Some of the best straight pool players on the east coast will be migrating to Maryland this weekend for their chance at a spot in the upcoming 2008 World Straight Pool Championships which will be held at the Hilton in East Brunswick, New Jersey August 26-30, 2008. Updates will be provided throughout the course of the weekend until a championship is once again crowned. The field of thirty-two players is full, with a waiting list of participants in the wings. Saturday the field will dwindle down each flight to just two players to advance into the Sunday rounds. The field to date is as follows:
Danny Barouty (Hollis Hills, NY)
Peter Burrows (Annapolis, MD)
Marty Ciccia (Yardville, NJ)
Brian Deska (College Park, MD)
Ed Deska (Prince Frederick, MD)
Alan Duty (Chantilly, VA)
Doug Garner (Annapolis, MD)
Danny Green (Silver Spring, MD)
Steve Haag (Frederick, MD)
Dan Heidrich (Webster, NY)
Joe Hong (Horsham, PA)
David Hunt (Richmond, VA)
Brian Keggins (Catonsville, MD)
Steve Kramer (Laurel, MD)
Amit Kumar (Columbia, MD)
Tamiko Kumatori (Webster, NY)
Brian Lau (New York City, NY)
Andy Lincoln (Elkridge, MD)
Gina-Kim Lipsky (Secaucus, NJ)-withdrew from competition, replacement to be announced
Steve Lipsky (Secaucus, NJ)
Bob Maidhof (Broomall, PA)
Bob McLeod (Owings Mills, MD)
Richard Molineiro (Pasadena, MD)
Larry Moy (Croton-On-Hudson, NY)
Don Polo (Bridgeton, NJ)
Mark Ploss (Baltimore, MD)
Rolf Ryden (Chadds Ford, PA)
Brett Stottlemyer (York, PA)
Russ Vorsteg (Towson, MD)
Shaun Wilkie (Havre de Grace, MD)
Larry Wolfe (Monrovia, MD)
Michael Yednak (New York City, NY)
For additional information on this event, contact Peter Burrows at (410) 757-3488; facsimile (410) 757-1014; or email peterpool@comcast.net OR contact The Molineiro's directly at (410) 760-1332; email bigdaddysbilliards@verizon.net; or website If you would like to read about the room itself, we reported on it recently, click here.
A message from Tournament Director Peter Burrows:
July 12-13, 2008 BIG DADDY'S BILLIARDS is hosting the Maryland State Pool Championships. Last year's tournament included some great names: Danny Harriman, Jeanette Lee, Grady Mathews, Danny Barouty, Steve Lipsky, Mike Davis, Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann and many other top national players who have an affinity for Straight Pool.
Many are returning and the 2008 Maryland Open 14.1 Championship will again include a bevy of great players. This year's tournament is being held at Big Daddy's Billiards, in Glen Burnie, Maryland. It is the premiere billiard room in the entire region, a high class, no alcohol, beautiful new room with more than twenty handsome tables, located in the Annapolis~Baltimore~Washington triangle. The 2008 Maryland 14.1 Straight Pool Championship tournament is one of only six “Qualifiers” being held around the country for the 2008 World Straight Pool Championships which will be held at the East Brunswick, New Jersey Hilton August 26th-30th. The Maryland Open and World Qualifier is one of the top Straight Pool Tournaments in the country and will draw many of the nation's best players.
In the past three years championship matches, 2005 Ryan McCreesh defeated Ed Deska; 2006 Ed Hodan defeated Danny Barouty; and last year 2007 Mika Immonen defeated Mike Davis.
This year's thirty-two player field includes many top 14.1 players divided into eight flights, four players each, playing 100 point matches on Saturday July 12th. The Saturday brackets are seeded so that each bracket includes an A-B-C-D player. The top two players in each group advance to a seeded single elimination tournament on Sunday July 13th. The eight first place finishers from each flight will be seeded 1-8 on Sunday based on W-L record and ball count differential (ex. a player who wins matches 100-20 is seeded ahead of a player whose average wins are 100-30, etc). So, there is an emphasis on winning by a larger margin rather than just a simple win, since many of the top players will be 3-0 after Saturday's matches.
The second place finishers in each flight also advance to Sunday and will be seeded 9-16 on the same basis. In the Sunday single elimination tournament #1 plays #16, #2 seed plays #15 and so on.
Good luck to all!
