Sixty-two players met at Fastbreak Billiards in Longwood, Florida for the second event of the central Florida Fury season on January 30, 2005. The tables proved to roll tough and strong play came from all participants.
The talk of the tournament was the caliber of play of several young pool gurus that made their way through the tournament including 13-year-old Nick Tafaya, 15-year-old Drew Croff, and 17-year-old Justin Hall.
After a long day, a few of the usual suspects were battling it out on the winner's side including Tim Daniel, Julio Aquino, Justin Hall and Robert Otto. Daniel and Otto emerged as winners to face each other in the hot seat match. Daniel started off with a 4-1 lead but Otto took back four games for a 4-4 score. At 5-5, Otto ran out to the 6 but left the 7 hanging for Daniel to take a 6-5 lead. In the final rack Daniel ran out to a 7-9 combo to take the match 7-5, making him king of the hill.
This sent Otto left to play Dave Foreman in the semifinals. The match was back and forth but Otto took the final game of the double-hill match to win 5-4 and go back for a rematch with Daniel in the final.
In the race to 9 final, Otto and Daniel played a close game, each capitalizing on any mistake by the other. As in the earlier match, Daniel took an early lead but Otto fought his way back to tie up the score at 4-all. The players went game for game until at 7-7, Daniel pulled ahead and took the last two games and first place with a 9-7 win.
Results:
1st Tim Daniel $ 560
2nd Robert Otto $320
3rd Dave Foreman $20
4th Nomar Paula $140
5th/6th Julio Aquino, Justin Hall $100
7th/8th Adam Wheeler, Michael Destafano $80
9th-12th Tony Vicari, Brian Dixon, Benjamin V., David Campbell $60
13th-16th Nick Tafaya, Jason Gard, Glen Lynch, Trennis Evans $40
