Saturday, July 11, 2009, the Colorado State Straight Pool Championship was presented by Pete Way and the Denver Straight Pool Association. The beautiful Rack ‘Em Billiards in Aurora, Colorado, with its well-kempt 9-foot Diamond tables was the perfect host room for the qualifier. “I try to do what I can to keep the pool players happy,” said owner Sean Meade regarding all his recent money-added events.
On this day, a field of seven top straight pool junkies from the mile high city rolled in. After losing his first match, Jeff Crawford came back to defeat Rick Field 150-89 in a single race finals match. The state champion received a paid $350 entry to the NCS 14.1 Continuous Championships in Parsippany, NJ July 31 to August 2. The 14.1 national event will be live streamed by Accu-Stats at www.accu-stats.com and on the CSI website at www.playcsipool.com . Crawford will be representing Colorado for the second time at another NCS Championship. He played in the NCS 8-Ball National Championship in Las Vegas this past February.
“He came out firing,” said Way regarding Crawford's performance in the finals. Crawford was determined not to let the title slip away after losing a heartbreaker first match, 100-99. There were no significant high runs, only very smart, steady moves.
The next NCS qualifier at Rack ‘Em will be in 9-ball and scheduled Saturday, July 18. The winner(s) of the NCS 9-ball qualifier at Rack ‘Em Billiards will go on to compete in the NCS 9-Ball National Championship at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, September 3-5, 2009. The NCS 9-Ball National Championship prize fund is $32,000, based on a full 64 player field.
In addition to cash and sponsor prizes provided by OB Cues and the DELTA-13 Rack, the top two finishers at the national event will also receive paid entries to the $25,000 added inaugural U.S Open 10-Ball Championship which was recently announced and is scheduled at the Riviera Hotel & Casino May 2010. For more information about Rack Em' Billiards contact Sean Meade at 303.755.7675.
For more information about the National Championship Series or CueSports International contact the CSI office at 702-719-7665.
