Tara Williams, Ginger Abadilla, Aryana Lynch and Alicia Stanley
Since Tara Williams recorded her first win on the former OB Cues Ladies Tour in 2009, she had gone on to the winners’ circle of that tour numerous times, including, in what turned out to be her best recorded earnings year (2015), victories on six stops of the tour and just for variety that year, added a win on the Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Tour. This past weekend (Saturday, March 12), the multiple BCA and ACS state and national champion chalked up her first recorded 2022 win, going undefeated to claim a DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour title. The $500-added event drew 36 entrants to Snookered Billiards in Frisco, TX.
By the time Williams reached her winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Jamie Tidmore, she’d won 21 of her first 27 games, having sent Anna Billington (1), Monica Anderson (2) and Crystal Jones (3) to the loss side. Ginger Abadilla, in the meantime, one of the lower-rated competitors in the event (at a 3), parlayed her handicap into a successful race to the hot seat match. She got by Kathy Knuth 3-3 (Knuth racing to 4, so double hill), Francisca Riza Pili 3-2 (Pili racing to 4) and Melissa Britt 3-2 (Britt racing to 5), which brought her to a winners’ side semifinal against Alicia Stanley (racing to 7).
Williams downed Tidmore 7-2, as Abadilla punched her ticket to the hot seat match with a 3-3 win over Stanley (once again, racing to 7). Abadilla’s ship of good fortune (and not to downplay her efforts, combined with skill and persistence) ran aground in the hot seat match. No doubt cognizant of Abadilla’s success getting to the hot seat match, Williams shut her out to claim the hot seat.
Meanwhile, back at the Loss-Side Ranch, there was another competitor making her presence known – Aryana Lynch, two-time Billiards Education Foundation Junior National Champion (2018; 16 & Under and 2021; 18 & Under), and twice, winner on the 2021 DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour. Lynch won her opener against Snowy Belt 6-2 and then, ran into Alicia Stanley, who sent her to the loss side 7-2. Lynch proceeded to embark on a four-match run that saw her win 18 of the 20 games she played against three opponents, giving up one each to Rachelle Dytko and Brooklyn Kanady, before recording a forfeit win over Melissa Britt and then, shutting out Orietta Strickland to draw Tidmore, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal.
In the meantime, Stanley, in her first loss-side match, drew Jennifer Kim, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Tidmore and embarked on a similar, albeit shorter, loss-side run. She played eight games and didn’t give up a single rack to either of her two opponents, Francisca Riza Pili and Jennifer Pavlovick.
Lynch extended her loss-side streak to five with a 6-2 win over Tidmore. Stanley joined her in the quarterfinals after putting a stop to Kim’s brief, but illustrious loss-side run 7-3. Loss-side win # 6 for Lynch ended Stanley’s run 6-2, and in the semifinals, loss-side win # 7, 6-1 over Abadilla, put her into the finals.
Williams put a stop to that potential ‘loss waiting to happen.’ She allowed Lynch a single rack and claimed the event title 7-1.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, Cuetec, Doc’s Billiards Office and Kamui. The next stop on DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, April 9, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Stixx and Stones Billiards in Lewisville, TX.
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
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!!!!!
Forty-seven players showed up the weekend of January 24-25th to play in the first stop of 2015 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. It was a combination of both new and regular players, with some players playing for the first time in over a year. It was a fun and exciting event with the new players getting a taste of their first OB Cues Ladies Tour event. There were plenty of raffles, good times, and most importantly, chocolate to be had at this event. For 2015, some new changes were announced during the players meeting – the payouts will be reduced from ½ to 1/3 of the field to 1/3 to ¼ of the field for all future events. Additionally, the previous free entry raffled to players at the event is now a bounty aka “Tough Luck Draw”– the player to draw the previous year’s Tour Champion, gets their entry fee returned. In this event, board member Tracie Voelkering drew Tara Williams in the first round. She opted to raffle her entry, as she has a free spot already for serving on the board and thus the free entry was won by Courtney Evans ($30 tournament entry). Tracie went on to defeat Tara 7-6 in her first match, knocking the tour champ to the one loss side early.
9th-12th finishers were Angie Payne, Jennifer Pavlovick, Snowy Belt, and Angela Garza. Great job ladies! 7th-8th went to Shayla Neris and Michelle Cortez; 5th-6th places went to Janna Preston and Michelle Yim. 4th place was Amanda Lampert and 3rd place went to Orietta Strickland.
It was a long road to the finals for Tara after her first round defeat. She won nine straight matches on the one loss side to meet Jennifer Kraber in the finals. The first set was a close match-up as both players displayed their skills on the table with both run-outs and safety play. Tara managed to pull ahead the first set to win 7-4 and force one final set for the win. In the second set, Tara built on the momentum of the first set and ran away with the match, defeating Jennifer 7-1 in the finals. It was an excellent match-up and it definitely showed how these players finished in their respective first and second positions last year in the tour rankings.
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/ player/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 #2 – Slick Willie’s at Katy, Texas, March 14th-15th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
January 28th-29th weekend was the 1st Tour stop for the OB Cues Ladies Tour and 51 ladies were anxious to start the New Year with some high spirited competition, fun and as some players call it, OBCLT therapy. It was great to see many, many new faces as well as familiar OBCLT family faces. A special welcome to Shar Vanderstyne who came to play on our tour all the way from San Diego, California. Thank You Ladies for keeping our tour #1 in the country.
Rusty’s in Arlington, Texas was our host site for this weekend and it was indeed a welcome to have their fantastic staff and management host us once again. Special thanks to Hutch, Jeff, Tracie, and all the other Rusty’s staff and organization for a job well done.
Special Thanks to our main tour sponsor OB Cues and new co-sponsor Pool300. The tour is now starting our 18th year in existence and we are proud to claim the status as the largest women’s amateur regional tour in the world. Thank you OB Cues and Pool300 for all that you do for us. Thank you for allowing us to continue to pursue our pool dreams and seeing our tour friends, fans, supporters and sharing in our journey along the way. Be sure to check out our sponsors at www.obcues.com and www.pool300.com
Finishing 9th/12th was Jennifer, Angie, Michelle and Monica. In 7th/8th it was Amanda and Orietta, and 5th/6th was Julie and Melinda. Great shooting and awesome tournament, ladies!
4-time OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Lisa Marr finished 4th. The semi-finals matchup was between Terry Petrosino and Kim Pierce. Terry always a contender with her playing consistency and strong shooting skills finished 3rd giving Kim a rematch with Ming who won the hot seat match between herself and Kim earlier in the day. Kim, having an awesome tournament, had some extra special motivation as she was celebrating her birthday weekend, as well as achieving her highest tour stop finish ever. Although Kim was shooting strong in the finals match, Ming, always a tough opponent and champion through and through, emerged as the victor in the one-set finals match with a score of 7-5. Fantastic finish to both ladies!
Main Event Tournament Payouts – $2000 added monies
