Joshua Paredes, Max Sun and Mohammed Alrawi
Max Sun, a skill-level 4, a newcomer from Wylie, TX and new to the Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour, signed on to last weekend’s (May 21-22) $1,750-added event (Stop #5) and went undefeated through a field of 83 entrants to win his first (recorded) regional tour event at Snookered in Frisco, TX. Though he did not have to face the top two competitors in point standings on the tour (Daniel Herring and Tony Top), he did work his way through seven opponents, all of whom entered the tournament with higher Fargo Rates than his own (450). The average Fargo Rate of his opponents was 556, which, on average, from start to finish, gave him a little less than a 1 in 3 chance of winning each of his seven matches.
All of which begs the question, “How did that happen?” To which the only answer is a familiar one – “It happens.”
According to tour director Monica Anderson, though engaged in giving the man the credit he was due for his accomplishment, Sun “capitalized on opponent’s mistakes, and had a few decent runs, and break and runs.”
“(That’s) easy to do if you get the rolls on a barbox table,” she said.
After an opening round bye, the only competitor that Sun faced against whom he played a straight-up race (to 5) was his first against Jim Dixon. He defeated Dixon 5-2, after which he did not face an opponent below a skill level of 7 until he was in the finals against Joshua Paredes (6). After Dixon, Sun downed Carl Oswald (racing to 8) 4-5, Darrell Smith (to 7) 5-0, and Neil Sidawi (to 8) 4-6, arriving at a winners’ side semifinal against Michael Oman. In the meantime, Sun’s eventual hot seat opponent, Mohammed Alrawi, got by Andy Kiesling, Miguel Hernandez and Will Lovos to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Paredes.
Sun chalked up for his first hot seat match with a 4-4 victory over Oman (racing to 8). Alrawi joined him after sending Paredes to the loss side, double hill (7-4). Sun claimed his first hot seat with a double hill win (4-7) over Alrawi.
On the loss side, Oman picked up Rick Stanley, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Paredes and went on to defeat Pete Stovall 9-1 and Will Lovos 10-3. Paredes drew Jimmy Fujimori, working on a modest four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated, in straight-up races to 7, Neil Sidawi and Miguel Hernandez, both 7-4.
Stanley and Paredes advanced to their rematch in the quarterfinals; Paredes, double hill (6-7) over Fujimori and Stanley ousting Oman 9-1. Paredes won the rematch 4-3 (Stanley racing to 10) and denied Alrawi his rematch versus Sun with a 5-5 win in the semifinals (Alrawi racing to 7).
Sun began the finals with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 6. They battled to double hill before Sun closed out his first shot at a final and claimed his first event title.
Aaron Fleming and Blake Kamiab battled twice – hot seat and finals – in an 18-entrant Second Chance event. Fleming came out on top in both of them, downing Kamiab the first time, double hill (2-4) and the second time 2-3. Kamiab had come back from a shutout victory over Matt Delgarza in the semifinals.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Snookered, as well as title sponsor Cuetec and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore. The Cuetec DFW 9-Ball Tour will return to Rusty’s Billiards in Arlington, TX, where the 2022 tour began this past January. The $1,750-added event is scheduled for the weekend of June 18-19.
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