Joey Ryan clung on for dear life with his last barrel of three poker chips to make it to the final table of six players at Planet Pool's multiple table ring-game Scrima Benefit tournament at Champion Billiards, Rockville MD--and went on to win it all from there. Keith McCready, Ryan McCreesh and Pooky Rasmeloungon suffered under the experimental format, with McCready getting knocked out in fifth place after making it through the whole day without being eliminated from the no-loss side.
The double elimination format added a different twist, and the tournament directors had their hands full trying to keep things fair for everybody. In the end, the overall reception was positive. While the format needs tweaking before it can be applied to Planet Pool's NUTS Regional Play-Offs coming up in September, most of the participants and spectators enjoyed the excitement and freshness of this poker tournament-meets-pool tournament format.
There were amazing runs of sheer luck, but the incredible recovery shots played by some seemed to balance it all out. On the final table, Joey Ryan evened out Brandon Shuff's chip lead when they went head-to-head, and in the end the antes--at this point raising every four games--caught up with Shuff, who is currently showing great form on the Planet Pool tour, having thus far earned 6th place on the 2005 points list. Former Planet Pool part-owner, Mike Ricciardella took third, Ed Deska grinded out fourth, with McCready and Rasmeloungon filling out the top six spots. Ellen Yu emerged victorious from a small field of ladies playing a regular double elimination format to take the winner-takes-all first place. Jennifer Dunkin took second.
Planet Pool would like to thank everybody who attended, played, and donated at this annual fundraising event. A special thanks to Doug Sharp, as well as Gary Allen from Champion Billiards for donating the door prize and hosting this event.
The Planet Pool Tour will be at Break Time Sports Grill & Pub, May 14-15, for another joint 9-Ball and 8-Ball event. Juniors are welcome this time, but IDs must be faxed to the room at (410) 742-2700 prior to the event. The 9-Ball Open Division starts on Saturday and the Women's event on Sunday, while for the 8-Ball event, the Women's will be played on Saturday and the Open Division on Sunday. See www.planet-pool.com for details.
