Mike Van Boening!

Dec 10, 2016

Ontario was busy this weekend with pool tournaments. Shooters brought out 22 shooters this Amateur 9 Ball event. The field was populated with 6’s with the exception of the prince of pool, Ronald Giron. The favorites in this tournament consisted of Giron, Darwin Madriaja, and Norm Santos. The final 6 included Mike Van Eck versus Kevin Oliveira, Jehlar Fernandez versus Nathan Clarke and Richard Murry versus Steve Menezes. Jehlar and Steve got sent to the B side by Mike and Kevin respectively. This is a particularly special event because Shooters is giving out two spots for the Shooters’ 25th Anniversary Tournament earlier next year.
It was starting to get late when the A side final match between Mike and Kevin started. They started to go rack for rack until Kevin made a few mistakes to give away the lead and Kevin eventually lost 5-4. Jehlar and Nathan’s match was very tightly contested. Jehlar jumped into a 3-0 lead early, but after a couple of bad rolls Nathan tied it right back up. Eventually the match was hill-hill, but after a missed bank on the 5, Jehlar ran out the rest of the rack to win hill-hill. Richard was having his best performance in a while, however Steve managed to hit his gear and run away with the match winning 6-2. Steve now goes on to play Jehlar but Steve’s gear remains high and Steve walks through the match with Jehlar winning 6-3.
There are only 2 matches remaining, the B side final and the tournament final. The two rivals Steve and Kevin are very familiar with each other having played many times including earlier in this tournament. Steve managed to get revenge on Kevin holding his gear close to barbeque, beating Kevin 6-2 and now advancing to the final against Mike Van Eck. Both of whom have been making recent improvements in their game. Mike who has remained undefeated the whole tournament continued that hot streak to beat Steve in the final by a 5-2 score line.

Shooters would like to congratulate Mike for winning this week’s Amateur 9 Ball Tournament and to the other 21 shooters that came out to support the tournaments. Mike and Steve have both won spots into the 25th Anniversary Tournament at Shooters at their respective handicaps. Congratulations also to Kevin O who took third and was one away from securing himself the spot which Steve was given.
Prize Money: $1,080
1. Mike Van Eck - $400
2. Steve Menezes - $260
3. Kevin Oliveira - $170
4. Jehlar Fernandez - $110
5. Richard Murray - $70
6. Nathan Clarke - $70
*Calcutta Not Included*
December 10th – 8 and Under (with two more entries into the 25th Anniversary Tournament)
December 11th – 2-6 9 Ball Event