Riverside, CA - Bernardo Chavez worked his way through a field of nearly 70 players Memorial Day weekend at Shooter's Billiards. He met Johannes Kauhanen in the hot seat match where the young, straight-shooting Kauhanen battled back from behind to take the point by a slim 9-7 margin. Chavez then faced Alex Laoingco on the backside in a hill-hill nail biter! In the final game, Laoingco looked to be in complete control as he speared in a tough, back-cut 1-ball, but made a mental error executing his shape from the 3-ball to the 4-ball when he scratched. Chavez made sure to keep control of the table to pull out the win and a chance for revenge at Kauhanen. The final match, a single race to 13, was quite a crowd pleaser! Kauhanen and Chavez seesawed back and forth relinquishing and regaining the advantage in the match. Kauhanen must have felt a little too confident over the freewheeling Chavez because despite the fact that the match could have gone either way, Kauhanen seemed to have more control over the individual games. In the end, Chavez closed out the finals with a 13-11 victory over the Finish 19-year-old.
Shooter's Billiards, under the management of Ed Rogers, was the perfect host. The room itself boasts 30 Brunswick Gold Crown tables, with a separate 8-table tournament room, complete with a 10' snooker table, which seems to attract golf fans! There is bleacher seating in the tournament room and the house serves a full menu and bar. The pool enthusiasts in Riverside, CA are lucky indeed, Ed says due to the fact that the room owner Bill Alden wants to have a first-class pool hall, and former manager Alex Laoingco attracting and maintaining a wonderful group of regulars.
Complete Results:
1st Bernardo Chavez $1000
2nd Johannes Kauhanen $750
3rd Alex Laoingco $540
4th Dave Hemmah $340
5th Corey Harper $225
David Nakano
7th Fach Garcia $150
Don McClelland
9th John Bryant $100
Damian Alishan
Randy Paguio
Marshall Jung
13th Tang Hoa $50
Lorry DeLeon
Nick Spano
Frank Howe
Photo courtesy of Ashi Fachler - Billiardphotos.com
