Dooly's Valleyfield: The Dancing Bear Wins Second Falcon Tour Stop of the Season

From left to right Winner Alain Martel, Runner-Up Danny Normandin and third place Yves Gaudreault 

By: Markus Noé

This past weekend September 15-16 the newly renovated Dooly's Valleyfield hosted the second tour stop for the Falcon Cues Quebec Pro Tour. 48 players of all different calibers came out to participate in Canada's most popular non-handicapped Pro Tour. The usual tournament favourites were all in attendance such as; Alain Martel, Danny Hewitt, Francis Crevier, Martin Daigle, Joey Cicero to name a few.

There was a few rule changes from last year that founder of the tour Hewitt had to go over before play begun. The main one that stuck out was the new breaking rule. As is the case in general for 9 ball the soft cut break became an issue of contention last season. For those unfamiliar with this it just makes, making the wing ball and getting position on the 1 ball in the top corner almost automatic. Over the past decade break arguments have become much more frequent and perhaps one of the biggest things holding pool back from being considered a sport.

Therefore tournament organizers have come up with a new way to break, which they call breaking from the "small box," see picture below for reference.

In between these two chalk lines was the only place you were able to place the cueball. This combined with racking the 9 ball on the spot with a magic rack as well as 3 balls needing to pass the "headstring," completely changed the game. In my first match against last seasons Grand Final winner Nicolas Charette, I found it a big struggle as I scratched off the break 3 times while trying to hit the balls hard enough to have a legal break. The main thing I noticed with this new break is it virtually gives amateurs no chance against top players because it is simply too hard to control the break and forces us to play every rack with more experienced players. When before if you could figure out a cut break there was always a chance for a break and run.

Charette ended up besting me 9-1, it was a pleasure to play with him. He takes no shots off and makes it very difficult for you to find your way into the match once he takes control, he will give you nothing, you must earn every inch, not only did I appreciate his style I learned a lot from this match on shot selection and percentage play.

Next up for me was well known Canadian player Andre Goyette, a Canadian legend of sorts and one of the best players ever out of the Ottawa/Gatineau region. I have had the pleasure of playing him several times and have had some success in handicap events however to this day I have never beaten him straight up despite him being in his mid 70's! After knocking me out of the tournament he was gracious enough to sit me down and give me some much needed guidance on the mental side of the game, something I admit has been an ongoing struggle for me. I took this advice very seriously and look forward to implementing in the future. For amateurs like myself this is another benefit of playing these Pro events, literally every time I play I learn something of value, thank you Andre!

Getting back to the tournament Martel looked to be in form early as he cut through a tough early draw beating both Danny Hewitt and Luc Salvas. On the other side of the winners bracket Danny Normandin was the other player in top form beating top players such as Yan Lalande and Francis Crevier on route to the winners side final against Martel. Normandin was able to get the big win 9-6 earning is spot in the final.

On the losers side Martel waited for the 4th place match to finish between Yves Gaudreault and Danny Hewitt. Gaudreault who is consistently in the top 5 in these tournaments was able to break through and get a huge win against Hewitt 9-5 earning him a shot to play his pal and fellow UPS co-worker Normandin in the final.

First he had to get through the always tough "Dancing Bear" who despite his earlier loss was not ready to hibernate just yet. Martel got the victory 9-5 and earned his rematch in the final. Normandin started off well getting up 2-0 but in a blink it was 4-2 for Martel and he never looked back earning the 11-7 victory.

Thank you to the Falcon Tour for sponsoring me for this event. I would have liked to stay longer but I had death in the family late Friday night and I showed up with zero sleep and under an unusual amount of stress to be honest. I look forward to seeing everyone in two weeks at Dooly's St. Hyacinthe Sept 29-30 for the next edition of the Falcon Tour!

 

Payouts:

1- Alain Martel 1225$
2- Dany Normandin 920$
3- Yves Gaudreault 720$
4- Danny Hewitt 560$
5/6 - Marco Caron et Joey Cicero 380$
7/8 - Nicolas Charette et Francis Crevier 220$
9/12 - Yan Lalande, Sylvain Gingras, Martin Daigle et Dominic Legault 120$

A special congratulations goes out to my frequent road partner and one of my closest pal Jason Hall for winning the second chance tournament! Well done in a tough field! Also to Marc Malette for coming in 3rd, that is two players from my home Rack-M-Up Billiards in Cornwall, Ontario who took the cash! 

Jason Hall 

Second Chance Winners 

1- Jason Hall 200$
2- Denis Duteau 150$
3- Marc Mallette 100$
4- Dannick Duchaines 50$

Rack-M-Up Ladies Tournament Results

By: Markus Noé

Saturday July 28th local player Loreen Toutant with the help of the owner Rack-M-Up Billiards located in Cornwall, Ontario, Doug Distotell, hosted a womens only tournament. 9 players came to particpate from Cornwall, Ottawa, Québec and Awkesanse.  This was a different format then most tournaments and seemed to be well liked by the players.

It was round robin with every player getting a chance to match up against everyone in the field for 4 racks. Whether someone won 4-0 or 3-1 the score would be tallied and the top 6 players woud move on to a single elimination format.

Disotell was gracious enough to return the green fee's into the tournament pot and gave the ladies a little extra to play for. Whenever it was all said and done it was Chantal Bergeron taking home first place, Nathalie Chabot taking second and fairly new local player Sandy Mackay grabbed third.

There was also a 50/50 draw and 10 Ball break and run that acted as a side pot. Marc Malette and Nathalie Chabot split the draw while Bergeron continued her hot streak and had the best run in the 10 ball break and run.

At the end of the day it was a successful event with all participants raving about the great time they had. Hopefully there will be more of these events in the future. Congratulations to all the winners and see you all next time. Toutant would also like to thank Henry Barkwell for donating his time and being a big help to make sure things ran smoothly for the entire event.

Payouts:

1. Chantal Bergeron $200
2. Nathalie Chabot $120
3. Sandy Mackay $40 

Malette Picks up 3rd win of the Summer Series

By: Markus Noé

Sunday July 22nd Rack-M-Up Billiards hosted the 6th qualifier out of 8 for the well received Summer Series. Since late spring there has been a qualifier approximately every two weeks. For those competitive players in the area which there are many, the Summer Series provides an outlet during the "off season" for those players who just cannot put the cue down no matter how nice the weather is.

These are handicapped events with the lowest ranking available is a 4 and the top a 9. Each player has to win a different number of games depending on their assigned handicap. Marc Malette started off the season by winning the first two events easily and looked to be in form again beating fellow tournament favorite Jacques Sauvé 9-4. In fact Malette once again charged through this 15 player field all the way through to the winner side final.

J.R Cook was the other undefeated player who met up with Malette in the winners side final. Cook who has gone a few years since his last good performance kept his momentum going and handed Malette who is ranked a 9, his first match loss of the season 6-8.

Malette regained his form in the losers side final eliminating fellow 9, Justin Miller 9-5. In the final it was a much different story as Malette went on to easily win and capture his 3rd consecutive win which is a record since the debut of the Summer Series 3 years ago.

There are two qualifiers left August 4th and August 19th and the added money Grand Final is a few weeks later. We welcome anyone to come and watch and enjoy some quality pool from some of the best players in the area. Finally the fall season is quickly approaching and the registration for the Fall/Winter leagues will be commencing shortly. There are leagues for all skill levels contact Doug Disotell for more information through the Rack-M-Up Facebook Page or by telephone 613-933-9362.

Congratulation to the most recent winners Marc Malette and J.R Cook.

Top 3 Payouts 

1. Marc Malette $180

2. J.R Cook $135

3. Justin Miller $90

Tailgators Announces 5th Annual Summer Shootout August 10-12!

5TH ANNUAL SUMMER  8-BALL SHOOTOUT

·      DOUBLES START FRIDAY AUGUST  10TH  6PM

·      SINGLES START SATURDAY AUGUST 11TH  1PM

DOUBLES DIVISIONS

 COPPER DOUBLES  MAX 180 TRS  $40 PER TEAM

 BRONZE DOUBLES   MAX 160 TRS  $60 PER TEAM

 SILVER DOUBLES   MAX  120 TRS   $80 PER TEAM

SINGLES DIVISIONS

BUDWEISER SINGLES  100 TRS             $20 ENTRY      

COPPER SINGLES             90 HANCP       $30 ENTRY

BRONZE SINGLES           80-70 TRS       $40 ENTRY

SILVER SINGLES             60-50 TRS          $75 ENTRY       

TOUHEY TAX GOLD     40-20 TRS $100 ENTRY

GOLD SINGLES IS FIRST 16 PLAYERS $1000 ADDED

 Tailgators will host the fifth annual Summer shootout August 10th-12th. This is a barbox 8-ball event that has DIVISIONS for all ALL SKILL LEVELS.

The  DOUBLES starts Friday at 6pm and has 3 different divisions. It is a scotch doubles format and last year was the inaugural for the doubles and it was very well accepted. Teamates are allowed to talk amongst each other and creates a fun interactive environment. 

The SINGLES start Saturday at 1pm and and has 4 different skill level divisions. 

The showcase Touhey Tax Gold Division will feature 16 top players. Matches will be live streamed and there WILL BE A CALCUTTA FRIDAY NIGHT. 

**Spots are limited in all divisions so please contact Curtis Houlden by email at leagues@tailgators.ca 

or Facebook to reserve your spot**

Rack-M-Up Summer Series is Underway

Winner of the second qualifier Marc Malette and runner up Clayton Disotell

By: Markus Noé

The much anticipated annual Rack-M-Up Summer Series has begun. Thus far there has been two qualifiers played out of the eight. In order to be able to participate in the Grand Final September 8th one needs to play in no less than 4 out of 8 of the qualifying tournaments. This series is handicapped and open to players from begninner level to AAA which is just under Semi-Pro and Pro level. The game is 9 ball alternative break and call the 9 ball only.

Winner of the first Qualifer Mark Roy and Director Doug Disotell

Each player is given a number 5-9 based on their skill level which is determined by tournament director Doug Disotell. Once this number is established, that is the number of games one must win in order to win their match. So far after two events we have two different winners both of whom went undefeated to capture their wins, congratulation to Mark Roy for winning the first event and Marc Malette for taking down the second. Below is the reamaining dates we hope to see many new faces in this edition of the Summer Series. If you are curious and feel like spectating feel free to beat the heat this summer and come on in grab cool beverage and enjoy the air conditioner.

For questions about leagues, tournaments, cue/repairs and table installation contact Doug Disotell through the Rack-M-Up Billiards Facebook Page or by telephone at 1-613-362-5035. 

Charette Goes Undefeated to Win Falcon Cues QC Pro Tour Grand Final

Michael Bernier, Danny Hewitt, Nicolas Charrette, Luc Salvas, John Morra

 By: Markus Noé

The weekend of April 28th-29th the Falcon Cues Québec Pro Tour wrapped up its season at Dooly's Valleyfield. 50 players from all over Québec and Ontario came to participate in this $4000 added season ending tournamnet. With the edition of players like John Morra and Erik Hjorleifson who came from Toronto this was the most talent stacked tournament of the season.

Early on the main storyline for me was that world renown player and major champion Morra, was playing with his opposite hand. I have some insight on his abilities as a few years back I went to the Steinway Classic in Queen's NY and played some cheap matches with him as he played left handed. He even spotted me and I think I was lucky to win 1 out of 4 matches. Morra being a right handed player but heavely left eye dominate has been discussed in length in the pool community.

Being so dominate in his opposite eye something I am trying to overcome myself, has caused some issues for Morra. He is currently in a lot of neck and back pain and told me this past week "if i am going to contiue to play professionally, I have to make the switch." Morra also said he believes in two years he will be preforming better than ever. Besides overcoming the pain their are some technical advantages for him as well.

With all that being said Morra went on to finish in third place, playing opposite hand the entire way. He met up with Danny Hewitt the most dominate player in Falcon Tour history earlier on and lost a close match. Later on the losers side he met up with another legend Alain Martel on the losers side and eliminated him, then also got revenge against Hewitt beating him out in 4th.

It was runner up Michael Bernier who ended Morra improbable run in the losers side final. Bernier has to be one of the most aggressive pro players I have seen on the tour. He literally takes on most shots without much regard for safety play and it serves him well as him and Nicolas Charette met in the winners side final.  Both players had to get by some tough pro's as Charette beat Alain Martel and Bernier beat Danny Hewitt two Canadian legends on route to the winners side final

Charette would get the win 9-5 in this match. Overall all weekend Charette seemed to be the most comfortable out there, just queitly going about his business never taking a shot off or taking a gamble at the "wrong shot." It was this combination that served him well throughout the event.

The final was a thrilling match as until half way though the race to 11 either player had not made a mistake. They were exchanging racks back forth the entire match until the end were Charette got his nose ahead to win 11-9 in what was one of the highest level matches I have seen on the tour all season. Congratulations to finalist for putting on a great show.

I would like to thank Danny Hewitt and Luc Paquette for putting on a great tour again this year! As always I cannot wait to be back next season and keep climbing up the ladder myself! See you all in September! 

1st Annual Pat Cormier Memorial Pool Tournament

Submitted by Jayson Goyer

It was a great time for all in Belleville this past weekend who participated at  Pat Cormier Memorial pool tournament at Mr. Zeds Billiards Room. There was 30 entrants from Belleville, Picton, Brockville, Kingston and Trenton, A special thanks to Brandon Cormier for running things as smooth as possible and to Lois Cormier and the Preston family for their generous door prize donations,

Kingstown Brewery gave sizable prize donation,  and Pizza Hut Belleville also donated prizes.  We would like to also thank Kim Bracken and Lisa Knell for doing an awesome job running the 50-50 draw selling over $500 in tickets WOW ! Also a special thanks to George (grey bush) Sokolowski for Mc-ing the best dam player auction I have ever been a part of in Belleville collecting over $1,000 cash payout, and a special thanks to Peter for letting us take over his pool room for 2 days.

Results 
8 Ball 1st prize $700 Devin Buttle
2nd $420 Ron Bradshaw
3rd $260 Steve Winter
4th $160 Stan Wilkinson
10 Ball 1st prize $700 Ron Bradshaw
2nd $500 Jay Goyer

And over $350 raised for the Children's Hospital.

3rd Annual Ashton Twins Classic Dates!

By: Markus Noé

The Ashton Twins Classic which is only in it's third year now has quickly become the second most prestigious female event in Canada, outside the Canadian Championships. This event has attracted named players such as Brittany Bryant Emily Duddy as well as both of the Ashton sisters themselves Joanne and Beverely who are accomplished players in their own right.

The Hidden Spot pool room in Calgary is the premier place to play in the area and a beautiful venue for a big event. It is rumored that the added money will be around $10,000. Joanne Ashton has announced the dates to be June 14-18 more details to come!

2nd Annual East Coast Canadian 9 Ball Open Announcement!

Thomas Martin, the main promoter of pool in the East Coast of Canada at the moment has announced his second edition of the East Coast Canadian 9 Ball Open. This past November was the inaugural event which saw 238 players descend upon his pool room of RailBirds Billiards Inc in Halifax Nova Scotia.

 When this tournament was first announced last year, it caused an immediate stir as it was easily the biggest prize pool played in Canada in at least a decade. The large amount of added money attracted world class players all around the globe including, Mika Immonen, John Morra, Imrad Majid ,Alex Pagulayan and Erik Hjorleifson to name a few. By all accounts this was a well run world class event.

Immonen beat Morra in the final to win the inaugural event in a close match. Once again this year the field is open to 256 players and with the buzz created from the precious event this one should be even better. If the poster above cannot answer all your questions please contact TJ Martin at 902-402-7954.

Drummondville: Daigle Wins Largest Falcon Tour Field of the Season

Winner Martin Daigle, Director Danny Hewitt, Runner up Dan Normandin and second chance winner Darren Auclair 

By: Markus Noé

The Falcon Québec Pro Tour saw the biggest turnout of the season with 55 players descending upon Billiard Heriot in Drummondville, . The field boasted 12 pro's and a healthy number of high level Semi-Pro and AAA players. What added to this this tournament was the 34 amateurs that participated in this non-handicap event. This demonstrates that the staggered entry fee system that the Falcon Tour organizers Danny Hewitt and Luc Paquette have implemented is working.

With so many pro's and other top players in attendance it made it possible for upsets to occur. In Québec Alain Martel, and Danny Hewitt have been so dominate for so many years now its almost a guarantee that one of them will win the tournament if they are both in the field and no big out of province names show up.

Recent third place finisher at the Turning Stone Classic and finalist this year on the Falcon Tour Joey Cicero was the first big name to be upset. He went down in the first round to the Québec Junior Champion Tommy Cayer 9-7. Cicero did not have his best match however Cayer showed his potential by not playing scared and taking advantage of the opportunities given to him. In his next match he met up with one of the fastest rising female players in Québec Valerie Bedard who recently returned from a successful trip to Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, California. This was for the NAPT Division 2 (North American Pool Tour) stop, Bedard cashed in this event in the 9-12th position. She was apparently still in form as she got by Cayer 9-7 and in her match had Pro Martin Daigle down 4-1 before eventually losing 9-4.

Marco Caron

Top players such as Nicholas Charret, Harold Rousseau, Yan Lalande, Ghislain Champagne all found themselves out well before the cash, which goes to show you the caliber of the field. Semi-Pro players Marco Caron and Daniel Gagné both had impressive performances in this tournament and eventually met up on the losers side in the 5/6th position. Caron beat two Pro's on his winners side charge, Harold Rousseau and Ghislain Champagne. Gagné who lost early on the winners side won 4 matches on the losers side before ending Caron's tournament 9-6.

Daniel Gagné

 Gagné then went on to have an impressive win over Alain "The Dancing Bear" Martel 9-5 in the 4th place match. In the third place match he met up with Martin Daigle who just suffered his first lost to Dan Normandin another former 3rd place finisher at the Turning Stone Classic. Daigle went on to end Gagné's impressive run 9-7 and earned his rematch with Normandin.

Daigle would not be denied in this extended race to 11, as he won 11-7 to earn his first Falcon Tour victory of the season. Congratulations to all the winners, I would also like to thank Danny Hewitt and Luc Paquette for putting on a great event. The next Falcon Tour will be held in Edmundston New Brunswick this weekend March 10-11. Finally I would like to thank my main sponsor for this tournament Doug Disotell and Rack-M-Up Billiards.

Falcon Tour In Drummondville This Weekend!

Billiard Heriot in Drummondville Québec located about an hour outside of Montreal on route to Quebec City, will host a Falcon Tour stop this weekend. A few weeks back Dooly's Neufchatel hosted the most recent stop and 47 players came to participate, this tied Terminus in Gatineau for the second highest number of players this season.

With this pool hall being located between Montreal and Québec City were most of the elite players AAA and above live, this has the potential to be another record turnout. The field in Neufchatel featured 12 Pro's, and many other top players. The Falcon Tour now in its 3rd season has seen professional participation increase a fair bit as well as seeing a lot of players in the AAA and Semi-Pro range come out of long hibernation now that there is an elite circuit to play on.

Dooly's Neufchatel is a beautiful venue with a great staff. Marco Sanchargrin a well known promoter in the province is the owner and for a chain it really feels like a mom and pop place that caters to the players. In the Finals it was a couple familiar foes facing off as Alain Martel and Danny Hewitt. In the winners side final they also met, with Danny Hewitt winning 9-5. In the third place match Martel played Joey Cicero who has been close a few times to winning his first Falcon Tour stop. He already had a finals appearance at La Patriote in December and a few other top finishes. However the seasoned "Dancing Bear" was once again too much for the young upstart Cicero as he fell 9-4.

In the final Martel revenged his earlier loss to Hewitt 11-8 to win his third event of the season. I am accepting sponsorship as always to help cover expenses to go and cover the event this weekend. It is a great and cheap way to advertise your business as no contribution is to small. Also if you are a frequent reader of Cue Sport Nation it is a great way to support us and to make sure the updates keep on coming. Email transfer and receipts are available! Hope to see many new faces this weekend! 

Once again I would like the thank my main sponsor for this event, Rack-M-Up Billiards in Cornwall Ontario!

Rack-M-Up Billiards: Gauthier Wins AAA Tournament

Runner-up Marc "Jesus" Malette and Do Gauthier 

By: Markus Noé

Saturday February 24th Rack-M-Up Billiards held a rare event these days in Ontario, a AAA and under non-handicap 9 Ball tournament. With only about two weeks notice players from Ottawa/Gatineau and Montreal came to participate. Originally the field was slated to be filled at 24 however do to overwhelming interest owner of the room and tournament director Doug Disotell opened the field to 32. The entry was $40 it was races to 7 on the winners side and 6 on the losers, as well as alternative break.

When player registration ended at 9:45 there was 31 participants and shortly after the player auction began. This is better known as a "Calcutta," and it is where the players are auctioned off with the winners getting an extra prize fund. Each player that is auctioned off has the option to buy 50% of themselves back in order to be eligible for the side pot. The players who all tied for the highest bids which is a good indicator of who the favourites are were, Marc Malette, Jean-Francois Dorais, Jody Roy. The overall side pot was $1720

Two of the betting favourites met up right away as Roy sent Dorais over to the one loss side in the first match. Marc Malette also found himself on the losers side at the hands of Do Gauthier a newly ranked AAA in the Québec Federation who has been playing well as of late. Most of this field was was fairly evenly matched despite no handicap which made for an entertaining day. That being said some lower ranked players such as Daniel Sumon, Josh Levac, Cullen Arihote and J.R Cook stepped up for chance at gaining some experience and potentially as we like to say around here, "ruin someone's day." Levac and Arihote both were able to accomplish this feat both beating players ranked multiple levels above their own.

Third place finisher Mehdi Harraq with director Doug Disotell

Local favourite Jody Roy was on an impressive run beating two of the stronger players in the field, Luc Comptois and Dorais before meeting up with Mehdi Harraq in the winners side final 4. Harraq knocked Roy over to the losers side in this bracket and met up with Do Gauthier in the winners side final. Gauthier was down 3-0 to myself and kicked it up a gear to beat me 7-3. He carried this momentum into the hot-seat match making quick work of Harraq 7-3.

In the final Gauthier met up with local player Malette who worked hard winning 8 matches on the losers side to have his chance at redemption. It was looking good early for Malette as he lead 4-1 in this race to 7. However as he was doing all day Gauthier came all the way back to win 7-5 and win his second tournament in as many months. It should be noted that Malette has taken several years off playing and has recently come back to competitive play, this is his second time finishing in the top 2 in the last two events here.

Congratulations to all the winners! Also a big thank you to all the Québec players who came down, many of whom have been big supporters of Cue Sport Nation. It was a pleasure to see the same people support a great tournament in my home room. Doug Disotell did a fantastic job running the event smoothly as well as being the referee. There was not a single complaint all day and from what I heard from the players I know these tournaments can be a regular success.


Payouts Calcutta included

1. Do Gauthier $930

2. Marc Mallet $610

3. Mehdi Harraq $430

4. JF Dorais $290

5/6  Jody Roy/Markus Noé $190

7/8 Luc Comptois, Justin Miller $40

Falcon Tour Stop #7 Tailgators: Hewitt edges out Aupin to Claim 4th Win of the Season

Danny Hewitt photo courtesy of Shelley Anne-Marie Doran

By: Markus Noé

January 27-28th, Tailgators located in the Meriviale Mall in Neapean Ontario hosted the 7th stop of the Falcon Québec Pro Tour. 36 players came to participate with again the majority of players being from Québec. Chris Dempsey and Jason Robichaud two of the best players from the East Coast made the trek from New Brunswick , while Andy Aupin, Alain and Johnathan Lessard were the furthest traveling players from Ontario coming from Sudbury. My small homeroom of Rack-M-Up Billiards which only has 10, nine foot tables and one snooker table showed up in numbers as we had 7 who made the hour trip to Ottawa. Out of those 7 we had every class represented from C through to Pro.

Going into this weekend we knew that some regulars on the tour such as Joey Cicero, Alain Martel and Martin Daigle would be missing due to prior engagements. Also there was a semi pro tournament just outside of Montreal that kept regulars such as Marco Caron and Eric Cloutier away. However with so many players within reasonable driving distance to Ottawa, Ontario 36 players was a disappointing turnout for organizers. 

Perhaps that the Ottawa Barbox Championships which is historically well attended and filled again this year was only a few weeks before played a factor, it should be noted that Tailgators main focus and most popular game is Barbox 8 Ball. However it was a bit baffling to myself that there was  significant amount of good amateurs to high ranking players who frequent and play the weekly leagues at Tailgators that did not attend.

In contrast the Falcon Tour as been averaging just over 40 players in each event this year. This includes pool rooms outside the densely populated cities of Montreal, Ottawa or Québec. The most disappointing part for people looking to grow this tour and promote pool overall, is that Tailgator's has such a big and beautiful venue in a prime location. It is basically directly between Québec City and Toronto and a few hours from Montreal. Between this area lies a huge percentage of  Canada's top players. If you factor all of this in, the potential for successful Pro Tournament is staggering.  I am mentioning this not to be critical, however to point out the importance of the Falcon Tour and a room like Tailgators is to the potential growth of pool. Ottawa/Gatineau has three great venue's in the region, Tailgators, Terminus, and Dooly's Ottawa. 

The Falcon Tour is the only Pro Tour in the country, it has been successful in Québec and New Brunswick in its first 3 years. If it takes off in the Ottawa/Gatineau region then it can potentially use this momentum to spring board itself into the Greater Toronto Area and then who knows. The issues for professional non handicap tournaments in Ontario is well documented and here is a solution. A common complaint in all tournaments and tours is there is not enough money to be won. However it is near impossible to grow and attract more sponsors that can help with added money if players do not show an interest. In cities like Ottawa/Gatineau, Montreal, Québec and Toronto fields of  64 to 128 are very possible especially with a staggered entry fee. The first move however needs to be made by player participation so organizers of the Falcon Tour Danny Hewitt and Luc Paquette have a strong product to show to potential sponsors. The saying "If you build it, they will come" comes to mind here.

Now that my little rant is over lets get to business. At the end of the first day there was not much report in the way of upsets because outside of Dany Nguyen and Danny Hewitt it was a fairly evenly matched field. Of course they met in the first round with Nguyen coming out on the short end of a 9-2 loss. The Falcon Tour plays down to the final 8 on day one. One of the final 4 matches on the winners side on day 2 included Pierre Normand vs Roger Miller which Normand won 9-8. The other was Hewitt vs new pro Seb Laramée, Hewitt won this one 9-5.

Andy Aupin photo courtesy of Shelley Anne-Marie Doran

On the losers side Andy Aupin a very capable but lesser known pro was charging through the bracket. After suffering his first lost to Hewitt he won his four next matches as follows;

Aupin 9 vs Alain Lessard 5

Aupin 9 vs Roger Miller 3

Aupin 9 vs Dany Nguyen 6

Aupin 9 vs Normand 4

This run on the losers allowed Aupin a second crack at the most dominate player on the Falcon Tour, Danny Hewitt. The final was a tightly contested match as Aupin fought back from an early deficit to tie this extended race to 11 at 10-10. Hewitt ended up taking the last game winning his 4th event out of 7 total tournaments this season. Congratulations to the winners of this event and thank you to Curtis Houlden and Morgan Bristow for providing an ideal venue for the tour. Finally thank you to Shelley Anne-Marie Doran for the great photo's her entire album of the event can be found at the Tailgators Facebook Page. 

The next event will be held near Québec City at Marco Sanschargin's pool room a well known local promoter. It is called Dooly's Neufchatel.  I will be in attendance to play and cover the event in detail, if you are interested in being a sponsor please feel free to contact me through Facebook either on the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page or my personal one. Look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks!

Big Read Breaks Down Pool Across Canada in 2017

By: Erik Hjorleifson 

Greetings and Happy New Year from Markus Noé and I at Cue Sport Nation. 2017 eventful year on the Canadian pool scene lets take a look back at some of the highlights from 2017.

From east to west:

The Maritimes

2017 marked the second year of the Atlantic 9 ball tour. The ten event tour takes place throughout the Maritimes and features non handicapped play staggered entry 9 ball. These tournaments drew an average of over 100 players! the brainchild of promoter TJ Martin who I will unofficially deem the savior of pool in the Maritimes. This tour has been a huge success and has filled a void in competitive pool out east. The most consistent winner on this tour was Chris Dempsey who also won the finale event. Tom Theriault was competitive winning a few events and names like Jeff Kennedy, Rick Leon and Gilles Leblanc were often seen at the high end of the placings. This year marked the first installment of the East Coast Canadian 9 ball championships promoter TJ Martin managed to pull off the biggest event possibly in Canadian history drawing 240 players. The $10 000 first prize was the highest first prize payout in Canada in over ten years. Mika Immonen ended up being the winner and John Morra runner up, the tournament  drew names like Alex Pagulayan and Imran Majid. Rail birds pool room opened in Halifax this year and looks like it will be the center of competitive pool in the Maritimes.

Quebec

Pool in Quebec is still alive and well, the Falcon Pro tour continued in its third year of operation and once again as has been the case for the past several years Dany Hewitt was the most consistent winner. Alain Martel, Francis Crevier, Martin Daigle, Joey Cicero and Dany Nguyen also had many strong finishes throughout the year. Quebec continues to operate their A, AA, AAA, Semi Pro and Pro divisions in which players are able to play in their own class or higher. Handicap tournaments are a rarity in Quebec and the overall system is something that any pool community should strive for. Notably Alain Martel has continued his junior program that has been integrated into the school system. He now has over 200 juniors enrolled in his programs, the sky seems to be the limit now for Martel as he has built the foundation to something monumental. Huge kudos goes out to him for exposing youth to our game.  Youth is the future and it would be great to see more programs like this pop up nationwide. Marco Sanschagrin owner of Doolys in Quebec city continues to promote major tournaments including hosting the Canadian Championships and Archer Cup, his efforts do not go unnoticed.

Ontario

The scene in Ontario continues to be plagued with handicap tournaments. There are plenty of tournaments and lots of people playing but the odd thing is that the lower handicap players are playing for more money than the open players. The one upside as I said is that there are a lot of people playing, there were probably 75 tournaments in Ontario that were $1000 first prize or more. Only about 15 of those tournaments were open to pros and I think the problem with that is self explanatory especially considering almost all of the tournaments are handicapped. On the bright side The Corner Bank continues to try and turn the tide hosting several good events throughout the year most notably the Vince McIntyre memorial won by Jason Klatt. John White and Jim Wych have been putting in a lot of hard work at the Corner Bank including building a 3000 square foot patio that will be open next summer. Every weekend there is a waiting list for tables and it is not uncommon to walk in the afternoon and see 15 tables going, the weekly tournaments draw over 30 players regularly. Don Broos fulfilled his dream of owning a pool room this year. Don and his team renovated Formac billiards  in Burlington Ontario re naming it Shooterville , it has quickly become the place to be west of Toronto. Someone to watch out for in the future will be Waleed Hashem who has improved from a AAA player to a strong semi pro player this past year.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba

Manitoba is in a bit of a downswing from a time when I grew up there and there was 20 pool rooms in the city to now only four or five. Cornell McClean jr. is active in promoting tournaments at Sonix billiards running a few weekly tournaments and recently had a 64 player field out for a bigger event that Johhny Baptiste won. The best players in Manitoba are Shannon Ducharme, Felix Beardy, Berry McClean, Cornell McClean, Ryan Solleveld, Jeff Clare, Randy Bagot among many others. These players play a lot in Minnesota and North Dakota and do well.

Saskatchewan has been a little quiet believe it or not there is not one pool room in Regina. A city that has a CFL team but no pool room, seems like an opportunity to me.Jane Gordon and Roy Munns however have two tournament quality tables in one of their storage facilities. They have three tournaments a year that draw all the best players from Saskatchewan and a few from Alberta and Manitoba. These are the results from the 2017 tournaments

2017 8ball 
1.Brad Poorman
2.Jerrod  Spence
3.Pat Marcia

9ball
1.Erik Vargas
2.Randy Bagot
3. Albert

10 Ball
1.Elwin Cameron
2.Danny Gilbert
3.Fabian Louison
........................

Alberta and B.C.

The Hidden Spot in Calgary continues to run many good size tournaments including the Ashton classic which is scheduled again this year in June. Stephen Holem from B.C. has been the most consistent winner out west including a third place finish in a tournament in Oregon that had many U.S. pros. He will definitely be someone to watch for in the future. There has been a push to promote Chinese 8 ball in B.C. and players such as Kevin Beskal, Paul Potier, Simon Pickering, Mike Vidas and Stephen Holem have gone to China to take a shot at the big prize money on offer.

On the international front John Morra took a five month hiatus. After a little break in which he gained some experience as a DJ, he is now back playing full time. He remains without a doubt Canada's strongest hope on the international stage and we will all be watching and cheering him on. Jason Klatt had a quarter final finish at the world pool series and continues to play in most major events. Martin Daigle traveled actively beating many big names such as Early Strickland, Tommy Kennedy and John Morra. Brittany Bryant had a third place finish at one of only two W.P.B.A events in 2017. Naomi Williams had 3 third place finishes on the N.A.P.T tour which looks to possibly one day replace the W.P.B.A tour. It is really unfortunate for these girls as women's professional pool is at a historic low point in North America.

That's all for this year, hopefully next year will bring bigger and better things!