The dogs were barking and running hard at Top Dawg Billiards in New Braunfels, Texas, on February 6-8, 2004. Rocky Esquivel and Marx Compos, owners of Top Dawg's, decided to add a one pocket division on Friday night along with the 9 ball event which started Saturday.
In the one pocket division, the top picks were Charlie Bryant, David Gutierrez, and Al Mason. With the format of a race to two, it was anyone's game.
Al Mason of Dallas made his run starting with triumphs over Rocky Esquivel, Lewis Jones, only to be knocked to the left side by David Gutierrez. In the finals of the one loss side, Al played a grueling match with Charlie Bryant. With the score tied at 1-1, the final game turned to defensive warfare with Al owing five balls and Charlie owing two balls. This final game lasted three hours with Charlie finally prevailing. What a battle!
Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant of Houston took the long the long road to the finals after losing his first round match to Lewis Jones. In the brutal bracket, Charlie achieved victories over Rocky Esquivel, Doyle Tarwick, Rick Moreno and Al Mason.
David Gutierrez of Houston played his usual aggressive style in his trek to the hot seat as he handled John Young, Doyle Tarwick, and Al Mason.
The finals was all David with his victory over Charlie Bryant. Congratulations to both these competitive gentlemen! Everyone had fun and Rocky plans to make the one pocket tournament a regular event in the future.
The 9 ball division started Saturday with, again, the top picks being David "G", "Hillbilly", "Little Al", along with Edgar Acaba of the Phillipines, Ray Lee of Taiwan, Rene Rendon, David Henson, Danny Watson of Colorado and James "Bastrop" Davis Sr.. To say the least, the building was overflowing with talent.
Great shooting went to Lewis Jones of San Antonio and David Henson of Pflugerville for their 7-8 place finishes. Candy Ramos of San Antonio and Rene Rendon of Houston had very respectable 5-6th place finishes.
Edgar Acaba of the Phillipines was a surprise to see. What a talent! Edgar played great but was jinxed by James Davis Sr. on both sides of the bracket. Edgar led the one loss side match 6-2, but James would not go away. With the score tied, 6-6, Edgar played safe on the one ball. James kicked it in, only to hook himself on the two ball. Pulling a house cue from the rack, he jumped and speared a two-nine combo to win. A great fourth place finish for Edgar.
James "Bastrop" Davis Sr. of Austin started his journey with wins over Tommy Armando and Edgar Acaba when he ran into Rene Rendon for his first setback. Then, James overcame Ray Lee, David Henson, Candy Ramos and Edgar Acaba before being stopped in his tracks by Charlie Bryant in the finals of the one loss bracket for a smashing third place finish.
Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant started his mission with triumphs over Jeff Haskin, Al Mason, David Henson and Rene Rendon when he got derailed by David Gutierrez in the finals of the winner's bracket. Charlie, then, vanquished James Davis Sr. to, once more, meet up with David "G" in the finals. Deja vous of the one pocket finals!
The format for the finals was a double race to nine with Charlie coming from behind to win the first set, 9-7. The second set was a see saw battle with the players trading games to 7-7. Charlie crank it down and won the next two games to win the deciding set and the championship.
9 Ball Division
1st Charlie Bryant $3050
2nd David Gutierrez $2335
3rd James Davis Sr. $1420
4th Edgar Acaba $700
5-6 Candy Ramos, Rene Rendon $425
7-8 Lewis Jones, David Henson $100
One Pocket Division
1st David Gutierrez $1090
2nd Charlie Bryant $550
Prize fund includes auction.
