The tables were fast, the players aplenty and the mood and energy at Bogie’s this weekend was in one word “Fan-tab-ulous”.  The Hunter Classics Tour held their 9^th tour stop of the 2007 calendar season at Bogie’s Billiards in Houston, Texas October 13^th-14^th weekend.  In addition to the Hunter tour event, a special charity benefit for Annie O Cuemaker, Anne Mayes, who has Stage IV non-small cell carcinoma, was going on all weekend.  Kim White, WPBA Pro Player, was the hostess with the mostess and was the main nucleus behind the charity benefit.  Kim emceed the entire benefit, collected all raffle and silent auction items, ran a 9-ball tournament with 52 players, kept the party and benefit rolling all weekend, and spent many waking hours making sure everything ran smoothly.  Through her untiring efforts, she was able to help raise a large amount of dollars to help support Anne.  Thank You Kim for all that you do.  You are the best!

Speaking of best, the Hunter Classics Tour would also like to acknowledge Jerry Williams, John Rizzo, Glen, and the entire Bogie’s Billiards management and staff for their top notch hospitality and accommodations.  Jerry said he had such a blast over weekend and his sentiments were shared by everyone who was at Bogie’s this weekend.

Rebecca Goodnight, Jerry William (owner of Bogies Billiards) and Ricki Lee Casper

There were thirty-six players in total and all the regular power hitters were there.  Tara “Firecracker” McCracken, Heather Lloyd, Leslie Anne Rogers, Amanda Lampert, Kyu Yi, Lisa Marr, just to name a few.   Maria Catalano from England just happened to be in the Houston area as well and decided to show us her stuff.  Maria said she remembers playing in a Hunter stop back in 2001, so she was ready to get back in the groove and take on the competition. 

By days end on Saturday, undefeated players in the Main Event were Helen Hayes vs. Tara McCracken and Kyu Yi vs. Leslie Anne Rogers.  On the one-loss side were Maria Catalano vs. Elissa Jordan (her first Hunter stop…not bad for a newbie); Melinda Hinojosa vs. Heather Lloyd; Terry Petrosino vs. Susan Petty; and Jennifer Kraber vs. Ricki Lee Casper.

Tara was pretty much on fire on Sunday, but several players were trying to put out her flames.  Tara defeated Helen 7-5 and then played Kyu for the hot seat defeating her 7-3.  While Tara was waiting to see who would be her matchup in the finals, Heather Lloyd was starting a forest fire of her own. Heather defeated our own lovely Melinda Hinojosa 7-3, then she defeated Maria Catalano, who was our furthest traveler, but did that bother Heather…..no, Heather defeated Maria 7-4.  Heather then defeated Helen Hayes, Leslie Anne Rogers, and Kyu Yi to meet up with Tara in the finals.  Tara sent Heather to the one-loss side Saturday afternoon……so the rematch was on!

The Top Six - Heather, Tara, Kyu, Leslie Anne, Helen and Terry

Tara was pretty much on a roll, balls were dropping, rolls were happening and she was stroking with all confidence at the beginning of the match.  Then somehow the momentum switched. Tara was up 5-2, lost her focus and here comes Heather, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7.   So Heather wins the 1^st set and they both prepare to battle again.  They took a break---Tara put her hair in a ponytail, pushed her long shirt sleeves up to her elbows----Heather took some deep breaths and the final set was ready to go.  It was Tara who came out the victor.  Tara pretty much was in the driver’s seat the entire 2^nd set.  On the final game, she made a long 4 ball shot and managed to beautifully put the cue ball in the vicinity of a 5-9 combo.  With the cue ball slightly on the rail, she hit the 5 into the 9 which went into the corner pocket for her 1^st Hunter tour win for 2007 with a score of 7-4.   Congrats to Heather for her 2^nd place finish plus the WPBA Qualifier.  Congrats to Tara for her awesome 1^st place finish.  You go girl!

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

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

Second Chance Tournament: