UPA Tour Championship at The Bicycle CasinoBy David Thomson, Medium Pool  What a week of great pool Southern California has in store as The Bicycle Casino hosts the world's greatest in the United States Pool Players Association's (UPA) Pro Tour Championship. This major pro 9-ball event is the 2004 season finale where tour points are tallied and the Players of the Year in each category determined and then honored at the UPA Year-End Awards Banquet. To close it all out, on Sunday ESPN will tape the remaining four competitors for worldwide broadcast at a date to be determined.
The festivities commenced on Tuesday evening with pool fans, local television, and press present at the Meet the Champions party. Johnny Archer, Rodney Morris, Tony Robles, Mika Immonen, Luc Salvas, Ralf Souquet, and Francisco Bustamante were just a handful of the talent on hand. And Mike LeBron, recently recuperated from brain surgery, is back in action as well. Darrell of Billiards and Barstools set up the Brunswick tables, Simonis was the cloth sponsor, Aramith the balls, Sardo the rack, and we were ready to roll. The players were introduced, rock duo JeLL performed songs inspired by pool from their CD release, and then there was a trick shot show where pro tour players Max Eberle and Ismael “Morro” Paez worked the room with pool ball magic. World Artistic Pool champion Mike Massey, also a competitor in the 9-ball event, dazzled them with favorites from ESPN’s Artistic Billiards series. Thursday is the day the action begins. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news on the UPA Tour Championship.
|
Poolroom Computer
