The Fast Eddie's Olhausen 9 Ball Tour held its seventh stop of the year at the Fast Eddie's World Class Billiards in College Station, Texas. 87 players in two divisions came to town to show how it's done with the sticks and stones. The competition would be fierce as the field included the likes of Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, Sam Manole, Jui Lung Chen, Shane Harvey, Gordon Van der Veer, John Spielman, the young guns David Parker and James Davis Jr. among many others.
Finishing 13-16th were Corey Dordek, Leon Contreras, Mark Mach and Steve Kilgore. Each earned $120 for their efforts. Coming in the 9-12th places were Tony Sulsar, Bill Fuller, James Davis Jr. and Hunter Blackwell with a payday totaling $160.
Having to settle for the 7-8th positions and $200 were Shane Harvey from west Texas and a local favorite, John Spielman. Both play very hard for the money!
$250 and the 5-6th placements were the rewards for the straight shooting young gun, David Parker and Sam Manole who is considered one of the top 8 ball bar box players around.
Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant has been playing lights out lately but had to settle for 4th place and $400 as he suffered his two loses very close matches to Bill Fuller of Brehnam, 9-8, and Gordon Van der Veer of Dallas, 7-5.
Gordon Van der Veer of the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been making a name for himself in the southwest with his consistent play and “no quit” attitude as he has been finishing high in the money in many of the area's top tournaments over the last year. Gordon met Jui Lung Chen in the finals of the one loss side for a very nice 3rd place finish and a $530 payday.
Jui Lung Chen of Dallas, two time Tour Player of the Year, was on a roll to the finals as he defeated one opponent after another by scores of 9-1, 9-3, 9-5, and 9-1 until he ran into Ali Affas for the hot seat match. The players traded games until the score was tied at 8-8 with Ali making a great out to secure the hot seat.
Ali “Das ist Gut!” Affas of San Antonio is a transplant from Germany who is known for his great sense of humor and fun loving “anything worth doing is worth doing in excess” attitude, but on the table, he has no fear. Once at the table, he rarely says a word and let's his cue do the talking for him.
With Chen coming off the one loss side to play Ali for the finals, it was anyone's match. Chen came out firing and won the first set, 9-3. Chen, then, started out in the second set with a 2-0 lead when Ali came to life. Ali won the next seven games and his first Tour victory. Chen collected a second place finish and $800 for his weekend's efforts. Congratulations to Ali on his first Tour win and a $1200 prize.
A special thanks to Olhausen Billiards and Fast Eddie's Billiards for all of your support over the last six years. A big “thank you” goes out to Jack and Elvie Kompan with Mystick Cues and to James Hanshew and his wife with Hanshew Custom Cues for stepping in with the cue repair. Carolina Custom Cues donates one of their works of art each month and it is so greatly appreciated.
The next stop is in Austin on July 12-13th. We'll see you there and until then, keep knockin' the backs of the pockets out!
