One Pocket Qualifier One Pocket Qualifier , At Oscar’s Golden Fleece Billiard’s The weekend of April 16-17 brought a wave of players to Kenmore,Washington, 20 minutes north of Seattle. The location could be no other than the beautiful action joint: Oscar’s Golden Fleece. The game played in this event was the player’s favorite this time, One Pocket. 40 players competed in the CSI, US Open One Pocket qualifier. In an event where only one player, the winner, was going to qualify for the US Open One Pocket Championship $10,000 Added coming up May 12-15 in the Riviera Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas,Nevada. This was a tremendous turnout that made for a successful open One-pocket tournament to find out who’s who in the Northwest in one of the most skill demanding disciplines in the game today. The tournament saw a variety of players from Tacoma (south of Seattle), Oregon, Canada, Spain,and California. Also some of the strongest local talents were in attendance, including legendary gamblers and road agents that still keep their games sharp to this day, Randy Camantigue from Washington and One Pocket Hall of Famer Mr. Harry Platis. On the same note, Steve Graham “Buster”, another local and regular in the Golden Fleece Billiard Club, defeated Miguel Morfin. Ed Hobbs from Tacoma had a great run winning all 4 of his matches on Saturday, including dominating wins over Jeff Jimenez, Junior T from Bremerton, and always-tough Paul Marquez from Oregon. The upsets came to be even bigger by Clay K, a local old-timer who after losing to Dave B went on to tear the loser’s side taking down no other than legendary road player Bill Cress, Joe Chung and Eddie Mataya.
JD
Early favorite, local John Doherty , Dave B’s opposition on Saturday went hill-hill. Another notable through the entire event was Tommy, who was derailed to the loser’s side by Marc Vidal on Saturday in a close hill-hill decision. Local favorite Dennis had a good run coming into the loser’s side on Sunday. Marc Vidal went through the 1st day with dominating performances over locals Neil, Dennis and Mataya from Tacoma. Day 2 started with JD making quick work of Ed Hobbs and Marc Vidal over Tommy, both winner’s side matches. In the loser’s side Clay ended his run in glory, when he stepped in Paul Marquez’s way.
Oscar’s Golden Fleece 20 Diamond Tables BCA - APA - ACS - 211 Regional-National & Action Events
7804 NE Bothell Way - Kenmore, WA
425-908-7332 or 206-941-7531
Don Wiltman showed his best form on Sunday, finishing with Miguel Morfin’s hopes, EZ, and Paul Marquez only to succumb to local favorite,Tommy. Al Perez, Oregon resident, the other representative from the other side of the border, made
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it quite far on Sunday with wins over Dave B, Steve Graham, Dennis and Ed Hobbs. Only Tommy was able to stop Al Perez. The point match(hot-seat match) was a nailbitter between JD and Marc Vidal, that was decided in the last 2 balls with the score at 2 games a piece, in the race to 3. Although at the end JD’s experience and expertise prevailed all the way to the final. Tommy was looking for revenge and he almost got what he wanted. Again, taking the match hill-hill, but Marc Vidal ran out to win. Marc Vidal took another crack at JD, but it wasn’t to be this second time again, as JD conclusively closed the match with a 4-0 final score , and won the event undefeated while qualifying for the US One Pocket Championship. 1st $1,000 J D 2nd $600 Marc Vidal 3rd $400 Tom Akin 4th $250 Al Perez 5/6 $150 Don Wirtaman, Ed Hobbs 7/8 $100 Paul Marquez, Dennis Hostak 9-12 $60 Steve Graham, Clay K, EZ Wadsworth, Bill Obrien
May 2011 - The Break
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