The Predator Canada Open, the latest stop on the Women’s Pro Billiard Series, is down to the final 16 in Alberta, Canada.
The first stage of the tournament is now complete and the brackets have been redrawn for the single elimination stage, which begins 10am local time Friday.
Kelly Fisher’s quest to make it four in four on the Predator Pro Billiard Series remains strong. After winning 4-0, 4-0 against Mary Avina on Wednesday the Brit followed it up with a 4-2, 4-1 score against impressive young Bulgarian Kristina Zlateva. She’ll now face her fellow Brit and namesake Allison Fisher in the last 16.
That is because Allison came through the one loss side of the draw but made it through with two wins on Thursday. Fisher found herself on the one loss side after a shootout defeat yesterday but hit the practice table and defeated Stephanie Mitchell and Maryann McConnell to qualify.
Fisher said: “I feel very relieved to qualify for the last 16 because my first match yesterday was a real struggle and I lost in a shootout. I practiced last night and got comfortable with the table. I felt much more settled today.”
Canada’s Brittany Bryant stayed undefeated with a 4-2, 4-0 win against Naomi Williams. Bryant has been enjoying have a Pro Billiard Series tournament in her home country and will face Bean Hung in the next round.
Other last 16 matches include Eylul Kibaroglu vs Caroline Pao, Sara Rocha vs Amalia Matas and Maite Ropero Garcia vs Kristina Zlateva. Action begins at 10am with the feature table live on Billiard TV, Kozoom and the World Billiard TV YouTube channel.
Savannah Easton, the 12 year-old from Las Vegas, exited the tournament with a shootout defeat to Kyoko Soni. Easton had moved to the one loss side of the brackets on Wednesday night but put in an impressive 4-2, 4-3 win over Toni Sakamoto to stay alive before her tournament was ended by Soni. Easton plays the final of the CSI Western Canadian Championships Junior 8-Ball tomorrow.
Karen Corr not only went undefeated at the North American Pool Tour’s (NAPT) Coupe du Quebec, she damn near went unscored upon. Through seven round robin flights and five rounds in a double elimination final bracket, she gave up only 11 games of the 88 she played to claim the event title. She shut out four of her round robin opponents and three of the five she faced in the final double elimination phase. She was the only player to go undefeated in both phases of the event. The Division 1 Pro event drew 32 entrants to Dooly’s in Quebec, Canada on the long weekend of October 24-27.
The Round Robin phase of the event split the field of 32 into four flights of eight players each. At the end of seven rounds in each of the four flights, the top four in each flight (based on win/loss records and point differentials for ties) advanced to the double elimination bracket of 16.
Corr’s flight in the round robin phase pitted her against (among others) fellow J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour player, Nicole King, as well as Nathalie Chabot, and Chantal Bergeron, all of whom finished with 4-3 records to advance to the final 16.
California’s Callado sisters played in separate round robin flights. Eleanor finished with a 5-2 record, as did Nathalie Jacob, Amanda Soucy and Marie-France Blanchette; all advancing to the double elimination bracket. Sister Emilyn finished with a 6-1 record and was joined in the double elimination bracket by Toni Sakamoto, Farla Salmonovitch and Judie Wilson. The woman who’d defeated Emily Callado, Dorah Cornell, did not advance; Emilyn being the only opponent she defeated.
Veronique Menard was at the top of her round robin group and finished with a 6-1 record. Joining her in advancing were Roxanne Ryan Aucoin, Fanny Giroux (Menard’s only loss), and Sandra-Line Michel.
Corr wasn’t scored upon until she reached the hot seat match, downing Sandra-Line Michel, Nathalie Jacob and in the winners’ side semifinal, Emilyn Callado by shutout; thus spoiling any hope for a Callado sister hot seat match. Eleanor Callado’s path to the hot seat match went through Farla Salmonovitch 7-4, Marie-France Blanchette 7-3 and in the other winners’ side semifinal, Veronique Menard 7-4. Corr gave up her first rack of the double elimination phase defeating Callado 7-1 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Emilyn Callado picked up Blanchette, who, after her winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Eleanor Callado, had defeated Judie Wilson 7-5 and Fanny Giroux 7-2. Menard drew Nathalie Jacob, who, after her quarterfinal loss to Corr, had defeated Toni Sakamoto 7-5 and shut out Roxanne Aucoin.
Emilyn Callado and Blanchette locked up in a double hill fight that eventually advanced Callado to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Menard, who’d defeated Jacob 7-1.
With the hope of a Callado sister semifinal looming, Menard spoiled that with a 7-3 win over Emilyn in the quarterfinals and turned for a second shot against her sister, Eleanor in the semifinals. Menard downed her 7-4 and got a shot at Corr in the hot seat.
To her credit, Menard chalked up more racks against Corr in the finals than all four of Corr’s previous opponents, or any one opponent in both the round robin and double elimination phases. But it wasn’t nearly enough, as Corr finished the proceedings with a 7-4 win.
NAPT President Adrianne Beach thanked Elvis Joubert and his staff for their hospitality, as well as event sponsor, Turtle Rack.
New Town, ND was ground zero for pool this week as players converged on the Four Bears Casino and Lodge for their 25th Annual Eight Ball Classic.
This popular event was kicked off with a $2000 added Men’s and a $500 added Women’s 9 Ball Mini-Tournament. Eighty men and seventeen women put up their entries to try for their piece of the cash.
A total of $6000 was up for grabs as Dennis Orcollo claimed $1600 for first place, Oscar Dominguez received $1100 for second and Jamie Pluta got $800 for third place.
The women’s division of the Eight Ball Classic started with 50 players. When the smoke cleared, it was Caela Henley-Huddleston and Nicole Keeney fighting it out for the hot seat. Nicole prevailed and sent Caela west to await the results of the Jessica Moxon-Toni Sakamoto match. Jessica took down Toni leaving her in fourth place with a $900 payout. Jessica proved to be too much for Caela – she finished third with a $1000 check in addition to $730 from the Calcutta.
Nicole Keeney is no stranger to final match action and she defeated Jessica for the title and the first place prize money of $3500 plus a Calcutta payout of $1825. Jessica received $2000 in prize money and $1095 Calcutta cash for her runner-up finish.
The Men’s 8 Ball Classic started with a star-studded field of 163 players. By this evening, the field had been whittled down to four superstars. Shane Van Boening defeated John Morra – leaving him in fourth place and a $2800 payday plus $3924 from the Calcutta. Shane found Sky Woodward waiting for him after a defeat in the hot seat match against Roberto Gomez. Sky was a man on a mission as he defeated the always tough SVB leaving him with a third place consolation prize of $3300 plus $7412 Calcutta money.
The hard-fought final match was down to the wire – 6-5. Roberto emerged as this year’s Four Bears Eight Ball Classic Champion – he received $10,000 in prize money plus $16,132 Calcutta money for his efforts. Sky had to settle for second and a $5000 check plus $11,772 for his portion of the Calcutta but he rocketed past Rodney Morris and Oscar Dominguez to take second position on the Mosconi Cup Points list with his performance in this event.
Congratulations to Roberto Gomez and Nicole Keeney – this year’s Four Bear Eight Ball Classic Champions!!!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank the Four Bears Eight Ball Classic Committee for putting together another outstanding event. We’d like to thank the Four Bears Casino and their staff for again laying out the welcome mat to players and fans alike.
PoolActionTV would like to thank all our viewers, Terry Hanna and everyone behind the scenes who helped make this match possible. Thanks to Jason Sword, Brandon Shuff and Ricki Lee Casper for adding their excellent and knowledgeable commentary.
We’d like to thank our sponsors – Kamui, Hanshew Custom Cues, Club Billiards of Wichita, KS, Outsville, Aramith, Simonis, Lomax Custom Cues, Durbin Custom Cues and GoPlayPool.com. Thanks to all – it couldn’t have been done without you!!!
Next stop is Dave Cole’s Carom Room in Beloit, WI for their Fall Classic 10 Ball. Dates are September 23-25th. Hope to see you down the road!!!
Fresh off her fourth place finish in the North American Pool Tour's Women's 10-Ball Invitational in Herndon, VA, last weekend, Brittany Bryant traveled to Calgary, Alberta to compete in the inaugural Ashton Twins (Joanne and Beverley) Classic, on the weekend of June 11-12. Though challenged twice by Eleanor Callado, Bryant went undefeated through the field of 32 that had signed on to compete in the $2,000-added event, hosted by The Hidden Spot in Calgary.
Following victories over Kathie MacDonald, Liz Cole, and Emily Duddy, Bryant squared off against Veronique Menard in a winners' side semifinal. Callado, in the meantime, who'd defeated tournament namesake Joanne Ashton, Farla Salmanovitch and Janet Atwell, met up with Toni Sakamoto in the other winners' side semifinal. Bryant sent Menard to the loss side 9-5, and in the hot seat match faced Callado, who'd defeated Sakamoto 9-7. Bryant claimed the hot seat 9-4 over Callado, and waited on her return.
On the loss side, Sakamoto picked up Emily Duddy, who'd been defeated by Bryant in the third winners' side round. Duddy opened her loss-side campaign with a victory over Nathalie Chabot 9-1, and just did survive a double hill battle against Kathie MacDonald. Menard drew Janet Atwell, who'd been sent to the loss side by Callado, and then eliminated Liz Cole 9-6 and Sandy Badger 9-7.
Atwell and Menard locked up in a double hill fight that eventually advanced Atwell to the quarterfinals against Duddy, who'd ended Sakamoto's run 9-2. Duddy earned herself a shot at Callado in the semifinals with a 9-6 victory over Atwell.
Duddy, who's in the midst of her best year, to date, as a pro (financially), fought Callado, back and forth, one victory at a time, to a 6-6 tie, and then pulled out in front to reach the hill first, ahead by two. Callado, though, fought back to tie it and force a case game. Callado won that game to earn a re-match against Bryant in the hot seat.
In spite of a relatively long wait, Bryant opened the single race to 11 with four straight racks. Callado chalked up rack #5, but Bryant came back to win four more to take a commanding 8-1 lead. With some applause-worthy shooting in rack #10, from an enthusiastic crowd, Callado chalked up her second. Bryant took racks #11 and #12 to reach the hill, and then closed it out to claim the event title.
The Ashton Twins and Tour Director Stephanie Toy thanked the ownership and staff at The Hidden Spot for their hospitality, as well as sponsors SBI Landscaping, Infinity Mechanical, Inc.,
Sierra Publishing Company, Jenny Lucas from Score Saloon (game by game scoring), Orange Theory Fitness, Nasty Boy Drywall Services, World Sports and Poker.com, Westcreek Consulting, and Randall Morrison for the on-line streaming service.
Mary Coffman's been racking 'em up and showing up on WPBA payout lists for nearly 15 years now. Her first appearance in our database shows her finishing in 17th place at a WPBA Regional Tour Championship (RTC), a little less than two months after 9/11. In 2013, she chalked up two victories on the Northwest Women's Pool Association (NWPA) tour, and finished in the money in the other six stops. She also finished in the tie for seventh place at that year's RTC. Last year, she was runner-up to Sheila Clark in an NWPA tour stop. This year, after finishing in the money at the Chinook Winds Open 8-Ball Ladies Division and both the 8-Ball and 9-Ball US Bar Box Championships, she returned to the winners' circle with a come-from-the-loss-side victory at Tour Stop # 6 on the 2015 NWPA Tour. The $500-added event, held on the weekend of September 19-20, drew 20 entrants to Black Diamond Billiards in Spokane, WA.
Following victories over Alicia Kvasnicka and Kim Toops, Coffman faced Kimberly Kirk in a winners' side semifinal. Suzanne Smith, in the meantime, looking for her third win on the 2015 NWPA Tour, had defeated Sharon Bledsoe and Bev Ashton, and squared off against Toni Sakamoto. Kirk sent Coffman to the loss side, and in the hot seat match, faced Smith, who'd defeated Sakamoto. Smith sent Kirk to the semifinals 7-4, and waited in the hot seat for Coffman's return.
On the loss side, Sakamoto drew Phyllis Fernandez, who'd gotten by Tamre Rogers and Toops, both 6-3. Coffman picked up Ashton, who'd shut out Adrianne Beach, and eliminated Lan Phong 7-4 to reach her. The two winners' side semifinalists advanced; Sakamoto 6-2 over Fernandez, and Coffman, surviving a double hill battle versus Ashton.
Coffman downed Sakamoto in the quarterfinals 7-3, and earned herself a shot at Smith in the hot seat with a 7-5 re-match win over Kirk in the semifinals. She completed her trip to the winners' circle with a 9-6 victory over Smith in the finals.
