Roberto Gomez
Held March 9-11, 2017 at Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon, this installment of the Men’s Chinook Winds Open 8-Ball Championships, the 4th Annual, featured some of the biggest names in professional men’s Billiards. There were a couple of past champions — Skyler Woodward and Rodney Morris. You might also recognize some of the other contenders — Shane Van Boening, Dennis Orcollo, Billy Thorpe, Warren Kiamco, Amar Kang and Josh Roberts — to name but a few. There were also some notable newcomers — Roberto Gomez, Joey Gray, Johann Chua, Jeffrey DeLuna and Manny Perez. Some Western BCA players made their presence known as well, including — Randy Camantigue, Stan Tourangeau, Randy Baker and crowd favorite, Richie Geiler. In all, there were 108 entered in the Men’s Division and and 28 in the Women’s.
As always, the party started with a Calcutta auction on Wednesday evening (March 10). It was a spirited affair overseen by CWO TD Bill Henderson and WBCA President Darcy Williams. The Men’s Division Calcutta total was $24550 with $9600 the first place payout and the Women’s was $2010 with $820 the first place payout.
Then came the Late Night 10-Ball Invitational, a new event aimed at the professionals. The format was $1000 entry, 16 bracket limit, race to 13, single elimination, winner breaks with a first place prize of $8000. The “Late Night” referred to when the matches were played, starting Wednesday after the Calcutta, the final four playing Thursday after CWO play was finished for the day and the final on Friday night, again after CWO play was finished for the day. The bracket filled with all the upper echelon pros ponying up a grand each for the big payout at the end. By the end of play Wednesday, Jeffrey DeLuna vs Dennis Orcollo and Josh Roberts vs Shane Van Boening were all that survived. Everyone was looking forward to a Orcollo/SVB final but up jumped DeLuna who beat Dennis Orcollo to move into the final against Shane Van Boening. The final score was 13-11/SVB and was basically a clinic, with nine break and runs (including the winning rack), one 1-10 combo in game 2 and all the rest runouts following three dry breaks and the very occasional mistake on the part of one player or the other. Jeffrey collected $4000 for 2nd place and Dennis and Josh received $2000 each for getting to the semis. Fun format + great shooting + a large and appreciative crowd = a successful event. Look for it to be on the menu next time.
Thursday the main event got underway with many great match-ups for the spectators to watch. By the end of the night, many of the serious contenders were on the back side of the bracket (Roberto Gomez, SVB, Jeffrey DeLuna, Ramil Gallego, Johann Chua, Taylor Anderson, Dennis Orcollo, Warren Kiamco and Alex Olinger) and only one could fight his way to the final. Tough bracket. The marquis matches included Rodney Morris vs Dennis Orcollo (7-6 Rodney), Rich Geiler vs Jeffrey DeLuna (7-4 Rich) and SVB vs Marc Vidal (7-6 SVB just after Marc took out Johann Chua 7-4).
Friday was a new day and everyone, especially the back side dwellers, hoped it would be a good one for them but, unfortunately, many of the top guns would be up against each other before the end of the day with many eliminated. Before the end of the day, Skyler Woodward, Amar Kang, Rodney Morris and Billy Thorpe would also find themselves on the back side, nearing extinction. By the end of play, only 9 would be left in.
Saturday began with Roberto Gomez sending Amar Kang home as he began his single-minded quest for the final. He went on to eliminate Josh Roberts, Rodney Morris, and crushed Billy Thorpe’s hopes for a rematch with Joey Gray after losing the hot seat to Gray 7-6. Shane Van Boening looked to be on his way to a shot at another big pay day until he ran into Rodney Morris, who had another plan, winning 7-5. Dennis Orcollo seemed to be on a collision course for SVB but he was derailed by former Champ Skyler Woodward 7-6. As we already know, Roberto Gomez would not be stopped on his way to the final with Joey Gray, taking out his final two obstacles (Morris and Thorpe). The Gray/Gomez final was on, but before we get to that, it should be said that the hot seat match was one of the best of the event, with Joey and Billy trading break and runs and run outs all the way to the decider. Joey broke dry and Billy marched through the rack until leaving himself a delicate shot on the 4-Ball to get on the 8. He missed the 8 and walked away from an open table and gave the game and the match to Joey. So close yet so far.
In the first set of the final (yes, a possible double dip materialized), Roberto was warmed up and ready to go. Joey was a little cold and never really got into the match, winning only two games. Roberto, with four break and runs plus three runouts following a Gray dry break, a missed shot and a foul on the break took the first set 7-2. Joey doubled his win tally in the second set but there was no stopping Roberto. His near flawless play continued as he closed out the match and claimed the title with his 8th break and run of the two set match.
Roberto collected $10,000 for his performance over the three days of the CWO and Joey Gray went home with a respectable $6400 for his efforts. Complete results and payouts follow.
All the while the men were in action, there was also a small Women’s Division (28 entrants) playing for a first place prize of $4000. Former champion Nicole Keeney was on hand with a few other notable out of towners (Brittany Bryant, Emily Duddy, Kelly Isaac and Bernie Store among them) as well as some of Western BCA’s finest (Liz Cole, Kim Jones and Cindy Sliva). Brittany Bryant and Bernie Store made it through the front side undefeated to the point match, with Bernie winning 5-4 to get to the final. Cindy Sliva, after taking out both Keeney and Duddy, met up with Bryant in the back side point match. There Cindy met up with a determined Brittany and was shut out and finished in 3rd place. Brittany went on to the final and another shot at Bernie. Brittany had to beat Bernie twice and she got off to a great start, shutting Bernie out 5-0 and the double dip was on. Often the first set is just warm up for the winner of the hot seat and this proved to be the case here. Bernie played much better the 2nd time around. The ladies traded games until the got to the hill-hill decider. Bernie had won the lag, so she had the break. It was a good break until the cue ball found a pocket. The table was wide open and Brittany never looked back as she ran out to claim the title. Complete results and payouts follow.
There were 2nd chance tournaments for both the men and women, with 28 men and 6 women not ready to call it quits. Lake MacKay beat out Danny Smith for first and $1400 in the Men’s and Kathie MacDonald prevailed over Myra Cables for first and $450.
That brought the festivities to a close. None of the spectators went away in any way disappointed. The pros put on quite a display of prowess on the table and were very approachable. We cannot thank enough our great sponsors — Chinook Winds Casino Resort, Western BCA and Bud Light. The Western BCA staff — TDs Mike Jensen and Bill Henderson, Tournament Registrar Darcy Williams, Referees Darryl Farley and Dwayne Payne, Graphic Design/Advertising/Photographer Robbin Iredale, Podium Manager Pam Carraway and Payout Supervisor Cathy Dunford — all worked long hours to make these events a success. Lenny Marshall of OnTheRailTV streamed and recorded many great matches that will soon be available for viewing (a link will be provided on westernbca.org). Many thanks to Bad Boys Billiards Production who provided the 7-foot Diamond tables and bracketing. Chinook Winds again provided a great and welcoming venue for all the players and spectators. Mother Nature was the only negative, causing interruption of internet service, but that’s March on the Coast, nothing to be done about that.
If you came to play, we thank you and hope you come back next time.
If you came to watch, we’ll try to put on an even better show next time.
