Johnson wins nine on the loss side to challenge him in the finals
When Curtis Cardwell won his first Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour stop last year, tour representative Monica Anderson made note of the fact that Caldwell had been a “long-time player, (who’s been with us since the tour began in 2017); very loyal, very dedicated, always a contender at every event and just a damn nice guy.”
“His first win (at 2023 Stop #7 last July),” she added, “has been a long time coming.”
As it turned out, 2023 became Cardwell’s best recorded earnings year since he brought home $50 finishing 13th on the Texas Am Tour back in 2011. His second DFW 9-Ball Tour win, this past weekend (April 20-21) – at the same location as his first win last year, at the VFW in Sherman, TX – didn’t take as long. He did it a little differently this year. Last July, he worked through five matches on the loss side and double-dipped another tour veteran, Jonathan Rawlins, in the final. This year, in his first appearance on the tour, he won seven straight, jumping from nowhere in the tour standings to among the tour’s top 10. The $1,500-added Stop #4 on the 2024 tour drew 51 entrants to the VFW in Sherman.
Cardwell got by Robbie Smith (2) in the opening round before facing last year’s tour champion and this year’s current 2nd place competitor in the standings, Gus Briseno. Cardwell allowed Briseno only a single rack, advancing to lock up in a double-hill fight and win versus Hector Guerrero. In his winners’ side quarterfinal, he faced the competitor that he’d double-dipped in the finals to earn his first win last year, Jon Rawlins. Cardwell defeated him 7-5 to draw Dan Bowman in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Meanwhile, Steven Adkins was working his way to meet Cardwell in the battle for the hot seat. He defeated Neil Sidawi, double hill, Joshua Paredes 6-1, and Max Sun 6-4 to pick up Mitch Owen in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Cardwell defeated Bowman 7-2, as Adkins and Owen fought a double-hill fight for advancement to the hot seat match. Adkins won it and put up an almost double-hill battle for the hot seat. Cardwell closed it out at 7-5 to claim it.
On the loss side, Bowman picked up Mark Johnson, whose third-place finish in last month’s stop on the tour brought him into this event as 4th overall in the tour standings. Johnson had lost his opening match to Joshua Paredes, double hill, and set out on a nine-match, loss-side streak that would take him all the way to the finals. He’d recently eliminated Doug Winnet (loss-side win #5) 7-4 and Robbie Smith 7-1. Mitch Owen drew Kirit Patel, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Bowman, and on the loss side, downed Cody McComas 7-3 and eliminated Jon Rawlins, double hill.
Owen defeated Patel 6-5 (Patel racing to 7) and in the quarterfinals, faced Johnson, who’d eliminated Bowman 7-5. Johnson defeated Owen by the same 7-5 score and then, eliminated Adkins 7-3 in the semifinals.
Johnson stepped into the finals to play his 11th and possibly, his 12th match (four, or five more matches than anyone else). If anyone had the right to expect a little assistance in the momentum department, it would have been him. By the same token, 10 matches do have a way of taking their toll. Curtis Cardwell completed his six-match, undefeated streak with a 7-4 victory over Johnson to claim his first 2024 title and his second Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at the VFW in Sherman for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Cuetec and Associate Sponsor Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 18, will be hosted by Rusty’s in Arlington, TX.
Daniel Herring was going to be the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2022 Tour Champion before the first rack was broken at the tour finale, held this past weekend (Nov. 19-20) at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX. Though he’d finish in the tie for 17th/24th competing in the finale, Herring was ahead by 350 points in the tour rankings going into it and effectively, couldn’t be caught. As it happened, his closest competitor for the tour champion title, Joshua Paredes, who finished in the tie for 9th/12th in the finale, was able to narrow the points gap down to 45 points (from 350 to 305) and remain in 2nd place in the rankings. Matt Wilson, who was in a tie for 9th place in the tour rankings going in and finished about 35 points behind Paredes for third place in the final rankings, went undefeated in the finale, claiming his second tour stop title. He’d defeated Herring in the finals of April’s stop. The $3,760-added tour finale drew 36 by-invitation-only entrants to Rusty’s.
After being awarded an opening round bye, Wilson’s path went through Curtis Caldwell and Fahad Alrawi (double hill), before running into Joshua Paredes in a winners’ side quarterfinal. He downed Paredes, double hill and faced Mark Lawson in a winners’ side semifinal. At the other end of the bracket, Doug Winnett opened with a 10-2 win over Jennifer Hooten and then locked up into two straight double hill battles against Robbie Smith and Tony Loeper. Winnett won them both to pick up Alberto Nieto Garcia in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Wilson defeated Lawson 5-3 and was joined in the hot seat match by Winnett, who’d sent Garcia to the loss side 7-2. With Winnett racing to 8, Wilson claimed the hot seat 5-5 and waited on Miguel Hernandez, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Lawson and was working on a five-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him all the way back to the finals.
On the loss side, Hernandez first ran into Curtis Caldwell, defeating him 6-6 (Caldwell racing to 8) and then, facing Don Baker, who’d arrived with Daniel Herring and Joshua Paredes as notches on his ‘gun belt,’ defeated him 6-3. Hernandez drew Garcia, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Lawson picked up Robert Reighter, who’d recently defeated Clint Palaci 7-5 and Tony Loeper 6-5 (Loeper racing to 8).
The two loss-side opponents in the 5th/6th matches advanced; Reighter defeating Lawson 5-3, while Hernandez dispatched Garcia 6-2. Hernandez and Reighter locked up in a double-hill, quarterfinal fight that continued Hernandez’ loss-side run and stopped Reighter’s.
With Winnett racing to 7 in the semifinals, Hernandez took another step. He defeated Winnett 6-5 and got a shot at the event title versus Wilson, waiting for him in the hot seat.
In a straight-up race to 6, the ‘570’ (Fargo Rate, Hernandez) faced the ‘536’(Wilson), Hernandez needing to win two matches to claim the title. Wilson took the first and only set to complete his undefeated run and claim the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s season finale title.
Tour directors thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec, and associate sponsor, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore.
The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2023 schedule is, at the moment, a work in progress. The schedule is expected to be posted ‘sometime in December,’ according to tour representatives.
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.
On the one hand, a player can't but feel confident about an opponent he's already defeated in a double elimination tournament. On the other hand, when that opponent starts mowing 'em down on the loss side, and gets all the way back to the finals, a hot seat occupant can't help but wonder whether he'll be next. Crispian Ng faced just such a scene during the April 26-27 stop on the Omega Billiards Tour. He'd survived a double hill battle against Tony Sulsar and watched, as Sulsar battled his way back to the finals. Ng shut him down in a single set final to complete an undefeated run on the $1,500-added event that had drawn 80 entrants to JR Pockets in Denton, TX.
Once Ng had dispatched Sulsar to the loser's bracket in a winners' side quarterfinal, he turned to face Steve Raynes. Ricky Jaramillo, in the meantime, met up with Chuck Dement. Ng and Jaramillo met in the hot seat match, once they had defeated Raynes and Dement, both 7-5. Ng and Jaramillo battled to double hill before Ng prevailed to sit in the hot seat, and watch Sulsar complete his loss-side run.
That loss-side run began with an 8-4 victory over Greg Sandiser, and an 8-3 win over Robbie Smith, which set Sulsar up for a match against Dement. Steve Raynes drew Barry Emerson, who'd gotten by Todd Comitini 8-4 and Robin Barbour 8-5. Sulsar and Emerson eliminated Dement and Raynes, both 8-4, and faced each other in the quarterfinals.
Sulsar chalked up another 8-4 win, leaving Emerson in fourth place, and then, defeated Jaramillo in the semifinals 8-5. Five down on the loss side, and two to go, as Sulsar moved into the double elimination final against Ng. Ng, though, defeated Sulsar a second time 7-5 to complete his undefeated run and claim the event title.
Tour Director Melinda Bailey thanked Richard and Nona Bryan of JR Pockets, as well as Michael Hoang of Omega Billiards. The next stop on the Omega Billiards, set for June 14-15, will be a $1,500-added event hosted by Rusty's Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
