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Steele Nabs First Win on Planet Pool Tour While Pasko Earns WPBA Qualifier By Andy Lincoln Stop Six of the Planet Pool 9 Ball Tour was held on June 5-6, 2004, at Orange Ball Billiards in Rockville, MD. This was a $2,500-added event made possible by the loyal tour sponsors and Orange Ball Billiards. The Sunday women's event was also a qualifier, with paid entry for the WPBA Cuetec Cues Florida Classic as the first-place prize. There were 84 open division entrants and a record number of 33 ladies in the women's division taking a shot at the qualifying spot. A couple of upsets of note on Saturday included top-ten players Jerry Slivka and Jim Henson losing to Doug Sharp and Joey Ryan, respectively. By Saturday evening, the final eight undefeated were Joey Ryan, Don Steele, Eddie Abraham, Rob Perry, Chester Taylor, Richard Keefe, BJ Ussery, and Brett Stottlemyer. On Sunday, Steele continued to the hot seat with wins over Ryan and Abraham. The lower half of the bracket was won by Ussery, who defeated Stottlemyer and Keefe. The hot seat match was closely contested, with Steele ending up on top. On the one-loss side, Eddie Abraham posted strong victories over Jim Henson 9-5, Richard Keefe 9-1, and BJ Ussery 9-5 to take a shot at Steele. The true double-elimination event required that Abraham beat Steele twice to win. The first set remained close and ended with Abraham making a nice 9 ball combination for a 9-7 decision. Steele remained focused and jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set. Abraham battled back, and the score wound up at 8-8. After a safety battle on the 1 ball, Steele finally took advantage of an opening to sink a 1-9 carom shot to earn his first Planet Pool tour title. First place paid $1,200 and second $750. The women's event got underway on Sunday with the added excitement of the WPBA qualifying spot. Amanda Pasko of Waldorf, MD, came out strong, defeating top player Gwen Dickert 7-5 in the first round. Pasko continued on to the hot seat match with wins against Amy Rodgers and Heather Doherty before pulling out a 7-6 decision over Evelyn Hazlett. The top half of the bracket saw Amanda Smith defeat Sueyen Rhee and Jin Hee Park win over Malea Haacke. Park edged out Smith 7-5 to meet up with Pasko. The hot seat match stayed close until 5-4 when Pasko grabbed the next two games for a 7-4 win. The players in the elimination bracket were keeping their hopes alive for the qualifying spot. Tommie Ann Keyser was mounting a serious charge by dispatching six opponents on the one-loss side, including touring pro Sueyen Rhee, placing her into the fourth spot. Jin Hee Park was not demoralized by her loss to Pasko and put a stop to Keyser's run. This set up a rematch with Pasko where Park would have to win twice to take the top prize. Pasko contained her nervous energy and defeated Park again with a 7-4 score. Good luck to Amanda Pasko, who will be playing in her first pro event at the Cuetec Cues Florida Classic in September. Open Division Results: 1st Don Steel $1,200 2nd Eddie Abraham $750 3rd BJ Ussery $475 4th Richard Keefe $320 5th Doug Sharp, Jim Henson $240 7th Joey Ryan, Brett Stottlemyer $130 Women's Division Results: 1st Amanda Pasko $200 + Qual 2nd Jin Hee Park $300 3rd Tommie Ann Keyser $200 4th Sueyen Rhee $125 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.
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