Rackem Magazine April Issue 2011

2 Rackem Magazine - March 2011

What’ s Inside www.RackemMag.com Places People Play

Cover Photo by: Don “Cheese” Akerlow

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About Rackem

Don “Cheese” Akerlow

Rackem is a monthly publication, dedicated to the advancement of the sport of pool and to promoting enthusiasm and encouragement among the players at all levels, regardless of their league affiliation, in addition to recognizing those businesses who support them all. Covering the midwest. Look for Rackem by the 10th of each month.

The opinions Publisher expressed are those of the author or advertiser and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rackem or its staff. We reserve the right to edit or reject any material submitted for publication. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher. © 2011 Rackem

Atlas Billiard Supply Skokie, IL Billiard Congress of Wisconsin Championship Cloth Lincolnwood, IL Crown Cues Broken Arrow, OK CSI/BCAPL Henderson, NV CueStix Int’l Lafayette, CO Delta-13 Parker, CO Kamui Tips Lucasi Hybrid St Augustine, FL Mueller Lincoln, NE OTBnTV Live Phoenix Lounge Harrisburg, SD Q-Spot Tulsa, OK Sally O’Malley’s Rapid City, SD sammspocket.com Sharky’s Sedalia, MO Shooters Olathe, KS Simonis Cloth Gurnie, IL SW Indiana TAP TAP Little River, SC Tiger Amateur Tour Houston, TX Tiger Products Burbank, CA Varsity Club Oshkosh, WI

Information

AZBilliards Scoreboard Bob Jewett Ken “Sarge” Aylesworth OTBnTV Live Pool On TV Samm Diep Tournament Trail Weekly Tournaments

17 9 5 9 19 20 18 18 18 3 18 13 17 13 4 16 17 18 9 2 16 18 17

Trick Shots by Sarge

By Ken “Sarge” Aylesworth

BANK/KICK DISCIPLINE (reprinted from June Issue 2003) This month we are going to explore one of the harder Disciplines Bank/Kick. My first four articles on Artistic Pool were from the four easier Disciplines. The four easier Disciplines are performed on the first day of our two day, North American Artistic Pool Continental Qualifier for the World Championship. Starting this month I’ll be covering the four harder Disciplines that are performed on the second day, Bank/ Kick, July - Stroke, August - Jump, and Ken “Sarge” Aylesworth September - Masse. One of my greatest accomplishments is that I hold the World Record for: Most points scored for the four hardest Disciplines of Artistic Pool (Masse, Jump, Stroke and Bank/Kick), for all continental qualifiers ever held. I set this record in October 2001 during the North American Continental Qualifier held at Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower, California.

14 4 3 18 3 4 18 16

All times are Central time.

04/20/2011 10:00 AM

2008 International

Speed Pool Challenge

ESPN Zone Las Vegas, NV

Elite billiards competition

featuring the world’s best

billiard players These schedules have been provided by ESPN. These are tentative dates and are subject to change

Onto this month’s shot that had a Degree of Difficulty, (D.O.D.) of 6.

Object ball letter coincides with corresponding pocket letter. To set this shot up position the object ball B in the center of the table. The cue ball is placed on the vertical centerline, plus one diamond segment from pocket B. The objective of this shot is to shoot the cue ball to B ball. Object ball B will bank to cushion #4, then to #2 cushion, then back to #4 and finally be made in B pocket. A scratch is allowed. Here are some helpful hints on executing this shot. I use a touch of low and a lot of left English on this shot. I aim the cue ball at ball B for approximately a ¾ ball aim. On this shot you will use a hard stroke. Ball B travels 14 diamonds of distance before being pocketed. If you over cut ball B it won’t reverse back to cushion 4, so pay close attention to what the object ball does. Aim to hit ball B fuller if it doesn’t reverse, or use a little more left English.

Please call me at (206) 719-2695 with your questions.

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 3

Spinning The Wagon Wheel Watch Out. It’s Contagious!

By Samm Diep © April 2011

By: Bob Jewett

San Francisco Billiard Academy www.sfbilliards.com In my column last month, I described the basics of the Wagon Wheel position system. The idea was to use just follow or draw to take the cue ball the right distance in the right direction to just touch a target ball for position.

(You’re not actually getting position on the other object balls; they are just providing a goal for position. If you Bob Jewett prefer, just place a coin where you want the cue ball to go.)

This time I’m going to ask you to perfect your side spin to achieve the same sort of result using a cushion. In the top shot in the diagram, the object ball is by the middle of the end cushion about one ball’s width off the rail for each shot. The target object balls are placed on each diamond. The cue ball is placed so that when shooting the shot, your stick passes over the 11 ball.

For your first shot, pocket the 15 and use right English to send the cue ball towards the 1 ball. Adjust your spin and speed so the cue ball just reaches the 1. This will probably take your best side spin. Consider your control on the shot good enough when you can leave the cue ball within a ball diameter of the position target, and go on to the next shot.

For the 2 ball, you will need less right side spin, but you probably can’t get the angle off the cushion with just follow. By the time you get to the 4 or 5 ball, just follow with no side spin should be sufficient.

To get to the 6, you have a choice.

You could play with no side spin and hit the cue ball below center so it arrives at the 15 ball without follow or draw. Then the cue ball will simply bounce off the cushion more or less straight to the 6 ball. An alternative is to let the cue ball roll with follow and correct the angle off the cushion by adding a little left English. The two effects will fight against each other and the result can be the path you want depending on how much side spin you have added. This technique of cancellation is useful when you don’t want the follow to bend the ball forward but if you hit the ball hard enough to keep its draw it will also have too much speed. Try both ways and see which works best for you.

As you move on to the 7 and 8, you will need to use both draw and left English at some point and by the time you are sending the cue ball to the 11, you will need your best side and draw simultaneously. Table conditions can have a large effect on how both draw and side spin work. With sticky cloth, any draw will quickly turn into follow but the side spin will generally take more, especially if you are at maximum RPMs. With slippery cloth, the spin may not take completely on the cushion, but draw shots will be easier. If possible, try this drill on a variety of tables -- you could use it as a warmup in competitions.

In the lower part of the diagram the cue ball has been moved to a harder cut shot.

This will make it difficult or impossible to reach the spots nearest the corner pockets.

Can you achieve the cue ball angles indicated? Experiment with your mixture of draw/follow/side to see which combination makes each shot easiest.

Remember to shoot the shot in the other direction also, or you’ll get lop-sided.

Read more articles by Bob Jewett at www.onthebreaknews.com

4 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

In my recent interview with Hall of Famer Nick Varner, he said: “You're always liable to miss those hard shots; you got to brush them off and just try to learn from 'em what you can as far as getting used to the table and stuff so you don't miss the next shot you come up against. You try to not let it become contagious. It becomes like cancer where you go from bad to worse. That happens to a lot of players.”

Unfortunately, there is no antibiotic Samm Diep you can take to keep this condition from progressing when you start to catch a miss. It could be that the balls are just getting a little sticky or maybe the air is humid and everything is reacting a little differently than you’re expecting. The spin exaggerates and combinations become much tougher.

When you start missing a shot here and there due to the table conditions, it’s very common to start losing confidence. That’s when, as Nick says, “it becomes like a cancer where you go from bad to worse.” Once your confidence is shaken, it’s very difficult to regain your composure and that’s when we often make bad decisions too. It’s really easy to start questioning your mechanics or abilities when you miss a couple back to back shots. The key is to be aware of why you’re missing so that you can make the appropriate adjustments.

It could be something mechanical or a variance in the equipment. Whatever it is, this is where all those long hours of practice come in handy. It’s so critical to be in tune with your game so that when the conditions and the equipment are slightly off, you can adjust quickly before it’s too late. Pay close attention to what’s happening. If you know your game, then you should know what the cue ball should be doing on certain shots.

Home Remedy: Practice on as many different tables and in as many different playing conditions as possible. The only way to recognize when things go from bad to worse is by experiencing it. Learning to adjust to various circumstances will keep the cancer from spreading. When it starts happening in a match, reduce your speed and use less english until you can make the adjustment.

Remember, each time you approach the table, it’s a new shot, a new opportunity to do your best, and anything that happened before is now in the past. Learn from it, and then let it go.

The above excerpt is from the article, “Nick Varner: The Original Comeback Kid.” Go to AzBilliards. com to read the complete interview and other Pro Vision interviews.

Read more articles by Samm Diep at www.onthebreaknews.com

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 5

Billiard Congress of Wisconsin $600 added McDermott 8 Ball Shootout

Claws Billiards – Kenosha Wisconsin – Dec 12, 2010 1.

2.

3.

$550 $300 $150

Tommy Paulowske, Racine, Wi Eddie Balderez, Chicago, ILL Matt Daiber, Milwaukee, WI

$400 added Simonis Cup Amateur Division

Romines High Pockets – Milwaukee, Wisconsin – March 12, 2011 1. $340 Paul Repischak, Milwaukee, WI 2. $210 Dan Hau, Milwaukee, WI 3. $140 Rob Estlund, Glendale, WI 4. $80 Mike Regan, Round Lake, ILL 5./6. $45 Varun Raheja; Brett Lobbato, Palatine, ILL 7./8. $28 Joe Xiong, Franklin, WI; Rich Mager , Earville, ILL Highest female finish - Christina Hansen - $30

$600 added Simonis Cup Open Division

Romines High Pockets – Milwaukee, Wisconsin – March 13, 2011 1. $550 Gary Johnson, Milwaukee, WI 2. $350 Mark Berry, Milwaukee, WI 3. $225 Tom Karabotsos, Chicago, ILL 4. $135 Chris Patterson, Beloit, WI 5./6. $75 Matt Daiber, Milwaukee, WI

Marlon Angeles , Antioch, ILL 7./8. $45 Bill Fowler, Waukegan, ILL

Gene Albrecht, Eau Claire, WI Highest female finish - Lisa Clemente - $30

TOUR STANDINGS

Tommy Paulowske

$400 added McDermott Cue Classic Amateur Division Out Break Billiards – Racine Wisconsin – Jan 29, 2011

1. $330 2. $200 3. $130 4. $80 5./6. $50

T.J. Brucker, Racine, WI Tim Nickl, Racine, WI Dean Derge, Kewasku, WI Dan Hau, Franklin, WI Jason Sprague, Waukesha, WI Tom Kukla, Waukesha, WI

$600 added McDermott Cue Classic Open Division Out Break Billiards – Racine Wisconsin – Jan 30, 2011

1.

2.

3.

4.

$460 $290 $185 $90

Gil Hernandez, Mt. Prospect, ILL Marlon Angeles, Hoffman Estates, ILL Tommy Paulowske, Racine, WI Jonathan Demet, Racine, WI

Gil Hernandez & Tommy Paulowske 6 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

AMATEUR TOUR 1st Mike Regan 2nd Dan Hau 3rd Paul Repischak 4th Chris Gitzlaff 5th Walter Hayes Sr. 6th Tom Piehl 7th Chris Mason 8th Gary Pinnola 9th Jose Rivas Jr. 10th Jonathan Stzezewski 11th Dean Derge 12th Paul Repischak 13th Tim Nickl 14th Rob Estlund 15th Brett Lobbato 16th Christopher Szarek

247 224 197 174 153 152 150 142 130 127 109 102 98 98 90 86

17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd

Terry Nixon Erick Hincks Jason Sprague Tyler Styer Douglas Lyyski David Van Scyoc Varun Raheja Dave Nelson Michael Stowe Terry O'brien Christina Hansen Joe Xiong Tom Kukla Joe Durham Jon Ola Dean Coutee

More Tour Standings on page 9

Gary Johnson, Mark Berry

Paul Repishak & Dan Hau

84 79 72 71 67 66 66 62 59 53 51 51 48 45 43 43

Kiamco and Villarreal All Around Titles

Warren Kiamco

Alex Pagulayan Come snow or shine the U.S. Bar Table Championships (USBTC) held February 21-27, 2011 brings players from all across the globe to “the Biggest Little City in the World.” Hosted at the Terrible’s Sands Regency Casino Hotel in Reno, Nevada, the $25,250 guaranteed added event celebrated its 18th anniversary in 2011.

The event had over 450 entries in six divisions: Men’s / Mixed 10-Ball, 9-Ball, 8-Ball and Women’s 10-Ball, 9-Ball and 8-Ball. This was the first year in the event’s history to include a full set of women’s divisions and women’s All Around bonuses.

The USBTC is produced by CueSports International (CSI), sponsored by Terrible’s Sands Regency and Diamond Billiard Products, and directed by Bad Boys Billiard Productions. During the event players were paid immediately on-site. Over $66,000 was available for cash payouts.

The tournament began with the 10-Ball divisions, with 16 women and 93 men. The 9-Ball division started its engine mid-week with 23 women and 128 men. The 8-Ball competition, with 36 women and 157 men in contention, wrapped up the event. After two years of bandwidth issues at the host venue, the innovative team and internet live pool action leaders, TAR, this year was able to live stream.

In the women’s competition, a tornado ripped through all three fields with little mercy. Vivian Villarreal, long time WPBA professional and fan favorite, took first place in all three women’s divisions. Her dominance solidly secured her the $500 first place All Around Women’s Bonus.

Competing for the second place women’s All Around included Melissa “The Viper” Little, Nicole Keeney, Brittany Bryant, and Susan Williams. While the points were close, it was Bryant who came in second in the women’s All Around points behind

Villarreal.

For the first time in several years, the Men’s / Mixed All Around competition was not dominated by one or two individuals.

Instead there were a handful of players who were neck and neck in All Around points throughout the week.

The final board of the Men’s / Mixed 10-Ball division included the diverse crowd of Stevie “the Blade” Moore from Georgia, Canadian Pros Stan Tourangeau and John Morra, Californian Louis Ulrich, Arizona monster Mitch Ellerman, Midwest young gun Branden Ashcroft and 2008 World Pool Master Champion Alex “the Lion” Pagulayan.

Going into the 10-Ball finals between Pagulayan and Morra, the railbirds were putting “The Lion” heavily in favor over Morra. The live stream audience was treated to both men playing dead stroke in the first race to 7. However, two scratches on the break by Pagulayan gave Morra the edge needed to win the first set. Coming from the one loss side, Morra would need to beat Pagulayan again in a second set.

It was not to be as Pagulayan came back strong and Morra seemed to lose steam, giving Pagulayan an easy win in set two.

Heading into mid-week Pagulayan led the men’s All Around points with Morra hot on his heels. However in the 9-Ball division both were knocked out much earlier than anticipated. “The Lion” was ousted by Vegas player Ray Skenandore and the kid from Ontario, Morra, was sent to the sidelines by Phoenix player Nick DeLeon.

Both Pagulayan and Morra finished 49th64th place in the division. The gate was

now wide open to a slew of other players to pursue the meaty $2,000 first place Men’s / Mixed All Around bonus.

Prime to take advantage of that opening were Moore, Tourangeau and lesser known Tennessee player Josh O’Neal who all cashed high in the 10-Ball division and two additional dangers, Larry “the Truth” Nevel and top Philippine player Warren Kiamco. The finals of the 9-Ball men’s division were those very two dangers who uncharacteristically didn’t catch the final board earlier in 10-Ball, but earned redemption in the 9-Ball.

Nevel’s road to the 9-Ball finals was a long one. After a first loss to Beau Runningen in his third match, Nevel had to grind it through 9 more matches on the one loss side to make it to the mountain.

Kiamco was more leisurely in his travel to the finals, enjoying the sweetness of being in the hot seat. The finals came down to Nevel and Kiamco. But even the best grinders can hit a wall. Although Nevel trounced Kiamco 9-2 in the first set, a little déjà-vu of the Pagulayan – Morra 10-Ball final took place. In set two Nevel lost a little steam and Kiamco played solid taking the set 9-6 and first place in the division. Now it appeared there was a new Sherriff in the All Around point list town.

Going into the 8-Ball and final division, there were more horses in serious contention for the USBTC All Around bonuses than the 9th race at Aqueduct.

The top contenders were Kiamco, Nevel, Moore, Pagulayan, Morra, Ashcraft, O’Neal and Tourangeau.

Moore played consistently all week

RESULTS / PAYOUTS (through 5-6th each division) For the full lists of players, payouts and match results visit CueSports Tournament System (CTS) at www.ctsondemand.com 10-Ball Men’s / Mixed 1st: ($4,400) Alex Pagulayan 2nd: ($2,500) John Morra 3rd: ($1,600) Louis Ulrich 4th: ($1,100) Mitch Ellerman 5th-6th: ($500 each) Brandon Ashcraft

Stan Tourangeau (Paid down to 24th place) 10-Ball Women’s 1st: ($825) 2nd: ($450) 3rd: ($250) 4th: ($125) 5th-6th: ($75)

Vivian Villarreal Brittany Bryant Susan Williams Nicole Keeney Bonnie Plowman Heather Pulford

9-Ball Men’s / Mixed 1st: ($4,650) Warren Kiamco 2nd: ($3,100) Larry Nevel 3rd: ($2,000) Ross Fregoso 4th: ($1,250) Bobby Emmons 5th-6th: ($800 each) Josh O’Neal

Stevie Moore (Paid down to 32nd place)

9-Ball Women’s 1st: ($850) 2nd: ($550) 3rd: ($350) 4th: ($200) 5th-6th: ($100 each)

Vivian Villarreal Nicole Keeney Brittany Bryant Heather Pulford Bonnie Plowman Susan Williams

8-Ball Men’s / Mixed 1st: ($5,000) John Morra 2nd: ($3,000) Warren Kiamco 3rd: ($2,000) Amar Kang 4th: ($1,100) Josh O’Neal 5th-6th: ($800 each) Brandon Ashcraft

Ivan Doty (Paid down to 48th place) 8-Ball Women’s 1st: ($875) Vivian Villarreal 2nd: ($525) Melissa Little 3rd: ($325) Shawn Modelo 4th: ($225) Bonnie Plowman 5th-6th: ($150 each) Brittany Bryant

Susan Williams (Paid down to 12th place)

Vivian Villarreal

John Morra placing 7-8th in the 10-Ball and 5-6th in the 9-Ball. Tourangeau was also one to watch with a 5-6th place finish in the 10-Ball and 7-8th place in the 9-Ball. Although they faltered in the 9-Ball, the 1st and 2nd place finishes in the 10-Ball still put Pagulayan and Morra in solid All Around position.

Nevel and Kiamco garnered new life after their 9-Ball finishes and were slightly ahead of Pagulayan and Morra in the point list.

Two darker horses but still in contention were Ashcraft with a 5-6th place finish in the 10-Ball and a 17-24th place in the 9-Ball and O’Neal with a solid 9-12th place finish in the 10-Ball and strong 5-6th finish in the 9-Ball.

The top contenders still had to maneuver the 157 player 8-Ball field. Some fared well, some fell to the wayside. The final 8 players included: Amar Kang, O’Neal, Kiamco and Ashcraft on the winner’s side and Morra, Moore, Josh Smith and Ivan Doty on the one loss side. Kang, Smith and Doty could only cash in on the All Around bonuses if they won the 8-Ball division.

Kang, Smith and Doty were motivated and potential spoilers to the other 5 players; evidenced when Doty knocked Moore out of the 8-Ball division 5-0. After the dust settled Morra and Kiamco were the last two players standing. While Kiamco again was the hot seat man, Morra meticulously made his way through 10 matches before facing Kiamco. It must have been the taste of his near 10-Ball victory that spurred Morra as he handily double dipped Kiamco 5-2, 5-2 to take the 8-Ball division title.

With division play over and points list in hand, it was announced that Kiamco took the $2,000 first place Men’s / Mixed All Around bonus, Morra took the $1,000 second place bonus and the initial lion that roared early in the week, Pagulayan, squeaked past the rest of the field to take the $500 third place bonus.

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 7

Valley Forge, PA TAP, LLC celebrates 15 Years of Rally in the Valley Events !

Shot Gods Elite 1st Place Little River, SC, Mar. 17th, 2011 - TAP Pools Amateur Tour is about family and tradition. TAP is also about innovation, taking the old and mixing it with the new, striving to be better, promoting the industry with sportsmanship and class, with an owner that is the key to our success because of his unbelievable foresight. TAP has been learning from our past to take us all to a very bright future. TAP is one team, with one goal.

In 1996, TAP’s founder and owner Loyd Schonter started the Rally in the Valley Dream Team event and concept, in conjunction with his good friend Allen Hopkins, who had the Super Billiards Expo, in Valley Forge, PA.

At that first event, less than 30 teams were there from Virginia and Maryland.

Charlie Brocklehurst, Owner of MidAtlantic TAP Licensee # 01, stated “It’s hard to believe that 15 years have passed already. I can still remember the first rally.

There were very few teams in a large convention center. Now, we’re overflowing with players. As one of the few territory owners who was there at the start, I can’t express enough the joy and pride I have with the TAP Members.” “Every year, they come and play with the understanding that it’s about the love of the game that binds us all together.”

Today, TAP’s Rally in the Valley event has to be limited to 144 teams through out the USA and Canada. It now has 5 Singles Brackets, by skill level and it’s infamous midnight mini tournaments that players line up, to sign up and compete in. Last year, it’s little brother event Rally at Bally’s was formed and ran in conjunction with the TAP National event, due to the popularity of this Valley Forge event.

If you ask Loyd Schonter, What do you think when you look at the event from the first year to now, does it surprise you how it’s grown? He will tell you he knew the event would be successful and popular, but he credits his tournament staff for making the event, one that services the player and has evolved it into what it is today.

Schonter states “Now, that we have 144 teams, we will keep it there until we make sure it is the best served event we have. It is all about the player. The staff I have in place, can take care of it without involvement from me. That’s what I am extremely proud of.” “They need the deadlines we have put into place to organize and coordinate and each time, it continues to get better because of that planning time.”

TAP is proud of the event staff they have, comprised of all TAP Licensees, Operators and Representatives from throughout the USA and Canada. This hardworking, dedicated staff works long hours at these events and come back every day to do it again, but are happy to commit and dedicate themselves to each other, the corporate office and the player.

Kelly Senior, TAP Operations and Event Director stated, “Two years ago, when I came into this position, I didn’t fully appreciate as a player or an operator, what this staff truly does, today I know.” “Throughout the planning, setup and running of the event, you tend to get caught up in the moment and in the heat of the battle, but the stress, the sleepless nights are all worth it, when you know you have brothers and sisters up there with you, not above you, not below you, but beside you who appreciate you, because we are one team, with one goal.”

“That goal, to give the TAP player the best we have to give; organize and run an event they can appreciate, that always has them in mind.” Senior continued, “You know you have met that goal, when a player says, “Thanks for all you do”, when they acknowledge they see it; when they respond on the TAP message board and Facebook page with more positives than negatives, and constructively tell us what they see that can be improved and their suggestion to help make it better. With each event we see it getting better and better. “That is what makes it all worth it.”

8 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

But Senior, who is new to the crew, looks to those that have been in it for the long haul.

Bruce Williamson, TAP’s National Director and Sam Rullo, TAP’s Singles Director have been working these events for 13 to 14 years. The balance of old school and new school coming together and reviewing each process of this team, is what makes this the successful group that it is.

Returning from the good ole days, is Chuck Schonter TAP’s Licensee Support Director. Chuck, the brother of owner Loyd Schonter, can tell many stories of the past and appreciate what TAP and this event are today. He stated, “ It was awesome, very well run, best I have been at , definite improvement over the years, all of you should be very proud of such an accomplishment.”

This year, additional licensees have stepped up to the plate to help and help they did. April Bradley and staff from Upstate TAP, SC; Charlie Brinkman L & N TAP, PA, George and Nancy Natili Route 19 TAP, PA; John Heiken Southwestern Indiana TAP; Dan Mitchell Rock Solid TAP, ME; Carl Johnson Big Dawgs on TAP, FL; and Cindy and Rusty Williard, North Texas TAP with many more committing to help at future events as well. Senior stated, “this will help us with continued success in the future, a willingness to help and be a part of our events by our licensees, operators and representatives. You can have a first rate staff, but you always need new blood to help with breaks, on the job training for their own events and if needed potential replacements that are all ready to go. A back up plan and team are never a bad idea.”

As a result of not only a great staff, TAP is growing at record numbers.

Territories are selling every week. So, for the first time in history the Rally in the Valley Dream Team event sold out in Mid February.

The 144 dream team event kicked off at 8 a.m. and ran through Sunday.

TAP’s dream team event is a round robin event, that goes to single elimination of Elite, Championship and Best of the Rest . This guarantees 4 rounds of team play.

Over $100,000 in total prizes were given out at the event. Players enjoyed 100% payback in the singles event; open Diamond tables during their events, along with great competition of players throughout the USA and Canadian leagues representing each of their TAP territories and mixing it up with others.

As always, entry of all score sheets for team and singles events, ensures an overall solid handicap based on player performance week to week and at National competitions. New Pool Net features were used for the planning of the event, which took manual processes and made them automated, which efficiently and effectively streamlined preparations. Autoflag was used once again at the event, ensuring any player playing two levels above their handicap twice, is disqualified from the event. As players are getting use to this new feature, it enables the National Director to explain to the player about this disqualification process and show them the reasoning behind it. Taking an upset player, with politeness and professionalism showing them why such action must be taken, so they can accept it with the facts and figures.

Once again, the Predator Group was an event sponsor providing items from their Predator and Poison lines to all TAP players; Poison Jump Cues to each player on the Elite Bracket Dream Team various Cues for the player prize giveaway. Their overwhelming support of our Rally and National event has been greatly appreciated, through out the years.

Additional sponsors included, AZ Billiards, Fox and Hound, D & D Cue Repair and Staybridge Suites in Malvern.

On Sunday, March 13th the Champions were crowned !

Congratulations to the 2011 TAP Rally in the Valley Elite Board Champions, “Shot Gods” from Kansas. Players; Jeff Wharton, Patrick Cady, Joe Johnson,

Marcus Alonzo, Tom Czajkowski, Troy Ramirez, Shane Duffee, and Jaime Garcia (See Picture)

Congratulations to the 2011 TAP Rally in the Valley Championship Board Winners, “More Cow Bell” from Pennsylvania ; Players; Joe McCarthy, James Hammond, Jeremy Lepley, Shannon Wanamaker, John Parks, III, Erik Bell, Tom Rishel, Kyle Eberlin and Paul Snyder (See Picture)

Congratulations to the 2011 TAP Rally in the Valley Best of the Rest Board Winners, “D & D Misfits”; Picture not available at press time.

Congratulations to Singles Championship Winners; Jagdesh Raghoo 7 Handicap; Sean Nave 6 Handicap; Dave Bardo 5 Handicap; Carol Clark 4 Handicap and Richard Brown 3 Handicap.

A complete list of team and singles winners will be posted on www.tapleague. com and on TAP, LLC Pools Amateur Tour Facebook. $10, In November 2011, TAP will be returning to Las Vegas, Nevada for our Nationals and hosting , RALLY AT BALLY’s.

Want more information about TAP? Check out our website, www.tapleague. com and contact us, through our corporate office, at the Live Help desk, via email or IM. Join the countless others that have been checking us out. We look forward to hearing from you ! Until then, TAP ON!

Championship Board Winners More Cow Bell

BCW TOUR STANDINGS OPEN TOUR 1st Jonathan Demet 2nd Tommy Powaulski 3rd Gil Hernandez 4th Bill Fowler 5th Gary Johnson 6th Marlon Angeles 7th Tom Karabatsos 8th Matt Daiber 9th Claudio Parrone 10th Ike Runnels 11th Eddie Balderez 12th Jon Giles 13th Henry Brodt 14th Chris Patterson 15th Frank Bashir 16th Sompop Vichiensae 17th Paul Scott 18th Tom Karabotsos 19th Gene Albrecht 20th Jonathan Strzezewski 21st Robert Treffeisen 22nd Jim fitzpatrick 23rd Walter Hayes Sr. 24th Patrick Mcguire

253 248 195 187 182 154 143 140 126 123 93 87 76 70 58 50 47 46 43 41 40 40 39 36

25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 41st 42nd 43rd 44th 45th 46th 47th 48th 49th

Bill Hagen John Ribbich Mark Berry Lisa Clemente Bob Scianna Jose Rivas Jr. Tim Nickl Kenny Williams Craig Powers Tom McCluskey Tom Piehl Pons Cruz Joe Xiong Scott Patrick Varun Raheja Trent Kruczkowski Jack Wu Dave Adrian Ben White Tiger Sing Dennis Babcock Marko Stanosevic Bob Treffeisen Jose Rivas James Clemente

34 34 32 32 31 31 31 29 29 28 28 26 25 24 22 21 20 20 19 19 19 18 18 18 17

The Rivercity Eagles Arie #4023 Evansville, Indiana is hosting the 1st Annual River city Classic, April 29Th,30Th and May 1st. All proceeds to benefit The Peoples Burn Foundation - Bravehearts Camp for Kids.

Brave Hearts Camp is one of several in the country, but unique from many others because it is a camp designed for emotional healing with year long support for the entire family. This Emotionally rehabilitative camp helps the children to understand that although their skin was burnt their hearts and minds were not. Their time at camp allows them to enjoy typical camp activities while working to heal the often negative images they carry of themselves. Being around other children who have suffered similar tramas allows the children to heal through one another while also working together to have appropriately directed emotional strength to carry beyond the confines of camp.

Campers are joined by firefighters and others from across the country who serve as their counselors within the cabins and throughout activities.

Highligths of the camp include the Firefighter Challenge Course, Fishing Tournament, Horseback riding and many other activities.

The Brave Hearts Camp is at Bradford Woods, Indiana University Outdoor Center it has a rich and interesting history! Indiana's largest preserved natural area outside the state and national parks systems, and a national and international leader in outdoor education and summer camp programming.

This will be a 96 player tournament. Double Elimination, 96 players 1st place $1,500.00 with pay-out to the top 10 finishers. Winners Bracket race to 4, Losers Bracket race to 2. There will be T-Shirts for Sale anyone donating $100.00 will receive a Shirt with their name on it.

The River City Eagles #4023 is located in Evansville, Indiana anyone who is interested in participating in this tournament please contact John Ulrich with any questions at 812-746-0159.

Hope begins with people helping people. Article submitted by John Heiken Owner and League Operator Southwestern Indiana TAP Pool League, serving the players of the tri-state area.

PLAYERS WANTED Southwest Indiana TAP Pool League Contact 812-454-6600

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 9

ChampionshipS South Dakota State 8-Ball

Muiriggins

by: Don “Cheese” and Mary Akerlow We left as we usually do a couple days ahead for Rapid City, South Dakota. We had been commissioned to live stream the South Dakota Valley 8-Ball Championships. This is a singles and team event that draws over 1500 pool players from all across the state. Our company, OTBnTV, arrived in Rapid City on Tuesday, checked in and headed to Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. It

Dannys #1

Phoenix #1

10 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

took the crew about 3 hours to set up the booth, cameras, internet and get everything ready for the start of the event on Wednesday. Singles started Wednesday morning and OTBnTV started the Prime Time Show at 3 pm. One of the pool players had come up to me with his book, “Wanna’ Win?” This person was Tom Bourdeon. The picture on the cover was of 6 gentlemen dressed in cowboy garb and in the middle was Shane Van Boening. OTBnTV has filmed Shane a few times, the first being at the Reno Open in December 2007.

Our first match was to be Tom and Ken Nash but the table assignments were not clear and we ended up filming Pat Smith and Tom Vroman. We would later film Tom and Ken on Thursday on the one loss side. We shut down filming about 11:30 Wednesday night and were to be back Thursday at 2 pm. You can view the Video On Demand of the live streaming at http://www.otbntv.com

One of the biggest hits at the tournament was the projection of the OTBnTV Live stream on to a 100” Big Screen and various other wide screens throughout the venue. Anyone could watch the live stream from anywhere on the tournament floor.

In the semi-finals of the Master/AA Division, Bourdeon and Nash met again. Tom went on to win 7-3 to meet Danny Olson waiting on the point.

Tom won the first set 7-2. In the second set Danny caught fire on the wily veteran and beat Tom 7-4.

Danny a mere 18 years old showed poise, determination and smoothness like silk along the table. Danny will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. He is calm, cool and collected and doesn’t seem to let anything bother him. Even though in the first set he seemed to be a little distracted, he was able to find his gear in the second set.

Congratulations to Mr. Danny Olson, 2011 Masters Champion.

I was to find out later that I was butchering Tom Bourdeon’s last name.

The pronunciation looked to be French but wasn’t.

Tom would sit in on one of the matches in the team event and give a moving testimonial to the recently deceased Rick John.

Just a footnote: Tom and Danny’s match had over 1,000 views after the match was done in the first two days, which is a lot of interest in this young man.

Dave Pearson, the Ginger Wizard, was on hand to perform and raise money for the VNEA Junior Nationals event.

Dave holds numerous titles in the Guinness

Book of World Records for pocketing the most balls on multiple tables in the shortest period of time. In total they raised an amazing $2,000, a record!

Team play started on Friday, early signups were taken Thursday night so all teams were ready

Danny Olson

to go first thing Friday morning. The OTBnTV crew arrived to start a 4:00 pm Prime Time show, had some internet problems, everything got resolved and the show started around 4:30 pm with an Open A Division Team. Cody, one of the team members sat in to help with the commentary.

That match was followed by the Women’s A Teams of Kelly’s Wild Ones vs Phoenix I. As a side note, OTBnTV filmed the Phoenix I team at the 2009 VNEA International 8-Ball Championships where they took first place in the Intermediate Division. Some of the team members were the same. Karen a team

Dave Pearson Exhibition member who was not present was watching online from Singapore, China and was rooting her team on.

They lost that match and continued on the one loss side.

Next up, Break Room #1 and Danny’s #1, two Open AA Division teams fought it out on the live streaming tables. We ended the evening just before midnight. Saturday’s Prime Time show would start at 3:30 pm.

The stage was set for the Ladies A Team finals.

Knuckle Knockers was on the point and would meet Phoenix I who came through the one loss side. The ladies of the Knuckle Knockers were supported in the chat by Captain Kim Shama’s two daughters who were watching from North Carolina! Karen was again watching her team Phoenix I from Singapore. This is the best part of what we do at OTBnTV with the live streaming! The interaction from family and friends in the chat with a little friendly competition. The match went two sets with Phoenix I prevailing to become the Women’s A Champions for the sixth time. I had the opportunity to sit in with Cheese and commentate

on the match and it was a lot of fun. This was the first time I had tried it and the banter between Cheese and myself was hilarious. We really enjoyed ourselves, having fun poking each other like we do in our everyday life. Cheese made it easy for me.

Following the ladies was an Open AA match between Danny’s #1 and The Pocket of Sioux Falls which ended out the night.

All team events were concluding on Sunday and we started the live stream at 9:30 am with the Open AA Team Finals. South City Flying J was on the point and Danny’s #1 on the one loss side. Now the Danny’s team would have to beat South City twice to take home the victory. Cheese was joined in the booth by Bob Monlux, the Professional Cue Repair guy from Sioux Falls. He had a booth at the tournament, repairing cues all weekend and knew the player on both teams.

During a short break (when the stream crashed) Tom Bourdeon joined Cheese in the booth to commentate and tell stories. He is the author of the book “Wanna Win?” The finals went a second set and Danny’s #1 pulled off the victory for a back-to-back title!

All during the live stream on Sunday cheers could be heard off in the background for the Women’s B team finals which was also going on a few tables away. That title was won by the “Muiriggins” team from Sally O’Malley’s in Rapid City. These ladies really had team spirit. It was a shame we were not able to get them on the live stream, but there were more finals going on all morning and early afternoon.

We at OTBnTV would like to thank Lloyd Friedel and Traci of Rushmore Amusement and all of the South Dakota Coin Operators for giving us the opportunity to live stream this amazing event for pool players at

the State 8-Ball Championships.

It was a blast!

If you didn’t get a change to watch the South Dakota State Valley 8-Ball Championships live you can still enjoy the tournament by watching the Video On Demand matches. Just go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ otbntv-live

Keep checking OTBnTV.com for the South Dakota State Valley 8-Ball Championships Video Magazine (coming soon) with photos and video links. You can also see all the photos at http://www. facebook.com/otbntv

See you next year at the State 8-Ball Championships and see you in the chat for future OTBnTV live Prime Time streamings.

Lisa Trenhaile

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 11

T ournamenT 2011 SD STATE 8-BALL Singles Rapid City, Sd, March 16-17, 2011

2011 OPEN A SINGLES

2011 OPEN B SINGLES

Open ‘AA’ Singles 1st – Danny Olson 2nd – Tom Bourdeon 3rd – Ken Nash 4th – Justin Brandt 5th – 6th David Olson Jr 5th – 6th Joe Audino 7th – 8th Lou Lends His Horse 7th – 8th Chad King

Open ‘A’ Singles 1st – Keith Olson 2nd – Bob Brinkhuis 3rd – Mike Kelner 4th – Willie Anderson 5th – 6th Jeremey Sloan 5th – 6th Lamar Goddard 7th – 8th Fran Archambeau 7th – 8th Brian Ruth Open ‘B’ Singles 1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – 5th – 6th 5th – 6th 7th – 8th 7th – 8th

Eric Machmuller Darrell Phillips Lee Gourneau Jr Kip Cameron Robert Pugh Shannon Coyle Chip Brandis Morgan Hullinger

Open ‘C’ Singles 1st – 2nd – 3rd – 4th – 5th – 6th 5th – 6th 7th – 8th 7th – 8th

Mike Thompson Russ Merrills Ron Slowbear Shane Schaefbauer Adam Masloski Brent Hood Ted Rederth Gene Hanisch

Women’s ‘A’ Singles 1st – Lisa Trenhaile 2nd – Kim Shama 3rd – Patty Maher 4th – Jackie Gerkin

5th – 6th 5th – 6th 7th – 8th 7th – 8th

Kristi Mccoy Michelle Berens Jana Thompson Ann Clifford

Women’s ‘B’ Singles 1st – Jane Harms 2nd – Kim Jaragoske 3rd – Quiana Greaves 4th – Brenda Leader 5th – 6th Darla Swain 5th – 6th Terri Beek 7th – 8th Wendy Mork 7th – 8th Jill Hunhoff Women’s ‘C’ Singles 1st – Charlotte Johnson 2nd – Kristi Bluebird 3rd – Trina Lends His Horse 4th – Brenda Vespested 5th – 6th Jennifer Angerhofer 5th – 6th Melissa Moulton 7th – 8th Kennedy Oliva 7th – 8th Elizabeth Olson Teams: March 18-20, 2011 Open ‘AA’ Team 1st – Danny’s #1

David Olson Jr, Danny Olson, Justin Brandt,

Don Tanner, Jason Seeman 2nd – South City Flying J

Jim Hunsley, Jim Mcnenny, Jim Corean, Dave

Carrick, Vince Archuleta, Mike Jacobs, Lamar Goddard 3rd – Off At The Pocket

Dan Hein, Troy Oberembt, Dave Jennings,

Rick Ochs, Terry Narum, Rick Kuhnert 4th – Breakroom #1

Allen Duprel, Dick Spitzer, Josh Boos, Ken Nash,

Lou Lends His Horse, Wayne Lettau Open ‘A’ Team 1st – Johnnys Lucky Dawgs

Terry Henrikson, Jim Obrien, John Dethlefs,

Steve Handboy, Tim Carrick, Mike Kelner 2nd – Dakota Cue Club Blind Squirrels

Todd Farah, Joe Kidd, Jason Naglestad,

Brian Lambertz, Aaron Stoterau

2011 OPEN C SINGLES

2011 WOMEN B SINGLES

12 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

2011 WOMENS C SINGLES

2011 OPEN B 1ST RELIANCE #2

2011 WOMEN’S A SINGLES

2011 OPEN AA SINGLES 3rd – Team Dumas

Gary Nelson, Guy Trenhaile, Steve Onkka,

Dan Davis, Kurt Peterson, Larry Jaragoske 4th –South Main Pub I

Todd Voss, Mike Brinkman, Dave Hoff,

Bob Raabe, Ken Boynton Open ‘B’ Team 1st – Reliane #2

Lee Gourneau Jr, John Big Eagle,

Michael Hoffer Jr, Cheyenne Ziegler,

Rod Byrd 2nd – Horses To Harleys Contenders

Doug Gerkin, Jackie Gerkin, Kurt Ranta,

Toby Corean, Ruben Pierce 3rd - Skinners Pub Deuces

Jim Lerdal, Mark Garrow, George Faehnrich,

Shannon Brown, Brad Pederson 4th – 212 Bait Shop

Tim Hawkins, Chuck Isenburg, Curt Gerkin,

Todd Geddes, Oliver Gerkin Open ‘C’ Team 1st – Casino Bar Hustlers

Josh Luckett, Mace Luckett, Scott Wenzel,

Wayne Willman, Charla Willman, Jarad Mohnen 2nd –Schwans

Kathy Fuller, Bev Bieber, Nancy Petersen,

Tracy Berg, Kim Jaragoske 3rd – Skinners Longshots

Neil Burghardt, Paul Larsen, Eric Bothun,

Steve Springman, Josh Peterson, Ron Loban 4th – Schwans Time Bandits

Mike Saylor, Eric Duven, Rob Zimmerman,

Steve Cogley, Mitch Wilson Open ‘D’ Team 1st – North Star 2

Ray Bokker, Jim Hoffie, Russ Merrils,

Derek Merrills, Ken Dooley, Scott Fiebelkorn 2nd –Woodys Smooth Macadamiens

Adam Masloski, Eric Masloski,

Dan Fjerstad, Jeff Lamb, Doug Nygaard 3rd – Vfw #2

Doug Yost, Kami Yost, Chad Erickson,

Tyler Vance, Jeremy Tullar 4th – Oasis Outcasts

Jim Mauch, Lynn Mauch,

Melissa Brimmer, Chris Fiddler,

John Kjellsen, James Rugg,

Dion Hinzman WOMENS’S “A” TEAM 1st – Phoenix I

Laura Baker, Sheila Smith-Hahn,

Leanne Paulson, Angie Montgomery,

Paula Oldenkamp 2nd – Knuckle Knockers

Kim Shama, Gail Cook, Deb Corean,

Jackie Schwartz, Pat Schwartz,

3rd – Teddys Omg! Fab Five

Michelle Yankton, Anne Clifford,

Darla Swain, Amy Garcia 4th – South City English Majors Stephanie Rhodes,

Heather Jacobs, Laurie Hawkins,

Linda Rhodes, Deb Merrival,

Shelby Jacobs WOMEN’S “B” TEAM 1st – Sally O’malleys Muiriggins

Robin Biggins, Crystal Biggins,

Chantel Biggins, Pam Sachtjen,

Brittany Muir, Jessie Muir 2nd Thirsty Shooters

Deb Olson, Christy Davis, Amber Garry,

Jane Harms, Jami Decker, Kim Wright 3rd Branch Time Buddies

Elizabeth Olson, Steph Paul, Cindy

Paul, Lisa Etzkorn 4th – Elk Creek Nobs Mob

Terrie Keyser, Trudy O’brien, Wanda

Newbrough, Connie Martin,

Susan Atwater

2011 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE Cheryl Loban with Lloyd Friedel

2011 OPEN C TEAM 1ST = CASINO BAR HUSTLERS

2011 OPEN A 1ST - JOHNNYS LUCKY DAWGS

2011 OPEN D 1ST - NORTH STAR 2

Phoenix Lounge

Congratulations

Phoenix I Angie, Sheila, Laura, Leanne

Thanks to ALL our pool players 27121 Bluebird Place Harrisburg, SD 605-743-2800

Congratulations Muiriggins

Jessie, Robin, Pam, Brittany, Crystal, Chantel

Cold Beer - Coctails - Great Food Entertainment - Pool - Darts - Lottery Machine Join Sally O’Malley’s Pub Facebook Page Sally O’Malley’s Pub 3064 Covington Street Rapid City, SD 57703 605-721-8636

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 13

Scoreboard

Visit AZBilliards.com for the latest pool information

racks until Souquet played a combination on the 10 ball to pull ahead at 8-7, winning 10-7. This would give Saez and Van Boening a chance for a rematch.

Saez and Van Boening captivated fans for another hill-hill saga. Saez immediately jumped to a 5-1 lead over Van Boening. Both men appeared confident and missed very few shots. Toward the end of the set, they each hooked themselves toward the end of the rack and couldn’t finish the run allowing the other to capitalize. In the final rack, Van Boening made an error that would cost him when he got poor position on the three ball resulting in a miss on the four ball. This would allow Seaz the opportunity to bank in the four and run out for another chance at Souquet.

Souquet Crowned Pro 10-Ball Champion at Super Billiards Expo

Germany’s Ralf Souquet went undefeated to claim the 2011 Open 10-Ball Pro Players Championship at the Super Billiards Expo. Souquet, who had a fifth place finish in 2009, had his eye on the prize this year. It seemed he had notable wins this weekend over nearly the entire U.S. Mosconi team, Dennis Hatch, Johnny Archer, and Shane Van Boening.

The tournament was played using WPA rules where a pocket must be called for each shot. If a ball is slopped in, the incoming player has the option to take the shot or return it to the shooter. Ironically, Souquet helped in implementing the rule.

The 2008 and 2010 champion Van Boening fought hard to defend his title but was unable to get through the steady Robb Saez who sent Van Boening to the one-loss on Saturday in a hill-hill back and forth battle. Van Boening went on to defeat Hatch with a convincing score of 10-3 while Saez and Souquet met up on the a-side. Souquet was ahead 4-0 before Saez won the next five games. The players exchanged the next few

In the finals, both Souquet and Saez appeared to be getting fatigued the percentage of errors were increasing. Souquet remained ahead for the entire match and Saez struggled to close the gap. While down 8-7, Saez had an opportunity but was unable to capitalize, missing the one ball and giving the rack to Souquet. Another miss on the one ball would allow Souquet to get to the hill first and ultimately the match and title. Final score: 13-8.

1st $20,000 Ralf Souquet 2nd $7,000 Robb Saez 3rd $4,000 Shane Van Boening 4th $3,000 Dennis Hatch 5th $2,100 Johnny Archer, Darren Appleton 7th $1,800 Alex Pagulayan, Gabe Owen 9th $1,500 Mika Immonen, Jason Klatt, Dee Adkins, Stevie Moore 13th $1,250 Shawn Putnam, Rodney Morris, Tony Robles, Max Eberle 17th $900 Thorsten Hohmann, Matt Clatterbuck, Raj Hundal John Morra, Shaun Wilkie, Ryan McCreesh Hunter Lombardo, Tommy Kennedy

Super Billiards Expo Results World Artistic Pool Championships 1st $3,500 2nd $2,500 3rd $1,800 4th $1,300 5th $1,000 6th $800 7th $750 8th $700 9th $650 10th $500 11th $450 12th $400 13th $100

Andy Segal Jamie Gray Tim Chin Gabriel Visiou Nick Nikolaidis Abram Diaz Florian Kohler Jamie Moody Tom Rossman Chris Woodrum JR Owens Bruce Barthelette Paul Danno, Javier Gomez Steve Markle, Joe Bonge Sebastian Giumelli, Gordon Hedges Steve Geller, Tom Kinzel, Jason Lynch Mark Dimick, Dave Nangle

14 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

Fury Straight Pool Challenge 1st $1,500 2nd $900 3rd $400 5th $200

Darren Appleton John Schmidt Mika Immonen, Dave Daya Mike Davis, Max Eberle Bobby Chamberlain, Nick Varner

Pro Am Division 1st $1,500 2nd $1,000 3rd $700 5th $500

Charlie Williams Justin Hall Masafumi Mochizuki, Bill Dunsmore Shane Clayton, Marc Vidal Tommy Tokoph, Michael Delawder

Amateur Open Division 1st $5,000 2nd $2,000 3rd $1,500 5th $1,200

9th $950

Bucky Souvanthong Tony Long Gary Lutman, Ben Zimmer Brett Stottlemyer, Chris Mitchell Alex Olinger, Danny Mastermaker Houston Rodriguez, Mike Wishwanick Steve Mack, Jorge Rodriguez Greg Antonakos, Shayne Morrow Toshiki Kiuchi, Phil Wines

Amateur Ladies Division 1st $1,500 2nd $1,000 3rd $700

5th $450

Jia Li Stacie Bourbeau Liz Lovely, Gail Glazebrook Amy Theriault, Grace Nakamura Diana Rojas, Lonnie Fox

Seniors Division 1st $3,000 2nd $1,500 3rd $1,000

5th $725

9th $450

Sy Brown Horace Godwin Ike Runnels, Ed Matushoneck Gary Nolan, Horace Aughtry Ray MacNamara, Marc Pantovic Mark Hatch, Tony Mougey Bob Talford, Victor Nau Joe Sauro, Patrick O’Neill Al Muccilli, John Jennings

Briones wins two hill-hill thrillers to take the second stop on the Tiger Amateur Tour.

The weekend of February 19-20 the Tiger Amateur Tour held stop #2 of the season at Houstons newest billiards room, Big Tyme Billiards. The event had 76 players show up and it was played down to 16 on Saturday, all who would be back Sunday to fight it out for the cash. We had players from all over Texas and a few Cajuns that attended also. We appreciate them all and look forward to seeing them again.

So starting out at noon Sunday we had 8 on the winners side and 8 on the one-loss side, the races were to 11/9, the match results were Ernesto Bayaua over Daniel Herring 11-7, Brian Hickman over Danny Roland in a 11-10 thriller, Ray Porter over Durango Duran 11-8 and Dale Briones bested Victor Rojas 11-6. This set up the winners side final four which pitted Dale Briones against Ray Porter, Dale got the best of this one 11-7 to earn his spot in the hot seat match. His opponent would be Ernesto Bayaua who

Jim Walker, Carl Miranda made a great comeback after being down 7-3 and winning 11-9 over Brian Hickman. So the Hot seat match was set and it was past tour winner Ernesto Bayaua against first time tour player Dale Briones and Ernesto got the nod 11-8.

The one-loss side 13-16 round matches were Bobby Gonzales over Roy Payton 9-1, Rodney Stewart got by Steve Braswell 9-6, Frank Cherry 9-5 over Justin Pena and Richard Rodriguez got by Patrick Hill 9-6. The 9-12 round saw Frank Cherry keep rolling as he ousted Victor Rojas 9-3, Durango Duran squeaked by Richard Rodriguez 9-8, Daniel Herring 9-8 over Bobby G., and Danny Roland over Rodney Stewart. Next was the round of 7-8th, and Daniel Herring took Danny Roland out 9-7 and Durango got the nod over Frank Cherry 9-5. The 5-6th place round saw Durango keep his roll going as he bested Brian Hickman 9-5 and Ray Porter

ousted Daniel Herring 9-4. This pitted Ray verse Durango in the final 4 and Durango steam rolled Ray 9-2 in record time. Durango was rolling, so the finals of the one-loss side saw Durango take on Dale Briones, and Dale had seen enough of the Durango tear and Dale sent him packing 9-7, to earn his rematch with Ernesto in the finals. And what a thrill of a finals it was, it kept everyone on edge.

The finals was set and it was a race to 11 between Dale and Ernesto. They stayed close up to 4 , then Ernesto put some space between them reaching the hill first at 10-6, but Dale was not done, he fought and clawed back until it was hill-hill and he finally got the first set nod when it was all set and done 11-10. So on to set #2 we went, and going to 9, Ernesto jumped out quick again, and held a 7-3 lead at one point, as we saw earlier Dale is not one to give up , so he fought and clawed back again, he took the next 5 games to reach the hill first, and on his break it looked as if he was going to run out, but he got alittle straight in on the 4 ball and gave himself a tough angle to get to the 5, so he fires the 4 at warp speed and the pocket was not having it and spit it out, Ernesto jumps up, runs out and what do you know we got another hill hill match. In a thriller of a last game Dale finally got the nod and earned his first Tiger Tour win in his first try. Congrats to the both of them on a great tournament.

Also the Second Chance Event on Sunday had 18 players and it was won by Carl Miranda, second went to Jim Walker, third to Will Felder and fourth to Grady Cooper. They earned 300,150,100, and 75 respectively, congrats to them as well.

We want to thank everyone who came out and played and also just came out to sweat the action.

Also we want to thank room owners Bob McFerren, Jim Henry and Mark Avery, and boss man Billy Sharp they did a wonderful job on hosting their first major tournament at their new 24 hour room.

And a super special thanks to all of our sponsors. Tony Kalamdaryan of www.

TigerProducts.com , Jay Helfert author of Pool Wars www.JayHelfert.com , Gil Castillo ofwww.

Ernesto Bayaua, Dale Briones castilloleathergoods.com , Heather Bryant of www.

DreamlinePromotions.com , and Terry Russel of www.Htownbilliards.com .

Also thanks to our referee Bob Mcferren, Auctioneer Chuck Adams, and cue repairman Roger Allen.

The cue raffle for the Tiger cue was won by big Joey B.

We hope to see everyone at the next event on March 5-6 at Big Johns sports Bar. For more info you can always check on the website at www.

TigerAmateurTour.com PAYOUTS: 1st $875 2nd $575 3rd $335 4th $215 5-6th $140 7-8th $105 9-12th $75

13-16th $60

AUCTION: 1st $1,380 2nd $860 3rd $550 4th $350 5-6th $230 7-8th $150

Dale Briones Ernesto Bayaua Durango Duran Ray Porter Daniel Herring, Brian Hickman Danny Roland, Frank Cherry Bobby Gonzales, Rodney Stewart,Victor Rojas, Richard Rodrigu Roy Payton,Steve Braswell, Justin Pena, Patrick Hill

Alonzo Double Dips Em Again!

The Tiger Amateur Tour held its 3rd event of the season at Big Johns Sports Bar in Houston, Texas the weekend of March 5-6. This was also our first bar table event of the year. Other events in the area kept our attendance down a little with 51 players, still not shabby, but we will always work with everyone to not have any schedule conflicts in our future events.

So this event paid out 12 spots and was played down to 12 to comeback Sunday to fight it out for the cash, along with everyone who attended the Second Chance Eventon Sunday. So more to the point, there were 8 players left on the winners side and 4 on the one-loss side. Winners side matches were Don Bullard vs Will Felder, Don got the nod here 11-7, up and coming rap sensation David Parker squeaked by Wendell Moser 11-10, Machine Gun Mike Alonzo 11-6 over Brian Rosenbaum, and the battle of the cajuns saw super fly Jimmy Majors

get by Derrick Cantu 112. The round of 4 winners side saw Jimmy over Brian R. 11-6, and David over Don 11-7. This set up Jimmy vs David in the hot seat match, this match was a see saw match all the way till 8-8, when David missed a key ball to take the lead, and from there Jimmy slammed the door on him and got the nod 11-8. So with super fly Jimmy Majors in the hot seat we move on to the one loss side battles.

The one loss side round of 9-12th place matches saw Mike Alonzo knock Carl Miranda out 9-4, Brent Thomas over Derrick Cantu 9-3 Will Felder over Danny Lee 9-6 and Brian Hickman got

Mike Alonzo, Jimmy Majors

by Wendell Moser 9-2. The round of 7-8th place matches were Brian H. over Will 9-6 and Mike got

by Brent 9-5. The 5-6th place round saw two U.S. Amateur qualifiers face off and Machine Gun Mike was firing many rounds here as he shot Don B. full of holes 9-1. On the other side it was a battle of the continued on page 16

April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 15

WEEKLY TOURNAMENTS Call First - All Tournaments are subject to change without notice

DATE

CITY

Wednesdays Oshkosh, WI

Thursdays Fridays

Saturdays

TIGER

Oshkosh, WI Tulsa, OK Oshkosh, WI Tulsa, OK

LOCATION

PHONE

EVENT / RULES

ENTRY

Varsity Club Varsity Club Q-Spot Billiards Varsity Club Q-Spot Billiards

(920) 651-0806 (920) 651-0806 (918) 779-6204 (920) 651-0806 (918) 779-6204

9-Ball Beginners 9-Ball Intermediate 8-Ball 7 & under 9-Ball Open - Break Pot 9-Ball 7 & under

$8 $10 $5 $15 $5/player Guar. $10 (incl. g.f.)

continued from page 15

12 players and saw the top 3 cash, they were as follows: 1st place went to Roy Payton, 2nd to Cajun Dallas Broussard and 3rd went to another of the Cajun Robert Dorsey, Dallas Broussard, Roy Payton thanks to all Brians, as Hickman and Rosenbaum for participating in this event. faced off and Rosenbaum got the nod

Also a special thanks to all the out here 9-5. This pitted Brian against the of town players, we had 4 from San blazing Mike Antonio, 5 from Louisiana, and 4-5 Alonzo and Mike kept the pedal to the from the Victoria/El Campo area. And medal and scored a 9-5 victory. Now of course all of our local players too.

Mike would face MC David, and Mike

And a super special thanks to all kept his run alive getting by David 9-5. of our sponsors. Tony Kalamdaryan Now with five straight victories Mike of www.TigerProducts.com , Jay had made his way to the Finals.

Helfert author of Pool Wars www.

The Finals: Super Fly Jimmy JayHelfert.com , Gil Castillo of www.

Majors from Lafayette,La. Would face castilloleathergoods.com , Heather local Machine Gun Mike Alonzo. This Bryant of www.DreamlinePromotions. match saw Jimmy grab control early com , and Terry Russel of www. at 3-0, then Mike reeled off 4 games Htownbilliards.com . to make it 4-3, then they see sawed back and forth up until 8-8, then Mike put a few together to take the first set of the true double elimination finals 11-8. Now they played a second set for the crown, and oh my was this one a show, they kept it close all the way to the end with some flawless play and kept everyone watching on the edge of their seats. In the end Machine Gun Mike put seven matches in a row together and got by Super Fly in a hill hill thriller 9-8. Mike became the first 2 time winner on our tour that has been running now around 7 months, and 8-9 events. The last event he won he also double dipped his opponent to win as well. Congrats to Mikey !!!!

The Second Chance Event had

16 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

PAYOUTS: 1st $650 2nd $430 3rd $290 4th $170 5-6th $100

7-8th $70

9-12th $40

AUCTION: 1st $920 2nd $690 3rd $460 4th $230

Mike Alonzo Jimmy Majors David Parker Brian Rosenbaum Don Bullard, Brian Hickman Brent Thomas, Will Felder $70 Carl Miranda, Derrick Cantu, Danny Lee, Wendell Moser

ADDED

TIME Call Call 9 PM Call 9 PM

Ochoa and Kielar Heading to Vegas The first qualifiers for both the 12th U.S Open One Pocket Championship and the 3rd U.S Open 10-Ball Championships were held March 19-20.

At Drexeline Billiard Club in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, young gun Adam Kielar won the paid spot to the U.S. Open One Pocket event. While simultaneously in Houston, Texas at Bigtyme Billiards, Sylver Ochoa grinded it through a strong lone star state field to nab the paid U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship spot.

Produced by CueSports International (CSI), both U.S. Open events will take place at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in conjunction with the 35th BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships. The One Pocket kicks off Thursday, May 12 and concludes the 15th. The 10-Ball Championship will start Monday, May 16th and conclude Saturday, May 21st.

For more information about both U.S. Open events including all upcoming qualifier dates and locations visit www.playcsipool.com. Both events will be live streamed and available via PPV by The Action Report (TAR) at www.theactionteport.com. CSI would like to thank the following sponsors: Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis, The Magic Ball Rack, Mueller Sporting Goods, McDermott and Billiards Digest for their support of the 12th U.S. Open One Pocket and 3rd U.S. Open 10-Ball Championships.

This year the Riviera reduced their room rates and the registration numbers have been tremendous. For anyone booking 8 or more nights, the rate is $60 per night (restrictions apply). For reservations less than 8 nights the rate is $80. These rates include Friday and Saturday evenings; allow up to 4 people per room and no resort fee will be added. To make your reservation call (800) 634-6753 and use group code BCAPCPP. CueSports International is dedicated to creating more choices for all players. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the U.S. Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the U.S. Open One Pocket Championship and the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. Visit www.playcsipool.com, www.playbca.com and www.playusapool.com for more information about CSI and its divisions.

2011 Scholarship Deadline Approaching High School Seniors Apply Now! The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) is accepting applications for the 2011 scholarship awards. The objective of the BEF Academic Scholarship Program is to grant scholarships to high school seniors who have benefited from the sport of billiards and are pursuing a college education.

The BEF Academic Scholarship Program is divided into two categories: Excellence in Education scholarship (a single $2,000 award) and Aiming for Higher Education scholarships (three individual scholarships at $1,000 each). Each applicant will be considered in both categories; only one completed application is required and must be postmarked no later than April 18, 2011.

Applications can be downloaded by going to the BEF website at www.BilliardEducation.org.

Students must adhere to the following

scholarship criteria: 1) hold a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale); 2) must have an ACT score of at least 23 or SAT combined score (critical reading + math) of 1050 or higher; 3) submit a 500-1000 word essay on how billiards has been an integral part of their life; 4) must be accepted to an accredited undergraduate academic program by June 1; 5) must attend an accredited undergraduate institution and carry at least 12 hours per semester.

The final application must also include a letter from the applicant outlining academic achievements, leadership and/or community service work, a description of the applicant's background and career objectives plus personal and professional (academic) goals. Applicants must also submit an official High School Transcript and SAT/ACT scores.

About Billiard Education Foundation The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) is a 501 (c)

(3) non-profit charitable organization committed to furthering the standard of excellence and leadership within the billiard community by engaging in activities related to the education and cultural advancement of tomorrow’s leaders. The BEF funds academic scholarships, produces the Junior National 9-Ball Championships, sponsors billiard athletes to attend the WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championships and promotes “Pool In School” programs. For more information about the BEF please visit www.BilliardEducation.org . To become a sponsor, 6149 E 31st St make a Tulsa, OK donation or inquiry, Hours: please Sun 2-10 pm contact Mon-Thurs 12-2am Laura Smith Fri-Sat 12-1am at info@

918-779-6204

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April 2011 - Rackem Magazine 17

Call First - All Tournaments are subject to change without notice DATE Apr 1-3 Apr 2 Apr 2-3

Apr 8-10 Apr 9 Apr 15-17 Apr 16 Apr 30 Apr 27-May 1 Apr 29-May 1 Apr 30-May 1 May 3-8 May 7 May 9-15 May 12-15 May 11-22 May 11-22 May 16-21 May 21 May 30-Jun 5 Jun 4-5 Jun 6-12 Jun 11 Jun 11-12 Jun 11-12 Jun 18 Jun 24-26 Jun 25-26 Jun 25-Jul 2 Jul 7-10 Jul 7-10 July 16-17

CITY LOCATION PHONE EVENT / RULES ENTRY ADDED Saratoga, WY Platte Valley Open (307) 329-8924 8-Ball 3 Divisions $60-$160 $9,000 Watch it LIVE on OTBnTV.com presented by Tiger Products Alsip, IL CSI Qualifier (708) 388-3700 Red Shoes 10 Ball Qual. $75 (incl g.f.) $250 w/16 max Houston, TX Click’s Billiards (713) 895-9992 Tiger Amateur Tour $40 $1,000 Billings, MT MCMOA (See ad Mar) League Operator State 8-Ball Champ. M/W (A/B) Qualify at bars $10,000 Watch it LIVE on OTBnTV.com presented by Tiger Products Houston, TX Q-Stix Billiards (281) 580-0880 Lone Star Tour 9-Ball on Bar Tables $45/$65/$25 Call New Town, ND Four Bears Casino (701) 421-0604 8-Ball Classic M & W Sedalia, MO Sharky’s Billiards (660) 826-5855 Mo State 10 pt. HCP 8-Ball Call Call Alsip, IL CSI Qualifier (708) 388-3700 Red Shoes One Pocket Qual. $75 (incl g.f.) $250 w/16 max Beijing, China Beijing Open Check matchroomsport.com for details Mtn View, CA California Billiard Club (605) 965-3100 Seminole Pro Tour 10-Ball $115 $12,000 Houston, TX Q-Stix Billiards (281) 580-0880 Tiger Amateur Tour $40 $1,000 Asia Dragon Promo Mx Doubles Check dragonpromotions.com for details Houston, TX Bogie’s Billiards (281) 821-4544 Lone Star Tour 8-Ball on 8’Tables $45/$65/$25 Call Manila WPA World 10-Ball Check matchroomsport.com for details Las Vegas, NV CSI (702) 719-7665 U S Open One Pocket Call $10,000 Guar Las Vegas, NV BCAPL (702) 719-7665 BCAPL 8-Ball Nationals Varied $750,000 payout Las Vegas, NV BCAPL (702) 719-7665 BCAPL 9-Ball Nationals Varied $750,000 payout Las Vegas, NV CSI (702) 719-7665 U S Open 10 Ball Call $25,000 Guar Sedalia, MO Sharky’s Billiards (660) 826-5855 Hardcore 8-Ball NO HCP $40 Call Venue Changes World Pool Masters Check matchroomsport.com for details Wichita, KS Side Pockets (316) 729-4000 Bobby Wells Memorial $35 $2,500 China China Open Men/Women Check matchroomsport.com for details Port Arthur, TX Crazy 8’s (409) 960-7399 Lone Star Tour 9-Ball on 8’ Tables $45/$65/$25 Call Madison, WI The Brass Ring (608) 256-9359 Simonis 9-Ball Challenge Call $550/$950 Tulsa, OK Magoo’s (918) 663-3364 9-Ball Open/Ladies $65/$55 $2,500 Sedalia, MO Sharky’s Billiards (660) 826-5855 King of the Hill 8-Ball Call Call Fargo, ND Fargo Billiards (701) 282-4168 9-Ball (Fri)/8-Ball (Sat-Sun) $40/$60 $500/$2,500 San Leon, TX Casper’s Billiards (281) 559-1400 Tiger Amateur Tour $40 $1,000 Qatar Men’s WPA World 9-Ball Check wpapool.com for details Olathe, KS Shooters (913) 780-5740 One Pocket $60 $1,000 Olathe, KS Shooters (913) 780-5740 9-Ball Open/Ladies $65/$50 $4,000 Houston, TX Rose Country (281) 590-1954 Tiger Amateur Tour $40 $1,000

TIME 6 PM 10 AM 1 PM

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Call 10 AM Call 1 PM Call Call Call Call Call Noon 11 AM Call 10 AM 11 AM Call 6 PM 1 PM 8 PM 8 PM 1 PM

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Presents

Apr 1-3, 2011 Platte Valley Open - WY

18 Rackem Magazine - April 2011

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Streaming Schedule Apr 8-10, 2011 MCMOA Montana State 8-Ball

Spring Is In The Air...

It’s Time To Rock The Riv!

$750,000 35th BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships May 11-22, 2011 Riviera Hotel & Casino Las Vegas Baby!

May 12-15, 2011 $10,000 Added

May 16-21, 2011 $25,000 Added

BCAPL National 9-Ball Championships 9-Ball Challenge May 11-12 9-Ball Open Singles May 12 9-Ball Teams May 21-22

LIVE STREAM / PPV Free for Riviera Guests FOR INFORMATION ON ALL EVENTS VISIT:

Photos by Ashi Fachler (ashi@billiardphoto.com)

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March2011 2011 - TheMagazine Break 35 March - Rackem 15