Daniel Herring, Paul Villanueva and Matt Wilson
He shot up from the ‘cellar’ of the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour’s standings, where he’d landed after the first tour stop back in January. He then finished in the tie for 5th/6th twice, in February and March; his highest (recorded) finish in any event, anywhere. This past weekend (April 23-24), Matt Wilson made a quantum leap, closer to the top of the tour standings, reaching the hot seat for the first (known) time and then, downing the tour’s current standings leader, Daniel Herring, twice in a true double elimination final. The $1,750-added event drew 93 entrants to Rusty’s Billiards in Fort Worth, TX.
In all three of his matches against Herring, Wilson started out with six ‘beads on the wire’ in races to 10. Even with that six-rack head start, FargoRate calculated his chances of victory at 35.8%. It’s likely that before very long, Wilson will be looking in the rearview at his current FargoRate of 517.
His FargoRate advantage came into play in almost every match Wilson played. He faced only one opponent with a lower rate, tour director Monica Anderson (454), giving her one ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to six and sending her to the loss side 6-3. He advanced through the field to face Paul Villanueva (606) in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Herring (689), in the meantime, was handing out racks to his opponents all day long. The closest FargoRate he faced was in his winners’ side quarterfinal against Robbie Cleland, to whom he gave a single rack in a race to 7. That match went double hill and advanced Herring to a winners’ side semifinal match against Jimmy Davis.
Wilson downed Villanueva 6-5 (Villanueva racing to 8) as Herring sent Davis to the loss side 8-1. In their first of three, Herring allowed Wilson only two of the four he needed, claiming the hot seat 10-2.
On the loss side, Villanueva picked up Cleland, who, after his double hill defeat at the hands of Herring, downed Roman Bayda 7-5 and Clint Palaci 7-1. Davis drew Jessie Moore, who’d lost his opening match to Steven Thorne and then won eight on the loss side, including recent victories over Nico Arriola and TJ Thetford, both 7-4.
Moore made it nine in a loss-side row, downing Davis 7-1. In a straight-up race to 7, Villanueva joined him in the quarterfinals after handing Cleland his second straight loss 7-5. In another straight-up race to 7, Villanueva stopped Moore’s loss side streak 7-4 in the quarterfinals, before having his two-match, loss-side run stopped by Wilson, who allowed him two less racks in the event semifinals than he’d given up in their winners’ side semifinal.
Herring was looking for his third straight tour victory, having won stops #2 & #3 in February and March. Given his 64.2% chance of winning just a single match, even if he hadn’t known that specifically, one would assume that going into the finals, his confidence level would have been high. But so, apparently, was Wilson’s. Both of the true double elimination sets in the final went exactly the same way. With six on the wire, racing to 10, Wilson won each set, having given up only two racks to Herring, claiming the title 4-2, 4-2.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rusty’s Billiards, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The next stop on the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for May 21-22, will be a $1,750-added event, hosted by Snookered in Frisco, TX.
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