Jim Calderon, Nick Varner, Adam King, Marc and Kimberly Griffiths
Adam King effectively wound his way through a field of 128 entrants to capture the first Nick Varner Amateur Classic title, taking two out of three matches against Perry Gilbert. $8,000-added event drew 128 entrants to Felt Billiards in Englewood, CO on the weekend of March 21-23
King and Gilbert met first in the battle for the hot seat. King had defeated Gene Albrecht and Lou Valdez to reach the winners' side final. Gilbert had sent Chris Onesky and Kiko Ibarra to the losers' bracket to face King. Gilbert took the first (and only) of his three against King and waited in the hot seat for him to get back.
On the loss side, Adam Sisneros, who'd defeated Chris Onesky and Jason Evans, was waiting for Valdez. Ibarra picked up Joey Ryan, who'd gotten by Bill Skinner and Albrecht. Valdez and Ibarra went right back to work on the loss side, defeating Sisneros and Ryan, to meet each other in the quarterfinals.
Valdez took the quarterfinal match against Ibarra, but was stopped by King in the semifinals. King and Gilbert fought to double hill in both sets of the true double elimination final, with King prevailing in both to claim the first Nick Varner Amateur Classic title.
