ABO AA-AAA Results from Gatineau

By: Jacques Roy, President, ABO

With the help of Monique Thibert and François Leblanc I ran the AA and AAA tournament on Saturday, September 24th, 2016 at Billard Le Huit in Gatineau. There were 18 players, not bad on a beautiful sunny day. This was a season premiere for many.

It should be noted that five or six players traveled 14 to 16 hours from communities in Northern Québec to play in the tournament. These persons have been regulars in ABO tournaments for many years. The winner, Sam Matthews, was one of them and others were in the money or very near.

Another notable fact was the performance of Jessie Langelier who had not played an ABO tournament for many years. He came back from the losers' side to finish in position 3-4. It was a stressful day for him in his own words, but very satisfying.

Newcomer to ABO was Guillaume Sylvestre who reached a respectable 5-7 position with veteran Dan Desjardins. It was a high level tournament , exciting, full of surprises and a lot of evident effort from all players. Competition was noticeable but very gentlemanly from its early beginning at 10:30 AM to 8:15 PM.

ABO wants its tournaments to finish at a reasonable time in the early evening to, among other things, allow room owners to service their evening clientele adequately.

Mission accomplished thanks to an early start at 10:30 AM and double elimination up to the last four players with single knockout thereafter. Several evening hours are thus saved. Races to 7 for all matches obviously accelerate play, as well as increase spectator interest.

Payouts were good with the winner getting $ 300, the finalist had $ 200 and the 3-4 position got $ 90 each.

Thank you to our host Martin Lafrenière of Bar-Billard Le Huit. Tables were good and several had new cloth. Thank you also to the always obliging and affable Mélanie at the bar.

Next ABO tournaments at the Terminus on October 1st and 8, 2016