Hammerheads Billiards lounge, Holiday FL was the venue for the Poison Tour season opener.
51 players showed up for the $1000 Added Amateur event. Jason Richko would prove to be the man to beat as he made his way to the finals with strong wins over Lee Holland, Monty Cooper, Joe Scarborough, Casey Groves and then a strong 7-1 win over Dave Adams to capture the hotseat. Adams route to the finals consisted of wins over Stephanie Mitchell, Dave Ross, Raymond Linares, Casey Merrell and James Adam before running into a red hot Richko he would now have to wait his opponent from the one loss side. Jarred Schlauch was looking strong after taking a 3rd round loss to Joe Scarborough he went onto defeat Steve Fiat, Mike Vore, Casey Merrell, Mike Delawder before running into Jimmy Sandaler and losing a close 5-4 match to finish 4th, Sandaler would then go onto beat Dave Adams and set up a match with Richko in the finals. Richko would put an end to Sandaler 5 match win streak on the one loss side with a solid 8-2 win to take down the season opener.
Sunday would see 31 players show up for the $1000 Added open event. The event would attract some high profile players like Hammerheads house pro Mike Davis, Richey Richeson, Justin Hall, Tommy Kennedy and James Roberts to mention a few.
Mike Davis would have to battle his way through to the winner's side final with hard fought wins over Avi Vega, James Roberts 7-6, Richey Richeson 7-4 and then a 7-2 win over Raymond Linares to set up a hotseat match with Tony Crosby. Crosby made his way to the hotseat with wins over Jessica Barnes 7-4, Tommy Kennedy 7-2, Todd Anderson 7-1 and then a 7-2 win over hall. The hotseat match would go right down to the wire with Crosby eventually coming out on top with a 7-6 win.
Tommy Kennedy was pushing his way through the one loss side with wins over Steve Fiat, Chris Gentile, Richey Richeson and then Jerry Troisi before taking a 6-5 loss to Justin Hall to finish his day in 5th. Hall would then go onto play ever improving Raymond Linares, Linares would dominate this match with a very strong 7-2 win to leave Hall in 4th place and set up a match with Mike Davis for a shot in the final. Davis would prove to be too strong for Linares and would go onto take this match 7-3 would now have his rematch with Crosby. The final would be a race to 9 and in the event Davis would win this match there would be a one Rack shoot out eliminator which would Guarantee that 2nd place would have lost two times. This will be the format for all finals on the Poison tour for the new season.
The final would see Davis and Crosby both trading racks all the way to 6-6, Davis would then go onto win 3 more straight racks to defeat Crosby and set up a sudden death one rack shoot out. Crosby would win the lag and make two balls on the break, a miss on a tricky 2 ball would prove costly as Davis would run the rack to take down the season opener on home court. The one rack shoot out proved to be a very exciting addition to the event with spectators getting involved and the players also agreeing it's a fair and exciting way to finish.
The poison tour would like to thank new room owner Peter Shabo and his staff for hosting a great event. The tours next stop will be at Corner pockets Orlando on the 2nd-3rd October. This event always attracts a strong field so whether you coming to play or watch you are sure to enjoy it. The Poison tour also carries a large selection of Poison cues with Demo models available at all events for players and spectators to try out.
Amateur Payouts
1st Jason Richko $650
2nd Jimmy Sandaler $450
3rd Dave Adams $300
4th Jarred Schlauch $200
5th-6th Casey Grove, James Adams $150
7th-8th Mike Delawder, Raymond Linares $100
9th-12th Joe Scarborough, Casey Merrell, Jose Del Rio, Jerry Troisi $55
Open Payouts
1st Mike Davis $550
2nd Tony Crosby $400
3rd Raymond Linares $300
4th Justin Hall $200
5th-6th Jerry Troisi, Bobby Livrago $60
