Corey Deuel drives a run-out pace and ran through the loser’s bracket, beating Canadian Champion John Morra in finals. John Morra chopped through a star studded bracket to get to the point and showed he was in total command until coming up against Corey who held John to only 6 combined in games in both the finals matches on his way to the $10,000 1st place prize.
Vivian Villarreal came out of the loser’s bracket, where she was sent packing by Cindy Sliva who waited on the point. Vivian got through tough competitor Kim Jones, to return to Cindy again. The finals match featured a lot of great play from both women. They both played like champions and Vivian had to struggle to capture the $4000 1st place check. Cindy once again showed why she is one of the Northwest's finest, keeping up with seasoned professional, Vivian Villarreal.
Chinook Winds added $21,000 to the 8-Ball Open events, $17,000 to Men’s division with guaranteed $10,000 for 1st and $5,000 to the Women’s division with $4000 guaranteed for 1st place. Western BCA added an additional $4000 to the events. The Men’s division raced to 7 and the Women's raced to 5. 128 men and 38 women entered, trying to get into the money.
A $1000 added Warm up 8-ball tournament took place Thursday before main event. League players and those entered in Main event were welcome to play. 83 men entered the $25 entry, race to 3, Double elimination event. The short race can be an equalizer with top players. It was a smash event. There was over $3000 in prize money. Rafael Martinez took 1st, Jason Shaw 2nd, Josh Roberts 3rd, Stan Tourangeau 4th, Ace Brown and Corey Deuel 5th/6th, Steve Lingelbach and Marc Vidal 7th/8th.
The Calcutta went off well. Auctioning through both fields took some time but it was well worth it. There was a net $25,280 in the men’s and $6425 in the women's. Paul “Kez Dog” Marquez and Carissa Biggs helped out calling on bidders. It was a fun and exciting event.
It took a lot of hard work producing the Chinook Winds Open event. Co-coordinators/directors Andrew Monstis and Mike Jensen worked 100’s of volunteer hours to make this event successful as it was. It was about pool. It was very rewarding to hear the praise coming from both participants and spectators. The top players all said it was the best event they have ever been too. First timers to the event said they had never seen such a great event. Others said this was the biggest event in the Northwest since “Ocean Shores” event in the early eighties.
Special thanks to Mike Howerton, “Azbilliards”, Lenny Marshall “On The Rail TV”, Ozzy Reynolds of “Cuesports International” Ric and Bonnie Jones of Bad Boys Production and Chinook Winds & WBCA staff for their considerable help.
They say it’s better at the beach and they are right! Chinook Winds Casino Resort is a full service facility and is an exceptional place for a tournament venue. Having this event tucked in at the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon creates an atmosphere you can’t find anywhere else.
The huge gallery of spectators did watch many excellent matches as the Tournament unfolded. People were able to watch and learn what great pool playing is about. The crowds were in awe of top players like Vivian Villarreal, Stacy Allsup, Rebecca Wagner, Kathy MacDonald, Shane Van Boening, Scott Frost, Rodney Morris, Joshua Roberts, Danny Olson, Ace Brown and Jayson Shaw. They were equally dazzled by top local players like Cindy Sliva, Kim Jones, Carissa Biggs, Liz Cole, Danny Louie, Rafael Martinez, Stan Tourangeau, Matt Horner and Randy Baker. These great pool players showed their talent. Mike Massey Shared with the crowd some of his patented trick shots, What fun!
The Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour kicked off their 2014 season with a field of thirty one players at Skip & Jan’s in Tempe, Az. The tournament drew players from as far away as New Mexico, California and Nevada. In the end, it was the players from Nevada that dominated the weekend.
Saturday saw it’s fair share of upsets and marquee match ups. Susan Wilbur dropped back-to-back matches to Marcy Thomas and Cathy Kelley to finish in a surprising 25th place. Sara Miller and Amanda Pulley were also victims of first round losses and found themselves on the left side of the board much sooner than they had hoped. Miller would score four left side wins on Saturday, but Pulley would fall to Tina Feliciano and finish in a disappointing 17th place.
Sunday play brought back eight players to fight it out for the tournament win.
Winner’s side matches saw Las Vegas’ Rebecca Wagner score a 7-0 win over Becky Onnembo. In the other winners side match, Bernie Store defeated Vegas’ Tina Larson 7-2. The hot-seat match saw Wagner grind out a 7-3 win over Store.
The one loss side saw Sara Miller send Tracie Hamman back to Tucson with a 7-5 scoreline, and Stacy Allsup eliminate Susan Williams 7-5. Miller and Allsup would continue their winning ways and defeat Tina Larson and Becky Onnembo in the next round.
The final four players would feature two of Arizona’s best along with two of Nevada’s best. Bernie Store would soon become the final hope for Arizona, after Stacy Allsup’s 7-1 win over Sara Miller. Bernie would avenge that loss for Arizona though, with a 7-5 win over Allsup to earn a rematch with Wagner in the finals.
The extended final match saw Wagner come out of the gate strong and take a quick 3-0 lead. Store would stop the bleeding at 3-1, but Wagner continued to cruise and soon held a 7-1 lead. Store is not one to just give up though, and she fought back with three wins to get back within three games at 7-4, before Wagner won the final two games for the 9-4 win and first place.
The second chance tournament on Sunday saw Las Vegas’ Katy Moore complete the Vegas sweep with a win over Donna Taylor in the finals.
Main event winner Rebecca Wagner commented after the event, “Las Vegas came as a team and represented well. We had a blast. Our goal was to have lots of fun and for one of us to win. So, mission accomplished!”
AWBT Staff send their thanks to all of the ladies who travelled from out of town to make this a great event.
They also sent thanks to Natalie Poyner and the staff at Skip & Jan’s for hosting the event and adding $300 to the main event and $50 to the second chance tournament.
Thanks to Jose Gonzales of Las Glorias Grille for adding $100, and the friends of the AWBT for adding another $100.
Thanks for Kristie and Scott for running another great tournament.
The Arizona Women’s Billiards Tour crowned it’s fifth different event winner, and a rookie event winner, at the final stop of the 2013 season at Bull Shooters on November 16th and 17th.
Saturday play saw it’s fair share of early favorites taking losses much sooner than they had hoped. April winner (and current points leader) Bernie Store handed Stacy Allsup a loss early on Saturday, but Store would soon join Allsup on the left side of the board after a loss to tour veteran Susan Mello.
Miller ended her streak of cashes after a loss to Nancy Ann Kennedy was followed up with a loss to Bernie Store late on Saturday.
Sunday morning brought eight players back with two time winner Susan Wililams facing Susan Wilbur and Susan Mello taking on Amanda Pulley. Both of these matches would be true battles with Pulley falling to Mello and Williams losing to Wilbur.
Meanwhile, Bernie Store was sending Jodie Villegas back to the one pocket table 7-5, and Nina Tagley was eliminating Stacey Allsup 7-6.
Next up on the one loss side was a battle between first and second place on the points list as points leader Bernie Store eliminated #2 ranked Susan Williams 7-5 to end Williams’ hopes for a tour points win for the year. The other one loss side match saw Pulley eliminate Nina Tagley in 5th place.
Back on the winners side, Susan Mello and Susan Wilbur were facing off in another battle. Mello looked to be running away with things at 5-1, but Wilbur won back to back games to get back within two at 5-3 before Mello win the final two games to the take her first hot-seat of the season.
On the one loss side, Bernie Store was taking on Amanda Pulley in a back and forth match. Pulley raced to a 4-1 lead, but Bernie soon righted her ship and clawed back to tie things up at 6-6. The comeback would prove to be for naught as Pulley dispatched Store 7-6 to end Store’s day in 4th place.
Next up was the match of the day as Amanda Pulley took on Susan Wilbur. This match started out firmly in Wilbur’s control as Pulley couldn’t seem to get anything together. Wilbur held a commanding 6-1 lead when Pulley started her comeback. The roles suddenly reversed and it was Wilbur who couldn’t close out a game and Pulley would took the reins of the match. Pulley won six straight games to earn a 7-6 victory and a spot in her first final match of the season.
The final extended race to nine match saw Susan Mello take an early 2-0 lead, but Amanda quickly erased that lead and tied the score at 2-2. Mello seemed to struggle closing out games in this match and Pulley was more than happy taking full advantage of those mistakes. Pulley won four more games to lead 6-2 before Mello would move another bead for herself. There would be no comeback for Mello as Pulley finished off the last two games for the lopsided 9-3 win and her first AWBT event win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Terri Johnson-McCauley beat Beth Orth in the finals for first place.
Assistant Tour Director Tres Kane commented after the tournament, “The 2013 season was a great year for the AWBT with a lot of new faces winning and cashing. We celebrated not only the great competition but also a wonderful fellowship that will carry us into a very robust and successful 2014 season.”
The AWBT wants to thank BullShooters owners Mike and Julie Bates for hosting and adding a total of $400 to both tournaments. We want to thank Jose Gonzalez of Las Glorias Grille for adding $100 and the Friends of the AWBT for adding $200. Thanks to Kristie Ortega and her man Scooter for running another smooth tournament.
Don’t forget to come out and support the WPBA’s Regional Tour Championships at Bullshooters January 16-19.
On October 19th and 20th, Pockets of Tucson played host to 21 ladies of the AWBT. Susan Williams came away with her second championship in a row by beating Bernie Store 9-7 in the one set final. The win left Susan10 points behind Bernie in the race for the Tour Championship with one event still to play.
Susan eased her way into the tournament with a first round bye and then had wins over Jaye Succo (7-4) and Sara Miller (7-6) to make Sunday’s final 4 winners. Williams dispatched Amanda Pulley (7-0) but then lost to Store (7-4) for the Hot seat. Bernie’s path to the finals also started with a bye and then wins over Renay Justus (7-5), Jodi Hirning (7-4), Rebecca Wagner (7-5), and then Williams to win the hot seat. Bernie had to wait while Susan took on Rebecca Wagner. Rebecca was sent to the Loser’s side by Bernie but then won a close (7-6) match over Sara Miller and then bested her Las Vegas road partner Stacy Allsup (7-3). This set up a match between the two Tour Champions. In a very close set that went down to the last 9-ball Susan eked out a 7-6 win.
In the one race to nine final Susan jumped out to a big early lead and it appeared that the final was going to be a walkover. With Susan needing only 2 games, Bernie dug in and crawled her way back into the match to get to 7-8. Not wanting it to get to hill hill, Susan won game 16 and the match 9-7 for her second tournament in a row. These ladies put on a great show for the many fans who came out from the Tucson pool scene.
The other Sunday finalists were Stacy Allsup who came all the way from Las Vegas in 4th place. Sara Miller finished in 5th, stopped only by two heartbreaking 6-7 losses. Amanda Pulley, one of the AWBT’s young guns, also took home 5th money. Always in the cash, Susan Wilbur was 7th, along with Jodi Hirning making her second consecutive final 8.
The AWBT welcomed several new ladies from the local bar table leagues. While no Tucson woman made the final 8, these ladies exhibited plenty of skills and we look forward to having them compete and cash in our future events. A big thanks goes out to Tracie Hamman for her work in getting these girls out to play.
Sunday’s Second Chance had an additional $50 added to it by Pockets owners Lenny and son
Curtis Johnson (thanks). Lois Schnitt, who only played the Sunday event, beat Jaye Succo to win the 13 player redemption event. Lois’ fine play left us wondering about where she would have placed in the main event. Great Job Lois and thanks to all the ladies who came back to play on Sunday.
Thanks to Lenny Johnson and son Curtis for hosting and adding a total of $350 to our event.Thanks to the always friendly and capable staff of Pockets who make this a favorite stop each year.Thanks to the Tucson pool fans who came out in large numbers to root our ladies on.Thanks to The Friends of the AWBT for adding $200.Thanks to my co-director Kristie Ortega and Scott for putting on another fine event.
Our next event will be November 16th at Bullshooters.
The Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour held their June event at Skip & Jan’s Sports Bar in Tempe, Az on June 8th – 9th – and Jaye Succo showed the field of twenty players why matches aren’t decided on paper.
The field included the usual selection of top talent from Arizona, Las Vegas, New Mexico and Wisconsin; with top seeds that included Bernie Store, Susan Williams, Sara Miller and Vegas’ Stacy Allsup.
Bernie Store looked like the player to beat early on this weekend as she scored day one wins over Tracie Hamman, Susan Wilbur and Sara Miller. On the opposite side of the board, Jaye Succo had day one wins over Lynor Johnson, Beth Orth and Amanda Pulley to remain undefeated going into Sunday play.
Two favorites that didn’t escape day one were Susan Williams and Stacy Allsup. After a first round bye, Williams dropped a hill-hill decision to Susan Wilbur and was eliminated two matches later by Tracie Hamman. Allsup’s day was even worse with a “two and out” performance.
Play got underway on Sunday with Bernie & Jaye being joined by six players on the one loss side. That number would be cut to four players on the one loss side with Orth defeating Hamman 7-6 and Wilbur defeating Justine Bishop 7-4.
Sara Miller would then end Orth’s day with a 7-1 scoreline, and Wilbur kept her tournament hopes alive with a 7-2 win over Amanda Pulley.
The final four players would then be in action with Sara Miller snuffing out Susan Wilbur’s tournament hopes 7-3, while Bernie faced off against Jaye for the hot-seat.
On paper, the hot-seat match should have been a no-brainer. Bernie hasn’t finished lower than 2nd place all season and this would be Succo’s first time playing for an AWBT hot-seat. The race to seven match saw Bernie making her way to the hill first with a 6-3 lead. Neither player looked to be enjoying fighting with the tough pockets at Skip & Jan’s, and Bernie appeared to tighten up a little when she got to the hill. Jaye showed that she was more than capable of taking advantage of Bernie’s uncharacteristic careful play as she won the next four games to take the hot-seat 7-6.
On the one loss side, Bernie looked like the player we are all used to watching as she broke open a close 2-2 match to quickly dispatch Sara Miller 7-3 and earn the chance to redeem herself against Succo in the finals.
The final match was a race to nine and it would go all the way to the 17th game to determine a final winner. A 2-0 Store lead was tied up at 2-2. Bernie would then surge ahead 5-2, but Jaye clawed back to 5-4. It was then that Bernie took control of the match and raced to the hill at 8-5. Jaye would need to win four games before Bernie won one more. Jaye took the next rack, and then the next. Before the fans knew what had happened, Succo had erased another three rack deficit and tied the match at 8-8. The final game would be decided quickly when Store hung the 9-ball in the corner pocket and left an unmissable 1-9 combo. Succo did not miss the combo as she celebrated her first AWBT tour victory.
While fans who were not in attendance might have been surprised by these results, tour director Tres Kane showed no surprise at all. “Jaye is playing up to her ability today”, he said. “I have watched her playing Sunday night league against some of the top players in Phoenix and she has learned a lot over these last few months” he commented.
Succo definitely looked at the tournament as an accomplishment. After the event, she said “I’m ready for any challenge thrown my way. I knew I had to work my way up, as far as the standings and actually winning a stop, but I didn’t think it would happen this fast – especially against someone who shoots as well as Bernie.”
USBTC 8-Ball Champion, Jeff Beckley, at work in the TAR arena
CSI’s 19th Annual US Bar Table Championships concluded Sunday, with Jeff Beckley going undefeated in the 8-Ball Division. The first year for the USTBC at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino was a rousing success. It’s been a fantastic week of championship caliber pool, with outstanding performances in all three divisions: 10-Ball, 9-Ball and 8-Ball.
The 8-Ball Division kicked off on Friday, with 189 entries in the Men’s Division and 46 entries in the Women’s Division. All tables were in play, as there were three tournaments being contested simultaneously, the Men’s and Women’s USTBC 8-Ball, and a WorldPPA handicapped 9-Ball Tournament.
Jeff Beckley, who hails from Indiana, had an impressive tournament run. Jeff finished undefeated, and notched wins over notable players such as Jose Parica, Larry Nevel, Francisco Bustamante and Robb Saez. His win/loss totals were an impressive 45-18.
Jeff started out the final day, with a hotseat match with Francisco Bustamante. Jeff played solid and capitalized on a few uncharacteristic mistakes from Francisco. Francisco was a favorite going in, as he had a very impressive run on Saturday. Jeff sent Francisco to the losers bracket with a 5-3 win and then went back to his room to relax until his 7:00 match.
Meanwhile, Robb Saez was all business on Sunday. His eyes were set on Jeff Beckley, but he would have to beat a host of champions to get there. Robb started off by knocking out Rodney Morris 5-2, then sent Larry Nevel packing with a 5-0 win. Next up for Robb was Oscar Dominguez, who was having a great tournament himself.
Oscar was sent to the losers side late Saturday night by Francisco Bustamante, in a match where Oscar would get only two shots. Francisco broke and ran the first game. When Oscar broke the next game, the cue ball got kicked in and Francisco ran out. Then, Francisco broke and ran out. When Oscar broke the next game, the cue ball was kicked in again, and Francisco ran out. Francisco then broke and ran the final game, for a 5-0 win. In all, Oscar had only two shots in the match, both break shots.
Oscar would give Robb all he could handle though on Sunday, and they went hill-hill with Robb needing to bank his last solid cross side and draw his cueball into the 8-ball, which was tied up on another ball. It was a do or die shot, where any part of the shot going wrong would result in an easy out and a win for Oscar. Undaunted, Robb drilled the bank and drew softly into the 8-ball, freeing it up for an easy shot to win the set.
Up next for Robb, was Francisco Bustamante. Robb had everything rolling for him though at this point, and great play and a few rolls allowed him to move on to the finals with a 5-4 victory over “Django.”
The finals got underway at 7:00 pm with Robb Saez needing to beat Jeff Beckley twice. Up until this point, it seemed destiny was on Robb’s side, but Jeff was not going to be denied. First Jeff got an early lead at 3-0, then Robb crept back with a couple of games. Jeff got to the hill first, and had a few opportunities to close out the match, but couldn’t cash in on them. Jeff would need to keep his composure and put his missed opportunities behind him, if he wanted to end this in one set. Jeff would keep it together, and with a straight in 8-ball down the rail, he won his first USBTC 8-Ball Title.
Congratulations to Jeff Beckley with his 1st place finish and Robb Saez for finishing 2nd. Francisco Bustamante finished 3rd and Oscar Dominguez came in 4th. First paid $5700, 2nd paid $3300, 3rd paid $2000 and 4th paid 1200.
On the Women’s side, Stacy Allsup went undefeated and matched up with Melissa Little in the finals. Melissa would need to beat Stacy two sets to come out on top, but fell short, losing the first set 4-2. Congratulations to Stacy Allsup on her 1st place finish pocketing $875, and Melissa Little on her 2nd place finish and a $550 prize.
In the All Around Bonus, there was a three way tie for 1st place, between Shane Van Boening, Glenn Atwell and Jeff Beckley. They split $3500 in added Bonus money provided by CSI. On the Women’s side, Rebecca Wagner took home an additional $500 for 1st place and Stacy Allsup took home $250.
CSI would like to thank the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino for providing a perfect venue for the USBTC Championship. Thanks to Ric, Bonnie and Ken Jones with Bad Boys Billiard Productions for all they do in setting up and running this great event. Bad Boys would like to thank Bret Baker and Janet Okomoto for volunteering their time to assist them. CSI would like to thank Bill Stock for assisting Bad Boys on the Tournament Directors staff and the long hours he’s had this year at DCC, Swanee and USBTC.
CSI would like to recognize Justin Collett and TAR for providing daily live streaming of the event with the high quality production we all have come to expect from them.
TAR would like to thank OB Cues for sponsoring the live streaming and Kamui Tips and AZBilliards for their additional support. Also, Ken Shuman for his professional commentating all week on the live stream. Special thanks to Andy Chen & Greg Koch (“CaliRed”) for their long hours running cameras for the live stream.
Most of all, CSI would like to thank the players, the fans, and the pool community for making this event a success. CSI would especially like to thank their own CSI family at the home office, who put in all the hard work behind the scenes, that are required to put together these large tournaments. On behalf of Mark Griffin and the entire CSI Staff, thanks to all of you for another successful and entertaining event.
