Paul Feltman Jr. went undefeated over the April 30th – May 1st weekend to win the Arizona State Three Cushion Championship; held by the Arizona Billiards Hall of Fame at Tucson Billiards in Tucson, Arizona.
The seventeen players were broken up into three groups, playing 20 point matches. Feltman emerged from his group with a perfect 4-0 record, after wins over Tres Kane, Lee Collins, Choung Nguyen and Paul Feltman Sr. Also emerging from that group were Collins with a 3-1 record, and Nguyen with a 2-2 record.
Feltman made quick work of his first match in the single elimination final eight bracket, as he defeated Pettipiece 25-10 in only 17 innings. Other first round matches saw Lorenzo Corral defeated Hendrickson 25-16, Lee Collins over Andres Lopez 25-19 and Alejandro Barbosa over Nguyen 25-24 in a marathon 41 inning match.
The final four saw Barbosa defeat Collins 25-6 and Feltman fighting back in a match that he didn’t lead until the final carom, to defeat Corral 25-24.
The final match between Barbosa and Feltman went 37 innings with Feltman coming out on top by the score of 31-20, and Feltman was crowned the 2022 Arizona State 3 Cushion Champion. Feltman won $1,000 for first place, and was also the winner of the $100 high run bonus for his run of seven
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.
Vilmos Foldes added the second stop of the Diamond Pool Tour (presented by Casino Del Sol Resort) to his resume with an absolute clinic on top level big table 9-ball at Bullshooters on March 14th – 15th.
With the field of 93 players split between “A” and “B” players, Foldes found himself in a bracket with 25 other “A” players. Foldes started out with tough wins over Ben Sutherland, George Teyechea and Bret Huth, before Bobby Emmons sent him to the left side of the board with a 9-7 scoreline. Emmons would go on to compete for the “A bracket” hot-seat, where he lost to Brian Reich in a tough 9-6 match.
The “B Bracket” was filled with 67 players, with a number of surprise results. Players, who might not have been known for their big table games, showed the fans that they can run out with the best of them, no matter what size the table is. Oscar Avila, Brian McGee and Timber Bridgewater all turned in terrific performances, which surprised a number of opponents along the way.
Avila would face off against Tucson’s Rick Schmitz (who was working double duty as tour photographer and competitor) for the “B Bracket” hot-seat. Avila would win with a hard earned 9-7 scoreline.
The Junior players were well represented at this event with ten players taking advantage of the tour’s “free entry for juniors” policy. Current junior points leader Nick Kline was once again the top junior finisher, with notable wins over Trevor Long and Chris Carpenter before falling to Paul Feltman Sr.
The Greenmail top lady bonus money was split between former Junior standout Heather Cortez and Tina Hess.
The Greenmail bounty on last month’s winner Scott Frost, was collected by Ben Sutherland, who ended Frost’s tournament in 17th place.
When the “A” and “B” brackets finally met on Sunday, Reich scored a 9-4 win over Avila, to take the event hot-seat.
Foldes started Sunday play with a very tough 7-6 win over Tres Kane, which must have forced the Hungarian champion to find his “A game”, as he defined the word “domination” for the rest of the day.
Next up for Foldes was Bret Huth, with that match going to Foldes 7-0. A rematch with Bobby Emmons would end with Foldes scoring a 7-1 win. Tucson’s Mike Hamman was the next victim of a 7-1 scoreline and Foldes has turned in a 21-2 record over three straight alternating break matches. Foldes stretched that record to 28-2 with a 7-0 win over Avila in the semifinal match.
The final match would go two sets with Foldes continuing to show the fans in attendance what top level 9-ball looks like. Reich was able to notch two games in the first set, but ultimately fell 9-2. Foldes would see the finish line in the second set and he pushed on for a convincing 7-0 victory and a combined 44-4 record over his last seven matches.
The Neil’s Garage Cabinets second chance tournament on Sunday drew 20 players, with last month’s runner up Steve Blackburn going undefeated for first place. Blackburn scored back to back wins over Paul Feltman Jr, first for the hot-seat and then in the finals, for the win.
With his 5th place finish combined with second place in February, Bobby Emmons has taken a 40 point lead on the “A” player points list. Oscar Avila’s 3rd place finish in this event helped him take a slim 20 point lead over Guyle Fielder on the “B” player points list.
The next event on the Diamond Pool Tour is 9-ball on the 7 foot Diamond Smart Tables at Stingers in Phoenix on April 11th – 12th.
Event organizers expressed their thanks to Mike & Julie Bates, as well as all of the great staff at Bullshooters, for hosting this crowd of players. Thanks also go out to Rick Schmitz for another batch of excellent photos and a great 5th place performance.
On October 5, the Desert Classic Tour rolled into Stingers Sports Bar for a bar table 10 ball event. 24 players arrived on Saturday morning to play in the final B/C event of the year. Many notable regulars were on hand including previous BC winners Rick Armbrust, Mike Hamman, and Jude Espinosa. The tour also welcomed some new players in Ken Cottrell, Joe Avila, Jimmy Brewer and Nick Cipiti.
As the tourney quickly moved through on Saturday, it was decided that a one-day
event was possible. Many of the players agreed with finishing it out late Saturday evening. As the sun set and evening approached, two players began to separate themselves from the rest of the field. Nick Cipiti was mowing down players in the top half of the bracket by scoring wins over Joe Avila, Reid McKinley, and Paul Feltman. After a bye in the first round, these victories would place Nick in the hot seat match on Saturday night.
While Nick was clipping off players in the top of the bracket, a well known Flagstaff player, Junior Jiron, was finishing off the bottom half of the bracket. He too, would receive a bye in the first round and proceed to rattle off wins over Adam Kroll, Chris Miller and Rick Armbrust. His wins would pit him against Nick in the hot seat match.
Meanwhile, over on the B side of the bracket, previous winner Mike Hamman was making quick work of his opponents. After losing his first match of the tourney to
Rick Armbrust, he would roll through Jerry Hartnett, Jude Espinosa, Joe Masi and Sara Miller. This would setup a rematch with Rick Armbrust. Unfortunately for Mike, Rick played as solid as he has all year on the tour and walked away with the victory. Mike would settle for a 5/6 finish.
As the B side progressed, Nick made quick work of Junior in the hot seat match. Nick would cruise to an easy 7-3 victory and await the winner of Rick and Junior. As easily as he lost the hot seat match , Junior would rebound and score a dominant 7-2 victory over Rick, leaving him with a 3rd place finish.
During the finals, both players would make some uncharacteristic mistakes. At 4-4 in the straight race to 7, it was obvious we were in for a close finish. Nick would take the lead at 5-4, only to see Junior win the next two games and reach the hill at 6-5. Nick would quickly tie the match at 6-6. After a scratch on the break in the case game, Junior was faced with a tough out, despite having ball in hand. After 12 games, the players were tied at 6 games a piece. Junior would attempt a 1-10 bank combo only to come up a little short. Faced with a tough out of his own, Nick studied the table and attempted a 1-10 cross side combo bank of his own. Nick would nail the shot to take home the win!
Thank you to Dale and the staff at Stingers for hosting another successful tourney. The DCT would like to thank the 2013 sponsors (On Q Cases, Black Heart Billiard Tips, AzBilliards.com, Billiard and Dart News, Rixx Images, AzPoolscene.com, Jeff Pranke Leather Wraps), and room owners (Pockets, Bullshooters, Kolbys, Skip and Jan’s, Stingers, River City) who continue to support the DCT. The next tour stop is November 2-3, at Bullshooters. This will be the final regular season event before the finale in December. Please visit DesertClassicTour.com for details.
