Sitting in the hot seat, Shane Winters watched Justin Bergman complete a nine-match, loss-side winning streak to meet him in the finals of the 32nd Annual Midwest Bar Table 9-Ball Classic. While certainly no stranger to pressure situations, it likely gave Winters some pause as he squared up for the opening set of a potential two-set final. Even more so, when Bergman took that opening set. Winters hung on, though, taking the second set to claim the title. The $1,500-added event drew 64 entrants to Brickyard Billiards in Indianapolis, IN.
Bergman had been sent to the loss side in the second round of play by Alex Olinger, who advanced to a winners' side quarterfinal against Danny Smith. Smith sent him over for an eventual re-match against Bergman while he went on to face Winters in a winners' side semifinal. Brandon Thomas and Brian Groce met up in the other one. Winters advanced to the hot seat match 9-7 over Smith and was joined by Groce, who sent Thomas west 9-3. Winters claimed the hot seat 9-4 over Groce and watched, as Bergman crept closer and closer.
With four under his loss-side belt, Bergman downed Jonah Bunch 7-2 and successfully wreaked his vengeance on Olinger 7-4, to meet Thomas. Danny Smith drew Skyler Woodward, who'd been sent to the loss side by Groce, in a double hill fight, and then defeated Rick Schroeder and Clay Carmen, both 7-2. It was a much-anticipated quarterfinal matchup between Woodward and Bergman, once Woodward had eliminated Smith 7-4 and Bergman had dispatched Thomas, double hill.
Bergman chalked up his second straight double hill win in the quarterfinal match versus Woodward, and then downed Groce 7-3 in the semifinals. He took the opening set of the double elimination final 9-5, but Winters hung tough and claimed the event title with a 7-5 victory in the second set.
