The Richmond Billiard Tour headed up by Joe Russo, Owner of The Playing Field, Tegan Stephen, and Tournament Director Sheri Bruner held what was to become the first U.S. Open qualifier for the tour on August 30, 2008.
The tour, during its inaugural year in play, was able to donate to the prize fund a total of $600, which helped the eventual winner to secure a spot in the 2008 US Open 9-Ball Championships to be held October 19th-25th in Chesapeake, Virginia.
This special event graciously hosted by The Playing Field drew a fairly full field of forty-two players for the opportunity at the Open. Included in the field vying for the win were top regional players Larry Kressel, Brandon Shuff, young gun Chris Bruner, and Alan Duty, just to name a few.
Brandon Shuff and Dave Alley were amongst the two who whipped through their brackets to play in and for the hot-seat match. Although quite close, Shuff was unable to hold on for the victory and was sent to the west side of the board by a 9-8 defeat.
Kressel and Bruner, on the other side, faced off against each other in yet another tight race ending with Bruner coming out on top 9-8. Kressel managed to fudge a fairly easy shot on the nine ball as he hung the ball in the corner pocket to end in a respected 5th/6th place finish.
Moving along, Justin Rhodes and Duty continued the theme of the day taking their match to a hill-hill battle – Duty ran the rack out to move forward in the rounds to match up with Bruner at that point. Bruner then took full advantage of what appeared to be a fairly smooth set as it seemed that he could do no wrong against Duty. With play such as this, Duty had little opportunity to pull out the win, pushing Bruner on into the semi-final round against Shuff.
The semis started out rather uneventful as Shuff and Bruner remained close for part of the set, then, Shuff caught a gear and finished out the match 9-5 to take a shot at avenging himself in the final arena against Alley.
As in the semis, the score remained close with Alley and Shuff initially – Alley was not going down easily for Shuff. The match continued to see saw back and forth for the beginning portion, but as seen in the semi-final round, Shuff again flew into victory mode to finish out the day on top 9-5.
The Richmond Billiard Tour would like to congratulate all who attended and thank the players and room for their support. As mentioned previously, throughout the season (this being the second in existence), the tour plans to offer special events periodically to those players in the general vicinity and is dedicated to providing an outlet for players of all skill levels to compete. For more information about the tour, contact Joe Russo directly at jruss1012@comcast.net or (804) 852-1090.
Upcoming events scheduled thus far are as follows:
Richmond City 9-Ball (Divisions A, B, and C)
The Playing Field
7801 W. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23294
September 13, 2008, 10 a.m.
*Note: this event is for Richmond, VA residents only
Richmond City 8-Ball (Divisions A, B, and C)
The Playing Field
7801 W. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23294
September 14, 2008, 1 a.m.
*Note: this event is for Richmond, VA residents only
Richmond City One-Pocket and 14.1 (Divisions A, B, and C)
Side Pocket
2012 Staples Mill Rd
Richmond, VA 23230
September 20, 2008, 10 a.m.
*Note: this event is for Richmond, VA residents only
Nine-Ball at The Diamond
The Diamond
13184 Midlothian Tpke
Richmond, VA 23113
October 4, 2008, 12 p.m.
*Note: this event is not restricted - $20 entry Big Rack Break Contest Top 15 percent of field gets paid
