Steven Miller and Robb Saez
At the regional tour, independent-event level, pool players come and go. At times, the (up and) ‘coming’ players seem destined to overcome the ranks of the former going, going gone competitors who made their mark and for many different reasons, departed, some for good. There is, too, that species of pool player that (again, for varied unknown reasons) steps away from the tables and then decides to come back, often taking a bit of time to get back up to the skill level at which he or she had been playing when they left; switching from formerly ‘going’ to ‘coming (back).’
The winner of this past weekend’s (Feb. 24-25), Arena Billiards Moneyball Tournament (#2), Robb Saez, recorded (with us here at AZBilliards) his best earnings year at the tables 10 years ago, climbing in 2014 to #37 on our AZBilliards Money Leaderboard. Since his (recorded) pool career began in 1999, Saez has dropped as low as #522 on that Leaderboard, in 2021, a post-pandemic year that demonstrated more than just a few drops in competition activity. By the same token, he has been among the Top 100 on that Leaderboard in 10 of the 25 years he has been an active competitor in our database and has an average position on the Leaderboard of 152.
Saez’ win over the weekend was his first recorded victory with us since December, 2022, when he won the Space City X Banks competition at Big Tyme Billiards in Spring, TX. He came from the loss side of the Moneyball Tournament #2 this past weekend, recording five straight wins before double-dipping Steven Miller in a true, double-elimination final. As Saez was busy gaining some momentum on the ‘coming (back)’ side of the competitive ledger, three competitors (Miller, Robert Poe and Terez Powers) who, with this event, will make their debut on the AZBilliards Money Leaderboard, finished in the next three payout spots, joining the ‘coming (up)’ list, from where they will, presumably, begin to make progress in the weeks, months and probably years ahead of them. The $1,000-added, Arena Billiards Moneyball Tournament (#2) drew 50 entrants to Arena Billiards in West Monroe, LA, about 318 miles northeast of New Orleans.
Working with a rating system somewhat outside the norm, the event featured (normally enough) races to 7 on the winners’ side and 5 on the loss side. The ratings differential between opponents dictated the ‘races’ themselves, with the lower-rated player racing to the 7 or 5 and the higher-rated player racing to the 7 or 5 plus the difference in the ratings. Saez, for example, rated at 10 and facing a winners’ side opponent rated as a 4 would race to 13 (the race, 7, plus the difference of 6). The loss side matches utilized the same system in base ‘races’ to 5.
It was a ‘long row to hoe’ for Saez, who ended up playing 155 games of 9-ball in 11 matches, while, as an example, Terez Powers (a 4, who finished 4th) played in nine matches and a total of 85 games (15 of which were played against Saez in a double-hill quarterfinal). Saez opened up against the only other opponent in the event rated at 10, Lee Alford. In a straight-up race to 7, Saez defeated him 7-4. He then downed Chad Reece 11-4 and Ralph Foy 12-4, before Brian Rutland sent him to the loss side 10-7 in a winners’ side quarterfinal.
Rutland advanced to pick up Robert Poe in one of the winners’ side semifinals, Poe having defeated Troy Hipp (double hill), Brian Johnson 7-1 and Dan Campbell 7-5 to reach him. From the other end of the bracket, Steven Miller, who’d sent Frankie Swilley (3), Joby Russ (double hill), Raymond Procell (double hill) and Lamar Clack (2) to the loss side, drew Bryan Russ in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Miller got into the hot seat match 8-6 over Bryan Russ. Poe joined him after defeating Rutland 7-4. In a straight-up race to 7, Miller claimed the hot seat 7-5.
On the loss side, it was Bryan Russ who had the misfortune of running into the tournament’s eventual winner. Saez had followed his loss to Rutland by giving up only a single rack in his first two, loss-side matches; the one, to Roger Lawrence and none at all to Dan Campbell. Rutland came over and ran into Terez Powers, who was working on what would turn out to be a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that included four double-hill battles and the recent elimination of Reggie Askin (shutout) and Lamar Clack 6-3.
Powers advanced, double hill, over Rutland, and came into the quarterfinals, looking for loss-side win #8. Unfortunately, the draw was Saez who’d defeated Bryan Russ, double hill. The quarterfinal went double hill, too, ending Powers’ loss-side run.
Robert Poe’s loss-side run didn’t survive its first and only match, the semifinals. To his credit, Poe came within a game of making it a double-hill match, but Saez took him down 11-3.
The true double-elimination final (Saez v. Miller) featured 28 games in two sets; 15 in an opening ‘race to 13’ and then, in an overall reduced race to 11, 13 more. Saez won all but four of them, two in each set, to claim the event title.
In addition to cash prizes for the top eight competitors, two women – Joanna Terry and Madelyne G. Johnson – split $120 as the top finishing females.
Arena Billiards Moneyball Tournament #3 is scheduled for the weekend of March 23-24 at Arena Billiards in West Monroe, LA.
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