Dennis Orender Captures Own Tour Event
By: Jerry Stuckart - The Desert Classic Tour held it's 7th Stop of the 2009 Year and this time they travelled to Tucson, AZ. The location was Pockets and the game was Big Table 10-ball. 38 players came out to try and take down this 2nd to last tour stop.
After one day of action 30 players were sent home and the other 8 would return on Sunday, all in the money.
The returning players were: Dennis Orender, Paul Grande, George Teyechea, Jeff
Webb, Gus Briseno, Bobby Emmons, Pete Lhotka and Nick Deleon. The B/C
Sidepot was decided on Saturday Night with Chris Madrigal and Mike Hamman both
finishing the same and splitting the $120 pot.
Pete Lhotka and Nick Deleon were the first two guys eliminated on Sunday finishing in 7th/8th and taking home $100. Jeff Webb and Bobby Emmons matched up in the next round and Jeff was able to stick with his game plan and send the fast pace shooting Bobby home with $170. In the other one-lose side match George jumped out to a good lead against Gus, only to watch Gus come back and force a Hill-hill match. Gus hooked himself by a full ball and was forced to jump. The contact was made but the ball rattled out allowing George to the table for the out. Gus received $260 for his efforts with sidepots. George continued his strong play by coming back to defeat Jeff in the next round.
The HotSeat Match featured two players that have yet to win a tour stop at the Desert Classic. Paul Grande and Dennis Orender battled it out early with Paul taking a 3 - 1 lead. Dennis fought back to even and then 3 fouled Paul two games in a row to take the lead. Dennis finished it out and secured a top 2 finish.
In the battle for 3rd place George Teyechea started to feel the toll of broadcasting and playing at a high level. Paul took advantage of a few mistakes by George to jump out to a 3 - 0 lead and ultimately was able to close George out in the shorter race to 6 on the one loss side.
The finals consisted of the two hottest players of the tournament. It was easy to see right out of the gates that Dennis was not going to let this first trip to a DCT finals match get away from him. Being the Tour Director and running the Free Online Stream is tough enough for one weekend, let alone knocking off 37 other players to capture the tour stop. But that is exactly what Dennis did and took home $1250 in 1st place money. Paul Grande received $550 for 2nd place. With the win Dennis leap frogged over Scott Frost and Mitch Ellerman in the DCT Points Standings with one event left to play. The top 8 points leaders will be seeded in the finale.
The final regular season stop will be held at Bullshooter in Phoenix, AZ, on October 17th-18th for Big Table 9-ball on their exceptional well maintained Gold Crowns. This will also be a $1000 added event.
1. Dennis Orender $1250
2. Paul Grande $550
3. George Teyechea $275
4. Jeff Webb $330
5/6 Gus Briseno $260
5/6 Bobby Emmons $170
7/8 Pete Lhotka $100
7/8 Nick Deleon $100
B/C sidepot split 120$
Chris Madrigal $60
Mike Hamman $60
