Year in Review: Academie De Billard Sylvain Grenier

2015 has been a year with plenty of novelties for billiards in Québec which among these, two new circuits had emerged. Additionally to the already existing circuits from the Fédération Québécoise des Sports de Billard (FQSB), we witnessed the birth of a Junior circuit from the ADBQ and also a Professional circuit, the Falcon Cues Québec Tour. Still, the novelty which everyone is talking about this year is, of course, the Académie de Billard Sylvain Grenier (ABSG).

Sylvain Grenier started playing pool at 10 years old with his brother and friends and became a passionate of the sport. He quickly became the best in his circle and at 15, his brother brought him to Mauricie's pool hall. He then started to practice with people more experienced with whom he learned a lot. Both his dedication and his determination brought him results towards the game, indeed, he dominated each and every classes he went through throughout the years. Within less than four years, he ultimately reached the Pro status. He participated in many majors events, among these, he won the World Speed Pool in 2000 and, in 2001, he played in the prestigious US Open event and in the Molson Cup, which he finished 2nd behind the legendary Alain "The Dancing Bear" Martel.

With the reality of life, he chose to put away billiards for more than 12 years in order to take care of his family by starting a brilliant career in motoring.

In november 2014, he made a flawless comeback in tournaments and he seemed to be at the exact same level when he left the game 12 years back then. He attended and cashed in major events such as the Turning Stone Classic (this event gathered the best players around the world) and the Eastern USA Championship, which he finished 3rd. In 2015, he earned himself two 2nd places in 9-ball and 10-ball at the Québec Provincial Championships and won the Falcon Cues Québec Tour stop in Sept-Îles.

His love for the sport does not only show in competition, he also want to teach it. In 2015, he fulfills his dream by opening the first and yet only Québec's billiards academy in Trois-Rivières. Sylvain Grenier can now share his knowledge and his great experience towards the game for amateurs and lovers of the sport. The academy, with 6 tables in it, gives to the people many features. People may take lessons and classes as well in individual, in groups or with friends. Age does not matter, you can be a junior, an adult or a senior. Players can also practice by themselves with non-supervised training.

The academy also gives people the opportunity to measure your skills by competing with other players during tournaments and leagues, especially for juniors
and for different levels. Last Thursday, I (Luc Paquette) went to the academy to play a "Life Tournament". Anyone from any age can play in it. The youngest competitor was a girl, she was about 7. How joyful was it to watch those little youngsters playing pool and walking around the table with a small bench to step on to be able to be tall enough to reach the table! I enjoyed to see how the young ones appreciated to receive advice from the older ones. The most impressive thing was how the youngsters were taught to behave themselves and have sportsmanship during competitions. Everyone remained silent and stood still while their opponent was shooting and even when someone has lost, everybody shook hands with his opponent to congratulate the winner and they smiled at each other, the main reason to play pool is the fun everyone gets out of it, especially when you are a kid.

Billiards can be a great way for children and teens to either discover a passion, to develop logical and mathematical thinking, to fix goals, to surpass themselves
and to strenghten their perseverance.

Billiards is getting is nobility back and is turning back to a sport which can be practiced in family, from 7 to 77 years old, thanks to the academy. The reasons why anyone from any age can go over there are that there are no gambling machines and no alcohols. In order to have your acces granted, membership is required because the academy is not a pool hall, it is a training center.

The academy is a new hope for billiards in Québec and prospective champions may emerge from it. This center may give back and increase both exposure and credibility for the sport which were lacking for the past years.

With the holidays coming, it would be a great opportunity for you to make your relatives and friends discover this great sport which is described as "Anticipation is an art itself in billiards! It is not a game but a complete and artistic sport which requires good physical conditions, a logical reasoning of a chess player and the accurate touch of a pianist."

For further information on the Académie de Billard Sylvain Grenier, please visit: www.academiedebillard.com

Original text by: Luc Paquette, Josiane Larocque and Pascal Guimond

Translated by: Dany Nguyen

Thanks to Guy Simard from billardquebec.com for the photo

Falcon Tour: Grenier downs Hewitt in Sept-Iles

By: Luc Paquette & Tino Barbieri

This past weekend in Sept-îles Falcon Tour stop #5 took place. 29 players participated, including 21 amateurs, since only 4 professionals have dared to venture the long road which separated them from the event and 4 Semi Pros, 3 of which were from the region of Sept - îles, responded to the challenge. Only Danny Hewitt, Alain Parent, Sylvain Grenier and Francis Crevier, as well as the semi-professional Eric Hamel, were the representatives outside the region for this event. The opening draw gave the top guns a run for their money while Alain Parent the only pro in the top half of the draw won his matches with ease. Sylvain Grenier and Junior Hervieux, a former provincial champion, clashed in the first round. Francis Crevier and the winner of the last three stops, Danny Hewitt, clashed in the second round. At the end the cream always rises to the top and the 4 professional players finished in the top four positions. Now let’s take a look at how it all went down for the “Fab Four’s”.

The first round gave us some very good matches. Danny Hewitt vs Claude Caron, a AAA player and former AA Provincial Champion. Hewitt won the match by a score of 9-3 and awaited the winner of the match between Francis Crevier and Eddie-Eric Fontaine. Crevier won 9-4. Sylvain Grenier beat Junior Hervieux 9-4 then faced off against Eric Fontaine (not to be confused with Eddie), who had received a bye in the first round. Alain Parent, who seemed to be favoured at the top of the draw, cruised by his opponents by a score of 9-2 against Edgar Mercier. Parent’s domination continued with a white wash (9-0) against John Guanish, and two 9-4s against Guy Leblanc and Jean-François Lapierre which got him a spot in the Hot Seat Match. The long-awaited second round match was undoubtedly between, the winner of the first stop Francis Crevier and the winner of the last three, Danny Hewitt. Hewitt got this one with a 9-4 victory and a third round match, waiting for the winner of the Grenier vs Fontaine match-up. Grenier took this one by a score of 9-6 which sent him for battle against Hewitt in the third round. Grenier who came 2nd in Jonquière (FT Stop #2) vs Hewitt, failed to defeat Hewitt in the last 3 consecutive times they matched up this season, this time by the score of 9-4. Hewitt continued his momentum with a 9-1 victory over Nelson Santerre to reach the A side finals against Alain Parent.

Crevier and Grenier had not said their last word and made their trek on the B side. Crevier put it into overdrive and defeated Joe Shacanadish 9-1, Denis Bouchard 9-3, Guy Leblanc 9-1, Yvon Hervieux 9-0 and Nelson Santerre 9 - 5, to finally meet his match and played for the 4th spot vs Sylvain Grenier, who on his end was all business with wins over Dave Simon 9-2, Junior Hervieux 9-5 and Jean-François Lapierre 9-3. In the match vs Crevier , Grenier appeared to be heading for the finish line with a lead of 8-4, but Francis Crevier methodically marched back by winning 4 consecutive games to make it a “Hill-Hill” battle. Crevier who had a hard time making balls off the break, finally gets one in the decisive game, but a positional error on the 2 allowed Grenier back to the table. Grenier was facing a difficult shot on the 2, he went all offense missed it and pulled a rabbit out of his cue by placing the cue ball behind the 5. Crevier was not able to get out of this mess and Grenier thanked the pool gods for his victory to reach the B side finals. Now playing for 3rd against Parent who got steamrolled by Hewit 9-3. Grenier, who was in fine form this Sunday, sent Parent to the showers with a 9-4 win to reach “LA GRANDE FINALE” against Hewitt. Will this match put an end to a sequence of three consecutive defeats against Hewitt in tournament? Would he end Hewitt’s sequence of 3 consecutive wins on the tour?

With a race to 11, the score was 2-2 in which Grenier made the first move in winning 3 straight to take the lead 5-2. While everything seemed to indicate that Hewitt would win the next game, he missed an easy 7 in which Grenier took full advantage of this opportunity to take a 4 game lead. A combo on the 9 in the following game gave him a 7-2 lead. Hewitt was not done and turned it around to take 3 straight. At 7-5 a bad kiss on a ball caused a scratch for Hewitt and in return Grenier ran the table and took a 3 game lead. A 4-9 combo by Grenier took him to 9-5. Grenier, who seemed to be playing with confidence was two games away from winning his first stop of the season. At the 15th game, Hewitt played a safety that forced Grenier to play by the rails. He managed to kick the 4 in by one rail which lead him to run the table and now on the hill. Hewitt had his back against the wall at had to win the next 6 games to keep his winning streak alive. He came up short and Grenier; who is the founder of the Academie de Billard Sylvain Grenier, won his first Quebec Falcon Tour stop of the season by a score of 11-6.

In the second chance tournament, 16 players (a tour record) participated in the event and it's Dave Simon who defeated Éric Fontaine. The winner of the Falcon Cue valued at $1,000 was Gaston Ouellet, while Mario Thibault won the $ 50 gift certificate curtesy of The Winning Stroke. The Falcon Tour wishes to thank Isabelle, Annick and the entire staff at the Tuxedo Bar, as well as all the players and spectators who participated in the event. The next Rendez-Vous will be January 16-17, 2016 for the Falcon Tour Levis Nile Guay Memorial in which there will be 2000$ added. The Falcon Tour team wishes you a Happy Holiday Season. For more information about the Falcon Tour, please visit our website at www.Falconcuesquebectour.com. For information on the Academy of Billiards Sylvain Grenier, please go to www.academiedebillard.com.

Payouts

1st Sylvain Grenier $1,000
2nd   Danny Hewitt $700
3rd  Alain Parent $475
4th Francis Crevier $300
5-6th  Jean-francois Lapierre $160
Nelson Santerre $160
7-8th Yvon Hervieux $100
Junior Hervieux $100

2nd chance tournament
1st Dave Simon $300
2nd  Eric Fontaine $200
3rd  Eddie-Éric Fontaine $140
4th  Gilles Giasson 90$
5-6th Alain Michaud $45
Magloire McKenzie $45

ADBQ Presents First Québec Junior Championship

Photo provided by Martin Laverdure and Guy Simard of Billard Québec http://www.billardquebec.com/junior2015.html

By: Tino Barbieri

This past weekend was a busy one for pool in Quebec. The F.Q.S.B held their regular season tournament by hosting six different tournaments ranging from C to AAA skill levels. There was a Scotch Doubles tournament that my buddy Markus Noé from Cue Sport Nation attended. The 5th stop of the Falcon Tour held at the Toxedo Pool Hall in Sept-Iles (10hrs North East from Montreal) which was won by Sylvain Grenier beating Danny Hewit 11-6. However the most important of them all was the Provincial Juniors Championship which was held at La Bande a Coin in St Lambert Quebec. This is one of the few places that players under the age of18 can walk in and play because the hall does not have any Lottery Machines.

There were six Players in the 13-under and 18 in the 14 over categories who participated. The main force behind this championship is one of the best French-Canadian players of all time Alain Martel. He is the founder of the ADBQ (The Quebec Association Development for Billards). With the help of other supporters from across the province they encouraged people into sponsoring a player for a cost of $52.

This money would allow the players to enter 12 tournaments with a chance to qualify for the Championship. This weekend was a special one for the kids because everyone who participant received a $50 gift certificate from Canada Billiards and Bowling. The winners from each category (13-under and 14-17) would each receive a cue. But the most important was the fact that the winner of the 14-17 would receive paid entry and all expenses paid to play the Canadian Juniors in June 2016 in New Brunswick. Honors went to Tommy Cayer in the 14-17. This kid can play like a strong AA player. I was there this past weekend and saw him run 2 beautiful racks. Other players that were fun to watch was Maxime Rouleau. He plays in the 13 and under, Alain made the decision during the season to put him in 14-17 category because he was simply too good and crushing everyone with a perfect record. He ended up finishing 3rd. In the 13-U category Jordan Cayer (Tommy’s brother) won the event by beating Olivier Tougas.

What I enjoyed the most about this event was the faces on all the junior participants. It was priceless because none of them ever experienced playing this sport with a chance to go to the World Juniors Championship. There was one kid that finished second in the 13-U that was so upset he did not want to have his picture taken. His mom tried to talk to him as well as the owner of the room and myself. Finally a funny thing happened. After talking to him and explaining that losing is part of becoming a champion in life not only sports, the owner points to Alain Robidoux who was sitting about 5 feet away from us and tells the kid “do you know who that guy is sitting there?” the kid replies with a sad face “ NO”. The owner replies “ that’s Alain Robidoux!! He was once top 8 in the world in Snooker and is the best Snooker player in Canada”. This kids response was priceless “I Don’t Care”…need I say more. Not to knock Robidoux but just goes to show the competitive nature of this particular individual which leaves me optimistic for the future of our sport. For more pictures and to see the stream from this weekend please visit http://www.billardquebec.com/junior2015.html

Photo provided by Martin Laverdure and Guy Simard  Billard Québec http://www.billardquebec.com/junior2015.html

Alain Martel would like to thank the following that helped him in the 2015 Junior Development Program.

Reginal Directors :
André Pelletier
Daniel Gagné
Sylvain Grenier
Nicolas Van de Velde
The Sponsors :
Chantal Marceau ( Graphic Designer)
Eric Levesque  (Styllaweb)
Martin Deschamps  (Rezotek)
Eric Gaudreault (President of FQSB)
Veronique Menard
Le Bar-billard Sel & poivre
Elvis Joubert  (Dooly's  St-Hyacinthe)
Marco Sanschagrin (Dooly's Neuchâtel)
Karine et Nicolas du Salon de billard de Loretteville
Mario Paradis (Chalk Cube)
François Frappier (Wood Woorker) gave away 6 Small Beautiful wooden Bird Houses
Michel Lemyre (Canada Billard & Bowling)
Everyone that accompanied me in the Youth Centers and Schools :
Nicolas van de Velde
Dany Nguyen
Tino Barbieri
André Pelletier
Daniel Gagné
Maxime Deblois
Jonathan Hébert
Farla Salmanovitch

Thank-you to Guy Simard and Tino Barbieri from billardquebec.com  for the live coverage and his photographer Martin Laverdure.

Falcon Tour Stop #3: Hewitt Makes Impressive Comeback to Defeat Morra in Final.

Danny Hewitt, Luc Paquette and Alain Parent photo by Markus Noé.

By: Markus Noé

This past weekend Terminus Billiards & Bar located in Gatineau, Quebec hosted the third stop of the newly formed Falcon Cues Québec Pro Tour. This tour has been received with open arms by not only Québec players but from the entire Canadian pool community as this is currently the only professional tour in the country.

The first two stops have been played in Rimouski and Jonquiere, Québec averaging 32 players.  Last weekend saw 47 players show up to participate. I credit this increase in the field size due to several factors. Gatineau borders Ottawa, Ontario and is only a few hours away from Montreal, Québec while the last two tournaments have been several hours away from Montreal which is home to hundreds of players. Also the announcement that the 8th ranked player in the world, John Morra along with his father and solid professional Mario Morra added some extra buzz.

Day 1 featured a few shocking results and a couple big matches early on. Winner of the last stop Danny Hewitt paired up with Luc "The Machine Gun" Salvas in the first round. Salvas a multiple World Speed Pool Champion, is always a crowd favorite as his speed and obvious love of the game makes him very entertaining. However he was in tough against the current #1 player in Québec Hewitt and lost his first match 9-6. Despite this early loss Salvas went on to win 7 matches before losing to Alain Martel in the 4th place match. Below is a video of Martel making the last few balls to beat Salvas to give people an idea of the atmosphere.

The biggest upset of the day was Sylvain Grenier who has had a solid year in his return to pool, failing to make it to Sunday. He suffered a 9-6 loss to Dany Nguyen a young professional from Montreal. On the losers side he won one match before being eliminated by strong local semi-pro Sébastien Cousineau 9-5. Another upset of note is Karl Petrin a newly ranked "A" player from Montreal beating Lelsie Cookie a "AAA" 9-8.

Overall as in most cases in talent packed tournaments such as this the creme floated to the top. Going into Day 2 the final eight were John Morra vs Andre Goyette, Danny Hewitt vs Yannick Bedard, Alain Martel vs Sébastien Cousineau, Luc Salvas vs Patrick De Repentigny. A feel good story going into the final was the success a few local players had been having. There was of course Cousineau who was mentioned earlier. However not to be undone is Canadian legend Andre Goyette at 75yrs who old fought right till the final 4 winners side. House pro at Terminus Repentigny also had a great deal of success only losing to Goyette and Salvas finishing tied for 8th with Cousineau.

The pool hall really became electric when there were 4 remaining. On one table there was Martel vs Salvas while Morra and Hewitt did battle on the next table. Morra defeated Hewitt 9-7 and waited in the hot-seat while Martel and Hewitt went to war to decided who would get the last shot at the tournament favorite. Martel looked a bit fatigued and perhaps was distracted by a waitress who came to bring me a coffee at aninappropriate time in the match and appeared to inadvertently "Shark" him out of a key shot. In the end Hewitt won easily 9-4 and earned a rematch.

The final began with a flurry from Morra who was breaking well and mounted a 6-1 lead in this extended race to 11. A dry break for Morra and accidentally hooking himself on a wide open was all Hewitt needed to mount a comeback, and in a blink it was 6-6. Hewitt even went on to take the lead 8-6 before Morra had a chance. Hewitt finally missed a shot and even got a good roll to not leave it easy. However Morra a former Derby City 9 Ball Banks Champion, stepped up and fired a full table cross corner on the 5 ball and ran out to get within a game. In the video below I captured the bank shot.

In the end Hewitt was just playing too well and Morra a was just a bit unlucky as Hewitt went on to win 11-7.  This was a phenomenal tournament all around and perhaps the most entertaining one I have seen in Canada outside the Archer Cup in Thetford Mines, Québec. Once again it was proven that Québec is the current "Mecca" for pool in Canada as it is one of the best places for the Pro's to come to be respected and watched. The local crowd was absolutely thrilled with the talent that was on display in their pool hall. I would also like to commend the amateur level players who came out to participate, because in reality there were only 12 ranked Professionals. The rest were high level Semi-Pro's and Amateurs. This to me is very important as currently in Toronto we see professional's are being left out of many tournaments, while in Québec they use staggered entry fee's and not handicaps to encourage lesser players to improve alongside some of the best in the country. Below is the video of Hewitt putting on the finishing touches of his big win.

I would like to thank the Falcon team which consists of Danny Hewitt, Alain Parent and David Deschenes as well as Patrick De Repentigny and the entire Terminus staff. Combined they not only gave me everything I needed to cover this event but embraced me with open arms understanding the importance of promoting the Tour and the Sport of Pool. There will be a quick turn around for the Falcon Tour as the next stop is this weekend November 21-22 in Trois-Riviere, Québec. We will update the tournament early next week as my partner Erik Hjorleifson and myself will be playing in the Eastern Canada Barbox Championships at Tailgators in Ottawa, Ontario. I invite everyone to come and join the Nation on our Facebook page, you can also catch up with all the other videos I took at this event.

Main Tournament Results.

1. Danny Hewitt $1,100 + $1160 Calcutta

2.John Morra $800 +$790 Calcutta

3. Alain Martel $595+$530 Calcutta

4. Luc Salval $450+$260 Calcutta

5-6. Yanick Bedard $325,André Goyette $325

7-8. Sébastien Cousineau $200,Patrick De Repentigny $200

9-12. Mario Morra $110,Eric Marcoux-Levesque $110,Alain Parent $110,Maxime Villeneuve $110

Second Chance Tournament: No Pro's or Semi-Pro's. 

1. Pierre Paul $300

2. position Jean Vaillancourt $200

3. position Mike Young $150

4. position Marc Plamondon $110

Falcon Pro Tour: John and Mario Morra to Make First Appearance in Gatineau

By: Markus Noé

The first professional pool tour in Canada in nearly a decade will be making a stop at Terminus pool hall in Gatineau,Quebec. This will be the third tournament of 10 scheduled stops plus a season ending Grand Final which will be held at Dooly's in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec. The two previous stops have been held in Rimouski and Jonquière Québec, both are far from Montreal and the Ontario border. That being said they are averaging over 30 players each tournament, this weekend I predict they will have closer to 50 players.

Most of the provinces elite players such as Alain Martel, Francis Crevier, Sylvain Grenier and Danny Hewitt have already made appearances. Hewitt and Crevier have been dominating the circuit thus far winning the first two stops. I happened to be playing a tournament at Terminus this past weekend and the room was abuzz with the recent announcement that John Morra and his father Mario Morra will be playing this weekend. 

John Morra phot courtesy of Alison Chang

In Canada the Morra's are like "the first family" of pool as Father, Mother and Son have all reached professional status and are champions. John Morra is not only the #1 player in Canada but he has had an incredible year outside the country. To start the 2015 season he finished second place at the Turning Stone Classic in January losing to Jayson Shaw in the Final. He followed that up with another runner up finish at the China Open losing a close set to Albin Ouschan. Morra has had several other high profiled finishes which include being tied for 5th place at the World 9 Ball Championships in Qatar this past September. Currently Morra is ranked 8th in the world according to the W.P.B.A (World Pool-Billiard Association). 

These tournaments guarantee at least $2000 added at each event. The tour sponsor Falcon Cues donates a high end cue for each tournament that is raffled off with all the proceeds being added to the tournament prize fund. There are staggered entry fees of $120, $80 and $60 depending on your skill level and there are no handicaps. For those amateurs that don't make it to Sunday there is a second chance tournament with $500 added and the entry fee is only $20. This should be a fantastic weekend for anyone who enjoys watching world class pool. Terminus is a great location with a very good kitchen and lots of room for spectators. I look forward to seeing everyone there! For more information please visit http://www.falconcuesquebectour.com/

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G.T.A Snooker Tour: Ziegler Nabs $4000 First Prize

Dan Bisonette & Floyd Ziegler 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

Last weekend October 24-25 at the Corner Bank in Scarborough, Ontario the first installment of the 2015-16 G.T.A Snooker Tour was held. This was the opening event to the highest paying snooker tour in Canada since the North Americas snooker tour in the mid 90's. 46 players turned out for the 6 red handicap event which had handicaps ranging from -4 to +28. For those not familiar with this style of handicap tournament, players spot the difference between handicaps for example if a +4 plays a +12 the higher handicap would receive an 8 point spot. The first 2 rounds were a best of 5, the quarter finals were a best of 7 and the finals a best of 9. Entry for the event was $200 and the Corner Bank added $1000 to the event creating a healthy $10 000 total prize.

Most of Ontario's best players were on hand including snooker legends Floyd Ziegler, Chris Wood and Mario Morra along with current Canadian snooker champion John White, Alan Whitfield and Jason Williams. The handicap committee had a bit of a tall order on their hands assigning all of the handicaps as there was only limited data to determine everyones handicap but in my opinion at least 90 percent of the handicaps were issued correctly and those that were questionable were very close.

The first round saw one major upset between John White and  Gabriel Brunning a young player originally from Brazil now living in Missisauga, Brunning played an excellent set trailing in 2 games going into the colours he gained the advantage and ran the colours in both those games and came out with a surprising 3-0 victory. Brunning was a 10 handicap and the inevitable murmuring about a player with a handicap that was to high was heard amongst the crowd however in the next round he showed his overall level falling to Shane Gummerson a 20 handicap by a 3-1 score line.

Although it was a random draw the low handicaps ended up being divided pretty evenly throughout the field. Floyd Ziegler started his run to the final including a win over snooker veteran Terry Davidson. Another tournament favourite Jason Williams had wins over Ray Jansen, Steve Fuldi, myself and Shane Gummerson on his way to a semi-final match up with Ziegler in the top half of the draw.

On the bottom half 2014 Canadian snooker champion Al Whitfield was cruising along nicely all the way to the semi-finals and surprise of the tournament Dan Bisonette from Sudbury, Ontario was turning heads. First notice that he would be a force was his final 16 victory over Justin Kluznik right after Kluznik had just beat Rob Hall 3-0 in the previous round. It appeared that there was a small oversight in assigning Bisonette's handicap and in all fairness he was really an unknown commodity in the field being from out of town and by no means a regular competitor in any major snooker tournaments in the area.

The semi finals were Floyd Ziegler vs. Jason Williams and Dan Bisonette vs Al Whitfield. Ziegler advanced to the final by a 4-3 score line and Bisonette rolled over Al Whitfield 4-0. In the final match Ziegler showed his wealth of experience with a 5-2 victory and the title for the first ever event on the GTA snooker tour.

Special thanks to the Corner Bank and tournament director Jim Wych, we hope to see more "9-ball players" and players from out of town including Quebec getting involved in the future. The prize money is high enough that players can afford to travel to these events. The next event will be at Monte Carlo billiards in Mississauga,Ontario in January.


Payouts:

1st Floyd Ziegler           $4000

2nd Dan Bisonette       $2000

3rd/4th Al Whitfield    $1000

Jason Williams

5th/8th Ed Ling             $500

Shane Gummerson

Chris Wood

Rob Waddel


Player auction

1st          $3200

2nd         $1600

3rd/4th  $800

5th/8th  $400

"Shooters" Tournament News: De Carlos Triumphs in ‘3-6’ Event

From left to right Steve Menezes, Peter Chin and Norberto de Carlos

 Submitted article: 

Another of the innovative tournament formats was held this past weekend (October 17, 2015) at the Shooters Snooker and Sports Club. This was the first time for an event that restricted entries to those players with handicaps 3 through 6. Because this was scheduled to be a one day event the field was restricted to 38 players. Demand for these ‘one-off’ tournament formats continues to be strong and more events are scheduled to meet the needs and desires of all skill levels.  

Once the preliminary’ rounds had been completed on Saturday it was Stuart Mactaggart, Teen Yan, Steve Menezes, and Joe Theriault who were undefeated on the ‘A’ side. The one loss ‘B’ side of the draw had Marco Sevilla, Alan Ada, Norberto de Carlos, and David Moyer steadily working their way through the ‘B’ side hoping to avoid a 2nd loss which would eliminate them from the tournament. 

As play progressed into the evening it was Stuart Mactaggart and Steve Menezes who squared off in the ‘A’ side final with Menezes coming out on top in a close match. The result sent Menezes to the ‘hot seat’ and Mactaggart to the ‘B’ side. Over on the one loss side, the ‘B’ side semi-final saw de Carlos roll over fellow Pinoy Ada to claim a place in the ‘B’ side final for a match against current and two time Canadian Junior 9 Ball Champion Mactaggart. In one of the most exciting matches of the tournament de Carlos prevailed in a thriller against Mactaggart setting up a tournament final against Menezes. 

In the true double final de Carlos dispatched Menezes in both matches to claim the tournament win.   

Congratulations to Norberto de Carlos on his tournament win. This will be memorable for his successful march through the ‘B’ side. De Carlos lost his first match of the tournament and then proceeded to win 11 consecutive matches for the tournament title. Congratulations are also in order for Menezes on his strong play. This is another high finish for Menezes in the past several months.   

Many thanks to those who participated and apologies to anybody who wanted to play but was unable to as a result of the limited field.  

Future tournaments at Shooters include the long running and always popular ‘404’ series of events occurring this upcoming weekend. The ‘404’ events are open to all skill levels. Also on the near horizon is a 2nd iteration of the immensely popular ‘4-7’ Extravaganza on November 14, 2015. This is a restricted handicap tournament for those with handicaps from 4 to 7. This event was first held in June 2015 and drew a staggering 110 participants with prize money over $26,000 including both the prize monies and the Calcutta.   

As noted, the next Shooters event is the 2nd installment for the 2015/16 season of the ‘404’ series. Please check the Shooters Snookerclub Facebook page for dates and details for all upcoming tournaments.

Paul Potier Discusses the Pocket Billiards iPhone APP

By Erik Hjorleifson
 
The long anticipated Pocket Billiards Coach App developed by Paul Potier long time touring and teaching professional based out of Calgary, Alberta in association with developers based out of the Seattle area is now available worldwide for download on the Iphone operating system IOS.  Cue Sport Nation recently had the pleasure of speaking with Paul about what this new app has to offer.
 
Good afternoon Paul we have had discussions about this App for quite some time now, you must feel great to see all of your hard work ready to be unveiled to the pool world. 
 
Yes, we are very pleased to have reached a point in our development that we can now offer our insights into how each and every player can improve their game. As with every start up idea the first steps are always the most challenging and we are very excited to have a finished product that we are happy with. I have taught 1000's of students 1 on 1 and always wanted to find a way to reach people who I can't meet with face to face. I am happy that with today’s technology this is now a possibility through our Pocket Billiards Coach App.
 
There are endless sources of instructional material available to the public, what makes the Pocket Billiards Coach different? 
 
For this first App we have decided to take a greater focus on the mental side of the game. There is fundamental guidance included in the App as well but I have known for a long time that after an adequate fundamental base has been laid out the thing that keeps someone from playing consistently well, and at a constant level of improvement, is the mental game. With that in mind we have focused our efforts into a coaching based model. The Pocket Billiards Coach App is separated into 5 sections, Words of Wisdom, Pre-game, In-game, Practices/Drills, and More. The Words of Wisdom section is designed to help you plan your development by understanding where you are currently and how you can reach your goals. The scenarios found in Words of Wisdom, Pre-game and In-game are from situations that all of us experience when we play pool. The entire app is designed to help you avoid bad situations. It also gives insight on how to solve issues that you can’t avoid. The In-game section includes topics like what to do after you've missed an easy shot, how to deal with it mentally and how to prepare yourself for your next shot. The App is filled with these kinds of anecdotes, everything in the App is available in text form as well as in voice recorded form. There are also many videos to visually help explain concepts and a glossary to define the meaning of some of our sports terminology.
 
Sounds interesting, how can people order the App and what is the charge? 
 
Currently the App is only available on IOS operating systems, specifically iPhone and iPad. IPhone users can find us by going to the App Store and searching for The Pocket Billiards Coach. As we move forward we hope to make it available on all operating systems. The initial download is free and an upgraded purchase can be made for 2.99 USD which will give you unlimited lifetime access to all the content, including special features, in the App.
 
Will you be doing any promotional touring for the launch of the App? 
 
Yes, I am booked for the 10 ball event at the Chinook winds casino in Oregon from the 8th to the 12th of October and I will be staying on the Chinook wind for the BCAPL Northwest championships the following week. We will have a booth set up for the duration of the two events and we welcome all attendees to stop by and pay us a visit to learn more about what the App has to offer and to see more about the vision our new company ZeroInSoft LLC has planned in the near future.
 
Good stuff Paul and congratulations on the launch of the new App! 
 
Thank you! For those of you that will not be in the Northwest this coming week I can be contacted at my site http://paulpotier.com/ My team and I are all looking forward to helping many pool players reach their goals of personal excellence in pool.

Tailgators Announcement: Eastern Canadian "Bar Box" Championship

Press Release:

Tailgators located in Ottawa,Ontario is pleased to announce the 3rd annual Eastern Canadian Championships. This is a handicap Bar Box event with staggered entries.  For the first time this year there will be two separate divisions, listed as "A" and "B". In the A division players who's handicap range from 6-9 will play in a separate tournament against one another, while handicapped players from 3-5 will play only also play each other.

Another addition this year is the team events. This is something that has had a lot of success at this location as it host the annual Ottawa Bar Box Championships every January, which see's dozens of teams enter. Curtis Houlden is now excepting registrations. he can be contacted by telephone or email this information can be found in the poster above.

The team divisions are open to the first 16 teams to register and players who play in the team events are encouraged to play in the singles as well. If you know any Bar Box "legends" who want to take a shot at some of the best players in Eastern Canada please share this post with them! In the past this tournament has seen the likes of John Morra, Erik Hjorleifson Jeff Blais and many more great players. These tournaments usually fill up so don't get left out and register today!

Lalande Defeats Unknown Force at Recent Semi-Pro Event.

By: Markus Noé

Saturday October 10th Le Skratch Laval played host to the first Semi-Pro tournament of the season for the Quebec Federation.  42 players from various divisions took part in this tournament as it is staggered entry fees based on skill level. I have always been a fan of this type of "handicap" rather than games on the wire. Personally as an "A" player I have had success in handicap tournaments where stronger players have to give me games, and even though I have won it is not the same feeling nor does it provide me with the same experience if I were to accomplish this "even up." Therefore in terms of developing players I really do enjoy theses staggered entry tournaments.

That being said I did sleep in and was unable to actually play this event myself but I made the 1 hour 20 minute drive to watch some high level pool. Another local  who plays most of his pool in my hometown Jean Theriault from Maxville, Ontario which is just a short drive from Cornwall,was participating. In my neck of the woods he has been a well known talent for sometime however he has taken a leave of absence from competitive pool for nearly a decade and has been been back practicing with a purpose for nearly 6 months now.

Theriault's first match was against one of the strongest players in the field, Guillaume McNicoll. He  lost this first match 9-6, however he was not ready to go home just yet as he went on a mission on the losers side of the bracket. Theriault won several matches most notably against Pascal Guimond 7-6 and David Deschenes 7-5 before being eliminated by Richer Francoeur 7-4. This performance was good enough to earn him a 5th place finish.

The main story of this tournament was this "unknown" player Mustapha Trabelsi. Perhaps it is a bit inaccurate to say unknown as he was a former Montreal resident and known to a few players prior to this tournament. However for the past few years Trabelsi has been abroad for work and in his free time has been playing on the very high caliber Euro Tour. After looking at his record of the past few years on the Euro Tour it was clear that he could play as he had suffered close losses to Phil Bulford and Ralf Souquet and one very notable win against former World Champion Hudji SEE 9-8. That being said he was vouched for and was allowed to play in this tournament to the dismay of several players.

Mustapha Trabelsi photo taken from Mehdi Harraq Facebook Page

Trabelsi had some notable wins over some of the strongest players in the division en route to the final. He was able to get by Steve Roy, Richard Francoeur and Jonathan Hebert to book his spot in the final going undefeated through the winners side bracket. It was all up to Yan Lalande who revenged his earlier loss to Hebert in the loser side final to earn himself a shot at Trabelsi. Lalande who himself is a strong player handled his business in this match and came out with the 9-6 win to claim the first tournament of the season.

In conclusion I have to admit I was disappointed with the reaction from many of the top players in this division about allowing Trabelsi to play. At the end of the day the semi-pro is one of the most elite divisions around and by the time you are at this level you clearly have professional status on your mind. To be a professional you have to be able to handle anything at any moment, and to be able to beat the best if you yourself want to be the best. Many of these players themselves play at Turning Stone and on the Falcon tour and various other pro events. So the whining came as a bit of a shock to me. I would be more likely to understand if a stronger player in the lower divisions was attempting to "sandbag" but this really is not the amateur level anymore is it. At the end of the day it was a regular on the circuit who won the tournament and all is right in the world. However I did notice that Trabelsi was bumped up to professional status but I am not completely convinced this was earned, rather forced through by complaints which I find concerning.