Players from all around Oregon, Washington and Idaho attended what is undisputedly the best event in the Northwest. Western BCAs 11th annual regional 8-ball tournament could be the biggest regional amateur league tournament in the country. Many are proud of that. The staff and board members gave the players what they wanted: a grand celebration, a good experience filled with excitement, competition and rewards for their accomplishments with lots of opportunities for good, clean pool.
The biggest buzz was that the Masters team division was 110 percent larger. New this year was that Masters could only play in the Master’s team event. This trial worked out great as the Master team entries doubled. In addition, a whopping $29,000 added to the prize money. Chinook Winds Casino Resort was elated to see us again and they committed $10,000 of the $29,000. BCA Pool League’s Sanctioned Tournament Added Money Program added $2,000, and Western BCA added the balance. This money was distributed to all events, not just the Master divisions. The event was full with 943 members in attendance.
Tuesday morning kicked off mixed scotch doubles and the Masters almost had a repeat from 9-ball with Wanda “stop calling me Wendy” Plummer and Dave Schelske playing Cindy Doty and Mike Stevens for point. Ivan Doty and Sandy Schaefer had different plans as they sent Cindy and Mike to the bar early and tried their hand against Wanda and Dave who prevailed as this year’s champions. A definite repeat was the unstoppable team of Shirley Morgan and Steve Myers who went undefeated in Open mixed scotch doubles at both 9-ball and 8-ball events.
Women’s Master singles saw a battle of determination between Kris Robbins and Cindy Doty with Kris coming out the champion. Kris cannot make the BCAPL national tournament so Cindy will enjoy the paid entry to Vegas. Bill Rosenberry wants another shot at the “luckiest player for the past decade,” Glenn Atwell, who accepted the paid entry, a $200 value and an opportunity to play his first national Grand Master tournament this May.
Melanie Elder showed Nancy Measor her “tunnel vision look” that brought Melanie to point twice this year. Nancy didn’t know it, but Melanie was determined “to not be double-dipped” and she wasn’t. One of the dreaded Sons of Fred pulled out a championship in the men’s Open-B. Sid Krumpe went undefeated to take the largest field in this year’s event. This one’s for you, Fred. If you had not heard of Darin Walding before this event, you know him now. Darin finally took a math class debating odds versus outcome and showed world-class charm on a pool table that lead him to point in the Open-A singles and set him up to waltz with Sam “Super Stroke Sambo” Hoff from Seattle. You could lay odds that 9-ball is Sambo’s game and it will be fun watching these two new Masters give the elite some new fire. Darin was victorious.
In the Senior singles divisions Mike Stephens triumphed again in the men’s and Char Lemmon smiled her way to be champion in the women’s division. Joyce Gumm, the association’s secretary, found time to play in between the many tasks she had at the podium and took fourth. New this year was the introduction of the Novice trophy division. Since it was a trophy division without prize money, only true Novices entered and got some “pressure time” under their belt. First through third will receive plaques with their names of accomplishment. In the women’s, Amanda Chandler took third place, Ronda Arismendez was second, and the champion was Diana Cornelius. The men’s trophy awards went to Robert Lindsley for third, Matt Carter for second, and the champion was Daniel Varozza.
Friday night kicked off the zenith of the event with teams. The only thing longer than the line at the bar was the wait to see who would make it to the finals as it takes rolls, luck and skill to get there. “Double-dip” was on everyone’s lips as the women’s Master teams fought to be champions. Pitted in the first team champion battle was The Other Team (Phyllis Fernandez, Kimberly Kirk, Shelby Locati, Mary Olsen and Angela Jensen) with the EXRE.COM team (Natalie Seal, Melissa Rushton, Marian Harrison, Sherry Griffin and Tamré Geené-Rogers) prevailing to split the $2,000 prize money. Fifty percent of the women’s Master team field was paid.
The men’s Master team, KC’s Midway A Little Loaded (Bill Rosenberry, Bob Zack, Ivan Doty, Ken Dodd and Mike Stevens), survived the attack from In-control NW style (Glenn Atwell, Gary French, Steve Tune, Andrew Monstis, Frank Martin and Mike Jensen), in a two-set thriller. This year the men’s Master teams paid $3,500 for first place, the most money paid to date. A hefty reward for the best team of the region is overdue. Many of the favorites bowed to underdogs.
Women’s Open team champion was DRVN 101 from Vancouver, Wash. (Eva Hill, Shirley Morgan, Kay Rubens, Melissa Fine, Nikki Fox-Bisconer) who came from behind and won over the point-holders Stik Chix (Darcy Williams-Moss, Cindy Rosenthal, Lori Dawkins, Monica Moonen, Shelly Huntoon and Eileen Madden), a real double dipper that went to the wire. Doing her best to repeat Kim Jones’ hat trick from last year, Shirley Morgan went home with plaques from mixed scotch doubles and teams.
The men’s Open team champion was Sandy Clinic (Steve Cranford, Steve Weber, John Lewis, Don Iverson, Alex Lee and Phillip Wong), who also went two sets. In the second set Sandy Clinic pulled away from the team from Spokane, Pool Whores (Wes Bledsoe, Jeremy Coffman, Jason DeFillipis, Rich Irving, Bob Pike and Chris White).
Time only allowed for one second-chance tournament that had 31 teams and paid out eight spots. Western BCA added $500 to the prize money. Craig Irwin, Rich Burns, Aaron Tipton, Mike “Gator” White and Josh Skei took the brutal single-elimination, race-to-7 format. There were mini-tournaments galore and they stayed that way through late Friday night, which included a new, 3-ball mini-event.
The ring games, a tradition started by Andrew Monstis at last year’s 9-ball tournament, appeared again and were a big hit. There were two $100-entry 10-ball ring games with the winner taking all. Bob Zack won the first ring game, beating 10 players. Jeff Jerome and Eddie Mataya split the second with eight players. The ring game has become one of the favorite events of the Western BCA regional tournament for both players and spectators.
Gary Benson of High Country Promotions provided 72 Valley tables, which his staff kept running smoothly. Gary is the most experienced person in the country running tournaments of this magnitude and Western BCA thanks him for his time and expertise.
On the Wire produced the large, full-color tournament program. Its high quality and professional look adds to the prestige of the Western BCA tournaments. On the Wire also had their huge and carpeted vendor display as well as Dave Lauer Cue repair extraordinaire and Jessie from Beads and Billiards.
Many door prizes were awarded like Brian Covey’s custom-made cue ($500 value). The lucky grand prizewinner was Brian Kvasnicka from the Greater Spokane league. Some of the other winners were Chad Bisconer and Armando Mendoza; both won an entry into the next regional 9-ball event courtesy of Cindy Doty, Northwest Players League. Chris Anderson and Matt Creech won a gift box each. John Bixby won a two-night stay at the Hudson Manor Inn in Longview, Wash.
Western BCA thanks all that contributed to the giveaways: Pub 181, Gresham; Don and Jenny Sheldon; Doc’s Tavern, Ocean Park; Kraig Pauli, KC’s Midway Bar and Grill; Cindy Doty, Northwest Players League; and Kurt Hamm, Cascade Pool League.
Chinook Winds is a great place to have this event since there is so much to do in Lincoln City. Chinook Winds opened the door wide to make us feel welcome beyond the added money. When people were not playing pool or gambling, they were playing on the beach and visiting the local community. Chinook Winds provided the smoker’s a lounge across from the main room, which was equipped with two practice tables and a 60-foot television.
Emerald Valley wins the award for being the most supportive league, volunteering to the max! Stacy Sherman was a real workhorse stepping in to do anything that needed to be done. He put in uncountable hours to assure that all 943 players had a great time. He ran mini-tournaments and worked at the podium whenever needed. Cindy Rosenthal sold shirts, processed checks, answered questions and made sure that the payouts went as smooth as possible. The dynamic duo of Darcy and Tom Moss, league operators for Emerald Valley league operators, ran the second-chance team tournament and managed to play in team events.
Enormous appreciation goes out to those who put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to put on this great tournament: Vanessa Schwab, Sassy Campbell, Mike and Rosie Jensen, Joyce Gumm, Kurt Hamm, Darcy and Tom Moss, Steve Schneringer, and many more. A special thanks to the referees: Darryl Farley, Rick Doner, Pat Mowdy, John Condiff and Cecil Picket. Western BCA thanks Mark Griffin and BCAPL for the support given nationally.