Ramos Finds His Gear !!

From left to right winner Isaac Ramos, Owner of Shooters Peter Chin, and runner up Teen Yan

Submitted Article:

This past weekend, July 25th and 26th 2015, saw another of the summer series of events at the Shooters Snooker and Sports Club. Each of these tournaments has a different format and appears to appeal to a wide range of players, many of whom have never previously attended a Shooters event. This past weekend’s event separated players into two distinct groups. Player feedback for this event was very positive and the event will likely be repeated in an enhanced format in the future.

This recent event was billed as a Group 9 Ball Shootout in which two groups of players –- Handicaps ‘3-5’ and Handicaps ‘6-8’ – competed among themselves on Day 1 and then against each other on Day 2. On Day 1 separate draws were held for the ‘3-5’ handicaps and another for the ‘6-8’ handicaps. The top 8 players from each group returned for Day 2 when a re-draw occurred for the 16 players to determine the Sunday matches. All matches were a race to the player’s handicap. This was also the first tournament to accommodate ‘3’ handicaps. This new handicap grouping serves as a good introduction for less skilled players to competitive tournament play. And since Day 1 play was largely against each player’s “peers” there were many close matches. Day 2 also saw several very close matches as well as some “upsets”. Very surprising was the distribution of players – 37 ‘3-5’ handicap players turned out versus 21 ‘6-8’ handicap players. The total purse was a whopping $4400 with a further $1940 up for grabs from the Player Calcutta. These kinds of payouts tend to generally attract the more skilled players.

When Day 1 ended, Elena Baptiste, Teen Yan, Mashaka Munene, Darlene Gardiner, Jennifer Beausoleil, Don Eddie, Edmund Chow and Allen Ortilla had emerged from the ‘3-5’ handicap grouping to play again Sunday. From the ‘6-8’ group, Richard Murray, Rick Garant, Kevin Oliveira, Alan Ada, Ray Jansen, Isaac Ramos, Brad Guthrie and Jagdesh Raghoo successfully navigated their way through Saturday play to be able to make a Sunday appearance. For those who played their way into Sunday a total of $1000 was paid out on Saturday with the balance of $3400 paid out at the end of the tournament. All players who survived Saturday play received a payout.

As play was concluding Sunday, Isaac Ramos was sitting in the hot seat on the ‘A’ side waiting for the winner of the ‘B’ side final between Teen Yan and Jago Raghoo. Ramos was fortunate to be in the hot seat after flirting with elimination several times on Saturday including a ‘B’ side hill/hill match in which he was forced to win 7

consecutive games to avoid an early tournament exit. In the ‘B’ side final Yan defeated Raghoo to face Ramos for the tournament title in this double elimination tournament. Yan had made a very impressive march through his Sunday matches defeating some tournament ‘heavyweights’ to face off against Ramos in the final. Yan continued his strong play by defeating Ramos in their first match but could not extend his winning string and fell to Ramos in their 2nd match.

Congratulations to Isaac Ramos on the tournament win. Isaac was one of the highest ranked players in the tournament and one of only two ‘8’ handicap entered. Despite some Saturday stumbles Ramos found his game on Sunday and rolled through his competition to emerge as the tournament winner.

Thank you to all the participants for a great weekend of pool and welcome to those who had not previously participated in a competitive 9 Ball tournament on the 9 footers at Shooters. As noted previously, there are more innovative tournament formats on the horizon at Shooters for the balance of the summer months. Tournament qualifiers are also being run for each of these events. Check the Shooters Snookerclub Facebook page for details and dates.

Player Prize Money Calcutta

1st Isaac Ramos 8 $1070 $800

2nd Teen Yan 5 $730 $480

3rd Jagdesh Raghoo 7 $500 $290

4th Richard Murray 7 $350 $170

5-6th Darlene Gardiner 4 $225 $100

5-6th Brad Guthrie 7 $225 $100

7-8th Edmund Chow 5 $150

7-8th Don Eddie 4 $150

Paid to 16 players who were eligible for Sunday play. $1000

Tailgators Announcement: 2nd Annual Summer 8-ball Shootout

By: Markus Noé

The first sign that the "off-season" of pool is coming to an end has appeared this week. Tournament director Curtis Houlden has announced the second annual Summer 8-Ball Shootout August 14-15, with play beginning at 7:30 PM on Friday. This will be played at Tailgators located in the Merivale Mall in Ottawa, Ontario.

When it comes to Bar Box leagues and tournaments, Tailgators really is an a class of their own.They host several huge tournaments a year and the Summer Shootout now acts as the first tournament of the season. This will be a 64 player max handicapped event, with staggered entry fee's depending on your skill level.

For those who think of themselves as "Bar Box" specialist this is the time to step up as not only some of the best players in the region will be in attendance, but the country as well. Erik Hjorleifson and John Morra frequent these events and it is a great time to test your skills against some of the best around. Tailgators is truly a premier venue with a full bar and kitchen and plenty of tables so insure the tournament runs smoothly. Get your entry in today! As this tournament will surely fill up, contact Curtis Houlden at leagues@tailgators.ca to reserve your spot.

Scotch Doubles Tournament Results From Shooters: Veteran Filipinos Reign

The inaugural Scotch Doubles 9 Ball Tournament on the 9 footers was held this past weekend (July 18, 2015) at the Shooters Snooker and Sports Club in North York. This tournament is another of the ‘one-off’ events organized and hosted by Shooters during the summer months for those who want to keep their skills sharp.

Despite the large number of activities in Toronto during the summer months, a very good turnout of 34 players/ 17 teams took their talents to the tables in what proved to be a very competitive tournament with several upsets. Teams were handicapped and the races were based on these handicaps. The event obviously appealed to some “new” local players who prefer the doubles format to singles play.

At day’s end it was Romeo Zulueta and Gene Chipongian waiting in the hot seat for the winner of the ‘B’ side final between the pairings of Blake Tyas/ Waleed Mukhtar and Lynnette Valencia/Martin Yacobazzo. As was so often the case in this tournament a hill/hill battle took place in the ‘B’ side final with the team of Tyas and Mukhtar emerging the winners. The close competition continued in the championship final in this true Double Knockout format with the team of Tyas/Mukhtar defeating Zulueta/Chipongian in their first match but falling to Zulueta/Chipongian in the 2nd match.

Congratulations to the veteran Filipinos Romeo Zulueta and Gene Chipongian on their tournament win.

Thank you to all the participants for a great day of competitive pool. The races were short which resulted in many ‘nail biters’ and upsets. There are more innovative tournament formats on the horizon at Shooters for the balance of the summer months. Tournament qualifiers are also being run for each of these events. Upcoming this weekend is the 9 Ball Group Shootout. Check the Shooters Snookerclub Facebook page for details and times.

Player Prize Money Calcutta

1. Romeo Zulueta/ Gene Chipongian $1000 $540

2. Blake Tyas/ Waleed Mukhtar $550 $300

3. Lynnette Valencia/ Martin Yacobazzo $340 $190

4. Kevin Stronach/ Jeremy Brown $210

Sylvain Grenier Open's First Pool Academy in Québec

By: Markus Noé

This past Monday July 20th the "Académie de Billard Sylvain Grenier" celebrated its grand opening.The Academy is the brain child of Sylvain Grenier one of Québec's top professional pool players. Grenier who turned Pro in 1999 left the game completely in 2003 to focus on family. It was just within the last few years that he got the itch to get back into the pool scene during some home renovations in which he decided to reinstall his table. Coming off such a long layoff did not seem to affect  him as much as he quickly re-established himself as not only one of the top talents in Québec but in Canada as well.

Photo provided by Guy Simard, from billardquebec.com

Once competing again and traveling to the U.S to participate on the Joss Tour he began reflecting on the current state of pool. One of the first things he noticed is the laws are very different for pool halls south of the border. With no Video Lottery machines in the pool halls he noticed children were welcomed in these places.

 In Québec there are very firm laws that no one under 18 years old is allowed in the pool halls because of drinking and gambling age requirements. Having a young teenage daughter with a great interest in learning the game, he identified this as something that was preventing the evolution of the sport. According to the press release from the Academie, they identified that many youth centres and schools had tables set up. But had no one around with the proper credentials to teach the children how to play the right way. The philosophy here is that Grenier believes many people are familiar with the recreational side of pool, but when it comes to treating it as a sport there is a lot of room to grow. 

Another one of Grenier's goals is to show that pool is comparable to other sports like Hockey, Soccer, Dance and Karate. Comparable in the sense that pool is great for mental development, social skills and so on. After identifying his goals Grenier took to social media to see what the response would be to him opening up an academy geared to the development of players all ages and skill levels. To his delight the idea was met with great enthusiasm by players and parents alike. 

While researching the best way to go about this Grenier quickly realized there was no previous examples in Canada to base his model from. For he wanted to open a place that is solely focused on pool and the precision it takes to play at a high level, and he wanted this without the distractions of Alcohol and Video Lottery machines. 

Photo provided by Guy Simard, from billardquebec.com

This led to the development of the current system that Grenier has. The Academy is not a pool hall in a traditional sense. It is a place of learning, which sells memberships where players can get lessons geared directly for their skill level by Grenier. Another interesting part of this model is members have 24 hour access to the facility with the use of a "Smart Key." For safety there is a surveillance camera active which will identify when the facility is in use. 

During the grand opening many players and enthusiasts came to show support. Danny Hewitt who is perhaps arguably Québec's number 1 player at this time also drove down to Trois-Rivere to show his support. I would like to congratulate Sylvain Grenier and Josiane Larocque for opening what I hope is the first of many academies that will spring up across Canada, and also thank them for the information necessary to write this article. 

Photo provided by Guy Simard, from billardquebec.com

In Europe and Asia there are many government backed academies similar to this one and it is easily the reason why they currently dominate the sport. I believe academies are the way of the future not only for properly developing players but to extinguish the old stigma of pool halls and the negativity that goes a long with it. Cue Sport Nation looks forward to seeing how this project develops and we are very eager to help where we can. 

Cue Sport Nation Welcomes New Sponsor

By: Markus Noé

For those regulars to our website you may have noticed a few changes within the last week. The most obvious would be that our newest and biggest sponsor to date has launched their Ad. Pool Elite 3D by Lokum Games  has purchased all of our banner space on each section of our website as well as a small ad on our homepage.

This is a fairly new game and already it is considered the best Billiard related game on the market by many, and I believe it is one of the only 3D billiard game on Facebook. Pool Elite 3D has catered to all cue sports as you can play pool, billiards or even snooker in a clean and smooth animated environment. Which is so realistic you can forget that you are playing on your computer.

I welcome everyone to go to Pool Elite Facebook page to download the app. Also for those supporters of Cue Sport Nation there really is no better way to support us then by visiting our sponsors and in this case downloading and playing the App. As this will give them incentive to continue to support us so we can continue our goal to grow the sport.

The next big event that I will be attempting to go to is the Turning Stone Classic August 20-23. This event is an extension of the Joss North East tour it is played twice a year and is one of the biggest events in North America outside the U.S Open. I am currently looking for sponsors to help me cover the expenses involved with travelling. I live 3 hours away from Turning Stone and I am looking for help to cover the cost of driving and hotel, there are lots of angles that can be worked out for potential sponsors and I would be happy discuss any of them. If this interests you I can be contacted at markus.noe@live.com. I would like to thank Pool Elite 3D along with all our valued sponsors for their continued support.

Canadian Billard & Snooker Association Board of Directors - 2015 Election

Posted by: Randall Morrison

The Canadian Billiards & Snooker Association will be facilitating an election to fill three vacant seats on the Board of Directors after the conclusion of the 2015 Annual General

Meeting, held June 13-14th during the Canadian Snooker Championships.
With three directors vacating their positions, including outgoing longtime President, Steve Cooper, the existing Directors heading into this election are:

John White (Ontario) - Serving his fifth term on the Board and third as Vice President, entering into his sixth year as a Director.Randall Morrison (Alberta) - Serving his second term and entering his fourth year as a Director.

The nominees to fill the vacant seats are:

FRANK KAKOUROUS (Ontario)

TERRY DAVIDSON (Ontario)

CANDACE CAMPBELL (New Brunswick)

BRIAN BUTLER (Alberta)

ROB MACARTHUR (Ontario)

DAVE LEATHER (Manitoba)

To learn more about these candidate please view the detailed information sheet at the following link: 2015 CBSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION.

Votes are cast by the provincial delegates or associations representing each province. To show your support for any of the above candidates, or request more information about their application or qualifications, please contact your provincial representative.
A list of provincial representatives can be found on the CBSA REGIONS page.

VOTING CLOSES END OF DAY FRIDAY, JULY 24th!

J.R Cook Wins His First Summer Series Event

By: Markus Noé

Saturday July 11th Rack-M-Up Billiards in Cornwall, Ontario hosted its fifth tournament out of eight scheduled for their "Summer Series." These are handicapped tournaments in which players are given a number and they must race to this number. The handicaps range from 4-7, with the format being alternate break.

It was one of the most competitive tournaments of the season as it was a full field of 16 players. Most of the top eligible players were there, as five 7 ranked players participated. In the first round I had a shot at revenge as I played Kirk Pawnis (7) who defeated me in the final during the second tournament of the season. I was able to win this match 6-4 before meeting up with another (7) Jacques Sauvé who got the best of me 7-6. From there I went on to play another (7) Jeff Flemming who I beat 6-2 and then followed that up with a 6-2 loss to Clayton Disotell.

The story of the day was how two of the lowest handicapped players in the field, J.R Cook (4) and Kevin Tebow (6) both went undefeated into the winners side final. In this match Cook secured another 4-0 win to book his seat into the final. This was his second 4-0 performance of the day as earlier he was able to accomplish this feat against multiple winner of these events and always dangerous Justin "Killer" Miller 4-0.

Tebo was able to rebound from his loss in the winners side final to knock Clayton Disotell out in 3rd place. However he still had no answer for Cook who once again cruised to victory this time winning 4-1. Congratulations to J.R Cook for earning his first tournament victory of his competitive career.

Payouts: J.R Cook $160
               Kevin Tebo $100
               Clayton Disotell $60
               Kirk Pawnis $40