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.

 

The Diamond Pool Tour is proudly sponsored by:

Germany’s Andreas Roschkowsky, who went undefeated to capture the Paris Open on the weekend of January 21-22, never did end up facing the event’s reigning champion, Nick Van Den Berg. That task fell to the UK’s Karl Boyes in the event semifinals. Boyes eliminated Van Den Berg and went on to challenge Roschkowsky in the finals. The event drew its maximum 64 entrants to qualifying rounds on Saturday at the Leader Club Billiard 94 in Sucy-en-Brie, a Parisian suburb, and moved to the Cercle Clichy Montmartre in Paris on Sunday for its final, single elimination rounds.

The two finalists – Roschkowsky and Boyes – opened strong in Saturday’s double elimination qualifiers, giving up only four racks between them as they chalked up identical 8-1 scores against their first two opponents; Severine Titaux and Jean Klug for Roschkowsky, Kem Sen and Stephane Vanel for Boyes. Reigning champion Van Den Berg gave up 10 racks in his first two matches against Alex Eve (4) and Olivier Mortier (6). Nikalaos Malaj gave up nine against Steve Leisen (4) and Joao Roque (5) and was the last of the four semifinalists.

Cristina De La Garza, who has recently emigrated to Europe, was among the early casualties in the qualifying rounds. She was shut out in the opening round by Quentin Clerc-Pithon, and though she battled to double hill in the first loss-side round, she was eliminated by Yves Bonnet.

The field whittled down to 16 players, and turned into a single elimination contest. Roschkowsky defeated Ivaylo Markof 9-6, survived a double hill battle against Stephan Cohan and downed Serge Das 9-3 to move among the final four. Boyes, in the meantime, after getting by Tilman Rumland 8-2, and Nicolas Kalb 9-5, defeated Nick Ekonomopoulos 9-3 to join his eventual finals opponent among those final four. Roschkowsky then eliminated Malaj 9-3, as Boyes was busy defeating Van Den Berg 9-6. Roschkowsky dominated the final match, allowing Boyes only two racks on his way to the Paris Open title.