Stroke Magazine July Issue 2012

K e l l y F i s h e rW o r l d 9 - B a l l C h a m p i o n

A l l i s o n F i s h e rB a c k - 2 - B a c kW P B A U . S . O p e n

Lucky’s VegasVacation

VNEA VegasTeam Results

http://www.mcdermottcue.com

K e l l y F i s h e rW o r l d 9 - B a l l C h a m p i o n

A l l i son F i sh e r

B a ck - 2 - B a ck

W P B A U . S. Op e n

Lucky’s VegasVacation

VNEA Vegas

Team Results

DEADLINE: 25th of each Month - CALL IF LATE

StrokeP.O. Box 100

Three Forks, MT 59752Phone 1-406-285-3099Fax 1-406-285-3098

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CONTACT US:

POOL ON TV

These schedules have been provided by ESPN.

These are tentative dates and are subject to change

All times are Eastern time.

STROKE STAFFPUBLISHER/EDITORDon “Cheese” Akerlow

MARKETING DIRECTORMary Akerlow

LAYOUTS & DESIGNErica Senf

Don AkerlowMary Akerlow11

4 JPNEWT

5 Women’s World 9-Ball

8 Laurel Highlands TAP

18 Bison Billiards

27 WPBA U.S. Open

28 Ask the Viper

ADVERTISERSAmy’s Billiards 6Ask the Viper 28Atlas Billiard Supply 15BCAPL/CSI/USAPL 35BEF 9Behind the Rock Tour 31Big Daddy’s Billiards 25Bison Billiards 25Bob Jewett 10CueStix International 36Gold Crown Billiards 25Lucky 7 Billiards 31McDermott 2Mike Massey 7Monk, the 12Mueller 3OTBnTV.com 3,34Pocketeer 25Sandcastle Billiards 13TAP 20Tiger Products 16,34Ultimate Billiards 26

Contents

ABOUT USStroke is a monthly p u b l i c a t i o n , dedicated to the advancement of the sport of pool and to promoting enthusiasm and encouragement among the players a t a l l l e v e l s ,

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. © 2012 Stroke

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July 2012 - Stroke Magazine 3

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FEATURES22

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Cover Photo Courtesy of: Zhao Yue

07/14/2012 11:00 AM-3:00 PM WPBAUSOpen (Quarterfinals) 07/15/2012 12:00 PM-3:00 PM WPBAUSOpen (Semifinals&Finals)

Watch on www.OTBnTV.com ustream.tv/channel/otbntv-livewww.facebook.com/otbntvSponsored by:www.tigerproducts.com

Sep 7-8-9 from Fargo, ND

Big Sky Challenge$10,000Winner Take All

Team Montana vs. Team North Dakota10-Ball Scotch Doubles

8-Ball Doubles8 & 9-Ball Singles

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4 Stroke Magazine - July 2012

KELLY CLAIMS THE

By Ted LernerPhotos courtesy Vinod DivaKaran, Doha Stadium Sports WeeklyJune 22-29, 2012(Doha, Qatar)--In one of the most thrilling and surreal finals ever witnessed in pool history, England’s Darren Appleton won the 2012 World 9-ball Championship, barely beating China’s Lee He Wen, 13-12 in front of hundreds of stunned fans inside Doha’s Al Sadd Sports Club.It was a match that had everything that the sport of pool could possibly offer; fantastic, clutch shot making, an unbelievably impossible comeback, edge of your seat drama that was downright unbearable, and a finish that blew the roof off the house.For Appleton, the win is his first World 9-ball Championship and is the culmination of a dream he has held since turning to pool from English 8-ball in the mid-2000’s. With his World 10-ball crown in 2009, his double US Opens in 2010 and 2011, and now the World 9-ball Championship, Appleton can certainly lay claim to be one of the greats of all time.For Lee, he came within a whisker of nearly pulling off a comeback for the ages, and at the same time, earned for himself the admiration of legions of pool fans around the world who were in awe at the 31 year old’s tenacity and never-say-die spirit.What’s more striking for Lee is that midway through the match he was nothing more than an afterthought to a sure coronation for Appleton. Lee, who had beaten Ralf Souquet in the semis, was absolutely and thoroughly written off by every single person who was watching in person or following the match online streamed over the Al Kass Sports channel. That’s because after handily taking down Japan’s Naoyuki Ohi in the

IT’S DYANMITE IN DOHA!

semi-final, Appleton raced out of the starting gates in the race to 13, alternate break final and was streaking towards a total rout on the way to the title.After splitting the first four racks, Appleton caught the type of gear every single pro player dreams about when they wonder how they would hope to play in a championship final. He had several break and run outs, he punished every mistake Lee made, and as he piled up the racks and his lead grew ever wider, he literally oozed confidence.Clearly in that rarefied zone that’s only reserved for the great champions, Appleton soon found himself out in front 9-2. Lee got one rack back to make it 9-3, but that didn’t deter the Englishman as a break and run and a clear off a scratch by the Chinese pushed the score to 11-3. At this point, the score line and the body language of both players told the whole story; the match was surely over and it was just a formality of going through the last few motions before Appleton would be lifting the trophy. It was such a sure thing that Appleton’s fans on Facebook took to congratulating “Darren Appleton, the new World 9-ball Champion.”When Lee grabbed the next rack to make the score 11-4, nobody even thought anything of it. When Appleton failed to convert off a foul by Lee in the next rack, and even scratched to help get Lee to 11-6, it still didn’t mean anything to anyone. Indeed Appleton, for all intents and purposes, put the match away in the next rack when he cleared the colors after Lee left a safety open, and moved to within one of the world title. But then, with Appleton leading 12-6, that moment came, that mysterious

IN A LEGENDARY EPIC THRILLER, DARREN “DYNAMITE” APPLETON WINS THE WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP WITH A 13-12 VICTORY OVER LEE HE WEN

(Dohacontinuedonpage31)

Darren Appleton


KELLY CLAIMS THE Kelly Fisher Wins The 2012 Women’s World

9-Ball Championship With A 9-6 Victory Over China’s Fu Xiaofang

BY TED LERNERPhotos Courtesy of Zhao YueJune 14-21, 2012 (Shenyang,China)--Cappinganallaroundsolidweekofpoolwithyetanotherairtightperformance,Britain’sKellyFisherwonthe2012WPAWomen’sWorld9-ballChampionshipwithanemphatic9-6victoryoverChinesesuperstarFuXiaofang,infrontofapackedhouseinsidetheRichgateShoppingCenterinthisnortheasternChinesecity. WiththevictoryFishernowholdsthedistinctionofbeingtheonlywomantoeverholdtheWorld9ballandWorld10-ballChampionshipsallatthesametime.Butperhapsmoreimportantly,thewincementedFisher’sstatusasthehottestplayerinthewomen’sgamerightnow,andisalastingtestamenttoyearsoftoil,longtravelandplentyofnearmissestogoalongwithalotofW’s.WiththevictoryshewillnowclaimthemantleofWPAWorldNumber1. It was an all-around brilliant Thursday for the 34 year oldfromYorkshire,asshetookdowntwohugenamesinChinesepoolontheirownturf.Theopeningsalvocamewithadramaticmatchagainst2009World9-ballChampionLiuShashainthesemi-finals.Fisherhadtoslogitoutforovertwohoursandthecontestwentdowntothelastball,withFisherclaimingaheartstopping9-8winbyawhisker. Thefinalstartedwellforbothplayers.Fisherwonthelagandbrokeandranfortheearlylead.Fusteppedupanddidthesametotiethematchat1-1. Futhensteppedonthegasforthenexttwentyminutes,performingperfectly,winningtwosafetybattlessandwichedaroundabreakandrun,togoup4-1. Fuhadclearlycaughtagearandwaswellonherwaytoclearingthenextrackforamassive5-1lead.Butasshestretchedfaroverthetabletolineupashot,therefereecalledafoul,sayingshehadtouchedaballwithhershootinghand. Assohappensinpool,onesmallincidentmysteriouslysendsthemomentum,andtherolloftheballs,overtotheotherside.Fisherclearedthetabletocuttheleadto4-2.Shethencaughtabreakinthesubsequentrackwhenanover-hitcuehappenedtolandona6-9combination,whichshenailed.

FuthenmissedalongoneballandFisherclearedtotieat4-4.Inrack9,Fishergrabbedherfirstleadat5-4whenFuleftasafetyopen. Afterthepairtradedbreakandruns,Fisherstartedtighteningthescrews.ShewonthenextrackaftersheburiedFuinalockdownsafety,forcingFutoscratch.WithFisherup7-5, Fulostanotherwhensheinexplicablyfailedtohitarailaftertryingtohidetheballs.Fucutthescoreto8-6butFisherwentoutinstylewithabreakandruntoreachtheholygrail.Butasthelast9ballfell,Fisherdidn’trealizethatshehadwon,asshethoughtmatchwasaraceto11.OnlywhenshelookedupandsawFushakingherhandandthephotographersfuriouslysnappingphotosdidsherealizeshewasthenewWorld9-ballChampion. Afterreceivingthegoldentrophyanddrinkingintheaccoladesfromthethrongoffans,anecstaticFishersaidshewasnotonlyhappywithher

accomplishment,butalsowiththewayshedidit. “I’mabsolutelythrilled,”abeamingFishersaid.“Ican’texplainwhatI’mfeeling.Ijustcan’tbelieveit.Iplayedreallysolidtonight.Iplayedsolidallweek.OverallI’mreallyhappywithmyperformance.” AsusualwithalltheChinesepoolstars,Fuwasthemodelofgraciousnessindefeat.Sheadmitted,however,thatthefoulinracksixaffectedherframeofmind. “AfterIfouled,thematchseemedtochange,”shesaid.“Andmyemotionschanged.Iwasn’tthesameafterthat.” FualsoconfessedthatplayinginaworldchampionshipfinalinChinawithmillionsoffansexpectinghertowinbroughtonalmostunbearablepressure. “Thefinalswerestressful,”Fusaid.“I’mChineseandeveryoneinChinawantsmetowin.” Fisher,whopocketed$40,000forherwin,pointedtoFu’sfoulinracksixasthepointwherethematchturned.Butafteraweekwheresheplayedbrilliantlyandwontwo9-8thrillersintheknockoutstage,thenewworldchampionfiguredtheremustbeamuchbiggerpictureinvolved. “Shewasplayingwelluntilthatfoul,”Fishersaid.“Thatwastheturningpoint.Butyouknowthisweeksomebodyhasbeenbymyside.”

GOLD!

Kelly Fisher

Stroker’sBilliardsPalmHarbor,FlhostedthelatestPoisonCuestourevent.30playersshowedupforthe$1000AddedAmateuronedayeventwhichwasheldFathersdayweekend,June16,2012. CarlosTorreswouldprovetobethemantobeat,ashemadehiswaytothehotseatwithstrongwinsoverLeeHolland7-4,TimBaron7-3,JakeNauman7-5,TreyJankowski7-3whichhefollowedupwithahardfought7-4winoverBrettLykinstotaketheHotseat. WhileallthiswasgoingonJoseYbarrawasrunningriotontheonelossside,aftertakinga7-4losstoNathanRose,YbarrawouldgoontodefeatMartyLinzy5-2,DaveRoss5-1,PaulMullins5-4,JakeJacobson5-2,TreyJankowski5-4,LeeHolland5-1andthenanotherstrongwinoverBrettLykins5-4tosetupafinalmatchwithTorres. CarlosTorreslookedlikehewasgoingtocruisehiswaytothewinashestormedouttoa6-2lead,Ybarrahadotherideasashegrindedhiswaybackintothematchrackbyrackandeventuallytyingitupat6-6,unfortunatelyforYbarraascratchinthelastgamewouldgiveTorresthechancehehadbeenwaitingforashecalmlyranthelastfewballstotakedownhisfirstTitleonthePoisonTour.

WewouldliketothankStroker’sBilliardsforhostinganothergreateventandalltheplayersthatshowedup.AlsoourtitleSponsorsPoisonCuesforsupplysomeofthebesthittingcuesonthemarket. ThePoisontourwillbeatCuephoriaBilliardsCaféinOrlandoJuly28th-29thOrlandoalwaysdrawsabigcrowdsothisshouldbeanothergreatweekendofpool.Ifyouwouldliketoseesomeofthematchesfromthisandpasteventsvisitwww.poisonpooltour.comformoreinfoyoucanalsosignuptoreceiveemailswiththelatestnews.

Torres takes first Poison Title

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Payouts1st CarlosTorres $6002nd JoseYbarra $4003rd BrettLykins $3004th LeeHolland $2005th-6th TreyJankowski,GlennMcMohan $1007th-8th JakeJacobson,JakeNauman $60


Mike Massey

Nine time World Champion, Mike Massey is considered pool’s best trick shot artist. He was voted the “Best in History” and is a member of the BCA Hall of Fame. Mike’s most amazing accomplishments were in two 24 hour poolathons. In one he pocketed 8,090 balls playing with one arm. In the other poolathon he ran 330 racks of 9-ball in Austria on live TV. Mike has consulted or appeared in the movies, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”, “The Baron and the Kid”, “Justice”, “Chalk”, and “Pool Hall Junkies” Mike is available for exhibitions and clinics. Please contact Mike or Francine Massey at 435.640.5787 or [email protected]

MIKE MASSEYNine Time World Champion

EXHIBITIONS & CLINICSContact Mike or Francine Massey

[email protected]

To order Mike’s book call 888.295.7665 or 714.894.1157

Visit us on the web at www.billiardspress.com

Mike MasseyC O L U M N I S T


R a p i d F i r e W i n g S h o t s

EXPLANATION OF ABBREVIATIONS:SUR:SetupRatingsEXR: ExecutionRatingsMSR:Mike’sSuccessRatio

SUR: N/AEXR:4.0(1)5.0(allseven)MSR:60%(for1)

Whenpreparingforthisshot,placesixadditionalobjectballswhereshown.YoumustrolltheobjectballintothetargetzonebyhandandshootitintoPocketFwhileitisrollingdownthetable.ThecueballmustbeshotfrombehindLineX.IprefertoplacethecueballafterlettinggooftheobjectballbecauseIfeelthisimprovesmyrhythm.Youcan,however,havethecueballinplacepriortorollingtheobjectballoryoucanplaceitafterlettinggooftheobjectball.

ThesesocalledWingShotsaremostlytimingandinstinct.WhatmakestheArtisticPoolversionmoredifficultthanthe“normal”versionisthecubeofchalkinthefootspot.Itcanthrowoffyourrhythm,whichiscrucialonashotthatrequiressuchprecision.

Iholdthecueballandobjectballinmylefthand.Irolltheobjectballandplacethecueballinasmoothandcontinuousmotion.Mostgoodwingshotshootersshootmediumhardbecausetheydon’thavemuchtimebeforetheobjectballreachesthezone.Incompetitionwehavetoshootsevenshotsinsuccession.Thekeyistostaycoolandacquireagoodrhythm.Planonspendingalotoftimepracticingtheseshotsifyouintendtomasterthem.

TomRossmanandEarlStricklandareexcellentatwingshots.MinnesotaFatswasalsoprettygood.DanWilliswasgreatatwingshots.Infact,Iheardthatheoncemade30insuccession.InexhibitionsIshootonehandedjackedup,whilerollingthecueballandobjectballatthesametime.Ialsoshootthemonehandedjackedupundermyleg!

STAR INN WINS

West Palm Beach, FL (June 9, 2012) – Jennifer Page and Debbie Barkley made it through the round robin format to the finals of the second FBT Mini-Tour event of 2012, held at Grover's Billiards in West Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, June 9, 2012. In this handicapped event, the players played each player a set of 3 games, one 8-ball and two 9-ball. Robin Boggs and Sue Roberts played strong, as did Alicia DeAbreau and Susan Martin. The games were played on bar boxes, and the scores were very close. Page and Barkley ended up with 11 games each. The final match was a race to five, with the winner of the lag picking the race or the game, 8-ball or 9-ball. The match started with 8-ball, and Barkley took the lead 2-1. However, Page came back and took the lead in 9-ball. But for Barkley's scratch on the 8-ball it likely would have been a hill-hill match, but Page won the next game and the match. In addition to cash, Page wins a paid entry to the Flamingo Billiard Tour stop at Slate Billiards in Boynton Beach, Florida on June 23, 2012. Many thanks to Grover’s room owner Jason Jenkins for

supporting the Flamingo Billiards Mini-Tour, and thanks to all the players who came out to play.

PAGE PULLS AHEAD


Star Inn L.H. T.A.P. Titleholder Champs

TheLaurelHighlandsTAPspringTitleholderishistory.54teamsfromthreestatesshoweduptobattleitoutforaportionofthe$13,100prizefundinDerry,PaattheCooperstownVets. Afteritwasallsaidanddoneasteamscompetedinaroundrobinformatandthentoasingleeliminationboard,theStarInnfromOhiowalkedoffwiththetopprizeonSundayevening.ThefinalmatchwaspittedastrongopponentfromJohnstown,Pa.,TheCountryInn.Inthehill-hillmatchwiththeStarInnplayer,WilieSanchezneedingjustonegameandtheCountryInnplayer,17yearoldJakeHumphreysneeding2andonthetable,Jakelefthimselfwithatoughcutonthe8tosendthematchtoafinalgame.ButitwasnottobeasJakemiscuedandgaveWillieaballinhandandaeasyrunoutforthechampionship.AllofthiscanbeseenontheUStreamlinkonpoolpa.com The2ndbracketchampionwastheSlovakTrophyHuntersfromMt.PleasantbestinganotherOhioteam,JustHoldTheWings3-0.The2ndchancewinnerwasPigskinsTavernfromTwinRocks,Pa. ThiswasthefirstlivestreambroadcasteverofaTAPeventanditwasainstanthit.Over35hourswasbroadcastduringtheevent.whichwasheldfromJune1tothe3rd.Oneplayerevenmentionedthata

brotherhehasnotseeninseveralyearswaswatchinghimfromHawaii.ThenextTitleholderisscheduledforAugust23-26andagainwillagainbebroadcastonUStream.

STAR Inn wINSRESULTS:

1st Jennifer Page $602nd Debbie Barkley $30

STAR INN WINS

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JUNIOR BILLIARDS...PLAY. SPONSOR. GET INVOLVED WWW.BILLIARDEDUCATION.ORG

NAME: Chad Behnke DATE: 2/1/12HOME TOWN: Farley, IaBIRTH DATE: 6/5/95NICKNAME: CheddarSCHOOL YOU CURRENTLY ATTEND: Western Dubuque High SchoolGRADE: 11FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: HistoryAT WHAT AGE DID YOU START PLAYING POOL? 5TITLES/HIGH FINISHES: 2012 Acs Midwest 8-Ball Masters Champion 2011 Acs Midwest 8-Ball Masters Champion 2009 Iowa State Champion 2007 Iowa State Champion 2006 Super Billiards Expo 8-Ball Champion, 14 & Under DivisionWHAT KIND OF CUE(S) DO YOU USE? Schon, Predator AirLEFT OR RIGHT HANDED: RightSPONSORS: Cuesports International (Csi)FAVORITE BAND/MUSIC: Wiz KhalifaHOBBIES: Snowboarding

FAVORITE FOOD: TacosREAL-WORLD HERO: My DadGOALS (PERSONAL AND/OR CAREER): Attend A 4 Year University

CHAD BEHNKE

San Francisco Billiard Academy

www.sfbilliards.com

Bob Jewett

San Francisco Billiard Academy is a BCA Certified Master Academy.The academy offers:Private InstructionBasics ClinicEight Ball ClinicNine Ball ClinicIntroduction to Billiard InstructionBCA Recognized Instructor CourseBCA Certified Instructor Course

C O L U M N I S T Bob Jewett


The 1-2-3 Game I’mafirmbelieverthattryingnewgamescanquicklyimproveyourpoolskills.Thenewtechniquesandstrategiesinvolvedinanewsetofruleswillbroadenthesituationsandshotsthatyouarecomfortablewith.Therearefewthingssadderthanan“eightballplayer”whodoesn’twanttotrynineballor14.1forfearthatitwilltakeawayfromhisperfectionateightball.Justtheoppositeistrue--nineballwillsharpentoughshotskillsand14.1willimprovepatternplay. CarlSandstromispoolfanaticwhoseemstospendallhissparetimethinkingupnewgamestoplay.His“1-2-3”gameisparticularlydesignedtohelpwithyourpatternplay.Itisintendedasasingle-playerpracticegamebutyoucancompeteforhighscore. Thegamestartsasshownwiththe1,2and3infrontandthe7stripesbehindinthesameshapeasfor10ball.Smashtheballsopen.Anythingmadeonthebreakspotsup,andyoutakeballinhand. Thegoalistomakethe1,2and3inorder,butyouhavetomakesomestripesbeforeyoucanpocketthelowballs.Youmustmakethreestripesbeforethe1andtwobeforeeachofthe2and3.(Thisissimilartosnooker,whereyouhavetopocketredballsbeforeyoucangoforhigher-valued“colours”.) Scoringisbythenumberoneachlowball,soatotalof6points(1+2+3)isavailableperrack.Thestripesarenotworthanything.Anyfoulormissendstherack. Youarenotrequiredtohitballsinorder,soitisOKtoplayastripe-1combinationwhenitistimetoplaythe1ball. Ballsspotwhenneededsothatyoucanalwayscompleteaproperstripes/lowballsequence.Thatmeansthatanyballmadeonthebreakspotsup.Tokeepthetablemoreopenwhenspottingmultipleballs,usethefootspotforthefirstball,thecenterspot(betweenthesidepockets)forthesecondballandtheheadspotforthelastball.Also,ifyoumake,forexample,alowballwhenplayingastripe,thelowballspotsupimmediately.Similarly,ifyoumakeastripewhenpocketingalowballinitsproperturn,thestripespotsupsoyouwillhave2stripesavailablebeforethenextlowball. Thisgamewillteachyouhowtogetthrougharunout.Sinceyouareplayingaloneforscore,thereisnosafetyplay.Figureoutfromtheveryfirstshothowyouaregoingtosolveanyproblemsonthetable.Ifthereisaclusterofballs,gettoitwhiletherearestillplentyofoptions.Trytohaveeverythingopenbythetimeyoushootthe1ball.

Forpatternsituations,IlikethewaypoolwriterLarrySchwartzputsit.Thinkofthestripesasyour“soldiers”whoneedtohelpyouwiththetasksathand.Don’tjustkillthemwithoutpurpose.Toomanyeightballplayersgothroughtheearlypartoftherackpocketingtheirloosesoldiersandthenwonderwhythereisnoonetohelpbreakupclustersorgetpositionontheeightball.Forseveralothernewgames,visitCarl’swebsiteatsites.google.com/site/poolandbilliard/.


RichardNgwinshisA/D9BallTri-StateTournamentheldatGothamCityBilliardsBrooklyn,N.Y.HistournamenttrailincludedwinsoverEdwardNg7-3;RaulReyes7-5;PaulRaval7-0;AlexOsipov7-5;ScottBannon7-6andMikeHarrington7-6togetintotheHotSeat.MikethendefeatedScott7-6tofaceRichforasecondtime.TheFinalmatchwastiedat3allbeforeRichgainedthemomentumandclosedthematch7-3.ThirdplacefinisherScottBannonwinning6matchesandforthplacefinisherMikeStrassbergwitha5&2win/lossrecord,deserverecognitionfortheirfineperformance.ThenextTri-Stateeventisa$1000AddedA/DatCaromCafe&BilliardsinFlushing,NYonJune16th,2012.OnceagainKevinandIsabelhostedagreateventintheirbeautifulroom.ThankyoutoSterling-Gaming,OzoneBilliards,RonTarrCues,KamuiTips,PhilCapelle,BlueBookPublishing,HumanKineticsfortheirsponsorshipleadingtothisevent.

Richard Ng wins A/D 9 Ball Tri-State Tournament

1st ............... Richard Ng.........................................$1,385.00

2nd ............. Mike Harrington ..................................$930.00

3rd .............. Scott Bannon ........................................$620.00

4th .............. Mike Strassberg .....................................$450.00

5th - 6th ...... Carl Yusuf Khan & Mesdhak Daniel ....$290/ea.

7th - 8th ...... Alex Osipov & Lou Loria .....................$200/ea.

Kim Meyer-GabiawinshisA/D9BallTri-StateTournamentheldatCaromCafe'BilliardsinFlushing,N.Y.HertournamenttrailincludedwinsoverRonMason6-4;MashakDaniel6-4;TonyIgnomirello6-3;PatMareno7-6;StewartWarnock8-5fortheHotSeat.WhileKimsettledintotheHotSeat,ChripKarpbravedhiswaybacktothefinalsaftersufferingalosstoStewartWarnock7-6anddefeatingStewartinarematch7-2.Consideringthelatehour,bothplayersdecidedtocallitanightwithKimastherightfulwinner.ThirdplacefinisherStewartWarnockandforthplacefinisherRonMasonwitha7&2win/lossrecord,deserverecognitionfortheirfineperformance.ThenextTri-Stateeventisa$1000AddedA/DatAmsterdamBilliards&BarinNYC,NYonJune23&24,2012.PleaseprovideathankyoutoSterling-Gaming,OzoneBilliards,RonTarrCues,KamuiTips,PhilCapelle,BlueBookPublishing,HumanKineticsfortheirsponsorshipleadingtothisevent.Pleaseleavetournamentstaffnamesoutofthisarticle,commentsandcreditstoremaingeneral.ThankYou!

Kim Meyer-Gabia wins A/D 9 Ball Tri-State Tournament

A/D 9 Ball Tri-State Tournament Payouts

Left to right: 2nd Place Chris Karp; 1st place - Kim Meyer-Gabia; 3rd place - Stewart Warnock.

1st Kim Meyer-Gabia $7002nd Chris Karp $4403rd Stewart Warnock $270

4th Ron Mason $1605th - 6th Basdeo Sookia & Pat Mareno $1057th - 8th Daniel Dagotdot & Ben Castaneros $80

Payouts

Tim Miller

This is not a feel good program. This is the real deal. You will be working with the monk for over four months. You will be working step by step to build the skills at nine ball that your opponent does not have. You will master the important moves this game calls for. You will become a master nine ball player and play better nine ball than you have every played this game before.

May all the rolls go your way,

The Monk

CALL THE MONK TODAY

1-603-566-6229

C O L U M N I S T The Monk

http://www.monkbilliardacademy.net/9-balltrainongprogram.html


ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE PLATEAU PLAYERS?

Thereareplayerswhomaintainthesamewinningpercentageyearafteryearandwonderwhattheyneedtodotobreakthroughtothenextlevel.Theproblemwiththeseplayersisthattheykeeptryingtosolvetomorrow’sproblemswithtoday’slineofthinking.IfyouhavereachedthePlateauexperienceyouneedtomakesomeinnergamechanges.Inotherwords,youhavetochangethewayyouthinkforitisthisthinkingthathasyoustuckintheplateauexperience.Theplateautypeofplayercomestomemoreoftenthananyotherpoolplayer.Theyaresickofthesameoldthingyearafteryear.Manyofthemhavetriedotherinstructorswithnorealprogress.WeoftenhavebreakfastbeforewestartourtwodaysessionanditisatthistimeItalkaboutbuildingamindset.Youmusthaveaspecificsetofvaluesbeforeyoucanrealizeprogressinthisgame.Avalueiswhatdrivesus.Withoutapurposewearefloatingaroundlikeamanwhoistreadingwater.Igooverhispurposetomakesureitismeasurableandeasytounderstand.Ourmindsalwaysmovetowardsourvaluessowemustestablishastrongsetofvalues.Haveyoueverheardapoolplayersay,“IfthatwasformoneyIwouldnothavemissedthatshot”?Oryouheartheplayersayhecannotplaywellunlessitisformoney.Thereareplayerswhocannotplayformoneyandmustplaythisgamesocially.Ourvaluesdriveussoweneedaclearunderstandingofwhattheyare.Haveyouevercomplainedthatyoucan’tplaywellwhenyouarecompetingagainstalesserplayer?Butifyouplaythatsamepersonforahundreddollarsyouwouldplaymuchbetter.Itisthesamelesserplayer,differentperformance.Themoneyinthesecondexamplewasyourvalue.Youdidnotcareabouttheguyyouwere

playing.Youonlycaredaboutwinning.Ispentthelastyearworkingonanewbook.InthisbookIteachhowtodevelopastrongvalueandhowtodesignyourtrainingtoreachthatgoal.Thisisabookaboutthegolfer.Iteachaprinciplethatweadvancetheballinaccordancetotheclubwehaveinourhandwhichmeanswedonotoverswingaclubtogettenmoreyards.Thesameappliestopool.Weshoottheshotasitpresentsitselfonthetable.Idon’twanttoleanoverthetableforashotIthinkIamgoingtomiss.IfitisatoughlowpercentageshotIwillalwaystellmyselfIhaveachancetosucceedifItryrealhard.Inotherwords,giveonehundredpercentandlettheresultsbewhatevertheyare.ThistechniqueofrecognizingthevalueoftheshotinfrontofyouistaughtinmyRoadPlayersNineBalltrainingseries.Ihaverunsomanytableswiththisthought.Ifyoufalloutoftheboatandstayafloatsoyoucanbreatheyouwillbehappyforalittlewhile.Thenitdawnsonyouthatyouwillhavetoswimtoshore.Youwillneedtoknowwhichdirectiontoswim.Thenyouneedtogetstartedwiththeideathatyouwillreachshoresoon.Thisistheplateauexperience.Youaretreadingwater.Inordertoreachtheshoreyouwillhavetomakeaneffort.Andthateffortisfoundwithinyourvalues.Defineyourvaluesanddesignyourtrainingtobringyoutothegoals.Iwilllookforyouinthewinner’scircle.


BoyntonBeach,FL(June23,2012)–Therewasnotamoreappropriatedayforthethird2012FlamingoBilliardsTourstopatSlateBilliardsinBoyntonBeach,Florida,thanNationalPinkFlamingoDay!SixteenplayersbravedthewindandrainfromtropicalstormDebbytocompeteinthemodified-doubleeliminationformat,playingdowntothefinalfour.Twofromeachsideredrewintoasingleeliminationbracket. Thefirstplayertomakeittothefinalfour-boardwasShanelleLoraine.LorainemadeherwaytheredefeatingKellyCoyle,TourDirectorMimiMcAndrews,andKellyCavanaugh.CrystalMcCormickwasthesecondplayeronthefinalfour-board,winningoverDebbieBarkley,newplayerJulietteWaiter,andthensendingJeannieSeaverwestinamuchanticipatedmatchup.Seaver,whodidnothaveherusualgameonSaturday,camebackafterbeingdown6-2,winningthreegamesinarowmakingit6-5.JustwhenitlookedasifSeaverwouldgettothehill,amissedshotleftMcCormickout. KellyCavanaugh,freshoffherfirstprofessionaleventattheWPBAUSOpen,wasthethirdplayertomakeittothefinalfour.CavanaughsentCassidyMulliganandAliciaDeAbreutothewestbeforelosingtoShanelleLoraine.Cavanaughstayedintheeventwithatoughhill-hillbattleagainstSueRoberts.Roberts,whoearliersentJenniferPagewest,followedPagewestcourtesyofSeaver.RobertsthenknockedoutCassidyMulligan,tobattleitoutwithCavanaugh.Onthehill,Roberts,withballinhandandthe8-ballontherail,overcutthe8-balltryingtogetshapeonthe9.ThatmissallowedCavanaughtotakethegameandthethirdspotonthefinalfour-board. ThelastspotonthefinalfourwasfilledbySeaver.AfterdefeatingRobinBoggsandSueRoberts,andthenlosingtoMcCormick,SeavermatchedupagainwithBoggs.Missingacrucial9-ballthatwouldhaveputBoggsonthehill,Seaverpocketedthe9andtookthelastplaceonthefinalfourboard. IntheredrawCavanaughsquaredoffagainstMcCormick,whohadbeenplayingalmostflawlesslyallday.SeaverdrewLoraine.BothMcCormickandSeaverwonhandilyandadvancedtothefinals.AlthoughSeaver’sgamewasoff,andshehadearlierlosttoMcCormick,McCormickcouldn’tkeepthemomentumgoingandwasn’tabletotakeadvantageofSeaver’smissedshots.SeaverwentontowinthematchandthethirdFlamingoBilliardsTourstop. ManythankstoroomownersMikeBradfordandJoeSistarelliatSlateBilliards(www.slatebilliards.com),forbeinggreathosts,andtoBoyntonBilliardsfortheircontinuedsupportoftheFBT. TheFlamingoBilliardsTourisaWPBA-recognizedRegionalTour,andisasteppingstonetotheWomen’sProfessionalBilliardAssociationforwomenwhowanttoplayprofessionally. ThenextstopisAugust25,2012,locationtobeannounced.Formoreinformation,visithttp://www.flamingobilliardstour.com/.

Flamingo Billiards Tour!SEAVER strikes again on the

RESULTS($250 added, modified double elimination)

Jeannie Seaver $325Crystal McCormick $225Shanelle Loraine $120Kelly Cavanaugh $120

Crystal McCormick, Jeannie Seaver


By Kia Sidbury

The J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) headed to Atlantic City Billiards in Egg Harbor Township, NJ on the weekend of May 17-18, 2012. Atlantic City Billiards is one of several new venues to JPNEWT this year.

Pam Cimarelli returned to JPNEWT to take the win. She started out the gate fired-up with victories over Briana Miller 7-1 and Meredith Lynch 7-1, consecutively. Pam ended day one sending Sharon O’Hanlon west after defeating her 7-2. Meanwhile, Linda Shea downed Ji-Hyun Park 7-3, Denise Reeve 7-4 and Judie Wilson 7-3.

Judie Wilson’s first round bye shortened her number of matches played, but her skills shined through as she defeated Shanna Lewis 7-4, was put down by Shea 7-3, but picked things back up with a win over Lynch 7-4. Shanna Lewis defeated Kia Sidbury 7-2, was put down by Wilson, had two hill-hill victories over Pauline Mattes and

Briana Miller, and finished day one with a win over Sharon O’Hanlon 7-4.

The final four met Sunday morning to continue the battle. Cimarelli sent Shea west after defeating her 7-4, putting Pam in the hot seat. Meanwhile, Lewis had a second chance to redeem herself against Wilson, but to no avail. Wilson eliminated Lewis 7-1. Judie met yet another rematch, but could not outdo Linda Shea’s 7-2 victory. The finals met yet another rematch, Pam Cimarelli vs Linda Shea. Cimarelli maintained consistency and defeated Shea again 7-4 leaving Cimarelli undefeated.

The J. Pechaurer Northeast Women’s Tour thanks all the players, spectators, and ustream.tv viewers for your participation and support. A special thank you goes out to our sponsor J. Pechauer Custom Cues for your continued support of women in billiards. Last but not least, thank you Atlantic City Billiards for hosting this event and inviting the tour back for future competitions!

Cimarelli Takes Atlantic City Billiards


Bison BilliardsCongratulations to all 8 doubles teams, who won a qualifier. We saw some very good team play. The team of Jim Doran and Rick Pendleton made a real strong run after falling behind 0-3, in a race to 4, they fought back to hill-hill, only to leave the 8 ball hanging in the corner pocket. Jason and Drew, who lost their first match then went on to win 4 in a row on the one loss side playing great team pool, then had to beat Victor Guerra and Dave Wright twice if they were to advance to Las Vegas. Dave and Victor proved too tough for Jason and Drew beating them 4-1 earning themselves the chance to compete in the nationals.

Winners go to Las Vegas

Dave o

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APA Doubles

http://www.cuestik.com

http://www.tigerproducts.com


Submitted by Janis SessionsPicture by Janis Sessions

Two Great People and Pool Players Passed Away in June 2012 from South Florida: Mike Guttiere and Bill Surette At this time we would like to offer our deepest sympathy and prayers to the families and friends that knew these two. Some of us played on their pool teams and some of us played matches with them. We know they will be missed at home as well as at the pool halls. The 9 ball Money Cup for the APA League in South Florida was held at Lucky 7 Billiards (formerly the Arcade Billiards) in Hollywood, FL this year. This place has only been open for about 4 months; Tiffany and Charlie the owners wanted to host this event. They have 13 regulation tables plus 1 billiard table. One of the tables has pink cloth and this table plays very fast. 16 Teams were eligible for this event. Players came from; Coral Springs, Davie, Hollywood, and Sunrise area. The matches would start around 9:00am on 05/26/2012, unless your team got a bye. The Team’s that got a bye would come in around 12:00pm to start their matches around 1:00pm. My Team is called “Just Shoot the 9”; we started our match around 9:00am and got the boot from the team called “All the Hard Way”. I stayed around to watch some of the other matches and a young girl who is only 4 (Keelyn Rogers) practicing with her mother. Players beware she is going to be a good player one day. The Team called “Arcadians” had one player who was very sick and keep playing his matches and doing his part to keep his team going. That is dedication!The team called “8 on the Break” stood out and was looking very sharp in their matching team shirts made it to the semi-finals. The team called the “High I Cues” would end up winning the 9 ball money cup which I understand finished around 3:00am or so. I want to thank Tiffany and Charlie for hosting their first APA 9 Ball Money Cup. Hope they will host more events like this. Thanks to Gene Weaver for running this event, he is our league operator.

See ad page 31

APA 9 Ball Money Cup in South Florida

TiffanyandCharlie(ownersofLucky7) Winners–High-I-Qs

Pinktable(LeslieArias)

Team“8ontheBreak”Team

4yearold(KeelynRogers)

GeneandCaptainsgoingovertherules.


Bison BilliardsInterview MikeandhiswifeLyn,haveworkedveryhardtomakeBisonBilliardstheplacetocometointheBuffaloarea.Mikespeaksproudlyofthesuccesshehashadwithhispoolroom,“IboughtthepoolroomApril1,2009.Itwaskindofacesspool-mostlyhustlers,nofood,nodrinks,liquorlicensehadbeenlost,cardgameseverythingdonethewrongway.Thepreviousownerwasniceguybuthadthepoolhallduringitsheydayinthe70’s,80’sandearly90’sandjustwantedout.Icouldseewhatthisplacecouldbe.Itwasabeautifullylaidoutpoolroom,veryclassylookingplace,hadalltherightequipment,8-9’DiamondTables,3-9’GoldCrowns,6-DiamondBarBoxes(allcoveredwith860SimonisCloth)andaGabriel5‘x10’threecushioncaromtable,buthewasn’tdoinganyleaguesortournaments.WepickedupAPAandBCAleagueswhichdofantastic.YouthleaguearestartinginlateJunewhichtheBEFishelpingsponsor.OneyoungmanthatisgoingtotheJuniorNationals,only11yearsold,playsinallthetournamentsatBison-JakeMiosi-doesreallywell.” BisonBilliardsisafamilyrunpoolhallwithLyndoing90%ofthecooking,Mikeandhisyoungestsontakingcareofthecustomers.Theyofferafullmenuandhave24differenttypesofbottlebeerandwine. Mikeevenenforcesa“NoVulgarLanguage”policy,whichkeepsthingsonanevenkeel.“ThereisnoreasonthatthepeopleonTable1shouldknowwhatisgoingonTable18!Ihaveeventhrownsomepeopleoutbuthavealwaysgiveneveryone

by: Don “Cheese” Akerlow

For the celebration of the 3rd Anniversary of Bison Billiards, owner Mike Shriver, held a $1,000 added 8-Ball tournament and had 36 very strong players show up. The rules were modified BCA and Mike designed a two bracket system. One bracket for the A players and a second bracket for the B and below players. That way according to Mike, “The players wouldn’t meet until the quarter-finals so somebody from the B bracket would be guaranteed to be in the money. I have a lot of B-C players here and they don’t mind playing in the tournament because they have a chance.” The A players raced to 8 and the B players raced to 6.

Mark Craemer


Ron (kingpin) Kingsley Roger Jackson

Bison Billiardsasecondchanceandithaspaidoff,”admitsMike.Andpayoffithas,Mikehasseenanearly20%growthinhisbusinesseachyear,whichisamazingwhenpoolhallsareclosingalloverthecountry.Mikehascombinedleaguesandtournamentstooffersomethingtoallhiscustomersnomattertheirskilllevel.Healsotriestoofferhiscustomerseverythingpoolthathecan.HehashisflatscreenTVtiedintohiscomputersothatwhenDennisHatch,aregularatBisonBilliards,wasplayingintheU.S.Open10BalltournamentfromLasVegaseveryonecouldsitaroundandenjoythegame. Theanniversarytournamentwasagreatsuccess.CongratulationsgoestoJasonHuntwhowentallthewaythroughthewinnersbracketanddidnotloseamatch.

SecondplacefinisherNickCoppola(fromtheBbracket)beatmanyAplayers.BisonBilliardshaditslocalplayerswinfirstthroughsixthplace. JakeMiosi,didn’tplaceinthemoneybuthereallyplayedwell.Hehasagreatattitude,takeslessonsfromDennisHatchandhasalotofpoolaheadofhim. BisonBilliardshasamonthly8-BallBarBoxtournament,amonthly9-Balltournament,aThursdayNight9BallTournament,APAandBCAPLleagues,fullmenu,beerandwineandisanallaroundgreatplacetoplaypool.BesuretostopinandsayhellotoMike,Lynandfamily.Theyarelocatedat8216MainStreet,Williamsville(asuburbofBuffalo),NewYorkorcall716-632-0281.Theyareopen7daysaweekfrom3pmuntil3am.

Shawn McCluskey and special guest Former Mosconi Cup MVP and one of our countries best players, Dennis Hatch

Lyn Weschler and Marco Cam

Tom DimatteoMike and Lyn Shriver owners of Bison Billiards

1,000.00 added, 34 shooters, and excellent home cooked food, all made for a great tournament.

1st – Jason Hunt $900.00 plus $1100.00

2nd – Nick Coppola $450.00 plus $525.00

3rd – Santo Merlo $225.00 plus $275.00

4th – Mark Hatch $150.00 plus $150.00

5th/6th Frank Rodriguez and Corey Welfare $100.00 each plus $80.00 each

7th/8th Ron Casanzio and Bob Brewer $50.00 each

$1000 Added Anniversary Tournament Results


Tee ThanBrian Barr

20 Stroke Magazine - June 2012

http://www.tapleague.com


P R E S S R E L E A S E

TAP,LLCCorporatewouldliketorecognizeGeorgeNatiliofRoute19TAPastheMayLicenseeofthemonth.George,alongwithhiswifeNancystartedtheirTAPleagueinMayof2009andhasprovennotonlytrulycommittedtotheirplayersandCorporatebutarealassetaswell.Georgehasrecruitedover200playersinhisareaandisincreasinghisdivisionseveryday.Hislocaleventspayoutlargecashamountsandtrophies.GeorgeandNancyhaveputincountlesshoursatTAPNationalTournamentsandannualRallyintheValleyevent,helpingtoinsureasmoothrunningofeachevent.CongratulationsGeorge!Wewishyoucontinuedgrowthandsuccess.Route19TAPservesButler,Erie,Mercer,WarrenandVenangocountiesinPa.“TAPappreciatesallofourLicensee’sandenjoyssendinganextra“AttaBoy”eachmonth”IfyouwouldliketobeapartofthisfastgrowingleaguegiveGeorgeacallat724-256-3436

George Natili is May Licensee of the month

MATCHROOM SPORT is pleased to announce that Diamond Billiard Products will be the Official Table Supplier to all Matchroom pool events in 2012. Following their debut at the 2011 Mosconi Cup, Diamond will now provide their top-of-the-range tables for the World Cup of Pool, World Pool Masters and of the course, the Mosconi Cup. Founded in 1987, Diamond is highly regarded both in the United States and around the world and is the Official Table of major events such as the US Open, the Derby City Classic, US Open One-Pocket Championship, US Open 10-Ball Championship as well as all WPBA events. In addition it is the popular choice among tournament players across the United States. Diamond tables will make their 2012 Matchroom debut at the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool which takes place at Robinsons Place in Manila, Philippines from 4th to 9th September. From there the next event is the long-running PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters which runs over the weekend of 5th, 6th & 7thOctober. Finally, the action moves to the historic York Hall in London’s Bethnal Green for the 19th annual Mosconi Cup as two five man teams representing USA and Europe do battle from 10th to 13th December. Chad Scharlow, Vice President of Diamond Billiard Products Inc. commented, “Diamond Billiard Products are very excited to be once again working with Matchroom Sport to supply Diamond pool tables to not only the Mosconi Cup event but also to the World Pool Masters and World Cup of Pool events.

“This is an exciting time in pool as international acceptance of American pool increases, the demand for high quality television coverage of these pool tournaments increases. Couple that with today’s hottest professional pool players and that is a match made for a Diamond table. “The Diamond brand is very strong in the US market and it is time to expose this world calibre pool table to international markets and Matchroom Sport provides the perfect platform for Diamond to truly build international branding,” he added. Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn said, “We’re very pleased to be once again working with Diamond Billiard products following the success of the Mosconi Cup last year. Diamond is without doubt the No.1 brand in the USA and Matchroom is delighted to be working with them and helping them spread the word to all corners of the globe.” www.diamondbilliards.net www.matchroompool.com Luke Riches, Matchroom Sport: [email protected] +44 7785 395688 Notes: Matchroom Sport are one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and are responsible for over 1,000 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, Matchroom Sport produce three pool events on an annual basis – the Mosconi Cup, the World Cup of Pool and the World Pool Masters.

DIAMOND OFFICIAL TABLE

International Junior Pool Championships!

•300excitedjuniorpoolleagueplayersfrom10States&Ontario,Canada

•Matcheson80ValleyPoolTables•Competitionin15uniquedivisions

•Playersrepresenting23VNEACharterHolderMembers•AfabulousTeamOpeningCeremonieswhichfeaturedacolorfulParade

ofFlags,SinglesAwardsPresentationandmanydignitaries.•ArtisticPoolCompetitionfeaturing“Dr.Popper”MarkDimick.

•PersonalProfessionalInstructionbyJerryBriesath.•JerryBriesath“SportsmanshipAward”

•DickHawkins“All-StarTeams”•Everyteamhadmatchinguniforms.

•AFun-filledPlayersReceptionincludingfreePizza&Pop.•TournamentSponsors...

-Valley-VVS-Pechauer-CharterHolders

-MuellerSportingGoods-GWCueCollection

-Tom’sQ-Stix•200juniorsparticipatedin3divisionsofScotchDoublescompetition.

•TeamHardluckCompetition.•29separateMini-Tournamentswereheldwiththewinnersreceiving

GWCues(donatedbyValley)andrunner-upsreceivingCueCases.•ThousandsofdollarsinSavingsBondswereawardedtothewinners

alongwithbeautifulcuesandcases

And this is surely just a taste of everything that took place!Stay tuned to VNEA.com for the complete press release.

If you weren’t there... here’s a taste of what you missed.

VNEA’s 22nd Annual

VALLEYmini-tournament

cuesticks and othernumerous contributions

VVSset-up/tear down

event staff

GW CUE COLLECTIONwinners cuesticks

PECHAUERTOM’S Q-STIX

scotch dbls./mini-tr.cuesticks

MUELLERSPORTING GOODSteam packet giveaways

CHARTER HOLDERS& PARENTSweekly leagueinvolvement

22nd Annual SPONSORS

Shooters - NorthAmerican Amusement Arcade

MAJORS TEAMCHAMPION

VVS Wolf PackVVS

MINORS TEAM CHAMPION

Triple TroubleC & N Sales

YOUTH TEAM CHAMPION22 Stroke Magazine - July 2012

1

4

6

11July 2012 - Stroke Magazine 23

1

1. Youth Teams 1st - 3rdTripleTrouble,BreakNRun,FantomCueKids2. Tyler Steinhaus1stplaceMinorDivisionSingles3. Youth Speed Pool1stplaceTristanHansen4. 2012 Minor Males SinglesTylerSteinhaus,DavidMoyer,AustenWarner

5. 2012 Youth Male SinglesSpencerMedel,BrandonVanoverbeke,ColbenChristensen,NicolasRidley

6. Minor Scotch DoublesAustenWarner,TylerSteihaus,ScottJaycox,ZachBaker

7. 2012 Majors Males SinglesLarrySimmonsJr,CaleCoffey,NathanMindham,TaylorAnderson

8. Youth Doubles 1st & 2ndBrandonVanoverbeke,TristanHansen,NickRidley,SpencerMedel

9. 2012 Major Females SinglesChandraCampion,EmilySkrutsky,DeanneKeim,AshtonRowley

10. 2012 Youth Females SinglesTaylorHansen,AprilLarson,HaileyFullerton,SelenaAranda

2 3

4 5

6 7

8 9 10


International Pool Championships!•5,000excitedpoolleagueplayersfrom30States,6CanadianProvincesand7OtherCountries•Matcheson250ValleyPoolTables•Competitionin34uniquedivisions•Playersrepresenting150+VNEACharterHolderMembers•NewTournamentSoftware!Ten40”MonitorsandQRCodeScannersmadelifeabreezeforourplayerstofindtheirmatchesandviewresults.•3,000playerspartyingatourfabulousTeamOpeningCeremonieswhichfeaturedawesomefireworksandthesoundsof“TheCRUSH”•32YearHistoryWalldisplay•2ValleyHomePoolTablesweregivenawaythroughouttheevent

•1stAnnualWorldTeamChampionship•FacebookContestsandDailyTweets•TheAmazingAlfTaylor•DailyCuestick,CabanaandAramithBallSetDrawings•Artistic&SpeedPoolCompetitions•TournamentSponsors... -VALLEY•ARAMITH AnAwardsBanquetwhichwasextraordinarytosaytheleast...TheBluesBrothersandComedianDavidGee!Andthisissurelyjustatasteofeverythingthattookplace!SeethecompleteresultsonVNEA.com.

If you weren’t there... here’s a taste of what you missed.

Wo

me

ns T

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nsVNEA’s 32nd Annual


Me

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$250 Added GuaranteedBar Box 8-Ball 1st Saturday of the Month

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Justine Stewart 813.986.4344

$3300 Added

2012 Sunshine State ACS Championships

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PhilBurfordmadethemostofhispoolplayingtriptotheUS,astheBritishimportredefinedtheword"dominating"inthefinalsoftheJossNE9-BallTourstopatSnookersBilliardsinProvidence,RI. BurfordandTomD'Alfonsomadetheirwayuntouchedthroughthefieldof65otherplayers,tofaceoffforthehot-seatlateonSunday.BurfordalreadyhadalopsidedwinoverMikeDechainetohiscreditinthisevent,buthecameupshortinthematchagainstD'Alfonsowithascorelineof9-5.ThatwouldnotbethelastthatD'AlfonsowouldseeBurfordonthisdaythough. Burfordwenttotheleftsideoftheboardandekedouttheclosestof9-8winoverJeremySosseitoearnanothershotatD'Alfonsointhefinals. Havingalreadylostonce,BurfordwouldhavebeatD'Alfonsotwiceinthefinals,andhegotofftoagreatstartwitha9-1winoverD'Alfonsointhefirstsetofthefinals.Justtoprovethatthefirstsetwasnofluke,Burforddidhimselfonebetterwitha9-0winoverD'Alfonsointhesecondsetofthefinals. TwentyplayerswhohadalreadybeeneliminatedonSaturdya,camebackonSundaytocompeteinthesecondchanceevent.ThateventsawJoshGormlycomebackfromanearlierlosstodefeatChrisCoviello3-1twiceinthefinalstoearnfirstplace. ThiseventwasthefinaleventbeforetheTurningStoneClassicXIX,whichwilltakeplaceattheTurningStoneCasinoinVerona,NYonAugust23-26.TourdirectorMikeZuglanstressedthatthereare"veryfew"spotsleftforthiseventandinterestedplayersareurgedtocallMikeat518-356-7163.

JOSSNE9-BALLTOURSTOPPlace Playername Prize1st PhilBurford $1,2002nd TomD'Alfonso $9003rd JeremySossei $7004th NelsonOliviera $5005th PaulDryden $350 MikeDechaine $3507th MattTetreault $250 TimPerry $2509th RandyLabonte $150 RonCasanzio $150 ChanceChin $150 JoeDupuis $15013th MikeYamauchi $100 BuckySouvanthong $100 ZuidThweib $100 DavePinkston $100

JOSSNE9-BALLTOURSTOPAMATEUREVENTPlace Playername Prize1st JoshGormly $3302nd ChrisCoviello $2203rd SteveGoulding $1504th StacieBourbeau $1005th JoshThiele $50 RanulfTamba $50

Burford CRUSHES D'Alfonso in Joss Tour Finals

http://www.ultimate-billiards.com


TULSA,OK-GerdaHofstatterwontheopeninglagandbreak,pocketingthesixandplayingsafe.Fishermissedthekickandwithballinhand,Gerdarantheracktolead1-0,butlostthesafetybattleinthenextracktogiveAllisonherfirstgame.Gerdagotbacktothetableingamethree,butGerdamissedatough8,leavingAllisonabankontheeightandaneasyninetopullahead2-1. Inrackfour,Gerdamadeaclassictwoballshot,onlytobecalledafoul.SheprotestedthecallandofficialsreviewedontheESPNcamerasandthecallwasreversed!Shethenproceededtomakeabrilliantrun-outtotiethematch2-2. Thematchtiedagainat3-3,butthenAllisontookadvantageofafoulanda3-9combotolead4-3,followedbyabreakandruntotakethefirsttwogameleadinthematch5-3.Intheninthrackshewonanearlysafetybattleandranoutfromthetwoballtogettothehill6-3. Inthefinalrack,AllisonhadadrybreakbutGerdamissedalongcutonthe2.Allisonwashooked,kickedtosafe.GerdaleftashotthoughandAllisonranouttowinherrecord6thUSOpentitle! Thequarterfinal,semifinalandfinalmatchesoftheWPBAUSOpen9-BallChampionshipswillbebroadcastbyESPNinsevenone-hournationalshows,airingSaturday,July14,(Quarterfinals12-4pmonESPN2)andSunday,July15,(Semifinals/Final1-4pmonESPN2). Fansandmediaviewallfinalresultsathttp://www.wpba.com/images/stories/brackets/2012_us_open.pdf. ThanksforagreatweekattheRiverSpiritEventCenter,adjacenttotheRiverSpiritCasinoat81standRiversideinTulsa!

About the Women's Professional Billiard Association (WPBA)TheWPBAwasestablishedin1976astheWomen'sProfessionalBilliardAlliance,and

celebratesits35thanniversaryin2011astheoldestproplayerorganizationinthesport.TheWPBAsanctionsandproducestheWomen's

ProBilliardTour,whichfeaturesESPN-televisedeventswiththeworld'sgreatestwomenplayers.Visitwww.wpba.comformore.TheWPBA

ClassicTourissponsoredbyDiamondBilliards,IwanSimoniscloth,Delta13,PooldawgandAramithballs.

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Third Place - Jeanette LeeFourth Place - Monica WebbRunner-Up - Gerda Hofstatter

Champion - Allison Fisher

Fisher REPEATSWPBA U.S. OPEN CHAMPION

1st $10,000 AllisonFisher2nd $5,500 GerdaHofstatter3/4 $3,000 JeanetteLee,MonicaWebb5/8 $1,800 HelenaThornfeldt,BrittanyBryant,LineKjorsvik,MaryRakin9/12 $1,300 MelissaHerndon,KimShaw,JenniferBarretta,JenniferChen13/16 $1,000 JanaMontour,TerukoCucculelli,AngelinaPaglia,VivianVillarreal

photoby:SuzanneSmith

photoby:SuzanneSmith


Melissa “The Viper” Little has been a WPBA Touring Professional for over 10-years, she has represented the USA in Four WPA World Championships and has over 20 top-10 WPBA career finishes. Melissa is currently the house-pro at the Wynkoop Brewing Company located in Downtown Denver. She teaches monthly clinics, gives private lessons, and has created a juniors program that promotes billiards education to the local youth.

For more information about Melissa please visit: www.melissalittle.com

Read more articles by Melissa Little at

www.onthebreaknews.com

Melissa Little

“The Viper”“The Viper”More Facebook Questions to

Shane/New Iberia, LAIn 8-ball what is better, to break from the rail or in the box??

Viper:Shane,Iplaysomuch9-ballusingtheMagicrackthatIamveryusedtobreakingtheballsfromtherail.So,naturallyIstartofffromtherebutifIfindthatIamnotmakingballsonthebreakthenIstartmovingmycueballtowardsthecenterofthetabletotryandfindthetablessweet-spot. Although,in8-ballIbreakusingthe“Second-ballcutbreak”,inwhichIusealittleinside-drawstrikingthesecondballoftherackwithmediumspeed.Becarefulnottoscratch.Nomatterwhatthough,beforeyourmatchitsimportanttonotjustpracticerunningballsbuttoalsoincludepracticingthebreaktofindthebestspottobreakfromduringyourmatch.

Hector Otani/San Antonio, TXDoes working out, as in weights or biking affect your stroke?

Viper:Hector,Ican’tanswerforallprosbutwhenIwasyoungerIhiredapersonaltrainerthatdidnotknowthatIplayedprofessionalpoolforaliving.Hehadmeworkingoutwithweightsthree-timesaweekandafterawhileInoticedthatIwasmusclingtheballaroundthetablelikeIwastheincredibleHulk!ItwasfunnyatthetimebutIhadtolearnthehardwayandimmediatelystopped! Laterinthemycareer,ImetapersonaltrainerattheDenverAthleticClub,whilebeingthehouseprothere,whoreallyhelpedmedevelopaworkoutroutinebuiltjustformeasapoolplayer.HehadmedoingalotofcardioandmostofallhegotmeintoYoga/Palateclasses.Theseclassesreallyhelpedwithmewiththementalpartofthegameaswell,soIdefiantlysuggestgoingtoyourlocalgymandtryingoneoftheseclassesout!

Morne Du Toit/Lichtenburg, North-West, South Africa Is there a way to break 'properly' @ if there, is how is it done?

Viper:Morne,what’simportantaboutthebreakispocketingaballandcontrollingthecueball.Yourcueballneverliesitalwaystellsthetruth!Soifyouhaveapowerfullystrongbreakandpocketthreeballsbutlose

controlofyourcueballbyscratchingthenyouobviouslyneedtoworkonbettercontrol. Ifyoucontrolyourcueballandneverpocketaballthenyouneedtomoveyourcueballarounduntilyoudopocketaballonthebreak.Andmostofall,whathelpedmewithmybreakwasbyreading/watchingabooks/DVDcalled“RackingSecrets”byproplayerJoeTucker.Gotohiswebsite:www.joetucker.netformoredetailsandheevenhassomefreevideosthatmighthelpout.

Jimneezy Johnson/Vallejo, CA How can one master the use of inside English?

Viper:Jimneezy,whenIteachmyclassesIexplaintomystudentsthatanyEnglishislikethedarksideofpool…lol!It’sverydifficulttoapply,use,andmaster.Letmesharealittlesecretaboutposition,theonlyreasonwhyyoushouldapplyEnglishistocreatesomethingthatdoesnotexistandthatisanaturalangle!Inthefantasyworldofplayingperfectpool,it’sbesttoalwaysleaveyourselfanaturalangleforyournextshot! Butintherealworldofpoolthatdoesn’talwayshappen…Ifyourstraightinonashotandneedtogetpositiononaballthatisontheoppositesideofthetablethenyouwouldneedtouseright-handEnglishtogettheballtotraveltotheright. JustanFYI,tomebyusingtopspin,centerordrawisnotreallyusingEnglishbecauseyou’reonastraight-lineaccess.IimagineusingaclocksystemforapplyingEnglish.Forexample,lookingatthecueball1PM-5PMisusedasright-handEnglishand7PM-11PMisusedforapplyingleft-handEnglish.Andjustaruleofthumb,mostofthetimeyouronlyusingthecircumferencesizeofanickeltoapplyEnglishonthecueball.OntopofthisbasicinformationtherearetonsoffreevideosonYOUTUBEandmultiplebooksouttherethatcanhelpexplainEnglishinmoredepth. Keepthequestionscoming…emailthemtomeatMelissa@melissalittle.comorjoinmyFacebookfanpageatwww.facebook.com/wpbaviper

Questions

Till next month, Viper


Lee “Lightning” Brett and Jing Gicoso set new tour records last month. Lee Brett posted a new tour record for Behind the Rock Tour for high score previously set by Tommy Najar back in September of 2011. Najar’s record was a solid 139 with 5 Snap games, 2 consecutive Snap games, 1 COE and 1 Cut game. Brett crushed Najar’s match statistics with 7 Snap games and 1 COE for a score of 154. If you’ve never played the game 211 before let me tell you these scores are a feat to be reckoned with. Lee Brett comes to us from Liverpool. He was an outstanding snooker player in Europe and is now making his name in the USA playing pool. The name “Lightning” was given to him for his rapid and deadly accurate play. Lee is also a coach and trainer with a published DVD and instructional book. BTRT is now selling his DVD and book on the website at www.behindtherocktour.com on the Store/merchandise page if you want to learn more about his unique technique that enabled him to set this world record playing 211. Jing Gicoso set a new record for highest points scored in one game of 21 points. This is Jing’s second time in the tour title page. He also has tied the tour record for 3 consecutive Cut games. You can view all the tour records on the website www.behindtherocktour.com. What does all this mean? In “211” player’s play 11 games of 10 ball vs. The Ghost which means players break, take ball-in-hand and run balls in rotation until they foul, miss or run-out. Every ball pocketed scores one point. A Snap, Cut and COE defines they type of run-out a player had. A Snap simply means at least one ball was made on the break and the player ran out. A Cut means the player did not make a ball on the break, took ball-in-hand and ran out, and a COE means in the game following the Cut game he/she did not take ball-in-hand after the break. Brett had a total of 8 break and run games out of 12 games (if you break and run in your 11th game you shoot a 12th game to finish scoring the 11th game). This extraordinary performance by Lee Brett should inspire all players, pro’s and amateurs alike. Behind The Rock Tour (BTRT) is designed to inspire players to improve their games. The format forces players to take a real look at their skill level. It helps to identify problem skills, highlight personal great performances and it teaches everyone how important the break shot is regardless of the game. BTRT is designed for all skill levels using a 90% true handicapping system. What this handicapping system does is it let’s not the best player win, but players that have a personal high performance. This system starts all players at the same level each week at their individual average and it’s the player that plays above their average that is rewarded. BTRT just opened the Advanced and Advanced Scratch division which makes 5 divisions for players to play from: 2 scratch divisions for players just getting started and establishing their averages, Intermediate - 0-30 points (less than three balls per game), the Open division is 30-70 points (players will run an average of 3-7 balls per game or maybe slip in a Snap or Cut game along the way), the Advanced division are players who shoot a 70 and above for players who can consistently break and run 2-5 racks out of 11 games. All players start in a scratch division for 6 matches to establish an average and then are moved to a division according to skill level and assigned a handicap.

This is a weekly combined national tournament that can be played out of any participating pool room. This is a tournament so players are not required to play every week, however players can play multiple matches a week if they choose. A new tournament starts every Sunday and closes every Saturday night. Every division pays a third of the field and is paid out every week. Tri-annual events are every 4 months with the next event scheduled for Aug. 4-5. All rooms will play simultaneously starting at 10:00am PDST from their local room. Two rounds are played and matches are uploaded to the website www.behindtherocktour.com, winners of round 1 are calculated and the top 75% of the field move to the Sudden death round. Sudden death is one match, it’s uploaded and the top one third of the field goes to the finals on Sunday for 2 matches. This is a very exciting event. As matches are completed they are uploaded to the website so players can see on the west coast what scores are coming in on the east coast (and vice/versa). To qualify for the tri-annual events, players need to have played 11 matches during the previous 4 months. If you’d like to play, talk to your local pool room owner and contact us at 253-226-3594 or [email protected] and let’s get you playing. Congratulations Lee Brett and Jing Gicoso on your new World Records in the Behind the Rock Tour’s 211 Tournament! - see ad page 31

ROCK BEHIND THE

TOUR

LEE “LIGHTNING” BRETT

JING GICOSO

“The Viper”


By Skip Maloney - AzB Staff

BrandonShuffandChrisFutrellfacedeachotherthreetimesintheActionPoolTourstopontheweekendofJune9-10,andbattledtodoublehillinallthreematches.Shufftooktwooutofthethree,includingthesecondsetofatruedoubleeliminationfinaltocapturetheeventtitle.Theeventdrew58entrantstoQ-MasterBilliardsinVirginiaBeach,VA. Therecipientofoneofthesix,first-roundbyes,Shuffgaveuponlyfourracksinhisfirsttworoundsofplay,oneagainstDanielChoiandthreeversusBrianDeska,beforerunningintoFutrellthefirsttime,amongthefinaleightwinners.Futrellgaveuponlyfiveracksoverthreematchestogettothatpoint,shuttingoutbothJackieDugganandAnneReynolds,beforegivingupthefiveinamatchversusDwightCherry.Intheirfirstofthree,Shuffadvancedtothewinners'sidefinalfourtofaceDannyMastermaker,whileFutrellmovedtothelosssideandbeganafive-matchwinningstreakbacktothefinals.Intheotherwinners'sidesemifinal,ChadPikesquaredoffagainstRafaelReyes. Shuffadvancedtothehotseatmatch8-6overMastermaker,andwasjoinedbyReyes,who'dsentPikewest8-2.ShuffsentReyestothesemifinals8-2,andwaitedinthehotseatforthereturnofFutrell. Futrellmovedtothelosssideandimmediatelyresumedhistabledomination,givinguponlythreeracksinhisfirsttwomatches,oneagainstR.JCarmonaandtwoversusCaryDunn,whichsethimuptotakeonPike.MastermakerpickedupBillDuggan,who'dshutoutJesseFigueroaandbattledDeskatodoublehill.FutrellandMastermakeradvancedtothequarterfinalswithidentical6-2victoriesoverPikeandDuggan. Futrellthenchalkeduptwomore6-2scores,overMastermakerinthequarterfinalsandReyesinthesemifinals,forasecondshotatShuff.Intheirsecondoftwo,itwasFutrellprevailingintheopeningsetofatruedoubleeliminationfinal.Inareducedraceto6,Shuffcamebacktowinthesecondsetandsecuretheeventtitle.InadditiontoShuff's$800,first-placeprize,thevictorygavehimafreeentrytoOctober'sUSOpen9-BallChampionships,valuedat$500.ThevictoryalsokepthiminthenumberonespotontheActionPoolTour'srankings. Inaconcurrently-runSecondChanceTournamentonSunday,TuanChauwentundefeatedthroughafieldof16entrants.Chau'sopeningandclosingmatchesweredoublehillbattles,whileinhisthreemiddlematches,hegaveuponlyasinglerack;toNilLim,inthehotseatmatch.Chau'sopponentinthefinals,PaulHelms,hadbeensentwestbyLiminthesecondroundofplay,andwonfivestraight,includinga4-2revengematchagainstLiminthesemifinals.Chauprevailedinthedoublehillfinalstotakethetop,SecondChanceprize.

Shuff goes two out of three versus Futrell to win Action Pool Tour

1st BrandonShuff $1,300

2nd ChrisFutrell $600

3rd RafaelReyes $400

4th DannyMastermaker $250

5th ChadPike $150

5th BillDuggan $150

7th BrianDeska $100

7th CaryDunn $100

9th R.J.Carmona $75

9th EricMoore $75

9th JesseFigueroa $75

9th MitchSutphin $75

Action Pool Tour StopRESULTS


turning point where the balls, seemingly impregnated with a mind of their own, had had enough of catering to the Englishman’s every whim, and abandoned him like the plague.It happened when after breaking in rack 19, Appleton had a wide open layout to the finish line and the world championship. But with just four easy balls left, he inexplicably snookered himself. Appleton was forced to play safe but a counter safe led to a foul and another rack for Lee.From there on, everything went Lee’s way, while Appleton couldn’t buy a piece of fortune. Appleton blew a push out and Lee cleared to make it 12-8. Appleton left a safety open and Lee cleared again. Then Lee broke and ran to make the score 12-10.Having come back from sure defeat, Lee was suddenly in freewheeling mode, playing without a care in the world. Appleton, on the other hand, looked like he was bearing the weight of several worlds squarely on his shoulders. And it would only get worse.Lee moved to within one at 12-11 when Appleton tried to jump but missed and left the shot on, allowing Lee to run out. With the drama building to a massive crescendo, Lee then coolly stepped up in the next game and broke and ran. After 24 racks, the World Championship was to be decided by one single frame. With the crowd in a state of disbelief, and the tension in the arena at the boiling point, a shell shocked Appleton, who had only moments prior been waltzing his way to the world title, gamely stood up to give it one last go.He got the one ball down on the break. But the 2-ball was unavailable and he played a safety. Lee then played a counter safety. Appleton then pulled out his jump stick and proceeded to make history; he jumped the cue ball over the blocking ball and potted the 2-ball at a fairly sharp angle straight into the side pocket. The crowd erupted as a suddenly rejuvenated Appleton grabbed his cue and then picked off the remaining colors. As the 8-ball fell and left the Englishman

with an elementary shot on the championship ball, Appleton let out a shout and pumped his fist. Then as the 9-ball fell Appleton roared like a proud lion. He then threw down his stick and impulsively jumped up on the pool table with

his arms held high, shouting in joy and relief, pumping his fists as the crowd lustily cheered him on. After taking in the cheers, the hugs and congratulations from well wishers, Appleton tried to figure out what had just happened.“At 11-3 down I lost my focus,” Appleton said. “That’s because I had played so good up to that point. I was anxious to get it over with. And I’m thinking, I can’t lose, he needs a miracle. At 12-6 I was sure it was over because I had the easiest clearance you could ever have. But I snookered myself because I had too much adrenalin. Then after that, nothing happened for me. Around 12-10 I started feeling the heat.”For Lee he had figured the match was over when he was down 11-3 and he never

considered he could come back until a few racks later, when he started to notice Appleton getting concerned.“At first I didn’t think I could catch up,” Lee said through an interpreter. “Then at 12-6 I started to play well because it was like I had already lost the match so I was relaxed. When I started to get close to him I could feel that he was nervous and then I started to get excited, thinking I can win.”But while Lee nearly made a miracle comeback, it was Appleton who pulled off the miracle win, at the very last chance. “If I’d have lost that match I would have jumped off a bridge,” Appleton said. “But I played the best rack of my life that last rack. Incredible. I can’t believe what just happened.”

IT’S DYANMITE IN DOHA! (continuedfrompage4)

LEE HE WEN

Hours: Mon-Fri3pmto2am Sat-SunNoonto2am

Lucky 7 BilliardsHollywood, FL 954-239-8254

Home of the Pink Table (pinkie)

Smoke Free Environment

4850 South State Road 7

14 Pool Tables - 1 Billiard Table - Weekly Pool TournamentsAPA - TAP - Player Leagues

www.lucky7billiards.com

1st $40,000 Darren Appleton2nd $20,000 Lee He WenTotal Prize Fund: $300,000

BY: ANDREW MONSTIS

STORY

LuckyVegas Vacation

Cont…..Oh Vegas…. I had been hanging around a week in tournament area and my room. A day left for the singles tournament. I watched some people playing especially a women player Shelby Locoti. She was tearing up the competition in the BCAPL nationals. She exhibited of some pretty excellent shooting skills. Shot with much poise. Wished Lucky was here to see this girl play. Maybe he will get back to Vegas in time to check her out!. I thought by now Lucky would have called me. I thought I should call him to see how things are going. I called his cell no answer I did leave a message…. “In Vegas hope to see you soon”. I know when Lucky was available he would call. I won’t worry yet. I’ll wait another day to start worrying. ……..I’ll come down find some small action. I noticed a few new faces looking for action, many of the old faces were not there. Many of those were young players. That was a good sign that pool was not dead and the new breed was maintaining the tradition of pool. It is what makes pool have so much excitement. Rumor was that there was a 10 thousand dollar match at Best Billiards pool hall across town. Harry Platis was in action. Harry is a well known player with the ability to gamble. It dawned on me that could be Lucky in action at the pool hall. I went to my room to change cloths to go to the pool hall and turned on the TV to catch a few minutes of the free streaming 10ball championships and in the background I saw a figure sitting there I said to myself that looked like Lucky….. I looked at my cell phone and I had a missed call. Scrolled through calls, It was Lucky, he left a message on my cell, “I am at the tournament, what room do we have?’ Says he was watching the 10 ball and Earl Strickland just got told to shut the F&%# k up by the player on the next table. I guess Earl was whining again….“Earl’s mouth always gets him in trouble”. Lucky says he would like to play Earl some time, and he might be in the mood after this loss. Earl’s a little dense and has to be told, “Never under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night”. Might not figure it out on his own. Well I knew Lucky was here and could rest easy now. He wasn’t at the pool hall. But I did want to know what happen especially after that strange dream he had….. I ran into Lucky walking down the hall way and we took his small bag to the room….”That DAMN Spirit airlines. NEVER Again”…..”They gave me the biggest run around or I would have been here days ago”. Curious I asked him. As Lucky told the story about Spirit I had heard several people at event who took Spirit to Vegas complain about cancellations and delays. It was if everyone who booked flights with Spirit had horror stories. “Our flight was a fully booked flight. About an hour before scheduled departure, the notice board was suddenly changed from 8:50 to 10:00. Shortly thereafter, an employee said departure would be at 9:57; upon inquiry, she said it was because the plane was delayed somewhere else. Perhaps 30-40 minutes after that, it was announced that departure would be at 10:12 PM. Shortly thereafter, that was changed to 10:32 PM; not long after that, to 10:42

PM. By this time, it was around 9:35 or perhaps 9:45. All of a sudden we witnessed another plane’s passengers boarding our plane. We were asked to move over to their gate. These passengers were telling us as we were passing in the concourse they had been sitting on their plane for an hour and they were putting them on another plane. It was obvious Spirit was giving our plane to another group. As the time lengthens there was widespread panic and anger. A number of passengers had connections to other cities and weren't getting satisfactory responses. Spirit continued to blame everything on the weather so that they could evade any responsibility. Lucky said “We all started to look for other flights when they told us they were cancelling our flight” Spirit made us go to ticket counter to arrange other flights after two hours in line we at the middle to the end of the line were finding out that all flights were full and booked. It would be days before they could get us on flights. Lucky said that he spent the night and asked the next day when he could leave. “Four days” he was told. Lucky said he got mad. He rented a car and drove to Las Vegas 4 days, he found out he beat the flight by a day. Spirit airline is so stupid. Never again!!! “Well, glad you are here” I said I asked Lucky “how everything went in Ashville” He said that is old girl friend’s husband was sick and died. He was there for support and the funeral. Says he lifted her spirits the best he could. Her husband was smoking the past 20 years and it caught up with him. He wouldn’t quit. Lucky “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. There is no wealth but life.” “Don’t squander it away by smoking or drinking it does shorten your life.” “Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are at”. We were walking down to the action room conversation started on oil companies again. I asked the question to Lucky: Last year one company made 640 Million. Oil companies say they don’t make anything money. The high prices are all due to taxes? Which is it?… Lucky says Taxes are part of it, federal taxes are about .18 cents a gallon that’s all, state taxes are about .28 on average. About $1.60 per gallon goes for the rest, to buy the crude, refining it and distribution and marketing it. Lucky that still doesn’t add up to $4.00 a gallon? That is about $2.10 a gallon. 1.90 plus is left over, most of which goes to stock holders. A dollar of that goes to stock holders the rest to oil company to reinvest….. Lucky says you have to ask yourself a few things …..Rhetorically buying Oil stock costs about $76 dollars a share. Who can buy it ?? What is the percentage of population that owns oil stock ?? Lucky says only about 1.5% owns oil stock. How many people own tens of thousands of shares?. But most of the country thinks it’s our government that is causing the high gas prices… Lucky, ha ha ha That’s what some people think!!! Lucky said “Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often.” There is not that many slow people out there they usually figure it out. I hope it’s not too late. But it is a tragedy people

will deny the truth even when it right in front of us. I guess Lucky was bitching about stuff, a lot to think about driving to Vegas…. We walked into the action room to see what was going on. The Riviera had built a wall to the old action room. Walked in and there was, Glenn Atwell was hanging out. I told Lucky I knew him. Lucky says he reads ON THE BREAK and Glenn has been on the front page more than once. “Glenn’s a Bar Table champion”. Glenn was trolling for action a rare occurrence. He had a backer with him. Lucky started a conversation with Glenn and Glenn politely asked Lucky to play. Glenn had sized up Lucky, race 5 for $200, Lucky said “why not” Lucky knew if he gave Glenn a shot that he was more than capable of running out the short set. Glenn played very good after even did run out a set to 5, and was ahead $600 when Glenn wanted to bump the bet the whole time knowing he had the nuts. Some complaining that it wasn’t enough. So Lucky said same race to a thousand, Glenn check with backer and it was a GO!. They flipped Glenn won the first break. He ran 3 and 4th game hooked Lucky… Lucky just kicked it in and won that game. Lucky made two nine ball breaks to tie score. Lucky broke and made 6 balls with hangers to win and then ran out. Lucky won the $1000. Glenn said “the race is too short” Lucky agreed and said $2000 race to 11. Nods of the heads and they were starting. Lucky had 1st break didn’t make a ball. Glenn stated running balls when he dogged one, like the six.. It didn’t take long before Glenn was starring at people in crowd. Some sweater was eating a bag of potato chips. I know the crunch bothered Glenn. Trying to be polite Glenn was asking people to be quiet or not to move around so much. It was over at that point for Glenn. He was indirectly admitting he wasn’t focused. Lucky said “hey potato chips sound good”, could someone get some for me”…The little snack bar was right outside the room and before long Lucky was munching and crunching chips. Lucky fully aware of that milked the score to 9-9 and than just went ahead and won. As tough of a player as Glenn is, Glenn made it easier. Another $2000 It wasn’t fancy or it didn’t need to be. Glenn didn’t know what just happened. Glenn figured he just was not with it today. They played one more for $2000. Glenn won some games and Lucky won some games the score kept pretty even until the end of the set. Lucky just made some unorthodox balls. Shot some too hard into the rails, lost the rock and still balls went in. It looked like he slopped balls in, but I knew they were calculated. Lucky got paid, they were done. Glenn said it best. “The tragedy of life is not that you lose, but that you almost wins”. Even if Glenn was playing his best pool he would have never won and never know why. Ahead $5000 and the old man just looks lucky. It was almost time to leave Vegas and the Riviera. Dread leaving saying good bye to it all. We went up to pack. Lucky basically missed Vegas this year. Next year the event is in a new place the Rio. There will be new people to play I would bet on it.


Article and Photos by Janis Sessions

The 8 ball Money Cup for the APA League in South Florida was held at the Billiard Club in Davie, FL this year. Teams eligible for this event came from Coral Springs, Davie, Hollywood, and Sunrise area. An APA 8 ball money cup has a time limit (3 hours) and the team that wins 3 out 5 matches advances. Of the 32 teams, 16 teams would make it into the money cup around. The other teams would have to pack up and try again next time. Matches would start around 9:00am on 05/12/2012, unless your team got a bye. The teams that got a bye had to be at the Billiard Club by 12:00pm to start their matches around 1:00pm. This was the third time our team called the “Natives” was be in the 8 ball money cup. The last two times that we played; we come in 9th-16th Place and received $250.00 to split with the team. This year we all seemed more determine to stay in as long as we could. We started our first match around 1:00pm sending “Break n Out” and “Chopstix” home. By this time it was getting late and 8 teams would be back on Sunday 05/13/2012, which was also Mothers Day. Evelyn, Laura, Elenor (aka Jane) and I put our Mothers Day plans on hold to continue the battle along with the other teams for the first place 8 Ball Money Cup prize money and trophies. Because it was Mothers Day I brought my mother along to watch the matches. Sunday came our team the “Natives” were back and ready to

play. We started the matches around 12:30pm. We continued to play very well sending “Overrated” and “Outsiders” home. WOW!! We made it to the final round and by this time it is 9:00pm. Our team the “Natives” would meet up with “The Truth is 2 Offensive” team. We would have to play our best pool ever if we want to win. We knew “The Truth is 2 Offensive” team would play their best also. We started playing and took the first 2 matches. We only needed to win one more and we had to play our “6” against their “5”. Both players wanted to win. One of the games within the match had about 20 defensive shoots between them. Both players wanted to pull off the win, but our “6” stepped up to the challenge and we ended up winning. What a great Mother’s Day for us the “Natives” coming in First Place.$2,000 1st Place – The Natives$1,500 2nd Place – The Truth is 2 Offensive$750 3rd-4th Place – 2 Leafed Clovers and The Outsiders$500 5th-8th Place – Cue Sharks, 2nd Chance, Overrated and Yellow Bus9th-16th Place – HellFind, Rack n Roll, W84 It, Outta Control, Chopstick, Y So Yako and Constantly Amazed Thanks to the Billiard Club (Davie, FL) for hosting this event and Gene Weaver the league operator for all the hard work putting this together.

APA 8 Ball Money Cup in South Florida

Gene and Evelyn the Captain of the Natives receive the price money.

The Natives from left to right: Evelyn Yazzie, Carl Yazzie, Janis Sessions, Salomon Ojalvo, Elenor (aka Jane) Freeman and Jason Betz. (Missing in picture and on the team are Laura Clay and Valnei Santos)



DATE CITY LOCATION PHONE EVENT / RULES ENTRY ADDED TIME LINK

Call First - All Tournaments are subject to change without notice

Jul 7 Conyers, GA Classic Billiards (770) 679-5278 9-Ball $75 $1,000 Guar 1st CallJul 7 Buffalo, NY Bison Billiards (716) 632-0281 8-Ball Bar Box $35 (incl g.f.) $250 Guar Noon MAPJul 20-28 Tunica, MS Southern Classic (p18) southernclassictournament.com 9-Ball Banks Online $10,000 total Online MAP One Pocket Online Online 9-Ball Online Online Jul 20-22 Tunica, MS CSI (702) 719-7665 8-Ball - Men’s Open Division $50+$25 fees $3,000-1st w/64 Noon 8-Ball - Women’s Division $50+$25 fees $500-1st w/16 Noon 8-Ball - Men’s Sr (55+) Div $50+$25 fees $1,000-1st w/32 Noon MAP 8-Ball - Juniors Division FREE (w/8) Prizes-Entry Noon Jul 21-22 Herndon, VA Breakers Sky Lounge actionpooltour.com Action Pool Tour Stop $90-$40 Online Online Jul 23-25 Tunica, MS CSI (702) 719-7665 9-Ball - Men’s Open Division $50+$25 fees $3,000-1st w/64 Noon 9-Ball - Women’s Division $50+$25 fees $500-1st w/16 Noon 9-Ball - Men’s Sr (55+) Division $50+$25 fees $1,000-1st w/32 Noon MAP 9-Ball - Juniors Division FREE (w/8) Prizes-Entry NoonJul 26 Ft Pierce, FL Ultimate Billiards (772) 464-7665 Sunshine State 8-Ball Sc Dbls $85/$110 $300 6PM MAP Jul 27-28 Ft Pierce, FL Ultimate Billiards (772) 464-7665 Sunshine State 8-Ball Sngls $60/$85 $750 ea. div. 11AM MAP Jul 27-28 Ft Pierce, FL Ultimate Billiards (772) 464-7665 Sunshine State 8-Ball Teams $110/$160 $750 ea. div. 9AM MAP Jul 28 Pelham, AL Poppa’s Billiards (205) 664-2949 9-Ball Open $30 $300 1PMAug 4 Conyers, GA Classic Billiards (770) 679-5278 9-Ball $75 $1,000 Guar 1st CallAug 4 Buffalo, NY Bison Billiards (716) 632-0281 8-Ball Bar Box $35 (incl g.f.) $250 Guar Noon MAPAug 4-5 Varies Behind the Rock (see ad p19) (253) 226-3594 Trimester Event $35 $$$ Call MAPAug 11-12 Catonsville, MD VIP Billiards actionpooltour.com Action Pool Tour Stop $90-$40 Online Online Aug 17-19 Glen Burnie, MD Big Daddy’s Billiards (410) 757-3488 MD State 14-1 Straight Pool Varies Call 6PM MAP Aug 23-26 Verona, NY Turning Stone (518) 356-7163 9-Ball Open-Tour Finale $150/$200 $25,000 CallAug 25 Pelham, AL Poppa’s Billiards (205) 664-2949 9-Ball Open $30 $300 1PMAug 30-Sep 3 Scottsdale, AZ BCAPL playbca.com Southwest Regionals Varies $6,000 Online MAP Scotch Doubles Men’s Open Singles Men’s Adv/Master Singles Women’s Singles Men’s/Mixed Teams Women’s TeamsSep 1 Buffalo, NY Bison Billiards (716) 632-0281 8-Ball Bar Box $35 (incl g.f.) $250 Guar Noon MAPSep 7-9 Fargo, ND Big Sky Challenge (406) 945-4788 10-Ball Scotch Doubles $10,000 MAP 8-Ball Doubles Winner take all Live Streaming (see ad Below) 9-Ball Singles 8-Ball Singles Sep 8-9 Glen Burnie, MD Big Daddy’s Billiards actionpooltour.com Action Pool Tour Stop $90-$40 Online Online MAP

Presents

Click on the MAP link online to get directions to each location

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The Leader In Live Streaming

Sep 7-8-9, 2012 Big Sky ChallengeLIVE from Fargo, ND$10,000

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March 2011 - Rackem Magazine 15

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Documents

Stroke Magazine July Issue 2012