November 2009 page 2
November 2009 Volume 1 Number 9
Cover Photo by: Tony Fox Photography
Stroke Staff Publisher/Editor Don “Cheese” Akerlow Marketing Director Mary Akerlow Layouts & Design Wendy Swenson Sunshine Ross Don Akerlow Mary Akerlow Distribution Sheila Papke
DEADLINE: 30th of each Month - Call if late
Contact us at:
Stroke P.O. Box 100 Three Forks, MT 59752 Phone 1-406-285-3099 Fax 1-406-285-3098 Email strokemagazine@aol.com
www.StrokeMagazine.net
About Us at Stroke
Stroke 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 Eastcoast and adjoining states. Look for Stroke by the 10th of each month. The opinions 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. © 2009 Stroke
Read Stroke Online at: The Pool Players Voice www.strokemagazine.net Advertisers POOL ON TV Amy’s Billiards Art of Billiards Atlas Billiard Supply Best Shot Billiards Mr 3 Cushion Crown Cues Cue & Case CuePen Doral Billiards Hard Rock Cafe Lucasi Hybrid Mueller OTBnTV.com Pool Cue Guru pooldawg sammspocket.com Sandcastle Billiards UPL USAPL
5 10 2 15 6 15 20 7 2 15 12 3 3,18 17 11 7 16 19 9
Columnists Bill Smith
6
Bob Jewett
7
Samm Diep
7
Information OTBNews Group Pool On TV Tournament Trail
14 3 14
All times are Eastern time.
Classic 11-01-2009 9:00 am Willie Mosconi vs. Babe Cranefield 11-01-2009 11:00 am 2007 U S Pro Tour Championship 11-07-2009 2:00 am Willie Mosconi vs. Babe Cranefield 11-07-2009 3:00 pm Willie Mosconi vs. Cowboy Jimmy Moore 11-07-2009 4:00 pm Willie Mosconi vs. Cowboy Jimmy Moore 11-07-2009 5:00 pm 1983 Willie Mosconi vs. Irving Crane
11-15-2009 3:30 pm Colorado Classic Finals 11-15-2009 4:00 pm 2009 Pacific Coast Classic 11-15-2009 5:00 pm 2009 Pacific Coast Classic 11-15-2009 6:00 pm 2009 Pacific Coast Classic 11-07-2009 6:00 pm 1983 Willie Mosconi vs. U.J. Puckett 11-07-2009 6:00 pm Willie Mosconi vs. Minnesota Fats 11-29-2009 9:00 am Generationpool.com Men’s 9-Ball
These schedules have been provided by ESPN. These are tentative dates and are subject to change
Streaming Schedule Battle in the BigHorns Sheridan, Wy Nov 13-15: 8 Ball
Northern Lights Shootout Rugby, ND Dec 10th: International Cup Canada vs. U.S.A. Dec 11th-13th: 8-Ball stay tuned for more info
Log on www.OTBnTV.com or ustream.tv/channel/otbntv-live
November 2009 page 3
Miller Wins First Event McManus going to China
from: Linda Haywood Shea, Director/Coordinator
This will not be Briana Miller's last victory; you are sure to see this 14 year old again. Briana sailed through the 23 player field at Castle Billiards Bar & Grill Oct. 11, 2009. The event was a WPA qualifier for the Worlds with $1500 added. Without losing a single match Briana went straight to the top. Her victims were Yomaylin Feliz, Olga Gashkova, Fran Crimi, and twice over Erin McManus. The players that returned Sunday on the 1-loss side were Brenda Heras who continued over Colleen Shoop 7-2 and JiHyun Park- Thompson who beat Olga Gashkova 7-2. The winners side saw Erin McManus over Megan Smith 7-3and Briana Miller vs. Fran Crimi 7-3. Briana Miller's second match was with another up and coming player, Erin McManus for the hot seat. The match went back and forth for the first few games. It was played very quickly 7-4. Erin went over to the one loss side to meet Megan Smith and was very anxious to return and get another shot at the 14 year old wonder. Erin carefully diagnosed her waiting opponent Megan Smith. Megan Smith’s victories over Ji-Hyun Park Thompson 7-5 and Brenda Heras 7-4 were very intense. They were two very worthy opponents. She was ready and waiting for Erin. The match started with Erin
jumping out ahead 3 games. It took no time for Megan to catch up trailing 5-3. In the ninth game Erin caught a second wind and won 7-4. After a short break the finals started with Erin winning the lag and breaking and running out. Erin doesn’t make any balls on the second break and Briana comes to the table and runs out. Briana breaks and runs out the next rack also, but doesn’t have a shot on the one ball on the next rack. Erin takes this game to make the score 2-2. The next couple games go into some safty play and Briana take a nice lead at 6-2. In the 9th rack, Briana misses a tough jump shot over the five ball this allows Erin to capture 2 games. She is unable to hold on to the table. Briana comes back to leave her at 4 and takes the win. Thanks to all of our supporters, John and Minnie Trobiano of Castle Billiards and Cuetec Cues, Rick Phillippi, “The MONK” and BeBobPublishing, for all their support of this event. Congratulations to Erin McManus for winning the spot to CHINA, also to JiHyun Park Thonpsom and Rhio Flores they are going to the APA Amateur Nationals. Briana Miller will be going to Nicaragua in November to represent the United States in the WPA Junior World 9-Ball Championships. 1st $800 Briana Miller 2nd $550 Erin McManus 3rd $350 Megan Smith 4th $250 Brenda Heras 5-6th $170 Fran Crimi, Brenda Heras 7-8th $120 Colleen Shoop, Olga Gashkova
New Season New Winners The KF Cue Tour kicked off their new season at Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville FL, 10/3/4. The $1000 Added event drew a strong 47 player field. This would mean the final 4 coming back Sunday morning to play the finals. The story on the day would be Danny Sheldon form Orlando. Sheldon would lose his first match on the day 7-3 to local player Walter Blacker, From there he would go on to have many strong wins over Jeff Swails 5-0, Dan Lavoie 6-4, Wesley White 5 -1, Todd Anderson 5-1, Aaron Bolling 5-3, Trevor Moore 5-3 and then Lincoln Seiffert 5-2 to get to Sunday. Sunday morning would see Mike Delawder take the hotseat with a hard fought 7-5 win over Chip Dickerson, while this was going on Sheldon would walk through Han Berber 6-0 and follow this up with a 5-2 victory over Chip Dickerson to make his way to his first KF Final. The finals would guarantee a new winner on tour, the first 6 racks would be shared with the Score tied at 3-3 Mike Delawder took the next two racks for a 5-3 lead these would prove to be his last as Sheldon would win 5 in a row for an 8-5 Victory and his first KF Amateur Title. This was a great victory for Sheldon who won 10 matches in a row from the one loss side. November 2009 page 4
Danny Sheldon & Natalie Crosby
1st $600 2nd $400 3rd $300 4th $200 5th-6th $150 7th-8th $100 9th-12th $65 Top Junior $20 Prize
Danny Sheldon Mike Delawder Chip Dickerson Han Berber Bobby Garza, Lincoln Seiffert Jimmy Bird, Trevor Moore Mike Hutcheson, Devon Storms, Aaron Bolling, Jimmy Garza Asher Le
MONK DOES IT AGAIN B l a z e 9-Ball
Monk vs. Caukin becoming familiar pairing
at Q-Ball Billiards
Stuart, Fla. (Oct. 4, 2009) – To quote the great Yogi Berra, it was déjà vu all over again as Michell Monk topped Helene Caukin to win the Flamingo Billiards Tour stop on October 3. Monk previously defeated Caukin in the finals of the inaugural tourney in August, and as fate would have it, the two drew each other in the first round of the October event. The modified double-elimination tournament was held at Amy’s Billiards (www.amysbilliards.com) in Stuart, Fla. and was hosted by Amy Poulter, one of Florida’s top players and a familiar name on the money list.
Winner Joey Testa, Owner Jose Garcia and 2nd place finisher Matt Krah
Helene Caukin, Amy Poulter, Michell Monk
Monk took the first-round match against Caukin (7-2) and then defeated Christine Nevins (7-5) before running into Jeannie Seaver on the redraw. Monk squeaked into the finals after a back-and-forth match that appeared to be sewn-up by Seaver. But, in the closing moments of the double-hill game, Seaver uncharacteristically scratched on the 8-ball, drawing a Category 5 gasp from the room of shocked spectators. Caukin rebounded from her first-round loss with decisive wins against Shanelle Loraine (7-3) and Sabra MacArthur-Beahn (7-1). In the semifinal match, Caukin won handily over Robin Boggs (7-1), who looked anything but rusty in her return to the tournament circuit after a 3-year hiatus. The final match started as a see-saw battle with neither player catching fire. But the tide turned in Game 5, a long safety battle, when Caukin found herself with tough shape on the 9-ball, resulting in an easy tap-in for Monk. Michell went on to win the next three games, including a break and run in Game 8, before returning the favor for Caukin. In Game 9, Monk left herself a tough 9-ball, which Caukin easily pocketed. Monk broke and pocketed two balls in Game 10, then played safe and locked up the 1-ball. Caukin’s miss gave Monk ball in hand, which she played out to a 4-9 combo to seal the match at 7-3. After a strange day of giving and receiving hanging 9-balls, Monk quipped “they’re going to have to start calling me Cat, because I used all nine lives tonight.” Monk received a Sniper jump/break cue courtesy of Custom Cues (www.conceptcues.com), a Flamingo Billiards Tour sponsor along with Tweeten Fibre (www.tweeten.us) and Boynton Billiards (www. boyntonbilliards.com). Many thanks to Amy’s Billiards for being a great host and supporting the Flamingo Billiards Tour. 1st $365 Michell Monk ($365) 2nd $225 Helene Caukin ($225) 3rd $100 Robin Boggs, Jeannie Seaver 5th/8th $65 Amy Poulter, Niki Rasmussen, Tracy McCreary, Christine Nevins Please see www.flamingobilliardstour.com for all event details.
Blaze 9 Ball Tour made its way to Jose Garcia’s Q-Ball Billiards in Vineland NJ Sunday Oct 11th. Special thanks to Jose and his wonderful family for hosting the event, I also like to thank Tom Bow for donating the awards that were giving out at this event. A strong field of 30 players came out to play players like: Joey Testa, Matt Krah, Josh Bothers, Manny Chau, Eddie Abraham, and Brandon Shuff. Leading the top half of the bracket was Matt Krah with wins over Brandon Shuff 7-2, Raphael Saldana 7-3, Jay Brotherton 7-4, and Mark Stewart 7-4. Leading the bottome half of the bracket was Joey Testa with wins over Garrett Bell 7-0 Eddie Abraham 7-5, Chuck Pendrak 7-0 and Josh Brother 7-2.
Playing for the hot seat was Matt Krah vs Joey Testa this was a great match with Testa pulling away late to win the match 7-4 sending Krah to the one lost side. Waiting for Krah on the one lost side was Josh Brothers this was a great match that went hill hill when it was all said and done it was Matt krah winning the match 7-6 to get to the finals. In the finals it was Matt Krah Vs Joey Testa, Krah has to beat Testa twice to win the event. In the first set it was all Krah winning easily with a 7-1 blow out but in the second set Testa returned the favor by blowing out Krah by the same score 7-1 to win the event. Would like to all the player for coming out and all the sponsors of the tour.
RESULTS: 1st
$1000
Joey Testa
2nd
$525
Matt Krah
3rd
$315
Josh Brother
4th
$150
Mark Stewart
5th/6th
$100
Manny Chau, Chip Klien
$60
Bill Gallagher, Jay Brotherton
7th/8th
November 2009 page 5
Davis Takes First KF Title
Richard Broumpton, Jeff Scott, Mike Davis
The $1000 Added open event now taking place on Sunday would see 48 players show up, this was the first time the Open event drew more players than the Amateur. The tour is trying to encourage its Amateur member to compete in the open by offering them a reduced entry, 22 of Saturdays Amateur players showed up taking advantage of this. Richard Broumpton was showing some fine form on the day making his way through the winner’s side with wins over David Blalock “D.B”, 7-0, Nicole Winters, 7-1, Bobby Livrago 7-5, Jimmy Sandaler 7-5 and then Tony Crosby 7-5 to put himself in the winner side final where he would face Mike Davis. Davis route to the final included wins over Thomas Oddo 7-1, Dave Grossman 7-6, George McLanahan “Red” 7-2, Qi Liu 7-6 and then Butch Croft 7-2. The hotseat match would be a tight affair with Broumpton coming from 6-4 down to win the match 7-6. While all this was going on Local player Dave Grossman was running through the one loss side with wins over Terry Watchell, Mike Delawder, Bobby Garza, Neil Fujiwara, Wesley White, Qi Liu, Tony Crosby, George McLanhan before running into Mike Davis who would put him out in 3rd. The final would see Davis take the early lead 5-3 and 7-4, Broumpton would pull one back but at 7-5 Davis would take the next two and the match 9-5 for his first KF Cue Tour win. The Tour would like to Thanks Jeff Scott room owner and all his staff from Bankshot Billiards for hosting another great event. Our next event will be at Art of Billiard in Gainsville, FL, The Amateur event kicking off on Saturday 24th followed by the open on Sunday 24th of October. We would like once again to thanks all our sponsors for their support. Payouts 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th-6th 7th-8th
$750 $525 $350 $225 $125 $75
Mike Davis Richard Broumpton Dave Grossman George McLanahan Butch Croft, Tony Crosby Jimmy Garza, Qi Liu
November 2009 page 6
The Elevator Shot - Go Up and Down By Bill Smith “Mr3Cushion”, Old School Pool.net
WHY DO SO many billiardists play around the table shots when up-anddown shots would suit them much better. Start taking a closer look at your around-the-table opportunities, especially when the second object ball isn't "big" in the corner. You can turn small target areas into huge ones. In Diagram 1, for instance, the third ball is positioned in a small, unforgiving area; an around-the-table shot would have to score on the way in or not at all. Also, you'd have to hit the first ball very thin, using extreme English, and avoid a kiss in passing the first object ball. But play the same shot up and down, and you have far more control of speed; you're assured of leaving the first ball in a high scoring zone; and that final ball is much, much bigger. Hit the first ball with enough speed to bank it twice across the table to the side cushion; use minimum 2 o'clock English with a slightly elevated cue to create a little curve on the cue ball. In the shot of Diagram 2, most players not only choose an around-the-table shot but the wrong one to boot: four rails instead of five or six. There's a kiss there, too. So why not go up-and-down again, going four rails in behind the second ball as shown, and getting good position too? Hit the first ball thin, with minimum 1 o'clock English, and again, a slightly elevated cue. The first ball is banked cross the table to a "big ball" position in the corner for the next shot. Diagram 3 shows another often-overlooked option. Most average, and even skilled, players will try for five to seven rails around the table, and just about always get a kiss after the third rail. Instead, bank that first ball cross-corner the long way, and go up and down with high center ball, a level cue this time and an eighthof-a-ball hit on the first ball. You get a high degree of success of scoring, plus simple position for the next shot. Again, four rails work slightly better for position than three. The important thing to keep in mind is that these up-anddown shots give you a much bigger target — plus simple opportunities for great position play.
San Francisco Billiard Academy www.sfbilliards.com
Raising Your Sights San Francisco Billiard Academy www.sfbilliards.com
By: Bob Jewett
Bob Jewett A common piece of advice around pool tables is that you have to play better players to get better yourself. While I'm sure playing tough competition helps your game, I think watching top players is nearly as useful. I remember the first big tournament I went to that had players like Steve Mizerak, Jersey Bob Red Jewett and Luther Lassiter. Back then, the highest run I had ever seen was my own, and I had no idea who the top players were or how they played. That 1969 US Open (14.1) was a real eye opener and mind expander. I learned shots, moves and personalities. There was great play and major controversy. I just got back from the 2009 US Open (9 ball) in Virginia. It was my first time to Barry Behrman's annual event which is in it's 34th year, and I had a great time. If you have never been to the event, I urge you to make time and see it at least once. There were current and former world champions playing Wing ball continuously for a week, 2 ball always and the problem was to in back pick which one to watch. 2 I tried to watch them all, 5 8 3 9 7 paying special attention 6 4 1 to the ones I had not seen before like Donnie Mills and Chris Bartram. Draw Towards and spin The general seating had side great views, with raised bleachers. (Some other tournaments try to skimp by with chairs on the floor Potential scratch or with low risers.) A VIP ticket got you special The “Cut Break” at seating close to the action the US Open and with a table for drinks and snacks. Play was on 16 Diamond tables. They were the 9-foot model Break Box with one-piece slate. Leveling is done using 26 levels simultaneously, with 18 independent adjustments. That's a show in itself if you arrive early. If you do make the trip to Virginia next year, there is a lot to see besides pool -- seven days is a little much for a steady diet of nine ball -- including Navy installations, several military museums, gardens, and Virginia Beach. Mid-week the weather was great and I visited Colonial Williamsburg during two days to see where people like Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and George Washington started the colonies on the path to independence Of course, I was back at the Chesapeake Conference Center in time to see the evening matches. The main controversy, and it was pretty minor, was the use of the break box at nine ball. The players are required to place the cue ball in the middle two diamonds of the kitchen when breaking. In addition, the players were required to use a "hard, open break" that was not otherwise specified. Most players were using the "cut break" in which you hit the one ball along the same line as if you were playing the standard break from the
“Pool Saved My Life” One Man’s Tragic Story and What Pool Means to Him By Samm Diep, PoolTipJar.com © August 2009
From the early age of 13, Phil recalls banging balls around at the nearby YMCA with his skateboarding buddies. With no bridges available, it was normal to switch between shooting right-handed and lefthanded. Their summers were carefree and pool Samm Diep kept them out of trouble. It would be seven years later before Phil’s adolescent pastime would rescue him from his darkest demons. Continuing to play throughout grade school, he entered college and found himself a regular at Classic Billiards, the all-ages pool hall at the time. On one late night he witnessed the owner, Jason, matched up in 9-ball sets with a road player and for the first time, he recalled seeing two players “play 9-ball the way it was supposed to be played.” The two men broke and ran racks, played strategic defensive moves, made all the tough shots and made the game look so beautiful. I’m sure we can all remember the first time we saw pool played at a high level. It’s like making music. A couple years later, Phil invested in his first pool cue. It was a hundred dollar Viking cue which he still owns today. Along with the cue, he picked up a couple instructional videos. The one he watched over and over was Jerry Briesath’s “How to Play Pool Right.” That would be his first breakthrough in taking the game more seriously. At a young age, his parents divorced and his mom remarried. Both his dad and his step-dad also dabbled in the game and encouraged his interest. At age 20, Phil attended a college party that would forever change his life. It was there that he met Julie, an old high school crush. The two instantly connected and within weeks were head over heels. Their romance quickly progressed. They were madly in love and after a brief fivemonth courtship Phil proposed marriage and Julie accepted. It was a fairytale love story that would have a devastating ending. The two married and briefly moved to the East coast. In the fall of 1996, they returned to Colorado where Phil would face the initial blows of the hardships to come. That December, Phil’s step-father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They were told he only had three months to live. He called his wife to break the news. She was spending Thanksgiving with her family in Chicago and planned to return to Colorado as soon as possible. The haunting events that followed will remain with Phil for the rest of his life. On a chilly December evening, Phil received the most shocking phone call continued on page 16
REJ
continued on page10
Order Online at CuePen.com
November 2009 page 7
MITCHELL drives for win
Fort Pierce, Fla. (Oct. 24, 2009) – Gas money was no problem on the ride home for Stephanie Mitchell and Sabra MacArthur-Beahn as the two took home the top prizes in the October 24th Flamingo Billiards Tour stop. The pair had road-tripped together across the state to Ultimate Billiards in Fort Pierce, Fla., where Stephanie found herself in the driver’s seat by defeating Sabra 7-5 in the finals. But the road wasn’t easy for either player. Sabra had a shaky start with a loss to Shanelle Loraine (2-7), but grew stronger as the day wore on, defeating Janis Sessions (7-4) and Mimi McAndrews (7-1). After topping Amy Poulter (7-4), Sabra’s dead stroke was catching everyone’s eyes. Stephanie defeated Vanessa Seaver (7-3) and Mimi McAndrews (7-3) before going hill-hill and losing to Niki Rasmussen (6-7). The BAAT Woman (www.baattour.com) quickly rebounded on the left side by defeating Robin Boggs (7-2). On the modified double-elimination redraw, Jeannie Seaver defeated Helene Caukin (7-4), Christie Cloke squeaked by Emily Wilmoth (7-6) and Sabra defeated Michell Monk (7-4). In a rematch of their previous doublehill set, Stephanie and Niki Rasmussen paired up, and again went hill-hill, but this time Stephanie prevailed. When the dust settled, three of the four winners’-side finalists were now on the other side of the rail. In the semi-finals, Sabra matched up with Christie Cloke, who made a very impressive showing in just her second Regional Tour event. Each player capitalized on 9-ball combos early in the match, but with the score 4-3, Sabra caught stroke and went on to win the next three games and the match.
For the third time in a long afternoon, Stephanie found herself in a hillhill situation as she matched up with Jeannie Seaver. The game started badly for Jeannie with an inadvertent hand foul that affected the 1-ball’s roll. Jeannie fouled on both 1-ball safes by Stephanie, and the match ended on the 3-foul rule. In the finals, Sabra went up 4-1 with well-timed safety play setting up long runouts. After a long day of doublehill matches, Stephanie called for a 5-minute break, and returned with renewed focus. She ran the table in Games 6 and 8, caromed the 9-ball early in Game 9, and capitalized on Sabra’s rare misses to take Games 10 and 11. With Stephanie suddenly on the hill (6-5), Sabra made two balls on the break and left the 4-ball hanging – a roll that would end up being fateful. Later, with the 4-ball deep in the pocket and the 5-ball causing shot and shape problems, Sabra missed a kick at the 4 and gave up ball-in-hand. Stephanie made short work of the rack, running five balls and taking the match 7-5. 1st $370 Stephanie Mitchell ($370) 2nd $250 Sabra MacArthur-Beahn ($250) 3rd $130 Christie Cloke, Jeannie Seaver 5th $80 Michell Monk, Emily Wilmoth, Niki Rasmussen Helene Caukin 9th Amy Poulter, Christine Nevins, Robin Boggs, Vanessa Seaver 13th Mimi McAndrews, Debbie Barkley, Heather Barkley Shanelle Loraine
Gallego Makes Comeback The weekend of Oct 17-18, 2009 The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour returned to Blue Fox Billiards in Winchester, VA who graciously added $3000 to this weekend’s events. The Viking Cue Open 9-Ball Tour kicked off on Saturday and was followed up on Sunday with The Viking Cue Amateur 9-Ball Tour. 103 players from around the region competed this weekend not only for the prestige of claiming first place in the tournaments but also at their shot of taking home some of the $7,100 prize monies up for grabs. The Viking Cue Open 9-Ball drew in 46 players as Amateurs, Amateur-Advanced
and Open players participated in the tournament. The event drew in some of the heavy hitters including Matt Clatterbuck, Brandon Shuff, Ryan, McCreesh, Jerry Calderon, Jeff Abernathy, Scott Tollefson, Manuel Chau, Ramil Gallego and Mike Davis. Ramil Gallego claimed first defeating Manuel Chau, by making a comeback in set one from a 6-1 deficit to win the first set of the double elimination format 9-8 and the second set 7-3. Gallego had started in run for first off in the top of the bracket, where he would defeat Clyde Newill 9-5; Jason Trigo 9-1; Ryan Jones 9-1; Ryan McCreesh 9-7; Gallego would be sent to the one loss side of the chart by Chau 9-8; where he would defeat Matt
November 2009 page 8
Clatterbuck 7-5; Brandon Shuff 7-2; Jerry Calderon 7-2 to work his way back to the finals and face Chau. Manuel Chau had made his way to the finals undefeated sending the following into the one loss side, after drawing a bye in round 1, Eddie Deska 9-6; Scott Tollefson 9-2; Chuck Cuneo 9-3; Ramil Gallego 9-8; Jerry Calderon 9-2. The Viking Cue Open 9-Ball Tour Payouts 1st $1500 Ramil Gallego 2nd $900 Manuel Chau 3rd $600 Jerry Calderon 4th $430 Brandon Shuff 5/6th $200 Brian Deska, Matt Clatterbuck 7/8th $150 Scott Tollefson, Mike Davis 9/12th $100 Ryan McCreesh, Steve Wigglesworth, Justin Daniels Chuck Cuneo The Viking Cue Amateur 9-Ball Tour kicked off on Saturday and drew in 57 players from around the region. Eric Charlton from Roanoke, VA would go undefeated to win the event after making his way thru the top half of the bracket defeating Reggie Smallwood 5-3; Paul Peters 5-3; Kevin Kleinsmith 5-1; Kevin Irons 5-4; Russ Obaker 5-2; Clyde Newill 5-1 in the match for the hot seat. Charlton defeated Newill hill-hill to take home first place. 1st $700 Eric Charlton 2nd $500 Clyde Newill 3rd $300 Rick Castillo 4th $200 Ryan Jones 5/6th $150 Russ Obaker, Chris Hansen 7/8th $100 Jordan Grubb, Dan Madden The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour Staff would like to thank Conrad and Mary Coffman the owners of Blue Fox Billiards as well as their staff for the hospitality extended to staff members, players and spectators. If you make your way to Winchester make sure you stop in and checkout Blue Fox Billiards which houses 14-9 foot tables, a full bar and restaurant, and a full service pro shop. The Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour Staff would also like to extend a special thank you to Barry Behrman for providing waivers for the US Open players that participated in this weekend’s event.
Pool for Boys & Girls
by: Don “Cheese” Akerlow Boys & Girls Clubs of the Phoenix Metro area, has a new guardian angel and benefactors. Bruce de Lis (the Cocobola Cowboy) posted a request on a local chat room “An Idea How You Can Support Youth Pool”. In the chat room Bruce wrote, “These kids who are members of the Boys & Girls Club in the Metro Phoenix area are mostly from poor homes. They don’t have cell phones, wifi’s, Xboxes, and they don’t get to go to a pro sporting event, so when they get an opportunity they go to the local Boys & Girls Club to have fun.” Bruce said when he was a kid this is where he went. The members of the chat room came through big time! As well as the Senior Center Bruce goes to, who donated ball sets. Others donated chalk, cue balls, cues, instructional DVDs, table brushes, wall racks, tips, triangles, cue holders, all items that the Boys & Girls Club needed desperately. Anthony Markey the youth program director of the Peoria Boys & Girls Club said, In the 8 months he has been there the cues didn’t even have tips or chalk. Bruce made several deliveries to Anthony at the Club site and teen center to deliver all the items he had collected. Bruce received an email from Anthony stating “We’re very thankful for all of the help that you and your friends have extended our way. Again, I’ll put out a request to our Clubs to put together a list of additional needs that they have.” de Lis got involved in pool back in 1954 at a Boys Club in Miami, Florida, “It was a great life experience and this is a way to give back some 50 years later. These kids are the future of pool. They are the future tournament players, league members and now is the time to invest in the future of our
great sport, if it is to survive in the future.” “The last suggestion I will make is that there are kids playing pool in Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA’s, Teen Centers, City and Country Recreational Centers right in your own back yard in many areas of the U.S.A. and throughout the world. Many of the places that these kids are playing pool have little or no equipment, are under funded and would be a great place for you to get involved as I did with our local Boys & Girls Club.” ----- Be like Bruce! ABOUT THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix has been serving youth in Phoenix and the West Valley since 1946. Today, the organization operates 12 Clubhouses and 8 “The Club” Teen Centers, providing after-school and summer programs for some 35,500 youth ages 6-18 each year. All of the Clubhouses are located in areas neighborhoods that are in desperate need of positive activities for kids. For kids at the Clubs, learning to play pool is a great way to build new skills, make friends, and stay off the streets and out of trouble. Unfortunately, with such a high volume of youngsters wanting to play, the Clubs don’t have nearly enough pool equipment to keep up with the need. If you’re interested in donating new or used pool equipment to help keep the game alive for kids, please contact 602-954-8182 or mail your donation to: The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix Del E. Webb Administrative Center 2645 N. 24th Street - Phoenix, AZ 850208 or email Bruce at: brucesdelis@yahoo.com
November 2009 page 9
Delawder and Kennedy Win
The 2nd stop on the KF Cue Tour was held at the Art Of Billiards in Gainesville, FL, 10,24,09. Saturday’s $1000 Added Amateur event would kick off with a Strong 41 player field. Mike Delawder was the man to beat on the day, after finishing 2nd in the 1st event of the season he would go one better in Gainesville and finally capture his first KF title. Delawder went through the field undefeated with wins over Bill Stoll 7-2, Mike Hutcheson 7-5, Bobby Garza 7-4, Chip Dickerson 7-2, Don Kriesler 7-3 and then a win over Fast breaks Room owner Ted Lepak 7-4 to capture the hot seat. While all this was going on a familiar face on tour Jim (Jazz Man) Oddy who took a 1st round loss to Jimmy Garza won 6 matches on the one loss side before bumping into Julio Del Pozo to finish 7 th. Matt Bauries would make his way to the final with wins over Trevor Moore 5-2, Chip Dickerson 5-0, Daniel Plumber 5-2, Don Kriesler 5-4 and then a semi final win over Ted Lepak 5-3. The final would see Mike Delawder play some strong Mike Delawaer pool and take his first KF title with a commanding 8-4 win. Bryce lepak would finish top Junior and receive a free entry and Valerie Dukich would finish top lady receiving $30 Amateur Payout Mike Delawder $550 1st Matt Bauries $390 2nd Ted Lepak $290 3rd Don Kriesler $190 4th $130 5th-6th Julio Del Pozo, Daniel Plumber $90 7th-8th Jim (Jazz Man) Oddy, Chip Dickerson 9th-12th Mike Webb, Jimmy Bird, Elvis Rodriguez, Trevor Moore $60 Sundays $1000 Added open event would draw a very strong 33 players, Some notable names in attendance were Butch Croft, Neil Fujiwara, Tommy Kennedy, Dan Lavoie, Justin Hall, Richie Richeson and Tony Crosby to mention a few. On the day Justin Hall was looking very strong and steam rolled his way to
the final with wins over Charlie Tudor 7-2, Jim Sandaler 7-4, Jim Oddy 7-1, Chip Dickerson 7-4 and then a win over Matt Bauries 7-4 to capture the hot seat. The day was filled with big name players taking early losses; one of those players the 1992 US Open Champion Tommy Kennedy would take a first round loss to Jim Sandaler 7-6. Kennedy would then dig deep and play some amazing pool and plough his way through the one loss side with wins over Bob Albert, Bill Dunsmore, Ted Lepak, Don Kriesler, Butch Justin Hall, Tommy Kennedy Croft, Chip Dickerson, Trevor Moore and then a semi final win over Matt Bauries 7-6. The Final would see the first 4 games shared with score 2-2 Kennedy would make a few mental errors and lose the next 3 games to go behind 5-2, Just when it looked like Hall might run away with it Tommy Kennedy would rattle of 5 games in a row with some great shot making and safety play winning him many of them games, Hall would pull one back to get the score to 8-6 but that as far as it would go as Kennedy would be the 2nd player on the weekend to win his 1st KF Title. Open Payouts Tommy Kennedy $600 1st Justin Hall $400 2nd Matt Bauries $280 3rd Trevor Moore $190 4th $90 5th-6th Chip Dickerson, Richie Richeson $60 7th-8th Bucth Croft, Neil Fujiwara The KF cue tour would like to Thank Art Of Billiards room owners Dana & Art Rogers for hosting a great event along with all our sponsors that can be viewed at www.kfcuetour.com Important The Bankshot Billiards event that was suppose to take place on November the 7th-8th has now been moved to Strokers in Palm Harbor, We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused as we know many players had already pinned this event in on their calendars, We will reschedule with Bankshots in Ocala for a later date. For more in got to the KF site or contact Tony
Raising Your Sights
November 2009 page 10
continued from page 7
side cushion in which you hit the one ball full. From a tight rack, the "wing ball" will usually go in for this break, and sometimes the one ball will go straight into the side. The problem with the cut break is control since the cue ball retains a lot of speed due to the cut angle. The solution is to turn down the speed -- the wing ball seems to go even more often for a somewhat softer break -- and use draw and outside english to bring the cue ball back to the center or top of the table. The problem was that some players turned down the speed too much to keep the officials happy. I don't think any player lost his turn for a soft break, but some were warned and cranked up the speed a little to comply. There were many great matches A few that I saw were the loss in the second round of Mika Immonen to Chris Bartram and the final three matches -- Mills v. Souquet, Mills v. Immonen and Immonen v. Souquet. All were well-played and close, with a variety of styles. If you have never seen these great players live and in person, you really need to take a trip. If Virginia seems like too long a trip and too far away, consider the Mosconi Cup -- ten champions fighting for the title in Las Vegas, December 10-13. The next US Open will be October 16-23, 2010.
Mika Back2Back
Story & photo of Mika Immonen provided by NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer
Pool fans from across the country gathered at the final day of the US Open 9-ball Championships in Chesapeake, VA, as they watched the showdown of the final four players, out of a field that started with 216. And these fans did in fact get to see history in the making, as Mika Immonen was crowned US Open 9-ball Champion for the second consecutive time. This had only been done once before, by Nick Varner nearly twenty years ago, with his back-to-back wins in 1989 and 1990. At 1:00 pm, on Saturday, October 24, two matches would determine the fate of the four final players at the US Open. In the Predator Arena, in a match streamed live by Accu-Stats, “The Kaiser” Ralf Souquet andDonnie Mills faced off as the final two undefeated players in the event. In this “hot seat” match between Souquet and Mills, where seasoned veteran Souquet was the favorite, it looked like Souquet would run away with the match, jumping ahead 9-5 in a race to 11. However, after Souquet scratched on the break in the following rack, Mills went on a four-game tear to tie the score at 9-9. With the score 10-9 in Mills’ favor, Donnie MIlls broke dry, leaving the 9-ball hanging in the bottom right corner pocket. And yes, Ralf Souquet ran out to go hill-hill, while Mills sat stewing in his seat. And in the next rack, Donnie Mill’s dreams of going into the finals undefeated were shattered as Souquet broke and ran out.. Meanwhile on the adjacent table, Mika Immonen was facing off against Lee Van Corteza of the Philippines in the quarterfinal match. Once again, Mika looked to be exiting the event when being down 8-5, but turned things around to win six straight games to take the match 11-8. Congratulations to Lee Van Corteza of the Republic of the Philippines for his fourth place finish at the US Open. Corteza is becoming one of the most threatening Pinoy players around, having finished 7th in 2008 US Open, and winning the Derby City Classic 10-ball Challenge. Watch out for him in upcoming major events, including the WPA World 9-ball Championships in Manila. www.pooldawg.com
This moved Immonen into the semifinal match against Donnie Mills, where Mika Immonen got off to a slow start. Mills led the match 7-4, but Immonen picked up speed after an untimely scratch on the 8 by Mills. However, Mills had another letdown as the cue ball headed right into the side pocket in his hill-hill break, and Mika ran out to claim the spot in the finals against Ralf Souquet. The final match of the 2009 US Open 9-ball Championships would be a showdown between two European Champions who have undoubtedly matched up many times before. The
undefeated Ralf Souquet faced Mika Immonen, in a single race to 13 games. The arena surrounding the beautiful Diamond Paragon Table was packed, and this would be the defining match to make one of them a two-time US Open Champion. After US Open promoter & founder Barry Behrman introduced the players, the match began shortly after 7 pm. Mika Immonen jumped to take the lead at 4-2, and looked to take a 3-game lead, but missed an easy 8-ball, with the crowd gasping in shock. Souquet took that game, the broke and ran to tie the set 4-4. Following that, Immonen missed a 6-ball, which allowed Souquet to take a 5-4 lead. Souquet claimed the next fwo racks for a 7-4 lead, but the momentum shifted again in favor of Immonen, and after a solid safety on the one ball, Souquet fouled,
allowing Mika to take a 9-7 lead. Immonen and Souquet both added a game to the score to go 10-8, and after Ralf’s dry break in Rack 19, it looked like “The Iceman” was out for sure. However, he misjudged the angle to get to the 8 ball on the head rail, and landed the cue ball on top of the 8. Immonen attempted to play a safe on the 8, but ended up nearly banking it into the bottom corner pocket, leaving the 8 and 9 for Ralf, who edged closer with a score of 10-9. In Rack 20, Souquet broke and ran to the 3, where he played a safety. This forced Immonen to jump, and although he got a good hit, he left an open shot for Souquet to run out and tie at 1010. The next rack brought a safety battle over the 3, which ended when Souquet left it hanging in pocket and Immonen cleaned up to take the lead. Immonen broke in the next rack, and shocked the audience by missing the 2 ball entirely. This gave Souquet ball in hand, however, a scratch on the 6 ball proved lethal, and Immonen took the hill, 12-10. Immonen successfully made a ball on the break in the next rack, and a clear 1-9 carom laid out for The Iceman to claim the match. He collapsed to the floor in shock as his name would be put in the history books as only the second player to ever win backto-back US Open titles. The celebration proceeded in the arena as fans and friends watched Mika Immonen receive his plaque memorializing this event. In his blog, www.icemanmika.blogspot.com Mika shared his thoughts on his comeback win. “I’m still in disbelief that it really happened. I lost my second game in the tournament and went on a crazy mission to win 14 games in a row to snap it off from the B-side of the double elimination chart.” Look for more updates on the Iceman’s blog on his performance at the US Open. Congratulations to Mika Immonen for this landmark in his career. Immonen continues to prove that he one of the most dominant players in the sport today, and we will look to see many more great performances from him to come… Let’s see if he can do it again next year! 1st $40,000 Mika Immonen 2nd $15,000 Ralf Souquet 3rd $10,000 Donnie Mills 4th $7,000 Lee Van Corteza 5/6 $6,000 Rodney Morris Kim Davenport 7/8 $5,000 Karl Boyes Steve Moore 9-12 $4,000 Johnny Archer Shane Van Boening Imran Majid Chris Bartram 13-16 $3,000 Y. Akagariyama Charlie Williams Mike Dechaine Jose Parica November 2009 page 11
"The Iceman" Snows Competition
BCD Tournament
Written by Jerry Tarantola of NYCGrind.com
On October 10th-11th the Predator 9-Ball Tour was hosted by a new pool room on it's season
as he was got to the hill first, 8-6, in the race to 9. Mika climbed back to make it double hill when Jose elected to attempt to execute a tricky safe. Parica had a long tough shot on the two ball, and opted to play a safe, bringing the cue ball around three rails to hide behind a cluster of balls. He leaked the shot, and left Mika a shot on the two. Mika then went on to run out in impressive L-R BCD 1st Place Winner, William Finnegan, BCD 2nd Place Winner Ariel Rivera fashion, breaking up a schedule, BQE Billiards in Queens, NY. Fortyfew clusters of locked-up balls in the process. one strong players showed up for Stop #16 of After the loss to Mika, Jose was fired up and it's 19-event season. played a near-perfect set against Cleiton Rocha With only two more regular season stops en-route to a 9-4 score. Jose's next match before the final event, the Predator Tour points was against top NY player, Oscar Bonilla who race is heating up for player of the year. Each has been impressive of late. Oscar came out year, tour owner Tony Robles gives trophies of the gate firing, and built up a 6-4 lead over and prizes to the tour's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place Jose. After Oscar had a costly scratch on the finishers in each respective division: Pro, Open, break, Jose began to build up momentum and Ladies, A, B, and C/D. dominated the set from that moment. Parica With the US Open 9-Ball Championships right won 5 consecutive games to close out the set around the corner, this event served as a great 9-6. This win lined up Jose to play the loser of the warm-up for the most prestigious tournament in the US. World #1-ranked player "The Iceman" match for the hot seat, between Mike Dechaine Mika Immonen made a special appearance and Mika Immonen--who also recently dueled along, with several other world-class players. for the hot seat at the Galveston World Classic One of the highlights of this event was a strong 10-Ball event. In this rematch, it was Mika who performance from Predator Tour newcomer jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, before seeing Cleiton Rocha from Haverhill, MA. After a firstMike come back to tie the set at 4 games a round hill-hill (9-8) loss to Al Zea, Cleiton then piece. In what was the turning point of the beat Jerry Tarantola 9-4, Mhet Vergara 9-7, set, Mike was running out a spectacular rack, Zion Zvi 9-8 and Tony Robles 9-7 to come back before getting bad position on the 9-ball. Mike on Sunday for the final 8. On Sunday, Cleiton elected to go for a tough down-table cut, which played another impressive set against 1st place he barely missed--giving Mika back the lead "A" player Lionel Rivera defeating him 9-5 before 5-4. From that point on, through a combination losing 9-4 to Jose Parica. of outstanding play from Mika and several Raxx Pool Room owner Holden Chin came good rolls, Mr. Immonen went on to cruise to a back on the winner's side on the second day, 9-4 win. before losing a nail-biting hill-hill set versus In the semifinal match between Jose Mike Dechaine and being eliminated by Oscar Parica and Mike Dechaine, the 22-year-old Bonilla, 9-7. young gun was able to capitalize on his big One of the winningest pros of all time, break and amazing shotmaking to overcome Jose Parica, was tearing up the field, until he the battle-tested veteran, 9-4. went head to head with reigning US Open The final match at BQE between Mika Champion,Mika Immonen. In a gritty battle, it Immonen and Mike Dechaine was all Mika, looked like it would be Jose to pull out the "W," who took control Final Results: early and never 1st: $1000 "The Iceman" Mika Immonen gave Mike much to 2nd: $675 Mike "Pain" Dechaine work with. In a clinic 3rd: $500 "Amang" Jose Parica by the reigning US 4th: $375 Oscar Bonilla Open Champion 5th/6th: $230 Cleiton Rocha, Holden Chin and number 1 player 7th/8th: $150 Lionel Rivera, Mike Wong in the world, Mika 9th/12th: $100 Tony Robles, Dave Deserio, Antonio Guerrero, took the set 11-5 for "Ginky" George Sansouci the win.
November 2009 page 12
L-R Jose Parica, Mika Immonen, BQE Cafe owner Nick & Mike Dechaine
14 players turned out for the Sunday BCD second-chance tournament at BQE Billiards. In this event, Predator Tour Tournament Director William "Finn" Finnegan cruised through the winner's bracket to to secure a spot in the finals. En route to the hot seat, "Finn" defeated Ron Mason 6-3, Gail Glazebrook 6-3, Diana Rojas 5-3, and Naldo Troncoso 6-3. Prior to his loss against "Finn," Naldo Troncoso had an impressive shut out win against top "B" player, Ariel Rivera, 6-0. In that match, Naldo played superb pool, showing a combination of heart and gritty safety play. After losing the "hot seat" match to William Finnegan, Naldo awaited the winner of Ariel Rivera or "Snooky" Diana Rojas. This was a hard-fought battle between two players who have been both improving in leaps and bounds. Snooky and Ariel went blow for blow early on, but Ariel pulled away to close out a 6-3 win, setting up a rematch against Naldo. Naldo won the first 4 games against Ariel, which made it 10 consecutive games including their last set. However, Ariel began to battle back, returning with five consecutive games to take the lead, before Naldo tied it up hill-hill. In the tie-breaking game, it was a back-and-forth safe battle, which Ariel closed out after a missed 9-ball bank by Naldo. Ariel was then set to face "Finn" in the finals, to make it his third consecutive appearance in the finals of the Predator BCD events, having won previously at both Comet Billiards and Raxx. However, it was Finn's day to shine, as he won by final score of 5-3.
BCD Final Results: 1st:
$200
William Finnegan
2nd: $130
Ariel Rivera
3rd: $80
Naldo Troncoso
4th: $45
"Snookie" Diana Rojas
Tony Robles would like to thank his sponsors.
November 2009 page 13
Vidal and Glazebrook Take Top Honors Eastside Billiards in NYC played host to stop # 17 of the 2009 Predator 9-Ball Tour. This event drew some of the strongest players in the Tri-State area. Top players included Marc “Spain” Vidal, Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Mhet Vergara, Jorge Rodriguez, Victor Nau, Ken Kerner, Frankie Hernandez and Dave Pinkston. Day one action saw Sean Morgan go undefeated at the top of the bracket, beating Donald Chu 9-3, Walter Goller 9-1, Mhet Vergara 9-7 and Jorge Rodriguez 9-7. Marc Vidal was in dead stroke as he dominated the bottom of the chart defeating Kevin Tenery 9-3, Jason Hunt 9-3, and Dave Pinkston 9-5 before squeaking a 9-8 victory over Ken Kerner. For the C/D players, Ramilo Tanglao
surprised everyone with his stellar play this stop. A newbie to the tour, Ramilo took out Eastside Billiards veteran, Dave Weinstein & Patrick Myers, before losing a close call battle with Open player Jorge Rodriguez! Tanglao easily won the C/D player of the event so congratulations Ramilo. On the one loss side, Frankie Hernandez was in the zone after an earlier loss to Mhet Vergara by a score of 9-5. Hernandez went on
to beat Wali Muhammad 9-5, Lionel Rivera 9-5, Dave Pinkston 9-6 and Jorge Rodriguez 9-7 to survive the day. On day two, Sean Morgan and Marc Vidal played a spectacular match that including everything from great breaking, good safety play and picture perfect run outs. In the end, Vidal edged out a 9-8 win for the hot seat over Morgan. After his devastating hill/hill lost to Vidal, Ken Kerner was out for blood winning his next two matches against Mhet Vergara and Frankie Hernandez, setting up the semifinal match against Sean “Alaska” Morgan. Both players were dying for a rematch with Vidal as both lost to the undefeated player on the hill. Unfortunately for Ken, he found himself behind rather quickly in the match and Morgan sealed Kerner’s exit from the tournament, defeating him 9-4. Morgan had earned his second chance with Vidal. In the final race to 11, Sean Morgan’s break consistently failed to make a ball on the break, while Marc seemed to be the break and run specialist. The two traded rack in the beginning, but with Morgan’s break disadvantage haunting him, it was only a matter of time before Vidal started to take control of the match. Marc closed the match 11-5 for the win. Many thanks to Eastside Billiards owner Jerry Shipman and his incredible staff for hosting the event. The next event will be taking place at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ November 7-8. www.castlebilliards.com This will be an ABCD event only! No Open or Pro players will be allowed. This is the last tour stop before the $3,000 added year end Open finale at Raxx Pool Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY. www. raxxpoolroom.com Players that have played in 3 or more events this year will pay the normal entry fee for the finale. Players that played less
than 3 stops will pay double the entry fee in the finale. I would like to thank Predator & Poison Cues again for supporting the tour this year as well as Blatt Billiards, Delta 13, The Seminole Tribe of Florida, The Seminole Pro Tour, Designer of the Predator 9-Bal Tour site, Rob Omen of PoolOnTheNet.com, Billiards Press, Mike Webb Custom Cues, RJH Custom Cues, Tiger Products, Mezz Cues, Mika Immonen & his Mastering Pool DVD Series, Cuetable.com, Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases, Master Chalk, Billiards Game Stroke Trainer, NYCGrind. com, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest, Inside Pool Magazine, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Maxim Billiards and The Tournament Guide. Special thanks to Digital Ink-The Official Print Company for the Predator 9-Ball Tour. www.dig-ink.com 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
$900 $600 $400 $300 $250 $250 $200 $200
Marc “Spain” Vidal Sean “Alaska” Morgan Ken Kerner Frankie Hernandez Mhet Vergara Jorge Rodriguez Dave Pinkston Jason Hunt
Gail Glazebrook Dominates the 2nd Day BCD Event “Kiss of Death” captain Gail Glazebrook was in dead stroke on Sunday as she dominated the 15 player field at Eastside Billiards. Glazebrook started the day by taking a 5-0 lead against Eddie Culhane. Eddie stormed right back to take the next three games. With the score 5-3, Gail approached the table, smashed the balls and calmly completed the break and run, for a 6-3 win. Glazebrook then took her calm approach against #1 ranked C/D player Rene Villalobos wining 5-1 and setting up a match against the very tough Ariel Rivera. Rivera has been on fire with the BCD events. He has reached the finals of the last three BCD events and won two of them. With Glazebrook though, Rivera has his hands full. It was a back and forth battle but with Gail on the hill 5-4, she took a gutsy 5-9 combo and split the pocket for the 6-4 victory and a chance to play Dave Weinstein, coincidentally, the winner of the last BCD event at Eastside Billiards. Weinstein, a super strong B player had a tough first match against the always dangerous Diana Rojas, winning 6-4. He then went on to defeat Patrick Meyers 6-5 and Chris Karp 5-4 for a chance to play for the hot seat against Glazebrook. Glazebrook however would dominate this match, torching Dave
November 2009 page 14
6-1, earning her spot in the final. Weinstein and Rivera, both previous BCD winners, faced off in the semi final match. Dave brought his ‘A’ game to this match making very few mistakes and defeated Rivera 5-3, allowing Weinstein another chance at Glazebrook. The final was a lot closer than the previous match as these two warriors went toe to toe. A few incredible outs by Glazebrook got her to the hill first. At 6-4, Glazebrook made an incredible, on the rail, full table length backward cut shot on the 9-ball to seal the win! This was Gail’s first BCD win of the year. Congratulations to both players for a great tournament! 1st $160
Gail Glazebrook
2nd $110
Dave Weinstein
3rd $75
Ariel Rivera
4th $45
Ramilo Tanglao
CSI Forms New Team Premier U.S. pool and billiards organization CueSports International group lesson or to inquire about participating as a sponsor partner (CSI) and innovative Legends contact Mark Cantrill at (480) 612and Champions producer Mark 7732. Cantrill are pleased and proud to announceTeam CSI – American Grand Masters. Team CSI – American Grand Masters is a collective of highly BreakRAK, LLC and The Action accomplished and well regarded Report (TAR) are joining Team U.S. players working together with CSI as team sponsors. BreakRAK CSI and Cantrill to promote the is the manufacturer of the premier game via exhibitions and group break training tool BreakRAK instructions across the country. and TAR is the leader in online Additionally the team will promote cue sport promotions and live CueSports International along with streaming. their individual sponsors at tours As the group at BreakRAK knows, and tournaments. Cantrill will act great breaks are developed as the team’s manager. they do not happen by accident. The 2009-2010 team members Photo by Justin Collette: (LtoR) Charlie Bryant, Corey Deuel, Accuracy, rhythm, coordination are: BCA Hall of Fame inductee, John Schmidt, Earl Strickland and speed are imperative in a well 13 year U.S. Mosconi Cup Team executed break. Founded in 2002 member and legend Earl “The Pearl” Strickland, #7 U.S. ranked by Charley Bond, the BreakRAK allows a more efficient and effective player and two time Houston Open winner Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, way to break train helping players take their game to a higher level. # 6 ranked U.S. player, 2006 U.S Open winner and 2009 Derby City The BreakRAK is used in well respected training schools and utilized Classis One Pocket winner John “Mr. 400” Schmidt and current #1 by numerous instructors all over the U.S. U.S. ranked player Corey Deuel who has served on the U.S Mosconi The Action Report (TAR) exploded on the pool scene just a few short Cup Team 5 times, won the U.S. Open in 2001 and is one of the most years ago. TAR has brought professional cue sport online streaming gifted pool stars on tour. to a new level. To date TAR has streamed 16 events with over Team CSI – American Grand Masters is part of a larger concept with $400,000 in prize money. more details to be announced shortly. For more information about For more information www.playcsi.com Team CSI – American Grand Masters, to schedule an exhibition,
BreakRAK and TAR Join Team CSI
BCAPL Rules and Refs Past, Present and Future
When Mark Griffin purchased the BCA Pool League (BCAPL) in 2004, the league did not have its own rules to govern play. Griffin assembled a team to begin writing the first-ever BCA Pool League set of rules. The team included main writer Bill Stock, now the BCAPL Director of Rules and Referees, and National Senior Referees Buddy Eick and Ken Shuman who served as technical editors. Over a year in the making, the first edition of The Official Rules of the BCAPL became effective October 1, 2007. The second edition was released June 1, 2008, and an annual updated version is scheduled to be released every June. Once the official BCAPL rules were established the next step was the creation of the new BCAPL National Referee Training Program. Eick was appointed as Director of Training and Shuman as Referee Instructor. Eick and Shuman designed a brand new course, including formal classroom and floor training sessions, physics demonstrations, and strict testing requirements. The BCAPL is the only league organization to offer this program of classes in remote host locations away from their home base. For more information go to www.playbca.com
November 2009 page 15
Yomaylin “Smiley” Feliz Wins
Nicholas Chan, Paul Everton, Yomaylin Feliz
Pool Saved My Life
continued from page 7
you could ever imagine. It was Julie’s mom. He listened in utter disbelief as she spoke the words, “…she’s gone…” Just like that, in an instant, Julie was gone. Phil’s beautiful bride was making her way back home from Chicago when, the state patrol later confirmed, she had fallen asleep behind the wheel and drove off the road. Luckily, no one else was injured but the grief over her death still remains with him to this day. Phil fought back the tears as he shared the details with me. “The most painful day of my life was when I saw my baby girl just lying there,” he said, “She looked peaceful but I never hurt so badly in my life. I wanted to die. This whole time, I just asked ‘why?’.” After failed counseling sessions and turning to his religion for answers, Phil then turned to the only thing at the time that numbed his sorrow – alcohol. Meanwhile, he and his mom were still pained by his step-dad’s diminishing health. Phil explained, “I was purposely destroying myself. I was looking for answers. Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong?” Failing to find a reason to live, he was giving up on life. After three months of self-destruction and complete misery, a good friend’s words would unknowing commence Phil’s healing process. She said, “She [Julie] wouldn’t want you to live your life like this. Didn’t you love to play pool?” “It made perfect sense,” Phil recalls. In February 1997, he screwed his cues together again. “The first day, I was just going through the motions. I forced myself to do it again the next day. Then, for about half an hour, I actually forgot about what happened, for the first time.” He was immediately flushed with all his fond memories and experiences from the game. “From that point on, I really shaped up. I went back to school and took up pool again,” he recalls with a smile on his face, “Yeah, she wouldn’t want me to live this way. She knows that I’ll always love her.” He began taking lessons and playing again for hours. He transferred his pain from the bottle to the balls. He even took trips to the pool hall with his step-dad after chemo treatments, before his condition worsened and eventually ran its course. How does he handle pain nowadays? “Nothing can possibly compare to what happened,” he explains, “Pool definitely saved my life, wholeheartedly. Yeah, I started to get my act together, but at the same time, all the energy that I had, whether it be good or bad, I channeled it into something positive.” When asked how someone going through struggles of their own could benefit from his story, he adds, “whatever situation you’re going through, it doesn’t have to be pool but find something that you’re passionate about, something you love, and use that energy to do something positive versus feeling like life dealt you a crummy hand. Think about what you have, how fortunate you are. Sure enough, there’s someone out there in the world that would kill for what you have.” As a powerful final statement, “You might leave the game, but the game will never leave you.” These days, Phil experiences another high in his life from marathon running and training. His time is split between pool and running. He is thankful for having found such a magnificent, faithful friend in pool. “My heart will always be to the game because of what it’s given to me. It’s hard to describe in words. It gave me my life back. It’s really not just a hobby. It’s a passion.” [The player’s name in this story has been changed to protect his identity.]
November 2009 page 16
Master Billiards – Queens, New York hosted the Tri State Tour October 17, 2009. The C/D 9-Ball Event had $500 added and 30 players that showed up to vie for the 1st place prize. Yomaylin “Smiley” Feliz wins first Tri-State. She made an impressive showing with a 6 – 0 win/loss record. Her winning trail; versus Dave Shlemperis 7 – 6; Ryan McCarthy 7 – 5; George Poltorak 7 – 5; Duane Toney 7 – 4; Nicholas Chan for the Hot Seat 7 – 4; Finally played Paul Everton and won 7 – 6 for the victory. After playing less than 3 years, Smiley is on track to win many events and reach the Professional ranks. Paul Everton’s win/loss (W/L) record 6 – 2; Nicholas Chan 6 – 2 (W/L) Special acknowledgement goes to local favorite Diana “Snooky” Rojas who is no stranger to winning, with a 5/2 (W/L) record a few players were fortunate to survive her. 1st $650 Yomaylin Feliz 2nd $330 Paul Everton 3rd $190 Nicholas Chan 4th $100 Diana “Snooky” Rojas 5/6 $50 Duane Toney, James DeGiosafatto
“The Mosconi Cup is coming!!! Get excited!!!” Matchroom Sports presents, “The Mosconi Cup!” at the MGM Grand Hotel/ Casino in Las Vegas, NV Dec 10-13, 2009!!! To celebrate and welcome the Mosconi Cup back to the United States, Matchroom Sports is generously sponsoring the world’s longest running weekly 9-ball tournament - *22 years and still going strong! Matchroom Sports will provide prize giveaways for distribution on November 8 & December 6, 2009 at Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower, Ca! To include a **Grand Prize (2), trip for two to the Mosconi Cup live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas!!! *These giveaways will be awarded in conjunction with Hard Times Billiards’ $1,000 added 1st Sunday of the Month tournament. Brought to you by: C³ Sports Marketing and Hard Times Billiards! *Total sponsorship support value at over $5,000!!! Sweaters & Rail Birds alike are highly encouraged to join the festivities; only tournament participants will qualify for prizes. For more information about these events, email crowncitycorey@yahoo.com.
Viking Cues Gateway Savannah
3rd 4th 5th/6th
$170 $80 $20
The 2009 Tour Season came to an end as Rader’s Sports Bar hosted the final $300 ADDED Tour Stop. A field of 28 players from Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri and Illinois participated, some taking their final shots at moving up the ladder in the points race and others just came out to play in another quality event. Check out our new look on the web, www. zimsrack.com. 1st $650 Lars Vardaman (A+) 2nd $350 Mike Mercurio (B) Don Crump (B+) Chris Winschief (B+) Dustin Dunham (A+), Mark Patrick (C)
Oliviera wins 10-Ball
Tour stop #2 of the Dominiak Cues Northeast Amateur 10-Ball Tour was held at the popular London Billiards in Worcester, MA on Sunday October 11th with a field of 25 players. The top half of the winners side brackets saw tour newcommer Nelson Oliviera from New Bedford, MA make his way to the hotseat match with closely contested matches over Adam Blair, Rich Andle, Rodney Polak and Seth Tenzin. On the bottom half of the winners side chart, tour regular Kevin Blackstock was playing steady after he caught a bye in the first round and continued to the hotseat match with wins over Steve Kang, Chuck Hill and Choneyi Tenzin. The hotseat match between Kevin Blackstock and Nelson Oliviera went back and forth but Nelson was able to come out on top in the end 4-2. Kevin would take his seat on the 1 loss side and wait for an opponent to come through to try and get another shot at Nelson in the finals. Steve Kang would be the player that made his way through the 1 loss side to meet up with Kevin Blackstock and play for a spot in the 1 race to 5 finals. Steve was also sent to the 1 loss side earlier by Kevin Blackstock in a close match so Steve was looking to avenge that earlier 1st place $225 2nd place $125 3rd place $75 4th place $40 5th/6th $15 5th/6th $15
loss. This match went hill/hill with Kevin Blackstock coming out on top once again after the 9 ball hung for Steve during a smooth runnout in the hill/hill game. This set up the rematch between Nelson Oliviera and Kevin Blackstock in the race to 5 finals. The finals kicked off about 7pm and the tour format is a 1 race to 5 finals at all tour stops. Nelson got out to an early 2-0 lead on Kevin and seemed to be cruising to the win on tour stop #2. But Kevin was determined to make his way back into this match and was on a beautiful runnout until suddenly the 8 ball hung in the corner. This allowed Nelson to easily take the lead 3-0. Game #4 saw Kevin have chances to try and climb back into the match but it was not to be today. Nelson Oliviera went on to the winners circle at stop #2 with a 5-0 win. Janet Tycks held the winning ticket for the new beautiful tulipwood Dominiak Cue. Every player entered receives a raffle ticket for a new Dominiak Cue at every tour stop this season. For tour dates and info please visit the tour website www. DominiakCuesTour.com . Next tour stop is at Pool Table Magic in Windsor Locks, CT on Saturday Oct.24th. Hope to see you there!! Nelson Oliviera Kevin Blackstock Steve Kang Richard Barrette Seth Tenzin Choneyi Tenzin
Shootout
Rodney Holland
Firman Widjaksono & Frank Carcioppolo
ACS Masters Scotch Doubles 1st $600 2nd $300 3rd $180 4th $120
Frank Carcioppolo & Firman Widjaksono Mazzy’s Sport Bar, Roswell, GA Aaron Kelley & Junior Fouts - NC-GA Mountain Masters Rodney Holland & Rodney Chastain - NC-GA Mountain Masters Brian Sadowski & Brian Kim Southside Billiard Club, Savannah, GA
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
Rodney Holland - NC-GA Mountain Masters Brian Sadowski - Southside Billiard Club Firman Widjaksono - Mazzy’s Sports Bar Junior Fouts - NC-GA Mountain Masters Aaron Kelley - NC-GA Mountain Masters Rusty Reynolds - NC-GA Mountain Masters
2nd Chance 9-Ball Singles $200 $100 $50 $30 $20 $20
November 2009 page 17
Call First - All Tournaments are subject to change without notice
DATE Oct 31-Nov 1 Nov 6-8 Nov 7 Nov 7 Nov 7-8 Nov 7-8 Nov 7-8 Nov 7-8 Nov 7-8 Nov 7-8 Nov 8 Nov 9 Nov 11 Nov 11-15 Nov 11-15 Nov 14-15 Nov 14-15 Nov 14-15 Nov 15 Nov 18-22 Nov 18-22 Nov 20 Nov 21 Nov 21-22 Nov 21-22 Nov 21-22 Nov 21-22 Nov 21-22 Nov 21-22 Nov 22 Nov 28-29 Nov 28-29 Dec 5 Dec 6 Dec 5-6 Dec 5-6 Dec 5-6 Dec 5-6 Dec 6 Dec 12-13 Dec 12-13 Dec 12-13 Dec 17-20 Dec 19-20 Dec 19-20 Dec 20 Jan 2 Jan 2-3 Jan 3 Jan 9-10 Jan 16 Jan 23-24 Jan 30-31 Jan 31
CITY Indianapolis, IN Jackson, MI Prosperity, SC Albany, GA Ft Pierce, FL Ocala, FL Sanford, NC Yorkville, NY E Rutherford, NJ Fort Pierce, FL Manchester, CT Ft Pierce, FL Hollywood, FL Hollywood, FL Hollywood, FL Raleigh, NC Campbellsville, KY W Hempstead, NY Gainesville, FL Palm Harbor, FL Palm Harbor, FL Ft Pierce, FL Ft Pierce, FL Rocky Mount, NC Rocky Mount, NC Palm Harbor, FL Providence, RI Fairfield, OH Yorkville, NY Amsterdam, NY Spring Hill, FL Inman, SC Albany, GA Gainesville, FL Mobile, AL Ft Pierce, FL Spring Hill, FL Syracuse, NY New Milford, CT Goldsboro, NC W Hempstead, NY Rocky Mount, NC Verona, NY Holiday, FL Fayetteville, NC Springfield, MA Albany, GA Columbus, OH Worcester, MA Syracuse, NY Windsor Locks, CT Syracuse, NY Latham, NY Clifton Park, NY
LOCATION Brickyard Billiards The Green Room Shooters Sports Bar Break Time Pub Ultimate Billiards Bankshot Billiards Speakeazy Billiards Hippo’s House of Billiards Castle Billiards Ultimate Billiards World Champ. Billiards Ultimate Billiards Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Babineaus Billiards Rack & Cue Billiards Raxx Pool Room Art of Billiards Innisbrook Resort Innisbrook Resort Ultimate Billiards Ultimate Billiards Greentop Billiards Dot’s Cue Club Innisbrook Resort Snookers Pool Lounge Michael’s Billiards Hippo’s House of Billiards Main Street Billiards Capone’s Billiards G-Jays Break Time Pub Art of Billiards Breaker’s Billiards Ultimate Billiards Capone’s Billiards Salt City Billiards Buster’s Billiards Fast Eddie’s Sports Bar Raxx Pool Room Sharks N Shooters Turning Stone Casino Hammer Heads Billiards King Street Billiards Snookers Billiards Break Time Pub Cornfed Red’s London Billiards Korky’s Pool Hall Pool Table Magic Cap’s Cue Club Diamond 8 Billiards Trick Shot Billiards
PHONE (317) 248-0555 (601) 718-7665 (803) 944-4262 (229) 344-5377 (772) 464-7665 (352) 867-8100 (919) 775-1166 (315) 768-0218 (201) 933-6007 (772) 464-7665 www.dominiakcuestour.com (772) 464-7665 (954) 985-5701 (954) 985-5701 (954) 985-5701 (919) 467-5411 (270) 465-5918 (516) 538-9896 (352) 225-3535 (727-569-2237 (727-569-2237 (772) 464-7665 (772) 464-7665 (252) 454-0152 (252) 972-9220 (727) 488-0536 (401) 351-7665 (513) 860-0044 (315) 768-0218 www.dominiakcuestour.com (352) 688-9965 (864) 472-8716 (229) 344-5377 (352) 225-3535 (251) 341-1117 (772) 464-7665 (352) 688-9965 (315) 454-8643 www.dominiakcuestour.com (919) 759-0071 (516) 538-9896 (252) 937-8882 (518) 356-7163 (727) 939-9494 (910) 425-7665 www.dominiakcuestour.com (229) 344-5377 (614) 834-1000 www.dominiakcuestour.com (315) 488-4888 www.dominiakcuestour.com (315) 701-0101 (518) 786-8048 www.dominiakcuestour.com
EVENT / RULES ENTRY ADDED Brickyard 9-Ball Classic Call Call 10-Ball/9-Ball/Jrs Varies $4000 9-Ball $50 $750 1st Guar 9-Ball Open $40 $500 Tommy Kennedy Open/Amateur Call $1000/$500 KF Cues Tour Amateur/Open Call $1,000-700 GSBT A/B Amateur 9-Ball Call $1500 Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Call Call Predtor 9-Ball Tour Call Call J Pechauer SE Open Call Call 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes One Pocket Call $500 Charity Pro-Am (Vivian’s Kidz) Call Steve Mizerak 10-Ball $500 $40,000 WPBA Championships Call Call NC Senior 9-Ball Open $50 $4,000 w/64 Amateur/10-Ball Ring Varies Call Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Call Call 9-Ball Open $25 $200 Pro 10 Ball Limit 80 players Call $30,000 Amateur Team 8 Ball 64 teams max Call $30,000 purse One Pocket Call $500 DMIRO 10-Ball Call $1000 Jacoby Carolina Tour Call $1000 Amateur/9-Ball $50 $1500 KF Cues Tour Amateur Only Call $4000 Guar Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Call Call GSBT A/B Amateur 9-Ball Call $1500 CNY 9-Ball Tour Varies $600 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes DMIRO Tour Varies $2,000 GSBT A/B Amateur 9-Ball Call $1500 9-Ball Open $40 $500 End of year BIG EVENT $45/$25 $300 w/32 GSBT A/B Amateur 9-Ball Call $1500 KF Cues Tour Amateur/Open Call $1,000 ea Women’s FL State Champ. Call Call CNY 9-Ball Tour Varies $600 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes GSBT A/B Amateur 9-Ball Call $1500 Predator Tour Finale Call $3000 Jacoby Carolina Tour Call $1000 Turning Stone XIV 9-Ball Open $150 $25,000 KF Cues Tour Amateur/Open Call $1,000 ea GSBT A/B Amateur 9-Ball Call $1500 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes 9-Ball Open $40 $500 Amateur/10-Ball Ring Varies Call 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes CNY 9-Ball Tour Varies $600 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes CNY 9-Ball Tour Varies $600 Joss NE 9-Ball Tour $100 $2,000 10 Ball Dominiak Cues Tour $25+$10 $350 in prizes
Streaming Schedule Battle in the BigHorns Sheridan, Wy Nov 13-15: 8 Ball
Northern Lights Shootout Rugby, ND Dec 10th: International Cup Canada vs. U.S.A. Dec 11th-13th: 8-Ball stay tuned for more info
www.OTBnTV.com or ustream.tv/channel/otbntv-live November 2009 page 18
TIME Call 8 PM Noon Call Call Call Call Call Call Call 11 AM Call Call 10 PM Call 10 AM 8 PM Call 10 AM Call Call Call Call Call 1 PM Call Call Call Noon 11 AM Call Call Call 10 AM Call Call Call Noon 11 AM Call Call Call Call Call Call 11 AM Call 1 PM 11 AM Noon 11 AM Noon Call 11 AM
Follow OTBnTV on
November 2009 page 19