Tamer Kurtbogan
It was, to say the least, a busy weekend at JOB Billiards in Madison, TN, which played host to the Jersey Girl Billiards’ Nashville Cash Bash last weekend (June 28-30). The event drew 190 entrants and was won by Springfield, IL’s Tamer Kurtbogan, who lost his only match in the opening set of a true double-elimination final to Justin Burns. Originally from Turkey, Kurtbogan’s victory put him into the AZBilliards database for the first time.
The event was originally split into ‘high side’ and ‘low side’ brackets of 63 (high-) and 127 (low-) rated competitors (based on a combination of factors, including Fargo Rates and other information about the players and their skill levels). The final two competitors from the winners’ side of both brackets (in what would have been the two brackets’ hot seat matches), along with the final two from the loss side of both brackets comprised the final four of the event.
Neither of the brackets advanced its players to a hot seat match, which did occur when the entire event came down to its final two undefeated competitors, Kurtbogan and Chase Williamson. Justin Burns, who’d lost one of the low-side bracket’s winners’ side semifinals to Williamson, won four on the loss side, including a rematch against Williamson to face Kurtbogan in the event finals. In lieu of detailing the forward progress of each bracket separately, we’ll track the winner and runner-up through their separate paths to the final match and add whatever accompanying details might be relevant about significant competitors who met them along the way.
Kurtbogan’s path on the ‘high side’ bracket took him through five opponents to what would have been the single bracket’s hot seat match. He raced to 8 in three of his matches and 7 in the other two, opening up with a victory over Martin Lawson 7-3 and beginning a three-match set, racing to 8 against Joshua Stover (2), Bobby Burns (5) and Matt Wisely (5). Kurtbogan then downed Mitch Ellerman 7-5. Ellerman, who’d defeated Josh O’Neal 11-5 just ahead of that match, would move to the loss side and immediately face O’Neal a second time. These two ‘marquee’ competitors in the event played an improbable second match, with O’Neal shutting Ellerman out to finish in the tie for 5th/6th. O’Neal advanced to the final four.
Justin Burns, from the ‘low side,’ racing to 3, got by Shane Griffin (1), David Lemay (2, with Lemay racing to 4), Chris Holt (1), shut out Rufus Moorehead and in their first meeting, falling to Chase Williamson in a double-hill fight. On the loss side, Burns defeated Chris Holt 3-4 (Holt racing to 6) and shut out Becky Westfall, which left her in 7th/8th place overall to become the event’s last lady standing, a designation which earned her an extra $500, ‘swag’ and a trophy. Burns advanced to defeat Chuck Payne 3-3 (Payne racing to 5) to earn his spot in the final four.
In the hot seat match of the event, Kurtbogan defeated Chase Williamson 7-1. On the loss side, Burns and O’Neal squared off in the quarterfinals, with Burns winning their match 3-1 and advancing to face Williamson in the semifinals. Burns gave up just a single rack to Williamson, too, and turned his attention to the true double-elimination final against Kurtbogan.
It doesn’t always turn out the way it did at this Nashville Cash Bash. When high- and lower-rated competitors meet at the tail end of a split bracket, it is usually to the advantage of the higher-ranked competitor. But Burns, who’d been racing to 3 throughout the event, had proven himself to be resilient against the few higher-ranked competitors he faced near the end of the event. Nowhere was this more evident than in his defeat of Josh O’Neal, who was racing to 11 and only managed to win a single rack before O’Neal chalked up the three he needed. In the opening set of the true double-elimination final, Burns, once again, chalked up the three he needed before his higher-ranked opponent reached the number of racks he needed, which, in Kurtbogan’s case was eight. Kurtbogan chalked up only three racks in that opening set, but ‘changed his tune’ in the second set, winning the eight racks he needed to claim the event title, while allowing Burns only one.
The ‘Jersey Girl’ herself, Chrissy Perlowski, thanked the ownership and staff at JOB Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Nick Varner Cues and Cases, The Asphalt Team, Diamond (logo on Jersey Girl shirts), J&M Services Middle, TN, Dr. V’s Custom Shop, and Den’s Amusement’s Unlimited.
Jersey Girl Entertainment will return to JOB Billiards in Madison for an event scheduled on the weekend of Aug. 30-Sept. 1. For further information about upcoming events and other Jersey Girl Entertainment activities, visit its Facebook page or log on their Web site at https://www.jerseygirlbilliards.com/.
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