With tour points leader Amanda Pulley (as well as Leandrea Gaff and Sara Miller) in Illinois for the NAPT’s Summer 10-Ball Classic, the AWBT’s stop at Pockets on August 18th and 19th was a prime opportunity for one of the other top points list players to make a move on first place.
Those players would find out quickly that even without Pulley, Gaff and Miller, the field of 38 players was still going to be a tough one. “A” players started dropping to the one loss side in the first round with Claudia Morado’s 5-4 win over Justine Bishop. Bishop would be joined by a handful of top players in the second round with Tammy Holben, Pearl Ortiz, Tracie Hamman, Rae Evans and Michelle Trevino all suffering early losses.
As the winner’s side narrowed, the final four players only contained one “A” player in the person of Susan Williams. Williams was joined by Pati Martinez, Diana Leon and Mary Helen Mondragon.
The one loss side was no more kind to top players as Bishop finished tied for 25th place with such notables as Hamman and Jordyn Flores. The top players would keep falling as Saturday play went on and the day ended with Sonia Flores, Stephanie Benavidez and Carmen Osenton joining Rae Evans for Sunday play.
Winner’s side action on Sunday saw Martinez score a 5-4 win over Williams and Mondragon with a lopsided 4-1 win over Leon. Mondragon then went on to capture her first ever AWBT hot-seat with a 4-2 win over Martinez.
Sonia Flores had lost a late Saturday match to Martinez on the winner’s side and she wasn’t going to go away without a fight in this one. A 5-1 win over Terri Johnson-McCauley on Saturday night was followed up by a 5-3 win over Benavidez early Sunday morning and then back to back 5-1 wins over Leon and Evans. Flores would then get her revenge against Martinez with a 5-2 win in the semi-final match.
The final match between Mondragon and Flores was an extended match with players adding another two games to their individual races. That left Flores going to seven and Mondragon going to six. Mondragon came out early with a 2-0 lead, but Flores then took control and won four straight racks. Mondragon fought back to 4-4, but Flores then regained control and won three straight for the 7-4 win and first place.
In addition to the main event, a second chance tournament was played on Sunday with Sara Sorg going through the field undefeated for first place. A “Balls Only” event was also held on Saturday with 29 guys competing. That event saw AJ Jones and Chris Paradowski split first and second place.
The AWBT will take September off, but will be back in Phoenix on October 13th – 14th for 9-ball on the 7’ tables at Bullshooters.
They came out in droves at the 2nd stop of the Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour, with a field of 56 players at Freezer’s Ice House on April 28th – 29th.
Surprisingly in a field of that size, early rounds held their fair share of marquee matchups with #3 ranked Amanda Pulley starting her tournament off with a 6-3 win over #1 ranked Bernie Store and Las Vegas’ Mary Coffman scoring a first round 7-2 win over Sara Miller. While those matches were not necessarily upsets, junior player Tory Conley’s 5-5 win over Jaye Succo was an eye opener and just went to show how much the junior player’s games are improving.
The top half of the board saw Pulley score wins over Windy Breck, Pearl Ortiz and #2 ranked Heather Cortez to earn her place in the hot-seat match on Sunday. The bottom half of the bracket was all about Justine Bishop as she dominated her matches, not allowing an opponent more than three games against her. As if that performance wasn’t strong enough already, Bishop then went on to beat Pulley 6-1 for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, Susan Williams was on a run. After a first-round loss to Store, Williams won seven straight matches on the left side of the board, including over such notable opponents as Cathy Kelley, Conley, Tracie Hamman and Cortez. Williams’ run was finally brought to an end by Pearl Ortiz who had put together a four-match winning streak after the earlier loss to Pulley. The win over Williams earned Ortiz another shot at Pulley, but she wouldn’t fare any better with a 6-3 loss.
Bishop won the first two games in her first AWBT finals appearance in more than a decade. Pulley pulled the brakes on her and won the next 8 games in a row to clinch the match
When asked about this tournament – her 4th tour win – Pulley commented on the tough field. “In this tournament, each time I discovered my next opponent, I was like, “Awww, man, another monster?” And each time with luck and skill, I found a way to work through the match. I was calm after the initial anxiety, and without expectation; that helped a lot.”
Twenty-two players came back for Sunday’s second chance tournament, where Veronica Poore defeated Jaye Succo in the finals for first place.
The AWBT will next be in action on June 2nd and 3rd at Pockets in Tucson.
The G Cue Billiard Store Diamond Pool Tour held their second stop of the season at Skip & Jan’s in Gilbert on June 17th – 18th, where they once again crowned a new winner in the amateur division, and a returning champion in the open division.
The amateur division kicked off on Saturday with 36 players and a new group of favorites at the top of the list. With tour stop one winner Max Maurer over the 625 Fargo limit, early favorites in this event included Rick Armbrust (619), Lee Brown (619), Ken Laney (618) and Mike Hamman (616). As a testament to the handicapped format of the event, only Armbrust would finish in the money.
Saturday play whittled the field down to the final eight players in the money, with Bob Mizer set to face Scott Vogelsburg (looking for his second big win in as many weeks) and Rick Armbrust set to face Nick Cipiti. The one loss side came down to Steve Stowers vs Wes Sowers and Randy Reid vs Jesse Johnson.
As play began on Sunday, Vogelsberg beat Mizer 8-2 in an even 8-8 race, and Armbrust beat Cipiti 9-6 in a 9-8 race.
On the left side of the board, Steve Stowers eliminated Wes Sowers 8-5 in an 8-7 race, while Randy Reid upset Jesse Johnson 6-2 in a 6-8 race. Stowers would then eliminate Mizer in a hill-hill match 8-6, and Cipiti bounced back from his earlier loss to send Reid to the seats with an 8-2 scoreline. Cipiti would soon be joining Reid in the seats, as Stowers scored a hill-hill win to eliminate Cipiti in 4th place. Due to the Father’s Day holiday, Vogelsberg forfeited his semi-final match against Stowers and the race to 9 final match was underway.
The final match came down to hill-hill, before Armbrust dropped the final 9-ball for the 9-8 win and first place.
On one side of the winner’s bracket, Foldes was on a tear. He defeated Carl Stewart, Ben Hrabina and Brian Long by a combined score of 30-2. On the other side of the winner’s bracket, it was Bobby Emmons making noise. Emmons defeated Tracie Hamman, Eric Young and then Mitch Ellerman in a hill-hill match.
Ellerman took the trip to the one loss side, where he then dropped a hill-hill match to Eric Young to finish in 4th place.
Back on the winner’s side, Emmons was playing like he didn’t have a care in the world and sent Foldes to the one loss side 7-3 (in a 7-10 match).
Foldes was ready for round two with Emmons though, as he then eliminated Young in a hill-hill 10-4 match.
Just to prove that the first time was no fluke, Emmons defeated Foldes in the first set of the finals by the same 7-3 scoreline.
The tour will next head out to Tucson on the 15th and 16th of July for two events on the 9’ tables at Pockets.
The G Cue Billiard Store Diamond Pool Tour is proudly sponsored by…
The first stop of the AWBT was the weekend of March 18th and 19th at Bull Shooters. With a late start to the season all the ladies were ready and eager to get going. The first event of the season drew 33 entrants in the Main event and another 15 entrants in the second chance event. The opening event drew entrants from 4 different states and although a majority were locals the out of towners were ready to put up a fight.
This was the first time there was a handicap put in place to make the event more competitive and also with the hopes of growing the AWBT. The players were put into three groups A+,A and B with the A+ players racing to 7 games, the A players racing to 6 games and B players racing to 5 games. There was a ton of discussion but after day one the players seem to adjust quick and with the amount of hill/hill matches the new format seemed to be a success!
As the Main Event wound down and the Dust settled it would come down to Rae Evans from California and Susan Williams from Arizona. The two ladies never gave an inch and we saw our first HILL/HILL final of the season, after Susan made a combo on the 10 ball which appeared to end the match the cue ball drifted into the corner pocket leaving a 4 ball run for Rae to complete to earn the 1st AWBT title of the year.
The second chance event saw 15 entrants battling for the 200 prize fund and it was Tracie Hamman winning 1st place followed by Lynor Johnson in 2nd. The 3rd and 4th positions went to Melissa Doherty and Beth Orth.
We would like to thank all of our sponsors and Bull Shooters. Bull Shooters added 580.00 for the weekend and another 200.00 from sponsor money totaling 780.00 added. Sponsors include, Las Glorias Grill, Slikster, Sophia’s House Cleaning and Your way Logistics.
We hope to see you at the next event in MAY where we will have a total of $1000.00 added Fargo event! The dates will be MAY 6th and 7th at Skip and Jan’s. See you there!
Last but not least this is the first year with Chris Adams and Junior Flores handling the AWBT and I (Chris Adams) could not do it without Junior, we look forward to the rest of the year and hope to continue this positive progress! Thanks again to all the
Rebecca Wagner wasn’t even planning on making the trip from Vegas to Phoenix for the AWBT’s second tour stop at Bullshooters on April 25th and 26th. It was only when she was able to get the weekend off work, that she agreed to accompany road partner Ashea Erdahl to the event. Wagner would end up mowing down a field of twenty eight players to earn first place in her first event of the new season.
Wagner would not have an easy path to the win however. Matches against Cynthia Haeffner and Tracie Hamman on Saturday were followed by equally tough matches against Jaye Succo and Bernie Store on Sunday. Wagner did not allow an opponent to the hill against her, and won two of those four matches 7-1.
Wagner’s opponent for the hot-seat, Store, would not have a path any easier. Store scored wins over Alicia De Leon, Jodie Villegas, Susan Williams and Erdahl before dropping the hot-seat to Wagner 7-4.
The one loss side on Sunday was a “who’s who” of top female talent, including Williams, Amanda Pulley, Justine Bishop and Susan Mello. After Susan and Susan scored wins over Pulley and Bishop, they were joined on the left side of the board by Erdahl and Succo. Susan Williams would keep her winning ways going, with a 7-2 win over Succo, but Mello would drop a hill-hill decision to Erdahl.
Things were not looking good for Williams in her next match, against Erdahl, as she trailed 5-2 in the race to seven. Williams had been in that position before though, and she drew on that experience to mount a great comeback for the hill-hill win.
The semi-finals between Williams and Store started out well for Williams, as she took an early 2-0 lead, but then it was time for Store to mount a comeback and she won seven of the next nine games for the 7-4 win and a rematch with Wagner in the finals.
The single race to nine extended final was closer than their earlier battle, but it ended in the same result, as Wagner defeated Store 9-6 for first place.
The win moves Wagner to second place on the AWBT points list, with Store still holding a comfortable lead over the rest of the list in first place. Williams, Haeffner and Barbara Lee fill out the top five positions on the list.
Although this event worked out well for Wagner, she still doesn’t see herself able to compete in many events this season due to work conflicts.
The AWBT has been forced to change their schedule, and the upcoming Stinger’s event has been moved to May 23rd and 24th.
The second chance event on Sunday saw Cynthia Haeffner beat Diana Leon for the hot-seat and then beat Tami Hathcock in the finals for an undefeated victory.
Assistant Tour director Tres Kane gave his thanks to Mike and Julie Bates, and the staff of Bullshooters for hosting and adding $300 to the main event and $100 to the second chance event, Jose Gonzales of Las Glorias Grille for adding $100 to the main event and his partner Kristie Ortega for running another fine event.
The AWBT kicked off their 2018 season on March 10th – 11th at Bullshooters with a field of 43 players and Bernie Store coming back from the one loss side to win and stake early claim to the AWBT points list.
Store’s path through the brackets started off with wins over Stephanie Woodman, Carol Strong and Sandi Wilson before running into Heather Cortez in the final eight. Cortez, the 2017 points list winner, sent Bernie packing to the one loss side in a hill-hill match.
After her win over Store, Cortez went on to defeat Nina Tagley in the final four and then Amanda Pulley for the hot-seat 7-3.
On the one loss side, Store got down to business with wins over Justine Bishop, Beth Orth, Jaye Succo (a hill-hill nail biter), Tagley and then Pulley in the semi-finals.
As is always the case on the AWBT, the finals were an extended race to 9 and Store cruised to a comfortable 9-5 victory for first place.
Sixteen players came back to Bullshooters on Sunday to compete in the second chance event, where Pearl Ortiz defeated Justine Bishop in the finals for first place.
In addition to the ladies events, the AWBT also held their first “Balls Only” event where Jason Melm completed an undefeated run with back to back wins over James Main in the finals for first place and $310 in prize money.
The AWBT will be at Freezer’s for the second stop of the season on April 28th – 29th where they will be playing 9-ball on the 9 foot tables with $500 in added prize money.
The Arizona Women’s Billiards Tour held their last event of the 2014 season on November 15th – 16th at Bullshooters, and in addition to crowning a tournament winner, a tour points winner was yet to be crowned. While 2014 Points List winner Bernie Store held a decent sized lead on the points list, three players (Rebecca Wagner, Susan Williams and Sara Miller) were all within striking distance of the top spot.
The pool gods showed their mischievous side on this weekend as Store, Wagner Williams, Miller and Arizona newcomer Tina Hess were all on the same side of the board. Toss in former event winner Jaye Succo, Leandra Gaff and Vegas’ Ashea Erdahl and the bottom half of the bracket was a veritable minefield for any players hoping to advance. The marquee matches got going early on Saturday with Wagner defeating Store 7-5, Succo beating Hess 7-6 and Miller sending Williams to the left side 7-2.
Wagner would find herself on the one loss side one round later, after a 7-4 loss to road partner Erdahl. Meanwhile, Miller was sending Succo west to fight it out on the one loss side.
A couple of big surprises on Saturday were the eliminations of Susan Williams and Amanda Pulley. Williams won three straight on the one loss side, before dropping a 7-4 match to Store. Pulley held a sizable lead over Barbara Lee on the winners side but couldn’t get over the finish line and dropped the match 7-6. Pulley then lost to Store in her first match on the one loss side 7-4.
Sunday play got underway with four players left on each side of the board. Tucson’s Tracie Hamman handed Barbara Lee her first loss 7-4, and Ashea Erdahl sent Sara Miller to the one loss side 7-5. The next round would see Erdahl take the hot-seat with a 7-2 win over Hamman.
Bernie Store guaranteed herself the points list win with a 7-4 win over Susan Williams in her first match on Sunday. That would be as far as Store would get though, as she lost her next match to Sara Miller 7-4. Rebecca Wagner also sent Barbara Lee back to California in 5th place with a quick 7-2 scoreline. Wagner didn’t stop there as she next eliminated Miller 7-3 to earn her spot in the semi-finals.
The semi-final match would turn out to be a heartbreaker for Hamman as she held leads at 4-1 and 6-5 but missed the case nine ball at hill-hill and couldn’t stop Wagner from winning the final game.
The finals were an “all Vegas” affair between Wagner and Erdahl. Although the scoreline made it look close, Wagner was never really in any danger of losing the match and faded a late comeback from Erdahl for the 9-6 win and her third title of the season. Wagner ended up 5 points behind Store on the points list, quite an amazing feat considering she played in two less events than anyone else in the top four.
The second chance tournament on Sunday saw Amanda Pulley bounce back from a hot-seat loss to Beth Orth and exact her revenge in the finals for first place.
Assistant Tour director Tres Kane gave his thanks to Mike and Julie Bates, and the staff of Bullshooters for hosting and adding $300 to the main event and $100 to the second chance event, Jose Gonzales of Las Glorias Grille for adding $100 to the main event and his partner Kristie Ortega for running another fine event.
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.
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.”
