Highest and/or Favorite Tournament Finish and WHY?

APA9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Here's your chance to brag! What's your highest and/or favorite tournament finish and, if it's a favorite, why?
 
APA9 said:
Here's your chance to brag! What's your highest and/or favorite tournament finish and, if it's a favorite, why?

It has to be 17th at the US Open last year (what a field!!!) and virtually dead last at the 2004 WPC in Taipei (just because I earned the right to be there).
 
I know Rude Dog won the big Lake Havasu Open 8-ball Championship. I don't know if he's going to talk about that or not though.
 
favorite tourny

My goes way back, as i was a sag in the army and played in 14.1 in the all europe tourny and won region i was in then went to berlin germany to play this before the wall came down, well i won distric there, went to all europe finals and won 8th out of all europe, makes old man hold his head a little higher THANKS STICK KYTLE:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
Coming in 9-12th in 93 US 14:1 a month before i broke a bone in my foot, i told my mom that i would crawl around the table if necessary.The tour. dir. was sympathetic and let me play in my socks,it was actually comical in a tux, no shoes, and limping around the table. The spectators knew the story and kind of cheered me on which helped make this a great memory.
 
Favorite would have to be winning the 2006 Snow Rondy (little sister tournament to the Alaskan Fur Rondy).
There was a guy named Ken Wardwell, a real estate agent.... loved pool that got killed in an auto accident a short while back. So the tournament was dedicated to Ken.
Wasnt a huge tourney, but was an emotional night, everybody who played in it knew and really liked Ken. Was a cool night.
Chuck
 
2 months later I went to Taiwan with a cast on my foot, my roommate was Ernesto Dominguez who warned me the crowd was pro-taiwanese,my pants barely went over the cast and i was still hobbling around. I finished 9-12th when I lost the crowd stood and clapped, that was a great moment because i'd gained there respect.
 
Didn't you win a US OPEN in one pocket, Leil? I figure that has to be high on the list.

One thing I know for sure, you sure beat the tar out of the legend R. Allen on the one pocket match taped by accu-stats. Even Freddie the Beard was impressed.
 
Leil gay said:
Coming in 9-12th in 93 US 14:1 a month before i broke a bone in my foot, i told my mom that i would crawl around the table if necessary.The tour. dir. was sympathetic and let me play in my socks,it was actually comical in a tux, no shoes, and limping around the table. The spectators knew the story and kind of cheered me on which helped make this a great memory.

Great story, Leil. I assume you meant one month after you broke your foot right? I love the stories of years gone by, and hope you will be able to contribute plenty of them.

gr. Dave
 
I didn't win, but I made 4 rounds at the annual Pete Sinkler invitational 14.1 tourney in Downingtown PA. I worked there, and we had a late cancellation, so I filled in. Some of the guys there were....Hopkins, Baroutti, Maidhoff, Calovito, Toth, Don Polo, and a few more killers I'm forgetting. I didn't really run any big numbers, just a bunch of 30's/40's that won me a few matches.

I was never so nervous in my life!:D

Gerry
 
Small local APA Bar tournament.

I am currently an APA 6 and I had to play an APA 8 in the middle of the tourney. We played modified 9 ball races so we wouldnt be there all day. He had to make 31 and I had to make 25 balls. Well when we played he crushed me. 31 to 0. I only had 1 chance at the table and that was to kick at a safed ball that I left as a duck for him. He broke and ran the first rack. There was one inning in the second rack where I was kicking at the safe and then he broke and ran the last rack and snapped a ball in on the final break to make his 31. It was pretty bad but that guy shot strong and had one of the strongest bar table breaks I have ever seen. I commented about his break and he rolled his sleave up to reveal a tattoo of a 9 ball going into a pocket with the name "sledge" under it. Makes sense.

Well anyway I am now in the losers bracket and advanced to the finals only to face "sledge" again. He didnt lose any matches so I had to beat him twice in the finals since it was double elim. Sure enough I pulled it out by one ball in the end.

It wasnt a big payout, I think it was 110 bucks, but the fact that I was able to pull out 2 wins against him after he decimated me 31 to 0 earlier in the tournament made me pretty happy.
 
I didnt finish high in this tournament BUT ........
Im no where near a short stop player .............
They do the draw for the tournament and I draw a local short stop for the first match. Somehow I beat him 5-4 .... he was a buddy of mine and asked me afterwards ... " why did you do that?" I did a really awesome 3 rail shot for the 8 and got perfect on the 9. He said , "I cant believe you know that shot". I got lucky and honestly beat him. Thats tournament play for ya .I have no right beating him at all but it happens and I was pretty happy !!!LOL
 
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Having won no tournements with any real quality shooters, my favorite memory is my boss letting me go play in a tournement during my lunch break.

Went to the tourney, won 100 something for first, and came back and finished my 12 hour shift (second shift hours) at the chemical plant. My boss even paid me for the time I was gone since I won.

Now that's a cool boss.
 
I have a few fun wins, nothing major..

2nd in VNEA International Championships (a jawed 7 ball to get to the 9, away from winning :( )

Won qualifiers in 3 different tours one year - the S. CA tour, the N. CA tour and the NW tour.

Won 3 Scotch Doubles tournaments on 3 consecutive weekends, with 3 different partners. :p

My recent win against a field of 46 women at The Parlor Billiards, including Ellen Van Buren, losing my 2nd match and beating Cathy Metzinger in the finals.

Won another regional tour stop once after losing my FIRST match and going all the way back around and beating Mary Hopkin twice in the finals.

Got 7-8th in a major regional OPEN event. People out of the tournament watching while I was still in - Dan Louie, Mike Zimmerman, Raul Abenojar, Tim Tweedell, Kris Iverson. I remember I went 7-9 against Tom Mercure
(Soldier Boy) before I knew who he was.

Won straight 10 weeks, a local women's weekly tournament and the extra Finals tournament they held.

Our Friday night tournament where I won, my husband got 2nd and Raul? got 3rd. This tournament is usually filled..and with some strong players.

These are the highlight wins that have kept me in the game. Now don't start a thread about biggest chokes that we remember! LOL
 
Winning the ACU-I in 1992. I was out playing pool (imagine that) til 5am the night before I flew to Colorado for nationals. The first day was a single evening match where I got drilled. The next day I went through the loser bracket and won in the finals 7-6. I led in the finals 6-3 and left my opponent near frozen to one of my balls with his last ball (8ball acui) down table near the side rail. I really thought it was over until he jacked up with the cue coming straight up and down and he massed 180 degrees around my ball went down table about 4 feet and cut his ball in and ran out. It took me a few min to lift my jaw off of the floor.

My next shot to win came double hill where i cut a ball in about 80 degrees down a rail and ran out.
 
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APA9 said:
Here's your chance to brag! What's your highest and/or favorite tournament finish and, if it's a favorite, why?

APA9,
That's an EASY one. Though I've won a couple of local tournaments, won a few gambling matches, beaten a few pro's in short races; the BEST experience was winning the AZB Room Q-Skill Challenge tournament at the 2006 DCC.

Sounds silly, but there was a LOT of pressure with all of our peers sure to be notified of any lapses. Breakup and I had cajoled, pushed, and generally insulted most of the board to get them to participate in the Drivermaker Memorial Holiday Tournament; to perform poorly would have been devastating. After commenting on numerous occasions how much strategy and experience in playing this particular game help the score; it was time to put up or shut up.

We had 8 players, each a pretty good player (ie. better than me); each to shoot 2 racks of Q-Skill Challenge. I drew last in the shooting order, and much to my astonishment the first 7 scores were in single digits (20 points max. score). I was extremely nervous - the Diamond table was TIGHT. Luckily I got a good spread, took my time and was able to eke out a perfect 20. The second round was a little easier for everyone, but I only needed 4 balls in my last rack to win, which was easily accomplished.

Performing well in front of your peers is tough to do, and was very satisfying on this occasion. With the winner's prize money I purchased the raffle tickets that won me a spot as Efren's partner against Jeanette Lee and mthornto (you can ask breakup for details, he probably remembers the match better than me) - so all of those hours I've spent at Q-Skill Challenge were well spent.
 
2005 VNEA Championships

I won both the 8-ball and 9-ball open divisions for my biggest tournament wins. Spending a week in Vegas with my friends playing pool and hanging out.....Great! Coming back from the one loss side in both divisions to beat the same guys that sent me to the losers side (Craig Riley aka "The One" in the 9-ball division)........Priceless!!

Reverend Dave
 
My husband's best win

Mike Zimmerman, my husband, played in Vegas one year. It was a format that has never been done again nationally (we ran one locally that was a lot of fun). Any MISS was BIH. That's right, no safeties.

There were around 190 players. Mike lost his first match to Keith McCready and came back around. He was playing Kim Davenport and was up 8-5. Kim wins the next one, and while he moves his bead says, "That's 6, Zimmerman", he wins the next one and says, "That's 7, Zimmerman, wins the next one, and says, "That's 8, Zimmerman.

Mike wins the double hill game and tells Kim, "That's 9, Kim!" :p

He lost the next one to Ernesto, but took 4th.
 
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