Mika Immonen and Mezz Cues are proud to announce the Mezz Pro-Am Tour. The Mezz Tour is a 1-day Open Tournament with staggered entry fees and additional cash prizes for the top 2 finishers in the A/B and C/D division. Events will take place in the North East region.

“We are happy to work with Jose Burgos, who runs the best 1-day tournaments in this region. We hope to offer a highly competitive tournament and great prizes for pros and amateurs alike. We will also give each player a free raffle ticket for a Mezz Cue and Mezz Case at the Grand Finale Tournament along with prizes for the Top 10 point leaders of the year,” says Mika.
Jose describes, “I am honored to join forces with Mika Immonen and Mezz Cues. I believe having the best player in the world along with one of the leading cue companies in the industry as sponsors will make the Mezz Pro-Am Tour one of the premier tours in the region.”

Along with the Mezz Open Tour, we are also proud to announce a Mezz Women’s Tour overseen by WPBA Pro and Mezz USA President, Caroline Pao.

“With so many great female players in the Northeast region, this is a great opportunity to provide a competitive tour for them to participate in. We will feature great prizes at each stop as well as hold a Grand Finale tournament with added monies. Prizes will also be awarded for the Top 3 female players of the year with the Top Female receiving paid entry to the prestigious Turning Stone Tournament in Syracuse, NY. I am very excited be able to provide an opportunity for our local female players to sharpen their competitive edge. Once we complete the 8 event schedule, it will be on our official Mezz Tour website, www.mezztour.com,” explains Caroline.

Immonen and Mezz Cues are proud to announce the Mezz Pro-Am Tour.

As a prelude to our official launch of the Mezz Pro-Am Tour, we had a great event at Drexeline Billiards in Drexel Hill, PA on January 31st with an attendance of 53 players. Joey Testa and Ignacio Chavez were co-champions of this event with Victor Nau in 3rd and Josh Brothers in 4th place.

The next stop will be at on February 21st at :
Atlantic City Billiards
6701 Blackhorse Pike
Egg Habor, NJ 08234
(609) 645-7576

Visit the official Mezz Pro-Am Tour website, www.mezztour.com, for more information.
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact info@mezztour.com.

by InsidePOOL Staff

The Tiger Canadian Women’s Pool Tour held its last stop of the season at VIP in Scarborough, ON, November 21. Tiger Products and Jeff Bell Custom Cues welcomed 15 players to their $1,000-added year-end championships following the tour’s annual awards ceremony and cash prizes to all the top players. Awards were handed out for best sportsmanship, with Brittany Bryant taking first place. For the most 9-ball runs, the award went to Bryant again, and there was a tie for 9-ball break: Naomi Williams and Brittany Bryant.

In the tournament, Denise Belanger exhibited focus and determination to oust her competitors, including Hanna Kwon 8-2 and Leanne Amable 8-0, sending them to their fate to the other side of the board to await an opponent while she waited in the hot seat.

On the one-loss side, Joanne Ashton, after being defeated by Kwon in the A-bracket, turned her game around to defeat Kwon in a hill-hill rematch. Ashton went on to face Grace Nakumura, eliminating her at fourth place 8-1.

In the semifinal match between Amable and Ashton went head to head. Ashton pulled off some strong defense—coupled with the fact that Amable was making costly scratches, it wasn’t long before Ashton came out the 8-3 victor, sending Amable home with third place.

The Tiger Canadian Women’s Pool Tour held its last stop of the season at VIP in Scarborough, ON, November 21.

Results:
1st Denise Belanger $680
2nd Joanne Ashton $420
3rd Leanne Amable $250
4th Grace Nakamura $170
5th Hanna Kwon $90
Krista Walsh

Taylor Road Productions, promoters of the Galveston World Classic, will be announcing a deal for U.S. distribution of televised programming for the event. The event will be held at Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX September 11-20, 2009 and features over $1,000,000 in prize money.

With large prize funds, huge crowds, and 24 hour free live streaming the Galveston World Classic has been increasingly gaining that the interest of players, spectators and companies alike.

Thousand of amateurs are scheduled to play in the amateur events while superstars like Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Johnny Archer, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, Gabe Owen, Charlie Bryant, and Jeremy Jones are already scheduled to participate in the professional events.

Taylor Road Productions, promoters of the Galveston World Classic, will be announcing a deal for U.S. distribution of televised programming for the event.

Currently Taylor Road Productions has already contracted the Galveston World Classic for 11 hours of televised programming to be broadcasted on ESPN Star throughout Asia, which boasts 40 million households in almost 60 countries.  The U.S. distribution will be announced by Taylor Road Productions shortly.  Please visit The Galveston World Classic web site for more details.

About Taylor Road Productions
Taylor Road Productions is the producer and promoter of the Galveston World Classic from September 11-20, 2009 at Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX. The Galveston World Classic features over $1,000,000 in prize money, will be streamed live online for free, and will be televised in dozens of countries. The vision of Taylor Road Productions is to produce pool and billiard events that promote the sport to a new level by large cash prizes, televised events and high profile events for all to experience. The company web site is The Galveston World Classic.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=biaQNZVVQUE

The twelfth annual Tri-State Tour Invitational took place July 11-12 at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ, bringing together highly skilled amateurs hoping to sharpen their game en route to the pro circuit and ambitious upstarts looking to advance in class. The weekend was a huge success with 14 A and A+ players, 32 B and B+ players, 32 C and C+ players, and 14 D and D+ players showing up to play in their respective classes.

As each day began, organizers John Leyman, Todd Fleitman, and Bill Focaccia congratulated the players on reaching the top of their classes for the season and handed out awards to the top players of the year in each class. The Tri-State Tour added $4,000 in cash prizes and sponsors Viking Cues, Fury Cues, Stealth Cues, Sterling Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Wild Eyes Creations, Pool Tees.com, Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases, Billiards Digest, Pool & Billiards, Inside Pool, Professor-Q-Ball’s News, Blue Book Publications, Stroke, Human Kinetic, Amsterdam Billiards, and Romer’s Trophies went out of their way to provide the event with some great equipment and prizes. All of the sponsors are owed a debt a gratitude for their dedication to the game and the players, their efforts and generosity are what made the event so special and such a great success. The awards went to the top three players in each class and to the Most Improved Players of the Year. The top players of the year in the their respective classes were Daniel Cintron, Gary Murgia, Tony Eglesias, George Osipovitch, Dave Fitzpatrick, and Amy Triolo. The top female player of the year was awarded to Rhio Anne Flores. This year a stand out most improved player of the year could not be identified and so the three top contenders—Daniel Cintron, Rhio Anne Flores, and Ben Sadowski—were all awarded Most Improved Player awards. The Pro/Open class was won by Mika Immonen. The tour each year gives out an award to the player they think exemplifies what is good about the sport, and this year’s Sportsman of the Year award went to Dave Fitzpatrick.

The action in the tournament got going around 11 a.m. Saturday, with B+, B, C+, and C class players kicking off the event. These divisions were all won by players who went undefeated for the day. In the B+ class, Mike Gasper played strong and consistent all day and dominated all opponents, including in the finals against Robert Kight, which Gaspar won 7-3. This seemed to be the trend for the day as Jacob Schwartz bested Phil Carr in the B-Class finals 7-2. In the C+ class T.J. Smithers took advantage of good table rolls to beat Teddy LaPadula 6-3. The C class finals provided an interesting turn of events as John Egeln reached the finals undefeated. As it turns out, in the final event of the regular season Mike Scholven played well and moved up in the rankings and knocked John Egeln to 17th place and out of the invitationals. But on the day of the event Scholven was called into work and couldn’t play, opening up a spot for Egeln. Egeln in the finals took every advantage he could and bested Dennis Petrillo 6-2.

On Sunday, play started again at 11 a.m. with some of the best players on the Tri-State Tour showing up to play. One notable player was the player who finished in third place for the season in the Player of the Year standings in the A+/A class, Scott Simonetti. Simonetti, who recently suffered a serious life threatening illness and lost his left hand and foot to the disease, played one-handed and showed what true heart and spirit look like. Everyone applauded him and his outstanding effort and positive outlook. The event took a different turn from Saturday, though, as both players who reached the final match of their class lost to the player coming from the one-loss side.

The twelfth annual Tri-State Tour Invitational took place July 11-12 at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ, bringing together highly skilled amateurs hoping to sharpen their game en route to the pro circuit and ambitious upstarts looking to advance in class.

In the A+/A class Chris Taormina defeated Daniel Cintron 7-5 to advance to the finals. Cintron moved to the one-loss side only to gather his many talents and best Stewart Warnock 7-3 and then, in a rematch, also oust Taormina 7-3 to win the A+/A class. In what appeared to be a carbon copy of the A+/A class, D+/D class player Mike Poisler lost to Yomaylin Feliz 6-3 in the hot seat match. On the one-loss side Poisler regrouped and eliminated Pete Gallo 6-3 and then went on to continue his winning ways and best Yomaylin Feliz 6-3. These losses were hard for both players as the finals of each event were single matches to earn the right to advance.

This left the top players in each class to meet in the playoffs. Gasper continued his dominance and once again and crushed his next two opponents, Jacob Schwartz and Cintron both with a score of 7-2, giving him the honor of competing for the overall champion. Smithers played well against Egeln and beat him 6-4. But in his next match Smithers couldn’t seem to get anything to go his way. He hit a strong bank combo only to leave the 9 ball hanging on the lip of the pocket. Poisler took advantage of all the rolls going his way and bested Smithers 7-1. In the finals Poisler saw all those rolls disappear as Gasper tore through the four-game handicap in no time to bring the match to 4-4 quickly. In the next 8 games Poisler tried as best as he could to find opportunities to win, but in the end Gasper’s continued excellent play overcame all obstacles, and he won the match 9-7 and was crowned the 2008-2009 Invitational Grand Champion.

The Galveston World Classic takes place September 11-20, 2009 at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas and boasts a total prize fund that could exceed $900,000 USD.   Several players that are already committed to play are Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Earl Strickland, Jeremy Jones, Charlie Bryant, Gabe Owen, Johnny Archer and Nick Varner.  The Galveston World Classic includes ten events that feature men and women professionals in addition to team and single amateur events.

“We understand that our web site was in need of more information and we have updated it to the best of our knowledge but there may be even more information that we need to discuss with players, team captains, forum posters, and companies that might be interested in participating in some way at the Galveston World Classic.”, said Bobby Rone.

Bustamante (pictured), Varner, Archer, Strickland, Jones, Owen, Bryant and Reyes are confirmed players at the Galveston World Classic event.

Louie Vickio said, “We are answering a lot of questions on our web site every day and there’s a ton of interest from everybody we speak to, but we felt that this would be a good way to have an interactive web chat that we could document and use to address concerns of potential players and spectators. We see this live chat as a way for everybody to get to know us better and see what we and the Galveston World Classic are all about and the direction that we wish to go.”

Visit the Galveston World Classic Live Chat

Visit the Galveston World Classic Forums

The Galveston World Classic has also installed a forum in order for users to interact with the promoters and each other. The combination of the live chat with the new forums is designed to heighten interactivity and build a positive response for the upcoming billiard event. For more information, visit The World Classic.

About Taylor Road Productions
Taylor Road Productions is the producer and promoter of the Galveston World Classic. The vision of the company is to produce pool and billiard events that promote the sport to a new level by large cash prizes, televised events and high profile events for all to experience. The company web site is The World Classic.

Taylor Road Announces Date Change

Taylor Road Productions is pleased to announce new dates for the Women’s 9-Ball Open event. The previous dates conflicted with a Women’s Professional Billiard Association tournament, the Colorado Classic, which is scheduled September 16-20, 2009. The new dates of the Women’s 9-Ball Open at the Galveston World Classic are September 11-15, 2009.

The change of dates for the tournament is due to the conflicting schedule with the WPBA. At the time of the Galveston World Classic tournament inception, the WPBA schedule was not released and Taylor Road Productions was unaware of the schedule conflict. With this change, the top players in women’s billiards are capable of competing.

Fisher is just one of the WPBA stars that this rescheduling may be effect in a good way.

Bobby Rone of Taylor Road Productions said, “It is our intention to promote the sport in the best way possible. With us having no prior knowledge of the schedule conflict, we went forward with our event. As the late comer to promoting pool, we felt it was only fitting to make a change that was so easily done and benefited so many.”

Visit The Galveston World Classic for more information or to register to play in events.

About Taylor Road Productions
Taylor Road Productions is the producer and promoter of the Galveston World Classic. The vision of the company is to produce pool and billiard events that promote the sport to a new level by large cash prizes, televised events and high profile events for all to experience. The company web site is The World Classic.

CueSports International (CSI) proudly announces the addition of OB Cues and Hustlin USA Clothing Company as sponsors of the 2009 National Championship Series (NCS). The first NCS national event, the NCS 8-Ball Championship, will take place February 13-15 at the stunning Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of the much anticipated event, in addition to cash prizes, will represent the United States at the 2009 WPA World 8-Ball Championship.

OB Cues, produced by Owen-Bunnell, Inc., was started in 2005 and soon took the pool industry by storm becoming one of the top shaft manufacturers with the introduction of the OB-1. Recently OB Cues expanded to include the OB-2 shaft and a new line of cues which introduced the “Full Length Core” FLC technology. The OB-2 has all the great features of the OB-1, but has a smaller tip size that reduces cue ball squirt even more! The FLC technology incorporated in the new OB Cues line feature a solid maple core that runs the full length of the cue handle, from the joint to the bumper. The line uses high quality hardwoods and features a 5/16×14 steel joint and the trademarked ferrule block material. The price range of the new line is $550 – $937.  

CueSports International (CSI) proudly announces the addition of OB Cues and Hustlin USA Clothing Company as sponsors of the 2009 National Championship Series (NCS)

Hustlin USA Clothing Company is also highly regarded for its broad selection of quality clothing and products. With a line that includes men’s, women’s, and kids apparel to jackets, towels, sweat suits, belt buckles and even underwear, the Hustlin USA Clothing Company is a name that players know, love and trust.

OB Cues as part of their sponsorship of the NCS will be awarding to the winner of each NCS national event their new top of the line OB Cue #408. Hustlin USA, in support of the NCS, is offering some of their top of their line clothing products.

For more information about OB Cues and Hustlin USA Clothing Company please visit their web sites at Obcues.com and Hustlinusa.com

For more information about the NCS or CueSports International please call 702-719-7665 or visit Playcsipool.com

CueSports International (CSI) is the parent company of the BCA Pool Leagues, The NCS and produces the U.S. Bar Table Championships and the Jay Swanson Memorial. CSI’s goal is to create and improve opportunities for all pool players.

Holly Ryan

CueSports International

2041 Pabco Road

Henderson, NV 89011 

(702) 719-7665 phone

(702) 719-7667 fax

Holly@playcsipool.com

CueSports International (CSI) … more choices for players of all abilities –

BCA Pool League (BCAPL), playBCA.com, National 

Championship Series (NCS), playCSIpool.com, & U.S. 

Bar Table Championships.

PLAY CSI – THE PLAYERS’ CHOICE!

… at the Olympic Resort in Oconomowoc, WI for the Olympia Open II, January 1-4, 2009

… at the Sands Regency Casino Hotel in Reno, NV for the 16th Annual U.S. Bar Table Championships, February 23-March 1, 2009

… at Canterbury Downs in Shakopee, MN for the Midwest Regional 8-Ball Championships, February 26-March 1, 2009

… at the Penticton Curling Club in Penticton, BC for the 2nd Annual BCAPL Canadian Open Series 8-Ball Tournament, March 19-22, 2009 … at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for the BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships, May 8-16, 2009

The Action Report will be streaming the Cuesports International National Championship Series.

CueSports International, LLC (CSI), the parent company of the BCA Pool League (www.playbca.com), the United States Bar Table Championships (USBTC) and the Jay Swanson Memorial Tournament, would like to announce that The Action Report (TAR) will be video taping and LIVE streaming each of the national finals of the National Championship Series (NCS).

The first event in the series will be the NCS 8-Ball National Championships, where a field of 64 players from all across theUnited States, in addition to cash and prizes, will vie for an all expenses paid coveted spot to the WPA 2009 World 8-Ball Championships.

TAR, in the past year, has become the industry’s most followed live streaming source for top notch pool matches including the infamous races to 100 – winner take all. With hi-resolution streaming capabilities TAR will bring live the action and excitement of each event. For more information about TAR visit their site at Theactionreport.com

For more information about the National Championship Series (NCS) or hosting a qualifier please contact Holly Ryan at holly@cuesportsintl.com or at 702-719-7665.

CSI’s goal is to create and improve opportunities for pool players of all abilities through fair governance and equitable policies.