 Jerry Slivka |
The tour wrapped up its 2006 season 9 ball division December 2/3rd at Bill & Billie's CueSport in Arnold, MD. This was a tour record $9000 added event made possible by room owner Kurt Ziem, Tiger Products, loyal tour sponsors and money held back throughout the year.
This event was the last chance to earn points towards the 2006 year end prizes and stake claim to Player of the Year honors. 61 open division entrants signed up including the top 8 players on the points list who were seeded on the chart. The top half of the chart went according to plan with #1 seeded Josh Brothers advancing easily into the final eight. #2 seeded Jerry Slivka also advanced with little fanfare. Tournament director Andy Lincoln earned his spot in the final eight by taking down Mike Davis 9-5. By Saturday night, the winner side was reduced to Brothers vs Cary Dunn, Kevin West vs Larry Kressel, Shaun Wilkie vs Pooky Rasmeloungon and Andy Lincoln vs Slivka.
On Sunday, Kressel defeated West and Brothers both with 9-8 scores. Lincoln broke and ran at hill-hill with Slivka for a thrilling 9-8 win. Lincoln easily defeated Rasmeloungon 9-3 to meet up with Kressel in the hot seat match. Kressel remained ahead for most of the match winning 9-7.
The elimination bracket was full of strong players. West took care of Joe Cataldi, tour founder Danny Green and Rasmeloungon. Slivka knocked out Matt Clatterbuck, Mike Davis and Josh Brothers. West took a 6-2 lead over Slivka before watching seven unanswered games to lose 9-6 and settle for 4th place. Slivka made the most of a rematch with Lincoln using a powerful break to win easily 9-4. The final single race to 11 with Kressel was not much different as Slivka cruised to an 11-5 victory. 1st paid $3000 with $1800 for 2nd.
A strong field of 22 ladies signed up for their event on Sunday. At stake was cash, a WPBA qualifier spot and the last chance to garner more year-end points. The final four winner side was points leader Pamela Treadway vs Kathleen Lawless and Florida visitor Ming Ng vs WPBA pro Kelly Fisher. Treadway and Fisher advanced easily 7-0 and 7-2 respectively. The hot seat match was uneventful with Fisher winning 7-3.
WPBA pro Sueyen Rhee recovered from an early loss to Fisher to put together a string of 5 wins. Lawless defeated newly appointed WPBA pro Val Finnie 5-3 and then sent Rhee out into the 4th spot 5-1. Treadway dispatched Lawless 5-3 for a very respectable 3rd place finish. The single set final race to 9 looked to be one sided as Treadway established a 6-2 and 7-3 lead. Fisher was undaunted and won 6 games in a row for a 9-7 comeback. Fisher earned $750 while Treadway pocketed $475 and the WPBA qualifier spot.
