Darwin Bernadez
Stop #8 of the Mezz LA 9 Ball Series at Good Times Billiards started out with a tough field of SoCal pool players, with Darwin Bernadaz (677) defeating Justin Boyd (469) 8-3 in a single 8/5 race finals, just one month after winning Stop #7 (the Break & Run Derby)!
Darwin started out strong with a 7-0 win over Rudy Zacarias (373), but fell short against Ventura’s Rigo Morales (629) in a close match. However, Darwin kept his cool and his stroke, and defeated a strong opponent in Shahdad Zand (645), 5-0. From there, Darwin went on to defeat #2 ranked Jose G Centeno (650) hill-hill, 2-time champion Michael Hansen (567), and 2-time champion Paul Vinas (622). Facing Rigo again – now on the B side – Darwin dug deep and avenged his only loss to beat Rigo hill-hill. He then followed that up with two 5-1 wins over Isaac Pineda (554) and newcomer Carlynn Sanchez (602) to put himself in the final against Justin Boyd.
Darwin’s Fargo coming into the event was 677; his Effective Rating for this stop was 717 – close to pro speed!
Justin’s undefeated run to the finals started with a win over Andy Zacarias (393) before a convincing TV table win over ring game champion Rhino Lay (622). Determined to Make Em All, Justin maintained his focus and defeated Michael Hansen, followed by wins over Isaac Pineda and Carlynn Sanchez to reach the hot seat and await his opponent.
Justin has been playing consistently playing in the Mezz LA 9 Ball Series for several seasons, and has steadily improved his game by competing against players in higher Fargo brackets. Justin is a great case study of how handicaps enable a player to participate and compete with heavy pressure to test their skills and improve.
Justin’s Fargo coming into the event was 469; his Effective Rating for this stop was 571 – essentially playing TWICE as good as he usually does and taking full advantage of the games spotted to him during the event.
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