Lupe Cruz Wins Minneapolis Billiard Club Tournament

Lupe Cruz

Sixteen players participated in the second annual MBC USBA tournament held September 12-14, 2008. Two flights of eight played to 20 on two heated Verhoevens. The top three from each advanced to Sunday’s 25 point finals.

Flight A consisted of Iowans Bob Byrne, Lorenzo Chavarria, Jorge Hinojosa, John Jacobson and Minnesotans Rod Corey, Paul Fritzam, Tim Gardner, and Brad Volmers. John went 7-0 to sweep the flight. Bob and Rod also advanced with records of 5-2. Click Here to view PDF file of flight.

Flight B included Gary Eake and Bernard Kapinos of Wisconsin, Iowans Lupe Cruz, Bob Jacobson, Russ Rosenberger and Minnesotans Fred Lamers, Mike Leimer, and Tim Smith. Fred finished 7-0 including a game against Tim with tournament high run of 9 and high game of 2.000. Lupe advanced with a record of 6-1. Bob and Tim both finished 4-3 with Bob advancing by a slim 2-point margin. Mike ran 5 to win high run out of the finals and Tim had high average out of the finals. Click Here to view PDF file of flight.

Finalists: Lupe Cruz, Robert Byrne, Rod Corey, Fred Lamers, Bob Jacobson and John Jacobson.

Sunday morning the final bracket consisted of Fred, John, Lupe, Bob Byrne, Rod, and Bob Jacobson. After several rounds of play John, Fred, and Lupe were all undefeated at 3-0. Fred and Lupe played first and Lupe surged to an 18 to 9 lead after 24 innings. Fred ran a seven and fought back to tie the match at 21 in the top half of the 34th inning. Lupe stepped up in the bottom half and finished the match with a run of four. Next up was John and Lupe. John jumped out quickly to a 15 to 5 lead after the 12th inning. Lupe evened up the match at 15 after 17 innings, including a run of six. The match was tight the rest of the way, coming down to 24-24 in the 29th inning. Lupe then made a difficult out shot to win both the match and the tournament! Congratulations to Lupe. That left John and Fred with one loss each to determine second place. Fred prevailed with a 25-19 victory.
Click Here to view PDF file of finals.

The total prize fund of $3,150 paid as follows:

1st Place Lupe Cruz $1,000
2nd Place Fred Lamers $700
3rd Place John Jacobson $475
4th Place Bob Byrne $350
5th Place Bob Jacobson $250
6th Place Rod Corey $175

High Run Out of the Finals (5) Mike Leimer $100
High Average Out of the Finals (0.466) Tim Smith $100
Schuler cue raffle winner John Jacobson

Fred Lamers (2nd), Lupe Cruz (1st) and John Jacobson (3rd).

MBC wishes to thank the following people and organizations:

o Jim Larson of Billiards Unlimited for allowing some matches to be played at his place downtown
o MBC member Richard Fox for both assistance in running the tournament and preparation of Saturday night’s feast
o MBC member Troy Thoennes of All About the Game Room for both donating a Schuler cue and setting up a variety of billiard products for sale throughout the tournament
o George Bisonnette for food
o Progressive Lending Solutions for sponsorship
o Restoration Professionals for sponsorship
o MBC member Mickey Campbell for adding $1,000 to the prize fund
o And most of all, we’d like to thank the players for making the tournament a success and a fun event for all

Three cushion billiard tournament. September 12-14, 2008

Limited to first 21 paid players.

All games played on three Verhoven tables (3rd table is at another location close by)

20-25 point prelims depending on number of entries, played to a 6-man 25 point final on Sunday.

Players meeting at 10:00 am on Friday, matches to start at 10:15 sharp.

This is a USBA tournament, USBA memberships are available at the tournament.
$ 25.00 for first-time members, $ 50.00 for renewing members. Membership expires on December 31, 2008.

$125.00 entry fee, please have your entry fee to me by the 10th 0f September.

Make checks out to "Minneapolis Billiard Club"

Mail to:

Minneapolis Billiard Club
1101 Stinson Blvd NE
Minneapolis. MN 55413

For questions or directions contact Fred Lamers 763-300-6370 or email at   fslamers@comcast.net

Hotel Info

All hotels are within 3 miles of the club and here is some information on rooms:

Days Inn  # 651-6366730    2 beds  $89 per night

Motel6   # 651-639-0104    2 beds   about $60 per night

Super8  # 651-636-8888     2 beds  $69 per night

There are many other hotels in the area, call me if you need more information.
-Fred Lamers 763-300-6370

The USBA has a contract with Choice Hotels International. If you would like to receive at least a 15% discount at Choice Hotel locations, please refer to your Membership Package for details. To become a USBA Member, click "Join" at the top or the upper left side of this page and follow the instructions to pay by credit/debit card through PayPal. You do NOT need a PayPal account to use PayPal. You can also mail in payment by check.

USBA Members also receive between 5-10% discount from the following car rental companies, if they service the area:

All players must make their own hotel/car rental reservations. If you need a room that's closer to the pool hall, please check online at Travelocity, Orbitz or Hotels.com.