On the weekend of December 14-15th, young gun Anthony Shea claimed the top prize on the newly inaugurated Omega Billiards Tour's Season Finale of 2013 at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.  Anthony went undefeated to capture the first place prize, making him the youngest winner yet, at a mere 20 years old!    

 

Over $9,500 was given out in monies and prizes this weekend! (Tourney payouts + prizes + player’s auction.)  Here is how it all went down….

 

Anthony started off his tournament run with an upset by defeating last month’s tourney winner, Coy Lee Nicholson, 7-7.  Then he defeated Jay Murillo 7-1, TJ Klein 7-2, squeaked by Juan Parra 7-6 to last until Sunday.  Steve Raynes was also on a tear and won his first match against the always formidable Crispian Ng 6-5, then William Howard 6-4, Danny Williams 6-3 and Jeff Georges 6-3 to last til Sunday.  The always tough Tony Sulsar (after a bye) defeated his next three opponents 8-3 to meet Anthony on Sunday morning.  Sky Massingill defeated his 4 opponents 7-4 to meet up with Steve Raynes Sunday morning.

 

13th-16th places were filled by Charlie Smith, Shannon Modesitt, David De La Garza and William Howard.  HUGE shout out to David (“Spyder”) for capturing his highest finish to date!!  9th-12th place finishers were filled by Juan Parra, Willie Speed, Robert Sifuentes and Mike Nagaki.  7th and 8th place was hard fought and Curtis Cardwell and Dylan Weinheimer would fill those spots, with Jeff Gorges and David Josephson also having a great tournament by finishing 5th/6th.

 

On the winner’s side on Sunday morning, Anthony Shea would defeat Tony Sulsar 7-4, while Steve Raynes sent Sky Massingill left with a score of 6-4.  Steve and Anthony would battle it out for the hotseat with Anthony coming out on top 7-2.  Sky then defeated David Josephson 7-5 but was stopped by Tour Champion tough Tony Sulsar 8-5.  Tony kept on his winning style by then defeating Steve Raynes hill-hill.  Steve had a fantastic tourney placing his highest finish to date at 3rd place!!

 

In the finals, it looked like it would be pushed to two sets, as Tony Sulsar was ahead 7-2.  But Anthony kept his composure and kept fighting back until the score was hill-hill.  Anthony broke, and then ran out for the win!  Hill-hill thriller and his FIRST Omega Billiards Tour title!!  

 

Congratulations to ALL the players for their fine play and great finishes!

 

Anthony earned $725 plus a beautiful Lucasi Cue for First Place and Tony earned $525 for Second place.  Steve Raynes earned $400 for 3rd place (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction).

 

This event was the Omega Billiards Tour’s Season Finale with $2,000 added!  At this event, Predator prizes were given out to the top 3 ranked players and Tony Sulsar claimed 1st place and is now the VERY first Omega Billiards Tour Champion!  Tony will get free entry fees into the 2014 Season AND a Predator Sport 4×8 Case, BK Break Cue, and Sport Playing Cue with 314-2 Shaft!  Second place rankings went to Coy Lee who finished this last event in First to propel him to 2nd place!  Coy Lee will get a Predator Sport 4×8 Case and BK Break Cue.  Third place goes to Mike Voelkering who had a stellar year!  He will get a Predator Sport 4×8 Case and 314-2 Shaft!

 

Fourth through eighth places will each receive a free entry into the 2014 BCAPL Nationals!  Congratulations to 4th place ranked Crispian Ng, 5th/6th ranked Amos Bush and Jesse Hernandez, and 7th/8th ranked players Steve Raynes and Alberto Nieto!

 

A HUGE thank you to Predator Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and Lucasi and Players Cues.  We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Pro Billiard Service, APA of Tarrant County, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.

 

Tour Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Rusty’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend!  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 of the large tournaments across the country. 

 

The 2014 Omega Billiards Tour calendar is already set with 7 stops and a Season Finale.  The first stop will be held at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas January, 11-12, 2014!  Each stop is limited to 80 players (an increase from 64) and the monies guaranteed added has increased to $1,500 for each stop!!  Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!! 

 

The 2014 Schedule is online and payments can be received via the Omega Tour website. 

 

Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!

 

http://www.omegabilliardstour.com/

On the weekend of August 3rd-4th, Amos Bush not only won the Omega Billiards Tour's 5th stop of 2013 at Clicks Billiards in Arlington, TX, he did after losing his very first match!  Winning 12 straight matches in a row, including a double dip in the finals, Amos captured the first place prize and moved himself squarely into the top 5 Rankings!  

 

Amos lost his very first match to the always formidable Jesse Hernandez 7-4.   But that didn’t stop him – he went on a rampage and defeated Jim Colling 8-5, Anthony Shea 8-0, Willie Speed 8-4 and Jeff Georges 8-3 to make it to Sunday.  On Sunday he defeated Shannon Modesitt 8-4 then Corey Flud 8-0.  He then ran into a determined Tony Sulsar (winner of the last two stops), and that match went hill-hill with Amos coming out on top 8-7.  Then Amos had a rematch with Jesse and won 8-4, and also toppled over the always-tough Crispian Ng (newly BCAPL Nationals 9-Ball Champ) 8-5 and then Mike Voelkering 8-5 to earn a spot in the finals.

 

Mike Voelkering had another fantastic tournament placing 3rd.  He made it into the hotseat match with only one opponent getting over 3 games against him.  In the hotseat match, a heartbreaker carom on the 9 barely hung in the pocket for an almost hill-hill match.  He fought hard against Amos in the semi-final but Amos was shooting good all weekend, also, and Amos won 8-5.  Congrat’s to Mike for placing 3rd!

 

Undefeated till the finals was a determined Jack Lynch (known as “Jersey Jack”).  He had an excellent tournament and defeated a lot of good players to get to the finals!  He had wins over Tony Matthew 7-1, Danny Williams 7-6, Dylan Weinheimer 7-5, Corey FLud 7-3, Walter Huenerfuerst 7-2 and Mike Voelkering 7-5 where he then waited for Amos to make his way for the final match-up.

 

In the finals, Amos caught a gear and won the first set 8-1.  In the second set, Jersey was able to capture 4 games, but again Amos prevailed and won the second set 8-4.  Amos earned $560 plus a beautiful Lucasi cue for First Place and Jersey earned $450 for Second.  Mike earned $300 for 3rd place (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction).

 

A BIG shout out to newcomer Walter Huenerfuerst for placing 5th in his first Omega Billiards Tour event and also to Robert Sifuentes who might now be considered the “Giant Killer” as he got past several high-ranked players to place an impressive 7th place – his highest finish yet!

 

The Predator Player Points Tracker is for sure tested now with only one more stop left for the season to see who wins the coveted Predator prizes at Season Finale!  Tony Sulsar remains in 1st place, with Crispian Ng in 2nd and Mike Voelkering moving up to 3rd.  The top 3 ranked players earn Predator Prizes at the end of the year and everyone is anxious and ready to place higher and higher in the stops to move up on the list!  CSI / BCAPL are giving free entries to the 2014 BCAPL Nationals for players ranked 4th-8th at the end of the year, also.  Thank you to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Lucasi Cues, Players Cues, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.

 

Tour Directors Melinda Bailey and Brian Anderson would like to thank Click’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend!  A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, who is the 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 of the large tournaments across the country. The last stop on the Omega Billiards Tour is scheduled for October 5-6 at Speed’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.  All of the six events for 2013 on the Omega Billiard Tour's inaugural season have been filled to their 64-player capacity, with a 60+ waiting list!  Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!! 

 

Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!