Thirty-five players met at Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor on November 13, 2005 for the final points event of the KBP Fury Amateur 9-Ball tour season before the finale to be held on December 3rd & 4th.
On the road towards the finals, Louis Altes had his work cut out for him with several tough opponents to overcome. Altes started the day with a close 7-6 win over room-owner Jose DelRio followed by a 7-4 win over Jose Ybarra. Altes then took another hill-hill win over points-leader Julio Aquino and followed it up with a 7-4 win over Jason Richko to make the hot seat match. Also making his move toward the hot seat match was Jim Sandaler who defeated Rick Rogers, Tony Vicari, Dan Briggs and George Smith with a combined win/loss record of 28 and 15.
Altes found another tough match in Sandaler and each player made the most of their opportunities at the table to make a double-hill match. Altes emerged the victor under the hill-hill pressure as he had earlier in the day.
On the other side of the chart, Jason Richko was making a comeback after his earlier loss to Altes. Richko went on to defeat James Roberts 5-1 and Tony Vicari 5-3. The momentum of several match wins in a row carried Richko into a 5-3 win over Sandaler in the semifinals, leaving Sandaler to take 3rd place.
Altes started the finals with a 1-0 lead over Richko but Richko quickly tied it up at 1-all. Altes then took advantage of ball-in-hand to run out from the three-ball to lead 2-1. Richko seized control of the table with his next inning and secured the next two racks and followed up with a break and run to lead 4-2. Altes answered back with three run-outs of his own to tie the match back up and then take the lead at 5-4. Richko won the next game to tie at 5-5 but would be following Altes for the rest of the match. Altes maintained a one-game lead through the remainder of the match until he reached the hill and captured the final 9-ball to win 9-7.
Results:
1st Louis Altes $480
2nd Jason Richko $280
3rd Jim Sandaler $160
4th Tony Vicari $80
5th/6th George Smith, James Roberts $60
7th/8th Scott Howard, Jose Ybarra $40
