Tony Robles and Villarreal Snag Grand Master Titles at 35th BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships

The first two singles division titles were claimed Monday at the 35th BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. "The Texas Tornado" Vivian Villarreal went undefeated to become the new BCAPL Women's Grand Master Champion. Villarreal defeated Canadian Junior National champion Brittany Bryant in a tight match score of 8-6. Bryant bested Li Jia from Asakita, Hiros and New Mexico's Anna Kostanian before meeting up with Villarreal. Villarreal also rolled through Jia and Melissa Little both by a score of 8-3.

Of the 27 men competing in the BCAPL Men's Grand Master singles, "The Silent Assassin" Tony Robles is that division's new champion. Robles went undefeated throughout the division. The last several matches were close. Robles sent Dan Louie from Seattle to the one loss side 9-7 in the hot seat match. In the semi finals, Louie squared off with Maryland's Shaun Wilkie who Louie previous tossed to the one loss side. This time it was Wilkie victor over Louie though 9-7.

In the finals against Robles, which was a true double elimination, Wilkie claimed the first set 9-5 after taking advantage of the numerous dry breaks by Robles. In the second set, Wilkie took the lead, 6-4 when the tables turned. Wilkie came up dry for the first time in the set allowing Robles to run that rack and the following four to take the match. The remaining singles and scotch doubles divisions will be completed today, Tuesday, May 17th.

Additionally, as always with the BCAPL National Championships there are many other festivities abound. The CSI 14.1 Challenge has been tremendously popular with seniors, women, amateur men and pro categories taking place on two 9' Diamond Pro Cut tables. The BCAPL crowd has been treated to top notch 14.1 players such as Mike Immonen, Danny Harriman and John Schmidt. Thus far in the pro category Schmidt has the highest accumulative score of 281. The top eight accumulative scores in the professional division advance to a single elimination tournament. With $20,000 on the line for any player who, in a single run matches or beat's Mosconi's high run of 526, there are many motivated players.

Tuesday night at the BCAPL nationals is also Challenge the Pros night, a fundraiser for the CSI Junior Pool Program which will distribute the funds to benefit the Billiard Education Foundation. This year's fundraiser is specifically to raise money to assist the U.S. Junior National team in 2011 to fund experienced coaches to the 2011 Junior World event in Poland and to raise money for junior pool clinics around the country.

To view the brackets and payouts for all divisions of the 35th BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships and the 3rd U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship visit the CSI CueSports Tournament System at www.ctsondemand.com

CueSports International is dedicated to creating more choices for all players. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the U.S. Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the U.S. Open One Pocket Championship and the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. Visit www.playcsipool.com, www.playbca.com and www.playusapool.com for more information about CSI and its divisions.

By Press Release - 2011-05-17 http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?storynum=8748

"its an ancient fact, men with power do that... the multiple women thing"

We cater to it, we patronize it, we make it happen. We educate our children about it. Movies and books and games and other shake and bake awesome entertainments.. The cool character's always have two chicks on the side of his throne. The rock star is always autographing a huge rack. Girls night out compete for the tall drink of water at the bar...

It's the drive to get one thing that gets that other thing that comes with perks...

The perks, an ancient old desires or idea, maybe; jeez, I wonder when was the first time something like that happened? You think that caveman hunter who got back to the village with the biggest dino on his shoulders nailed all the chicks in the village around the camp fire?

Sex drugs and rock n roll. Chicks tricks chains and whips... The American dream. Maybe leave it to-Beaver-once upon a time was the dream, or the Brady's, or Mr. Rogers, but, then again, I never saw a Mrs. Rogers so is that a dream? Ernie and Bert thanks to affirmative action no longer roommates, the alternative life style dream ya-know.

Boy, that Maria Shriver must be mortified, then again, she's not the first in history to be a woman linked to man burned by his own power. I'm sure she must have had a pool boy or Guatemalan gardener or some secret limo drive in her time, but at least she didn't get knocked up by one.

Men become tigers with money, even tigers with cubs and golf clubs. Arnold is still my boy, Eliot is still my boy and history will still repeat itself as long as we have that so called dream of money power and women; not women but "women".

By NYC Grind Editor, Alison M. Fischer

The 35th Annual BCA Pool League National Championships is well underway at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, where thousands of players from all parts of the country and around the world have come to claim a piece of history in one of the largest tournaments in the world. You can get a glimpse of the excitement of the BCAPL National Championships in our mash-up video from the 2009 event: nycgrind.com/?p=4863

This massive eleven-day competition has come to be one of the cornerstones in the world of competitive pool, and each year the event's directors work to diversify and elevate the event to new levels. And while there have been a number of new features added to this year's event, players and fans are again being offered live brackets for all of the events, which can be found at ctsondemand.com.

Along with the BCAPL Championships, CSI is also presenting the US Open 10-Ball Championships, along with the US Open One Pocket Championships, which is moving into its final rounds of competition today. You can watch some of the world's elite One Pocket players, including Efren Reyes, Scott Frost, Earl Strickland, and Alex Pagulayan live on www.TheActionReport.com all through today.

While 8-ball is the main course for competition at the BCAPL Championships, the 2011 edition has now broadened its horizons to include the Women's Open 9-Ball and Men's Open 9-Ball singles events, which debuted on the second day of the event. Both of these single-elimination events would see New York-based players rise up to make strong statements in their opening appearances in this event.

The Women's Open 9-Ball Singles held a field of seventy-one players, in which Michele Li (based out of NYC's Amsterdam Billiards) went through the top half of the bracket, winning matches over Colleen Charrette, Nancy Kennedy, Tammy Brooks, Claire Schram, and Janet Ritcey, to go to the finals.

However, Michele would have to settle for 2nd after she was defeated in the finals by Sandra Badger of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Michele was joined in this event by fellow Amsterdam player Supadra Geronimo, who finished tied for 7th place. View the entire bracket for this event here: ctsondemand.com

Michele Li's Amsterdam Billiards 9-ball team 'Dress Up Baby' also recently earned an emotional win by capturing a $14,000 prize in the winter season championships, as well as helping keep Ginky's memory alive, as he was a member of their team earlier in the season. The veteran pool player learned a lot from Ginky, who passed away before his time in March of this year.

Michele is also known as being part of team "Kiss of Death", the 2009 BCAPL 8-ball Champions. In 2010, to follow up on Kiss of Death's win in the previous year, NYC Grind chronicled the weeks leading up to their appearance at last year's event in an exclusive web series. If you haven't seen any or all of the episodes, get caught up to speed here: NYCgrind.com/?cat=2748