Mike Voelkering, Jeff Franklin and Steve Raynes
On the weekend of January 11-12th, Jeff Franklin from Sherman, Texas claimed the top prize on the 2014 Season Opener of the Omega Billiards Tour at Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX. Jeff captured that first place spot by going undefeated through a field of 80 players!
Over $9,500 was given out in monies and prizes this weekend! (Tourney payouts + prizes + player’s auction.)
After a bye, Jeff defeated Don Denman and then got by 2014 Tour Champion Tony Sulsar 8-6. On Sunday, Jeff defeated Jerrell Eason 8-4, Viet My 8-5, and then slid by Daniel Herring hill-hill to have a spot in the hot-seat. Jeff would defeat Steve Raynes 8-3 in the hot-seat match before waiting to see who he would play in the finals.
Mike Voelkering started out with a bye on Saturday morning and then defeated Nick Conner and Carl Bodeker to last until Sunday on the winner’s side. On Sunday morning, Mike sent Robert Reighter west along with Chad Walker before barely losing to Steve Raynes hill-hill.
Mike then worked his magic on the one-loss side, taking care of John Plumlee 7-1, then prevailing in a hill-hill match against Daniel Herring to get another shot at Steve Raynes. Mike would win 7-5 to secure his spot in the finals against Jeff. Jeff was still on fire though and even though Mike put up a great fight, Jeff prevailed with great play with a score of 8-5 to win his first Omega Tour stop!!
Jeff earned $925 for First Place and Mike earned $530 for Second Place (his second time in a year!). Steve had another fantastic tourney placing 3rd place again (just in the Season Finale a month before) and earned $400, Daniel Herring rounded out the top 4 with $340 for his great play (payouts do not reflect the Player Auction).
Congratulations to ALL of the players for their fine play and great finishes!
This event was the Omega Billiards Tour’s Season Opener with $1,500 added with 80 players!! The Predator Player Tracker is back on and the top three players at the end of the year will win a plethora of Predator Prizes! Six more stops to see who gets all the Predator products! Further, fourth through eighth places at the end of the year rankings will each receive a free entry into the 2015 BCAPL Nationals!
A HUGE thank you goes out to Predator Cues, BCAPL/CSI, and Lucasi and Players Cues. We would also like to give a big thanks to our additional sponsors, OB Cues, Irving Ink and Thread, Pro Billiard Service, Wallace Custom Cues, AZBilliards.com, and BilliardsPress.com.
Tour Director Melinda Bailey would like to thank Rusty’s Billiards and their awesome staff for their great hospitality all weekend! A big thank you also goes out to Michael Hoang, main sponsor of the Tour and owner of Omega Billiards Supply in Hurst, TX. Michael and Omega Billiards Supply are well known for the huge booths at many of the large tournaments across the country.
The 2014 Omega Billiards Tour calendar is already set with 6 more stops and a Season Finale. The second stop will be held at the Billiard Den in Richardson, Texas February 22-23, 2014! Each stop is limited to 80 players (an increase from 64) and the monies guaranteed added has increased to $1,500 for each stop!! Pool is alive and thriving in Texas!!
The 2014 Schedule is online and payments can be received via the Omega Tour website.
Thank you to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms!!!
