Piazza scores All American Tour Win

The sixteenth stop of the 2009-2010 Lucasi Hybri All American Tour (produced by the American CueSports Alliance – ACS)  was hosted in Fort Collins, CO, over the Thanksgiving weekend, at Match-Ups.  The “Annual Turkey Shootout” was hosted by Nicole and Mike Hellmer and directed by America's best known tournament director - Gary Benson. The $1,000 added event featured a full 64-player field in a double-elimination 8-ball format on 7-foot Valley bar boxes.  Top Colorado gun, Tony Piazza (Denver, CO), pulled out all the stops over the weekend and captured the hot seat with an unblemished record – completing his run in the A-side semifinals and finals with respective wins over Mike Hogan (Denver, CO) 5-4 and Shane Wertz (Ft. Collins, CO) 5-3.  Wertz had earlier knocked off Jesus Rivera (Denver, CO) to make the A-side finals.

On the B-side Nick Smith (Colorado Springs, CO) vanquished Dan Gonzales (Greeley, CO) 5-2 while Mark Haddad (Denver, CO) dispatched Frank Urbaniak (Colorado Springs, CO) by the same score to eliminate Gonzales and Urbaniak at 7th place.  Both Smith and Haddad won their next B-side round by respective 5-2, 5-1 scores over Mike Hogan and Jesus Rivera to tie Hogan and Rivera for 5th place.  In the last 4, Smith ended Haddad's run at 4th place by a 5-3 margin, but Smith's weekend was ended in the B-side finals courtesy of a 5-3 loss to Shane Wertz.  In the tourney finals, Tony Piazza continued to dominate, as he turned back Shane Wertz in the first set by a 5-2 score for the title!

By virtue of Nick Smith being the highest-finishing ACS member in the event, he qualified for a free 9-Ball singles entry into the 2010 ACS Nationals in Las Vegas – courtesy of the ACS.  The ACS wishes to thank sponsors Lucasi Hybrid Cues, Championship Billiard Fabric, Nick Varner Signature Cases, Ozone Billiards, Pool Cue Guru and Billiard Gods Productions for their support in donating “Value-In-Kind” product for this and all stops on the Lucasi Hybrid All American Tour. All entries in the Tour are also entered into a drawing in January for a $1,000 Lucasi Hybrid Cue, courtesy of Ozone Billiards.  Sponsorship opportunities and tour stop openings are still available for the 2009/2010 All American Tour by contacting the ACS.

The Tour spreads out to three states on Saturday, December 5, 2009, with the annual $1,000 added 9-Ball Tournament at Varsity Club in Oshkosh, WI (contact Jeremy West at 920-651-0806); the annual $500 added Sharky's Billiards 8-Ball Open in Sedalia, MO (contact Steve Allee at 660-473-0768); and a $500 added 8-Ball event at Billiards on Main in Galesburg, IL (contact Mark Hammerl at 309-342-7665). Further information, entry details and schedules for the 2009/2010 Lucasi Hybrid All American Tour are available at www.americancuesports.org.