Hennessee Ousts Van Boening
By Michael Basha
Jesse Middlebrook continued his excellent run today at the Great Southern billiard Tour championship with a much-deserved win over Alex Pagulayan in the final four of the winner’s bracket. Pagulayan built a 7-3 lead before he gave Middlebrook a chance at the table, but when he did Middlebrook capitalized and ran the set out to win 11-7. Middlebrook’s victory over Pagulayan will set him up against Sparky Ferrell for the winner’s bracket. Ferrell managed to defeat Rafael Martinez 11-7 earlier in the day to stay undefeated.
On the one-loss side, Jonathan Pinegar ousted Shane Van Boening 11-8 in a tactical thriller. The two players traded racks early on with Van Boening eventually building a lead up to 8-5. Pinegar manufactured an out from a half-hearted safety from Van Boening and managed to run four racks to a 9-8 advantage. A safety battle on the 1 ball saw Pinegar end up on two fouls with an extremely difficult kick. Pinegar managed to somehow score an amazing hit off the end rail with a half-massé and stay alive in the game. The next time Pinegar came to the table, he was faced with a two-rail kick on the 3 ball, which he kicked straight into the opposite corner pocket and ran the rest of the rack to get to the hill. A solid break left a difficult layout for Pinegar on the hill, but he managed to navigate the table perfectly for the run out and the 11-8 victory.
Larry Nevel will face Pagulayan later today, while Pinegar will have to get by Rafael Martinez to continue his quest for the title.

The Scottish Lion Roars
Tri-State Tour / Somerset, NJ

by Rick Davis
The Tri-State Tour drew in 47 billiard player field over the January 19-20 weekend where One Shot billiards in Somerset, NJ, was host to their B-D handicapped event. Coming through the field strong was Stewart “The Scottish Lion” Warnock, who has taken the top spot in two of the last three events, with a runner-up title in between to finish up the trio.
Late action on the winners’ side saw Warnock streak to the hot seat match after defeating Danny Cintron 7-5, while tour regular Jan Aleria bested Pablo Sanz by the same margin to keep pace with Warnock. In the hot seat match Warnock defeated Aleria 7-5 to claim the king of the kill.
Over on the one-loss side George Osipovitch was working on a comeback, eliminating Greg Hecht and Cintron, both 7-5, while Sanz ousted Lenny Knapp 7-3. This set the quarterfinals match between Sanz and Osipovitch, which ended with a very familiar score for the weekend … 7-5, in favor of Osipovitch. As the semifinals began Osipovitch looked good from his huge comeback streak, but it was Aleria who took control, taking the match 7-4 to earn a final crack at Warnock.
After an event full of close scores the finals did not disappoint as Warnock and Aleria went double-hill. It was a fitting final match for these two, who have been dominating the tour lately. With each taking a first and second finish the past two events, this would be the tie breaker, so to speak, and after the last ball fell it was Warnock who cinched the victory.
Results:
1st Stewart Warnock
2nd Jan Aleria
3rd George Osipovitch
4th Pablo Sanz
5th Danny Cintron
Lenny Knapp
7th Greg Hecht
Mike Kaborski

The Reign of Shane Continues In Chattanooga
By Michael Basha
The $1,000 entry 10-ball ring game finished up in Chattanooga at the Diamond billiard Club, with Shane Van Boening taking first place over Johnny Archer. The ring game started with two tables and ten billiards players with the bet at $50 a game per player. The line-up of players included Shannon Daulton, Alex Pagulayan, Shane Van Boening, Johnny Archer, Sparky Ferrell, Cliff Joyner, Billy Young, Steve Moore, Larry Nevel, and Bobby Pickle.
Joyner was the first man out after 14 games, while Nevel lasted just six games more. Daulton and Pagulayan got knocked out after the bet was raised to $400 a game in rack 21, and Ferrell and Moore soon followed. Since Ferrell and Moore were tied when they were put out, they were allowed to play a single game for $1,500 and third place. Moore won the lag and broke dry, leaving Ferrell a long, tough 1 ball, which he struck well but failed to pocket. Moore cleaned up for the $1,500 payday, leaving only Archer and Van Boening left to slug it out with $5,000 going to the winner and $3,500 to second place.
With the bet sitting at $800 a game, Van Boening won rack 26 and posted a smash and clear in rack 27, but Archer fought back and accomplished the same feat, running out from Van Boening’s dry break and breaking and running the next to stay within striking distance. They went back and forth over the next three racks, with Van Boening winning two out of three to stay in the lead. The bet was raised to $1,600 a game in rack 32 with Archer’s bankroll sitting at $3,550 and Van Boening holding the lead with $6,450. Van Boening saw the end in sight, and he broke and ran two racks to put Archer all in. A dry break from Van Boening allowed Archer nothing more than a kick shot, and afterwards Van Boening was left straight in. A perfectly laid-out rack spelled the end for Archer, and Van Boening cleared the table beautifully to take the first-place prize.
Shane Van Boening $5000
Johnny Archer $3500
Steve Moore $1500

Final Twelve at Great Southern billiard Tour Championship
By Michael Basha
Shane Van Boening was meticulously counting the bracket spaces on the tournament board, counting aloud to add up how many matches he would have to win to snap off the tournament. Van Boening defeated a tough string of opponents Saturday, including an 11-4 win over Steve Moore, an 11-2 victory over Louis “The Wolf” Ulrich, and an 11-9 grudge match over Cliff Joyner. Van Boening will meet up with Danny Smith tomorrow in the afternoon.
On the winners’ side of the bracket, Jesse Middlebrook has continued to amaze, defeating Larry “The Truth” Nevel 11-5 and then Josh Roberts 11-7 to earn a spot Sunday against Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, who survived a hill-hill bout with Bill Bailey and then defeated up-and-comer Danny Smith 11-5 to continue his winners’ side campaign. Rafael Martinez and Sparky Ferrell will play on Sunday as well, with Martinez advancing over Cliff Joyner 11-7 earlier in the day and Ferrell defeating Johnathan Teder 11-6 to earn his return for Sunday.
On the one-loss side, Jonathan Pinegar bested Gabe Owen 11-6 and will play Josh Roberts Sunday, while Teder will face Nevel and Vilmont will play Billy Young.
The $1,000 entry 10-ball ring game is set to go off tonight and will start at $50 a game per player and will rise in price all the way to $800 a game toward the end of the match. The high-caliber field includes Larry Nevel, Shane Van Boening, Johnny Archer, Steve Moore, Alex Pagulayan, Billy Young, Bobby Pickle, and Cliff Joyner. Stay tuned for breaking news about this challenging match.

Hamlet Holds off Pureza
Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour / Fuquay Varina, NC

by Rock City Promotions
On The Snap billiards in Fuquay Varina, NC, hosted the January 19-20 stop of the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour. A field of 42 players braved the cold weather and threat of snow for the $1,000 guaranteed added main event, in which Arnold Hamlet held off a much younger Brandon Pureza in the final match.
To kick things off, an early bird tournament was held on Friday night, where Pureza defeated Craig Wolfe 7-2 in the final match. In the junior tournament Sunday, Jackson Jeffries defeated Andrew Coley 9-5 in the final match. Also on Sunday, a second-chance tournament was won by Robert Ray, who managed a 7-6 win over Chris Vollmar.
In the main event, Hamlet drew a bye but then had his work cut out for him. He scored wins over Shane Winters 7-5, Paul Scarboro 7-3, and Jeff Pruitt 7-5 before losing to Rodney Strickland 7-4. On the one-loss side Hamlet defeated Johnny Griffin 7-6 and Mike Davis 7-6 to set up a rematch with Strickland, this time finishing on the positive side 7-1.
Meanwhile, Pureza ran through his first five opponents with little difficulty, defeating Deamon Dawson 7-2, Mae Beale 7-1, Anthony Barrington 7-3, Johnny Griffin 7-3, and Michael Fuller 7-3. Then, in the hot seat match, Strickland took Pureza to the hill before falling 7-6.
The final match saw Hamlet take an early 5-1 lead before Pureza finally got a break—an empty one for Hamlet. Pureza ran the rack and was poised for a comeback. Midway through the eighth rack, however, Pureza missed a crucial 5 ball, and Hamlet cleaned the table. Pureza then locked up a 2-ball in the ninth rack to give Hamlet a 7-2 lead.
In the tenth and eleventh racks, Pureza pulled to within three games by taking advantage of Hamlets’ misses, which included a 9 ball left in the jaws of a corner pocket. A dry break put Hamlet back in charge, and he inched his way to a 9-5 win.
Results:
1st Arnold Hamlet
2nd Brandon Pureza
3rd Rodney Strickland
4th Mike Davis
5th Michael Fuller
Johnny Griffin
7th Anthony Barrington
Ron Park
9th Larry Faulk
Jeff Pruitt
Robert Ray
Sam Monday