Davis Takes First Tiger Win, Hospedales Stuns the Field

Tiger pool Tour / Laurel, MD
by Andy Lincoln
billiards News - Side Pockets in Laurel, MD, was the host for the eighth stop of the Tiger pool Tour the weekend of July 7-8. Most of the top players were present and ready to take their shot at the $2,000-added money, but it was Northeast terror Mike Davis and newcomer Simone Hospedales who took home the lion’s share.
Saturday action kicked off with 60 players in the open division event. Brandon Shuff started the day off right with a victory over last event’s winner Danny Mulhollen III. Shuff continued his impressive play with wins over pro player Davis 9-6 and tour regulars Brett Stottlemyer 9-8 and Loye Bolyard 9-4. The bottom half of the bracket looked to be firmly in the control of Shaun Wilkie, who gave up just 12 games in his first 4 matches. Joining Shuff and Wilkie in the final four undefeated going into Sunday were Virginia’s finest, Matt Clatterbuck and Larry Kressel. Eight players remained on the one-loss side.
On Sunday, Shuff gave himself a birthday present in the form of a hard-fought win over Clatterbuck. Wilkie also had his hands full with Kressel but advanced with a 9-7 score. Wilkie continued into the hot seat with a 9-5 win over Shuff.
The story in the elimination bracket was Davis sending one player after another home. After sending four players to the sidelines Saturday, Davis continued his run by eliminating several other strong players. Brian Deska, Joe Russo, and Kressel fell before Davis met up with Clatterbuck. Davis advanced 7-2, placing Clatterbuck into fourth place. Another 7-2 win by Davis ended Shuff’s day. This set up the single race-to-11 final between Davis and Wilkie. Davis won this one 11-7 for his first win on tour this year.
A field of 15 ladies came out to play Sunday. Points leader My-Hanh Lac came out all business, defeating her first two opponents 7-0. She followed this up with a 7-3 win over Falon Farleigh to reach the hot seat match. Tour regular Malea Haacke also rolled with wins over Cheryl Squire, Kim Smith, and Sharon O’Hanlon with little problem The match between Lac and Haacke went to Lac 7-3.
Hospedales traveled all the way from Trinidad in the Caribbean on an extended pool-playing vacation. She suffered a second-round loss 7-6 to Farleigh but came back with three wins in the elimination bracket. Another Hospedales win sent Sherry Pouncey home in fourth place. A see-saw battle with Haacke was won 5-4 by Hospedales, putting her in the single-set final with Lac. Hospedales quickly found herself down 3-1 to Lac in the race to 9, but she fought back, taking advantage of several of Lac’s mistakes to tie the score at 7-7. A couple games later, and Hospedales came away with a 9-7 score to win her first Tiger pool Tour event.
Open Results:
1st Mike Davis
2nd Shaun Wilkie
3rd Brandon Shuff
4th Matt Clatterbuck
5th Larry Kressel
Brett Stottlemyer
7th Joe Russo
Andy Moursund
9th Luther Farley
Tai Bui
Brian Deska
Loye Bolyard
Women’s Results:
1st Simone Hospedales
2nd My-Hanh Lac
3rd Malea Haacke
4th Sherry Pouncey
5th Falon Farleigh
Sharon O’Hanlon
7th Kim Smith
Jin Hee Park

Slivka Takes Two while Lac Lands Four

Tiger pool Tour / Laurel, MD
by Rick Davis
The Tiger pool Tour visited Side Pockets in Laurel, MD, over the June 2-3 weekend, and Jerry Slivka came back from a late loss to claim his second win this season, while My-Hahn Lac continued her reign, going undefeated to take her fourth win of the season.
In the open division a stacked 79-player field emerged, but it was recent EnjoyPool.com 9-ball Championship semifinalist Mike Davis and Slivka who were in control of the board. Starting from opposite ends, they made their way towards each other, sending every opponent west. Highlights included Davis’ defeat of tour regular Danny Mullohen and Larry Kressel, while Slivka dealt with Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie on his road through the charts. Davis and Slivka met in the hot seat match, slicing through the field like no one else was there, and after a double-hill showdown Davis was on top as king of the hill. On the one-loss side Brandon Shuff was recovering from an early loss, taking eight matches before falling to Kressel 7-5 and allowing him to reach the quarterfinals. On the other end of the chart, the player to beat rotated every round until Wilkie arrived to eliminate the remaining hopefuls and face Kressel. Wilkie ousted Kressel 7-5 but then ran out of gas as Slivka drilled him 7-2 in the semifinals to return for another shot at Davis. Slivka was familiar with the finals and put the pressure on Davis early; once in control Slivka increased his lead until finally taking the match 11-9, winning his second tour stop.
In the ladies’ division a 26-player field came out to be sacrificed to Lac, who has completely dominated the tour all season. Lac had the luck to draw one of six opening byes then took four matches, including defeating Ellen Yu 7-3 in the hot seat match, to reach her very familiar spot in the finals. On the one-loss side Malea Haacke and Sherri Pouncey were clawing towards the light, although each slipped just before the quarterfinals. Pouncey was iced by Cheryl Squire 5-1, while Haacke was eliminated by Falon Farleigh 5-3. This put Farleigh and Squire in the quarterfinals. Farleigh made a rare stand in the semifinals, knocking out Yu double-hill to return to the finals. Lac though had another win in sight and drilled through the match 9-1 to take yet another dominating win.
Open Results:
1st Jerry Slivka
2nd Mike Davis
3rd Shaun Wilkie
4th Larry Kressel
5th Brandon Shuff
Joe Cataldi
7th Myke Munoz
Ilir Jaho
9th Walt Hendrick
Mitch Trainham
Brian Deska
Andy Lincoln
Ladies Results:
1st My-Hahn Lac
2nd Falon Farleigh
3rd Ellen Yu
4th Cheryl Squire
5th Sherri Pouncey
Malea Haacke
7th Ceci Strain
Judie Wilson

Tiger Tour Offers a Full Weekend of billiards

Tiger Tour / Hagerstown, MD
by Rick Davis
The Tiger Tour brought out three divisions of play over their April 21-22 weekend event, which took place at Hagerstown billiards and Café in Hagerstown, MD. The open and ladies’ divisions were taken by Carl Jones and My-Hanh Lac, respectively, each going undefeated, while Matt Clatterbuck came back from a late-round loss to claim the bar box division.
With the open division the largest at 55 players, action chipped away through both days. Once the second day was underway the top players began to gain notice. The winners’ side top four offered a talented group as Shaun Wilkie faced Kevin West, and Jones matched up with Brandon Shuff. West got through Wilkie, while Jones defeated Shuff to complete the hot seat match-up. Jones kept pace, sending West to the left side of the chart. On the one-loss side, the story was comebacks. Mike Davis, who took a third-round loss the first day, got through five one-loss side matches, including eliminating Shuff to reach the quarterfinals. Alongside Davis in the quarterfinals was Brett Stottlemeyer, who, after a fourth-round loss, won a trio of one-loss side matches, defeating Wilkie along the way and ending his run by ousting Davis to reach the semifinals. Stottlemeyer then proceeded to eliminate West to reach the finals, where, after all the hard work, Jones slammed the door on him to claim the event.
The one-day event on Sunday gathered an 18-player field in the ladies’ division, where Lac and Farlon Farleigh zipped over to the hot seat match. Past event winner Lac had no trouble and defeated Farleigh. On the one-loss side Gwen Dicket came back from an opening-round loss, taking five matches on the one-loss side to reach the quarterfinals. There Dickert met and eliminated Cheryl Squire, who had been sent over in the previous round by Farleigh. Dickert ousted Squire but was dispatched with by Farleigh just as quickly as she headed to finals for a rematch against Lac. Much the same outcome came in their second encounter, and Lac pulled out another tour win.
Capping off the weekend was a bar box event with a 19-player field. Clatterbuck clashed with Larry Kressel in the hot seat match, where Kressel came out on top. On the one-loss side Jim Repp eliminated Roger Munson in the quarterfinals before following him out the door after Clatterbuck knocked him out in the semifinals. With only one match to go Clatterbuck made a surge forward and came back to claim the first-place spot.
Open Results:
1st Carl Jones
2nd Brett Stottlemeyer
3rd Kevin West
4th Mike Davis
5th Brandon Shuff
Shaun Wilkie

Brothers and Lac Control Their Comebacks

Tiger pool Tour / Arnold, MD
by Rick Davis
Filling Bill and Billies Cuesport in Arnold, MD, the Tiger pool Tour pulled in 85 and 24 players in the open and ladies’ billiards divisions, respectively, over the March 31-April 1 weekend. In the open division Josh Brothers recovered from a brief visit on the one-loss side to claim the title, while My-Hahn Lac made a large comeback to do the same.

Slivka and Rhee Undefeated in Rockville
Tiger Tour / Rockville, MD

By Rick Davis
Tearing up the competition on the Tiger Tour, Jerry Slivka bested the open division while Sueyen Rhee did the same on the ladies’ side. Taking place at Orange ball billiards in Rockville, MD, the pair of double-elimination 9-ball events was held March 10-11.