Saturday July 18, Pool Sharks in Las Vegas hosted a National Championship Series (NCS) 10-Ball qualifier. Sixteen top area players competed for a spot to the 2009 NCS 10-Ball National Championship which will be held September 5-7, 2009 at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino also in Sin City. Included in the group of sixteen were top talent such as NCS 9-Ball qualifier winner Randy Kukla, Al Lawrence, Tre Baker, and Justin Whitehead to name a few. Stacy Allsup, who won the 2008 Doc Hill Memorial and known for her fearlessness on the table, was the lone female entrant.
In the race to 7, winner break format, it was a strong field but came down to Tre Baker and Justin Whitehead in the finals. Baker had to work his way through the one loss side after a first round loss to Rick White 7-3, but in his relaxed manner took it one match at a time to last the day and make it to the finals. Whitehead was highly determined and cruised through to the hot seat. The finals, which was played in the Pool Sharks pit on a tight pocked 9' Diamond Pro, was a tremendous match. In a one match race to 10, the two players battled it out. Whitehead took a quick lead however Baker never let that throw him and would even it up at every opportunity. The match was neck to neck to hill-hill. With the winner rack, winner break format, Baker was up to bat to crack open the rack in game 19. Coming up dry but with a wide open table, Baker knew it would take a major mistake from Whitehead to allow him back up and a chance for the spot to the NCS 10-Ball Nationals. Whitehead did not falter and in a blink of an eye ran the table out for a 10-9 win.
Thanks to John Kutcher, Joe Cannella and the staff at Pool Sharks for all their support. The 2009 NCS 9 and 10-Ball National Championships will be held back to back at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino Sept. 3-7, 2009. Each of the two NCS national events will have a max field of 64. The prize fund, based on 64, is $32,000 per each event for a potential of $64,000 over the course of 5 days. Additionally, the top two finishers at both the NCS 9-Ball and NCS 10-Ball National Championships will win a paid entry to the 2010 U.S Open 10-Ball Championship which will have a minimum $25,000 added!
NCS qualifiers are still taking place in both 9-Ball and 10-Ball around the U.S. For a completed list of NCS qualifiers please visit www.playcsipool.com. The calendar can be found under the events tab, NCS, NCS calendar. The NCS is sponsored by OB Cues, DELTA-13, Diamond Billiard Products, and Aramith. For questions about the NCS, please contact Holly Ryan at (702) 719-7665 or via email at holly@playcsipool.com.
CueSports International (CSI) is the parent company of the BCA Pool Leagues, the NCS, the USA Pool League and produces the U.S. Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, Shootout at the Sands (August 14-23, 2009) and coming in 2010 the U.S Open 10-Ball Championships. CSI's goal is to create and improve opportunities for all pool players.
