Terry Petrosino, Ricki Lee Casper, Kelly Isaac and Kim Sanders
Kelly Isaac has been on a bit of hiatus from the pool tables lately. But she appears to be back now. She recorded only one cash payout with us here at AZBilliards in 2022 and prior to that hadn’t reported one since 2019. In 2018, she recorded her best earnings year, winning among other events, the Scotty Townsend Memorial Ladies 9-Ball, the 27th 4 Bears 8-Ball (Women’s Division) and finished as runner-up in that year’s Music City Classic to Canada’s Brittany Bryant. This past weekend, (Jan. 28-29), she went undefeated to the hot seat at the 2023 season opener of the On the Ball (OTB) Ladies Tour, and though Terry Petrosino won the first set of a true double elimination final against her, they agreed to split the top two cash prizes, leaving Isaac as the event’s official winner. The $2,000-added event drew 32 entrants to Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX.
Isaac’s undefeated path to the hot seat went through Kim Pierce 7-2, Michelle Cortez 7-4 and Gail Roles 7-1 before arriving at a winners’ side semifinal against Kim Sanders. Terry Petrosino, in the meantime, looking for her first (recorded) win on the tour since 2019 (when it was the Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour) got by Sara Bork and Tina Baublis, both 7-5, and defeated tour director, Teresa Garland 7-4 to arrive at her winners’ side semifinal against Natalie Rocha.
Isaac and Sanders battled to double hill before Isaac prevailed, advancing to the hot seat match. Petrosino and Rocha almost battled to double hill, until Petrosino edged out in front to win 7-5 and join Isaac in the hot seat match. Isaac claimed it 7-4 and waited on Petrosino’s return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Sanders picked up tour veteran Jennifer Kraber, who’d lost her opening round match to Ricki Lee Casper and mounted a four-match, loss-side streak that had included the elimination of Angie Payne 7-5 and Michelle Cortez 7-2. Rocha drew Casper, who’d joined Kraber on the loss side after her next match, falling to Sanders. Casper downed Kathy Rinehard and Ming Ng, both 7-5, to reach Rocha.
Casper did what she could to facilitate a rematch against Kraber by eliminating Rocha 7-1 and advancing to the quarterfinals. Kraber, though she battled to double hill against Sanders, didn’t get there.
Sanders then stopped Casper’s single-match, loss-side run in those quarterfinals 7-4. Petrosino defeated Sanders 7-2 in the semifinals.
In the opening set of a true double elimination final, Isaac and Petrosino battled to double hill before Petrosino prevailed, giving each of them a single loss. The second set didn’t happen. They split the top two cash prizes and closed the season opener of OTB’s 2023 season. Lisa Bailey and Kim Pierce took the top two cash prizes in the Best of the Rest event. The next stop on the OTB Ladies Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 25-26, will be hosted by Legends Billiards in League City, TX.
West Monroe, LA was the place to be this past week for the 5th Annual Scotty Townsend Memorial Pool Tournament. It was hosted by owner Josh Hoff at Arena Billiards.
Boasting $15,000 added, this year’s tournament had several events – one pocket, a 10 ball mini, open 9 ball and ladies 9 ball. Produced by Cue & A Promotions, local sponsors included James Hanshew of Hanshew Jump Cues, Interstate Dodge, Joe Long Attorney at Law, Magic Grill, Tommy Semmes Surveying, Simonis Cloth and Diamond Billiards.
The six-day poolfest started Tuesday evening with an auction and players meeting for the $7000 added Pro One Pocket event. Although the field only had eleven players, there wasn’t a lightweight in the bunch! Each paid $1000 to compete in this double elimination race to four event. Finals was to be one set – race to six.
Garcia, Calderon, Corteza, Chohan and Pagulayan drew the coveted byes. Frost and Morra, Biado and Woodward plus Compton and Gomez all battled down to the wire with Frost, Biado and Compton claiming victory 4-3.
Second round matches saw Frost edging out Garcia as did Calderon over Biado – each match also 4-3. Pagulayan defeated the always tough Chohan 4-2 and Compton skunked Corteza 4-0.
Down to four on the winners side, Frost pummeled Calderon and Pagulayan did the same to Compton with identical scores of 4-1. Compton and Calderon headed west while Frost and Pagulayan awaited the hot seat match.
Working their way through the one loss side of the chart, Woodward and Biado emerged to play each other. Carlo easily defeated Sky 4-1 leaving him with a fourth place finish.
The following day, fighting tooth and nail, Frost and Pagulayan battled it out in the hot seat match. Scott emerged the victor 4-3 locking up his seat in the finals. Alex had to play Carlo for the other berth.
Not to be denied another shot at Frost, Pagulayan defeated Carlo 4-2 leaving Carlo in third place.
As mentioned previously, the finals would be one set – race to six. Taking no prisoners, Alex smoked Scott 6-2 to claim the title!
Continuing his winning ways, Alex and Lee Vann split the top prize in the $1,000 added 10 Ball Mini!
The next day, 150 players put up their $100 entries for the $6,000 added Open 9 Ball event.Being played on bar boxes, the format was alternate break, rack your own and races to 9/7.
In dead punch, Alex Pagulayan continued on the warpath dispatching opponents Jeff Davies 9-1, James Jordan 9-0, Monroe Jones 9-3 and Jonathan Martin 9-0.
Running into Roberto Gomez, they battled it out but licking his wounds, Alex took him down too – final score 9-7. Not getting any easier, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp was next. He fell too – 9-4! Then, Hong Kong’s Robbie Capito fought hard but he lost also – 9-7. Alex had arrived at the hot seat match.
Meanwhile, on the lower portion of the bracket, Joe Keith of Dyersburgh, TN, was slowly working his way through the mine fields! After initially drawing a bye in the first round and having a no-show in the second, Joe defeated Ceza Mungal 9-5, Eric Alcinena and Mark Krech – both 9-2 –before meeting Lee Vann Corteza.
They went down to the end but Joe pulled out a 9-7 victory! Sergio Rivas was next and Joe won 9-6. He had arrived at the hot seat match!
Hot seat action was pretty much all Alex as he sent Joe west with a score of 9-3. Joe headed west to await the results of the Capito-Rivas match.
This was a tough one too but when the smoke cleared, it was Robbie over Sergio 7-5. Capito and Keith were to cross swords to see who’d face Alex in the finals!
Joe Keith’s Cinderella story was not to be…Robbie Capito defeated him 9-3 to move into the finals against Alex. Joe finished in a solid third place for the event.
Only twenty years old and a former junior champion, Robbie would have to defeat the Lion twice to take the title.
The match started out neck and neck until Capito pulled out to an 8-3 lead! He was on the hill and breaking!
Robbie broke the balls but had no shot. Alex won the next two games to make it 8-5. Robbie broke the balls and made five balls on the break! Left with a long straight shot on the four, he fired it in, ran out the remaining few balls and forced a second set – final score 9-5.
Having won the flip, Alex won the first two games but Robbie tied it up. Alex went ahead the next two games and Robbie tied it up again. Alex pulled ahead to 5-4 and again, Robbie tied it up! Alex got to the hill first and Robbie tied it up! 6-6! WOW! One game for it all! To Robbie’s disappointment, Alex broke and ran out for the title!!! Good tournament, Robbie! So close…
What a great finals! Congratulations to Alex for taking both the nine ball and the one pocket events as well as splitting the 10 ball mini!
While the Open 9 Ball was in progress, the $1,000 added Women’s 9 Ball event began. Twenty eight ladies posted their $100 entry fees into this double elimination, alternate break event – races were also 7/5.
April Larson (Pool Action TV)
April Larson took top honors leaving Nicole Keeney in runner-up position & Janeen Lee finished in third place. Good job, ladies!!!
Thanks again to owner Josh Hoff and his staff for going the extra mile to make everyone feel at home while Tournament Director Jason Hill kept things running smoothly.
We’d also like to thank our sponsors and fans for another fantastic event! Our sponsors include Lomax Custom Cues, JB Cases, Durbin Custom Cues, StraightPoolEye, Hanshew Jump Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diamond Billiard Products, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next stop is the Midwest Open Billiards Championships at Michael’s Billiards in Fairfield, OH. Dates are March 15th-20th. Hope to see you there!!!
Shades of Yogi Berra and his musing about ‘Déjà vu all over again.’ On the weekend of June 8-9 at JR Pockets Sports Bar and Grill in Denton, TX, Kelly Jones and Kim Pierce faced each other twice to claim an event title (Stop #4) on the Jerry Olivier Custom Cues Ladies Tour, just as they had on the weekend of April 13-14 (Stop #3) at the Diamond Sports Bar and Grill in Port Arthur, TX. With the same result – Kelly Jones claiming the title, Kim Pierce finishing as runner-up. At this most recent event, however, their first meeting came in the hot seat match (it was in a winners’ side semifinal back in April), while for the second straight time on the tour, they were the event finalists. The $2,000-added event drew 48 entrants to JR Pockets.
Jones’ path to the hot seat match was almost derailed at the outset. She was awarded an opening round bye before facing Michelle Cortez in the second round. Cortez battled her to double hill before giving way. Jones advanced to defeat Rachel Hurst and Belinda Lee, to face Angie Payne in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Pierce, in the meantime, without an opening round bye, defeated Ellen Robinson, Glynda Fuller, Tam Trinh, and Orietta Strickland to draw Ashley Nandrasy in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Jones got into the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Payne and was joined by Pierce, who’d survived a double hill match against Nandrasy. Jones claimed the hot seat 7-5 and waited for the second straight time on the tour for the return of Pierce.
On the loss side, Payne picked up Tara Williams, who’d been defeated by Belinda Lee in the third winners’ side round and defeated Stacie Putnam 7-2, Rachel Hurst 7-4, picked up a forfeit win from Ricki Lee Casper and downed Kim Sanders 7-5. Nandrasy drew Aryana Lynch, who’d been sent to the loss side by Payne in a winners’ side quarterfinal and downed Michelle Yim 7-3 and Ellen Robinson 7-4 to reach Nandrasy.
Nandrasy advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-4 victory over Lynch and was joined by Williams, who’d eliminated Payne 7-2. Williams made it six in a row on the loss side with a 7-2 victory over Nandrasy in those quarterfinals.
Pierce stopped Williams’ loss-side run with a 7-4 victory in the semifinals for a second shot (a second time) at Jones in the hot seat. Second verse, same as the first, as they say. Jones took the semifinal match 7-4 to claim her second Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour title.
A Best of the Rest event with 11 entrants saw Rachel Hurst take the top prize, with Nicole McDaniel in 2nd place. McDaniel was in the hot seat, but left to get home to her family. Corina Campbell finished 3rd and Melissa Smith came in 4th.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at JR Pockets, as well as title sponsor Jerry Olivier Custom Cues, MzTam.com and a “huge shout out” to Rackem TV for providing a live stream. The next stop (#5) on the Jerry Olivier Custom Cues Ladies Tour, scheduled for the weekend of September 14-15, will be hosted by Slick Willie’s Family Pool Hall in Austin, TX.
In the absence of last year’s winner, Ricki Lee Casper, last year’s runner-up, Jennifer Kraber, stepped up and won the second Ladies tournament of the 4th Annual Texas Open 10-Ball Championships, held on the long weekend of February 15-19. Ming Ng finished as runner-up, while last year’s third-place finisher, Gail Eaton, finished in the same spot. The $1,000-added event drew 32 entrants to Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock, TX.
Kraber faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals of this event; Eaton in the hot seat match, and Ng, in the finals. Kraber advanced through Michelle Cortez. Liz Galvan, and Audrey Arcelli to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Kelly Isaac. Eaton downed Nancy French, Ileana Ford, and Kim Pierce (double hill) to face Chris Fields in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Kraber got into the hot seat match with a 7-1 victory over Isaac. Eaton survived a double hill match against Fields to join her. Kraber defeated Eaton 7-5 and sat in the hot seat, waiting on the return of Ng.
On the loss side, Ng, who’d been defeated by Fields in a winners’ side quarterfinal, got by Yvonne Asher 5-2 and Kim Sanders (tied for 5th last year) 5-1, to draw Isaac. Fields picked up Cortez, who’d been defeated by Kraber in the opening round of play, and was on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take her as far as the quarterfinals. She’d most recently defeated Angelina Almaraz, double hill, and Audrey Arcelli 5-2.
Ng downed Isaac 5-3, as Cortez was spoiling Fields’ hopes for a rematch versus Ng, with a 5-1 victory. Ng then ended Cortez’ loss-side streak 5-3 in the quarterfinals. She advanced to spoil Eaton’s plans for a re-match against Kraber with a 5-1 victory over her in the semifinals.
Kraber completed her undefeated run with a 7-5 victory over Ng in the finals.
New Town, ND was ground zero for pool this week as players converged on the Four Bears Casino and Lodge for their 25th Annual Eight Ball Classic.
This popular event was kicked off with a $2000 added Men’s and a $500 added Women’s 9 Ball Mini-Tournament. Eighty men and seventeen women put up their entries to try for their piece of the cash.
A total of $6000 was up for grabs as Dennis Orcollo claimed $1600 for first place, Oscar Dominguez received $1100 for second and Jamie Pluta got $800 for third place.
The women’s division of the Eight Ball Classic started with 50 players. When the smoke cleared, it was Caela Henley-Huddleston and Nicole Keeney fighting it out for the hot seat. Nicole prevailed and sent Caela west to await the results of the Jessica Moxon-Toni Sakamoto match. Jessica took down Toni leaving her in fourth place with a $900 payout. Jessica proved to be too much for Caela – she finished third with a $1000 check in addition to $730 from the Calcutta.
Nicole Keeney is no stranger to final match action and she defeated Jessica for the title and the first place prize money of $3500 plus a Calcutta payout of $1825. Jessica received $2000 in prize money and $1095 Calcutta cash for her runner-up finish.
The Men’s 8 Ball Classic started with a star-studded field of 163 players. By this evening, the field had been whittled down to four superstars. Shane Van Boening defeated John Morra – leaving him in fourth place and a $2800 payday plus $3924 from the Calcutta. Shane found Sky Woodward waiting for him after a defeat in the hot seat match against Roberto Gomez. Sky was a man on a mission as he defeated the always tough SVB leaving him with a third place consolation prize of $3300 plus $7412 Calcutta money.
The hard-fought final match was down to the wire – 6-5. Roberto emerged as this year’s Four Bears Eight Ball Classic Champion – he received $10,000 in prize money plus $16,132 Calcutta money for his efforts. Sky had to settle for second and a $5000 check plus $11,772 for his portion of the Calcutta but he rocketed past Rodney Morris and Oscar Dominguez to take second position on the Mosconi Cup Points list with his performance in this event.
Congratulations to Roberto Gomez and Nicole Keeney – this year’s Four Bear Eight Ball Classic Champions!!!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank the Four Bears Eight Ball Classic Committee for putting together another outstanding event. We’d like to thank the Four Bears Casino and their staff for again laying out the welcome mat to players and fans alike.
PoolActionTV would like to thank all our viewers, Terry Hanna and everyone behind the scenes who helped make this match possible. Thanks to Jason Sword, Brandon Shuff and Ricki Lee Casper for adding their excellent and knowledgeable commentary.
We’d like to thank our sponsors – Kamui, Hanshew Custom Cues, Club Billiards of Wichita, KS, Outsville, Aramith, Simonis, Lomax Custom Cues, Durbin Custom Cues and GoPlayPool.com. Thanks to all – it couldn’t have been done without you!!!
Next stop is Dave Cole’s Carom Room in Beloit, WI for their Fall Classic 10 Ball. Dates are September 23-25th. Hope to see you down the road!!!
A stellar field of 48 women came to CK Billiards in Dallas on the weekend of June 25-26 for the OB Cues Ladies Tour 4th stop. This is the first time that the OB Tour has stopped at CK Billiards and the event attracted several players from other regional tours, as well as other states, who came to experience the great fun of the OB Tour and the wonderful hospitality of CK Billiards.
Thank you to Jennifer Sherman, General Manager of CK Billiards, for her hospitality and service to all supporters, fan, players and general public. Also special thanks to event sponsors Starwoodmotors and Barisita Brothers. Starwoodmotors caters to an automobile style which is unique and luxurious for their custom/handcrafted vehicles. Be sure to check them out at Starwoodmotors.com to see all about their specialized services and offerings. Barista Brothers strives to provide the utmost in coffee service like no other. They have a passion for absolute excellence with their coffee products and services. You can read all about their passion and products at baristabrothers.com. Enjoy!
As the tournament day progressed, Saturday was indeed a long day with so many ladies and many interesting upsets. The Freight Train that is Tara “Firecracker” Williams (Ft. Worth) was derailed by Nicole Keeney (Colorado), and former tour stop winners Orietta Strickland, Amanda Lampert (both of Dallas), Terry Petrosino (Houston), Jennifer Kraber and Michelle Cortez (both of Austin) all suffered at least one loss by the end of Saturday’s play.
Sunday brought back 12 ladies. On the winner’s side, Nicole emerged victorious over Ricki Casper (Houston), and Belinda Lee (Pearland) won a hill-hill battle against board member Shayla Neris (Austin). The four B-side matches saw up-and-coming player Yvonne Asher (Houston) defeat Amanda; two-time tour champion Tara beat Jennifer Pavlovick (Irving), new tour member Toby Stogner (Amarillo) won vs. Tera Saunders (Dallas), and Jennifer wound up on the winning side of a hill-hill battle against Terry. Shayla and Ricki both finished in 5/6thplace, which required a race-to-seven battle to determine who would win the qualifier for the next NAPT Tour stop, as they were the last remaining candidates out of 11 qualifier contenders and both finished in the same position. The two NAPT Qualifier winners were Ricki and Belinda. Unfortunately for Belinda, she will not be able to make the Grayslake NAPT Division 1 Pro event, so Shayla will be taking the invite. We wish all OBCLT representatives best of luck at the Shooter’s Sports Bar and Billiards, Grayslake, IL – $21,000 total purse event August 18-21, 2016.
The final four players were Nicole vs. Belinda for the hotseat match, and Tara vs. Jennifer K. on the other side. Nicole, who in recent years has won the OB Tour stops she has attended, won the hotseat, sending Belinda to the B-side. Jennifer managed to capture a hill-hill win against Tara while she then continued to defeat Belinda and meet up with Nicole in the finals.
Right before the finals match was about to commence, the raffle drawing for the two beautiful OB cues donated to support the tour followed an unbelievable trend, sending both cues home to Terry Petrosino and Richard Holstein, who now own an arsenal of OB cues!
As in a true double elimination format, Jennifer would have to beat Nicole two sets to win the tournament and that is exactly what she did. In the first set, Nicole made a couple uncharacteristic errors which Jennifer was able to finish each game all the while giving her confidence and strong momentum with full steam ahead. Jennifer was truly on a roll and playing in near flawless fashion, caught a gear and finished the first set 7-3. They began the second set almost immediately, and while Jennifer still couldn’t miss a ball, Nicole played strong herself, fighting back with absolutely beautiful shotmaking and finesse of her own, with several break and runs during the final set. Jennifer reached the hill first and had a chance at 6-5 to finish out the tournament win with a break and run, but made the nine-ball and then scratched, thus making it a nail-biter and tense game, set and match for the eventual winner. In the final game, Nicole had the same opportunity and shot as Jennifer did in the previous game, but just barely missed pocketing the nine giving Jennifer the win. It was Jennifer’s birthday, so it was probably meant to be. There were a few June birthdays that weekend, including the Tour angel Carter’s birthday, so there was much celebrating all weekend. The ladies presented Carter with an Edible Arrangement, cupcakes and his own personal figurine with our undying love and honor to have Carter as part of this tour family always and forever. We love you Carter!
Thank you to the OB board members, who go out of their way to make the events fantastic even when tournament play lasts past midnight and then they have to be back early the next day. Thank you again to Carter for all the support, chocolate, energy goodies and love of the game and the ladies. Special thank you to all the players who traveled from near and far to participate and make the tour the fun experience that it is! And last of all thanks to OB Cues, our title sponsor since 2008. They have the best products and are the best sponsors ever—bar none. Check them out at obcues.com and be sure to get the Digicue…..one of their newest product offerings……you can’t go wrong with this one.
Main Event Tournament Payouts – ($2000 added) – 48 players
Thirty-nine players showed up the weekend of March 19-20th at Legend’s Billiards in League City, TX to play in the second stop of 2016 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. Top players from all over Texas and one new player from Alabama were gunning for the $775 first place prize in this event. With the awesome hospitality offered by Mindy and Craig Cohen and their staff, it was destined to be a great weekend of pool for all of the players.
It was a full day of action on Saturday as thirty-nine players were dwindled down to eight ladies in the main event. On Saturday night, the 9th-12th finishers were Jennifer Kraber, Monica Anderson, Michelle Cortez, and Alicia Stanley. Great job ladies!
Returning on Sunday, the final four in the winner’s bracket were Corina Campbell vs. Robyn Petrosino and Tara Williams vs. Amanda Lampert. The four ladies returning on the one-loss side were Orietta Strickland vs. Angie Payne and Jennifer Yo vs. Ricki Casper. Eliminated in the 7th-8th position was Jennifer Yo and Angie Payne, both of Austin, TX. This was Jennifer’s highest finish to date in an OB Ladies Tour event, Congratulations Jennifer! The 5th-6th places went to Amanda Lampert of Frisco, TX and Robyn Petrosino of Spring, TX; Congratulations Robyn on hitting her highest finish to date as well! 4th place was taken by Ricki Lee Casper of Houston, TX. Congratulations to all the ladies for their great shooting that earned them the spot in the main event on Sunday!
Tara Williams of Fort Worth made her way through Saturday with wins over Adena Sanchez (7-0), Kim Pierce (7-2), Michelle Cortez (7-5), and Monica Anderson (7-2). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and to take the hot seat with wins over Amanda Lampert (7-4) and Corina Campbell (7-3).
Corina Campbell of Dallas set up her highest finish to date by making her way through to the brackets, defeating on Saturday Teresa Garland (7-5), Lorna McEwan (7-5), and Jennifer Yo (7-2). She continued her run on Sunday winning against Robyn Petrosino (7-6), before being taking her first loss in the finals (3-7) against Tara for the hot seat.
For the 3rd place match, Corina was matched against Orietta Strickland of Dallas. Orietta jumped to a heavy lead at 6-2, but after a few unforced errors Corina was allowed back into the match. By continuing to capitalize on the opportunities given by Orietta, Corina was able to tie the match at 6 games to have one game decide who would move on to the finals. In the last game, both players traded safeties throughout the rack, but Corina missed a tough kick on the six to give Orietta ball in hand with four balls on the table. The only problem with the layout was that the 8-9 were tied up on the bottom rail. Orietta pocketed the 6 and played shape on the 7 to break out the trouble 8-9 layout, but when she executed the breakout, the 8-9 remained close together, forcing a combination on the 9-ball. She studied the combination for a minute, then took the shot. All the breath in the room was sucked in as the 9-ball rattled in the pocket but didn’t fall, leaving Corina an 8-9 combo for the match win. Congratulations to Orietta for a great match to watch and another great tournament finish!
With Tara and Corina in the finals match, it was a rematch of the hot seat for the tournament. Just like the hot seat match, both players traded racks early in the set until the match was set at 3-3. Once again, on the seventh game, Tara turned it on and didn’t look back. She finished out the set just as she had the first time they played with a final score of 7-3. Congratulations to Corina for her second place finish and reaching her highest finish to date on the tour!!! With this second win of 2016, Tara has seventeen tour wins and now holds the OB Cues Ladies Tour record for the most wins by a single player. Congratulations Tara on another great accomplishment!
Thanks again to Legends for hosting all the lovely ladies for this second event of 2016, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around.
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #3 – Click’s Billiards in San Antonio, Texas, May 21-22nd weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
Michelle Yim, Tina Malm, Helen Hayes, and Tara Williams
Forty players showed up the weekend of May 2 & 3rd at Clicks Billiards in San Antonio, TX to play in the third stop of 2015 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. Top players from throughout the Texas area and one player from San Diego were vying for the $775 first place prize in this event.
9th-12th finishers were Barbara Wisdom, Tracie Voelkering, Natalie Mans, and Kim Pierce. 7th-8th place went to Jennifer Kraber and Gail Roles (her highest finish to date!); 5th-6th places went to Sophia Lopez and Belinda Lee. 4th place went to Helen Hayes and 3rd place went to Michelle Yim.
Tara Williams made her way through Saturday with wins over Krystal West (7-6), Terry Petrosino (7-2), and Michelle Yim (7-1). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and to earn a spot at the hot seat with another win over Sophia Lopez (7-4). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Tina Malm was making her way through her Saturday matches without much opposition. She posted wins over Angela Garza (7-1), Monica Anderson (7-0), Natalie Mans (7-1) and Tracie Voelkering (7-3). On Sunday morning, she continued her run besting Belinda Lee (7-2) for her spot in the hot seat match. In the hot seat match, both players showed the reason that they made it through their brackets with the tough field that was in attendance this May weekend. After trading racks until tied a four games apiece, a missed safety by Tina after the break allowed Tara a run out to pull ahead 5-4. With the alternate break format, Tara broke and ran the next rack to reach the hill, and then Tina answered back with her own break and run to set the score at 6-5. On the final rack, Tara once again broke and ran to take the hot seat and wait for her opponent.
For the 3rd place match, Tina quickly got a lead over Michelle Yim and didn’t look back, earning a spot in the finals with a 7-1 win. In the finals, in the true double elimination format, Tina would need to beat Tara twice in order to win the event. It was not to be though; both players struggled early on to find the level of play that had allowed them to make their finals appearance. After a few back and forth racks, there nerves settled down, but Tina was already down 4 games by the time she was able to make it on the board. Tara was able to finish out a few racks when up 5-2 to win the event in one set with a final score of 7-2. Congratulations to both ladies for a great tournament! With this third win in 2015 for Tara, she makes only the third player to ever win three consecutive events; Lisa Marr was the first player to complete this feat in 2002 and Leslie Anne Rogers completed this feat in 2004. Congratulations on an awesome accomplishment Tara!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/ players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #4 – Legends Billiards in League City, Texas, June 20-21st weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
Tara Williams, Amanda Lampert, Jennifer Kraber and Belinda Lee
Slick Willie’s in Katy, TX was the host site for Stop #2 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour 2015 schedule. Special thanks to Trey and his staff for welcoming 51 ladies who showed up the weekend of March 14th-15th to play in this 2-day, true double elimination, 9-ball tournament. Players from all over Texas and one player from Oklahoma were gunning for the $775 first place prize in this event and lots of laughs, camaraderie and action was had by all.
9th-12th finishers were Natalie Mans, Jennifer Yo, Lorna McEwan, and Celeste Espinosa. This was Jennifer, Celeste and Lorna’s highest finish to date. Great job ladies! 7th-8th went to Kim Pierce and Natalie Esparza (in her first OB event!); 5th-6th places went to Terry Petrosino and Kawania Watson. 4th place was Belinda Lee and 3rd place went to Amanda Lampert.
Tara Williams made her way through Saturday with wins over Toni Esteves (7-0), Ricki Lee Casper (7-5), Karren Sui (7-2), and Natalie Mans (7-0). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and took the hot seat with wins over Belinda Lee (7-3) and Amanda Lampert (7-4).
Jennifer Kraber decided to repeat Tara’s feat from the first event – losing her first round match 7-6 to Julie Stephenson, she then won nine straight matches on the one loss side to meet Tara Williams in the finals. She had four hill-hill matches in her road to finals with wins on Saturday over Janna Preston (7-6), Tracie Voelkering (7-0), Monica Anderson (7-6), and Rebecca Arcangeli (7-6). On Sunday morning, she continued to take down players winning out over Natalie Mans (7-2), Natalie Esparza (7-5), Terry Petrosino (7-3), Belinda Lee (7-3), and finally Amanda Lampert (7-2) to secure her spot in the finals.
With Tara and Jennifer in the finals again, it setup a rematch from the first event of 2015. Tara quickly got ahead in the match 3-0, but Jennifer started her climb back with a break and run in the 4th rack, then scraped out the next two games with strong play to tie the match at 3-3. Tara quickly turned the match momentum back around with a few key safes and managed to finish out the finals in one set with a final score of 7-3. Congratulations to both ladies for another great tournament!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Also many thanks and love to all our families, fans, supporters—we greatly appreciate each and every one of you. Also to the many, many ladies/players/friends who traveled from near and far; we loved seeing you all again and greatly appreciate you making the journey to play on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. We look forward to seeing everyone once again at Stop #3 – Click’s Billiards in San Antonio, Texas, May 2-3rd weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
The final stop of the OB Cues Ladies Tour for 2011 was more exciting than ever based on three important factors. For the 1st time in the tour’s history, the last event of the year was $3,000 added monies, $1K more than the normal added dollars. Secondly, the OB Cues Tour Champion spot was up for grabs as several contenders were vying to unseat 3-time Tour Champion Lisa Marr. And finally a new award of Best Sportsman would be voted by the players out of four nominated players.
As this last stop was $3000 added monies, a special player’s eligibility requirement was needed to play in this event at one of our favorite host site, Casper’s in San Leon, Texas. Players had to play in at least 3 events throughout this tour year and 28 ladies ventured down south Texas way to participate in all the year end festivities. First and foremost, we would like to thank Don Owen and Royce Bunnell, as our main tour sponsors. Year after year they have provided customer service, pool products and unwavering support and friendship for both tour players and host site partners. Thank you for all that you do and believing in us and keeping our dreams alive. Be sure to check out our sponsor at www.obcues.com and www.pool300.com
Also special thanks to Kathy and Roy Robinson, who are frequent hosts on the ladies tour. They have one of the most fabulous and unique pool and restaurant establishments on our tour calendar and we greatly appreciate your down home hospitality displayed by your staff, customers and fans everywhere. Casper’s is a must see pool establishment. If you are ever down south Texas, be sure to look them up.
Four players were chosen by the board for the 2011 Sportsmanship Award. Becky Jones from Arkansas, Kathy Knuth from Dallas, Shirley Fields from Arkansas, and Tracie Voelkering from Fort Worth were nominated by players over the course of 2011 and picked by the board members for their exemplary behavior both on and off the table. It was a close race between the nominees as players submitted their votes and it came down to a tie between Shirley and Tracie. The players were asked to re-vote for only these 2 players and it was one vote away from a tie again, with Tracie edging out Shirley for the award. Congratulations Tracie! Your display of sportsmanship both on and off the table makes you very deserving of this award.
The 2011 Most Improved player was voted on by the board based on player performance and ranking for 2011 against prior years. One player really stood out from the pack in the increase in rankings for the past two years, but based on her position on the board, she asked to be removed from contention. After review of her movement from 20th in 2009, to 9th in 2010, and to 6th for the season in 2011, it was no contest to the remaining board members who should take this award. With her left out of the vote, the board selected Julie Stephenson as the most improved player. She credits her participation in Pool 300 league to her overall improvement at the sport.
For the 2011 Tour Champion, it was a tight race with four potential players that had the ability to seize the title. Orietta Strickland was the tour point’s leader going into this last stop with Lisa Marr 110 points behind. Based on the outcome of the tournament, Tara Williams and Ming Ng could also be contenders or spoilers for the tour champion spot. But with all the pressure on Orietta to maintain her position as point’s leader, she would also need help from others to keep Lisa at bay. Unfortunately by the end of tournament play on Saturday, 8 players would return for the Main Event and Orietta was not one of them. Winner side matches would include Lisa Marr vs. Ming Ng and Tara Williams vs. Ricki Lee Casper. One loss side matches would include Belinda Lee vs. Jennifer Kraber and Amanda Lampert vs. Yvette Reyes.
Finishing 7th/8th was Yvette Reyes and Belinda Lee; 5th/6th was Jennifer Kraber and Ming Ng. 4th place would go to Ricki Lee Casper, her highest tour finish ever; always a contender and strong player who we are sure she will continue with her winning ways. 3rd place was Amanda Lampert who sought her revenge win against Ricki who put her on the one loss side.
In the finals match, it was a replay of the hot seat with Lisa Marr and Tara Williams. Both ladies were not only vying for the win, but the tournament winner would also be crowned the tour champion in the close point race. Tara would have to beat Lisa twice for the win, but it would not happen, Lisa bested Tara in one set with a score of 7-5. Tara Williams finished in 2nd place her last 3 tour events, including this stop, for the 2011 year, showing very consistent shooting and strong year end finish to boot. With this 1st place finish, Lisa went on to become tour champion for the 4th time in a row. Lisa went through some challenges this year while enduring shoulder surgery which caused her to not finish as high as she would have wanted. But always the fighter and her ‘never quit’ attitude, she was able to overcome all obstacles and prevail once again as the tour champion. Congratulations to all tour players for an excellent tour year.
