, had downed the tour’s #1-ranked competitor, Daniel Herring in a third-round, double-hill battle and would finish as the ‘last woman standing,” adding $200 to her cash prize.
Bowman downed the youngster Jinez 6-2. He was joined in the hot seat by Rawlins, who’d sent Malm to the loss side 7-2. Bowman claimed the hot seat with a bit of a flourish, shutting Rawlins out and waiting on Scott Emory, who’d been sent to the loss side by Malm in the fourth round and was working his way back to the finals.
Four matches into his seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had included recent wins over Donald Weathersby 4-5 (Weathersby racing to 9) and Steve Smith, double hill (4-9; Smith racing to 10), Emory picked up a re-match against Tina Malm. Jinez, in the meantime, drew Ruben Adame, who was working on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had recently included the elimination of Max Sun 6-3 and Monica Anderson, who put up a double hill fight that would leave her in the tie for 7th place and second-highest finishing lady in the event.
Jinez ended Adame’s loss-side streak 6-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Emory, who’d restricted Malm’s loss-side effort to a single match, but not before Malm had battled to double hill and forced a deciding game. Emory then stopped Jinez 5-1 in the quarterfinal match.
Emory completed his loss-side trip with a 5-1, semifinal victory over Rawlins, who was racing to 9. Emory battled Bowman to within a game of double hill in the first set of a true double elimination final, but Bowman edged out in front at the end and won the only set he needed 6-3 to claim his first Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Fort Worth Billiard Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 17-18, will be hosted by Jeffro’s Billiards in Canton, TX.
At the start of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2022 season, Neil Saidawi was headed in the wrong direction, so to speak. In the season opener, he finished in the tie for 13th place. In February, he slipped down to 17th and in March, he finished in the tie for 33rd place. In April though, he changed direction, finishing in the tie for 9th place, still a long way in tour standings from Daniel Herring, who sat atop the leaderboard. Last weekend (June 18-19), Saidawi went toe-to-toe against Herring three times, taking the last two in a double elimination final to claim his first (recorded) event title anywhere. The $1,750-added event drew 75 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Until Herring reached the hot seat match to face Saidawi for the first time, none of his six previous opponents had chalked up more than four racks against him, and that, only once, in his winners’ side semifinal match against Telly Shackelford. He’d given up an average of just over asingle rack per match to Cameron Cummings (0), Monica Anderson (2), Jennifer Cayot (1), Tony Ignomirello (1), Surmin Overovic (1) and finally, Shackelford (4).
Saidawi, in contrast, had to battle right from the start. After a bye, he played five matches to get to the hot seat match, three of which went to double hill, including his opening match versus Frank Granados. He followed that with wins over Joshua Paredes 6-4, Isaac Ruiz and Travis Arredondo (both double hill) and in his winners’ side semifinal, Greg Sandifer 6-5 (Sandifer racing to 8). As he came into the battle for the hot seat, he was four matches away from claiming the title and two of those would go to double hill, as well.
One of those two double hill matches was his first encounter with Herring. Herring won it 8-4 (Saidawi to 5) to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Shackelford picked up Arredondo, who’d followed up his loss to Saidawi with victories over Robin Barbour 7-4 and Jesse Moore 6-3. Sandifer drew Juan Parra, who was working on a modest, four-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Tony Top (#2 in tour standings) 7-2 and Surmin Omerovic 8-0.
Shackelford downed Arredondo 7-4, as Sandifer was stopping Parra’s loss-side streak 7-3. Sandifer defeated Shackelford 7-3 in the subsequent quarterfinals and walked right into a semifinal rematch against Saidawi, who chalked up his fifth and final double hill match of the event to earn his spot in the finals.
Saidawi started both of the final two matches with three ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 8 against Herring. He didn’t need them. Saidawi took the opening set 5-2 and claimed the event title by winning the second set 5-3.
Though both Herring and Top, at the . . . top of the tour standings, remained there, advancing further in points, Saidawi’s victory advanced him among the tour’s top 10. And arguably put his fellow competitors in the top 10 on notice that with the 2022 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour now past its midway point, he’s only half done.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 23-24, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
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.
He shot up from the ‘cellar’ of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, where he’d landed after the first tour stop back in January. He then finished in the tie for 5th/6th twice, in February and March; his highest (recorded) finish in any event, anywhere. This past weekend (April 23-24), Matt Wilson made a quantum leap, closer to the top of the tour standings, reaching the hot seat for the first (known) time and then, downing the tour’s current standings leader, Daniel Herring, twice in a true double elimination final. The $1,750-added event drew 93 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
In all three of his matches against Herring, Wilson started out with six ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 10. Even with that six-rack head start, FargoRate calculated his chances of victory at 35.8%. It’s likely that before very long, Wilson will be looking in the rearview at his current FargoRate of 517.
His FargoRate advantage came into play in almost every match Wilson played. He faced only one opponent with a lower rate, tour director Monica Anderson (454), giving her one ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to six and sending her to the loss side 6-3. He advanced through the field to face Paul Villanueva (606) in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Herring (689), in the meantime, was handing out racks to his opponents all day long. The closest FargoRate he faced was in his winners’ side quarterfinal against Robbie Cleland, to whom he gave a single rack in a race to 7. That match went double hill and advanced Herring to a winners’ side semifinal match against Jimmy Davis.
Wilson downed Villanueva 6-5 (Villanueva racing to 8) as Herring sent Davis to the loss side 8-1. In their first of three, Herring allowed Wilson only two of the four he needed, claiming the hot seat 10-2.
On the loss side, Villanueva picked up Cleland, who, after his double hill defeat at the hands of Herring, downed Roman Bayda 7-5 and Clint Palaci 7-1. Davis drew Jessie Moore, who’d lost his opening match to Steven Thorne and then won eight on the loss side, including recent victories over Nico Arriola and TJ Thetford, both 7-4.
Moore made it nine in a loss-side row, downing Davis 7-1. In a straight-up race to 7, Villanueva joined him in the quarterfinals after handing Cleland his second straight loss 7-5. In another straight-up race to 7, Villanueva stopped Moore’s loss side streak 7-4 in the quarterfinals, before having his two-match, loss-side run stopped by Wilson, who allowed him two less racks in the event semifinals than he’d given up in their winners’ side semifinal.
Herring was looking for his third straight tour victory, having won stops #2 & #3 in February and March. Given his 64.2% chance of winning just a single match, even if he hadn’t known that specifically, one would assume that going into the finals, his confidence level would have been high. But so, apparently, was Wilson’s. Both of the true double elimination sets in the final went exactly the same way. With six on the wire, racing to 10, Wilson won each set, having given up only two racks to Herring, claiming the title 4-2, 4-2.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for May 21-22, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
Since the pandemic landed on our collective heads two or three years ago and curtailed a lot of competitive activity, there has been a slow, but steady return of players, who either stopped playing altogether or in the absence of venue opportunities and availability of personal equipment, brought their game home. In addition to this return, there has also been an emergence on the part of players who for one reason or another have never been heard from before (or at least, very little) and are currently not only coming to the tables, but winning events for the first time.
Case(s) in point: Jennifer Hooten of Garland, TX, who, prior to this past weekend (Sat., April 9), had only cashed once at a regional tour event, finishing 13th at a stop on the mixed-gender DFW 9-Ball Tour, two years ago; a finish that made her the top female finisher at the event. She also won the 2019 Texas State BCA Women’s Fair Match Singles event in 2019, which went unrecorded by us here at AZBilliards. She came from the loss side at this most recent event to record her highest event finish on the tour, claiming her first regional tour title on the $500-added, Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Ladies Tour that drew 21 entrants to Stixx and Stones Billiards in Lewisville, TX.
Nancy Rios, from Dallas, came into the event with no recorded cash payouts whatsoever and advanced to the hot seat for the first time. As a result, her first recorded cash payout anywhere was the distinction of being an event’s runner-up. However one might assess the nature of the 21-entrant competition, anyone who’s ever stepped up to a pool table with cash on the line will tell you: You never forget your first win and/or first cash payout and the benefit of increased confidence in your efforts pays dividends the very next time you step to the table.
Hooten opened her winning campaign with a double hill win over Judy Frank and followed it with a 4-1 victory over Julie Stephenson, who was racing to 6, and has been recording cash payouts on the Hunter Tour, the OB Cues Ladies Tour and now, the DFW tour for over 20 years. Hooten advanced to face Ginger Abadilla in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Rios started with a victory over co-tour director Monica Anderson 3-1 (Anderson racing to 4), and downed Deliza Baumbach, double hill to Krystle Suarez in the other winners’ side semifinal.
With Suarez racing to 7, Rios advanced to the hot seat match with a double hill 3-6 win over Suarez. Abadilla joined her after sending Hooten to the loss side 3-1. In a straight-up race to 3, Rios claimed her first hot seat 3-1.
On the loss side, Hooten picked up Baumbach, who’d followed her winners’ side quarterfinal loss against Rios with victories over Ileana Sullivan 3-2 (Sullivan racing to 5) and Melissa Smith 3-1. Suarez drew Jennifer Pavlovick, who’d lost her opening match to Smith and was in the midst of a five-match winning streak that included the elimination of Julie Stephenson, double hill, and Tina Soto 5-2.
Pavlovick chalked up her fifth loss-side win, downing Suarez 5-4 (Suarez racing to 7). Hooten joined her in the quarterfinals with a shutout over Baumbach. Hooten put a stop to Pavlovick’s run in those quarterfinals 4-3 (Pavlovick racing to 5) and turned to a rematch against Abadilla in the semifinals.
Hooten allowed Abadilla only a single rack in the semifinals and moved on to what was the first (recorded) finals match for both her and her opponent. Hooten would need to win twice, and befitting a match, no doubt characterized by the mutual anticipation and eagerness, not to mention anxiety, of both competitors to claim their first regional tour title, the first set went double hill. With Rios racing to 3, Hooten won it 4-2. With emotions running in two separate directions (confidence and concern), Hooten chalked up all of the racks in the second set and claimed the title.
“Both of these ladies took advantage of the tour’s mission,” noted Co-Tour Director Monica Anderson, “designed to provide a fun, challenging, and rewarding tournament environment for both low, mid and high-level skilled players.”
“Our hot seat match (between Rios and Abadilla),” she added, “was a battle of two, skill level 3’s, who got there by taking advantage of missed opportunities by their higher-skill-level opponents.”
Anderson (along with co-tour directors Hooten and Abadilla) thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx and Stones Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore and Kamui. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Ladies Tour, scheduled for July 9, will be hosted by Rusty’s in Arlington, TX.
Tara Williams, Ginger Abadilla, Aryana Lynch and Alicia Stanley
Since Tara Williams recorded her first win on the former OB Cues Ladies Tour in 2009, she had gone on to the winners’ circle of that tour numerous times, including, in what turned out to be her best recorded earnings year (2015), victories on six stops of the tour and just for variety that year, added a win on the Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Tour. This past weekend (Saturday, March 12), the multiple BCA and ACS state and national champion chalked up her first recorded 2022 win, going undefeated to claim a DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour title. The $500-added event drew 36 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
By the time Williams reached her winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Jamie Tidmore, she’d won 21 of her first 27 games, having sent Anna Billington (1), Monica Anderson (2) and Crystal Jones (3) to the loss side. Ginger Abadilla, in the meantime, one of the lower-rated competitors in the event (at a 3), parlayed her handicap into a successful race to the hot seat match. She got by Kathy Knuth 3-3 (Knuth racing to 4, so double hill), Francisca Riza Pili 3-2 (Pili racing to 4) and Melissa Britt 3-2 (Britt racing to 5), which brought her to a winners’ side semifinal against Alicia Stanley (racing to 7).
Williams downed Tidmore 7-2, as Abadilla punched her ticket to the hot seat match with a 3-3 win over Stanley (once again, racing to 7). Abadilla’s ship of good fortune (and not to downplay her efforts, combined with skill and persistence) ran aground in the hot seat match. No doubt cognizant of Abadilla’s success getting to the hot seat match, Williams shut her out to claim the hot seat.
Meanwhile, back at the Loss-Side Ranch, there was another competitor making her presence known – Aryana Lynch, two-time Billiards Education Foundation Junior National Champion (2018; 16 & Under and 2021; 18 & Under), and twice, winner on the 2021 DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour. Lynch won her opener against Snowy Belt 6-2 and then, ran into Alicia Stanley, who sent her to the loss side 7-2. Lynch proceeded to embark on a four-match run that saw her win 18 of the 20 games she played against three opponents, giving up one each to Rachelle Dytko and Brooklyn Kanady, before recording a forfeit win over Melissa Britt and then, shutting out Orietta Strickland to draw Tidmore, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal.
In the meantime, Stanley, in her first loss-side match, drew Jennifer Kim, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Tidmore and embarked on a similar, albeit shorter, loss-side run. She played eight games and didn’t give up a single rack to either of her two opponents, Francisca Riza Pili and Jennifer Pavlovick.
Lynch extended her loss-side streak to five with a 6-2 win over Tidmore. Stanley joined her in the quarterfinals after putting a stop to Kim’s brief, but illustrious loss-side run 7-3. Loss-side win # 6 for Lynch ended Stanley’s run 6-2, and in the semifinals, loss-side win # 7, 6-1 over Abadilla, put her into the finals.
Williams put a stop to that potential ‘loss waiting to happen.’ She allowed Lynch a single rack and claimed the event title 7-1.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, Cuetec, Doc’s Billiards Office and Kamui. The next stop on DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, April 9, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Stixx and Stones Billiards in Lewisville, TX.
As a competitor on a regional tour, when the runner-up of the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships, who also finished third at last year’s World 10-Ball Championships and won an event on the CSI Predator US Pro Billiards Series back in September, shows up on the tour’s entrant roster, you have a tendency to pay attention. Pool is all about being in the moment at the tables and avoiding distractions related to who you might or might not have to face somewhere down the line, but when such a competitor pops up on your radar, you do scan the brackets every once in a while. And when you discover that this formidable opponent has only given up five racks through his first 54 games (winning almost nine out of every 10), your focus on the tables may be all well and good, but you do start wondering whether you might be one of the players designated to stop him.
That said, if you enter a tournament as one of three players at the top of a regional tour’s rankings, you might actually look forward to the challenge. It was Tony Top, who entered last weekend’s event as the number #2 competitor in the tour’s rankings, who met the challenge and stopped one Aloysius Yapp, from what might well have been an undefeated run to the title. Twice, in fact. It was, however, Daniel Herring, the tour’s 2021 Tour Champion, who entered the tournament ranked #5 (5th/6th in the season opener) and finished it in the #1 spot, ahead of Top by just two points. He did that by going undefeated through the field. He didn’t have to face Yapp, but he did down Top twice, in the hot seat and finals. The $1,750-added, Stop# 2 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour drew 80 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
Yapp’s ‘take no prisoners’ run through his first five opponents, as he was racing to 10, included two shutouts (Tina Soto and Miguel Hernandez), two matches in which he gave up two racks (his opening match vs. Jeffrey Cho and later, against Fahad Alrawi) and a single match that allowed Crispian Ng a single rack. All of which put him against Top for the first time, in a winners’ side semifinal. Top, with an opening round bye in his pocket, had gotten by his first four opponents – Jim Dixon, Robbie Cleland, Clint Palaci and Tony Loeper – by an aggregate score of 32-14 (70% game-winning average).
Herring, in the meantime, started his journey to the winners’ circle with wins over Chase Laferney (2), Darrell Smith (4), Matt Dixon (3), Sharik Sayed (5) and TJ Davis (4) and came to his winners’ side semifinal match against Juan Parra, sporting a game-winning average a single percentage point lower than Top’s at 69%.
Top began his first match against Yapp with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9 and came within a single game of chalking up as many (actual) racks against him in the single match than all five of his previous opponents combined. He sent Yapp to the loss side 4-7. Herring joined him in the hot seat match after downing Parra 7-2. In a straight-up race to 7, Herring claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Top.
On the loss side, Yapp and Parra picked up Matt Wilson and Sharik Sayed, respectively. Wilson was likely not thinking a lot about Aloysius Yapp when he began his eight-match, loss-side winning streak, initiated by Tony Loeper in the second winners’ side round. Like most people who lose an opening round in a large, double-elimination bracket, he was more likely to be focused on surviving the matches right in front of him. If he was bracket-watching at all, he might have noted that the guy who’d sent him to the loss side, Loeper, was progressing as well, and there was a chance, the way the bracket was working out, that he could get an opportunity for a rematch in the quarterfinal. That didn’t happen, because Loeper fell into the 7/8 slot. Wilson chalked up wins #7 & #8 against TJ Davis, double hill, and Denny Sneed 5-6 (Sneed racing to 9) before falling to Yapp 10-2.
Sayed was working on a modest, five-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Crispian Ng 8-4 and Loeper 9-3. He joined Yapp in the quarterfinals after eliminating Parra 8-4.
Yapp ended Sayed’s brief loss-side streak 8-4 in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch against Top in the semifinals. Top started this match, as well, with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He added four for a second time to end Yapp’s prior-to-him romp through the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball field.
Top now had to turn his attention to winning two matches in a row over Herring, waiting for him in the hot seat. He failed to chalk up two racks against him in what proved to be the only set necessary.Herring completed his undefeated run 7-1 to claim the event title.
Tour director Monica Anderson thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and associate sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop #3 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 19-20, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
The very nature of double elimination pool tournaments lends itself to the realization that it’s not generally how many matches or games you win, but how many you play overall and when you win them. Brian Cady was winner of the February 22-23 stop on the Predator DFW 9-Ball Tour. He took two out of three over Louie Pacheco, claiming the hot seat and the second set of the true double elimination final. He finished with a game-winning average of 63% (59-34). Pacheco finished with a game-winning average of 59% (71-49). Cady was third in the game-winning percentage sweepstakes, though, tied with 4th place finisher Jeff Georges, and behind 7th/8th place finisher TJ Davis (51-28/65%). Winner in that category was Jeremy Jones, who, at 68-30, played five more games than Cady, 22 less than Pacheco and finished 9th/12th having won 69% of his games. The $1,500-added event drew 97 entrants to Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
According to tour representative Monica Anderson, Cady was certainly what you’d call “under the radar” in this event (he’s a newcomer to our database as of this date) and was not originally going to compete.
“It was his daughter’s 7th birthday on Saturday,” said Anderson, “but his wife told him he could play since his daughter would just want to know what he would buy her.”
Good thinking on the daughter’s part, because Pop came home with just over $1,000, which she can now leverage into some serious swag of her choosing.
Daddy made it past Saturday in the field, advancing to face Joe Pelayo in a winners’ side semifinal, as Pacheco squared off against Mike Sauer in the other one. Cady downed Pelayo 7-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Pacheco, who’d sent Sauer to the loss side 8-2. Cady took his first of three against Pacheco 7-3, and sat in the hot seat, assured of a minimum $680 donation to his daughter’s swag fund.
On the loss side, where Jeremy Jones, among others, still lurked in the ‘field of dreams’ (so to speak), Pelayo and Sauer walked right into their second straight loss. Sauer fell 8-3 to JP Kinman, who’d been sent to the loss side by Pelayo in a winners’ side quarterfinal and started his loss-side work by eliminating Jones, double hill (8-9) and then TJ Davis 8-5. Jones had been defeated, double hill by Pacheco, in the 4th round and was working on a brief, two-match, loss-side winning streak, having defeated Juan Parra, before Kinman eliminated him. Pelayo was sent home 7-4 by Jeff Georges, who’d defeated Eric Smith 7-5 and Brendan Fuller 7-3 to reach him.
Kinman took the quarterfinal match over Georges 8-4, but had his four-match, loss-side streak terminated by Pacheco. They battled in a straight-up race to 8 to double hill before Pacheco prevailed for a second, and as it turned out, third shot at Cady in the hot seat.
As the lower handicap, Cady started each of the two final matches with a single bead on the wire in a race to 8. Pacheco’s momentum from the semifinal likely helped him in the opening set, which he won 8-3. Cady, though, with thoughts of having missed his daughter’s 7th birthday celebration for this, turned things around in the second set and won it 7-4 to claim the title and collect the cash for the daughter’s now-no-doubt extravagant gift.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Billiard Den for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Business Sponsor Ft. Worth Billiards Superstore and Associate Business Sponsors Aramith Balls, Outsville Racks, Rasson Billiards and JB Cases. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for March 28-29, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.