The 34th Annual Music City Open was once again hosted by JOB’s Billiards in Madison, TN – a suburb of Nashville. Played on seven foot Diamonds, $7,000 was added to the event. Owner Ricky Gamble and his staff went all out to welcome all the players and fans.
Kicking off the event on Wednesday evening was a single elimination open 9 ball mini tournament. Sixty four players joined the fray – format was races to seven, winner breaks.
Directed by our own Ray Hansen, the field was whittled down to four players. Manny Perez handily beat Josh O’Neal 7-0 while James Davee beat Jeremiah Petty 7-3 to move into the finals. Due to the late hour, Manny and James decided to split the pot.
The $6,000 added Open 9 Ball division began the following evening. 127 players paid their $100 entry fees into this double elimination event. Races were to eleven with winner breaks. Following the players meeting, a rousing players auction and draw, play began.
Notable matches in the first round action saw John Gabriel thump Chris Baskerville 11-1 as did Shane Wolford over Raed Shabib 11-3. Brian Bryant had a bit of a tougher time with cuemaker Mike Durbin – the final score was 11-7. Young guns Sergio Rivas smoked Tracy Blevins 11-2 while Manny Perez defeated Steve Legace 11-3. John Hennessee blitzed Bob Ferrell 11-0 and Dave Matlock notched a forfeit over Jesse Couch.
In the second round and still having a fairly easy time of it, Tulsa’s John Gabriel then defeated Dominick Iraggi 11-3. Shane Wolford, owner of the Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA made short work of Mark Nanashee 11-4 and Jeremiah Petty skunked Brandon Andre 11 zip. Manny Perez claimed victory over Chris Busby 11-5 and Hennessee spanked Michael Williamson 11-3. Robert Hall defeated Ron Frank 11-7, James Davee outran Andrew Stroup 11-8 and Mike Gann forfeited his match to Josh O’Neal.
Legendary bar box king Dave Matlock had his hands full with the straight shooting Sergio Rivas. Hoping for a flashback, Dave played well but Sergio took him down 11-7.
Third round action saw John Gabriel run into a buzz saw named Shane Wolford. Catching up to the great breaking Shane a couple of times, Wolford finally pulled away to a 10-6 lead. No slouch himself, John clawed his way back to tie it up at ten apiece! In a heartbreaker of a game, a relieved Shane finally edged him out.
Other matches from that round had Rivas easing past Tab Pranee 11-5 as Chuck Raulston eased past Steve Cruse 11-2. Seemingly unable to find his game, Manny Perez was smoked by Rusty Jackson 11-3 and Hennessee from Tennessee took care of Anthony Gunn 11-5. Joey Yarbrough was no threat to Robert Hall – he lost 11-2 while James Davee wrestled Lee Uhles for an 11-8 win.
With both the Open and Ladies event in full swing, Saturday night was ground zero for the Midnight Madness nine ball mini. Eight players put up a $500 entry fee. Format was single elimination with races to eleven and winner breaks. Shane Wolford and Hennessee were the last men standing – they also decided to split the pot.
After a scare in his previous match with John Gabriel, Shane Wolford cruised to an 11-2 victory over Scott Roberts and Rivas was in the zone with an 11-1 win over Gene Drerup. Raulston sent Kevin Ping packing – same score – 11-1.
After his big win over Manny Perez, Rusty Jackson had his hands full with Hennessee – he lost 11-7. James Davee also survived a tough one – he defeated Joey Yarbrough 11-9.
Playing great, Wolford swept past Chip Gaither 11-2. Same great play by Rivas got him past Chuck Raulston 11-6 while Hennessee sent Davee west 11-6.
As the Open 9 Ball played on, the $1,000 added Ladies Division began on Friday night. Forty two players entered this double elimination event – format was races to seven with winners break. As always, there was a players meeting and auction followed by the draw.
The ladies played down to the final four on the winners side. Nicole Keeney defeated Amanda Huff 7-3 and Amy Theriault was defeated by Edie Dean. Edie & Nicole advanced to the hot seat match where Nicole breezed through the match and locked up her berth in the finals 7-1. Edie headed west to await an opponent.
After losing her first match, Laura Kanov’s run to the finals was finally thwarted by Julie Skirpac 7-3. Laura finished in fourth place. Julie then went on to face Edie Dean but lost 7-5. She finished third – Edie would get another shot at Nicole in the finals.
Since this was a double elimination event, Edie would have to win two sets to claim the title. She won the first two games but Nicole came roaring back to win the next four. Edie managed to put two more games on the board but it wasn’t enough – Nicole took the match and the title 7-4! Fantastic tournament for both players!!!
Finally down to four on the winners side in the Open event, Wolford made short work of Brian Bryant 11-5 while Rivas outlasted Hennessee 11-7. Sergio and Shane headed to the hot seat match – their opponents slogged over to the one loss side of the chart.
The hot seat match was all Shane Wolford. He kept Rivas pretty much nailed to his chair and moved undefeated into the finals – 11-4.
On the other side of the brackets, Bryant and Mike Gann battled – Gann was eliminated 11-8. On the other table, Josh O’Neal and Hennessee took it down to the wire – Josh was eliminated 11-10. After escaping his previous match, Hennessee tortured Brian Bryant 11-1 – Brian finished in fourth place.
Fighting to claim the remaining berth in the finals and looking to avenge his previous loss to Rivas, Hennessee was taking no prisoners this time. Hennessee defeated Sergio 11-6 and headed to the finals. Sergio finished in third place.
As this was double elimination, Wolford would have to be beaten twice for Hennessee to win the tournament. By mid-match, it was tied at five apiece. Shane won the next three games – making it 8-5. Could he run out the set?!!!
Nope!!! Hennessee rallies and ties it up at eight!!! Wins the next game and takes his first lead of the match!!! His lead didn’t last long though as Shane tied it up again at nine games each but once again, Hennessee won the next game. He was on the hill – 10-9. Could he win this last game and force a second set?
Not so fast!!! He scratched on the break!!! A dejected Hennessee slowly walked back to the chair to watch Shane run out the rack making it 10-10!!!
Making the one on the break, he had a wide open rack! Methodically running the balls but leaving himself a little long on the seven, he took a deep breath and rifled it in to win the event!!! Great tournament for both players!!!
PoolActionTV.com would like to again thank Ricky Gamble and local sponsor Action 24/7 for another fabulous event. Tournament Director Jason Hill – ably assisted by Steve McDonald – did an excellent job coordinating the various events.
We’d also like to thank our sponsors and fans. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, StraightPoolEye, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond, Durbin Custom Cues, Simonis, Aramith, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next stop is the long awaited Derby City Classic in New Albany, IN – dates are January 21st-29th. As always, we hope to see you there and in our Aramith Action Room!!!
Winner Hank Powell came looking for his second win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Runner-up Ryan Fossum came in search of his first. Powell went undefeated at the December 7-8 event that drew 41 entrants to Janet Atwell’s room, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN. Fossum settled for runner-up and his first cash win on the tour.
They battle twice in the event; hot seat and finals. Powell advancing to the match after a double hill (7-5) win over Keith Young, and Fossum joining him after sending Rick Chitwood to the loss side 5-1. Powell claimed the hot seat 6-3 and waited in it for Fossum to return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Chitwood picked up Chris Stump, who’d eliminated Anthony Mabe, double hill, and Robert Hall 5-1 to reach him. Young drew Jackson Hurst, a 16-year-old junior player, who’d been defeated in the event’s second round by room owner Janet Atwell and launched a seven-match, loss-side winning streak to the quarterfinals. He’d recently eliminated Mike Kirby 5-3 and Bobby Jack Conner 5-6 (Conner racing to 8).
Hurst got into those quarterfinals with a 5-4 win over Young (Young racing to 6). He was joined by Chitwood, who’d defeated Stump, double hill.
Chitwood then ended Hurst’s loss-side streak 6-3 in those quarterfinals, before himself being eliminated by Fossum, double hill (5-5) in the semifinals.
In the opening and what proved to be only double-elimination set necessary, Fossum was able to muster a couple more racks against Powell than he had in their hot seat match, but they weren’t enough. Powell took the opening set 7-4 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for December 14-15, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by the newly-renovated Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
American Rotation Championship Series 5 was held at the Derby City Classic on January 22nd thru the 24th, 2015. 16 players qualified but only 15 were able to make the trip. We had 12 players representing the United States, 2 players representing Canada, and 1 player from the land of Rotation, the Philippines.
Once again, all qualified players were in the money even before they hit a ball. This Self Sustaining format has players earning their way to the national events rather than buying their way in. Each billiard club has 10 local players that compete over a 10 week period which ends by sending one of their players to a two day national event with free entry and an additional $800 in expense money. The American Billiard Club’s American Rotation Series seems to be picking up speed, traction and well earned attention from players, fans and club owners. It is definitely tough to ignore this format in which there are no losers, and the players are finally uniting for themselves and their sport.
Diamond Billiard Products not only welcomed the Championship and the additional players but they allowed us to use their tables, one day prior to the actual start date of the Derby City events. This helped to ensure that none of our players would miss out on playing in their 9 Ball Banks event, and would allow us to have minimal conflicting match schedules.
Our Championship event began with a 15 player draw into three separate round robin groups, 5 players in each. They would all play 4 matches racing to 120 points. Each match in this round robin would be played out in its entirety on day one. The top 2 players from each group and the two best 3rd place records would move on to the 8 player single elimination finals on day two. Group 2 attracted much of the iron with 3 of the top 4 favorites; Joe Dupuis our first ever American Rotation Champion, 2 time and defending Champion Mike Dechaine, and new comer Filipino sensation Edgie Geronimo. Below are the Groups and their results (wins, losses, ball count).
Group 1
Jody McLaughlin- Big Dog Billiards, DesMoines IA: 4-0 (+100)
Tom Zippler– Magic 8 Cue Club, Baltimore MD: 3-1 (+74)
Jay Wideman– Port City Billiard, Brunswick GA: 1-3 (-111)
Danny Petro- Lags Billiards, Columbus IN: 1-3 (-125)
The top 8 players were seeded based on their independent records into the single elimination bracket on day 2 of the championships.
Below was our match ups:
#1 Mike Dechaine vs # 8 Gerry Williams = Mike Advanced
#4 Edgie Geronimo vs #5 Tom Zippler = Edgie Advanced
#3 Brandon Shuff vs #6 Amos Bush = Brandon Advanced
#2 Jody McLaughlin vs #7 Roger Miller = Jody Advanced
Semi Final Matches:
Mike Dechaines vs Edgie Geronimo = Mike Advanced
Jody McLaughlin vs Brandon Shuff = Jody Advanced
This brought us one of our personal dream finals, the touring professional vs the full time working/family man. This is what the American Billiard Club is all about, helping professional players cover yearly travel expenses and keeping passionate high level players with families involved in our sport.
The Finals: Jody McLaughlin: 43 yrs young, married, 4 children and working 60+ hours per week VS the #2 U.S. ranked professional player, young gun and two time defending American Rotation Champion Mike Dechaine.
Mike wins the lag in this race to 140 points and turns up the heat right away by opening with a perfect 20 point break and run.
Rack 1 = 20-0 Mike
R2 = 24-16 Mike
R3= 40-20 Mike
R4= Mike is picking up the pace with a 24 pint lead 52-28
R5= 60-40 Mike, but Jody is holding on
R6= Jody is reeling in the points 62-58 Mike
R7= 73-67 JODY, Jody takes the lead and applies unexpected heat.
R8= 80-80 baby.
R9= 91-89 Mike takes the lead but its now Jody’s break
R10= 4 innings of kick safes on the 5 ball with Jody eventually getting the first shot and clears the rack and re takes the lead 105-95 Jody
R11= Mike’s break and he shows some serious heart by coming with another perfect break and run to take the lead 115-105 Mike.
R12= Jody makes 2 balls on the break and starts a nice run but as he attempted to draw across a position zone, he came up short and was now hooked by the 13 ball at a score of score 115-110. Jody had a side of the 5 to hit and played a nice safety but the cue ball coming from a very steep angle off the end rail found the side pocket! Mike then clears the table right up until the 12 ball, when he shocked everyone by missing a routine shot that allowed Jody to pick up 8 huge points pulling the score to a very tight 122-118 in favor of Mike.
R13= Mike’s break needing 18 points to win his 3rd consecutive title. He makes 2 balls on the break, a solid and a stripe and scratches. The room of spectators believe 3 points are awarded to Jody which means Mike cannot close out the match with just 17 points remaining on the table. The stripe ball turns out to be the 9 ball, which is a one point ball, so there is still 18 points available on the table. If Jody gets at least one more point in this rack, he’ll have a chance to break and run the next rack for the title. Amazingly this was the same situation Mike was in at his last ARCS finals against Jerry Calderone in Las Vegas, with Mike needing to make a combination with 2 striped balls. In Vegas, Mike made the combo but had to play safe after it which gave Jerry one last shot. Here in this match, Mike drills the combo pocketing the 15 and the 13 ball slid right past the cue ball giving him the shot and with these 2 last balls made, Mike wins his 3rd Consecutive American Rotation Title with yet another perfect break and run,140-120 Mike Dechaine.
The Question now becomes, who and when will someone defeat this worthy Champion? Will it be another average Joe or our next touring pro?
The payouts for American Rotation Champions Series 5:
1st Mike Dechaine $2400 + $800 = $3200.
2nd Jody McLaughlin $1500 + $800 = $2300.
3rd/4th Brandon Shuff $750 +$800 = $1550.
3rd/4th Edgie Geronimo $750 + $800 = $1550.
5th-8th Tom Zippler $400 + $800 = $1200.
5th-8th Amos Bush $400 + $800 = $1200.
5th-8th Roger Miller $400 + $800 = $1200.
5th-8th Gerry Williams $400 + $800 = $1200.
9th-16th Each player received $800 for expenses.
Series VI begins March 9th throughout the country. If your local club is not yet on board, please take action for them and for our sport. The sooner we hit 64 clubs, the sooner we can start approaching corporate sponsors from outside the industry. It is a simple process that can be very important for our sports’ future.
It takes 10 local players and at least 1 pool table, so do not hesitate to contact the American Billiard Club via their website or contact Joe Tucker directly at JTtenball@gmail.com and he will put a schedule up online for your 10 players. United, simple strong steps.
Sport 9 Ladies tour stop #2 was held at Bumpers Billiards this past weekend, April 12th, 2014 drawing 16 players in both the women’s and the men’s events. Players from all over the southeast came to compete for points and prize money in the 9 ball events.
The ladies event began Saturday at noon and was played on eight 9' Diamond tables. The format was double elimination race to 7 on the winner’s side and race to 5 on the loser’s side. The comradery was boosted as well the level of competition as Sport 9 welcomed 3 new players. Many of the matches were very close going to the hill, however out of sixteen total players it was guest player Dana Aft who went undefeated and claimed tournament champion. Newcomers Ashley Nandresy, Kim Housman, and Betty Sessions came in second through fourth respectively. Several of the matches were recorded are can be viewed on Ustream.tv (Bumpers TV).
The men’s 9 ball bar table mini event was held in conjunction with the ladies event also producing some great matches and 16 talented players. The format was race to seven, alternate break double elimination. Rob Hall, owner of Bumpers Billiards, went undefeated after defeating 2nd place finisher, James Baraks for the hot seat and again in the finals. Robb Saez took 3rd place and Clifton Frederick took fourth after an amazing win over Justin Bergman.
Sport 9 would like to thank Robert Hall, owner of Bumpers Billiards @ Huntsville for hosting the event and providing such a wonderful opportunity for both events. Sport 9 would also like to thank Ozone Billiards, IngenPool, Professor-Q-Ball, AZBilliards, GoPlayPool, Pool-Trax, Kamui Tips, and Focus Gear for their continued support and contributions.
Be sure to plan for the next event, tour stop #3, at 6 Pockets Billiards in Decatur, AL May 17th weekend. Event is listed in the events page on the tour website.
Last June, Justin Bergman raised a few pool eyebrows when he defeated Francisco Bustamante in the finals of the Southern Classic's One-Pocket event in Tunica. He'd already chalked up a win on the Simonis Cloth Classic Tour in May and two months after Tunica, won the Big Muddy Freeroll down in Cape Girardeaux, LA. Bergman opened his 2014 campaign with an undefeated victory in the River City 9-Ball Open, stopping a five-match, loss side bid by Robb Saez in the process. The $1,000-added event, held on the weekend of January 11-12, drew 52 entrants to 6 Pockets Bar & Billiards in Decatur, AL.
As Bergman was busy among the winners' side final eight, defeating Kenny Laftis 9-3, 'home room' favorite, Lane "Lights Out" Gatlin was working on Saez, eventually sending him on his loss-side way 9-4. Bergman then picked up Gatlin and sent him over after Saez 9-2. Robert Hall, in the meantime, defeated Bobby McGrath 9-4 to join Bergman in the battle for the hot seat. Bergman took that hot seat match 9-7, and waited on the return of Saez.
Saez opened his loss-side bid 7-3 over Daryl Biggart, followed up 7-2 over Laftis and missed a second shot at Gatlin, when he drew Bobby McGrath. Gatlin got Nick Hickerson, who'd eliminated Ron Justice 7-5 and Dustin Wilkins 7-3. Hickerson put the lights out on Gatlin 7-1 to face Saez, who'd just defeated McGrath 7-3.
The quarterfinal was one of only three double hill fights among the tournament's final 22 matches. Saez won it over Hickerson and then, downed Robert Hall 7-3. Bergman gave up only two racks in the race-to-9 to capture the event title.
6 Pockets owner Paul McLain thanked his staff, and their families, for the cooperation necessary to coordinate the event. He also thanked sponsors PoolActionTV for their live stream broadcast with Ray "Big Truck" Hansen, and local sponsors Supreme Beverage and Valley Budweiser.
