The Mezz West State Tour kicked off its inaugural event this past weekend of August 9th and 10th at the infamous Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower, CA. This $2000 added event brought 91 players from all over California, Nevada, Arizona, and even as far away as from Colorado to take battle on the green. The stacked field of the some of the best players on the west coast grabbed their cues to and headed to Hard Times to fight for the $1,655 first prize and $6,550 in cash prizes. The format for this tour is unique in that it’s competitively handicapped; Pros race to 9, Semi pros to 8, and open players to 7. There was not a single complaint the entire weekend as favoritism or bias was not a factor in determining a players rating.
Leading the top half of the bracket was former US Open runner up, Tang Hoa, who showed a glimpse of his younger self until he faced Ramon Mistica who sent him to the loser bracket after an impressive performance. Mistica maintained his momentum and defeated Ernesto Dominguez soon after to win the top half of the bracket. Meanwhile, his road partner from the Philippines, Rodrigo Geronimo controlled the bottom half of the bracket with superb play over Los Angeles locals, Fach Garcia and Oscar Dominguez until he faced Ramon for the hot seat.
The hot seat match went quickly as Ramon kept his fast and loose style in complete control where he soundly defeated Rodrigo. The victims of these two great Filipino players fought valiantly on the one loss side to make an attempt at redemption. Johnny Kang, a Los Angeles local, displayed his aggressive style and big break until he seemed rather exhausted after so many closely contested matches. He finally succumbed to Rodrigo Geronimo in a 9-4 defeat. After a very long weekend, the two gentleman maintained a fantastic level of play all the way until the last ball dropped around 2 am with Rodrigo Geronimo taking the first place prize of $1655 and Mistica settled for $1220. Johnny Kang received $800 for 3rd and Tang Hoa rounded out the top 4 with $525 for his efforts.
The Mezz West State Tour owners and founders, Desiree Rivera and Oscar Dominguez would like to personally thank every single player, spectator, and staff of Hard Times Billiards for their support all weekend. The Mezz West State Tour would like to acknowledge all of our sponsors and thank them for their generosity; Mezz Cues, West State Billiard Supply, ZAN tips, Fast&Loose Designs, AZ Billiards, and the Turtle Rack by Olive. Next stop is Event #2 at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, California. Signups are now being taken and pre register at mezzweststatetour.com
