 Ashley (Fast Eddie's), Jui Lung Chen, Denis Strickland and Amber (Fast Eddie's) |
Fast Eddies Olhausen 9-Ball Tour sponsored by Schuler Legacy Cues resumed its schedule March 24-25 in the newly opened Fast Eddies in College Station Texas. Michelle and her staff were ready and waiting for us too.
As always, this was a $1750 added event with an alternating break format.
The field yielded 62 players and again was a very tough and competitive field.
Top picks were Jui Lung Chen, Charlie Bryant, Sylver Ochoa, and Denis Strickland. Finishing in the 13-16 slots were Eric Brown, Ernesto Bayua, Chelo Velasquez, and Charlie Bryant. Each played very well and earned $120.00 for their efforts.
The 9-12 finishes belonged to Barry Strickland, Danny Tam, Robert Newkirk, and Scooter Thweat. They played very hard and also earned $150.
Finishing 7-8th were Paul Blank and Scott Tollefson. Both played some incredible matches and took home $360 for the good play.
The 5-6th spot is hard to achieve in any tournament and this was no different. These spots were captured by Carl Ray of Waco and Sylver Ochoa of McAllen TX. Rick and Sylver were awarded $490 for their finish.
Robert Stewart of Waco finished 4th and wasn't too happy about it. He played well and as always played very hard. For his determination Robert took home $770.
Rick Stanley only knows one way to play 9 ball and that is flat out with no looking back. He is strictly offensive and this weekend was no different. This did get him 3rd place and $1160 to take home. Nice job to Rick.
The hot seat was taken by Jui Lung Chen of Dallas by defeating Denis Strickland of Houston. Chen is last year's player of the year and is always a force to deal with. Denis is also a force in Texas. Many know exactly what Denis is all about and he proved it again this weekend.
After his 1st loss to Chen for the Hot seat, Denis went to the left and handled Rick Stanley only to return to the Finals with a very determined look.
Denis won the first set in a nail biting match 9-8 and this set the stage for the final rack to 9 to determine the winner. Denis again was playing very hard and with a lot of heart. With the score tied at 4-4 though, everything just went the other way as Chen kicked like a magician and missed nothing to finally take the win by a score of 9-5. He is exciting to watch. Congratulations.
Denis Strickland has an exciting style of play himself and disappointed nobody. Congratulations to both. Chen earned $2490 for the weekend and Denis earned $1745 for his work.
It was a fun weekend which began with its usual Friday night Ring Game. 10 players entered and anted $200 each and at the end only Jui Lung Chen was left standing as he outlasted Charlie "The Hillbilly" Bryant in what was fun and quite an entertaining event. The ring game is always fun.
Thank you to Olhausen billiards and Schuler Legacy Cues for their continued support. These people are just great and this doesn't happen without them.
No event is complete without the ever loyal and dependable vendors. Thank you to Ron Geyer of the Custom Cue Connection, Jack Kompan of Mystick Cues, Robbie and Jeff of Behind the 8 Ball Sales and service, and the Duffy Rack. Thank you so much.
A huge thank you to Michelle and Allison, the managers in College Station. Your thoroughness and enthusiasm will long be remembered.
A special thanks to the beautiful Tasia for raffling the Schuler Cue and brightening everyone's weekend.
Last, but, hardly least, Thank you to Fast Eddies. Without their generosity, this tour does not exist.
As a reminder, the tour resumes April 14-15th in Houston at the FM 1960 location. This was supposed to be in Waco, but, because of construction delays we were forced to make a change. So please make the note.
See you all in Houston.
