On August 11th and 12th, the Northwest Women's Pool Association held its fourth tour stop of 2007 at the renowned “PARLOR” of Bellevue, Washington. The place had changed since our first visit with the addition of a dance floor, DJ booth and Ultra Lounge, a classy upgrade to an already impressive place. One player from Wisconsin, who plays all across the country with the WPBA, was simply amazed with everything about the room. A common mistake however, is to assume the prices are as high as the standards. Table rates are comparable or lower than many pool rooms, for example, before 7pm its just $7.00 a table for as many players as desired.
Present for the tournament duration, as always, was Dave Lauer, the Pro Shop Manager, who took care of all cue maintenance and repairs for anyone who needed it.
Play started promptly at 10 am Saturday with a good turnout for a summer tournament and play was well matched, so it was a struggle to survive to the money matches on Sunday. This meant the final eight players started in the morning with Tamre' Rogers edging past Andy Ruth 7-6 and Kyoko Sone getting the best of Linda Carter 7-3 on the A side.
Liz Cole besting Eve Stockstill 7-2 and Mikki Small squeaked past Jo Woodward 7-6 to stay alive. Liz then beat Andy 7-4 and Linda took Mikki 7-3. Meanwhile, Kyoko continued dominating by winning 7-1 over Tamre' to win the point. Linda capitalized on a slow start by Liz to take a big lead and held on to win 7-4, then got Tamre' 7-2 to set up a re-match of our last tournament finals.
For the first time in many matches, Kyoko missed shots she normally makes and the score was tied early 3-3, but Kyoko then took advantage of Linda missing a few key shots and won 9-4. Being undefeated in any match in her first four tournaments, Kyoko Sone arguably maybe the best player ever to compete in the NWPA. Her next stop is definitely the pro tour.
So come out and watch at Uncle Jack's in Lynnwood, Washington on Sept 13th and 14th to see if someone can take her place atop the board. Also, the top ten rankings are important as the first place finisher at the end of the tour season receives invites to the following year's WPBA events.
We thank all involved with the NWPA, starting with the spectators, but ending with the wonderful people at The Parlor who have supported us so strongly and making this WPBA Qualifier for 2008. Thanks and we'll see you at Uncle Jack's.
CORRECTION: The NWPA would like to apologize for the mis-reported results of the Second Chance Tournament from June's event at Uncle Jack's. Kit Dennis took 1st and Shari Ross took 2nd.
