On the Hunt for Second Seminole Win

On the Hunt for Second Seminole Win
Seminole Pro Tour / Springhill, FL

by Skip Maloney

Deuel is looking for another Seminole Florida Pro Tour win to add to his collection.

Corey Deuel, Donnie Mills, and Justin Hall were still in the hunt for their second win on the 2008 Seminole Pro Tour in Springhill, FL, at the close of action on Saturday. They were joined, among the winners’ side final four, by Tony Ruberto, last seen finishing in a tie for ninth place when the tour stopped at Hammerhead’s Billiards in Holiday, FL, in May.

Conspicuous in their absence—not only among the final four but among the final 12—were the last two winners on the tour: Steve Moore, who won back-to-back events, and Mike Davis. Moore was sent west on the heels of a third-round, double-hill defeat at the hands of Neil Fujiwara and ended his bid for a third tour victory with a second double-hill defeat, this time at the hands of Jerry Calderon. Davis was shut out 7-0 by Deuel in the second round and took out some of his frustration on his first one-loss-side opponent, Josh Lopez, defeating him 7-0. George McLanahan then ended Davis’ run with a 7-5 victory.

View the Seminole Florida Pro Tour double elimination brackets

Hall and Mills, who shared fifth place in July, were scheduled to meet Sunday morning as Deuel prepared to meet Ruberto. Still remaining among the final eight on the one-loss side are Jonathan Pinegar, Tommy Kennedy, and Charlie Williams. It was Kennedy who’d sent Williams west, only to follow him there after an 8-3 defeat at the hands of Mills. Pinegar, who’d been sent left in the opening round, battled his way back through four opponents to remain among the event’s final 12. He is set to take on Dave Walters Sunday.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFD352Ah6EQ

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

Previous Winners Headline Seminole Tour

Previous Winners Headline Seminole Tour
Seminole Pro Tour / Springhill, FL

by Skip Maloney

Several past winners are at the head of the pack at the Seminole Pro Tour at Capone's Billiards in Spring Hill, FL.

All but one of this year’s previous winners on the Seminole Pro Tour assembled for the richly endowed $9,000-added tour stop at Capone’s Billiards in Springhill, FL, the weekend of September 12-14. The event drew 53 entrants and included the only two-time 2008 Seminole winner, Steve Moore, as well as Mike Davis, winner of the last stop.

Corey Deuel, who won the event in Georgia in April, and Davis advanced in their opening round of play, defeating Taz Maravane and Fred Stoll, respectively. Deuel and Davis were scheduled to meet head-on in the second round on Saturday. Moore and Donnie Mills, who won the event in May, were also on hand, each receiving byes in the opening round. Mills advanced to the third round with a narrow double-hill victory of Louie Smith, who’d sent Adam Wheeler west.

Among other Seminole tour veterans looking to stay on the winners’ side of the bracket in the opening round of play were Tommy Kennedy and David Grossman. Grossman placed second to Mills in May, while Kennedy has been among the top ten finishers on three different occasions this year. The two met in the opening round of play, with Kennedy advancing 7-2. Kennedy moved into the third round with a 7-2 victory over Jerome Rockwell.

View the Seminole Florida Pro Tour double elimination brackets

Jonathan “Hennessee from Tennessee” Pinegar made an opening round trip to the one-loss side with a 7-3 defeat at the hands of David Broxson. Pinegar picked up a bye on the west side and awaited an opponent for further action set for Saturday.

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

Moore, Ferrell and Hall Headline Seminole Tour Stop in Gainesville

Seminole Pro Tour / Gainesville, FL.

by Skip Maloney

Steve Moore

Steve Moore, Sparky Ferrell, and Justin Hall are among the 58 top-ranked entrants looking for their share of the $8,500-added Seminole Pro Tour stop in Gainesville, FL, this weekend. That trio claimed the top three prizes on the tour stop in Cape Coral, FL, last month.

Seminole Tour officials instituted a new rule for this stop at the Art of Billiards in Gainesville, designed to prevent use of the “soft break” technique, favored by, among others, Corey Deuel, who is in the field for this event. That rule dictates that a player must break the rack “as hard as he/she can.” If an opponent feels that the rule has not been applied on a given break, he/she is given the opportunity to consult with a tour official, who will adjudicate whether the breaking player has complied with the rule.

In addition to Deuel, other top-ranked players signed on for the three-day tournament include Ronnie Wiseman, Tony Crosby, David Vaughn, Jonathan Pinegar, Tim Hall, and Donnie Mills. All of them finished among the top 13 in Cape Coral last month.

In the opening round of play on Friday, which was restricted to 20 matches, all but Crosby from that group advanced. Crosby’s opening match was scheduled for Saturday morning. Vaughn and Deuel drew byes in the opening round, which sent, on Friday night, 18 players to the one-loss side. On average, those 18 had tallied just under four victories in their opening round. Mike Delawder tallied the evening’s only shut-out with a victory over Richard Penny. Delawder will start his day on Saturday with a match against Ronnie Wiseman. There was only one hill-hill match in the opening round that advanced Doug Arcadi over Javier Chirino.

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of pool and billiards.

Moore Wins Second Straight Seminole Billiard Stop

Moore Wins Second Straight Seminole Billiard Stop by Skip MaloneySteve Moore made it two in a row on the Seminole Pro Tour the weekend of July 12-13 in Gainesville, FL. He fought back from the one-loss side, defeating the man who’d sent him there in the quarterfinal match, Jonathan Pinegar in the semifinals, and Corey Deuel in the finals. The $8,500-added event drew 58 top-ranked entrants to the Art of Billiards.Unlike his last victory, in which he went undefeated, Moore was not among the final four on the winners’ side. Wiseman advanced to the final four on the heels of an 8-6 victory over Moore. He then faced Pinegar, as Deuel battled Justin Hall. Pinegar and Wiseman fought to hill-hill before Wiseman went west for an eventual rematch against Moore. Deuel dropped Hall 8-4 and then battled Pinegar to hill-hill in the hot seat match that sent Pinegar to the semifinals.On the one-loss side, Moore started his route back to the finals with an 8-6 victory over Charlie Williams to join Tommy Kennedy, Donnie Mills, and Bobby Livargo among that side’s final four. Kennedy, who’d just ended a surprising tournament run by young female newcomer Yu Ram Cha, fell to Moore 8-4. Mills bested Livargo by the same score. Wiseman, over from the winners’ side, dropped Mills into fifth place with an 8-3 victory, as Moore, by the same score, finished Justin Hall’s day.It was time then for the quarterfinal rematch between Moore and Wiseman, which started out as an even struggle to a 4-4 tie, before Moore found his stroke and ran four racks to finish it. Moore, picking up speed and confidence, then faced Pinegar in the semifinals and dropped him into third place with an 8-3 win.Deuel, who in many ways answered lingering questions about his abilities when not utilizing his patented ‘soft break’ technique (banned by rule for this tour stop), battled Moore to a 4-4 tie in the finals before engaging in a few “safety” battles that put him out in front by two games. Moore, however, was not to be denied. He ran the next five racks to become the first player to win back-to-back victories on this year’s Seminole Tour.Results:1st Steve Moore2nd Corey Deuel3rd Jonathan Pinegar4th Ronnie Wiseman5th Donnie MillsJustin Hall7th Tommy KennedyBobby Livargo9th Charlie WilliamsYu Ram ChaTony CrosbyChip Klein

Final Four Winners Revealed on Seminole Billiards Stop

Final Four Winners Revealed on Seminole Billiards Stopby Skip MaloneyJustin Hall, who finished third on the last Seminole Pro Tour stop, made it back to the final four on the winners’ side on the tour’s Gainesville, FL, stop July 12. He is scheduled to face Corey Deuel on Sunday morning, as Ronnie Wiseman takes on Jonathan Pinegar for advancement to the hot seat match.Early Saturday, both Steve Moore and Sparky Ferrell were moved to the one-loss side; Ferrell in the third round against Chip Klein 7-2 and Moore in the fourth round versus Wiseman 8-6. Moore and Wiseman battled to a 6-6 tie in that match before Wiseman took command.The surprise of the tournament going into Sunday’s match-ups was the performance of young Yu Ram Cha, who more or less waltzed through her opening three rounds until she ran into Wiseman, who sent her west with an 8-1 victory. She moved into the final eight on the one-loss side, where she is scheduled to meet Tommy Kennedy Sunday.Like Cha, Tony Crosby had a relatively easy run through the first three rounds of play. He’d given up only a single game in the opening two rounds before battling to a 7-5 win that sent Kennedy to the one-loss side. In the early going of his fourth-round match against Deuel, Crosby looked to be in the driver’s seat to advance, but up 6-3, he missed a 10 ball in the tenth game that opened the door to a five-pack by Deuel that finished it.Crosby is scheduled to meet Donnie Mills Sunday, as Moore faces Charlie Williams. Bobby Livargo and Chip Klein will join them in a battle to reach the final four on that one-loss side of the bracket.Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

Untouchable Moore Takes Seminole Billiard Event

Untouchable Moore Takes Seminole Billiard Event
Seminole Pro Tour / Cape Coral, FL
by Skip Maloney
Steve Moore went undefeated to capture the first-place prize on the Seminole Pro Tour’s June 20-22 stop. He did so with a 9-2 defeat of Sparky Ferrell in the finals of the $8,000-added event that drew 60 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Cape Coral, FL.
Early Sunday, Moore moved into the hot seat match with a hill-hill victory over David Vaughn, as Justin Hall did likewise in defeating Jerry Calderon. Moore then sent Hall west with an 8-5 victory to be the last man standing on the winners’ side.
On the one-loss side, Ferrell, who’d been sent there by Moore with a commanding shut-out victory in the third round on Saturday, battled his way back through an impressive array of billiard talent, including Louie Smith, Corey Deuel, Donnie Mills (who won the last stop on the tour in May), and Jason Richko to reach the quarterfinals. Ferrell defeated Jerry Calderon 8-3 in his next match and turned to face Hall, fresh off his defeat at the hands of Moore. He finished Hall’s tournament run with an 8-6 victory and turned to Moore in search of some revenge for the earlier shut-out.
It was not to be. Moore jumped out to a 4-0 lead before allowing Ferrell a single game. When Moore missed the 8 ball in the fifth rack, Ferrell did take advantage, chalking up his first win of the match, but Moore took the next two before Ferrell took another rack—his last. Moore concluded his first pro tour victory of the year by jumping the 5 ball in the final game and hitting a dead 2-10 combination to end it.
Results:
1st Steve Moore
2nd Sparky Ferrell
3rd Justin Hall
4th Jerry Calderon
5th Tony Crosby
David Vaughn
7th Hunter Lombardo
Jason Richko
9th Jonathan Pinegar
Donnie Mills
Jason Kirkwood
Tony Chohan

Fur Flies in Florida

Fur Flies in Florida’s Final Four
Seminole Pro Tour / Cape Coral, FL
by Skip Maloney
Steve Moore, David Vaughn, Jerry Calderon, and Justin Hall advanced to the final four on the winners’-side bracket of the Seminole Pro Tour stop at Diamond Billiards in Cape Coral, FL, Saturday, June 21. Advancement entailed a few surprising victories that ultimately created a series of marquee match-ups for Sunday.
Moore, who’d sent Sparky Ferrell to the one-loss side in the third round of play with a 7-0 victory, sent Jason “The Dark Horse” Kirkwood west with a much narrower 8-6 win for his spot in the final four. Moore’s opponent on Sunday was to be Vaughn, who’d clawed and scratched his way through three double-hill victories, including a third-round win that sent Earl Strickland to the one-loss side of the bracket and a subsequent hill-hill victory over Hunter Lombardo.
Justin Hall lost only 7 games in his first three rounds but found himself matched up against Donnie Mills among the final eight winners. Mills, in search of his second straight victory on the Seminole Tour (he defeated David Grossman to win the last stop in May) battled to hill-hill, but Hall prevailed. Calderon reached the final four on the heels of a commanding 8-2 victory over Jason Richko.
The one-loss side of the bracket, featuring the recently-arrived Mills, Richko, Kirkwood, and Lombardo, was to feature some intriguing match-ups Sunday. Mills would be facing Sparky Ferrell, who’d eliminated Corey Deuel on Saturday. Richko was slated to face Jonathan Pinegar, who’d ousted Strickland. Kirkwood was scheduled to face Tony Crosby, as Lombardo took on Tony Chohan.
Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

Seminole Pro Tour Hits Hot-lanta

Seminole Pro Tour Hits Hot-lanta
by Skip Maloney
The second event of the Seminole Pro Tour kicked off Friday at Mr. Cues II Billiards in Atlanta, GA, and now heads into its final day with 12 players returning to battle it out for the $8,000-added prize purse.
In a first-round upset, Nevel won double-hill over Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer 7-6, sending Archer to the one-loss bracket early. Nevel followed him there in the next match after facing the winner of the tour’s opening event in Palm Harbors, FL, last month, Sparky Ferrell, who bested Nevel 7-5.
Suddenly Nevel and Archer were on the opposite ends of a new bracket, where they both worked their way through 4 opponents and prepared themselves for a possible rematch among the final 12.
On the winners’ side, Ferrell went on to defeat Louis Ulrich 7-5 before running into the hot cue of Jeremy “Double J” Jones, who, after narrowly defeating Clint McCullough 7-6 in the opening round, lost only 3 of the next 17 games he played on his way to the face-off against Ferrell, whom he then defeated 8-2.
Corey Deuel, in the meantime, last year’s Player of the Year on the Seminole Tour, was on something of a hot streak as well. He drew a bye in the opening round and then proceeded to best his first three opponents—Paul Song, Gabe Owen, and Jason Richko—by a combined score of 22-6. Deuel and Jones are set to square off Sunday morning. They are joined on the winners’ side by Mitch Yarborough and Jonathan Pinegar, both of whom also drew first-round byes.
Nevel will try to get by Jason Richko in his opening round Sunday, while Archer will take on Dave Grossman, who got by his first four opponents before running in to Mitch Yarborough, who defeated him 8-4. After a 7-6 win over Duane Bourgeois in the opening round, Tommy Kennedy dropped his second-round match to Tony Crosby double-hill and will face Ferrell.
Jesse Middlebrooks, who lost a second-round match to Johnny Mattowa 7-2, will meet Steve Moore, who had worked his way through three opponents in the winners’ bracket before falling to Pinegar 8-3.
The $8,000-added event ($6K from the sponsoring Seminole Tribe and $2K from Cues II Billiards) will hand the winner $3,000. Second place will earn $2,200.
Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news on the sport of billiards and pool.

Ferrell Takes Seminole Billiards Tour Opener

Ferrell Takes Seminole Billiards Tour Opener
by Rick Davis
The 2008 season of the Seminole Pro Tour kicked off over the March 7-9 weekend at Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL, where a 64-player field matched up for the lion’s share of the $8,000 added prize fund. After three solid days of play in the 10-ball, double-elimination format it was Sparky Ferrell who came through seven matches undefeated to claim the season’s first honors.
As usual, the Seminole Pro Tour, formally known as the Florida Pro Tour, drew in an incredibly stacked field of top competitors. On the winners’ side “Rocket” Rodney Morris was an early favorite as he breezed through his first three opponents 7-1, then drilled Monica Webb 7-2, and then nearly shut out Jason Miller 8-1 to reach the hot seat match without breaking a sweat. Nearby, tour veterans Adam Wheeler and Dave Grossman matched up where Grossman edged out the win 7-5. Cleaning up perhaps the roughest portion of the winners’ side, Ferrell defeated Steve Moore 7-6, Corey Deuel 7-5, and Ronnie Wiseman 7-2 before dropping the axe on Grossman 8-1. That set up the hot seat match, in which Ferrell was able to keep control and ward off Morris with an 8-6 win to own the winners’ side.
Late on the one-loss side there was a WPBA matchup as Helena Thornfeldt faced Webb and defeated her 8-5 and then went on to eliminate Grossman double-hill. At the same time Wiseman was making a smooth comeback by ousting Wheeler 8-4 and Miller 8-5 before he was shut down by Thornfeldt 8-7 in the quarterfinals. Although Thornfeldt looked good in the semifinals, Morris’ fire was nowhere near out, and he knocked out Thornfeldt 8-3 to earn a final crack at Ferrell.
With the finals set, a single race to 9 separated Morris and Ferrell, who totally dominated the event. Neither player could keep much of an edge as the match got rolling until Ferrell made a final surge in the end and came up a 9-6 win over Morris to take the top spot.

Open Results:

1st
Sparky Ferrell

2nd
Rodney Morris

3rd
Helena Thornfeldt

4th
Ronnie Wiseman

5-6th
Jason Miller

Dave Grossman

7-8th
Adam Wheeler

Monica Webb

9-12th
Tony Crosby

Hunter Lombardo

James Roberts

Jose Del Rio

13-16th
Steve Moore

John DiToro

Raul Alvarez

Justin Hall

Morris Rockets to Winner

Morris Rockets to Winner’s Circle

by Rick Davis
The final day of play at the Seminole Pro Tour ended with billiard player “Rocket” Rodney Morris going undefeated and taking down the $11,000 top prize at the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL.
The day started with Mika Immonen and Louis Ulrich in the quarterfinals, which stayed even through a 3-all score. From there Immonen caught a gear and ran three racks for a 6-3 lead. After trading the next few racks Ulrich scratched on the break, leaving Immonen to run out from the hill and claim the match 8-5.
Over to the winners’ side the hot seat match featured Corey Deuel and Morris in a safety showdown nearly every rack. Morris was able to adjust and capitalize on his chances faster, and before long he sent Deuel west 8-5.
Immonen started with a great lead up 4-2 against Deuel in the semifinals. After a smattering of scratches, safeties, and misses from both players, the score was tied at 5-all. Deuel took that as his cue to wake up and broke and ran the next two racks to reach the hill. Hammering the nail into his own coffin, Immonen came up short on a safety, which allowed Deuel to run out and take the match.
View the Seminole Florida Pro Tour Finale image gallery (/gallery2/v/Pool+Tournaments/FLProFinale/)
In the finals Morris shot out to an early 4-0 lead before he traded racks with Deuel to reach the hill 8-4 in the single race to 9 finals. Deuel managed to play defense and make a few runs to keep in the game and finally got within a rack with the score 7-8. But in the last rack Deuel rattled the 9 ball in the corner for what should have been an automatic shot. After the shock wore off he shook his head and went to shake Morris’ hand, conceding the match with the 9 and 10 balls hanging in opposite corners. A happy and relieved Morris said, “I made a mistake or two, and he was playing good. I was trying not to give it away at the end. I thought the pool gods must smile on you sometimes. When it’s your chance you have to earn it. There are no gifts, even though it looks that way sometimes.”