Local Grinder Makes Finals in Ottawa, Hewitt and Klatt with Strong Showings State Side

Platon Liolios, another up and comer out of Rack-M-Up Billiards made his second finals appearance this past Saturday at Dooley's in Ottawa. This was the second last tournament of the ABO season which has 8 tournaments with a Grande Finale for those who play 4/8. Liolios was cruising until he ran into rival B player Christine Gauthier who has been enjoying her own success this year and showed why sending him to the one loss side 7-1. There he returned back to form eliminating myself and another A player Jim Moffat to earn his finals appearance. Unfortunately for Liolios, fate interfered as his opponent in the finals Gilbert Carrier, was not only playing well but had the rolls on his side as he fluked a few shots that stole some games. All in all it was another good showing for our locals at the ABO as it appears one of us is a threat every tournament to win. Next tournament for this Circuit will be held at Terminus located in Gatineau on March 15th.

Joss N/E Update

Once again Danny Hewitt took down a Joss tour stop without much difficulty. This particular field was not stacked with top players as Hewitt on paper was the run away favorite to win this event. However in 9 ball anything can happen and even if one is the favorite execution is still important. Hewitt charged through to the winners side final to meet Dave Hernandez. It was a close match that Hewitt lost 9-8, showing his experience Hewitt immediately played the losers side final finding his game and quickly won 9-0. This was a true double elimination tournament, meaning Hewitt had to beat Hernandez twice to win. Which he accomplished with ease after finding his game in the previous match and taking the $1,000  top prize.

Also at the Chuck Markulis Memorial Jason Klatt had an impressive 8th place finish out of a field of 128 top pros. His next stop is the U.S Barbox Championships in Reno this week where he will get a chance at 8,9 and 10 ball titles. Klatt is a contender in any tournament he enters but even more so in Reno as he is the defending  U.S 8 ball Barbox Champion, good luck to all out Canadians this week!

Canadians Making Presence Felt Down South

Joss NE Tour Stop

This has been a great month for our Canadian talent who have headed south to partake in some professional tournaments.  It started with Montreal native Danny Hewitt being victorious at a Joss NE-9-ball tour stop held at Sharp Shooters Billiards in Amsterdam NY which took place February 8th and 9th.

A field of 45 showed up and Hewitt crushed the winners side of the bracket as no one got past 5 games on a race to 9. Notably on his way to the finals he beat veteran professional Jeremy Sossei 9-0. Sossei is no push over as he is a regular winner on the Joss Tour and this pas September finished runner up at the Turning Stone Classic Final to Earl Strickland.  Hewitt met Sossei again in the final as he fought his way through the losers side, once again Hewitt was too much easily winning 9-2 and  $1000.  I had the pleasure of watching this stream live for free and Hewitt was amazing to watch has he put on a break and run clinic. Its easy to forget what kind of talent Hewitt really is as he is not a touring professional per say mostly playing in upper New York State when he does cross in to the U.S.  Also up and comer and friend of Rack-M-Up Billiards Mike Donnelly won the second chance tournament who is not Canadian but gets honorable mentions.


WPBA Masters

Next up is Brittany Bryant who was fresh of her win at the Music City Open last month  and was playing with confidence has she battled back from an early loss to finish tied for 7th. This was an impressive showing for the 22 year old who has been a well known professional in Canada for a few years now. However she is really starting to make her mark among the best women players in the world. Also Bryant followed up this performance by returning to her hometown of Guelph Ontario to cut through a field of 32 to win the Royal City 9 Ball Challenge.

Jay Swanee Memorial

John Morra who has been the most consistent Canadian this past year, had another impressive performance finishing 5th at the Jay Swanee Memorial. This annual event is very popular among the professionals as 192 players showed up to partake. Morra won three matches on the winners side before matching up against Filipino world beater Carlo Biado who sent him to the losers bracket.  There he won six matches getting wins over top players such as Ernesto Dominquez and Brandon Shuff. Morra is one player all Canadian fans are keeping an eye on as it is evident he has the talent to take down a major tournament such as a U.S Open or a Worlds. With his continuous improvement this year could be the year.

Local Shooters and More Descend Upon Rack-Em-Up Billiards For Heart and Stroke Event

Part owner Doug Disotell congratulating the top two. 

This past weekend  February 8th/9th Doug Disotell and Amanda Collins owners of Rack-M-Up Billiards donated their services to host the second annual "Billiard for Heart Tournament." A full field of 32 showed up to support the cause. Mostly locals however some came from as far as Valleyfeild, Waterloo, Akwesasne, Plattsburg N.Y and Lake Placid. Money was donated through way of Raffle, Calcutta and entries from the tournament. A $1000 was raised  which goes towards the "Heart Month" fundraising campaign put on by the Heart and Stroke Foundation

This was a handicapped event with the lowest ranked players racing to 4 games while the highest ranked players raced to 9. Local pool hall junkie J.R Cook got off to a good start wining  his first match 5-3 against rival player Kevin Thibeault (5). It was smooth sailing for J.R after that as no one was able to threatened his handicap the entire tournament as he booked his seat into the final  5-2 against Jay Hall in the winners side final (9).

Much of the same could be said for former local Jayson Montgomery(7) who now plays out of Waterloo. He went 3 rounds on the winners side of the bracket before running into Christian Isabelle out of Valleyfield (8) who was an early favorite to win this tournament. After losing a tough match Montgomery got to work grinding out the "B" side of the bracket getting wins over Denis Ryan, local journeyman Mike (Nature Boy) Mitchell and Jayson Hall.  Montgomery played some solid pool to get through the "B" side as he eliminated 3 top players who were favored by many to win this event. Montgomery on fire form his previous matches made quick work of J.R Cook in the final winning 7-2, an unfortunate end for J.R but all in all an impressive weekend for him as it is clear all of his practice is beginning to pay off.

I am pleased to say the weekend went off without a hitch. Matches were played relatively on time and at reasonable pace. There were no arguments as each player respected their opponent and the referee's in charge. Spectators were treated to some exceptional pool from local favorites and out of town road warriors such as Denis Ryan and Christian Isabelle, all while helping a great cause. A big thank you goes out to everyone who supported this weekends event and we all look forward to the next pool tournament at Rack-M-Up Billiards.

More Information on upcoming events by the Heart and Stroke Foundation can be found @ www.heartandstoke.com 

Jayson Hall left and Jayson Montgomery right playing their B side Final Match

                                            Tournament Payouts                         Calcutta Payouts
1. Jayson Montgomery                     425                                                   450                      
2. J.R Cook                                     275                                                   325
3.Jayson Hall                                   175                                                   225
4.Mike Mitchell                               125                                                   180
5.Denis Ryan                                     90                                                    97.50
6.Christian Isabelle                            90                                                    97.50
7.Justin Miller                                    50    
8. Maurice Hearne                            50

Canadians Klatt & Morra Impressive at Derby City Classic.

Throughout this past week in southern Indiana the Horseshoe Casino played host to one of the biggest events of the year, the Derby City Classic. Pool Legends, Hustlers and up and comers  alike flock to this eight day event each year. There truly is something for everyone at Derby City as events include 9 Ball, Banks, One Pocket, 14.1 Straight Pool and of course lots of gambling action.

Dennis Orcollo won the 14.1 and with impressive finishes in the other events was awarded the coveted Master of the Table award which added 20,000 to Orcollo's pocket.  Canadians were well represented as Jason (Klatticus) Klatt finished third in the 9 ball event only to lose to friend and fellow Canadian John Morra.

Klatticus who became known a few years ago with his 5th place finish at the U.S Open lost a close match 9-8 to Morra who ended up playing none other than top American, Shane Van Boening, in the final. Morra who's coming out party happened last year when he won the Derby City 9 Ball Banks Tournament was looking to finish a successful week by adding another Derby City title to his resume.

Morra, who lost 11-10 to SVB in the 10 ball Big Foot challenge, was looking for a little revenge as he was on the hill first in that match before SVB won. He then went on to win the tournament. Morra got off to an early 4-1 lead as he came with a good break to start the match and was running racks. Eventually SVB went on to tie it at 5-5 then broke in a 9 to take a 6-5 lead. To Morra's credit he did not let his misfortune bother him and tied the match up at 7-7 then went to the hill first at 8-7. Unfortunately Morra came up with what I believed to be his only dry break of the match and SVB ran out that rack. Morra had another chance in the final rack; he played a beautiful safety but got a bad roll and fluked a ball while leaving himself hooked which cost him the match. However as quoted in an AZbilliard article by David Thompsom from Medium Pool "There was no player, this week, who compared with John's ability to spear in balls, the length of the table, under pressure." 

Morra, who is only 24, is really starting to show his potential. With him and Klatticus playing at such a high level it leaves us Canadians hopeful for another World or U.S open Champ in the near Future.

Charity Pool Tournament to Be Hosted at Rack-M-Up Billiards

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death for Canadians. Thus, February is dubbed "Heart Month" by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. During this month the H&S Foundation will have a blitz of events geared to promoting awareness of the risk of heart disease. Doug Disotell and Amanda Collins, owners of Rack-M-Up Billiards, have decided to donate the use of their pool tables during the day Saturday, February 8 and Sunday, February 9 for a charity pool event.

This event will be handicapped and it is open to C level players up to AAA, with no Pro's or Semi-Pros permitted. AAA will be racing to 9 and C players to 4 while A and AA will be somewhere in between depending on ranking given by Doug Disotell. These Handicaps are tentative for now and might be subject to change; these numbers are just to give people an idea of the system. This event will max out at 32 players which is expected to happen as 9 are already signed up and these tournaments are historically very well attended.

Entry deadline, if the field is not full, will be 11:00 a.m. the day of the tournament. There will also be a Calcutta which will start at 11:15 a.m.. Play will start at noon sharp until 7:00 p.m. then continue the next day at noon. Rack-M-Up Billiards has ten 9ft tables, seven which are Black Crown Original and two Black Crown 2's.

For any question regarding the tournament or if interested in donating a door prize please call Doug or Amanda @ 1-613-933-9362. All players that meet the criteria are welcome to play. If you are an unknown player feel free to stop in sometime this week to be assessed or call in with a reference. All entries will be either accepted or declined by Doug Disotell. Spectators are welcome as some of the best local talent we have to offer will be on display.

Finally, the Owners of Rack-M-Up Billiards, would like to thank the people at Sports Energy News who lowered their usual advertisement rate for their front page banner as a donation. Do not forget to check back next week as all the results and payouts will be reported here. Good luck to all the shooters and don't forget to support all of the events the Heart and Stroke Foundation has to offer this month!