Amateur night debuts strong

Top Pool Bar gathered the best amateur billiards players last Friday in its inaugural 8-Ball Amateur Tournament.

Manager Zheng Jian Qing said the competition drew a lot of up-and-coming pool players that he had to send away a couple of them because all 16 slots were already full even before the 7pm scheduled break.

Arthur Miron went on to win the 8-ball competition for newbies and collected the $50 first-place purse and trophy, both courtesy of Top Pool Bar and Zheng.

Miron defeated lady player Nicole Muna in the finals after beating four other cue artist in the previous rounds. After debuting with a win against Andrew Aldan, Miron made short work of Jay Santos in the second round.

He didn’t miss a beat against Andrew Santos in the third either before claiming the coveted twice-to-beat advantage in the championship with a victory over Roman Torres.

Muna, for her part, bucked a second round loss to Santos by winning four times in the losers’ bracket. He eliminated B.J. Saimon, Reiner Lazaro, Jun Imperial, before exacting sweet revenge against Santos in the quarterfinals.

Ranged against winners’ bracket losing finalist Torres, Muna continued her winning ways before Miron snapped her comeback bid with a win in the finals.

Muna collected a one-hour free pool gift certificate for her runner-up finish, while Torres had a 20-minute playing gift certificate to show for his third-place effort.

Other participants of the first-ever 8-Ball Amateur Tournament were Gentry Williams, Jerome Repeki, Raymond Alvarez, Kevin Aldan, Shaun Camacho, Jay Tababa, and Fermin Dela Cruz.

Zheng congratulated Miron and company for topping the inaugural poolfest and is inviting other up-and-coming pool artists to participate in this Friday’s resumption of the 8-Ball Amateur Tournament.

“We want to give beginners and players that don’t normally play in billiards tournaments a chance to shine. This is a good way of developing pool talent on Saipan,” he said.

The pool competition is open only to players 18 years old and above and participation is free.

Top Pool Bar is located at the heart of Garapan and is as spacious as it is modern. It boasts of seven 9-1/2-by-5-foot tables usually found in venues for professional tournaments abroad.

For more information on Top Pool Bar’s 8-Ball Amateur Tournament, call 233-6999 and look for Zheng. Zheng can also be reached on his mobile phone at 287-7676.