Matt Krah and Jimmy Varias
In his 159 (recorded) cash finishes since he first showed up in our database in May of 2000, Delaware’s Matt Krah has finished among the top 10 in 121 of them, including 16 event victories. In almost any pool tournament, when your name slips in among an event’s final 12, fellow competitors take notice and it usually means you’re going home with some cash. Krah’s latest regional tour win (his first, recorded, in almost a decade) came this past weekend (Oct. 19-20) when he went ‘officially’ undefeated at the Maryland State Bar Table 8-Ball Championships, which drew 44 entrants to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD. Krah and runner-up, Jimmy Varias opted out of a final match, allowing Krah, as the occupant of the hot seat, to chalk up his 16th event title.
It was an event that drew a long list of long-time Mid-Atlantic competitors; Varias, among them, along with the likes of Tom Zippler (3rd), Dylan Spohr, Brandon Shuff, Brett Stottlemeyer, Bobby Pacheco, Rick Molineiro, Shaun Wilkie, Brian Dietzenbach and Steve Fleming, to name just a few that competed regularly on the VA-based Action Pool Tour and a variety of other Mid-Atlantic tours and independent events.
Krah faced only two on that list. Zippler and Varias, back-to-back as it turned out. He opened with a 6-1 victory over Miroslav Stojanovic and then, locked up in a double-hill battle against Mark Ford. He advanced to down Mike Newport (2) and Joe Healy (3), arriving to face Zippler in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Varias, in the meantime, after an opening-round bye, came out with ‘guns ablazin,’ giving up only four racks in his first 22 games; one to Rob Cord in the 2nd round, none at all to Eric Brobst and three to Rick Molineiro. Varias drew Brandon Shuff in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Both battles for advancement to the hot seat match came within a game of double hill, but at 6-4, it was Krah (over Zippler) and Varias (over Shuff) who advanced. In what would prove to be Krah’s last match and the defining match for the title, Krah downed Varias 6-3.
The loss side was full of potential ‘spoilers.’ Earlier in the evening (Saturday), as the bracket moved into the ‘money’ rounds (9th/12th), five of the Mid-Atlantic veterans noted above were still on the list, with one of them, Dylan Spohr, having knocked out a sixth, Shaun Wilkie, in the 13th/16th place round.
Tom Zippler came over from the winners’ side semifinal and drew Spohr, who’d lost his second-round match to Molineiro and won six straight, including three from the ‘Mid-Atlantic’ list; Wilkie 5-2, Pacheco 5-1 and Stottlemyer 5-3. Shuff picked up Grai Rasmechai, who’d lost a double-hill, winners’ side quarterfinal match to Zippler and then defeated Brobst 5-2 and David Zecena 5-3.
Rasmechai eliminated Shuff 5-3 and in the quarterfinals, drew a rematch against Zippler, who’d defeated Spohr 5-1. Zippler shut Rasmechai out in those quarterfinals.
As Saturday night slipped into Sunday morning, Zippler and Varias squared off in the semifinals. Both had already assured themselves of chalking up their first recorded cash finish of 2024 and were looking to increase the pay day by a minimum of $120 and a maximum of $470, which would require getting by Krah, waiting for one of them in the hot seat. Varias downed Zippler 5-2 to earn his second shot against Krah.
It never happened. Krah and Varias negotiated a split of the top two prizes, granting Krah, as the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, the official event title.
OnTheHill representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Brews & Cues on the Boulevard for their hospitality, along with sponsors digitalpool.com, Aramith Billiard Balls and Simonis Cloth. This weekend (Sat., Sept. 26), OnTheHill Productions will bring a ‘1050 and under’ Partners Tournament to The Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD. Two weeks later, Saturday, Nov. 9, Brews and Cues on the Boulevard will host the Maryland State, ‘1250 and under’ Jack and Jill 9-Ball Bar Table Championships.
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