Skyler Woodward and Robb Saez
118 players decided to spend their Fourth of July weekend in Shreveport, LA for the Sidepocket Nine Ball Open.
Friday night action kicked off with a sixteen man ring 9 ball - $100/man. The players drew into groups of four on four tables. The top two from there went to two tables until two players were eliminated. The final four duked it out with Warren Kiamco taking top honors and $800. Clint Freeman took second and $400, Alex Olinger was third with $250 and Steve Raynes took fourth and $150. Congratulations to all!
Saturday began with a noon players auction. Young guns Sky Woodward and Alex Olinger took the two blind bids. Other top players going for big bucks included CJ Wiley, Robb Saez and Warren Kiamco. The draw was completed and play began.
The alternate break – race to seven format produced a lot of very close matches but on Sunday afternoon, the cream rose to the top leaving Sky Woodward and Robb Saez playing for the hot seat. Sky prevailed and claimed a berth in the finals while Robb took a seat on the rail waiting for the results of the Chase Rudder-Jerry Calderon match.
Calderon was victorious in a 7-6 nailbiter leaving Chase with a very respectable fourth place finish and $700. Calderon and Saez faced off for the other seat in the finals and this one was a close one too! Robb edged Calderon out - again 7-6. Calderon had to settle for $950 and a third place finish.
Since this was a true double elimination event, Robb would have to defeat the always tough Sky twice to claim the title. Getting a sniff of the cheese, Sky was having none of it as he cruised to a 7-3 victory and his three-peat!!! Not to mention the $2600 first prize money!!! Congratulations, Sky!!!
Robb did his sponsor Arena Billiards proud with his fantastic runner-up finish and receiving $1300 for his efforts. Great job, buddy!!!
The Sidepocket Nine Ball Open wouldn’t have been possible without the sponsorship of Mike Roberts of It’s George Tip Tool 3, OB Digicue, Ballistic Billiards and Steve Wells of Action24/7. Thank you!!! Tournament Director Jeff Sullivan (“Sully”) and his able assistant, Ileana Ford, made sure the event ran smoothly. Good job!!! And, as always, thanks to Sidepocket’s owner, Roger Lites, and his fantastic staff for taking such good care of all the players and fans!!!
PoolActionTV would also like to thank our sponsors: Diamond Billiard Tables, Lomax Custom Cues, Kamui, John Barton of JB Cases, GoPlayPool.com, Durbin Custom Cues, Aramith, Hanshew Custom Cues, Simonis and Club Billiards of Wichita, KS.
Our next stop is Houston, TX for the Topwater Memorial One Pocket Championship to be held at Bogie’s Billiards - July 14th-16th. Hope to see you there!!!
