Hunter Roberts
The first WorldPPA's Reno Shootout event was a huge success! Well known SF Bay Area Tournament Director/Commentator, Gene Miller, says: " WOW! LET'S DO THIS EVERY YEAR! That's the concensus of Bob Beaulieu and virutally everybody else who was at the 19th US BAR TABLE CHAMPIONSHIPS at Reno's Grand Sierra Resort February 13-19. Nothing against the Sands-Regency intended (we went there 46 times), but there's a world of difference between the two locations. While the Sands was nice, the Grand Sierra is magnificent. Spacious, luxurious, numerous restaurants, entertainment, and gambling. The $25,250-added open events, 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball, attracted a huge crowd and should bring many more next year. Check out the "Tournaments" forum at www.azbilliards.com for the latest facts and interesting gossip. All events were double elimination played on forty Diamond bar boxes. Ten additional Diamond 9-footers were brought in to accommodate 80 WorldPPA players in their first big 9-ball handicap championship. Imagine the coordination this event demanded -- many of these players were enrolled in three tournaments simultaneously! The crew at Cue Sports International really knows how to handle a crowd. It was Mark Griffin (CSI) and Bob Beaulieu (WorldPPA) who got together and made this event such a success, even though Bob prefers to put himself way in the background, insisting that "It was the players who really made this event happen." Bill Stock and his BCA crew contributed tremendously to the success of the event, and all fifty Diamond tables were set up by Bad Boys. It was also a coming-out party for Frank Nordmann Jr's new line of pool garb, "Play The Game." (I have my event T-shirt and my hoodie is on order.) There were numerous vendors of pool clothing, cuemakers and everything else related to our game. As with so many recent events, a MAGIC RACK was at every table."
Congratulations to Hunter Roberts (A+), a long time California Billiard Club player for taking 1st Place and winning $1,000.00 cash. Hunter's list of opponents include races to 8 matches played with Linda Miyoshi (C+) 8/7; Carolyn Koo (C) 8/7; Louis Altes (A+) 8/6; Scott Mattingly (A-) 8/4; Chris McCreary (A) 8/4; then a Loss to Mike Kushlan (A) 4/8; and a win against George Pagulayan (A) 8/7 bringing him back to the Final table where he needed to beat Mike Kushlan twice – which he did; first 8/5 to put Mike Kushlan on the one-loss side then again 8/6 for the championship and 1st Place. Congratulations to Mike Kushlan Jr. for 2nd Place and winning $760.00.
Below is a list of the Top 24 winners with payouts:
1st - Hunter Roberts (A+) $1000.00
2nd - Mike Kushian (A) $760.00
3rd - George Pagulayan (A) $450.00
4th - Chris McCreary (A) $350.00
5th-6th - Riwan Khalil (B-) Mark Anthony Tiu (A+) $300.00 each
7th-8th - Gannon Buss (B+) Shan Damani (A-) $250.00 each
9th-12th - Scott Mattingly (A-) Mike Langarica (A-) Victor Valseca (A+) Brian Thurston (B+) $185.00 each
17th-24th - Patty West (B-) Carolyn Koo (C) Louis Altes (A+) Martin Masters (B+) Robert Young (B) Khanh Ngo (B-) $75.00 each
25th-32nd - $50.00 each
33rd-48th - $35.00 each
48th-78th - $25.00 each
Total Payout was $7,335.00 including $1,485.00 added by the WorldPPA.
