Skinny Bob’s Billiards & Sports Bar in Round Rock, TX was the venue for the 7th Annual Texas Open 10 Ball Championships.
Produced by Cue & A Promotions, this event featured three divisions – the $2,000 added Scotch Doubles, the $2,000 added Ladies 10 Ball and the 10,000 added 10 Ball Open. A total of $15,750 was added to the prize fund.
Local sponsors included Mints Amusements, Hanshew Jump Cues, Austin Pro Siding, Windows & Roofing, GAF, DigitalPool.com and ABC Supply Co., Inc.
The tournament began on Wednesday night with a $500 added 10 Ball mini tournament. This $25 entry single elimination race to three event had a full field of 64 players. Hailing from Sarajevo, Bosnia, Sanjin Pehlivanovic took the cheese. Defending US Open Pool champ Carlo Biado took second while Lima, Peru’s Gerson Martinez and Roland Garcia each tied for third place.
Following a players meeting and auction, play commenced on Thursday afternoon in the Jack & Jill Scotch Doubles 10 Ball Championship. Twenty three teams posted $125 entry fees to play in this double elimination, race to seven event.
Thursday evening also featured the $500 added Banks Ring Game. At the end, Denmark’s Mickey Krause, John Morra and Manny Chau did a three-way chop of the cash.
Carlo Biado and Mary Rakin Tam (Pool Action TV)
Friday began with both a $500 added Open Ring Game and a $250 added Ladies Ring Game. John Morra won the Open Ring Game and the Ladies was won by Jenna Bishoff.
Later that evening, a players meeting and auction kicked off the main event. 125 players paid their $150 entry fees into this double elimination, race to seven with alternate break format. Play began the following day.
Meeting in the first round, Roland Garcia edged out Josh Roberts 7-6 and Alex Pagulayan defeated Evan Lunda 7-3.
Second round action saw Lee Vann Corteza spank John Gabriel 7-2 as Gerson Martinez squeaked by Sergio Rivas 7-6. Robbie Capito eked out a 7-6 win over recent Music City Open champ Shane Wolford, Singapore’s Sarik Sayed trounced local favorite Justin Espinosa 7-2 while Pagulayan toughed out his match with Pehlivanovic 7-5.
In the third round, straight shooting veteran Tommy Sanders shot down Blaine Barcus 7-3 as did Biado over Krause with an identical score. Gerson Martinez sent Lee Vann west 7-4 while Sean Black upset the legendary David Matlock 7-5.John Morra blistered Shane McMinn 7-2 while Manny Chau sent Michael Yednak packing 7-3. Fellow Houstonians Roberto Gomez and Tommy Tokoph duked it out with Tommy emerging the victor 7-3 and Sayed lost to Pagulayan 7-4.
Matches in the fourth round saw Sanders bow to Krause 7-4 and Chris Reinhold lose to Gerson Martinez by the same score. Morra toasted Sean Black as did Chip Compton versus Nicholas De Leon – both matches were 7-3. Sending another Houstonian to the one loss side, Tokoph bested Chau 7-5 – Capito went down to Pagulayan 7-4.
Round five had Gerson Martinez mowing down Krause 7-4 and Tokoph easing past Christopher Teves 7-3. With identical 7-1 scores, Pagulayan bested Souto as did Tokoph over Christopher Tevez.
Now down to four players on the winners side, Gerson Martinez defeated Morra 7-5 while Pagulayan beat Tokoph 7-3. Both Alex and Gerson moved into the hot seat match as their opponents headed west.
Saturday evening saw the players meeting and auction for the Ladies 10 Ball event. A full field of 32 players posted a $100 entry – same format as the Open 10 Ball.
Notable first round matches included perennial favorite Ming Ng’s victory over Kelly Durbin 7-5 with both Kim Sanders edging out Mary Avina and Margaret Fox over Tam Trinh 7-6.
Second round action saw Jenna Bishoff eke out a win over Jennifer Kraber 7-6 as Mary Rakin Tam defeated Ng by the same score. Sanders defeated Emily Sumrall 7-3 and Melissa Rushton took care of Fox 7-4.
After skunking her two previous opponents, April Larson had a bit of a tougher time with Kim Pierce – April won 7-3. Tam sent Bishoff packing 7-5, Chris Fields pummeled Rachel Hurst 7-1 and Rushton notched another win over Sanders 7-5.
Down to four on the winners side, Tam sneaked past Larson 7-5 and Fields beat Rushton 7-4. Both Tam and Fields advanced to the hot seat match. Mary handily beat Chris 7-2 and claimed her seat in the finals. Chris headed west to await an opponent.
On the one loss side, Bishoff defeated Rushton 7-4 while Larson eliminated Trinh 7-5. Larson won her match with Bishoff 7-4 leaving Jenna in fourth place. April then defeated Chris 7-2 to move into the finals. Chris finished with a third place finish.
Since this was true double elimination, April would have to defeat Mary twice to claim the title. However, it was not to be as April was relegated to a well-deserved second place finish and Mary went undefeated to claim her first Texas Open 10 Ball title!!!
Meanwhile, the Open 10 Ball was winding down to its last few players! In the hot seat match, Gerson Martinez mowed down his last opponent to lock up his berth in the finals. Pagulayan lost 7-4 and headed to the other side of the chart to await an opponent.
Lee Vann Corteza ended Tommy Tokoph’s hopes for the title 7-3 as John Morra did the same to Jonas Souto 7-3. Lee Vann and John locked horns and battled it out to a 7-6 result. Leaving Lee Vann in fourth place, Morra’s next opponent was fellow Canadian, Alex Pagulayan. Also a tough one, John emerged to take on Gerson for the title. Alex finished in third place.
Again, as this was true double elimination, Morra would have to defeat Martinez twice to win the title. The match started out close until John pulled away to close out the first set 7-4. The final set was also close but this time, Gerson pulled away to put him one game away from the title – 6-4. John clawed back to win another game but that was it. Gerson won the final game & the title leaving John with a well deserved runner-up finish!
Congratulations to both Gerson Martinez and Mary Rakin Tam – this year’s Texas Open 10 Ball champions!!!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank owners Kim and Tracy Sanders as well as their General Manager, Shayla Neris, and their staff for rolling out the red carpet for all of the players and fans.
Thank you to Tournament Director Jason Hill for doing an exemplary job juggling all the various events.
We’d like to thank Blake Kamiab, Clint Palaci and David (“Doc”) Reyes for running the DFW Tour setup broadcasting the ladies event on our free channel.
And, last but not least, we’d like to thank our sponsors and fans. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, StraightPoolEye, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Aramith, Simonis, Durbin Custom Cues, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is the 5th Annual Scotty Townsend Memorial in West Monroe, LA featuring three divisions – Pro One Pocket, Open 9 Ball and Women’s 9 Ball. The dates are March 1st-6th. Hope to see you there!!!
The winner and runner-up at the On the Ball Ladies Tour’s season opener brought almost 30 years of combined (recorded) experience to the tables. Courtney Peters, who went undefeated in the $2,000-added event that drew 32 entrants to Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX this past weekend (Jan. 29-30), has data going back as far as 2005. Runner-up and tour representative Teresa Garland’s profile on our site identifies 2010 as the first year in which she brought home a cash payout. The same records that tell us about Peters’ progress through the years, also tells us that 2021 was a breakout year for her. She reportedly took home more cash last year than in all of the previous 17 years combined.
Peters and Garland met first in the hot seat match. Peters began her journey to the winners’ circle with a 7-2 win over another Texas tours and WPBA veteran, Ming Ng, who brought 24 years of experience to the tables and also had herself a lucrative 2021, cashing in a total of 10 events that included a win at the very first stop of the On the Ball Ladies Tour in October. Peters continued her advance through a gallery of tour, Texas and WPBA veterans, including Kim Pierce (22 recorded years at the tables), and Natalie Rocha to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal versus another 22-year veteran, Jennifer Kraber. Kraber had won the last stop on the tour, double-dipping Peters in the finals.
Garland opened her bid with a 7-3 win over Terry Petrosino, who was not only Garland’s first win, but as it turned out, her last, as well. Garland then sent Yvonne Asher and Yvette Cox to the loss side to pick up Michelle Cortez in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Garland and Cortez battled to double hill, before Garland advanced to the hot seat match. Peters joined her after sending Kraber over 7-2. Peters and Garland came within a game of double hill, but Peters pulled out in front at the end to claim the hot seat 7-5.
Terry Petrosino, Courtney Peters, Teresa Garland and Michelle Cortez
On the loss side, Cortez drew Angie Payne, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Kraber and then defeated two Natalies in a row; first, Natalie Mans 7-5 (Mans had just eliminated Ming Ng) and then, Natalie Rocha 7-4. Kraber ran into a determined Terry Petrosino, who’d followed her loss to Garland in the opening round with five straight wins, the most recent of which had eliminated Carmel Luttrell 7-3 and Shayla Neris 7-5.
Petrosino chalked up her sixth loss-side win 7-3 over Kraber, as Cortez defeated Payne 7-3. Petrosino dropped Cortez 7-5 in the subsequent quarterfinals before her loss-side streak came to an end the way it had begun, with a loss to Teresa Garland 7-4 in the semifinals.
Though one might have anticipated a tight, potentially double hill fight in the finals rematch that followed, it didn’t happen. Peters took command of the final match, allowing Garland only two racks and claimed the title 7-2.
A $100-added Best of the Rest tournament was won by Yvette Cox, who defeated Kim Pierce in the finals.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Big Tyme Billiards, as well as title sponsor On the Ball Co., and Draw Nation Streaming for providing the live stream. The next stop (#2) of the On the Ball Ladies Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 12-13, will be hosted by Betsy’s Billiards in Austin, TX.
Terry Petrosino and Angie Payne (Photo courtesy of Marty Jones)
The kickoff of the 2019 JO Ladies Tour was held at Big Tyme Billiards in North Houston on the weekend of January 12th-13th. 54 women came out to compete in a double elimination, race to 7, 9-Ball match on Diamond Bar Boxes. Prior to the start of each tournament, a players’ meeting is held and this one was quite special. A major announcement made was the addition of Strokin’ Billiards, owned and operated by brothers, Tuan and Nam Nguyen. Strokin’ Billiards will be providing the fashion of the tour and adding $100 to the “Best of the Rest” Tournament at each stop. We are excited to have Strokin’ as part of the JO Tour and look forward to the amazing designs that will be available! Check them out at www.strokinbilliards.com!
The JO Ladies Tour also commemorated the years of service and dedication given by Monica Anderson and Shayla Neris, both who resigned from board positions at the end of 2018. Also resigning from the tour was our “Tour Angel”, Carter Nakashima. We are actively looking to fill that spot, so applications are being accepted… As always, our fearless sponsor, Jerry Olivier, was on site to provide flawless cue repair and sales of his great playing cues! To order one of his fabulous cues go to www.jocues.com!
The battle of the 54 ladies went late into Saturday night and the remaining 12 returned to play on Sunday. On the winners’ side was a showdown between Angie Payne vs Chris Fields and Terry Petrosino vs Kim Pierce. The B Side featured Robyn Petrosino vs Shayla Neris, Jeannie Cockman vs Orietta Strickland, Michelle Yim vs Natalie Mans, and Jennifer Kraber vs Tam Trinh. When it was all said and done, the hot seat match featured Angie Payne from Austin and Terry Petrosino from Houston. Terry sent Angie to the other side to duke it out with 2018 Tour Champion, Orietta Strickland from Dallas, and it was Angie who came out on top. Angie hadn’t played in an Tour stop in quite some time and she was on a mission. She beat Terry in the first set, however, Terry wasn’t going to let her get away with the second set. Terry nabbed the first place trophy and prize money of $800! Congratulations!
The second day of the stop isn’t all about the main event. The Best of the Rest tournament is held on Sunday and it is no less competitive than the main event. 24 ladies returned to play and then there were 2 remaining. Ellen Robinson from San Marcos and Yvonne “Casher” Asher from Houston were the last 2 standing and split the winnings of $210 and were declared the Best of the Rest.
A huge thank you to Big Tyme Billiards (www.bigtymebilliards.com) and Billy Sharp for hosting the event. Big Tyme is truly a players’ pool hall with its wide open spaces, Diamond Bar Boxes, 9’ Diamonds and Gold Crowns, and friendly staff! We appreciate it and look forward to returning next year!
We hope to see everyone at the next stop! From Diamond Bar Boxes to 9’ Gold Crowns, we head out to Round Rock, TX (just north of Austin) to Skinny Bob Billiard’s (www.skinnybobs.com), home of the Texas State 9 and 10 Ball Opens, the weekend of March 9-10th. Come on out and enjoy some great pool and meet the women of the JO Ladies Tour! For more information, please contact one of the Board members: Teresa Garland, Natalie Mans, or Yvonne Asher.
The JO Ladies Tour is a sanctioned Division II tour of the North American Pool Tour (NAPT). Good Luck to these 14 women who will represent the JO Tour in the upcoming NAPT Division II Championships held at Bull Shooters in Phoenix, AZ, February 21-24: Jennifer Kraber, Michelle Cortez, Nicole McDaniel, Kim Pierce, Natalie Mans, Yvonne Asher, Teresa Garland, Tam Trinh, Ellen Robinson, Robyn Petrosino, Kim Sanders, Shayla Neris, Julie Collins, and Kelly Jones. Let’s hope one of these ladies brings the championship to our tour!
(L-R): Tam Trinh, Orietta Strickland and Michelle Cortez
On the weekend of September 15-16th, 2018, thirty-seven women descended onto the great state of Texas’s capital to battle for the top prize at the Jerry Olivier’s Ladies Tour’s 4th Stop, held at Slick Willie’s on Burnett Road. The September event in Austin is significant to the members of the JO Tour, as it is the stop where we take the time to remember one of our own, Emma Stewart Davis who, three years ago, left us unexpectedly. We know you’re watching, Emma!
On hand to show his support for the women and to provide cue repair services, was renowned cue maker and tour sponsor, Jerry Olivier. Jerry has always been a staunch supporter of women’s billiards and it was no different this weekend. Thank you, Jerry, for all that you do! You can check out his cues on jocues.com or talk to him about having a custom cue made!
At the pre-tournament player’s meeting Saturday morning, it was revealed that one of the original Hunters/OB/JO Cues Tour Board Members was resigning. After dedicating 20+ years to the tour, Shayla Neris decided it was time to close this chapter in her life and forge on as a full-time player. “It was just time” Shayla says, “but I’ll be back as a player and not on the board!” We will miss her and the time and effort she has devoted to helping make this tour a success!
Onto the battles… with $2000 added to the prize money, the women were ready to fight. Saturday began with 37 but ended with 12. On the A side, the returning Sunday matches would be Natalie Mans (Houston) vs Michelle Cortez (Austin) and Jennifer Kraber (Austin) vs Tam Trinh (Austin). Natalie’s quest started with wins against Margaret Fox (Austin) 7-6, Tina Soto (Dallas) 7-4, Veronica “Pistol” Perez (Austin) 7-5, and Teresa Garland (Houston) 7-5. Michelle took on the always tough opponent “Bye,” Tera Saunders (Dallas) 7-2, Gail Roles (College Station) 7-3, and Darcy Durham (Austin) 7-0. Jennifer’s day consisted of Nicole Menitz (Austin) 7-3, Kitty Poutthaung (Dallas) 7-4, Orietta Strickland (Dallas) 7-5, and Kimberly Brown (Waco) 7-1. Tam stacked up wins against the always tough “Bye,” Melissa Smith (Denton) 7-6, Kim Pierce (Austin) 7-5, and Belinda Lee (Houston) 7-5. The one-loss side had 8 women returning on Sunday. Matchups were Yvonne “The Casher” Asher (Houston) vs Kimberly Brown (Waco); Rachel Hurst (Austin) vs Belinda Lee (Houston); Kelly Isaac (Waco) vs Teresa Garland (Houston); and Orietta Strickland (Dallas) vs Darcy Durham (Austin).
With the one loss side returning at 10am on Sunday, Yvonne defeated Kimberly 7-3, Belinda defeated Rachel 7-4, Teresa defeated Kelly 7-6, and Orietta defeated Darcy 7-1. However, they did not leave empty-handed as they shared the winnings for 9th through 12th at $35 each. Free play for the weekend! On the No Loss Side, Michelle was victorious over Natalie 7-2 and Tam over Jennifer in a hill-hill thriller. As those matches progressed, the one loss side women were at it again and this time it would be Belinda barely edging out Yvonne in another hill-hill thriller and Orietta defeating Teresa 7-5. Yvonne and Teresa, both members of the JO Ladies Tour Board and sponsored by Jerry Olivier, went home with the 7-8th place finishes at $95 each. (Yes, Yvonne “the Casher” Asher lived up to her new nickname…)
The fight to advance past 5-6th matched up two friends who are also road partners and opponents who had already faced each other the day before – Belinda vs Natalie and Orietta vs Jennifer. Belinda and Orietta ended up victorious in those matches, 7-3 and 7-4 respectively, but Natalie and Jennifer earned $170 each for their 5th-6th finish.
The hot seat match was a great display of Austin women’s billiard skills. Michelle and Tam battled it out, trading blows until it was another hill-hill matchup. In the end, Michelle was victorious. Meanwhile on the other side, Belinda and Orietta had to face each other and after the score was tied 4-4, Orietta made a charge and beat Belinda 7-4 while earning a 9 ball on the snap lottery ticket! Belinda went home with the 4th place prize at $335.
Tam went to the one loss side seeking revenge but she had to go through Orietta first. Orietta would prove that she’s 2017 Tour Champion for a reason and beat Tam 7-3. In a true double elimination format, Orietta would have to defeat Michelle twice in order to go home as the winner. Michelle had other plans – she beat Orietta 7-3 and called it a day earning her the nickname Michelle “The Conqueror” Cortez. Congratulations to Michelle! This is her second win in three years at this particular stop! For their efforts, Tam went home with $450 for 3rd place, Orietta went home with $600 for 2nd, and Michelle, went home with the top prize of $770! Not bad for a weekend of doing a labor of love!
Not to be forgotten were the women of the “Best of the Rest” Tournament held on Sunday. Twelve women returned to duke it out and the winner was Gail “Thunder” Roles (College Station). Board member Monica Anderson (Dallas) came in 2nd. Austin’s own Kim “Texas Heat”Pierce, who is also a Jerry Olivier sponsored player, finished 3rd and Tina Soto (Dallas) 4th. Congratulations to these ladies for taking another shot and winning!
As always, the stop was a combination of fun, laughter, and serious concentration to hone in the pool skills. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Championship Stop at Legend’s Billiards the weekend of November 3-4, where the hosts Mindy and Craig Cohen have generously added in an additional $1000 to make it a total of $3000 to the prize fund!!! So come on out and join us! We welcome players of all skill levels and look forward to meeting new players! More details of the final stop will be out soon so be sure to check out the website joladiestour.com for the most up to date information! Tickets are available for cue raffles! Please contact Yvonne Asher for more details!
Yvonne Asher, Jennifer Kraber, Gail Eaton and Rhea Brooks
Jerry Olivier, custom cue maker extraordinaire from Houston, TX rolled out the red carpet for his newly sponsored Ladies 9-Ball Tour at Skinny Bob's Billiards, the weekend of March 10th-11th. Jerry won over the hearts of all the ladies of the former OB Cues Ladies Tour and brought sponsorship to a new level. It's not very often that a Title Sponsor partakes in the tournament activities of an event but Jerry was with us all weekend, providing sponsor banners for each and every stop, personalized crystal trophies for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners for each and every stop, personalized payout materials, stickers, banners plus participated in the group photo with all 58 ladies in attendance for this inaugural event.
To quote Jerry: “It is an honor to be a part of your team. Thank you all for this opportunity! And, to all 58 Ladies that played, THANK YOU! Without you, none of this is possible. I'm looking forward to the future with this Tour”. Jerry, WE thank you for your sponsorship, friendship and most of all your genuine care and love for the game and for allowing all players to continue to flourish in our pool dreams and endeavors. We will make you proud!
It was also a joy to be playing at the famous Skinny Bob’s Billiards, home of the Texas 10-Ball Open and Texas Open. Skinny Bob’s, a fan favorite billiard room, was our home all weekend and we appreciate John Cielo and his staff for taking care of us and our fans, supporters, family and friends for this fantastic showing.
Like all of our tournaments, it is a two-day double elimination 9-ball tournament. Many champions and title holders were at this event, so without a doubt it would be a strong tournament to the finish. It was anybody's guess who would take home the 1st place prize. Players from Missouri, Alabama and all over Texas brought their “A” game. The Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour is also a member of NAPT (North American Pool Tour). This stop was a qualifying event for the NAPT Division I Pro Event in August at Shooters Sports Bar and Billiards in Grayslake, IL. For more information on NAPT, be sure to check out playnapt.com.
By the end of Day 1, the top 16 returned to continue their winning ways. On the winner’s side, it was Jennifer Kraber vs. Gail Eaton and Rhea Brooks vs. Board Member, Yvonne Asher. Jennifer, from Austin and local Skinny Bob’s champion, made her way to the winner’s side by defeating Ming Ng 7-3 as her first match, then Kristin Wilburn 7-2; Kelly Jones 7-1 and a tough match against Chris Fields 7-6.
Gail, from Boerne, always a top finisher in many, many tournaments, was blazing her winning trails with wins and three back-to-back-to-back hill-hill matches; defeating Margaret Fuentes 7-1; Belinda Lee 7-6; Robyn Petrosino 7-6 and Orietta Strickland, current tour champion, 7-6.
Board Member Yvonne Asher playing strong and consistent all weekend scored wins over Diana Cardona 7-3; Marilana Nieves 7-2; Ashley Julian 7-4 and Kim Sanders 7-2.
On the other side of the bracket, matches were Kelly Jones vs. Tina Soto; Board Member Teresa Garland vs. Ming Ng; Board Member Shayla Neris vs. Kim Pierce and Nicole Menitz vs. Belinda Lee.
Placing 13th-16th was Tina Soto from Everman, Teresa Garland from Houston, Shayla Neris and Nicole Menitz both from Austin. 9th-12th was Kelly Jones from Alabama, Kim Pierce and Kim Sanders both from Austin and Chris Fields from Arlington.
7th-8th winners were Belinda Lee from Pearland and Ming Ng from Houston; 5th-6th went to Ellen Robinson from San Marcos and Orietta Strickland from Plano. 4th Place went to Yvonne Asher who had her best tournament and highest finish ever since playing on the OB Cues Ladies Tour and now Jerry Olivier Ladies Tour. Jerry also has two players that he sponsors and they are none other than Board Members Teresa Garland and Yvonne Asher. Jerry sure knows how to pick them and besides their inner and outer beauty; they play pretty sporty as well. Congratulations to all!
Rhea Brooks from Missouri was having a great tournament. She played Jennifer Kraber for the hot seat match but Jennifer, always consistent and a tough opponent to draw, defeated her 7-3. In the semi-finals match, Gail Eaton scored a rematch with Jennifer, as she narrowly defeated Rhea 7-6 to earn her right to the finals match. Great tournament showing Rhea!
In a true double elimination format, Gail would have to defeat Jennifer twice to earn first place and while she tried her best to score a first set win, Jennifer fought hard to the finish and made it one set only securing the first place title with a 7-6 score. Way to shoot, Gail and Jennifer! Awesome job!
OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour held their 6th and final tour stop December 3 & 4th at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. Thirty-three players were on-hand to close out the 2016 tour year and see who would take top honors for the annual awards. The owner and manager, Jeff Pitts and the entire bar and wait staff did a wonderful job taking care of all the ladies as always. Rusty’s is a great room to visit and play at, so be sure to hit them up whenever you can!
At the players meeting, board member Monica Anderson announced yearly awards. The Best Sportswomanship Award went to Teresa Garland of Houston, for her positive attitude both on and off the table, regardless of the match outcome. The Most Improved Player was Corina Campbell of Carrollton. Corina had a banner year on the OB tour, finishing 6th in the ranking and posting a second place in one tour stop, earning her well-deserved title of Most Improved for 2016. For the 3rd year running, Tara Williams of Fort Worth secured her first place ranking on the tour by winning four tour stops and finishing 4th in the remaining two, securing the title as 2016 OB Cues Ladies Tour Champion.
Three additional awards are drawn at the tour finale, based on attendance and performance at the tour stops throughout the year. For the Perfect Attendance award, seven players were eligible to be drawn for the $200 cash award. Tara Williams, Orietta Strickland, Jennifer Yo, Natalie Mans, Shayla Neris, Monica Anderson, and Julie Enzensperger were at every event in 2016 and one of them would receive $200 cash even before the tournament started. OB Cues Customer Service Manager, David “Doc” Reyes officiated the draw and Shayla Neris was the lucky recipient of the extra $200. At every tour stop, when a player gets a 9-on-the-snap award or a break and run, they receive a scratch-off. At the end of the year, each player who earned a scratch off also received an entry for a drawing for a $20 scratch-off and that winner was Marilina Nieves from San Antonio. Same rules apply for a break and run and the lucky player whose name was drawn for the $50 scratch-off was Jeannie Kim of Dallas.
On Saturday, the top eight ladies returned to continue in the Main Event on Sunday morning. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) vs. Jeannie Kim (Dallas) and Natalie Mans (League City) vs. Orietta Strickland (Dallas). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Melinda Bailey (Ft. Worth) vs. Tracie Voelkering (Ft. Worth) and Chris Fields (Weatherford) vs. Brittany Williams (Longview).
Eliminated first round Sunday morning at the 7th-8th position was Chris Fields and board member Tracie Voelkering. In the winner’s side matches, Tara defeated Jeannie and Orietta defeated Natalie to set the hot seat match. Moving over to the one-loss side for the 5/6th place matches, Brittany was eliminated by Natalie and Melinda came out the winner over Jeannie. For the next match, Melinda once again persevered, leaving Natalie to settle for the 4th place spot.
Tara made her way through Saturday with wins in a first round tournament matchup over Melinda Bailey (7-3), Shirley Fields (7-1), Jennifer Yo (7-2) and Snowy Belt (7-0). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Orietta was making her way through her Saturday matches with her speedy, yet consistent play. She posted wins over Tina Soto (7-1), Chris Fields (7-4), and Tracie Voelkering (7-2). In the hot seat match, Tara ended up on top in the match 7-3 and waited to see who would be coming through the one-loss side to meet her in the finals.
For the 3rd place match, Melinda was blazing trails and steadily fighting all through the tournament after her 1st match loss against Tara. She had a successful run through the B-side eliminating Orietta to move to the finals against Tara and a rematch for revenge. Congratulations to Orietta for a great tournament!
With Melinda and Tara in the finals, Melinda had quite a run to make it back to the finals surviving three hill-hill matches on her path to the finals. However, in the finals, Tara got out to a quick lead and didn’t look back. Melinda put forth her best effort to try and stop the tour champion’s effort, but came up short, with Tara winning the match with a final score of 7-2. Congratulations to both ladies for an exciting finals match and great tournament finish!
Thanks again to Rusty’s for our first and last tournament this year, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around. A special year-end thank you to the man behind the tour, always supporting the ladies and feeding us bananas, chocolate and other energizing food and goodies, such a great friend and wonderful person, Carter, we love you.
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. The new Digicue is available so be sure to get you one.
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 in 2017. Our first stop of the 2017 season will at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas, February 4th-5th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or stay up to date with instant news by adding us on Facebook/obcuestour
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
OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour held their 7th and final tour stop November 7th – 8th at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. 34 players from as far away as California were ready for the opportunity to earn a Qualifier spot at the 2016 WPBA Masters event in February. The owner and manager, Jeff Pitts and Tim Gildon and all the bar and wait staff did a wonderful job taking care of all the ladies! We greatly appreciate Rusty’s hosting yet another superb event.
Every year, the OB Cues Ladies Tour has 3 major awards given during the final tour event. The awards are Regional Tour Champion, Most Improved Player and Best Sportsmanship. Our worthy and deserving recipients are:
The Best Sportsmanship award, voted on by the tour players, selected Jennifer Yo of Austin for this year’s award. She always has a cheerful and positive attitude that persists throughout every match she plays. Whether winning or losing, you can always count on support, cheering and a big smile from Jennifer.
The Most Improved Player award, voted on by the tour’s board of directors, is Gail Roles of College Station. Gail has shown perseverance and dedication to the game as well as to the ladies tour, that she stood out amongst the rest of the candidates. In the past few years, she has improved her rank consistently year over year to unanimously be voted as the Most Improved Player for 2015.
Unlike the previous year, this year there was no contest as to who this year’s tour champion would be. Tara Williams of Fort Worth secured her first place ranking starting with the first event of 2015 and never looked back. With her four back-to-back tour stop wins to start 2015, no other player would be able to secure enough points to be able to threaten her second tour championship.
On Saturday, thirty -four players were reduced to eight ladies returning on Sunday morning. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Michelle Cortez (Austin) vs. Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) and Melinda Bailey (Ft. Worth) vs Julie Stephenson (Keller). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Terry Petrosino (Houston) vs. Chris Fields (Ft. Worth) and Corina Campbell (Dallas) vs. Kawania Watson (San Antonio). Of the 9 players who were vying for the Qualifier event at Soaring Eagle, only three players remained standing – Michelle, Kawania, and Terry.
Eliminated first round Sunday morning at the 7th-8th position were Terry Petrosino and Corina Campbell. In the winner’s side matches, Omega Tour Founder and Tournament Director Melinda Bailey defeated Julie Stephenson and Michelle Cortez defeated Tara Williams to set the hot seat match. Moving over to the one-loss side, for the 5/6th place matches Julie fell to Chris and Tara came out the victor against Kawania. With Kawania’s elimination, Michelle Cortez of Austin secured the $500 qualifier for the WPBA Masters event. For the fourth place match, Tara once again persevered, leaving Chris to settle for the 4th place spot.
Melinda made her way through Saturday with wins over Merry Viau (7-2), Chris Fields (7-1), and Snowy Belt (7-5). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Michelle was making her way through her Saturday matches with her steady and consistent play. She posted wins over Shayla Neris (7-4), Corina Campbell (7-0), and Sophia Lopez (7-1). In the hot seat match, it was a steady race to the finish line for both players. Michelle won the match 7-4 against Melinda and waited to see who would be coming through the one-loss side to meet her in the finals.
For the 3rd place match, it appeared that Tara was determined to continue her winning streak. She made quick work of the match against Melinda, winning with a final score of 7-0. Congratulations to Melinda for a great, great tournament!
With Michelle and Tara in the finals, it was a repeat of last year’s finals match for the championship stop. Just like the previous year, Tara would need to double-dip Michelle to secure the tour stop win and $775 in first place prize money. However, unlike last year, where the two players went back and forth, this year, Tara came on strong and never let up. Michelle put forth her best effort to try and stop the tour champion’s effort, but came up short in the first set losing 7-4. In the second set, Tara once again turned it on, but this time, Michelle was unable to fight off the effort and succumbed to Tara in the final set 7-1. Congratulations to both ladies for another exciting finals match and great tournament finish! With this sixth tour stop win of 2015, Tara Williams breaks her own OB Ladies Tour record by becoming the only player to win six stops within a calendar year. Congratulations to Tara for an incredible season!
Thanks again to Rusty’s for our first and last tournament this year, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around. A special year-end thank you to the man behind the tour, always supporting the ladies and feeding us bananas, Godiva chocolates, and all kinds of snacks, a great friend and wonderful person, Carter. We love you so much Carter!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. It was a pleasure to see Royce Bunnell on Sunday. You do us proud and we can thank you enough for all that you do. We love OB Cues. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com
Additional thanks to our sponsor MzTam.com. Tam Trinh of Austin, TX, is one of our tour regular players and also supports our tour with her many creative billiard products and accessories. You can see all of her products as mztam.com. Thank you Tam for your awesomeness.
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 in 2016. Our first stop of the 2016 season will at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas, February 6-7th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Sophia Lopez, Terry Petrosino, Tara Williams and Michelle Cortez
Twenty-eight players showed up ready for pool action August 15-16th weekend at P.O.E.T.S. Billiards in College Station, TX. This was the first time the tour was at P.O.E.T.S Billiards. Special thanks to John Wine and his staff for taking care of all the ladies, fan and supporters. They were gracious in their service and hospitality. The equipment was great and lots of room to feel at ease for this two day event. Extra special thanks to longtime tour player Gail Roles for all her assistance in securing this site and making us all feel welcome in her hometown. P.O.E.T.S. added $2K to this event and everyone was certainly appreciative of the warm welcome!
By day’s end on Saturday, six ladies would be returning to continue their winning ways in the Main Event on Sunday morning. The two undefeated players in the winner’s bracket were Michelle Cortez (Austin) and Terry Petrosino (Houston). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Sophia Lopez (San Antonio) vs. Julie Stephenson (Keller) and Jennifer Kraber (Austin) vs. Tara Williams (Ft. Worth). Placing in the money, but not returning to Sunday, were the 7/8th finishers Angie Payne (Austin) and Kawania Watson (San Antonio).
Eliminated in the first round Sunday morning at the 5th-6th position was Julie Stephenson (Keller) and Jennifer Kraber (Austin). For the second tournament in a row, Sophia Lopez (San Antonio) took 4th place and showed she will be a consistent top finisher on the tour. Good tournament to one and all!
Terry made her way through Saturday with wins over Shayla Neris (7-5), Michelle Yim (7-6), Amanda Lampert (7-4), and Tara Williams (7-6), besting the tour champion in her first match loss since the first match of the first tour event of 2015. On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Michelle was making her way through her Saturday matches with her steadily consistent play. She posted wins over Helen Hayes (7-6), Julie Stephenson (7-5), Leslie Anne Rogers (7-6), and Sophia Lopez (7-5). In the hot seat match, it was a slow and steady race to the finish line. Both players displayed their superior skills at the table, but a few missed opportunities by both ladies, kept the match close throughout. Michelle ended up on top in the match 7-4 and got to wait to see who would be coming through the one-loss side to meet her in the finals.
For the 3rd place match, Terry once again met up with Tara. Just like when they met in the winner’s side on Saturday, Terry jumped ahead quickly in the match and never looked back. With solid play and some great kick-shots, she shut down the tour champion’s winning streak, leaving Tara to settle for a 3rd place finish by a final score of 7-4.
At this event, Terry showed us why she was so successful on the tour in the past. Her last event to win on the OB Cues Ladies Tour was in 2011. In early 2012, she decided to take a break and did not participate on the tour in the last two years, but she decided that this was the year to come back and try her hand again at being competitive in women’s events. We are glad she did as it was a pleasure to watch the finals match between Michelle and Terry. In this true double elimination format, Terry would need to beat Michelle twice to take the win and she intended on just doing that. She quickly got up early 4-0 in the match during the first set, but Michelle was down, but not out. Michelle focused on getting control in the match and came back to close the gap 4-3. On the next game, it looked like Michelle would tie the score up, but a missed opportunity on an 8-ball allowed Terry to gain another game. After that, they traded racks back and forth, with Terry coming out ahead in the first set 7-5 and forcing one final set for the title. In the second set, Terry once again dominated the match early with her solid play and run-outs. This time, she did not allow Michelle to come back in the match and finished out the final set with a score of 7-4. Congratulations to both ladies for a great tournament!
Special recognition and thanks to OB Cues our main tournament sponsor. Don Owen, Royce Bunnell, we couldn’t have all our fun and excitement without you. OB Cues makes the best low defection shaft in the market. They also have a fine line of cues with special Infinity inlay features. Corporate office and factory based in Plano, TX and all products made in the USA. If you want to get serious about your game, check out OB Cues at www.obcues.com.
Thanks again to P.O.E.T.S. Billiards. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, be sure to check them out. Also grateful to our other sponsors: Ozone Billiards, Mz Tam Trinh at mztam.com for all your personalized and custom pool cases, chalkers, many more goodies. And the one and only Carter Nakashima, our mentor, our photographer, our #1 fan and mainly our forever friend! We love you, Carter. We love you one and all.
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 #6 – Slick Willie’s Billiards in Austin, Texas, September 19-20th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or stay up to date with instant news by adding us on Facebook/obcuestour
Jennifer Kraber, Amanda Lampert, Sophia Lopez and Tara Williams
Thirty-six players showed up Father’s Day weekend June 20-21st at Legend’s Billiards in League City, TX to play in Stop #4 of OB Cues Ladies Tour 2015 calendar. Top players from throughout the Texas area were competing for the first place prize in this $2000 added monies event. Legend’s Billiards, home of the Houston Open, and many other special tournaments throughout the years, is always a player favorite, with courteous and welcoming staff, fans as well as well-maintained Brunswick/Diamond equipment. We look forward to coming back for years to come. Special thanks to Mindy and Craig Cohen for hosting us on this holiday weekend!
By days end on Saturday, eight ladies would be returning on Sunday morning to continue in the Main Event. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Sophia Lopez (San Antonio) vs Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) and MzTam Trinh (Austin) vs. Jennifer Kraber (Austin). The four ladies on the one loss side were Natalie Esparza (Houston) vs. Terry Petrosino (Houston) and Amanda Lampert (Dallas) vs. Board Member Tracie Voelkering (Ft. Worth).
7th-8th places went to Tracie and Natalie, which is her highest finish in only her second event after a tough first round loss. 5th-6th places went to Terry and MzTam, who also had her highest finish ever and 4th place went to Sophia. Great shooting to everyone. Keep up the great work!
Tara made her way through Saturday with wins over Janna Preston (7-0), Natalie Mans (7-4), and Amanda Lampert (7-5). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and earned a spot for the hot seat with a win over Sophia Lopez (7-4). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Jennifer was making her way through her Saturday matches with the strong play that has made her a consistent and formidable player. Her winning matches were as follows: besting Natalie Esparza (7-5), Shayla Neris (7-3), and Terry Petrosino (7-6). On Sunday morning, she continued her run taking down MzTam (7-0) which would secure her spot in the hot seat match. In the hot seat match, it looked like it was going to be over quickly in Jennifer’s favor when she jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Tara regained her focus though and managed to get on the board to bring the score to 4-3 with some strong play. Tara missed a 9-ball to allow Jennifer to pull ahead 5-3, but composed herself and ran the next rack to close it out at 5-4. A late miss by Jennifer then allowed Tara to tie it up at 5 games apiece. Trading run outs the next two games, it came down to a single game to decide the winner. Tara appeared to have the advantage after a solid break, but a tough leave on the 5 ball forced to her to make a few difficult shots in a row. On the 8-ball, Tara slightly overcut the ball and left it hanging in the pocket but Jennifer was left directly behind the 9-ball. She looked over her options and decided to go for a jump shot, but couldn’t quite get over the 9-ball, giving Tara ball in hand on the last two balls to take the hot seat match and wait for her finals opponent.
In the semi-finals match, Amanda and Jennifer traded racks early and it appeared that both players would be grinding it out for the single spot available in the finals. However, when tied at 2-2, Amanda caught a gear and quickly began pulling ahead in the match. She played some great outs and strategic safeties to shut Jennifer down in the match, finishing out the set with a final score of 7-2. Good tournament Jennifer—nice 3rd place finish!
As the finals were now set and both Amanda and Tara being champions in their own right, everyone knew it was going to be a strong and solid fight to the finish. Amanda, seeking to avenge her earlier loss on Saturday to Tara, she quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Tara posted her own solid play to tie it up at 2 games each. After trading games until tied at 4-4, an early miss by Amanda allowed Tara to pull ahead for the first time in the match. Tara won the next game as well and looked ready to finish out the set, but a tough leave on the 8-ball gave Amanda opportunity to stay in the match and bring the score to only a one game deficit at 5-6. On the final game, it looked as if Amanda was going to force a hill-hill set, but a missed six ball allowed Tara to finish the set with a final score of 7-5. Congratulations to both ladies for a fantastic tournament! With this fourth win in 2015 for Tara, she makes tour history by becoming the first player to ever win four consecutive events. She also becomes only the third player to win four stops in a calendar year – Amanda Lampert had four wins in 2013 and Leslie Anne Rogers scored four wins in 2004. Congratulations on the awesome accomplishment Tara! You have made your mark in tour history!
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 #5 – P.O.E.T.S. Billiards in College Station, Texas, August 15-16th weekend. P.O.E.T.S. Billiards is a new stop on the OBCLT calendar; so let’s show them how these tour ladies roll with a large showing in attendance.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
