9 big upshots of 40th Annual Texas Open 9-ball championship.
By Mike “Tiger” MacTiegre
I am heading out to Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock to watch my friends in great 9-ball pool action on Friday August 30th. The Open players’ meeting is Friday night. I will take my wooden cue-stick shafts in to be conditioned by Ron Geyer of The Custom Cue Connection. It is always nice to play with a like-new shaft and Ron is known for his craft of using a lathe to hone the shaft perfectly smooth; only $7 per cue. There is usually a long line at his booth in the back.
The Skinny Bob’s Open T-shirt looks great this year and comes in 4 colors in Men’s and Women’s sizes with all the Open winner’s names on the back. They ran out last year so I will be getting mine early this year.
On, Saturday September 1st thru the 3rd, 128 elite players from around the US and Texas will be competing for over $10,000 in Open Division prizes at the longest running 9-ball tournament in US history. Sunday, the ladies’ 9-ball event begins, more on that later. Last year, some of the most exciting moments included 80 year old Bob Vanover (8-time winner of Texas Open) thrilled the crowd with terrific ball control to put his opponent Gerald Jimenez in the loser’s bracket. Bob played some astounding safety’s which induced about 6 Ball-in-Hand run-outs to win 9-7.
The format is double-elimination, winner-breaks and every seat is a great seat. Bob says the secret is to sit on the top of the bleachers so that you can watch both sides and place bar orders easily. I like being up-close and personal to the early round action on the Gold-Crown III 9’ tables with new blue Simonis 860 HR tournament cloth.
People from all over the Texas come to get out of the heat. Bob installs extra cooling, stadium seats inside for spectators and hire extra wait staff. Don’t forget the snack bar. AZBilliards publishes the tournament brackets during play and has daily news about the world billiards scene. AZ also has columns by professional writers and publishes their own world rankings and money list.
Again this year they are providing players with the Magic Ball Rack which is a diamond-shaped, thin vinyl template that has holes where you place the Aramith Belgium tournament billiard balls and get a perfect rack every time. The table has 2 spots marked on the felt where you align the top and the bottom hole, then just place the ball on a hole, and it self-centers itself to perfect spot. In 2010, they used a metal triangle rack called the Delta-13. Players have always complained about the racking process – it takes too much time and players can tilt the rack for an advantage. On TV, they have a surrogate racking specialist, but here the loser racks for the winner. It is important to have the head ball (one) touching the two balls directly behind it to get a good solid break. It is required to drive 4 balls to a rail on the break, else it is a foul. We always play Texas Express Rules where the winner breaks, so I had to do a lot of racking. No more splinters.
There is a strategy to racking the balls called the 2-ball strategy. You want to place the 2-ball on the opposite side of the diamond from where the player breaks to increase the probability that the 2 will be far from the 1 after the break and make it harder for a run out. My daddy always told me, “Son, never run out of balls to shoot at too early”. But I think that only applies to 8-ball.
Bob is raffling a handmade “40th Annual Texas Open Championship” cue from James Hanshew of Hanshew Custom Cues. The lucky winner will be announced during the weekend. This cue will be part of the Open history, so I will buy my share of the raffle tickets this year. I have my lucky rock in my pocket, and it has always been good to me.
Returning 2012 finals match players are champion Chip Compton (ranked 71st) and runner-up Joey Grey (ranked 58th).
Trivia question: Who made the Texas Open famous by breaking and running out 11 racks in a row in the championship bracket without missing a shot? The Texas Open trophy is named after him: The Bob Vanover trophy. His name is on the players list again this year – maybe he can win a record 9th time!
Professional pool player and blogger Melinda Bailey sat down behind me against the brass railing separating the bar area from the players. In 2007, I bought “Mel” in the Calcutta and she won 3rd place in the ladies division. That was fun winning on her. Melinda has just started Omega Billards Tour in D/FW area.
Returning 2012 ladies’ event champion, Vivian “Texas Tornado” Villareal, has been a WPBA Touring Professional for over 10-years, she 17 career titles.
Local ladies Jennifer Kraber and Julia Rabb will see action against top players Bailey, Little, Villarreal, Calhoun, Kim Sanders, Amanda Lambert, Helen Hayes and Kim Pierce.
For Info
Call Lewis Jones at 870-299-3301
or Skinny Bob’s 512-733-1111
By Mike “Tiger” MacTiegre
I am heading out to Skinny Bob’s Billiards in Round Rock to watch my friends in great 9-ball pool action on Friday August 30th. The Open players’ meeting is Friday night. I will take my wooden cue-stick shafts in to be conditioned by Ron Geyer of The Custom Cue Connection. It is always nice to play with a like-new shaft and Ron is known for his craft of using a lathe to hone the shaft perfectly smooth; only $7 per cue. There is usually a long line at his booth in the back.
The Skinny Bob’s Open T-shirt looks great this year and comes in 4 colors in Men’s and Women’s sizes with all the Open winner’s names on the back. They ran out last year so I will be getting mine early this year.
On, Saturday September 1st thru the 3rd, 128 elite players from around the US and Texas will be competing for over $10,000 in Open Division prizes at the longest running 9-ball tournament in US history. Sunday, the ladies’ 9-ball event begins, more on that later. Last year, some of the most exciting moments included 80 year old Bob Vanover (8-time winner of Texas Open) thrilled the crowd with terrific ball control to put his opponent Gerald Jimenez in the loser’s bracket. Bob played some astounding safety’s which induced about 6 Ball-in-Hand run-outs to win 9-7.
The format is double-elimination, winner-breaks and every seat is a great seat. Bob says the secret is to sit on the top of the bleachers so that you can watch both sides and place bar orders easily. I like being up-close and personal to the early round action on the Gold-Crown III 9’ tables with new blue Simonis 860 HR tournament cloth.
People from all over the Texas come to get out of the heat. Bob installs extra cooling, stadium seats inside for spectators and hire extra wait staff. Don’t forget the snack bar. AZBilliards publishes the tournament brackets during play and has daily news about the world billiards scene. AZ also has columns by professional writers and publishes their own world rankings and money list.
Again this year they are providing players with the Magic Ball Rack which is a diamond-shaped, thin vinyl template that has holes where you place the Aramith Belgium tournament billiard balls and get a perfect rack every time. The table has 2 spots marked on the felt where you align the top and the bottom hole, then just place the ball on a hole, and it self-centers itself to perfect spot. In 2010, they used a metal triangle rack called the Delta-13. Players have always complained about the racking process – it takes too much time and players can tilt the rack for an advantage. On TV, they have a surrogate racking specialist, but here the loser racks for the winner. It is important to have the head ball (one) touching the two balls directly behind it to get a good solid break. It is required to drive 4 balls to a rail on the break, else it is a foul. We always play Texas Express Rules where the winner breaks, so I had to do a lot of racking. No more splinters.
There is a strategy to racking the balls called the 2-ball strategy. You want to place the 2-ball on the opposite side of the diamond from where the player breaks to increase the probability that the 2 will be far from the 1 after the break and make it harder for a run out. My daddy always told me, “Son, never run out of balls to shoot at too early”. But I think that only applies to 8-ball.
Bob is raffling a handmade “40th Annual Texas Open Championship” cue from James Hanshew of Hanshew Custom Cues. The lucky winner will be announced during the weekend. This cue will be part of the Open history, so I will buy my share of the raffle tickets this year. I have my lucky rock in my pocket, and it has always been good to me.
Returning 2012 finals match players are champion Chip Compton (ranked 71st) and runner-up Joey Grey (ranked 58th).
Trivia question: Who made the Texas Open famous by breaking and running out 11 racks in a row in the championship bracket without missing a shot? The Texas Open trophy is named after him: The Bob Vanover trophy. His name is on the players list again this year – maybe he can win a record 9th time!
Professional pool player and blogger Melinda Bailey sat down behind me against the brass railing separating the bar area from the players. In 2007, I bought “Mel” in the Calcutta and she won 3rd place in the ladies division. That was fun winning on her. Melinda has just started Omega Billards Tour in D/FW area.
Returning 2012 ladies’ event champion, Vivian “Texas Tornado” Villareal, has been a WPBA Touring Professional for over 10-years, she 17 career titles.
Local ladies Jennifer Kraber and Julia Rabb will see action against top players Bailey, Little, Villarreal, Calhoun, Kim Sanders, Amanda Lambert, Helen Hayes and Kim Pierce.
For Info
Call Lewis Jones at 870-299-3301
or Skinny Bob’s 512-733-1111