Briones bags first win

Oct 7, 2015

This past weekend, October 3rd and 4th, saw a second occurrence of the popular summer event at the Shooters Snooker and Sports Club called the Group 9 Ball Shootout. Player feedback for this event continues to be very positive.
The Group 9 Ball Shootout separates players into two distinct handicap skill categories –- Handicaps ‘3-5’ and Handicaps ‘6-8’ – competing among themselves on Day 1 and then against each other on Day 2. On Day 1 separate draws are held for the ‘3-5’ handicaps and another for the ‘6-8’ handicaps. The top 8 players from each group return for Day 2 when a re-draw occurs for the 16 players to determine the Sunday matches. All matches are a race to the player’s handicap. This is the only tournament to accommodate ‘3’ handicaps. This new handicap grouping serves as a good introduction for less skilled players to competitive tournament play on the 9 footers. And since Day 1 play is against each player’s relative “peers” there are many close matches. Day 2 also saw several very close matches as well as some “upsets”. Very surprising again was the distribution of players – 27 ‘3-5’ handicap players turned out versus 18 ‘6-8’ handicap players. The total purse was an impressive $3420 with a further $1500 up for grabs from the Player Calcutta. These kinds of payouts generally tend to attract the more skilled players so it is rewarding to see the number of less skilled players wanting to participate.
When Day 1 ended, Caesar Custodin, Steve Losier, Oscar Zapata, Norm Santos, Mashaka Munene, Che Lemmon, Elena Baptiste and Elizabeth Kishimoto had advanced from the ‘3-5’ handicap grouping to play again Sunday. From the ‘6-8’ group, Tony Hong, Norberto de Carlos, Jun Briones, Romeo Zulueta, Martin Yacobazzo, Paul Brazil, Mick Norris and Chris Capinpin were successfully promoted from “Stage 1” to be able to make a Sunday appearance. For those who played their way into Sunday a total of $2710 was available in prize money as $710 had been previously paid out on Saturday. Most players who survived Saturday play received a payout.
As play was concluding Sunday, Jun Briones was sitting in the hot seat on the ‘A’ side waiting for the winner of the ‘B’ side final between Paul Brazil and Mick Norris. In the ‘B’ side final Brazil defeated Norris to face Briones for the tournament title in this double elimination tournament. The undefeated Briones continued his strong play by defeating Brazil in their first match thus avoiding the need for a 2nd match.
Congratulations to Jun Briones on the tournament win. It is good to see new ‘blood’ in the tournaments as the top 3 finishers – Briones, Brazil and Norris – are all relative newcomers to Shooters tournaments.

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. For any of these ‘one-off” events, tournament qualifiers are also being run. Check the Shooters Snookerclub Facebook page and www.thepoolscene for dates and details. Next up is the 2nd installment of the popular Amateur series which will take place October 10th and 11th, 2015.



Place
Player
Rank
Prize Money
Calcutta


1st
Jun Briones
7
$900
$610


2nd
Paul Brazil
6
$570
$370


3rd
Mick Norris
7
$400
$220


4th
Mashaka Munene
5
$280
$130


5-6th
Norm Santos
5
$170
$85


5-6th
Elena Baptiste
3
$170
$85


7-8th
Steve Losier
5
$110



7-8th
Elizabeth Kishimoto
4
$110



Paid to 12 players who were eligible for Sunday play.
$710