CJ Wiley should be the ‘poster child’ for some form of additional prize awarded to competitors in pool tournaments who lose an opening round match and win 10 or more on the loss side to meet and ultimately either defeat or lose to the occupant of a given tournament’s hot seat. Perhaps extra tour ranking points, a little bonus cash? Something, for while runner-up money is all well and good, a 10-match or more winning streak on the loss side of a double elimination bracket is a significant accomplishment, worthy of some official kind of recognition.
Though Rick Stanley went undefeated on the February 17-18 stop (#2) on the Dallas/Fort Worth 9-Ball Tour and deserves all of the accolades that go along with that, he did so by chalking up eight match victories, all with the double elimination bracket’s built-in margin for error, allowing a single loss without elimination. The handicap format saw Stanley (racing to 9) face six 7s, one 6, and one 9 (Wiley), and chalk up an average score against opponents of 9-2.7. CJ Wiley won 12 on the loss side of that double elimination bracket, with an average match score of 9-3, and faced five 6s, six 7s, and one 8, before his straight-up race to 9 in the finals against Stanley. The tour-ranking end result allowed Wiley to maintain his #1 spot on the tour rankings, while Stanley, competing in his first stop on the 2018 tour, moved from nowhere into second place. The $1,700-added event drew 108 competitors to The Billiard Den in Richardson, TX.
With Wiley at work on the loss side, Stanley worked his way through five opponents (JP Kinman, Walt Anderson, Ashraf Aldamen, Mike Voelkering, and Marcelino Santiago) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Amos Bush. Corey Flud, in the meantime, chalked up three double hill wins in getting by Chris Woody Smith (double hill), Danny Williams, Roman Bayda (double hill), and Donny Gregory (double hill) to arrive at the other winners’ side semifinal against Judd Hunter.
Stanley downed Bush 9-1, as Flud (in a straight-up race to 7) defeated Hunter 7-3. Stanley claimed the hot seat 9-4 over Flud and waited for Wiley to complete his epic loss-side run.
Over on the loss side, Wiley got by five opponents just to advance to the first money round (the tie for 25th place). He got by four more, including a 9-5 win over Donny Gregory and a 9-4 win over Steve Collins, before running into Bush, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Hunter drew TJ Davis, who’d eliminated Cody Wright 8-4 and Marcelino Santiago 8-1 to reach him.
Wiley downed Bush 9-4, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Davis, who’d eliminated Hunter 8-2. Wiley took the quarterfinal match over Davis 9-3 and completed his long trek back to the finals with a 9-5 win over Flud in the semifinals.
And there it was. The final match between two of the DFW 9-Ball Tour’s top-ranked competitors, although one (Stanley) had yet to compete on the tour’s 2018 schedule. Stanley completed his undefeated run with a 9-5 victory over Wiley and settled into the second spot on the tour rankings.
The weekend also included a new, but soon-to-be-repeated preliminary event, held on Friday night, pitting two area teams (Dallas & Fort Worth) against each other. Called the DFW 2018 Tour Cup, and modeled after the Mosconi Cup, the first event saw Dallas take the Cup 5-2.
“It was very well-received,” noted tour representatives, “and we will more than likely be having more events of this type in the future.”
A Second Chance event that drew 17 entrants saw Tony Sulsar take the top spot, with Shan Iyer as runner-up. The “Last Lady” award of the main event ($50) was split between Kiengchay (Kitty) Phoutthavong and Tera Saunders.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff of the Billiard Den, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, JB Cases, Dallas Eightball League, Outsville (AccuRack), Fargo Rate, BCAPL/CSI, Internet Marketing Solutions, and Granite Guyz. The next stop on the DFW 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 24-25, will be hosted by Rusty's Billiards in Arlington, TX.
