Corner Bank : Arsenault Wins OBSA 9 Ball Championship

Rod Arsenault

By: Erik Hjorleifson 

This past weekend The Corner Bank in Scarborough, Ontario played host to the OBSA (Ontario Billiards and Snooker Association) amateur 9-ball provincial championships. The event carried a generous $3000 in added prize money with the top four finishers receiving partial expenses to the Canadian amateur championships in Thetford Mines, Quebec taking place the last week of May. This provincial Championship was a culmination of an effort put forth between Greg Plester OBSA board member and OBSA board members and room owners John White and Frank Kakourous. This year saw the return of the OBSA as active promoter of cuesports in Ontario seeing them hold 10 regular season events at rooms all across Ontario. Paul Duell won the regular season points race with Brad Guthrie finishing second. It is a great breath of fresh air to see the game being organized at a provincial level with an official governing body after a long absence of OBSA run events. The OBSA also saw the players move towards the A, AA, AAA, Semi pro and Pro categories that mirrors the handicap system in Quebec which has proven to be quite successful. Minimal handicaps were the most common format for the regular season events and the provincial championships was a non handicapped event . Winner breaks with the 9 ball racked on the spot was used thoughout all events. 


Fifty five players came out to compete at the corner bank, play started Saturday morning and a healthy player auction of $4500 kicked off the festivities.
Saturday match highlights included:


Rod Arsenault over Paul Duell
Brad Guthrie  over Greg Plester
Naomi Williams over Dave Robertson
Kenny Chen over Naomi Williams
Wayne Tate over Kenny Chen
Ronald Giron over Tom Fraser


12 players would come back for play on Sunday with Rod Arsenault facing off against Wayne Tate and Jeet Khandai against Sumon Sarkar on the other half of the bracket. Rod and Sumon would emerge from these matches to set up the winners side final. As the Losers side dwindled down Naomi Williams finished a great run on the losers side after losing first round finishing fifth.  Jehlar Fenandez filled out the second fifth place spot, Wayne Tate came back all the way to third defeating Naomi Williams and Jeet Khandai along the way before falling to Sumon Sarkar which set up a rematch of the winners side final between Sarkar and Arsenault. In the extended race to 11 finals Sarkar got out to an early lead but it was all Arenault in the end taking home the title.


Special consideration also goes out to Che Lemmon for receiving the most improved player award.


1st Rod Arsenault $1400
2nd Sumon Sarkar $1060
3rd Wayne Tate      $780
4th Jeet Khandai    $540
5th Naomi Williams $380
       Jehlar Fernandez


Player auction $1800
                           $1200
                           $700
                            $400
                            $215

Strokers London Ontario: Wood Wins Weaver Memorial

Winner Chris Wood 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

This past weekend Strokers billiards in London played host to the 6th annual Leave it to Weaver Teen Challenge Pool Tournament.  For the fourth consecutive year the field sold out at 128 players (prepaid spots with a waiting list), making it the largest field for any tournament in Ontario. The success of this event is truly a team effort between tournament promoter Anita Chan, owner of Strokers billiards Ronda Drew-Clement and the Weaver family who also generously added $1000 (extra $500 this year) to the prize fund. Special thanks also goes out to Stu MacTaggart, Taylor Chan and Dolores Weaver for their countless hours of help. For anyone that has not attended the tournament it is always a first class affair with so many added touches like a homemade buffet provided by the Weaver family, friends of Jamie or volunteers. Free door prize drawings that include donated gifts and gifts bought by the Weaver family. Fifty-Fifty draws and extra draw tickets in support of Teen Challenge a charity organization that provides support for teens at risk with addictions are ongoing throughout the weekend. At the end of the weekend nobody leaves empty handed and that is something that can rarely be said at your everyday tournament.

Every year a ceremonial toast is performed in honor of Jamie who was an avid billiard enthusiast and a great friend to many in the London pool community and around Ontario. It is always a great celebration of remembrance that gives everyone involved a chance to remember someone that meant so much to many and brightened so many lives.

As in past years the tournament was a three day event and after the opening ceremonies got underway Jeff Dick took on the daunting task of running through the 128 player Calcutta. Big names in the field this year included myself, Chris Wood, Andy Aupin and Adam Monture along with hometown favourites David Parker, Tyler Nearing and Jesse Piercey. Two of Jamies friends Greg Gauthier  (Jamie's best fiend) and Adam Cudmore also made the trip all the way from the maritimes.  A bidding war ensued for the pick of the field and finally a record breaking buy of $1300 received the honour. From there many more blinds were sold and after all players were auctioned off a record breaking total of $11270 was up for grabs.

The first round of 9 ball play began on Friday night on sixteen Dufferin tables with low handicaps of 4 and a high of 13, it was a double knockout bracket and winner breaks. With the huge field of players play continued non stop all the way past midnight on Saturday and tournament director Heath Manning and Ronda Drew-Clement did a great job of filing the players through efficiently.

Match highlights from Friday and Saturday included 

Dj McGinley over Jesse Piercey

Chris Wood over Jason Williams

Erik Hjorleifson over Tyler Nearing and Adam Monture  

Andy Aupin over Mike Fisher

Twelve players returned on Sunday including myself vs Chris Wood in one winners side semi final and Paul Duell against Steve B from Windsor on the other half of the bracket. The match between me and Chris turned out to be very hotly contested going right down to the hill game where a long safety battle ensued with Chris finally getting the best of it. Paul Duell also advanced to face Chris in the winners side final. As the B side narrowed down Tyler Nearing continued a great run after losing second round defeating Stu Mactaggart, myself and Adam Monture in succession. Monture had a strong fouth place finish defeating Andy Aupin along the way. Chris Wood continued his fine play in the winners side final defeating Duell to take the hotseat. Duell showed some great heart coming off a loss finally ending a ten match winning streak by Tyler Nearing who finished in an impressive third place. 

The final would be a true double elimination format with Duell needing to win 9 games to Chris' 11. After Chris took a seven a 7-2 lead in the first set Paul dug deep and made a great comeback setting up a final set for all the marbles. Unfazed by his first set loss Chris came out strong in the second  set and didn't let up finishing off the deal with a convincing 11-1 win. Chris is a legend on the Ontario, North American and international scene who is strong at all games and has a huge wealth of experience. Despite taking some time off in recent years he showed that he still has what it takes and I can assure you that a win in this field is no easy task especially playing at one of the highest handicaps, huge congratulations goes out to Chris and welcome back to the winners circle.

This is such a great tournament and the attention to detail and effort put forth by Anita and her team is always evident and results in a great time had by all.  

In closing tournament promoter Anita Chan added:

My envision is to celebrate Jamie’s life, help save a life and or to encourage people to get help and to have an awesome tournament.

Everyone pitches in to make this tourney a success.  Everyone commits to something whether it is their entry, a donation of a prize/cash or to help make food etc.. 

Each year, more and more volunteer to do something!  It really shows the “power of positive” and team work.  Thank you just isn’t enough!  See you all next year!  I know Jamie is up there smiling ear to ear!

                                       Tournament            Auction

1st Chris Wood                $1125                       $3620

2nd Paul Duell                 $725                          $2500

3rd Tyler Nearing            $500                          $1500

4th Adam Monture         $400                          $850

5th Erik Hjorleifson         $300                          $500

       Steve Arnold

7th Andy Aupin                $200                          $300

       Stu MacTaggart

Top 24 paid

Rack-M-Up Billiards Raises $1100 for Epilepsy of Ontario

From left to right, Clayton Disotell, Jean Vallaincourt, Jay Cuggy, Doug  Disotell, Amanda Collins, Andy Menke

By: Markus Noé

During the weekend of March 18-19 Rack-M-Up Billiards hosted the inaugural Break for Epilepsy Charity 9 Ball Tournament. The idea for this came from the owners Doug Disotell and Amanda Collins. Disotell has seen first hand the hardships his niece Payson Boucher has undergone with her own battle with epilepsy, because of this he decided to see what he could do to help an important cause.

This was an amateur handicap event with players racing to their number. A beginning player would be a 5 and would need to win 5 games in order to win the match. The numbers went up to 9 depending on skill level. With the help from social media the response for this event was overwhelming. So much so Disotell was forced to extend the field past the originally posted 32 maximum as 36 players confirmed. The cap was at 32 because of the limited amount of tables available which would cause some delays however after a brief discussion it did not make sense to turn down raising more money. 

The entry fee was 60$ with $10 going as donation to the tournament. Tommy Fagan (82) long time player at Rack-M-Up Billiards once hearing about the charity event asked himself what he could do to help. On his own accord he went around his community and asked businesses and friends to donate what they could and between cash and gift certificates Fagan raised an extra $250. This combined with a 50/50 draw and some other personal donations brought the total up to $1100 raised for the charity. 

Being that that this was a two day tournament the idea was to play down to the final 6 and bring them back Sunday. Throughout day 1 there was many surprises as many of the favourites to win the event did not make it out of the day. Players like Justin Miller, Do Gauthier, Kirk Pawnis Marc Ducharme, Charley Sypes and Mike Mitchell all suffered early exists. 

This was a double elimination meaning you if lost two matches you were out. On Sunday the losers side match ups began at 11:00 am With Jay Cuggy beating Markus Noé and Andy Menke getting by Paul Daoust. Former owner of Rack-M-Up Billiards Clayton Disotell made a charge through the winners side bracket and went all the way to the winners side final. There he met up with a strong AAA player from Gatineau Jean Vallaincourt. Disotell continued his charge and won a close match securing his spot in the grand final. 

On the losers side of the bracket Cuggy edged out a very game Menke in a close match with Menke being eliminated in 4th place. Vallaincourt made quick work of Cuggy in the losers 9-3 giving him another shot at Disotell. However between Disotell good shooting and a few moments of good fortune he was not to be denied and walked away with the final to win one of the biggest local tournaments in some time. 

Special thank you goes to:

Mark Baker 50.00 gift card's from the Squire Shoppe

Sara Proulx Gift basket from Salon on Second

Jay Cuggy 20.00$

Mike Joannette 5.00

Bill and Tom Fagan 100.00

Connie Aube 20.00

Bob Gauthier 20.00

Kelly Geneau 10.00

Denis Lalonde, Cornwall Automotive service 25.00

Jack and Jean Lawson 30.00

M&J Rochon 20.00

Nelson Ayotte 20.00

Clayton Disotell 100.00 

Doug Disotell and Amanda Collins 80.00

Henry Barkwell 20.00

Pat Piquette 10.00

Maureen Fagan 20.00

Payouts:                             Calcutta

1. Clayton Disotell $600       $575

2. Jean Vaillancourt $360     $425

3. Jay Cuggy         $260       $300

4. Andy Menke    $180         $200

5/6. Paul Daoust/$120 $150

       Markus Noé $120 $150

7.Charley Sypes/Mike Mitchell $75  

   

 

NAPT: Menard Battles Back to Double Dip Williams in Sacramento

Menard & Williams 

By: Farla Samanovitch

Hard Times billiards in Sacramento California hosted an amazing 9 ball tournament with 54 women. They battled it out for $10,400 in prize fund and invites to all NAPT ( North American Pool Tour) division 1 pro events for next year.

7 Quebecois made the trip to play. It started with a round robin format from which 32 would emerge and play a double elimination main event. Of the 7, Veronique Menard, Venus Belanger & Farla Salmanovitch made it out of their brackets to the last 32 with Veronique going undefeated in her bracket.

Menard made it all the way to the hot seat match only to be defeated in a hill hill thriller versus Susan Williams.  Unfortunately the match was lost because Menard mistakenly touched the cue ball with her cue while stroking to shot on the 8 ball at 6-6 for the match. She then beat Liz Lovely in the B-side final to get another chance at Williams.

In the final Veronique would have to double dip her to claim the title and she did so in fine fashion 7-4 both sets. The venue was one of the best pool room set ups I have ever seen with a separate tournament room filled with Brunswick gold crowns that were well maintained and a wall of comfortable bleachers for the spectators. This event was extremely well run by the NAPT organization and look forward to the next one.

Top 3 Payouts:

1st Veronique Menard $1,500

2. Susan Williams $1,200

3. Liz Lovely $900

Pawis Comes Back From One Loss Side to Win Rack-M-Up Non Handicapped Event.

Pawis eyeing up the game winning shot. 

By: Markus Noé

Sunday February 19th Rack-M-Up Billiards held its first non-handicap tournament in sometime. Most tournaments as of late have been handicapped. In this format the stronger players have to give "weight"by spotting a game or more at times in a race to a predetermined amount of games. This encourages players of all levels to participate as not always the favourites win.

However with these types of tournaments gaining in popularity, it leaves a gap for the highly competitive players who crave straight up races and a chance to prove themselves. In light of this Doug Disotell owner of Rack-M-Up Billiards and a competitive player himself decided to host this type of event.

The format was a $40 entry races to 7 games on the winners and losers side of the bracket. The field was open to 32 players and 24 were able to show up. Which is phenomenal on less than a weeks notice and a testament to the amount of competitive players in the area. Going into this tournament the top favourites included Jody Roy, Justin Miller, Jacques Sauve and Kirk Pawis.

Early on in the tournament there was not much to report in upsets as 3 of the top 4  mentioned above cruised to the final 4 of the winners side. In the winners side final Miller and Pawis battled to be the first to book their spot in the final. Miller was able to get the job done and had time to wait to see he would face of against in the final.

Pawis who is known for his loser side charges beat Menke in the losers side final. With this momentum he earned his revenge in the final over Miller to win the tournament.

Payouts:

1st Kirk Pawis $275

2nd Justin Miller $190

3rd Andy Menke $125

4th Jody Roy $80

5th/6th Joe Hearn Mike Mitchell $50 


Upcoming Event! 

When: March 18th and 19th if Necessary

What: AAA and Under HANDICAPPED Charity Event. The Charity of choice is "EPILEPSY ONTARIO." 

Payson Boucher who suffers from epilepsy is the niece of Doug Disotell Owner of Rack-M-Up Billiards. Because he has seen and heard of her daily struggles he has decided to hold a charity event to help raise money for an important cause. 

Where: Rack-M-Up Billiards 

More details will be made available shortly. There will be a Facebook event made so please make sure to "like" this page https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=rack-m-up%20billiards so keep up with all the details. You can also call and speak to Doug Disotell at 1-613-933-9362

Mallet Wins Rack-M-Up "6" and Under 9 ball Tournament

Winner Eric Mallet

By: Markus Noé


Saturday January 28th Rack-M-Up Billiards in Cornwall, Ontario hosted their first 6 and under $30 entry tournament. For those not familiar with the number handicap this is the beginner group with 4 being the lowest rank. Each player receives a ranking 4, 5 or 6 and with players racing to their ranking. So a 4 would need to win four games in each round to continue. If a 6 plays a 4, the lower rank player can win the round 4-5

The idea behind this is to give beginners and players who do not get to practice as much a chance to win a tournament without the "top dogs" being involved. Favourites going into this tournament were Kevin Tebo and Eric Mallet both ranked 6. 15 players came to participate with the tournament favourites being Joe Herne, Eric Mallet and Kevin Tebo all ranked as a 6.

Kevin Tebo 

In a shocking result Herne made an early exit losing two straight to Toby Back and Chase Sunday, which opened up the brackets. On the winners side the two other favourites cruised to the winners side final. Tebo ended up losing to Mallet in the hotseat match. In the losers side final Tebo met up with Matt Cook and edged him out to book a rematch in the grand finale against Mallet. In this match Mallet sealed his first tournament win in a few years 6-3.

Thank you to Doug Disotell and Amanada Collins for hosting this tournament. For more information about these tournaments contact Doug by phone 1-613-933-9362.

The dates have not yet been finalized but our local top player from Rack-M-Up Billiards professional Jared Amyot will be playing Oscar Dominguez in a challenge match the first week of March.

Dominguez is a top 5 American player and currently ranked 126th in the world. He will be travelling through Quebec to play all the best players, some matches will be for as much as $5,000. It is in talks for him to come to Cornwall to challenge our best player a race to 21 for an undetermined amount. It will be streamed and everyone who lives close by is welcome to come and watch top level 9 ball pool in person. The details will be finalized soon please refer to the Rack-M-Up Facebook page for confirmation.


Payouts:

Eric Mallet $165 

Kevin Tebo $110

Matt Cook $70

Chase Sunday $30

Falcon Tour Stop #9: Hewitt Edges out Daigle to Win in Nations Capital

Martin Dagile, Alain "The Director" Parent, Danny Hewitt. 

By: Markus Noé

This past weekend February 4th and 5th Tailgators in Ottawa, Ontario played host to the Falcon Cues Pro Tour. As many people know, tour founders Danny Hewitt and Alain Parent recognized the need for a Professional tour and in the fall of 2015 with the help of Falcon Cues they begun the Falcon Cues Quebec Tour.

39 players came to participate in the first tour stop in Ontario. Most of the top local talent such as Steve Bourrada and Roger Miller who do not travel much made a stand to defend home turf. Considering the field was stacked with Canadian and Quebec legends such as Danny Hewitt, Alain Martel, Andre Goyette, Francis Crevier and Martin Daigle to name a few, the hometown boys held their own.

Sébastien Laramée

Throughout day one most of the top contenders cruised through the first few matches. In a bit of a surprise Luc Salvas did not make it to the second day. Salvas was sent to the losers side by Martin Daigle in the third round 9-6. Sébastien Laramée an up and coming semi-pro from Québec City, who lost his first match to Pierre Normand of Gatineau and survived a 9-8 thriller from Karim Attia was next up for Salvas. Laramée was able to edge out another 9-8 win eliminating one of the tournament favourites. Laramée played Jean Theriault from Maxville, Ontario who has been hot as of late, winning a Semi-Pro in Laval the previous week. I was personally watching this match around 9:00 p.m. and it was noticeable that both players were fatigued and making mistakes. It was Theriault who was able to find his game first and eliminated Laramée 9-6.

Jean Theriault 

Theriault had to wait a while for his next opponent as Bourrada and Normand, top local players who are not known for their blistering pace, hammered out a double hill match. This match took a reported 2hr 45min, and was won by Bourrada who went on to win 9-7, qualifying him for day 2 which would only bring back 6 players. Before getting into day two it should be noted that one A class player Marie France-Blanchette was tied for the highest finish of the amateur caliber player finishing tied for 13-16 with Mike Young. Blanchette followed up this performance with a second place finish in the second chance tournament. 

Alain Martel 

 Coming back for Sunday were top Ottawa players Bourrada and Miller joined by Martel, Daigle, Hewitt and Crevier. The day kicked off with some drama on the losers side. Daigle matched up against Bourrada and established a healthy 7-0 lead. To the amazement of the local fans Bourrada finally won one rack which turned into two racks before you know it the scoreline was 8-8. Hat's off to Daigle who managed the last rack with grace under pressure running out a tough rack fighting his opponents momentum.  In the other losers side match Martel dispatched Roger Miller 9-4. Both Ottawa hopefuls did well finishing tied for the 5th/6th position. 

Francis Crevier 

Daigle continued on his winning ways eliminating Martel 9-6 setting up the much anticipated rematch against Crevier. It is well known throughout the circuit there is a rivalry between these two players, as with any good rivalry spectators took special notice to this match. It was Crevier who knocked Daigle to the losers side with ease 9-2 and also beat him in the final of the Pro tournament they played the previous weekend. This match went a different way as Daigle was able to avenge his previous loss booking his spot in the final 9-3.

Martin Daigle

Hewitt once again is the man to beat if you want to take top spot. I believe his winning ratio on this circuit is near 70% as he has been almost unbeatable on the Falcon Tour for 2 years. This was a tightly contested match at 9-9 race to 11, in the end Hewitt pulled away to get the 11-9 win. 

The Falcon Tour would like to thank Curtis Houlden and Morgan Bristow as well the entire Tailgators staff for being welcoming and make this stop a success. The next Falcon Tour Stop will be at Dooly's Neufchatel February 25-26. Make sure to visit http://www.falconcuesquebectour.com/ for all tournament information.  Remember to go to www.cuesportnation.com to get all your Falcon Tour Results! 

Payouts:

1-Danny Hewitt 1000$

2-Martin Daigle 755$

3-Francis Crevier 580$

4-Alain Martel 420$

5-6 Steve Bourrada et Roger Miller 280$

7-8 Jean Thériault et Jean Vaillancourt 170$

9-12 Sébastien Laramée, Pierre Normand, Marc Godin et Jeff Blais 75$

Second Chance 

1-Glen Facun 200$

2-Marie-France Blanchette 150$

3-Kenny Donald 100$

4-David Boivin 50$