The fourth season of the Diamond Pool Tour kicked off with new sponsors and a new format. The tournaments are now one big bracket with full Fargo races based on the higher rated player’s rating.
As expected, this led to top players being forced to bring their “A Game” each and every match as they were giving up huge spots to lower rated players. Even with those spots, the tournament came down to some of the top Fargo rated players in the event.
A prime example of the spot in this event was Nick De Leon’s first match against Joshua Murphy, 171 Fargo points led to De Leon giving up six games for a 10-4 race. He would be pushed to the hill by Murphy before scoring the 10-3 win. De Leon’s journey through the winner’s side didn’t get any easier with wins over “The voice of the Diamond Pool Tour” George Teyechea, Nick Cipiti, Gil Franco and Rick Armbrust to get to the hot-seat match.
De Leon’s hot-seat opponent also had a tough path to the hot-seat match, as Tom Dilorenzo (who still doesn’t think his game is better than 75% of his current speed) scored notable wins over Scott Chadwick, James Main, Todd Dilley and Kurt Siebels.
The hot-seat match saw De Leon forced to give DiLorenzo three racks for a 10-7 race. DiLorenzo has probably been playing pool longer than his opponent has been alive, and he gave De Leon all he could handle before De Leon came out on top of the match 10-6.
In the past six months, After dropping the match to De Leon on the winner’s side, Rick Armbrust had wins on the left side of the board over Bret Huth and Jason Sweet (with neither win taking advantage of any handicap). Armbrust finally fell to DiLorenzo 9-6 in the semi-final match.
After their hill-hill battle for the hot-seat, fans in attendance were expecting another great match, and they weren’t disappointed as the two players battled to another hill-hill score before De Leon pocketed the final 9-ball for first place.
The G Cue Billiard Store Diamond Pool Tour held their second stop of the season at Skip & Jan’s in Gilbert on June 17th – 18th, where they once again crowned a new winner in the amateur division, and a returning champion in the open division.
The amateur division kicked off on Saturday with 36 players and a new group of favorites at the top of the list. With tour stop one winner Max Maurer over the 625 Fargo limit, early favorites in this event included Rick Armbrust (619), Lee Brown (619), Ken Laney (618) and Mike Hamman (616). As a testament to the handicapped format of the event, only Armbrust would finish in the money.
Saturday play whittled the field down to the final eight players in the money, with Bob Mizer set to face Scott Vogelsburg (looking for his second big win in as many weeks) and Rick Armbrust set to face Nick Cipiti. The one loss side came down to Steve Stowers vs Wes Sowers and Randy Reid vs Jesse Johnson.
As play began on Sunday, Vogelsberg beat Mizer 8-2 in an even 8-8 race, and Armbrust beat Cipiti 9-6 in a 9-8 race.
On the left side of the board, Steve Stowers eliminated Wes Sowers 8-5 in an 8-7 race, while Randy Reid upset Jesse Johnson 6-2 in a 6-8 race. Stowers would then eliminate Mizer in a hill-hill match 8-6, and Cipiti bounced back from his earlier loss to send Reid to the seats with an 8-2 scoreline. Cipiti would soon be joining Reid in the seats, as Stowers scored a hill-hill win to eliminate Cipiti in 4th place. Due to the Father’s Day holiday, Vogelsberg forfeited his semi-final match against Stowers and the race to 9 final match was underway.
The final match came down to hill-hill, before Armbrust dropped the final 9-ball for the 9-8 win and first place.
On one side of the winner’s bracket, Foldes was on a tear. He defeated Carl Stewart, Ben Hrabina and Brian Long by a combined score of 30-2. On the other side of the winner’s bracket, it was Bobby Emmons making noise. Emmons defeated Tracie Hamman, Eric Young and then Mitch Ellerman in a hill-hill match.
Ellerman took the trip to the one loss side, where he then dropped a hill-hill match to Eric Young to finish in 4th place.
Back on the winner’s side, Emmons was playing like he didn’t have a care in the world and sent Foldes to the one loss side 7-3 (in a 7-10 match).
Foldes was ready for round two with Emmons though, as he then eliminated Young in a hill-hill 10-4 match.
Just to prove that the first time was no fluke, Emmons defeated Foldes in the first set of the finals by the same 7-3 scoreline.
The tour will next head out to Tucson on the 15th and 16th of July for two events on the 9’ tables at Pockets.
The G Cue Billiard Store Diamond Pool Tour is proudly sponsored by…
Joven Bustamante scored back to back wins over Scott Frost to top off an undefeated run through the field at the Diamond Pool Tour’s third stop of the year at Stinger’s Sports Bar & Grill in Glendale, AZ on April 11th and 12th.
The event drew a field of 80 players, with 25 “A” players and 55 “B” players. The “A” bracket saw surprise early losses by points leader Bobby Emmons and Nick De Leon. Neither player would qualify for Sunday play, much to the crowd’s surprise. Bustamante, who had not fared well in last month’s event, had wins over Tucson’s George Teyechea, Jason Polk and Spike Aiardo, before facing off against Frost for the “A” bracket hot-seat. Frost looked unstoppable all day with wins over Rick Armbrust, Mickey Provencio and Tyson Cole. Frost did not allow an opponent past three games, and entered the hot-seat match with a combined 27-5 rack record. Even as strong as Frost was playing, he would drop the hot-seat match to Bustamante 9-7.
The “B” bracket was taken to school by Junior Point Leader Nick Kline. Kline had knocked on the door of making it to Sunday play in tour stops one and two, but he was a force to be reckoned with in the “B” bracket all weekend. Kline’s aggressive play led to wins over Trevor Long, Claudia Justus and Joe Chyzy on Saturday. Kline came back Sunday, and picked up where he left off on Saturday, with wins over Rick Schmitz and Jamie Cole to take the “B” bracket hot-seat.
The Greenmail top lady bonus was split again this month, with Heather Cortez and Sophia Morquecho both earning $50. Morquecho was also the winner of the random drawing for a two night stay at The Casino Del Sol Resort in Tucson, the presenting sponsor for the tour.
There was no Greenmail bounty awarded since last month’s winner, Vilmos Foldes, was not in attendance at this event.
The “A” and “B” brackets came together late Sunday with Bustamante, Frost, Kline and Cole fighting it out. Frost eliminated Cole in fourth place, while Bustamante was sending Kline left to face Frost in the semi-final match. The match between Frost and Kline was close, with Kline representing himself well, before dropping the match 7-4. This led to the rematch between Bustamante and Frost in the double elimination finals. Both players showed the fans in attendance what run-out 9-ball looks like on a 7’ Diamond Smart Table, but in the end it was Bustamante who scored the 9-6 win in the first set of the finals.
The Neil’s Garage Cabinets Second Chance tournament on Sunday drew 14 players, with last month’s winner, Steve Blackburn, settling for second place after a 3-0 / 3-0 double dipping at the hand of Daric Craft. Todd Dilley turned in a third place finish.
The Diamond Pool Tour will head to Pockets Pool & Pub in Tucson on May 2nd and 3rd, for their fourth stop of the season.
Tour organizers thanked Dale and his great wait staff for hosting two days of pool players, as well as Lenny Marshall from On The Rail TV for the live streaming coverage all weekend. Thanks also went out to George Teyechea and Jerry Briesath for their help commentating matches, and to Rick Schmitz for all the great photos from the event.
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.
The Desert Classic Tour arrived at Pockets Pool and Pub on September 21st for the 6th stop of the 2013 season. This was a $1000 added event and would serve as the 2013 Az. State 14.1 Championship. 29 players would arrive on Saturday in hopes of taking the crown. The tourney saw some of the regular heavy hitters from Phoenix, such as Mitch Ellerman, Bobby Emmons, Nick DeLeon, Mike and Susan Williams, Bret Huth, Tres Kane, Dennis Orender and Brian Reich. Tucson also brought its fair share of top players in George Teyechea, Rick Galloway, Tom Neil, and Mike Hamman. 2011 Az. State 14.1 Champion Pete Lhotka was also on hand to defend his 2011 title.
As the tourney got started, it was evident Mitch Ellerman was the man to beat. He started his first match with a run of 61 against Dennis Orender to win 100-14. Curious to see how far he could get, he continued his run to 101. Two more wins on Saturday against Larry Channenson and George Teyechea would provide Mitch a final 4 winner’s side match on Sunday. His opponent would be Brian Reich. Brian rattled off 3 straight wins against Mike Hamman, John Rehm and Rick Armbrust to reach his shot at Mitch on Sunday.
At the bottom of the bracket, Bobby Emmons would upend 2011 runner up, Bernie Pettipiece, while Nick DeLeon sent 2011 champion, Pete Lhotka, to the one loss side. This would set up a showdown with the sharpshooting Emmons against the conservative DeLeon on Sunday. By close on Saturday, only 8 players remained.
The tourney got off to an early start on Sunday and once again, Mitch was hot out of the gate. He dispatched Brian Reich 100-0, while Nick DeLeon grinded out a 100-73 victory over Bobby Emmons. Mitch would cruise into the hot seat with a 100-14 win over Nick.
While Mitch was making quick work of his opponents on the winner’s side, a rematch of the 2011 finals was on course between Bernie and Pete. Pete had defeated Bernie in the finals of the 2011 Az. State 14.1 Championship and Bernie now had his chance to avenge the loss. He would come away with a 75-41 victory and continue his run of wins against Brian Reich (75-25), Bobby Emmons (75-61), and Nick Deleon (75-65). His meticulous and patient play led him to the finals, where he is quite familiar in straight pool championship matches.
The finals would be one race to 125. Many spectators believed Mitch’s hot hand would lead to a quick finals; however, Bernie had other plans. As Bernie picked at balls and continued his conservative style of play, he was able to keep Mitch in his chair for most of the match. A couple of errors on Mitch’s part put Bernie in the driver’s seat, where he ran several racks to finish the match at 125-71 and claim his 3rd Az. State 14.1 title.
Thank you to Lenny and the staff at Pockets for hosting another successful state championship! 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 October 5-6. Please visit DesertClassicTour.com for details.
The Desert Classic Tour returned to Skip & Jan’s Sports Bar in Tempe for the 5th stop on the 2013 schedule with a field of 32 players fighting it out on the 7’ Diamond Tables.
With the best players in the Valley in attendance, it was a slight surprise to see two players ranked outside of the top ten facing off for the hot-seat. #11 ranked Paul Grande started Sunday play with an 8-4 win over #3 ranked Rick Armbrust. Meanwhile, Pete Lhotka (ranked outside of the top 20) beat #1 ranked Mitch Ellerman 8-9 on Sunday morning. That left Lhotka and Grande playing for the hot-seat.
The hot-seat match would be a close one, with Grande coming out as the 8-7 winner.
While the left side of the board looked tough, a handful of the top players on tour didn’t even make it to Sunday play. Dennis Orender (ranked #2), Nick DeLeon (#4) and Bobby Emmons (#7) all suffered “three and out” performances on Saturday and were eliminated out of the money.
While Susan Williams didn’t make Sunday play, she scored her usual upsets over top players with wins over Ray Robles and Dennis Orender on Saturday.
Sunday play on the one loss side was all about “The Freezer”, Scott Frost. After a first round loss to Mike Sandoval on Saturday, Frost had won four matches on the left side of the board to earn his place in Sunday’s matches.
Frost kept things going with a 10-1 win over Tucson’s George Teyechea first thing Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Sandoval scored an 8-6 win over Rick Galloway.
The next round of play saw Frost scoring a 10-5 win over Ellerman and Armbrust eliminating Sandoval 7-5.
The match for fourth place saw Rick Armbrust hold a 3-2 lead over Scott Frost before Frost won eight straight games for a 10-3 win. Frost wasn’t done though, as he went on to win the first nine games against Pete Lhotka in the next match for an amazing run of seventeen games in a row. Lhotka would get on the scoreboard at 9-1, but Frost then closed the match out at 10-1.
The first set of the double elimination finals saw Frost race out to a 4-0 lead and then basically trade racks with Grande for a 10-6 win.
The second set of the finals looked to be going in the same direction for The Freezer as he quickly took a 4-1 lead. That was when Grande took control of the match. He won two games to get back within one rack at 4-3. Frost won another rack and Grande took the next two to tie things at 5-5. Grande then got to the hill at 7-5, leaving Frost needing to win five straight games for the victory. Frost would give it his all and win two in a row before Grande closed out the match with an 8-7 victory.
The Desert Classic Tour will be playing 14.1 at Pockets in Tucson on September 21st and 22nd for the next stop.
Mitch Ellerman defeated John Smith in a match between arguably the two best barbox 8-ball players in the state to capture first place at the Desert Classic Tour’s June event on the 1st and 2nd at Stingers Sports Bar.
As is always the case, the field in this one was a tough one. The forty player field included eight of the top ten players on tour, with only Scott Frost and Manny Chau missing.
Saturday matches were tough on both sides of the board, and a number of top players would not make it to Sunday play. #2 ranked Nick Deleon dropped matches to Gary Koschnik and Jerry Stuckart on Saturday. #4 ranked Bobby Emmons also failed to reach day two after a “three and out” performance. #10 rated Mike Sandoval had an even worse day with two straight losses in his first two matches.
Only eight players would earn places in Sunday’s matches, with four players undefeated and four players who already had one loss.
Sunday winner’s side matches saw tour points leader Mitch Ellerman scoring an 8-5 win over John Smith and DCT tour director Dennis Orender scoring a 6-2 win over tour newcomer Jason Stanley.
On the one loss side, Tres Kane eliminated Tucson’s Mike Hamman 6-4 and B player Rick Armbrust scored a 5-0 win over Brett Huth. The next round of one loss side play saw Kane fall to B player Jason Stanley 5-5 and John Smith send Armbrust to the seats with a hill-hill 6-4 win. John Smith then eliminated Stanley in 4th place with a dominating 6-0 scoreline.
Back on the winners side, Ellerman was playing Orender in an 8-6 race. Orender took a 1-0 lead and Ellerman had to come with back to back “miracle shots” to avoid a 0-2 scoreline. After Ellerman knotted the score at 1-1, he cruised to an 8-3 win and the hot-seat.
The semi-final match between John Smith and Dennis Orender saw Orender holding early 1-0 and 2-1 leads before Smith took control to win the match 6-3.
The final match was a true contrast in styles as Ellerman has never found a reason to use more than one practice stroke, and Smith brings a very methodical approach to the table and won’t pull the trigger until he knows exactly what he wants every ball to do. On this day, it was Ellerman’s rapid fire game that controlled things. Ellerman won the first three racks and never trailed in the match. Smith got back within two racks twice, but a 5-3 Ellerman lead quickly became an 8-3 Ellerman win.
The Desert Classic Tour will be at Skip & Jan’s on August 17th and 18th for their next event – a barbox 10-ball event.
