By Mike O'hara: Sweet Tooth Billiards held their first 7 & Under pool tournament April 4th and 5th drawing a field of 36 rough and ready players. All came for the $30 per player prize fund and the $300 added that Sweet Tooth put in the pot. A variety of different styles of play melded to make this a very entertaining tournament for the spectators. As with most tournaments, the cream rose to the top and eventually champion Randy Thompson showed why he is considered by many to be one of the toughest draws in any tournament. Staying in the winner’s side until his first match on Sunday, Randy spent some time in the losers bracket after being defeated by the most colorfully dressed player in the tournament, Tim Bridgewater.

Tim, wearing his tie-dyed matching shirt and pants displayed his usual high energy approach to the game and showed that a focused 6 rated player is not to be taken lightly in any tournament. He defeated Randy and then went on to claim the hot seat by grabbing an early substantial lead against eventual 3rd place finisher Chad Lovelace from Kitty’s Bar on East Thomas and holding on to be guaranteed 2nd place.

Randy went to the losers side and won a couple of very tough matches against Mark Nelson and Rob Kane before defeating Chad to earn the right to a rematch with Tim Bridgewater. Rob Kane had also started Sunday undefeated, but took a loss against Chad in his first returning match. He then squared up against Ricardo Ritchie, who was having a nice tournament. Rob took that match, then had to settle for fourth as Randy squeaked by him in a hill-hill battle. Ricardo ended up tying for 5-6th place with Mark Nelson who also played well.

In the finals, Tim looked just as tough as he had all weekend, but early in the match he pocketed a ball that somehow managed to find its way back on to the felt. This may have caused him to lose some focus and been just enough edge for Randy to take control and eventually double-dip Tim for the win. Regardless of the outcome of the finals match, congratulations are due to both players for their competitiveness and fine play. Randy collected $700, $520 for the win and $180 in a winner take all $10 sidepot. This was a nice payday considering that the payout structure was not especially top heavy. Tim collected $390 for his second place finish and the staff of Sweet Tooth would like to say a special thank you to both the finalists for their generous gratuities.

1st Place	Randy Thompson	$700
2nd Place	Tim Bridgewater	$390
3rd Place	Chad Lovelace	$260
4th Place	Rob Kane	$130
5th/6th Place	Ricardo Ritchie Mark Nelson	$40