Stop #6 on the Mezz West State Tour headed south to the San Diego area of La Mesa, CA to On Cue Billiards. 96 players from all over California, Nevada, Arizona, and several international players were all in attendance for a chance to grasp their hands on piece of the $6800 prize fund.

 

Leading the top half of the bracket was Phoenix, Arizona native Tim Daniel. Tim had strong wins over Art Garcia, Kevin May, Ramin Bakhtiari, Victor Ignacio, and Chris Fangre all the way to the hot seat match. While on the lower half, Santos Sambajon Jr. slowly but surely snuck his way through players Mike Meeker, Al Garcia, Fach Garcia, Ernesto Dominguez, Tang Hoa, and Amir Shoshan setting up the hot seat match between Daniels and Sambajon. This match would prove to be a lobsided one as Santos' experience and shotmaking took the hot seat with a resounding 9-2 scoreline.

 

After an early defeat, Hungarian native Vilmos Foldes stormed through the losers bracket with 6 wins on the losers side. Tim Daniels finally stopped the former Junior World Champion in his tracks to settle for third place setting up a rematch in the true double elimination finals between Daniel and Sambajon. 

 

The packed house at On Cue was treated to a nail biting finals as Daniels managed to control the first set with uncharacteristic errors on behalf of the diminutive Filipino by a 9-4 score. Santos and Daniels battled toe to toe in the final and concluding second set with Daniels having a very routine out with only 3 balls left on the table. Upon pocketing the 7, Daniels left himself a slightly awkward angle which would prove costly as Daniels failed to manage the carom on the 9 correctly by scratching, only leaving the gift of shooting the 9 ball with ball in hand for Santos. The devastated Daniels consoled himself with runner up prize money of $1000 while Santos took home the title and $1500 first prize.

 

A very special thanks to all of our sponsors; Mezz Cues, West State Billiard Supply, ZAN tips, Turtle Rack, POVPool, NYCGrind, AZBilliards, Kurzweil's Country Meats, Marty Carey Jump Cue, Virtual Pool 4, and Fast & Loose Designs.

Twenty seven men and five ladies battled it out at Cue-Phoria in Orlando, FL on Saturday January 21st at the open stop on the Tiger Classic Tour.

A lot of great players showed up including Mike Davis, Tim Daniels and Julio Aquino. They all played great and had a good time shooting on the beautiful Brunswick tables. 

John Sanders set himself as the player to beat in this one after ending the winners side with a 7-3 win over Mike Davis and then a 7-4 win over Harry Nathan for the hot-seat. 

Mike Davis bounced back from the loss to Sanders and started laying waste to the one loss side. Davis eliminated Tim Daniels, Julio Aquino, Nick Applebee and then Nathan to earn his spot in the finals a chance at revenge against Saunders.

The first set of the double elimination finals went to Davis in a close 7-5 match, but the second match was all Davis as he cruised to a 7-0 win and first place in the tournament.

Cassidy Mulligan and Dan Lettau also won a raffle and free entry to the next tour event. Tiger tour will soon have more giveaways and contests available on the website as well. Thanks to all the players and the room owner for a successful tournament.