The first stop on the 2017 G Cue Billiard Diamond Pool Tour introduced a new player to the tour’s winners circle, and welcomed a long time member back.
The new season introduced a new format to the tour stops, which are now divided into a Fargo 625 and below “amateur” event starting on Saturday, and an “open” event for anyone that starts on Sunday. The amateur event drew a field of 45 players to Bullshooters on May 27th, ranging from two players rated 401, all the way to a 621 rated player. With higher rated players giving up one game for every 25 points difference in ratings, the top players struggled in early matches against the lower rated players. Eight of thirteen first round matches were won by the lower rated player.
Sunday play saw Maurer beat Duarte 8-2, and Pelton beat Johnson 8-6. Maurer then went on to take the hot-seat with a 7-3 win over Pelton.
On the one loss side, Hillen eliminated Hamman and then went on to send Duarte back home in 5th place. The other half of the one loss side saw Ampongan defeat Avila 8-3, but then drop his next match to Johnson 8-7. Hillen then ended Johnson’s tourney in 4th place with a 4-3 scoreline. Hillen then joined Johnson in the seats, after Pelton handed him an 8-2 loss.
The finals were a rematch of the hot-seat match, but this one was pretty lopsided as Maurer ran away with a 7-0 win for first place.
As the field narrowed, the winner’s side came down to one top player and three amateurs with Gus Briseno joining Jeremy Vicente, Fernando Prats and Nick Kline as the only undefeated players. Where other players had struggled with giving up games to the weaker players, Briseno had no problems at all, as he went on to take the hot seat after a 9-0 win over Vicente and a 9-1 win over Prats.
The one loss side came down to Prats and Pete Lhotka. Lhotka had found himself on the one loss side after one match, but put together an impressive winning streak that included wins over Joey Barrera, Chad Barber, Chris Adams, Martin Romero (revenge for his earlier loss), Vicente and Kline. Lhotka looked to be adding Prats to his list of victims when the late hour and back to back matches appeared to get the better of him. Lhotka faded and lost the match to Prats 5-6.
The rematch offered Prats another shot at Briseno, and while he bettered his earlier score against Briseno, it was still to no avail. Briseno came out on fire and took an 8-0 lead before dropping two games to Prats. Briseno then regathered himself and put the match away 9-2 for first place.
The G Cue Diamond Pool Tour will hold their second stop of the season at Skip & Jan’s in Gilbert, Az on June 17th – 18th.
The Diamond Pool Tour wrapped up their 2016 with a four-day season finale at Casino Del Sol Resort and Casino in Tucson on November 17th – 20th.
Day one of the event was about tour prizes and the “Big Dog” 9-Ball event. Casino Del Sol provided a great dinner for all of the players in attendance as Mitch Ellerman and Oscar Avila Sr. were presented with their tour point list prizes from tour sponsors Volturi Cases and Hanshew Custom Cues. Both players will also receive custom cues from tour sponsor QB Custom Cues. The drawing was also held for the pool table from tour sponsor Diamond Billiard Products. Players had earned entries in the drawing by playing in each event during the season. Proving that maybe he should be buying lottery tickets, Tucson’s Mike Hamman won the table drawing for the second straight year. Congrats to Mike, and good luck finding room for those tables.
Thursday night also saw eight players toss $100 into the ring to compete in a single elimination 10-ball mini tourney. Proving they had no fears about stepping up against the big boys, last year’s top junior Nick Kline and up and coming young gun Sam Lenschow both competed in this event. While neither won a match, it would be far from the last that the players would see of Lenschow at this event. The tourney came down to New Mexico’s Brian Begay and Gus Briseno. Briseno held an 8-6 lead in the final match, but Begay came back to score a 9-8 win for first place. Begay earned $800 for first, while Briseno settled for $400.
The main event kicked off early Friday evening with 48 players all playing at least one match across both “A” and “B” divisions.
Nineteen players made up the “A” bracket with the biggest Friday upset Mitch Ellerman’s early trip to the one loss side, courtesy of Brian Begay.
The “B” bracket saw twenty-nine players in action. The biggest surprise on day one wasn’t a result, as much as a score as JR Ascension scored a dominating 9-2 win over Junior Flores.
Saturday play saw each bracket whittled down to eight players each. The “A” bracket saw Scott Frost, Gus Briseno and Bret Huth joined by Tucson’s Kevin Peterson on the right side of the board. The one loss side was a dogfight all day, with Ellerman scoring wins over George Teyechea and Tom Dilorenzo to keep his tournament hopes alive. Begay bounced back from a 9-2 beatdown from Frost to eliminate Tonee Allin and qualify for the final day. Ellerman and Begay were joined by Mickey Provencio and Steve Peterman on the one loss side.
The “B” bracket saw Casino Del Sol’s own Paul Feltman Jr. cruise through the winner's side to stay undefeated. Feltman was joined on the winner’s side by Oscar Avila Sr., Todd Rowitz and Al Terpstra. The one loss side saw Sam Lenschow put on a show. Lenschow eked by Kent Bybee 9-8, but then defeated Mike Howerton 9-5 and Eric Beeler 9-6. Lenschow would be joined by JR Ascension, Adam Kroll and Steve Stowers.
Sunday play saw tournament favorite Scott Frost shown to the one loss side, courtesy of Brian Begay, 9-6. Peterson sent Bret Huth to the left side of the board by the same 9-6 score. Briseno would then go on to take the “A” bracket hot-seat with a 9-4 win over Peterson. Ellerman would be unstoppable on the left side with wins over Provencio, Frost, Huth and Peterson.
The “B” bracket hot-seat was taken by Feltman Jr. with wins over Avila and Rowitz. Lenschow would keep knocking down players on the left side of the board with wins over Terpstra and Stowers. He would finally fall to Todd Rowitz 9-5 and settle for a very impressive 5th place finish.
When the brackets came together, the “A” players did their jobs with Briseno sending Feltman to the left side 9-6, and Ellerman eliminating Rowitz 9-3. With the finish line in sight, Ellerman then sent Feltman Jr. back to his office with a 9-1 scoreline.
The final match would only go one set, with Briseno displaying his “A” game and grinding out a hill-hill win over Ellerman in the first set.
With the second season in the books, plans are underway for season three with changes already being planned. Stay tuned in early 2017 for announcements regarding those changes.
The Diamond Pool Tour’s second event of the season crowned a new champion, Gus Briseno, on May 14th – 15th. The event was 9-ball on the 7’ tables at Stingers. Briseno successfully came back from the one loss side to double dip Bret Huth in the finals.
The “A” division drew 26 players, and at first glance, the brackets looked to be set up for a Bobby Emmons/Mitch Ellerman hot-seat battle. The other 24 players had something to say about that though, and neither player made it to the hot-seat match. Ellerman fell to Bret Huth in a hill-hill second round match, while Emmons would only make it to the final four before falling to Briseno hill-hill. The “A” bracket hot-seat match came down to Huth vs Briseno, with Huth scoring the hill-hill win. On the one loss side, Briseno bounced back with a 7-4 win over Emmons to earn his place on the final bracket.
The “B” division drew 39 players, including tour newcomer Kurt Siebels. Siebels cut a path through the “B” bracket, with notable wins over Joe Chyzy, Brian Long and Michael Dale on his way to the hot-seat match, where he dispatched another tour newcomer, Tenadore Lee, 7-4. Tenadore would spend a short time on the left side of the board, as he eliminated Tucson’s Tonee Allin 7-4 to earn his place on the final board. Special note should be made of the performance from two former Junior players in this event. Both Michael Dale and Nick Kline are now too old to take advantage of the tour’s policy of allowing juniors to play for free, but that didn’t stop either of them from turning in great performances. Dale finished in 4th on the “B” bracket (7th overall) and Kline finished in 7th on the “B” bracket, 13th overall.
When the two brackets came together, Kurt Siebels came within one game of securing the hot-seat as a “B” player. Siebels fought to hill-hill before Huth was able to win the match 7-6. On the one loss side, Briseno had a slightly easier match as he defeated Lee 7-4. After seeing how close the Siebels/Huth match was, Briseno took no chances and beat Siebels 7-2 to earn his place in the finals against Huth. The first set of the finals saw Briseno score a 7-4 victory, which seemed to take the wind out of Huth’s sails, as Briseno then went on to score a 7-1 victory for his first Diamond Pool Tour victory.
As always, tour organizers gave their thanks to Dale and his staff for taking care of a room of pool players, Rick Schmitz for the best photos that any tour gets to enjoy, and “Fast” Lenny Marshall for tirelessly streaming another great two day event.
The Diamond Pool Tour will travel to Tucson for stop 3 on June 18th, where the players will be playing 10-ball on the 9’ tables at Pockets Billiards.
Pockets Pool & Pub in Tucson, Arizona was the site of the Diamond Pool Tour’s first “B” player hot-seat winner back in May. The September 10-ball event at Pockets was the site of the tour’s first “B” player forcing an “A” player to a second set in the finals. It was also one rack away from a second “B” player in the hot-seat.
The event, held on September 19th – 20th, drew a field of 45 players with 16 “A” players and 29 “B” players.
The “A” bracket saw Bernie Pettipiece grinding out one close win after another. Pettipiece started out with a 7-4 win over Gus Briseno and the matches just got tighter after that. Pettipiece’s last three matches – Nick De Leon, Bret Huth and Brian Reich – were won by a total margin of four games. Another player who stepped up in the “A” bracket at this event was Tres Kane. Kane had wins over Rudy Alameda and Jerry Stuckart, before dropping a hill-hill match to Reich. Kane would bounce right back with one loss side wins over Alameda, Bret Huth and Reich to earn his spot on the final bracket.
Tournament staff were warned ahead of time that the “B” players in Tucson played very strong. Those were not empty warnings. Tucson’s Ronnie Kidd III and Rick Galloway cruised through the winner’s side with only Kidd allowing one opponent more than four games against either of them. Kidd would take the hot-seat with a 7-2 win over Galloway, but Galloway would also qualify for the final bracket after a 7-2 win over Tonee Allin (Tuley).
The field of players boasted four female competitors, with Bernie Store quickly distancing herself from the others. Store’s 9th place finish earned her the Greenmail.com Top Lady Bonus of $100.
The two brackets came together on Sunday with Ronnie Kidd III taking Pettipiece to hill-hill in a tough match. Kidd stayed with Pettipiece til the end, before Pettipiece won the case game. On the one loss side, Rick Galloway showed that he had no fear of any of the “A” players as he dispatched Kane in 4th place 7-5. Galloway would ride the momentum from that win to a hill-hill win over Kidd in the semi-finals.
The final match was an intriguing one with both players more known for their one pocket games than their rotation games. As the match went on, both players were noticeably tired and opted for safeties instead of run-outs when faced with decisions at the table. Galloway would score a hill-hill win over Pettipiece in the first set of the finals, but Pettipiece would take control late in the second match and score a 7-4 win for his first Diamond Pool Tour win.
The Neil’s Garage Cabinets Second Chance Tournament on Sunday came down to two Tucson players as Mike Hamman defeated Aaron Purdy 3-1 for the hot-seat and 3-1 again in the finals.
Presenting Sponsor, Casino Del Sol Resort, provided vouchers for a two-for-one buffet to all players at the event.
With his fifth place finish, Brian Reich moves within 10 points of Bobby Emmons on the “A” player points list. Joey Barrera remains on top of the “B” players points list, but he can certainly hear the sounds of Nick Kline and Oscar Avila gaining ground on him. Nick Kline is having no such problems on the Junior Points List, as he is far in front of the rest of the competition.
Tour organizers thanked Curtis and his great staff for putting up with us for the weekend. Lenny Marshall put together another great stream and was assisted by “The Voice of the Diamond Pool Tour” George Teyechea on commentary. Rick Schmitz was also in attendance and provided the tour and players with more great pictures.
Due to delays in Skip & Jan’s reopening, the tour has postponed the stop that was scheduled for Skip & Jan’s until November. The Bullshooters stop that was scheduled for November has been moved up to October and will take place on Oct 3rd and 4th. The event will be 9-ball on the 9 foot tables.
The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) presented its 27th Annual Junior National 9-Ball Championships August 4-7, 2015. 130 billiard student-athletes represented 31 states at the South Point Hotel & Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada for this year’s event which took place in conjunction with the 2015 BCA Billiard & Home Leisure Expo.
Of the 54 competitors, this year’s title of 18 & Under Boys Champion went to California Jr. State 9-Ball Champion Chris Robinson of Ventura, CA. The arena exploded as he pocketed the winning 9 ball in the finals against Atlantic Challenge Cup U.S. team member Josh Franklin from Creve Coeur, IL. Robinson came from the one-loss side after losing his third match against former World Junior U.S. team member, Manny Perez from Kansas. Newcomers Nick Kline from Prescott Valley, AZ and Zach Gurganus of Marietta, GA both made a huge splash and all four boys will be representing the U.S. at the upcoming WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships.
In the 18 & Under Girls division, 15-year-old April Larson went undefeated to continue her reign as girls champion. Minnesota’s star won 9-6 in a single-set finals against 15-year-old Emily Herpel from Freehold, NY. Third and fourth place went to junior nationals first-timers Amber Jackson of South Carolina and Hannah Hohn of South Dakota. All four ladies will be invited to represent the U.S. at the upcoming world championships.
From the field of 46 14 & Under Boys, 12-year-old Nathan Childress of North Chesterfield, VA returned with his sights set high after last year’s third place finish. With proud mom and coach present, the VA junior state champion played a near perfect set against IL & PA junior state champion, 13-year-old Kaiden Hunkins of Waukesha, WI. Both boys will also be invited to be a part of team U.S. at the upcoming world championships. Connecticut’s Lukas Fracasso-Verner and Daniel Sardoncillo of Washington both had notable third and fourth place finishes.
The 14 & Under Girls division went to 12-year-old Ashley Fullerton of Lake Park, MN but not without a fight. 12-year-old Tatum Cutting from Diamond, OH was down 8-1 in the finals ultimately losing the set 9-6 but she never gave up. Massachusetts’ players Vivian Liu (first-timer) and Keila Perez finished third and fourth respectively. Fullerton will be representing the U.S. at the upcoming world junior championships.
Interestingly, all the finals finished with a score of 9-6.
* Earned entry into 2015 WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships
Newly implemented this year was the Sportsmanship Award presented by Lindenwood University. Players, spectators and staff all voted for players they believed showed remarkable sportsmanship during their matches. This year’s recipients were:
18 & Under Boys Division
Nick Kline, 17 (Prescott Valley, AZ)
18 & Under Girls Division
Serena Black, 17 (Warrensburg, IL)
14 & Under Boys Division
Nathan Childress, 12 (North Chesterfield, VA)
14 & Under Girls Division
April Czarnecki, 14 (Urbandale, IA)
The winners from each of the four age divisions (18 & Under Boys, 18 & Under Girls, 14 & Under Boys and 14 & Under Girls) received academic scholarships, custom engraved trophies and sponsored prize packages valued at nearly $2,000. Along with their victories, they also earned an opportunity to represent Team U.S.A. at the upcoming 2015 WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships in Shanghai, China in November. The top four finishers also received trophies and prize packages.
Polo shirt sponsors: CueStix International & Presidential Billiards
Good bag sponsors: Kamui, Billiards Digest, Pool & Billiard, Professor Q-Ball, Tweeten Fibre, Aramith, OB Cues, Pechauer Custom Cues, PoolDawg.com, Simonis, CSI, Specialty Incentives, Downtown LV Visitors Center and LV Visitor’s Authority
Winners’ Prize Sponsors include: Predator Group, Worldwise Imports, Dr. Dave, Bullseye Billiards, Ricky Bryant & Omega Billiards, Pool Hall Plushies and Championship
Premier Sponsors of the 2015 Junior National 9-Ball Championships: Iwan Simonis, Inc, Billiard Congress of America, Diamond Billiard Products and Aramith
Official Media Sponsors: AzBilliards.com, Billiards Digest, InsidePool, Pool&Billiard, Professor Q-Ball and, NYCGrind.com
Links to online brackets can be found at http://billiardeducation.org/2015-jnc-updates/ courtesy of Bad Boys Billiard Productions. Live stream (courtesy of Rail2Rail.tv) and live scoring (courtesy of ScoreSaloon.com) were also available at that link.
40 billiard student-athletes with GPAs of 3.5 or higher were recognized at the event’s banquet as this year’s BEF Academic All-Americans. Banquet guests were also treated with special guest speakers “Dr. Cue” Tom Rossman and Hall-of-Famer Allison Fisher.
Also new this year was the new Kamui Quest for Excellence award given to eight recipients this year with a 4.0 GPA. These outstanding student athletes were each presented with a custom Kamui award along with a sponsorship package from Kamui. This year’s recipients were: Serena Black, Joey Bourgeois, Jr., Michelle Jiang, April Larson, Vivian Liu, Andy Poutry, Katlin Schilling and Evan Swett.
Great appreciation go to the event staff and volunteers who have made this a first class event year after year: longtime tournament director Earl Munson, tournament & event assistant Tammy Jo Leonard and her husband Mel, longtime National Head Referee Rick Doner and National Referee John Taylor, Gina Sinlao, Irene Bautista, “Dr. Cue” Tom Rossman, Allison Fisher, Marc Vidal, and Jerry Tarantola for creating the special banquet video. Special Thanks also goes to Jason Secor and Ross Smith. And and extra SPECIAL THANKS goes to Tim Chin for all his amazing support before and during the entire event.
Any young players interested in participating in next year’s BEF Junior National 9-Ball Championships or State Championships should visit the BEF website at BilliardEducation.org or call the office at (303) 926-1039.
Scott Frost knew he would have to defeat the best that Arizona pool has to offer in order to win his second Diamond Pool Tour of the season at Stingers on June 6th – 7th; what he wasn’t expecting was that he would also have to beat a couple of the best players that France and Spain have to offer.
The field of seventy one players was split with twenty six “A” players and forty five “B” players in attendance. Fans were treated by the play of French National Champion Nicolas Kalb and top Spanish player Daniel Jimenez, who took a break from visiting friends in Las Vegas to come out to Arizona and see how they fared against the players on the Diamond Tour. Kalb would score wins over JR Burhart and Gus Briseno before dropping a 5-3 match to Frost. Jimenez would score wins over JR Jiron and Nick De Leon before falling to James Lester 5-4. Frost would go on to take the “A bracket” hot-seat with a 5-2 win over Lester.
Play was extremely competitive in the “B bracket” with Ed Scott and Joey Barrera distancing themselves from the pack. Barrera had notable wins over Brian Poore, Oscar Avila and Sara Miller before beating Scott for the “B Bracket” hot-seat.
With a 7th place finish in the event, Sara Miller easily won the Greenmail top lady bonus, as well as the ladies side pot.
While Bobby Emmons finished out of the money, he did earn the $50 Greenmail bounty on last month’s winner Spike Aiardo. Aiardo turned in an uncharacteristic “2 and out” performance, with losses to Mike Sandoval and Emmons.
When the two brackets came together on Sunday, it was Frost scoring a 5-2 win over Barrera on the winner’s side, and Spain’s Jimenez defeating Tony Page 5-3 on the one loss side. Jimenez went on to defeat Barrera by the same 5-3 score, but could only manage two racks in the lone set of the finals as Frost won 5-2.
The Neil’s Garage Cabinets Second Chance tournament saw JR Burkhart defeat a field of seventeen players for first place. Burkhart defeated Jamie Cole 3-2 for the hot-seat and then blanked Todd Rowitz 3-0 in the first set of the finals.
Presenting Sponsor, Casino Del Sol Resort, provided vouchers for all of the players in attendance. Each voucher was good for a $60 credit at the Casino’s amphitheater.
There was no movement at the top of either points list with Frost and Nick Kline leading their respective lists. Aiardo still clings to second place on the “A Player” list, while Barrera and Rick Schmitz are tied for second place on the “B Player” list.
Tour organizers expressed their thanks to Dale and his staff for putting up with us pool players for two long days. Lenny Marshall put in overtime at this event as he manned the streaming camera and commentary all weekend. Rick Schmitz was also on hand, providing the tour with more great photos. The tour just wouldn’t be the same without the help of everyone involved.
The Diamond Pool Tour will take July off, for a well deserved summer break, but will be back in action on August 15th and 16th for the Arizona State One Pocket Championship at Kolby’s Corner Pocket in Tempe.
Nick Kline and Spencer Ladin won their respective divisions to earn crowns at the 1st Annual Arizona State Junior 9-Ball Championships at Bull Shooters Sports Bar and Grill in Phoenix Arizona on May 16th
While the 18 & Under open division was won by early favorite Nick Kline, the win was not easy for the 17 year old player. Kline took the hot-seat with convincing wins over Oscar Avila Jr, and Mark Avalos, but he would be tested before his final victory. On the one loss side, Avila Jr followed up a hill-hill win over Mike Dale with a 7-2 win over Avalos for his spot in the finals. The first set of the double elimination finals went to Avila 7-6. Parents and fans watching the finals were treated to another hill-hill match in the second set, this time won by Kline.
The 14 & Under open division saw California’s Spencer Ladin race to the hot-seat with wins over Tory Conley, Jaden Lord and Jaynythan Craig. Ladin’s opponent in the finals was James Diaz, who bounced back from a first round loss to win three straight matches. The first set of the finals saw Diaz score a 7-4 win to force a second set, but Ladin came back to win the second set by an identical 7-4 scoreline.
Tournament staff thanked Bullshooters owner Mike Bates and his staff for hosting yet another great event. Thanks were also given to parents Donna Dale and Candi Kline for their help in putting put the event together.
