by Jerry Stuckart -    The NCS 8-Ball Qualifier finally came to Arizona on January 17th. The winners of this tournament would advance to Las Vegas on February 13th - 15th to play in the National Event with a purse of $32,000. In addition, the person that wins the Vegas tournament will Represent the United States in the World 8-ball Competition in April with all expenses paid. The estimated purse up for grabs at the world's is around $200,000.

With this being the first year of the NCS Tournament, as with any new venture, it's hard to get people interested. Along with last minute date changes, conflicts with other tournaments in the area and the Desert Classic Tour's Finale Championship the weekend before, it was hard to achieve a large turnout.  A few players stopped in and found out that this was a Qualifier and they wouldn't be receiving all the cash at the end.  Scott Frost, Bobby Emmons and Gus Briseno all decided to not enter.  Darren Appleton from the UK stopped in but he was not eligible to play in the tournament as the spot was for a U.S. Qualifier and therefore needed to be a U.S. Citizen.

When we kicked off we had 11 players that paid the $60 entry and gave it a go to win one of the two qualifier spots.  With Bullshooters adding $800 guaranteed we were still able to give out 2 spots.  The players that competed were Mitch Ellerman, Tres Kane, Mike Williams, Susan Williams, Steve Lillis, Ray Robles, Matt Kwasny, Ed Scott, Tom Corse, Charlie Heun Jr. and Trevor Long.

With half the field receiving byes and the small turnout the tournament moved along fairly quickly.  Mitch, Mike, Susan, Tres and Tom Corse all received byes in the first round.  Steve Lillis faced off against Ed Scott.  Ray Robles played Charlie Heun Jr. and Trevor Long matched up with Matt Kwasny.

Steve Lillis showed that he was here to win the qualifier.  After placing 7th place in the Las Vegas Qualifier the weekend before he came over to Phoenix for another shot.  Steve used his slow and steady pace throughout the entire event.  In the opening match Ed Scott didn't fair too well.  Missing a few shots early in racks allowed Steve to get out from everywhere and he cruised to a 7 - 2 victory.  Ray Robles also won in convincing fashion with a 7 - 0 score over Charlie.  Trevor and Matt battled back and forth, but Matt was able to pull away late for the 7 - 5 win.

In Round 2 of the Winners side, Steve Lillis continued his strong play and won 7 - 0.  Tres Kane beat Mike Williams 7 - 3.  Susan and Matt had a good battle, where she won the first 4 racks only to watch him come back and tie it at 4 - 4.  They traded the next 4 racks and got to hill-hill.  Matt had a hard out and couldn't get position.  Susan put together a run of her own but with each shot got a little more out of line.  She came up short on position for the 8 and after a short deliberation fired the bank shot in for the win.  Ray Robles and Mitch Ellerman were locked up in a battle of their own.  Sitting at 2 - 2, Ray ran out his break and took advantage of Mitch's dry break for another out.  Mitch put together a rack or two and forced another hill - hill match with Ray's break.  The rack ended up being difficult as a few clusters were sitting on opposite ends of the table.  Ray missed a shot and let Mitch to the table.  He ran a difficult pattern but his speed and position control left him shot on every ball and he got out for the 7 - 6 win.

On the one-lose side, Tom Corse, Trevor Long and Ed Scott were all eliminated in 9th - 11th place.  Ray Robles matched up with Matt Kwasny in the next round and found the race to 5 to be more difficult.  Sitting at 3 - 3, Matt put together 2 strong racks for the win.  Mike Williams was on another mission as he had defeated Trevor Long 5 - 0 the round before and then took out Charlie Heun 5 - 1.

On the TV table hosted by www.OnTheRailTV.com Steve Lillis continued his quest against Tres Kane.  Tres was one of the early favorites to hold down a spot, but didn't play as well against Steve and his turtle like pace.  Steve got up 4 - 2 and held on for the 7 - 5 victory to get to the hot seat match.  In the other winners match Susan played Mitch.  They both capitalized on each others breaks and soon it was 3 - 3.  Mitch ran out the remaining balls on rack 7 to take the 4 - 3 lead.  What happened next is what so many players have seen while playing Mitch.  He turned on a switch and ran out the next 3 racks.  One of which was Susan's dry break in this alternate break format.

With this lose Susan was set to play her husband Mike with the loser going home.  Mike won the first 4 racks but couldn't close the door just yet.  Susan won 2 in a row but didn't get another shot as Mike ran out for the 5 - 2 victory.  Matt and Tres faired off as well and Tres made incredible shot after shot, playing great position on tough racks to secure the 5 - 3 victory.  After the match Matt exclaimed his gratitude in playing such a great player and said he learned a lot from the match and tournament as a whole.

In the Hot-Seat match Steve and Mitch squared off for the two hottest shooters in the tournament.  But Steve seemed to run out of gas and Mitch cruised to a dominating win to take the hot seat and one of the qualifier spots.  Now Steve would have to face the winner of Tres Kane vs Mike Williams match to get the other spot.

Tres and Mike started their match and traded the first two racks.  But then the two guys got together and had a discussion.  Tres ended up forfeiting the match to Mike as he wasn't sure he could make the Vegas Event in February.  And he thought it would be great for someone that could go for sure to win the other qualifier spot.  I asked him after the match about his reasons for playing in the tournament in the first place.  "I just really wanted to support the tournament and support Gary and Mike at Bullshooters for everything they do for pool in Phoenix."  Definitely a generous gesture that I wish more players in the game had today.

In what turned out to the be the final match of the tournament Mike Williams faced off against Steve Lillis with the winner getting the final qualifier spot and the other receiving $200 for his efforts.  The match was played on the TV table and started with Mike taking control of the match.  He played a few great safes, ran out from 5 or 6 balls and got out to a 3 - 1 lead.  Steve put up a fight, but just didn't seem to be at the same level he had most of the day.  Mike won the match and the other qualifier 5 - 1.  Congratulations to both Mitch Ellerman and Mike Williams.  And Special Thank you for Bullshooters for donating the money, the fantastic staff and fabulous room.