As of this past weekend (Oct. 22-23), there were five pool players in a tie for the 28th spot in the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings. It took Monti Albadi and Robert Reighter eight events to amass the 200 points associated with the current five-way tie. It took Robbie Cleland six events to earn them. It took Greg Sandifer three. It took Logan Miller, cashing for the first time on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, or anywhere else for that matter, just one. He went undefeated through a field of 72 entrants at the $1,500-added, second-to-last stop (#10) on the 2022 tour hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX, to claim his first-ever (recorded) cash winnings and event title on the same weekend.
In the end, hot seat and finals, Miller used a handicap (Fargo Rate) to his advantage. In the course of his seven-match march to the winners’ circle, Miller’s Fargo Rate (536) had him battling people above and below his rating. He got by Bobby Coston (even), Monti Albadi (lower), Tony Matthew (higher) and Joshua Paredes, who would end this event in the tie for 5th/6th (even). This set him up to face Jeff Turney (higher) in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Ramon Rodriguez, in the meantime, was working his way to the hot seat match, sending Tina Soto, Tony Loeper, Highway Segadi and Jonathan Rawlins to the loss side and drawing Mark Johnson in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Rodriguez downed Johnson 7-3, as Miller was busy sending Turney over 5-3. With Rodriguez racing to 9, Miller claimed the hot seat 5-6.
On the loss side, Johnson picked up Paredes, who’d followed his loss to Miller with victories over Sigadi 6-2 and Casey Dawson 6-4. Turney drew David McNamara, who, racing to 10, had lost his opening match to Ricky Phifer 5-8 and embarked on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that had just eliminated Robbie Smith 8-2 and Cody Pratt 7-2.
McNamara made it eight in a row with an 8-2 win over Turney. Johnson joined him in the quarterfinals after downing Paredes 8-3. Johnson and McNamara battled to double hill (Johnson with two ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8) before Johnson put an end to McNamara’s long, loss-side run, 6-7 in those quarterfinals.
Johnson started the semifinals with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 7 against Rodriguez and fought his way into a second straight double hill match. Johnson prevailed 6-6 for a shot at Miller in the hot seat.
With five appearances behind him on the 2022 tour and already poised to record his highest finish of the year no matter how the final matches turned out, Johnson (611) entered the finals. This time, he’d be the one giving up ‘beads on the wire, two of them, to his lower-rated opponent, Logan Miller (536). Even with the ‘two bead’ advantage, Fargo Rate odds gave Miller only a 35% chance of winning his first ever major tournament. He beat the odds, downing Johnson 6-6 to claim the event title, as Johnson’s runner-up finish elevated him into the tour’s top ten competitors..
Tour representatives thanked Craig and Jana Lucas and their Snookered staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and Associate Sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore (Albert Trujillo and team). The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour will conclude its 2022 season in the place where it began, Rusty’s in Arlington, TX, where the season’s finale is scheduled for the weekend of November 19-20.
He shot up from the ‘cellar’ of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, where he’d landed after the first tour stop back in January. He then finished in the tie for 5th/6th twice, in February and March; his highest (recorded) finish in any event, anywhere. This past weekend (April 23-24), Matt Wilson made a quantum leap, closer to the top of the tour standings, reaching the hot seat for the first (known) time and then, downing the tour’s current standings leader, Daniel Herring, twice in a true double elimination final. The $1,750-added event drew 93 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
In all three of his matches against Herring, Wilson started out with six ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 10. Even with that six-rack head start, FargoRate calculated his chances of victory at 35.8%. It’s likely that before very long, Wilson will be looking in the rearview at his current FargoRate of 517.
His FargoRate advantage came into play in almost every match Wilson played. He faced only one opponent with a lower rate, tour director Monica Anderson (454), giving her one ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to six and sending her to the loss side 6-3. He advanced through the field to face Paul Villanueva (606) in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Herring (689), in the meantime, was handing out racks to his opponents all day long. The closest FargoRate he faced was in his winners’ side quarterfinal against Robbie Cleland, to whom he gave a single rack in a race to 7. That match went double hill and advanced Herring to a winners’ side semifinal match against Jimmy Davis.
Wilson downed Villanueva 6-5 (Villanueva racing to 8) as Herring sent Davis to the loss side 8-1. In their first of three, Herring allowed Wilson only two of the four he needed, claiming the hot seat 10-2.
On the loss side, Villanueva picked up Cleland, who, after his double hill defeat at the hands of Herring, downed Roman Bayda 7-5 and Clint Palaci 7-1. Davis drew Jessie Moore, who’d lost his opening match to Steven Thorne and then won eight on the loss side, including recent victories over Nico Arriola and TJ Thetford, both 7-4.
Moore made it nine in a loss-side row, downing Davis 7-1. In a straight-up race to 7, Villanueva joined him in the quarterfinals after handing Cleland his second straight loss 7-5. In another straight-up race to 7, Villanueva stopped Moore’s loss side streak 7-4 in the quarterfinals, before having his two-match, loss-side run stopped by Wilson, who allowed him two less racks in the event semifinals than he’d given up in their winners’ side semifinal.
Herring was looking for his third straight tour victory, having won stops #2 & #3 in February and March. Given his 64.2% chance of winning just a single match, even if he hadn’t known that specifically, one would assume that going into the finals, his confidence level would have been high. But so, apparently, was Wilson’s. Both of the true double elimination sets in the final went exactly the same way. With six on the wire, racing to 10, Wilson won each set, having given up only two racks to Herring, claiming the title 4-2, 4-2.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for May 21-22, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
Previously on the Cuetec DFW 9 Ball Tour: In securing the top spot on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s rankings, Donald Weathersby went undefeated on the tour’s season opener in January, thwarting an 11-match, loss-side run by Tony Top in the finals. Daniel Herring, who’d sent Top on his loss-side run in the second round, joined him after falling to Weathersby in a winners’ side semifinal and then, running into Top a second time on the loss side, had his loss-side run stopped before it even got started to finish in the tie for 5th place. On the tour’s second stop last month, Tony Top became the designated, randomly bracket-chosen competitor to derail the efforts of one Aloysius Yapp (runner-up in the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships) which he did, twice, downing him in a winners’ side semifinal and later, the semifinals. Herring, however, downed Top twice (hot seat and finals) to claim his first 2022 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title. Top’s two runner-up finishes kept him atop the early-going of the tour rankings, ahead of Herring by 40, Weathersby (who did not compete in Stop #2) by 120, Clint Palaci by 165 and Yapp (who did not compete in the season opener) by 195 points.
After a short commercial break for Cuetec cues and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, our story shifts to this past weekend (March 19-20), where last month’s top three finishers were once again prepared to do battle on Stop #3. Thanks, in part, to some handicap-matchup assistance provided to his opponents, Yapp only played twice, losing his opening match (to Paul Sifuentes, who would go on to finish 4th) and then, double hill, his first match on the loss side, to Doug Winnett. Palaci played six times, losing his third winners’ side match before being ousted by Miguel Hernandez in his third, loss-side matchup. With Weathersby, once again, absent from competition, Herring and Top were in position to battle for the top spot in the tournament and the tour rankings at the $1,750-added event that drew 79 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
Odds-makers, looking for a final matchup between Herring and Top, were disappointed early (as they no doubt were with the US Open 9-Ball runner-up finishing 25th). Top lost his opening match to Neil Saidawi 6-5 (Top racing to 8) and five on the loss side (including a forfeit) before finishing in the tie for 13th place. Herring, on the other hand, went on an undefeated, seven-match run to claim the title and, for now, the top spot in the tour’s rankings.
Herring got by Matt Dickson, Robbie Cleland, Brandon Clark (double hill) and Matt Devance (shutout) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Joel Nabia. In the meantime, Don Baker, who, prior to this past weekend, had only recorded one previous payout to the AZBilliards’ database, five years ago (9th at a stop on the Omega Tour), went on a six-match tear to the hot seat match, getting by Eric Hammond, Chance Willis, Joshua Paredes, Pedro Mungia and in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Sharik Sayed. With Sayed racing to 10, Baker downed him 4-7 (Sayed racing to 10) and advanced to his winners’ side semifinal against Paul Sifuentes.
Baker got into his first (known) hot seat match with a 6-3 win over Sifuentes and was joined by Herring, who’d defeated Nabia 8-4. Baker got three of the five he needed to claim his first hot seat, but Herring got all nine he needed first to claim it.
On the loss side, Nabia ran into Sayed, who’d followed his loss to Baker with victories over Samuel Escalona 10-3 (Escalona had previously eliminated Top), and Jesus Sorto 9-5. Sifuentes picked up Matt Devance, who’d moved on from his loss to Herring to eliminate Doug Winnett, double hill, and Nando Benavides 8-3.
Sifuentes advanced to the quarterfinals 6-4 over Devance. With Nabia racing to 5, Sayed narrowly defeated him 9-4.
Apparently, impatient with all of this. . . back and forth, Sayed went on a rampage to the finals. He shut out both Sifuentes in the quarterfinals and Baker in their semifinal rematch. Herring didn’t get the ‘rampage’ memo and downed Sayed 6-3 in the finals to claim his second straight Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title in a row and the top spot in the tour rankings.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. Next time on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour: A $1,750-added event, scheduled for April 23-24, to be hosted by Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
As a competitor on a regional tour, when the runner-up of the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships, who also finished third at last year’s World 10-Ball Championships and won an event on the CSI Predator US Pro Billiards Series back in September, shows up on the tour’s entrant roster, you have a tendency to pay attention. Pool is all about being in the moment at the tables and avoiding distractions related to who you might or might not have to face somewhere down the line, but when such a competitor pops up on your radar, you do scan the brackets every once in a while. And when you discover that this formidable opponent has only given up five racks through his first 54 games (winning almost nine out of every 10), your focus on the tables may be all well and good, but you do start wondering whether you might be one of the players designated to stop him.
That said, if you enter a tournament as one of three players at the top of a regional tour’s rankings, you might actually look forward to the challenge. It was Tony Top, who entered last weekend’s event as the number #2 competitor in the tour’s rankings, who met the challenge and stopped one Aloysius Yapp, from what might well have been an undefeated run to the title. Twice, in fact. It was, however, Daniel Herring, the tour’s 2021 Tour Champion, who entered the tournament ranked #5 (5th/6th in the season opener) and finished it in the #1 spot, ahead of Top by just two points. He did that by going undefeated through the field. He didn’t have to face Yapp, but he did down Top twice, in the hot seat and finals. The $1,750-added, Stop# 2 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour drew 80 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
Yapp’s ‘take no prisoners’ run through his first five opponents, as he was racing to 10, included two shutouts (Tina Soto and Miguel Hernandez), two matches in which he gave up two racks (his opening match vs. Jeffrey Cho and later, against Fahad Alrawi) and a single match that allowed Crispian Ng a single rack. All of which put him against Top for the first time, in a winners’ side semifinal. Top, with an opening round bye in his pocket, had gotten by his first four opponents – Jim Dixon, Robbie Cleland, Clint Palaci and Tony Loeper – by an aggregate score of 32-14 (70% game-winning average).
Herring, in the meantime, started his journey to the winners’ circle with wins over Chase Laferney (2), Darrell Smith (4), Matt Dixon (3), Sharik Sayed (5) and TJ Davis (4) and came to his winners’ side semifinal match against Juan Parra, sporting a game-winning average a single percentage point lower than Top’s at 69%.
Top began his first match against Yapp with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9 and came within a single game of chalking up as many (actual) racks against him in the single match than all five of his previous opponents combined. He sent Yapp to the loss side 4-7. Herring joined him in the hot seat match after downing Parra 7-2. In a straight-up race to 7, Herring claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Top.
On the loss side, Yapp and Parra picked up Matt Wilson and Sharik Sayed, respectively. Wilson was likely not thinking a lot about Aloysius Yapp when he began his eight-match, loss-side winning streak, initiated by Tony Loeper in the second winners’ side round. Like most people who lose an opening round in a large, double-elimination bracket, he was more likely to be focused on surviving the matches right in front of him. If he was bracket-watching at all, he might have noted that the guy who’d sent him to the loss side, Loeper, was progressing as well, and there was a chance, the way the bracket was working out, that he could get an opportunity for a rematch in the quarterfinal. That didn’t happen, because Loeper fell into the 7/8 slot. Wilson chalked up wins #7 & #8 against TJ Davis, double hill, and Denny Sneed 5-6 (Sneed racing to 9) before falling to Yapp 10-2.
Sayed was working on a modest, five-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Crispian Ng 8-4 and Loeper 9-3. He joined Yapp in the quarterfinals after eliminating Parra 8-4.
Yapp ended Sayed’s brief loss-side streak 8-4 in the quarterfinals to set up a rematch against Top in the semifinals. Top started this match, as well, with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He added four for a second time to end Yapp’s prior-to-him romp through the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball field.
Top now had to turn his attention to winning two matches in a row over Herring, waiting for him in the hot seat. He failed to chalk up two racks against him in what proved to be the only set necessary.Herring completed his undefeated run 7-1 to claim the event title.
Tour director Monica Anderson thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and associate sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop #3 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 19-20, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour dodged the winter storm/power outage ‘bullet’ or, as tour representative Monica Anderson put it, “a few icicles” last weekend (Feb. 20-21). The tour was able to successfully hold its $1,500-added second tour stop of the 2021 season at Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
“The thaw happened Friday afternoon,” said Anderson, “and nothing was stopping pool players from coming out.”
“We had to limit it to 80 players for Covid capacity rules,” she added, “and with the power outages, everyone wanted to play. We had a waiting list of 20+ that couldn’t play.”
Jeff Sullivan, who, at the last minute, made 2020 his best (recorded) year at the tables by winning the Royce Bunnell Memorial One Pocket Event and placing 7th in that same event’s 9-Ball Tournament in December, started 2021 off with a bang, wending his way through the 80-entrant field, recording five loss-side wins and double-dipping hot seat occupant Robbie Cleland to claim the event title. As it turned out Cleland’s runner-up finish put him and Sullivan in a tie for first place in the early tour standings with 200 points each. Sullivan did not compete in the season opener and Cleland finished in the tie for 13th. Cleland’s finish in this second event, added 160 points to the 40 he’d earned finishing in that tie.
Sullivan, after an opening round bye and victories over Juan Parra, Leo Washington and Greg Sandifer, moved west at the conclusion of one of the winners’ side quarterfinal matches in which he fell to Valon Gashi 7-5. Gashi moved on to face Crispian Ng in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Cleland, who’d gotten by Joshua Paredes, Fahad Alwari, and Sam Abusalem faced Tony Matthew in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Cleland and Matthew locked up in a double hill fight that eventually put Cleland into the hot seat match. Ng joined him after downing Gashi 8-5. Cleland defeated Ng 8-2, claiming the hot seat, and assuring himself at least a tie in the tour standings with whoever came back at him from the semifinals.
Over on the loss side, Sullivan began his trek back to the finals with a 7-1 win over Clint Palaci and followed it with a 7-2 win over Blake Kamiab, to draw Matthew. Gashi picked up a rematch versus Daniel Herring, who’d begun his loss-side work with an 8-6 victory over Juan Parra, an 8-3 win over Sam Abusalem, and an 8-6 win over Donnie Gregory to pick up his rematch versus Gashi.
The two who’d been sent to the loss side by Gashi handed their opponents their second straight loss. Sullivan and Matthew fought to double hill, before Sullivan advanced to the quarterfinals. Herring wreaked his vengeance on Gashi, winning the rematch 8-3. Sullivan stopped Herring’s run in those quarterfinals 7-5.
Sullivan then defeated Ng 7-4 in the semifinals and turned to what would have to be two wins over Cleland, waiting for him in the hot seat. Sullivan took the opening set 7-6 (Cleland racing to 8) and used the momentum to help him to a 7-4, title-claiming victory in the second set.
A Second Chance event drew 13 entrants and saw James Davee down Monica Anderson in the finals. Curtis Caldwell finished in 3rd place.
Tour representatives thanked Craig and Jana Lucas and their staff at Snookered Billiards for just being open after one of the worst weeks in the state of Texas in remembered history, as well as their general hospitality. They also thanked title sponsor Cuetec, and associate sponsor Fort Worth Billiard Superstore. This coming weekend, Saturday, Feb. 27, the DFW 9-Ball Ladies Tour will hold an event at Rusty’s in Arlington, TX. Stop #3 on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 20-21, will be a $1,500-added event, hosted by Stixx and Stones in Lewisville, TX.
(l to r): Mike Voelkering, Jay Murillo, David Gutierrez
Seventeen years ago, David Gutierrez chalked up a win at the 27th Annual Texas Open. It was his first appearance in the payout lists of the AZBilliards database, which, with two exceptions, has included cash winnings for him every year since then. The exceptions were 2006 and last year. He won the Texas Open a second time in 2005, and cashed in that event on a number of other occasions. A regular and regular winner on the Fast Eddie's Tour in Texas, and the Lone Star Billiards Tour, he's appeared and cashed in major events like the Derby City Classic, The US Open 9-Ball Championships and The US Bar Table Championships. His best year, according to our records was 2004, in which he won a stop on the Fast Eddie's and Top Dawg Billiards Tour's One Pocket division, along with cash appearances in (among others) two Carolina Opens, a stop on the Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, and the Music City Classic.
On the weekend of June 24-25, after a year of absence from any of our payout lists (which means, basically, that if he won any tournaments, we didn't hear about them), he returned to the Texas stage and chalked up a win on the sixth stop of the Omega Billiards Tour. Gutierrez went undefeated through a field of 85 in the $1,700-added event, that was hosted by Click's Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Five matches that included two shutouts brought Gutierrez to a winners' side semifinal against Amos Bush, the first opponent he faced who was, at the time of the match, ranked among the Omega Tour's top 20 players (#17). Mike Voelkering (#9), in the meantime, met up with Ray Amarro. Gutierrez downed Bush 9-5, and was met in the hot seat match by Voelkering, who'd defeated Amarro 7-4. Gutierrez claimed his first (known) hot seat since 2015 with a 9-1 victory, and waited on Voelkering's return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Bush picked up Jay Murillo, who, after being defeated by Aram Hasan in the third round, was on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak, that included a victory over the tour's #1-ranked player, Rick Stanley, and would take him as far as the semifinals. He'd recently defeated TJ Davis 6-4 and George Merchan 6-2 to reach Bush. Amarro drew Robbie Cleland, who'd been one of Gutierrez' shutout victims in one of the winners' side quarterfinals and on the loss side, defeated Doug Winnett 7-3 and Greg Sandifer 7-6 (Sandifer racing to 8).
Murillo downed Bush 6-4, and in the quarterfinals, ran into Cleland, who'd eliminated Amarro 7-2. With Cleland racing to 7, Murillo chalked up his last win 6-6 over Cleland, before running into Voelkering, who ended Murillo's loss-side streak 7-1. Voelkering put up a bit more of a fight in the finals than he had in the hot seat match, but Gutierrez prevailed 9-4 to claim the event title.
Tour director Melinda Bailey thanked the ownership at staff at Click's for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Michael Hoang of OMEGA Billiards Supply, FargoRate.com, and OB Cues. The next stop on the Omega Billiards Tour, scheduled for July 15-16, will be a $1,700-added event, hosted by Open Table in Azle, TX.
On the weekend of September 17-18, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by Speed’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service and an amazing atmosphere. Fourteen tables allowed us to open the field up to 89 players!
Rick Stanley, a tough player with a great attitude, made his way to the hotseat match with wins over Larry Land 8-1, Stephen Hansen 8-3, Mike Rountree 8-2, Robert Kempf 8-2, and Walt Anderson 8-2. Local pro CJ Wiley had wins over Vincent Tovar 9-3, Crispian Ng 9-6, Phillip Palmer 9-1 , JD Wordlaw 9-1 and Joey Barnes hill-hill to meet Rick Stanley in the hotseat match.
The always-tough Danny Williams had wins over Gale Gladden 7-0, Viet My 7-6, and Mike Nagaki 7-6 before losing to Robbie Cleland 6-7. Danny then made his way through the one-loss side with wins over Vincent Tovar 7-1, Cory Anderson 7-2, Brandon Sizemore 7-4, Doug Winnett 7-3, Joey Barnes 7-6 and Walt Anderson 7-3.
In the hostseat match it was anyone’s game between top players Rick Stanley and CJ Wiley, and Rick Stanley came out on top with a close score of 8-7.
Then CJ Wiley played Danny Williams in the semi-final match and it was another close score with great play for the fans and Danny edged the win 6-7.
The finals match was then set between Rick Stanley and Danny Williams. The fans were really enjoying the great runs and safeties by the players. Danny Williams would win the first set in this true-double elimination tournament 7-5 which forced a second set. The second set went hill-hill! And then Danny Williams would win the last game of the tournament to capture first place and the Omega Tour title!
Big congrats to Danny Williams for his 1st place finish! Congrats to Rick Stanley for a hard-fought 2nd place and also to CJ Wiley for his great 3rd place finish. Shout-out to 78-year-old Walt Anderson for placing 4th! Wow!
5th/6th places were filled by Joey Barnes and Steve Sheppard, and 7th/8th places were filled by Paul Guernsey and Doug Winnett.
Congrats to ALL the players and fans and sponsors for another great event!
A HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors Omega Billiards Supply, OB Cues, and BCAPL/CSI. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, Irving Ink and Thread, AZBilliards.com, Pool School, and BilliardsPress.com.
This year OB Cues is our Ranking sponsor and will be donating OB Cues to the top ranked 3 players at the end of the year! BCAPL/CSI has joined again and will be giving away 5 BCAPL free entry fees the 2017 BCAPL Nationals. After 8 stops, Tony Sulsar leads the Rankings with 665 points, CJ Wiley moved up to second place with 635 points, and Crispian Ng is third with 560 points. Only one more stop to go for ranking points before the Finale!
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Speeds owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! She would also like to thank co-Director Heather Farr – couldn’t have done this without you!
A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, main sponsor of the Tour and owner of Omega Billiards Supply in Hurst, TX. Michael and Omega Billiards Supply are well known for the huge booths at many large tournaments across the country.
The next stop will be held October 15-16 at Clicks in Arlington, Texas. $1,500 added and already full with 85 players. We have ten stops total in 2016. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
Check out the website for more details: http://www.omegabilliardstour.com/
And follow the brackets live online at: http://omegatour.challonge.com/8speeds17
