By the Skins of His Teeth: Feijen Wins $42,500 at Skins Event Debut
Trailing badly late in the finals of the inaugural Skins Billiard Championship, steely Niels Feijen of Holland summoned the composure to win three games in a row and pocket a knee-knocking $35,000 – enough to seize the lead and eventually win the debut event.
“I got out, and I didn’t know how much it was for,” said the jubilant Feijen after accepting a massive winner’s check for $42,500. “I sat down, and I heard it was for like $35,000, and I was like, ‘Man!’ … I knew it was big. But to get the skin, that was the pressure. It was intense. I mean, I was almost going to faint after I made the 9. I was super-shaking.”
Producers Allen Hopkins and Billiards International hope that the Skins Billiards Championship, held Nov. 19-20 in Atlantic City, N.J., will fill TV viewers with the same sense of anticipation. Patterned after the “skins” game in golf, the event was designed to capitalize on the public’s recent rabid fascination with games of chance, such as Texas Hold ’Em poker.
Here, 16 of the world’s top shooters vied for a cut of the gaudy $130,000 prize fund. (Each player ponied up a $5,000 entry fee, and the promoters added another $50,000.) In the first round, four sets of four players squared off, with each player taking $500 for each game won. The top eight winners advanced to the semis (to be televised with the final on ESPN in January), where the “skins” came into play. Each game carried a value, which would roll into the next until a player could win three games in a row (the “skin”).
The fast-paced and unpredictable format seemed to trump the typical mano-a-mano 9-ball telecast. Here, players openly rooted against whichever contestant seemed closest to a skin, and the loose atmosphere prompted several zingy exchanges between players and audience members. In a bit of a coup for the promoters, loose cannons Keith McCready and Earl Strickland both made it into the televised semis, and their lips were flapping. After Strickland thwarted Charlie Williams’ run for a skin in the semis, he turned to the bench and quipped acidly, “You guys are lucky. You’re pulling for me now. It’s the only time a pool player has pulled for me.”
The swings in fortune were intense. Heading into the four-man finals, Thorsten Hohmann and Willams led with $22,000 and $21,500, respectively. Feijen and Rodney Morris pulled up the rear with just $7,500 and $6,500. But by the fourth game, Morris had won the first skin, worth a hefty $13,000. Morris later ruined Hohmann’s bid for the second skin (by then worth $18,000) with a quick break-and-run. Feijen took the advantage from Morris in the next game with a break-and-run, then watched as Williams missed the 1 in the next game, leading to a two-game streak. In the next game, Hohmann tried a chancy 1-9 combo a good 24 inches from the corner pocket, and missed. That let Feijen back to the table to wrap up his $35,000 skin in the 11th game of the 12-game final.
Morris then won a playoff for the remaining $6,000 skin, putting him in second place overall with $25,500. Williams and Hohmann left with the same amount they had at the beginning of the final.
“That is one advantage this has over the ring game format,” Williams said, comparing the skins event to the other gambling-style game currently in vogue at pool tournaments. “With a ring game, there is one winner and five losers. Whereas here, everybody can win some money.” — Mason King
Pro-Celebrity Pool Tournament Will Raise Money for Asthma
The 8th Annual Sorvino Asthma Foundation’s “Pro-Celebrity Pool Tournament” will take place Aug. 21-23 at the Venetian Casino Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.
The celebrities scheduled to attend are: Paul Sorvino, Mira Sorvino, Jerry Orbach, Hulk Hogan, James Tolkan, David Brenner, Pat Cooper, Joe Piscopo, Ray Franza, Penn Gillette, Alfredo Versace, Yogi Berra, and others.
The pool players who will be in attendance include: Loree Jon Jones, Ewa Laurance, Fran Crimi, Lou Butera, Allen Hopkins, Paul Brienza, Mike Massey, and Tony Robles.
There will be 8 scotch doubles teams playing 7-ball races to 5. The event will be taped for possible later airing. For more information, contact Charles Ursitti, Executive Director or the Sorvino Asthma Foundation at (212) 941-8686 or Jackie Zlatanovski, Special Events at the Venetian, at (702) 414-1501.
Laurance, Balabushka Picked for Hall of Fame
Ewa Laurance, 9-ball goddess and the public face of the billiard industry in the 1990s, and legendary cuemaker George Balabushka will be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame on April 1 during the BCA International Billiard & Home Recreation Expo in Las Vegas, Nev.
For the Hall of Fame’s 2004 class, BCA voters chose Laurance over fiery pool superstar Earl Strickland and longtime pro and promoter Allen Hopkins in the Greatest Player category. Balabushka, who died in 1975, won the nod in the Meritorious Service category over American Poolplayers Association founders Terry Bell and Larry Hubbart, and 19th century player-author Maurice Daley.
Laurance is a former world 9-ball champion and current president of the Women’s Professional Billiard Association. Her appearance on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 1992 triggered a media blitz for pool, and the native Swede then split her time between stumping for the sport and playing championship-level pool.
Balabushka was considered the Stradivarius of cuemakers – an innovator in cue construction, designs and finishes. Already a member of the American Cuemakers Association Hall of Fame, he also was credited with elevating widespread demand for custom cues.
Scorpion Tops Dragon in D.C.
Johnny Archer registered a come-from-behind 9-8 victory in the 9-ball final of the Capital City Classic on Jan. 27 to win $6,500 for first place. The inaugural event marked the third straight major tournament of the 2002 season, following the Derby City Classic (Jan. 4-12) and Music City 9-Ball Open (Jan. 19-20).
Derby City one-pocket runner-up Jose Parica captured the one-pocket division at the Capital City Classic, topping Pete Fusco, 5-3, in the final to claim $6,000.
Charlie Williams led for most of the final against Johnny Archer, but Archer rallied to claim the victory. Williams settled for the $4,000 second-place check. Allen Hopkins finished third, worth $3,000.
Byrne, Ceulemans get BCA Hall of Fame nods
The voters have spoken, and Earl Strickland can begin making plans to attend the World Pool Championship in Cardiff.
In a vote that seemed to underscore the business nature of the BCA electorate, author Robert Byrne and legendary Belgian 3-cushion star Raymond Ceulemans earned entry into the Billiard Congress Hall of Fame, according to the BCA. Byrne and Ceulemans become the 39th and 40th members of the Hall. The duo emerged as the top vote-getters on a five-person ballot that included Strickland and fellow contemporary players Jim Rempe and Allen Hopkins. Strickland had previously insisted that, if elected, he would bypass the $300,000 world championship to attend the BCA Hall of Fame banquet.
Byrne, 70, credited with drawing thousands of players into the game through his seven books and five videos on billiards, will become the eighth person to be inducted in the Meritorious Service category. Ceulemans, 63, dominated the world 3-cushion scene from the ’60s into the ’90s, winning 16 of his 19 world-titles in an 18-year period between 1962 and 1980.
That the Hall of Fame vote is in the hands of BCA’s 125 Voting members and 175 Associate members (nearly 60 percent of the Voting membership voted, while just 25 percent of the Assoicate members submitted ballots, according to the BCA) probably increased Byrne’s chances, since his books and videos are well known to the BCA business populace. Meanwhile, industry pundits will likely wonder whether the lack of support for Strickland was a direct reflection of his sometimes volatile career.
Hall of Fame Ballot Released
Three first-timers joined a pair of returning nominees on the 2001 Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame Ballot. Author Bob Byrne, three-cushion legend Raymond Ceulemans and player of the year Earl Strickland all make their first appearance on the ballot. Allen Hopkins and Jim Rempe are holdovers from last year. The voting membership of the BCA will elect one or two of the nominees and the winner will be announced in the spring.
Bustamante Wins Las Vegas Invitational
Bustamante zeroed in on the title in Vegas.
Bustamante won $7,000 for first place, Souquet took $3,800 home. While some of the top names (such as Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland) were absent from the 37-man, one woman field, a full complement of Filipino players and such heavy hitters as Rodney Morris, Cory Deuel, Kim Davenport and the tournament promoter himself, Allen Hopkins provided entertaining action for the hard-core pool fans and handfuls of American Poolplayers Association members who were there for their national team championships running concurrently next door.