Krystle Suarez, Bailey Barber, Monica Anderson and Tiffany Pryor
Two days after going undefeated on the DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour, Monica Anderson, part of a committee of tour members who run the tour, was still riding high on the joy-trip of winning her first regional tour event. The $500-added event drew 35 entrants to Stixx & Stones in Lewisville, TX.
“Finally snapped one off,” she wrote in an e-mail sent to us here at AZBilliards, primarily to provide us with links to the event’s brackets, photos and payouts for use in preparing a report.
“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then,” adding by phone, two days later, “and, it only took me 5,858 games to do it.”
Though Anderson dates her pool career back as far as 1999, when she got started playing on a BCAPL team, her first appearance in our database came when she won $10 finishing 25th at a stop on the Hunter Classics Tour in 2002. Not only did she go undefeated to claim $615 more than that 2002 payout, she (rated as a ‘4’) defeated a ‘7’ (Krystle Suarez) in the finals. Suarez, who’d lost her second match, won seven on the loss side to face her, the last few of which were witnessed with increasing concern by Anderson.
“I hope it’s Krystle,” she told someone during the wait, “because she should be tired.”
And she was. When they finally met, Suarez asked, probably rhetorically, “I have to double-dip you, don’t I?”
She did. And then, she didn’t. Though as a long-time player, well aware of the game’s ups and downs, Anderson was cognizant that when those finals started, all that was important was the table in front of her and take it, as the sports cliché indicates, one ball, one game at a time. Nevertheless, the win surprised her.
“Oh, hell yes!” she said. “I felt I was playing well, but the biggest thing was, that given the opportunities, I closed it out and finished like I was supposed to.”
Anderson’s journey to the winners’ circle, following an opening round bye, went through Jannon Talmon, Nichole Clark and Bailey Barber, which set her up in a winners’ side semifinal against Tera Saunders, who’d been responsible for sending Suarez to the loss side in the second round. Tiffany Pryor, in the meantime, opened with a double hill win over Julie Stephenson and followed up with wins over Chouie Almora, Sisyne Bolajoko and April Gonzales to arrive at her winners’ side semifinal against Francisca Riza Pili.
Both matches, battling for the right to play in the hot seat match, went double hill. Anderson over Saunders, Pryor over Pili. Anderson, in a straight-up race to 4, claimed the hot seat 4-2 and waited, somewhat anxious and confident simultaneously, for Suarez to complete her loss-side run.
Pili and Saunders moved to the loss side and walked right into their second straight loss. Saunders drew a rematch versus Suarez, who had already chalked up four, loss-side wins and was looking for more with a little redemption to boot. She’d given up only four racks in those four matches, and only one over the last two of them; one to April Gonzalez and none at all to Desiree Collins. Pili picked up Bailey Barber, who reached her by defeating Kailye Stevens and Janna Talmon by an aggregate score of 10-1.
Suarez chalked up a successful rematch against Saunders 7-2, as Barber was busy making her loss-side aggregate score 15-2, eliminating Pili 5-1. Suarez then defeated Barber 7-3 in the quarterfinals and, for a shot at Anderson, waiting for her in the hot seat, Tiffany Pryor 7-2 in the semifinals.
Anderson began the finals with three ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 7, but would need to win only once. Suarez took a quick, early lead in the opening set.
“I broke, she ran,” said Anderson, “and then she broke and ran.”
“I had to change something,” she added, noting that at 0-2, she “started playing safeties and defense a bit more.”
The strategy worked. Anderson won three of the next four and it was knotted at ‘3’ with Anderson on the hill.
“She missed a crucial shot at the 8-ball,” said Anderson. “I made that 8-ball, but left myself with a long bank on the 9-ball.”
“I nailed it,” she added, finishing claiming her first regional tour title.
Tour representatives, including Anderson, thanked the ownership and staff at Stixx & Stones for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Cuetec, Fort Worth Billiards Store, Kamui and Doc’s Billiards Office. The next stop on the DFW Ladies 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Saturday, October 15, will be hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
(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!
CJ Wiley should be the ‘poster child’ for some form of additional prize awarded to competitors in pool tournaments who lose an opening round match and win 10 or more on the loss side to meet and ultimately either defeat or lose to the occupant of a given tournament’s hot seat. Perhaps extra tour ranking points, a little bonus cash? Something, for while runner-up money is all well and good, a 10-match or more winning streak on the loss side of a double elimination bracket is a significant accomplishment, worthy of some official kind of recognition.
Though Rick Stanley went undefeated on the February 17-18 stop (#2) on the Dallas/Fort Worth 9-Ball Tour and deserves all of the accolades that go along with that, he did so by chalking up eight match victories, all with the double elimination bracket’s built-in margin for error, allowing a single loss without elimination. The handicap format saw Stanley (racing to 9) face six 7s, one 6, and one 9 (Wiley), and chalk up an average score against opponents of 9-2.7. CJ Wiley won 12 on the loss side of that double elimination bracket, with an average match score of 9-3, and faced five 6s, six 7s, and one 8, before his straight-up race to 9 in the finals against Stanley. The tour-ranking end result allowed Wiley to maintain his #1 spot on the tour rankings, while Stanley, competing in his first stop on the 2018 tour, moved from nowhere into second place. The $1,700-added event drew 108 competitors to The Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
Stanley downed Bush 9-1, as Flud (in a straight-up race to 7) defeated Hunter 7-3. Stanley claimed the hot seat 9-4 over Flud and waited for Wiley to complete his epic loss-side run.
Over on the loss side, Wiley got by five opponents just to advance to the first money round (the tie for 25th place). He got by four more, including a 9-5 win over Donny Gregory and a 9-4 win over Steve Collins, before running into Bush, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Hunter drew TJ Davis, who’d eliminated Cody Wright 8-4 and Marcelino Santiago 8-1 to reach him.
Wiley downed Bush 9-4, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Davis, who’d eliminated Hunter 8-2. Wiley took the quarterfinal match over Davis 9-3 and completed his long trek back to the finals with a 9-5 win over Flud in the semifinals.
And there it was. The final match between two of the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s top-ranked competitors, although one (Stanley) had yet to compete on the tour’s 2018 schedule. Stanley completed his undefeated run with a 9-5 victory over Wiley and settled into the second spot on the tour rankings.
The weekend also included a new, but soon-to-be-repeated preliminary event, held on Friday night, pitting two area teams (Dallas & Fort Worth) against each other. Called the DFW 2018 Tour Cup, and modeled after the Mosconi Cup, the first event saw Dallas take the Cup 5-2.
“It was very well-received,” noted tour representatives, “and we will more than likely be having more events of this type in the future.”
A Second Chance event that drew 17 entrants saw Tony Sulsar take the top spot, with Shan Iyer as runner-up. The “Last Lady” award of the main event ($50) was split between Kiengchay (Kitty) Phoutthavong and Tera Saunders.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff of the Billiard Den, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, JB Cases, Dallas Eightball League, Outsville (AccuRack), Fargo Rate, BCAPL/CSI, Internet Marketing Solutions, and Granite Guyz. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 24-25, will be hosted by Rusty's Billiards in Arlington, TX.
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
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
