By Jerry Stuckart: Two of the top pool players in Arizona fought their way through a very tough field of 50 players to reach the finals at the Desert Classic Tour's 2nd Stop of the 2009 season. Scott Frost and Mitch Ellerman took very different paths to reach the finals of this Barbox 8-ball event held at Bullshooters in Phoenix, Arizona. Bullshooters, owned by Mike Bates, has been the host of many Desert Classic Tour Stops and will definitely be host to many more. This room is filled with 40+ tables of all sizes, many dart boards, televisions throughout, a HUGE covered smokers patio (with a valley barbox) and so much more.

The 2009 Desert Classic Tour (DCT) has started off extremely well with 50 players participating in each stop so far. This stop saw a bunch of new faces that didn't play in the first stop, but most of the usual characters were present.

The points leader, Leil Gay, did not make the event this time, which left the door open for many players to overtake his spot. One of which was Gus Briseno who finished 2nd in the big table event. Gus continued his hot play and ran through player after player to get to the hot-seat match. He beat Mike Williams, Randy Thompson, Jack Scerca, Nick Deleon and Denny Holmes to arrive in the hot-seat match.

Pete Lhotka had another great showing as well, beating off some of the best guys in the state including knocking Mitch Ellerman to the one-lose side of the board with an impressive 7 – 3 victory.

Scott Frost was able to make it out for the event and looked every bit as deadly as the spider who bit him earlier in the year. Scott showed the entire tournament and everyone who tuned into the live web stream that his break was world class. With his ridiculous cue-ball control and explosive break, he was able to distinguish opponent after opponent in quick fashion. The players that were able to view this first hand were: Aaron Morgan, Gary Wheeler, Terry Osbourne, Ed Scott and Dennis Orender, on his way to the hot seat match with good friend Gus Briseno.

Mitch Ellerman finally returned to Phoenix after his impressive win of the Jay Swanson Memorial at Hollywood Billiards in California, and his run at the NCS 8-ball title in Las Vegas. Mitch is also the house-pro at Bullshooters in Phoenix, so this was definitely his home court. He started out with wins over Al Terpstra and Brian Begay (Stop #1's 3rd place finisher) before running into the hot hand of Pete Lhotka. Mitch then had to take the long road through a very tough one-lose side of the board with hungry players. Like most professionals, they play their best when their backs are against the wall. Mitch sent home Mike Williams, Carlos Avalos, John Smith, Muaz Arshad and Denny Holmes before getting redemption with Pete. This time running out from everywhere to cruise to a 6 – 0 win. Mitch then waited for the loser of the hot-seat match. Pete received $250 for his 4th place finish.

Two great changes the DCT made this year to entice more players is to offer a staggered entry fee and a 'B' and below side pot. Entry fees were $70 for 'A' players, $50 for 'B' players and $35 for 'C' players. Dennis Orender and Jimmy Mendoza, the operators of the tour, came up with the classifications based on the Arizona Rating Committee ratings. All players ranked 10 & Above would be 'A', 8's and 9's would be 'B' and 7's and below would fall in the 'C' category. The B and below side pot was a $20 entry for all players ranked either 'B' or 'C'. And whichever player finished further in the tournament would take home this prize. Two players played themselves to the same exact spot, Carlos Avalos and Allan Pettis both finished 13th-16th and tied for the prize, each taking home $100. Four others tied for 3rd place and split the remaining $40 equally.

The hot-seat match featured two great friends in Gus Briseno and Scott Frost. They have played countless times in the past and were both very comfortable to start. Scott got the first opportunity and put together rack after rack to jump way ahead. Gus was able to put together a rack or two, but made a couple mistakes that would end up costing him the set. Scott finished the match off at 7 – 2.

Up again the TV table was Gus, but this time against Mitch who just capped off his 6th win in a row, including 3 – 10 rated players and one 10(-1) in John Smith. This match for the rights to play in the finals turned out to be the match of the day. Mitch jumped out early like he has done so many times before, but came up dry on a break in rack 4 and allowed Gus back in the match at 3 – 1. Gus played a couple more great racks to tie the game at 3 a piece. The two warriors traded a few racks and Gus was able to get to the hill first and after his break it looked to be all over for "The Wonderboy". But Gus got funny on a ball and gave the table over to Mitch. He put together some perfect racks and forced a hill-hill for the ages. The thunder of Mitch's huge break echoed through Bullshooters as balls were sent everywhere. He took his normal 3 second survey of the table and got to work. Towards the end of the rack he made a couple very nice shots and needed to go 3 rails through some traffic to get the 2 ball which was frozen on the side rail. Mitch made the shot and came around, but overran the position by 6 inches and hooked behind Gus's stripe. There was only one thing left to do and Mitch grabbed his jumper and did a few practice strokes. Stepped up and nailed the 2 dead down the rail and watched it wobble in the pocket and pause before falling in. And of course he left himself dead on the 8 ball for the win.

After a quick break Scott and Mitch squared off for all the cheese. And like all Desert Classic Tour Events, there would be a one-set extended race for the title. In this case a race to 10. Scott again started strong and only 24 minutes later had opened up a huge lead at 7 – 1 before Mitch got started. He broke and ran the next 2 racks and won the 3rd one in a row to cinch up to 7 – 4, but that was the end of it as Scott finished off the remaining 3 racks and took home his first title of the 2009 season.

A special thanks to Bullshooters for hosting another great event for the Tour. The food, wait-staff, tables, etc. were all top notch. Bullshooters came through in 2008 on short notice to throw some of the top tour stops of the year. Thank you to Dennis and Jimmy for putting in the countless hours to make the tour a success and we all look forward to seeing you at the 3rd stop of the tour at Pockets, April 4th-5th for the Arizona State 14.1 Championship. See you all there.

Visit www.desertclassictour.com for more information, including Video's of matches.

1st Place, Scott Frost, $1185
2nd Place, Mitch Ellerman, (~$700+)
3rd Place, Gus Briseno, (~$400+)
4th Place, Pete Lhotka, $250
5th/6th,   Dennis Orender / Denny Holmes, N/A
7th/8th,   Nick Deleon / Muaz Arshad, N/A
(More payouts to come)