The two finalists at the $1,000-added Women’s Open Division of the 46th Annual Texas Open were coming off recent victories. Ming Ng had chalked up a win on the Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Tour in June, while her finals opponent, Taylor Hansen had won a Division I Pro event on the North American Pool Tour (NAPT) in mid-August. It was the second time in a little over two weeks that 20-year-old Taylor Hansen squared off against an opponent who’d been competing as long as she’d been alive. In August, Hansen defeated Eleanor Callado in the finals of the NAPT’s 4th Summer Classic. This time, though, the veteran prevailed. Ming Ng went undefeated through the field of 32, meeting and defeating Hansen in the finals to claim the event title.
Though Ng had a pair of relatively easy opening matches in this event, downing Nicole McDaniel and Tracie Voelkering, both 7-1, things tightened up pretty quickly. Robyn Petrosino managed more racks against her than Ng’s first two opponents combined (three), as Ng advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Chris Fields. Ellen Robinson, in the meantime, who’d been challenged, double hill, by Courtney Peters in the opening round, shut out Michelle Abernathy in the second and sent Teresa Garland to the loss side 7-3 in the third, faced Taylor Hansen in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Both matches for advancement to the hot seat match went double hill, as did the hot seat match. It was Ng and Robinson who advanced as Hansen and Fields moved to the loss side. Ng claimed the hot seat, double hill, over Robinson and waited on Hansen’s return.
On the loss side, Chris Fields picked up Liz Galvan, who’d been defeated by Julia Rapp in the event’s opening round of play and was in the midst of a five-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end, and had most recently included victories over Teresa Garland, double hill, and Kim Pierce 7-5. Taylor Hansen drew Jennifer Kraber, whom she’d faced at the end of the Texas Open’s Women's 10-Ball ring game. Kraber and Hansen ended up splitting 1st and 2nd in that event. In the Women’s event, Kraber had been sent to the loss side by Chris Fields, double hill, in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then eliminated Nicole McDaniel 7-3 and Robyn Petrosino, double hill, to draw Hansen.
Fields advanced to the quarterfinals 7-2 over Galvan and was joined by Hansen, who’d defeated Kraber 7-5. Hansen then shut Fields out, advancing to a rematch against Robinson in the semifinals.
Hansen defeated Robinson 7-3 and came within a game of forcing a deciding match in the finals against Ng. Ng, though, edged out in front and won it 7-5 to claim the 46th Annual Texas Open Women’s title.
Co-tour directors James Davis, Sr. and John Palmore thanked Sue and John Cielo and their Skinny Bob’s Billiards staff, as well as Sleep Inn, Mints Amusement, and James Hanshew. They also acknowledged Ray Hansen and his PoolActionTV crew for the live stream of the event throughout the long weekend.
Sitting atop the early-season standings on the Predator Cues’ DFW 9-Ball Tour, CJ Wiley went into the finals of that 2018 tour’s third stop with a win and runner-up finish to his credit. Thanks to TJ Davis, Wiley had to settle for his second straight runner-up finish. On the weekend of March 24-25, Davis completed an undefeated run with two straight victories over Wiley, in the hot seat match and finals. While this allowed Wiley to retain his position at the top of the standings chart, Davis’ victory allowed him to jump up two steps, to settle in (for now) the runner-up spot. The $1,700-added event drew 105 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX.
Davis and Wiley faced four opponents each on the trip to their respective winners’ side final matches. In their first four handicapped matches, Davis and Wiley, both racing to 9, faced an exactly equal average opponent, racing to 6; Davis faced one 7, two 6s and a 5, as Wiley squared off against two 7s, a 6, and a 4. Wiley did just a little better in the average score department over the first four matches (9-2.5 over Davis’ 9-3.2).
Davis picked up Tony Sulsar (racing to 8) in his winners’ side semifinal match, while Wiley drew Jordan Gartenberg (racing to 7). Davis downed Sulsar 9-5. Wiley joined him in the hot seat match with a 9-3 win over Gartenberg. Davis took the first of two over Wiley 9-4, which put him in the hot seat and guaranteed that he’d be recording his best finish, to date, on the 2018 tour (he’d finished 9/12th and 4th in the previous two events).
Sulsar, looking to improve on his 9th place spot on the tour standings, moved to the loss side and picked up Tony Top, who’d most recently defeated Alberto Nieto Garcia 7-3 and Isaac Leyendecker 7-2 to reach him. Gartenberger drew Justin Whitehead, who was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had seen him eliminate the #2 player in the tour standings, Rick Stanley, as well as, most recently Corey Flud (#6) 8-3 and Tim Larsen 8-6.
Top downed Sulsar 7-6 (Sulsar racing to 8), as Gartenberg ended Whitehead’s loss-side winning streak, double hill. Gartenberg, already assured of his best finish, to date, on the 2018 tour, took another step, downing Top in the quarterfinals 7-5 to earn himself a re-match against Wiley in the semifinals.
Gartenberg fought furiously in that semifinal match, forcing a single deciding game. Wiley, however, won it 9-6 (Gartenberg racing to 7) to earn himself a second shot at Davis in the hot seat. Davis and Wiley duplicated their 9-4 score from the hot seat match, and Davis claimed the event title.
Last Lady honors went to Alicia Stanley, with a second-place split between Tracie Voelkering and Ricki Casper. A Second Chance event drew 12 entrants, and was won by Dee Davis. In a rare Second Chance appearance, Rick Stanley finished second.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Store, JB Cases, Dallas Eightball League, Outsville (AccuRack), Fargo Rate, BCAPL/CSI, Internet Marketing Solutions and Granite Guyz. The next stop on the Predator Cues’ DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for April 28-29, will be hosted by JR Pockets in Denton, TX.
OB Cues Ladies 9-Ball Tour held their 6th and final tour stop December 3 & 4th at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas. Thirty-three players were on-hand to close out the 2016 tour year and see who would take top honors for the annual awards. The owner and manager, Jeff Pitts and the entire bar and wait staff did a wonderful job taking care of all the ladies as always. Rusty’s is a great room to visit and play at, so be sure to hit them up whenever you can!
At the players meeting, board member Monica Anderson announced yearly awards. The Best Sportswomanship Award went to Teresa Garland of Houston, for her positive attitude both on and off the table, regardless of the match outcome. The Most Improved Player was Corina Campbell of Carrollton. Corina had a banner year on the OB tour, finishing 6th in the ranking and posting a second place in one tour stop, earning her well-deserved title of Most Improved for 2016. For the 3rd year running, Tara Williams of Fort Worth secured her first place ranking on the tour by winning four tour stops and finishing 4th in the remaining two, securing the title as 2016 OB Cues Ladies Tour Champion.
Three additional awards are drawn at the tour finale, based on attendance and performance at the tour stops throughout the year. For the Perfect Attendance award, seven players were eligible to be drawn for the $200 cash award. Tara Williams, Orietta Strickland, Jennifer Yo, Natalie Mans, Shayla Neris, Monica Anderson, and Julie Enzensperger were at every event in 2016 and one of them would receive $200 cash even before the tournament started. OB Cues Customer Service Manager, David “Doc” Reyes officiated the draw and Shayla Neris was the lucky recipient of the extra $200. At every tour stop, when a player gets a 9-on-the-snap award or a break and run, they receive a scratch-off. At the end of the year, each player who earned a scratch off also received an entry for a drawing for a $20 scratch-off and that winner was Marilina Nieves from San Antonio. Same rules apply for a break and run and the lucky player whose name was drawn for the $50 scratch-off was Jeannie Kim of Dallas.
On Saturday, the top eight ladies returned to continue in the Main Event on Sunday morning. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) vs. Jeannie Kim (Dallas) and Natalie Mans (League City) vs. Orietta Strickland (Dallas). The four ladies returning on the one loss side were Melinda Bailey (Ft. Worth) vs. Tracie Voelkering (Ft. Worth) and Chris Fields (Weatherford) vs. Brittany Williams (Longview).
Eliminated first round Sunday morning at the 7th-8th position was Chris Fields and board member Tracie Voelkering. In the winner’s side matches, Tara defeated Jeannie and Orietta defeated Natalie to set the hot seat match. Moving over to the one-loss side for the 5/6th place matches, Brittany was eliminated by Natalie and Melinda came out the winner over Jeannie. For the next match, Melinda once again persevered, leaving Natalie to settle for the 4th place spot.
Tara made her way through Saturday with wins in a first round tournament matchup over Melinda Bailey (7-3), Shirley Fields (7-1), Jennifer Yo (7-2) and Snowy Belt (7-0). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Orietta was making her way through her Saturday matches with her speedy, yet consistent play. She posted wins over Tina Soto (7-1), Chris Fields (7-4), and Tracie Voelkering (7-2). In the hot seat match, Tara ended up on top in the match 7-3 and waited to see who would be coming through the one-loss side to meet her in the finals.
For the 3rd place match, Melinda was blazing trails and steadily fighting all through the tournament after her 1st match loss against Tara. She had a successful run through the B-side eliminating Orietta to move to the finals against Tara and a rematch for revenge. Congratulations to Orietta for a great tournament!
With Melinda and Tara in the finals, Melinda had quite a run to make it back to the finals surviving three hill-hill matches on her path to the finals. However, in the finals, Tara got out to a quick lead and didn’t look back. Melinda put forth her best effort to try and stop the tour champion’s effort, but came up short, with Tara winning the match with a final score of 7-2. Congratulations to both ladies for an exciting finals match and great tournament finish!
Thanks again to Rusty’s for our first and last tournament this year, and to all our board members who do a fantastic job all year around. A special year-end thank you to the man behind the tour, always supporting the ladies and feeding us bananas, chocolate and other energizing food and goodies, such a great friend and wonderful person, Carter, we love you.
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. The new Digicue is available so be sure to get you one.
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/ players/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 in 2017. Our first stop of the 2017 season will at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, Texas, February 4th-5th weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or stay up to date with instant news by adding us on Facebook/obcuestour
On the weekend of April 30-May 1, the Omega Billiards Tour was hosted by JR Pockets in Denton, Texas. The staff and owners treated the players well with great service and an amazing atmosphere, and we very much appreciate each and every one of them!
We were able to extend the field to 85 players for this fourth stop of the 2016 season with guaranteed $1,500-added.
There were several players who were the “talk of the tournament” this weekend. One was Jay Murillo who has been working on his game and found himself placing an impressive 3rd place! He fought hard all weekend and although wished he would have placed even higher, he had a fantastic tournament. Another player talked about was local sharp-shooter Robert Clark. He lost his first match on Saturday morning and never gave up and fought his way back through the one-loss side and won 11 straight matches to find himself in the finals! This leads to the third talk of the tournament: Eventual winner Warren Kaimco. He flew in all the way from the Philippines to play (just kidding, he happened to be in Texas for another tournament the weekend before and was able to fit in this Omega Tour stop). Warren has such a gentle composure and the players loved to have such a champion play among them. Warren was gracious and posed for many photos and also gave advice when players asked, at the same time he was killing it on the pool table.
Warren made his way to the finals over J Brotherton 9-3, Jeff Georges 9-4 (and Jeff said he had him scared, but we aren’t sure based on the score), Jordan Gartenberg 9-2, Hector Guerrero 9-2, Cory Anderson 9-5, and Jay Murillo 9-3. Jay Murillo made his way to third place with great wins over Phillip Kirk 6-0, Trent Stith 6-5, Roman Bayda 6-6, Tony Sulsar 6-6, Mike Rountree 6-5 before being sent to the one-loss side by Warren 9-3. Robert Clark lost to his first match to Gerardo Perez 7-7, and then won against Lorena Garcia 8-3, Tracie Voelkering 8-3, George Merchan 8-0, Larry Land 8-6, Willie Speed 8-4, Barry Emerson 8-7, Jamie Whelch 8-3, Hector Guerrero 8-3, Mike Rountree 8-4, Cory Anderson 8-5 and then Jay Murillo 8-3.
Warren and Robert squared off in the finals and the fans were in for a treat with GREAT shots and safeties between the two players to lead to a hill-hill first set! After several safes back and forth, Warren eventually had a shot and ran out the match hill-hill to not force a second set, and secure an Omega Billiards Tour title!
4th place was filled by Cory Anderson, 5th/6th places were filled by the “mikes,” Mike Rountree and Mike Voelkering who both had a great tournament, and 7th/8th places were filled by Hector Guerrero and Alberto Nieto.
Congrats to ALL the players and fans for a great event!
A HUGE thank you goes out to our sponsors Omega Billiards Supply, Predator Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and OB Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, Irving Ink and Thread, AZBilliards.com, Pool School, and BilliardsPress.com.
This year OB Cues is our Ranking sponsor and will be donating three OB Cues to the top ranked 3 players at the end of the year! BCAPL/CSI has joined again and will be giving away 5 BCAPL free entry fees the 2017 BCAPL Nationals.
Tournament Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank JR Pockets owners and staff for their awesome hospitality all weekend! She would also like to thank her fabulous team: Heather Farr, Dana Speed, and Jeffrey Georges.
A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, main sponsor of the Tour and owner of Omega Billiards Supply in Hurst, TX. Michael and Omega Billiards Supply are well known for the huge booths at many large tournaments across the country.
The next stop will be held June 4-5 at Fox and Hound in Dallas, Texas. $1,500 added and already full with 80 players. We have ten stops total again in 2016. Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!
Jennifer Kraber, Amanda Lampert, Sophia Lopez and Tara Williams
Thirty-six players showed up Father’s Day weekend June 20-21st at Legend’s Billiards in League City, TX to play in Stop #4 of OB Cues Ladies Tour 2015 calendar. Top players from throughout the Texas area were competing for the first place prize in this $2000 added monies event. Legend’s Billiards, home of the Houston Open, and many other special tournaments throughout the years, is always a player favorite, with courteous and welcoming staff, fans as well as well-maintained Brunswick/Diamond equipment. We look forward to coming back for years to come. Special thanks to Mindy and Craig Cohen for hosting us on this holiday weekend!
By days end on Saturday, eight ladies would be returning on Sunday morning to continue in the Main Event. The final four remaining in the winner’s bracket were Sophia Lopez (San Antonio) vs Tara Williams (Ft. Worth) and MzTam Trinh (Austin) vs. Jennifer Kraber (Austin). The four ladies on the one loss side were Natalie Esparza (Houston) vs. Terry Petrosino (Houston) and Amanda Lampert (Dallas) vs. Board Member Tracie Voelkering (Ft. Worth).
7th-8th places went to Tracie and Natalie, which is her highest finish in only her second event after a tough first round loss. 5th-6th places went to Terry and MzTam, who also had her highest finish ever and 4th place went to Sophia. Great shooting to everyone. Keep up the great work!
Tara made her way through Saturday with wins over Janna Preston (7-0), Natalie Mans (7-4), and Amanda Lampert (7-5). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and earned a spot for the hot seat with a win over Sophia Lopez (7-4). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Jennifer was making her way through her Saturday matches with the strong play that has made her a consistent and formidable player. Her winning matches were as follows: besting Natalie Esparza (7-5), Shayla Neris (7-3), and Terry Petrosino (7-6). On Sunday morning, she continued her run taking down MzTam (7-0) which would secure her spot in the hot seat match. In the hot seat match, it looked like it was going to be over quickly in Jennifer’s favor when she jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Tara regained her focus though and managed to get on the board to bring the score to 4-3 with some strong play. Tara missed a 9-ball to allow Jennifer to pull ahead 5-3, but composed herself and ran the next rack to close it out at 5-4. A late miss by Jennifer then allowed Tara to tie it up at 5 games apiece. Trading run outs the next two games, it came down to a single game to decide the winner. Tara appeared to have the advantage after a solid break, but a tough leave on the 5 ball forced to her to make a few difficult shots in a row. On the 8-ball, Tara slightly overcut the ball and left it hanging in the pocket but Jennifer was left directly behind the 9-ball. She looked over her options and decided to go for a jump shot, but couldn’t quite get over the 9-ball, giving Tara ball in hand on the last two balls to take the hot seat match and wait for her finals opponent.
In the semi-finals match, Amanda and Jennifer traded racks early and it appeared that both players would be grinding it out for the single spot available in the finals. However, when tied at 2-2, Amanda caught a gear and quickly began pulling ahead in the match. She played some great outs and strategic safeties to shut Jennifer down in the match, finishing out the set with a final score of 7-2. Good tournament Jennifer—nice 3rd place finish!
As the finals were now set and both Amanda and Tara being champions in their own right, everyone knew it was going to be a strong and solid fight to the finish. Amanda, seeking to avenge her earlier loss on Saturday to Tara, she quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Tara posted her own solid play to tie it up at 2 games each. After trading games until tied at 4-4, an early miss by Amanda allowed Tara to pull ahead for the first time in the match. Tara won the next game as well and looked ready to finish out the set, but a tough leave on the 8-ball gave Amanda opportunity to stay in the match and bring the score to only a one game deficit at 5-6. On the final game, it looked as if Amanda was going to force a hill-hill set, but a missed six ball allowed Tara to finish the set with a final score of 7-5. Congratulations to both ladies for a fantastic tournament! With this fourth win in 2015 for Tara, she makes tour history by becoming the first player to ever win four consecutive events. She also becomes only the third player to win four stops in a calendar year – Amanda Lampert had four wins in 2013 and Leslie Anne Rogers scored four wins in 2004. Congratulations on the awesome accomplishment Tara! You have made your mark in tour history!
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/ players/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 #5 – P.O.E.T.S. Billiards in College Station, Texas, August 15-16th weekend. P.O.E.T.S. Billiards is a new stop on the OBCLT calendar; so let’s show them how these tour ladies roll with a large showing in attendance.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
Michelle Yim, Tina Malm, Helen Hayes, and Tara Williams
Forty players showed up the weekend of May 2 & 3rd at Clicks Billiards in San Antonio, TX to play in the third stop of 2015 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. Top players from throughout the Texas area and one player from San Diego were vying for the $775 first place prize in this event.
9th-12th finishers were Barbara Wisdom, Tracie Voelkering, Natalie Mans, and Kim Pierce. 7th-8th place went to Jennifer Kraber and Gail Roles (her highest finish to date!); 5th-6th places went to Sophia Lopez and Belinda Lee. 4th place went to Helen Hayes and 3rd place went to Michelle Yim.
Tara Williams made her way through Saturday with wins over Krystal West (7-6), Terry Petrosino (7-2), and Michelle Yim (7-1). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and to earn a spot at the hot seat with another win over Sophia Lopez (7-4). On the other side of the winner’s bracket, Tina Malm was making her way through her Saturday matches without much opposition. She posted wins over Angela Garza (7-1), Monica Anderson (7-0), Natalie Mans (7-1) and Tracie Voelkering (7-3). On Sunday morning, she continued her run besting Belinda Lee (7-2) for her spot in the hot seat match. In the hot seat match, both players showed the reason that they made it through their brackets with the tough field that was in attendance this May weekend. After trading racks until tied a four games apiece, a missed safety by Tina after the break allowed Tara a run out to pull ahead 5-4. With the alternate break format, Tara broke and ran the next rack to reach the hill, and then Tina answered back with her own break and run to set the score at 6-5. On the final rack, Tara once again broke and ran to take the hot seat and wait for her opponent.
For the 3rd place match, Tina quickly got a lead over Michelle Yim and didn’t look back, earning a spot in the finals with a 7-1 win. In the finals, in the true double elimination format, Tina would need to beat Tara twice in order to win the event. It was not to be though; both players struggled early on to find the level of play that had allowed them to make their finals appearance. After a few back and forth racks, there nerves settled down, but Tina was already down 4 games by the time she was able to make it on the board. Tara was able to finish out a few racks when up 5-2 to win the event in one set with a final score of 7-2. Congratulations to both ladies for a great tournament! With this third win in 2015 for Tara, she makes only the third player to ever win three consecutive events; Lisa Marr was the first player to complete this feat in 2002 and Leslie Anne Rogers completed this feat in 2004. Congratulations on an awesome accomplishment Tara!
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/ players/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 #4 – Legends Billiards in League City, Texas, June 20-21st weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
Tara Williams, Amanda Lampert, Jennifer Kraber and Belinda Lee
Slick Willie’s in Katy, TX was the host site for Stop #2 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour 2015 schedule. Special thanks to Trey and his staff for welcoming 51 ladies who showed up the weekend of March 14th-15th to play in this 2-day, true double elimination, 9-ball tournament. Players from all over Texas and one player from Oklahoma were gunning for the $775 first place prize in this event and lots of laughs, camaraderie and action was had by all.
9th-12th finishers were Natalie Mans, Jennifer Yo, Lorna McEwan, and Celeste Espinosa. This was Jennifer, Celeste and Lorna’s highest finish to date. Great job ladies! 7th-8th went to Kim Pierce and Natalie Esparza (in her first OB event!); 5th-6th places went to Terry Petrosino and Kawania Watson. 4th place was Belinda Lee and 3rd place went to Amanda Lampert.
Tara Williams made her way through Saturday with wins over Toni Esteves (7-0), Ricki Lee Casper (7-5), Karren Sui (7-2), and Natalie Mans (7-0). On Sunday, she continued her undefeated run and took the hot seat with wins over Belinda Lee (7-3) and Amanda Lampert (7-4).
Jennifer Kraber decided to repeat Tara’s feat from the first event – losing her first round match 7-6 to Julie Stephenson, she then won nine straight matches on the one loss side to meet Tara Williams in the finals. She had four hill-hill matches in her road to finals with wins on Saturday over Janna Preston (7-6), Tracie Voelkering (7-0), Monica Anderson (7-6), and Rebecca Arcangeli (7-6). On Sunday morning, she continued to take down players winning out over Natalie Mans (7-2), Natalie Esparza (7-5), Terry Petrosino (7-3), Belinda Lee (7-3), and finally Amanda Lampert (7-2) to secure her spot in the finals.
With Tara and Jennifer in the finals again, it setup a rematch from the first event of 2015. Tara quickly got ahead in the match 3-0, but Jennifer started her climb back with a break and run in the 4th rack, then scraped out the next two games with strong play to tie the match at 3-3. Tara quickly turned the match momentum back around with a few key safes and managed to finish out the finals in one set with a final score of 7-3. Congratulations to both ladies for another great tournament!
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/players/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 #3 – Click’s Billiards in San Antonio, Texas, May 2-3rd weekend.
Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
Check us out at www.obcuestour.com or Facebook/obcuestour
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
This year, Bad Boys Billiard Productions moved the BCAPL Texas 8-Ball State Championships to the Mayborn Center in Temple, Texas. Action was hot and heavy in 13 different tournaments from April 1st through 7th, 2014.
Action got started on Tuesday morning, April 1st with 40 Mixed Scotch Doubles teams chasing their dreams of being Texas State Champions and the $800 prize check that would accompany that honor. The teams of Beatty & Hyde and Bailey & Jones raced to the hot seat match playing a match every two hours until their showdown against each other at 8 PM. Both teams eager to guarantee themselves a spot in the finals played a very close match that saw Bailey & Jones prevail in a 4-3 win. Beatty & Hyde would now have to travel to the left side of the board to win a match to earn a chance for revenge in the finals. They were not the only team looking to exact a little payback for an earlier loss. The team of Franklin & Hess suffered a very close loss in their first match of the tournament to Beatty & Hyde and marched through the one loss side of the bracket with 8 straight wins to earn that shot at payback with Beatty & Hyde. In another tightly contested match, Franklin & Hess prevailed with a 4-2 victory and a shot at Bailey & Jones in the finals. The four combatants would have to wait until 2 PM Sunday afternoon as they also were competing in the Singles and Team tournaments. Due to the fact that Bailey & Jones were undefeated, they would have to be beaten twice in the finals and that is just what Franklin & Hess set out to do with a hill-hill victory in the first set, forcing the second and deciding set. Both teams regrouped and played another tightly contested set with Bailey & Jones coming through with the 4-3 victory and title of 2014 BCAPL Texas State Scotch Doubles Champions!
Wednesday morning the Men’s Open Singles and Men’s B Singles got underway with 202 players doing battle on the 80 Diamond tables. The Men’s Open Singles is a race to 5 with Advanced players having to win one more game if playing an Open player. After 14 hours of play, the list of undefeated players had gone from 110 players down to one, Advanced player, Cesar Garcia Jr., by result of a 6-1 victory over Frank Ferrer Jr. in the hot seat match. Frank would now have to win a match on the one loss side to earn a rematch with Garcia. That he did with a 5-0 win over Leonel Torres who finished 3rd. Ferrer would now have to beat Garcia twice to win the title and that Is exactly what he did with matching 5-2 wins Ferrer Jr. collected $1,520 plus the winner’s trophy for his performance.
In the Men’s B division, 92 players arrived with cues in tow to do battle. Roy Shumacher raced through the event undefeated, beating Adrian Womack Jr., who after losing his very first match of the tournament 4-2 to Victor Dabu, went on a tear winning eleven straight matches to make to the finals. Adrian came up one game short of the 4-3 final match score and had to settle for a second place finish and $290 in prize money for his hard work. Schumacher received the first place trophy and $460 for his stellar play.
Wednesday afternoon also saw the women come in to start their Open divisions with 29 in the Open and 16 in the B division. Good friends and teammates, Melinda Bailey and Tracie Voelkering battled their ways through a tough field to meet in the hot seat match that was won by Bailey by a 4-2 score. Tracie then went to the one loss side and defeated Angela Garza in a very close 4-3 match to earn a second shot at Melinda in the finals. Garza had to settle for a 3rd place finish. The finals would only last one set as Melinda Bailey continued her smart stellar play and defeat Voelkering 4-1 to win her very first Texas State Women’s open Singles Championship, the trophy and a $550 first prize. Couple with her win in the Scotch Doubles, made this a very nice week for Melinda!
In the Women’s B division, Stephanie Reyes went through the field undefeated and beat Cindy Vansickle 4-1 in the finals to win the trophy and $150 first prize.
Thursday morning got the Men’s Senior division underway with 74 experienced players playing a race to 5 to see who the champion would be. That man would be Kenny Ellis. Ellis marched his way through the field and claimed the hot seat with a 5-2 win over Pete Stoval sending him to the one loss side where he would meet Ismael Ramirez. Ramirez prevailed this time and would get a shot at Ellis in the finals. Ramirez won the first set with a 5-3 win sending the finals to a second and deciding set. Ellis regrouped though and left no doubt who the champion would be with a convincing 5-1 victory. Along with the BCAPL Texas State Senior Singles trophy, Ellis was rewarded with $1,100 for his stellar play.
Friday saw the teams roll in to do battle. Ninety three Mixed Open teams and 23 Women’s Open teams began their quest to be Texas State Champions! In the Mixed Open division, The Hitmen raced through the field undefeated and handled the Top Dawgs in the finals 13-5 to win the title and the $4,780 first place money. In the Women’s Open teams Boom Shaka Laka also went undefeated and beat the Elementals in the finals 11-8 to take the title and the $1,000 first place prize money.
Along with all the main events, there were also five Second Chance tournaments. In the Men’s Open Second chance, Chris Romero bested the 52 player field. In the Men’s B Second chance, Darren Charles double dipped Matt Jarolik in the finals to best the 35 player field. In the Women’s Open Singles, Celeste Espinosa came out on top of the seven player field. Team Second Chance winners were Chosen Few and Caught Strokin.
Along with all these tournaments, Bad Boys Billiard Productions did their best to insure the players got their green fees worth of playing pool and ran 98 mini tournaments during the event. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mayborn Center and their friendly and helpful staff for making this such an enjoyable venue to hold this prestigious event. We also want to thank each player who came to participate and support this great sport we all love. We look forward to an even bigger and better event next year!
It may have been Super Bowl Weekend February 1st-2nd but that didn’t stop the 52 ladies who showed up at Rusty’s in Arlington, TX to play in the first stop of 2014 on the OB Cues Ladies Tour. There were lots of new faces, lot of veterans, travelers from afar, as well as players who took off for a while but glad to see they are starting back up again. It was an awesome event to say the least and many, many strong match lineups all weekend long from champions all around. Additionally since it was Super Bowl Weekend, players were allowed to wear their favorite professional sports jerseys and here’s a snapshot of some of the ladies all dressed up:
Several marquee players in the running for the $750 first place prize money were the OBCLT Regional Champion from 2007-2011 Lisa Marr; 2012 OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Kim Pierce, 2013 OBCLT Regional Tour Champion Amanda Lampert and 2013 Flamingo Billiards Tour Regional Champion Jeannie Seaver. With all these champions in the house, many folks were saying it was a toss-up who would win this event. Needless to say, it was going to be a slugfest with plenty of tough and strong action to reach the top.
Finishing 13th-16th were Corina Campbell, Jeannie Kim, Melinda Bailey & Rhea Brooks. 9th-12th winners were Mindy Williams, Sara Bork, Tracie Voelkering and Emma Stewart (highest finish to date for Emma). Great job ladies! 7th-8th went to Julie Stephenson and Chris Fields; 5th-6th places went to Tara Williams and Jennifer Kraber. 4th place was Jeannie Seaver and 3rd place went to Lisa Marr. Both Jeannie and Lisa have been gone from this tour circuit for a while. It was great to see them back in action and needless to say, they still have it! Once a champion, always a champion and fun to watch and learn from both of these ladies!
Amanda and Orietta matched up against one another for the hot seat match and it was pretty much uncontested as Orietta won 7-2, giving little chance for Amanda to even get into the match. This semi- finals match between Lisa and Amanda was yet another strong showing between these two players. Having matched up against one another on many other previous occasions throughout the years, Amanda proved too much for Lisa with a win of 7-3.
The finals match between Amanda and Orietta is always a grind and Amanda would have to double-dip Orietta twice to take the crown. The first set was a back and forth battle of shots and safeties and Amanda prevailed the winner of set #1 with a score of 7-3. The second set was a repeat of the first with Amanda scoring the tournament win 7-4. Awesome work Champ!
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 15th-16th weekend. Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – we are the OB Cues Ladies Tour!!!!!
