Event #1 of the Colorado Cue Club's 2nd annual “Big Box Summer Series” drew 26 players including three from Texas and a Filipino. The format was “Pro Rules” 10-Ball: race to 6, lag for the break, winner breaks, rack your own, and 10-Ball on the break spots up if it goes in either of the bottom two pockets. The Cue Club added $750 to the pot. Santos Sambajon made a welcome appearance and drew the attention of players and spectators alike.
Right out of the gate he drew one the all time fiercest players to come out of Colorado: Tony Piazza. The match was a see-saw battle that had Tony finding the hill first. Santos would make it interesting shortly after by making it a hill-hill match. It looked as if Tony was not going to get back to the table after Sambajon's break, but Santos failed to pull off a 3-10 carom. Tony would then make a tough run out only to watch the cue ball travel two rails and carry all the way into the corner after making the case 10-Ball.
Things would only get more interesting for the Filipino champion as Nick Smith of Colorado Springs also took him to the hill. However, Nick failed on a routine 9 in the side opening the door for Santos to continue on in the winner's bracket. In the finals of the winners side Santos ran into Chris McDaniel. This match turned out to be quite the crowd pleaser with wicked safeties followed by great kicks. Both players showed some grit and, yet again, Sambajon found himself in a hill-hill contest. With the first real chance to take down the match, McDaniel kept getting out of line but came with some nice reverse cuts and a cross-corner bank to end up with a reasonable shot at the 10 in the side. Unfortunately, Chris was unable to find the bottom of the hole as the 10 hit both points of the pocket leaving Santos straight in. That makes three bullets the man dodged!
Meanwhile, Piazza made his way through the entire one loss side coming from behind against “ATM” Andrew Pettinger and bulldozing through McDaniel 6-2. However, it seemed like Santos' day as he dispatched Tony 6-1 in the finals to snag the top place and $600 cash.
The Colorado Cue Club thanks all of the players that supported this event and a shout out to the boys from El Paso who made the trek. “The Big Box Summer Series” is supported by Miller Beer and a points list is now running. The top point getter will receive a $300 American Express gift Card courtesy of Miller. Still to play are the $500 added One Pocket on July 26, the $750 added 8-Ball on August 16, and the $1000 added 9-Ball “Invitational” on September 6 (which is double points!)
For details see www.coloradocueclub.net
Final Standings:
1st Santos Sambajon $600 + 260 Points
2nd Tony Piazza $400 + 130 Points
3rd Chris McDaniel $250 + 87 Points
4th Andrew Pettinger $150 + 65 Points
5/6th Dino Devoe $75 + 52 Points
5/6th Joe Guerra $75 + 52 Points
Rest of the field gets 10 points each.
