Ryan Cobb and Jessica Frideres Victorious on Midwest 9-Ball Tour

Despite the terrible winter weather the weekend of December 15-16, 2007, the Midwest 9-Ball Tour saw a total field of thirty-six players travel to Side Pockets in Papillion, Nebraska for its open and ladies division bar table events.

The big story of the weekend ended up being Ryan Cobb. Cobb lost his second match of the tournament to Derek Sheehan, then proceeded to send player after player home from the one-loss side until he eventually ran back into Sheehan in the quarter-finals. After quite a long trek, Cobb finally was able to attain revenge on Sheehan as he bested him and sent him home in fourth place.

After approximately nine wins on the one-loss side by this point, Cobb made it into the semi-finals where he met Bucky Carroll and continued his winning spree right into the final round. Although Jerrod Frideres held the winner's side hot seat and Ryan Cobb had to double dip him for the win, Cobb did not seem phased as he pushed through and took first place and top honors this weekend.

As the open division finished up, on the women's side of the board, the field dwindled down to the final two players – Jessica Frideres and Jenni Athens. Although the field was lighter than anticipated, these two ladies had a great event and ended the weekend with Jessica Frideres in first taking home $300 for her efforts and Jenni Athens in second with $100 in winnings.

Special thanks to the management and staff at Side Pockets for hosting the tour this weekend. The next Midwest 9-Ball Tour stop will be held February 21-24, 2008 at Shooters Billiards in Olathe, Kansas. The $1000 added one pocket division deadline is Thursday, February 21st at 8 p.m., with an entry of $60; and the $4000 total added bar table open and ladies divisions will begin on Friday, February 22nd (deadline 8 p.m.), with a $65 entry for the open and $50 for the ladies event. For additional information on this or future stops for the tour, please see www.9balltour.com

Results (open):
1st Ryan Cobb $1000
2nd Jerrod Frideres $700
3rd Bucky Carroll $420
4th Derek Sheehan $300
5th/6th Shawn Cepurnieks/Brad Bent $150
7th/8th Mike Athens/Dustin Gunia $100

Results (womens):
1st Jessica Frideres $300
2nd Jenni Athens $100