The Billiard Den, new to the D/FW area, has been open for only 5 months.  Owners Larry and Marci Rothberg welcomed the Hunter Classics Tour as one of their premiere events for their first year and their hospitality, service and smiles of their employees made our 8^th Hunter tour stop a most memorable one.  Their food was top notch, the competition was plentiful, and outstanding support from families, friends and other local pool enthusiasts made this event a fun-filled weekend, to say the least.

Players from California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma made the trek to Richardson but it was local favorite and last month’s Hunter stop winner Amanda Lampert taking 1st place and going undefeated while also capturing the 2008 WPBA qualifier.

Amanda in the finals.

Tracie Voelkering, a regular Hunter tour player over the years, scored her highest finish ever in a Main Event placing 5^th/6^th.  Excellent work, Tracie!  Another Hunter tour player finishing her best in a Main Event was Sam Holliday, placing 9^th-12^th.  Congrats to Sam!  Diana Cardona also had a high finish of 13^th-16^th.  Congrats to Diana!  Honorable mention goes to Shayla Neris.  After losing her very first match by the lopsided score of 1-7 on Saturday morning against Heather Lloyd, Shayla was not down for the count.  She continued to battle all the way on the other side of the bracket and took no prisoners.  She played 7 matches with memorable wins over Belinda Lee and Darlene Stinson, to name a few.  She then earned another opportunity to play Heather.  Shayla fought back hard but lost with a score of 3-7 and ended up with an awesome 4^th place finish.  You go Shayla!

On the winners side, it was a battle between Amanda Lampert, 2000 BCA Women’s Open Singles Champion (plus many other championships too numerous to mention) versus Marissa Hallett, 2007 BCA Women’s Open Singles Champion.  Marissa, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was on a mission as she made her way to play for the hot seat but so was Amanda.  The match was close the whole way with the players tied at 4-4, then 5-5, before Lampert gained her ground and closed it out with a 7-5 win. Amanda kept her focus and was leading the charge in true champion fashion winning the hot seat.  Then she would have to sit and wait to face her opponent in the finals.

Heather in the finals.

On the one loss side, Hallett ran into Heather Lloyd. Lloyd had dropped a 7-6 match to Voelkering late Saturday but came back with wins over Tara McCracken, Leslie Anne Rogers, Julie Stephenson and Shayla Neris. Lloyd made quick work of Hallett and won by the score of 7-1.

The final match between Lampert and Lloyd started out close with the players tied at 2-2, but Lampert then took control and won five of the next six games for a 7-3 win, 1st place and a WPBA Qualifier for 2008.

Shayla Neris (4th), Heather Lloyd (2nd), Amanda Lampert (1st), and Marissa Hallett (3rd)

Numerous giveaways provided by various supporters & sponsors were also won by Hunter tour players:

The Second Chance tournament was held with 22 players & $210 added monies for total payout of $430.  The winners were:

1^st - Kyu Yi - $140
2^nd - Jillian Valles - $100
3^rd - Melinda Hinojosa - $70
4^th - Susan Petty - $40
5^th/6^th - Christy Powell, Kim Pierce - $25
7^th/8^th – Tina Lehrman, Terry Petrosino - $15

A BIG thank you to Wes Hunter - sponsor of the longest running, largest women's tour in the country!