Thuan Bui gave a solid performance throughout this weekend's Tiger Planet Pool Amateur 8-Ball event at First Break in Sterling, VA to give him his first ever win on the tour. Bui earned his spot in the hot seat by narrowly defeating Dave Hunt, the 2005 points leader by 5-4 in the winners' bracket final. Hunt, who avenged his loss to Ed Deska two weeks ago by beating Ed 5-2 on day one, faced Sueyen Rhee, who had left a trail of victims behind her herself in the semi-finals. Rhee put up a big fight to come back to hill-hill after being 3-0 behind, but it was Hunt who prevailed in the deciding rack to have another shot at Bui. Rhee ousted Ed Deska, and then Leo McDaniels to finish third. McDaniels took fourth.
In the final match, Hunt and Bui played cat and mouse in the first rack, but then it was Hunt who broke loose to leave Bui trailing by 4-1. But Bui would not lay down, and recovered to 4-4 and then 5-5 before getting on the hill. Hunt took the next, and the final rack went back and forth with both players failing to capitalize on chances to bring things to closure. But it was Bui who took it when Hunt missed his last ball.
In the ladies event, it was tour points leader, Kathleen Lawless who, in the absence of Tina Meraglio, had an open chance to claim victory. Lawless earned her spot in the hot seat by sending Janet Keith over to the one loss side by a 4-1 margin, while Judie Wilson carved her way through to a chance against Keith in the semi-final. Keith proved too strong, however, giving Wilson third place and herself another shot at Lawless. Lawless outplayed Keith in the final, beating her 5-2 and earning a well-deserved win to solidify her second place ranking and crawl closer to Meraglio.
The next amateur 8-Ball event is the 2005 Year-End Final also held here at First Break in Sterling, VA on Dec 10-11. It is a $1,500 added event. The Tiger Planet Pool Tour will next be at Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD on Nov 5 for their annual Children's Miracle Network Benefit Event. This event is a $3,000 added event with 50% of all entries and added money going to charity, and 50% to the prize fund. The format is going to be the very exciting multi-table ring game played with poker chips like a poker tournament.
