Archer Earns Top Gun Honors

Archer Earns Top Gun Honors

10-Ball Desert Shootout / Tempe, AZ
by Skip Maloney
Veteran billiard player Johnny Archer struggled through some middle matches in the 10-Ball Desert Shoot-Out but roared back in the double-elimination finals to defeat Mika “Iceman” Immonen twice and take home the $12,500 first prize.
Immonen got off the first shot in the hot seat match, and the two started firing back and forth until the score seesawed to double-hill. From there Immonen got the last rack to advance to the finals undefeated 9-8.

On the one-loss side, Mike Davis was hard at work shooting his way back. He traded shots with Robb Saez early, then jumped out to a 7-3 lead. Saez fought back to within one at 7-6 before Davis closed it out with two in a row.
Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant dispatched John Schmidt into fifth place and faced Davis in the quarterfinal. Davis dropped Bryant into fourth and turned to face Archer. It looked for a while as if Archer had rediscovered his rhythm, opening the semifinal match winning three in a row, but Davis could see the $12,500 and tried to struggle back one game at a time. He got within two at 8-6 before Archer finished him off and dropped him into third place.
“The Scorpion” came at Immonen in the first game of the final with both guns blazing, taking a 3-0 lead that he never relinquished. The Finn took the fourth game and the sixth in that first match, but that was it—Archer won the first set 9-2. Immonen spent the break at a table, shooting at metaphoric “tin cans” to stay loose and on target. It worked, because he took the first lead of the two-set match. Archer came back to tie and then take a 3-game lead at 4-1.
“Don’t get mad,” goes the saying, “get even,” and that’s just what Immonen did, winning the next three games to tie it at 4. This was the last tie, and as it turned out, Immonen had only one more bullet in the chamber. He fired it after Archer had won three more in a row. At 7-5, Archer took the next two to finish the shootout as top gun, while Immonen loaded his saddlebag with the second-place haul of $7,500.
Results:
1st Johnny Archer $12,500
2nd Mika Immonen $7,500
3rd Mike Davis $5,000
4th Charlie Bryant $4,000
5th John Schmidt $2,800
Robb Saez
7th Oscar Dominguez $1,500
Corey Deuel
9th Jose Parica $1,250
Gabe Owen
Tony Robles
Tony Crosby
13th Rodney Morris $1,000
Efren Reyes
Earl Strickland
Cliff Joyner

Torres Wins Big at Bogies

Torres Wins Big at Bogies

Junior National Qualifier / Houston, TX
by InsidePOOL Staff
Eleven-year-old Joey Torres, pool-playing prodigy, made his way through a 22-player field at Bogies Billiards in Houston, TX, to earn a ticket to the Junior Nationals in Tucson, AZ.
In the quarterfinals, Torres wreaked revenge upon Brandon Turner, who had sent him to the one-loss side earlier, in a hill-hill match that ended in a tough loss for Turner. Torres moved on to play Aaron Hughey in an all-Texas shootout, with Torres capturing the win.
The final round saw the undefeated Eric Calhoun, who traveled all the way from Albany, GA, and Torres dueling in a final race to 7. Torres took an early lead and maintained it throughout, besting Calhoun 7-4.
The players not only receive a spot for Nationals, they also take home certificates and trophies, most of which are donated by the South East Texas APA League. South Texas Junior Pool Tour (stjpt.com) is a nonprofit organization that holds 22 junior events per year, holds qualifiers for Nationals, and raises money to make sure they get there. When a junior wins a qualifier, they want them to accept that spot and will help provide them with the financial means to make that dream a reality. Each of the six players who qualified at Bogies received $50 each for travel expenses. All 14 of the juniors will benefit from BBQ fundraisers being held throughout May. If you would like to help make a youngster’s pool dream come true, you can make a donation by visiting stjpt.com.

Results:
1st Joey Torres
2nd Eric Calhoun
3rd Aaron Hughey
4th Brandon Turner

Fuller goes undefeated in Carolina Tour Stop

Fuller goes undefeated in Carolina Tour Stop

Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour / Greensboro, NC
Mike Fuller worked his way through a field of 40 entrants on the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour stop at Fast Eddie’s in Goldsboro, NC, the weekend of April 26-27. He sent Larry Faulk to the one-loss side of the bracket with a decisive shut-out in the round of 8 and defeated him again in the finals to capture the first-place prize.

Larry Faulk worked his way through two opponents on the west side before meeting Arnold Hamlet in the quarterfinals. He won all but 5 of the next 19 games, dropping 2 versus Hamlet and 3 against Liu in the semifinal.

The final match-up was something of a waltz, played out three steps at a time. Fuller and Faulk danced their way one game at a time to a 3-3 tie before Fuller decided that he wanted to lead the dance and jumped out 6-3. Faulk responded with his own three steps and tied it at 6-6, but it was Fuller who brought the waltz to a three-step finale to finish the dance.

The tour stop also featured a Friday night early bird tournament with 9 entrants, a second chance tournament Sunday with 11, and a small junior tournament with 3 entrants. Cary Dunn took the early bird, defeating Wade Crane, with Michael Fuller in third place. Mike Triplett defeated Shane Barnwell 7-1 to take the second chance first prize; Peaches Fuller and Charlie Brinson took third and fourth place, respectively. Justin Ward defeated Tiffany Leonard in the finals of the three-player junior tournament, taking the lead in points for the race to qualification to the Junior Nationals.

Results
1st Michael Fuller
2nd Larry Faulk
3rd Qi Liu
4th Arnold Hamlet
5th Younger Chapman
Wade Crane
7th Sidney Champion
Chris Vollmar
9th Cary Dunn
Mike Frowein
Charles McClung
John Hernandez

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