Jack Colavita Memorial New Jersey State Straight Pool Championship

Hi Straight Pool Lovers,

I am in Parsippany, right here at beautiful Comet Billiards. We are just about to start the 6th edition of the Jack Colavita Memorial New Jersey State Straight Pool Championship.

Many great players have shown up, such as Tony Robles, Danny Barouty, Jonathan Smith, Mike Davis, Tom Walter and many more, including me ;-)
The tables are playing great. I just ran a 130 balls in practice and I am sure we will see some great Straight Pool matches with many high runs during the event.

We were supposed to play with 16 players, but Comet owner Bill Haley gave Jim Gottier from New York City an extra spot, so that we are playing a 32 player chart with a lot of bye's in the first round.
And that's why I am not playing tonight. I have to wait for the Mike Davis versus Ed Hodan match to finish. I am going to meet the winner tomorrow.

I am gonna use my iPhone to post updates about the event here on my blog. Check it out !

10.45pm

- Tony Robles came very close winning the 100$ bonus for the first 100ball run of the tournament. He was on 93 when he played a great combination to open up the stack but the cueball found it's way through all the balls into the corner pocket. No luck...

- Featured matches of this round as far as I can see are Mike Davis against Ed Hodan and Danny Barouty against Steve Lilis. Both matches very close so far...

I wanna mention that I love this pool room. Great ambiance, great tables, very clean and so friendly people. There is even a free buffet here tonight ! Pool fans in the area - drive your car to Comet Billiards and check this tournament out live !
Anybody else - read my updates ! ;-)

Saturday, 3pm

Sorry, it was kind of late yesterday and I couldn't post the last results of the day. We had to drive back to Manhattan and there was crazy traffic going into the city. Didn't get to sleep before 3am in the morning.

Well, Ed Hodan beat Mike Davis so my first opponent was Ed. I started out with some good runs but silly mistakes at the end of each run and lead the match 143:7. Ed came back with a 83 and 24 until I finally escaped with 150:114.

My next game against Jonathan Smith was simple. He broke and I ran the 150 balls and out unfinished ;-) whoo-hoo...

The four players on the winners side playing at 5pm

Barouty vs Robles

Walter vs Hohmann

On the one loss side playing right now

The winner of Bill Horn and Ed Hodan plays Carmen Lombardo

Jim Gottier vs Bob Madenjian

Don Polo vs Jonathan Smith

Winner of Steve Lillis and Mike Davis vs Ed Deska

Saturday 8.00pm

I have to admit - I am a little frustrated. After a flawless performance earlier my last match was a desaster. Walter played quite well, finished the match with a 46ball run. But I took too many wrong decision, too many terrible safeties and some weird misses. Anyway, I am still alive...

Tony Robles just beat Danny Barouty and is gonna meet Walter in the winner side final tomorrow.

Unfortunately we are running a little late. I was supposed to play at 8pm but the match to determine my opponent hasn't even started yet...

Saturday, 9pm

In the next match against Jim Gottier, I had calmed down and put the recent lost behind. Jim scratched on the break, and I countered with an intentional foul. Soon we had 2 fouls each. In a safety attempt Jim left me a shot while the cue ball was buried in the pack. From there I ran 152 and out! More to report tomorrow!

Sunday

I made a nice comeback against Danny Barouty. Danny only needed one more rack but he missed on an open table. I ran 89 and out from there.

In the semifinal I got my revenge with Tom Walter who had just lost to Tony Robles. The match was medium okay, I had some medium runs but no problem winning 150:46.

Final Robles vs. Hohmann

The final took more than four hours. Tony started with a 80+ run but scratched in the side. I was just getting into my rhythm when I had a skid on a side pocket shot. From there the match went back and forth. I was the first player to reach 150 so the match was extended to 200 points. A stupid position error forced me to go for another break shot than I originally had planned. I was trying to stun the cueball into position for the breakshot but missed by a mile. Tony closed the match with a nice 63 ball run.

The first place for me would have been the icing on the cake. I had a 150 and out, another 152 and out (both caught on DVD), plus several nice high runs but I just could'nt keep it up in the end. I am still happy with my overall performance and I won the bonus for the first 100ball run of the tournament and the high run of the tournament. The week of fitness and pool has paid off I think. Tony deserved the win and I am really happy for him. Just have to make sure he buys me dinner next week ;-)

Thorsten
Sent from my iPhone