Doug Winnett, Tim Larson and Gus Briseno
And so they gathered . . .
As they do every year around this time, members of the Dallas-Ft. Worth-based, Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, who had competed in at least four stops throughout the calendar year, came together one last (2023) time to more or less celebrate the year. There were 40 of them this past weekend (Nov. 18-19) and in addition to competing in the $3,600-added tournament, the tour distributed awards for the Tour Champion (Gus Briseno, who went undefeated to win the tournament), the point-standings runner-up (Shane McMinn, who finished 5th) and third-place (Greg Sandifer, who finished 13th). David White was awarded the Tour Sportsmanship award. The event was hosted by Rusty’s in Arlington, TX.
Tour standings are not usually a reliable indicator as to who might or might not win an individual event. Though Briseno did take the top spot, he was challenged twice, hot seat and finals, by Doug Winnett, who, by almost any standard, would have entered the tournament as a ‘long shot’ to win, or as it actually turned out, the runner-up.
He’d made five appearances on the 2023 tour, finishing third once and ‘out of the money’ at the others, finishing 26th in the tour standings. Winnett opened his campaign on the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s season finale with a double-hill win over Shane McMinn and followed it with a 7-3 win over the competitor who would turn out to be the tour’s recipient of the Tour Sportsmanship award, Dave White. Wins over Neil Sidawi 7-5 and a second, double-hill win, over Blake Camiab, put him into a winners’ side semifinal against Travis Arredondo.
Briseno, in the meantime, got by Gavin Matthew 9-3, Fahad Alrawi 6-4 and Randy Staggs 9-1 to draw #4 in the tour’s standings, Tim Larson, in the other winners’ side semifinal. Briseno got into the hot seat with a 9-2 win over Larson, as Winnett downed Arredondo 7-3. Briseno claimed the hot seat 9-5 over Winnett.
With time winding down on both the event and the tour season, Shane McMinn moved on from his opening loss to Winnett and won his first three loss-side matches by an aggregate score of 30-3. Greg Sandifer then gave him a bit of a run for his money, but fell short by four, 10-6. McMinn gave up just one to Randy Staggs and then eliminated Jonathan Rawlins 10-5 to draw Arredondo, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal.
Larson joined the loss side and met up with Blake Kamiab, who’d followed his winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Winnett with wins over Chris Woody Smith 7-3 and Fahad Alrawi 7-2.
Larson shut Kamiab out and advanced to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Arredondo, who’d eliminated McMinn 7-8 (McMinn racing to 10). Larson took the quarterfinal match over Arredondo 9-5 and turned to face Winnett in the semifinals.
Having already been responsible for sending the tour’s #2 competitor (in the standings) to the loss side earlier (McMinn) and been unable to face #3 (Greg Sandifer, who’d been eliminated by McMinn), Winnett faced #4 (Larson) in those semifinals. As it turned out, Winnett didn’t need the two ‘beads on the wire’ he was granted in the race to 9 against Larson. Winnett sent him home 7-5 and earned his second shot at #1, Briseno.
Winnett had the same two ‘beads on the wire’ for the opening set of the true double-elimination final. He could have used a few more. Briseno completed his undefeated run with a 9-1 victory, bringing the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s 2023 season to an end.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Cuetec, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore, Rasson Billiards and DFW Pool TV (streaming services). They also thanked and wished a Happy Thanksgiving to all of the season’s 285 competitors. The 2024 Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour schedule is, at the moment, a work in progress. When it becomes available, further information can be found on the tour Web site – https://dfw9bt.com/
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