The finals were a true double-elimination format with the first set a race to 9 and the second a race to 7.  Bryant came out o­n fire in the first set, taking it 9-5 to force the final race to 7. In the second set, there was a lot of excellent play, with both players breaking and running out when they had an out.  Tied 4-all, Bryant gave Jones ball in hand after a foul and watched him take not o­nly that rack but the following o­ne to reach the hill 6-4.  However, Bryant had his chances and tied up the match again, making it a hill-hill finals.  Jones came up empty o­n the break, and with a perfectly executed 2-9 back-cut carom, Bryant won the final game to earn his second Houston Open title.

Congratulations to Charlie Bryant for a tough win. We would like to thank Legends Billiards for hosting such a great event. They really did a great job handling the crowd of players and spectators. Special thanks goes out to Mindy and Craig Cohen, owners of Legends Billiards, along with tournament directors Denis and Trisha Strickland for all their hard work. Also JD Hymel for his help Sunday with the charts. Much thanks goes out to Amanda Ramirez for running the break contest, which paid out over $1,600 with Charlie Bryant winning the pot o­n Saturday and Charlie Mora winning the Sunday pot. Our vendors were Ron Geyer with The Custom Cue Connection, Joe Salazar with the Connoisseur of Custom Cues, and Jerry Olivier with Jerry Olivier Custom Cues.

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the sport of billiards and pool.