Wednesday 22 November 2017

Gatineau: Nguyen Dominates Falcon Québec Pro Tour Stop at Terminus

Photo Courtesy of Guy Simard www.billardquebec.com

 By: Markus Noé

Terminus Bar-Billard in Gatineau, Québec hosted the most recent Falcon Québec Pro Tour this past weekend November  18-19. In the 3 year history of the tour, Terminus has always been one of their best results in terms of player participation. This season was no different as 49 players came to partake, some came as far from Montreal, New York State and the Greater Toronto Area.

Danny Hewitt current number one player in Québec and one of the most accomplished players in the country is a co-founders of the tour. The rules are similar to Mike Zuglan's Joss Tour as it is break from the box, which makes the break shot more unpredictable. The difference in the Falcon Tour compared to the Joss Tour is that every shot is call shot, you are permitted to rack your own balls and it is alternate break.

Despite the high participation the tournaments favourites remained virtually the same. As per usual Danny Hewitt was a clear favourite as I believe he has won nearly half of all the events over the 3 year existence of the tour. Then Alain Martel, Francis Crevier and Martin Daigle were all in the mix. However not to be forgotten is the up and coming young pro's in Québec who are beginning to make names for themselves, Dany Nguyen, Joey Cicero and Maxime Villneuve to name a few.

As a mid range amateur I have been a big supporter of this tour, which to my knowledge is the only Pro Tour in Canada. Whenever the tour stops are within reach I enjoy throwing my hat in the ring and testing my skills against some of the best players in the country. Quickly for me this was my best performance in a pro level field as I was able to cash in the 13-16th place. On route to doing so I had the luxury of playing two legends.

In my first round I matched up against Alain "The Dancing Bear" Martel, who over the years I have been doing Cue Sport Nation as become a friend. Before our match he must of noticed I was a little nervous as this was my first time playing him. In classic Martel humour he says to me after we shake hands, "this is the first time we play right? I have been waiting for this moment all my life." I could not help but laugh out loud. Martel went on to beat me 9-2, then on the losers side I was able to dispatch some good players before I ran into Luc "Machine Gun" Salvas who ended my run 9-3. With the staggered entry these tournaments are great learning experiences for players at my level and I highly recommend participating whenever possible.

In Martel's next match he paired up against a strong Semi-Pro from my home room of Rack-M-Up Billiards Jean Therriault. In what is considered a major upset, Therriault notched his first ever win against Martel in a thrilling 9-8 victory. The other day 1 upset was Andy Aupin a strong pro from Sudbury who just had a good tournament at the East Coast Challenge in Halifax the week before defeated Hewitt 9-7. Otherwise all the favourites made it through the winners side on day 1.

It should be noted that Dany Nguyen who already had one previous final appearance in Trois-Riviere this season was on fire. He won his first round 9-2, then in what on paper would seem to be a fantastic match of two of Québec's young pro's ended up being a white of Nguyen over Joey Cicero 9-0. On Saturday no one was able to get past 5 on the day, which shows just how dominate Nguyen was. In his last matche of the day against Jean Therriault he won with ease 9-2.

 Sunday the final 4 on the winners side were Nguyen vs Daigle and Crevier vs Aupin. Nguyen continued his torrid pace winning 9-2 and Crevier was able to edge out Aupin 9-8. On the losers side Hewitt began to find his form as he beat Pierre Normand 9-1, then Martin Daigle 9-1 and followed this up with a 9-3 win over John Leblanc. In the losers side match Crevier ended his run 9-6 setting up a winners side final rematch.

Francis Crevier and Dany Nguyen
Crevier made it close, however no one was going to stop Nguyen from winning this tournament as he went on to win 11-7 to capture his first Falcon Tour victory of his short professional career. Nguyen was clearly playing the best all weekend and deserved the win, Cue Sport Nation would like to congratulate him on this landmark moment.

I would like to thank Danny Hewitt for the sponsorship so I could cover this event. Also Luc Paquette long time director of the Falcon Tour despite having a significant personal health issue and a week outside of a surgery came and did a great job as always. Francis Farley was also vital for keeping the tournament running smoothly throughout the weekend and acted as a referee, both these guys did a great job this weekend. Finally I would like to thank Patrick De Repentigny and Daniel Samson and the entire Terminus Staff. Before this tournament they invested a significant amount of money to re-cloth and level all the tables so the conditions were nearly flawless for this event.

The next Falcon Tour Stop will be at La Patriote in St.Eustache December 2-3 hope to see you all there!


Falcon Tour Pay Out 

1-Dany Nguyen 1125$
2-Francis Crevier 900$
3-Danny Hewitt 680$
4-John Leblanc 500$
5-6 Martin Daigle 340$
5-6Andy Aupin 340$
7-8 Luc Salvas 200$
7-8 Pierre Normand 200$
9-12Jean Thériault 90$
9-12Eric Hamel 90$
9-12Maxime Villeneuve 90$
9-12Alain Martel 90$
13-16Markus Noe 40$
13-16Andre Goyette 40$
13-16Mehdi Bahloul 40$
13-16Nicolas Charette 40$


Amateur Only Second Chance Pay Out

1-Dave Simard 200$
2-Dominic Gauthier 150$
3-Alex Lalanne 100$
4-Neil Ayotte 50$



Tuesday 7 November 2017

Moscow: Canadian Results from the Junior World Championships

Dean Cuillerier and Brenden Croft 

Submitted Article 

At this years Junior World Championships Canada was lucky enough to have 2 boys representing in Moscow Russia. 15 year old Brenden Croft from Peterborough Ontario has been playing pool since he was about 4 years old coming from a pool playing family and has been mentored recently by Mario and John Morra.

Croft 


Then there is 16 year old Dean Cuillerier from Montreal Quebec. Canadian Junior Champion 2017 and multiple junior event winner of the ADBQ junior tour in Quebec. Dean has been mentored by Alain Martel and his dad Rodney (2016 Canadien snooker champ) who made the trip to Russia with them.


 Dean Cuillerier

Dean won his first match vs. Seo from South Korea and then lost 7-6 vs Roberts from the U.S. On the losers side he won his match vs. Smithers (USA) and then lost hill hill vs. Kalyaev (Ukraine). Brenden lost his first match 7-5 vs. Peterson (South Africa) and on the B side lost a heart-breaker 7-6 vs. Schultz (USA).

The trip was a huge learning experience and both kids are looking forward to more major events in the future. Brenden will be playing at the junior event at the Super Billiards expo in Philadelphia and also at the junior BCA nationals in Vegas.

Wednesday 1 November 2017

Cornwall: Kelly Tenholder Wins Inaugural Women's Tournament at Rack-M-Up Billiards

From left to right, Mel Jacobs, Louanne Leger, Sara Lee, Kelly Tenholder
By: Markus Noé
 Sunday October 22 Rack-M-Up Billiards hosted its first  ever women's only tournament. This was the brain child of Loreen Toutant a long time competitive player who has played at every level of pool available in Canada including the prestigious Canadian Billiard & Snooker Association's, Canadian Championships.
 Since moving down from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) a few years ago Toutant has been a welcomed addition to the local pool scene. Using her connections in the Women's circuit and with the help of the owner of Rack-M-Up Billiards Doug Disotell, Toutant was able to organize a successful first event. 
Despite other events going on simultaneously a healthy field of 12 showed up to take part, one came from as far as Kitcher,Ontario. The two best represented rooms in terms of participation in this field was Rack-M-Up Billiards and Tailgators located in Ottawa,Ontario.
This tournament was a round robin format, each player would play each other once a best of 3 games. After each player played 11 matches the top 4 winners would move on.  At this point it turned into a blind draw,
The two semi final matches ended up being Mel Jacobs vs Kelly Tenholder and Louanne Leger vs Sara Lee the winners would move to the final. The losers would play to determine who would finish 3rd and 4th. Jacobs who went through the entire round robin undefeated ended up suffering her first lost in the semi-final to Tenholder. Outside of Jacobs, Leger was the only local left and she lost to Lee. 
Tenholder appeared to get comfortable with her surroundings as the day progressed and improved with each match which resulted with her winning the tournament. Congratulations to the 4 winners after a long day of pool each earned some well deserved cash for their troubles. 
Toutant would like to thank Doug Disotell who returned the "green fee's" into the prize fund for his help organizing and running the tournament. Toutant would also like to extend a thank you to Henry Barkwell. He acted as assistant director throughout the day and was crucial to the event going so smoothly. 
Everyone is invited to visit Rack-M-Up Billiards Facebook page to find out information on leagues, upcoming tournament and watch some of their archived tournament matches. Rack-M-Up Billiards also sells cues and installs, as well as repairs pool tables and cues, feel free to call Doug Disotell at 1-613-933-9362 for all your billiard needs. 

Payouts:
Kelly Tenholder $180
Sara Lee $90
Louanne Leger $50
Mel Jacobs $40