OB Cues Ladies Tour Stop #4 – Champions Galore at Legend’s, League City, TX After a four year hiatus, it was more than wonderful to return to one of the best pool halls in Texas: Legend’s Billiards in League City. Mindy Cohen, owner and hostess extraordinaire took great care of the 46 ladies who showed up for this event, making homemade chicken salad sandwiches and even providing Band-Aids for pool players with injuries. Jules was a fabulous bartender and the tables played beautifully! OB Cues Ladies Tour (OBCLT) were so happy to be back at Legend’s and hope to return again and again! Thank you Mindy for your gracious hospitality and welcome.
Out of 46 women competing for first place, the field was filled with champions galore. There were four former tour champions: Leslie Anne Rogers, Lisa Marr, Kim Pierce and Amanda Lampert, plus five more ladies who had previously won tour stops (Ming Ng, Ashley Nandrasy, Tara McCracken-Williams, Jennifer Kraber and Orietta Strickland). Additionally, there was much celebrating of birthdays, Mindy Williams and Sara Bork, sporting a colorful and cheery 40 year old crown of glory, enjoyed their birthdays during the tournament weekend. As well as Carter Nakashima and Jennifer Kraber’s upcoming birthdays in a few days, so everyone was having a blast! There were a lot of old familiar faces who haven’t been around in a while, and we’ve certainly missed: Ashley Nandrasy visited from Tennessee, Lisa Marr from Arkansas, and Leslie Anne Rogers who came all the way from Japan to compete.
With that many champions, it was inevitable that there would be some tough matches early on, and indeed, Ming Ng, former pro and fantastic player, drew Leslie Anne Rogers, five-time tour champion, in the first round with Leslie coming away with the win. Kim Pierce lost to Jennifer Kraber, making the one-loss side treacherous right away. Up and coming player (and future mama!) Emma Stewart played Leslie Anne next, winning five games against her, but Leslie stayed on the winner’s side until Tara Williams beat her at the end of Saturday’s matches. 2013 tour champion Amanda Lampert and Orietta Strickland met as well on the winner’s side with Amanda prevailing as the winner to stay undefeated.
Sunday - One Loss Side
On Sunday, only 12 players remained in the main event. On the winner’s side, Tara played Amanda and Jennifer played Sophie Lopez with both match scores ending 7-2 which would put Tara and Jennifer ready for the hot seat match. On the B-side, Sunday’s matches started out with Angie Payne v. Tracie Voelkering, Belinda Lee v. Loretta Lindgren, Michelle Cortez v. Leslie Anne and Helen Hayes v. Orietta. Finishing 9th -12th were Tracie, Loretta, Michelle, and Helen. Loretta had her highest finish to date while playing on the tour and played beautifully all weekend – she is definitely an up and coming player. Finishing in 7th/8th place were Belinda and Leslie Anne, and 5th/6th went to Sophie and Angie, two women who have been playing great this year! Angie lost her second match of the day to Amanda. Then on the one-loss side beat multiple champions by the names of Ming and Lisa and then continued winning against Tracie, Sophie and Belinda to meet up once again with Amanda. She could not get past Amanda but is proving herself to be an undeniable pool talent, earning a top five spot in the tour’s current rankings. Although Angie may be little in size, she is quite the giant killer and we wish her continued focus and success.
The four women left standing at the end of this tournament were also the top four in the current rankings. 3 of the 4 were from Dallas/Ft. Worth and 1 was from Austin. Jennifer won the hot seat match and Tara went to the one-loss side where she met Amanda, who had just defeated Orietta. Orietta captured 4th. Next up was Amanda and Tara. Amanda suffered her first loss against Tara, but was no match against Amanda as Tara ran out of steam and finished third. At this point, we took a break in the pool action, to draw the names for the two cues provided by our generous sponsor, OB cues (www.obcues.com). The lucky winners were Lisa Marr, winning an OB-131 and Carlos Miller winning an OB Black Break Cue. Congratulations to the raffle winners and special thanks to OB Cues, the best sponsor in the business.
In the finals match, Amanda was ready to go to work to beat Jennifer twice in this true double elimination tournament. Amanda won the first set handily 7-4 as Jennifer floundered a bit. The second set was tighter though and Jennifer managed to finish it out, as she broke and ran the final rack on the hill-hill game for the 1st place winnings of $750. Jennifer had 7 break and runs this weekend which puts her at the top of the list for break and run queen for this year. Amanda, always the champion and plays with a lot of heart, was not satisfied with second place, but showed herself to be an amazing natural talent who admitted before this tournament that she doesn’t have the time to practice. And yet she still beats almost everyone she encounters! We call her Amazing Amanda and a champion through and through. Congrats to both on being model players, champions and awesome ladies on and off the tables.
Tara (3rd) - Jennifer (1st) - Amanda (2nd)
Main Event Tournament Payouts – $2000 added monies
1st – Jennifer Kraber $750
2nd – Amanda Lampert – $550
3rd – Tara Williams – $400
4th – Orietta Strickland – $270
5th/6th – Angie Payne, Sophia Lopez – $155
7th/8th – Belinda Lee, Leslie Anne Rogers – $105
9th/12 – Tracie Voelkering, Loretta Lindgren, Michelle Cortez, Helen Hayes – $75
13th/16th – Lisa Marr, Liz Mitchell, Kawania Watson, Suzanne Walkuski – $50
17th/24th – Monica Anderson, Kathy Knuth, Ming Ng, Mindy Williams, Michelle Yim, Tam Trinh, Emma Stewart, Lucille Donahue – $20
A Second Chance tournament was also held on Sunday with 19 players wanting to redeem themselves. This was a $620 added monies double-elimination tournament with a very strong listing of players as well contending for the 1st place prize. A fun OB Break Contest was held on Saturday and $660 was collected with half of the monies going to the Second Chance along with $100 added by the tour and $10 entry fee ($190). It was a 100% payback field.
1st place – Kawania Watson – $135
2nd place – Ashley Nandrasy – $80
3rd place – Teresa Garland – $65
4th place – Lorna McEwan – $50
5th/6th – Karen Lawley, Krystal West – $40
7th/8th – Amber Quinn, Nicole Bacon – $30
9th/12th – Natalie Mans, Lucille Donahue, Nelly Allen, Michelle Yim – $20
13th/19th – Suzanne Walkuski, Laurie Coulette, Monica Anderson, Gail Roles, Sara Bork, Jackie Forster, Mindy Williams – $10
Other Tournament Winners: $30 Free Tournament Entry – Tara Williams
6 ($50 Gas Cards) – Sara Bork, Loretta Lindgren, Lisa Marr, Rebecca Riley, Suzanne Walkuski, Krystal West,
Custom Chalk by MzTam (www.mztam.com) – Emma Stewart
OB Break Contest: $660
Bobby Dominguez/Daniel Forster (6 balls down) – $165 each
Bobby Dominguez also wins cue case by a flip of a coin—cue case provided by sponsor Ozone Billiards (www.ozonebilliards.com)
Great play this weekend by all the ladies and we look forward to seeing all of you at the next stop, August 16th – 17th at Slick Willie’s in Katy, Texas.
OB Cues Ladies Tour – Good Pool, Good Friends, Good Times – www.obcuestour.com
