Summer 2024 Championship write-up:

A big congratulations goes out to Steve Deluna, Kevin ‘Foogie’ Ringlero, Darryl Davis & Anthony Begay of 3 NDNs N Dat Guy! They defeated Going for Three, We Own the Money, Coke Fueled Rage & the reigning champions Ohhh Those Guys twice to go 5-0 and become the AZPL Summer 2024 State Champions and win $4,000!

The Championships began on Thursday, August 29^th at Dozer’s Grill with a blind draw scotch-doubles/singles tournament! If you haven’t been to Dozer’s you need to check it out! 20 7-foot Diamonds and 8 9-footers! Dart boards too! It’s a new room on the far east side, 7012 E Hampton to be exact. For those of you with kids you might remember the old Chuck E Cheese. Same place. We play there on Thursday nights! Check it out. Anyway, 18 players participated and in the end it was Sammy Martinez & Eric Culpepper winning the scotch side.  On the singles side Mike Chapa and Doug Cochran battled it out to team up for the scotch. They beat Sammy & Eric the first time but Eric & Sammy came back to clinch the victory and $180! 2^nd took home $120 with BC Antonio and Esteban Eureste split $60 for 5^th!

On Friday there were 4 different tournaments to play in! An 8-ball, 9-ball & 10-ball singles tourneys as well as our own 8-Ball Break & Run Derby.  In the singles tourneys it was a race to 1 in each round.  There were 29 players in the 8-Ball tourney. Robert Berry & Mike Chapa split $330 for the win. Carl Stewart finished in 3^rd and won $100. Steve Deluna was in 4^th with $80. Aric Thompson & Chris Navas tied for 5^th and won $35 each.

The 9-Ball tourney had 14 players in it.  Aric Thompson defeated Nate Holliday to take 1^st place and win $140! Nate received $90 for 2^nd. Andrea ‘Double A’ Berchtold of Daddy O’s fame finished 3^rd and won $50!

Twenty players signed up for 10-ball. Mike Sandoval won the hot seat but it was Sammy Martinez who defeated him twice for the victory and $150 for 1^st place! Mike took home $115 for 2^nd. Mike Chapa finished in 3^rd and won $85. Fourth paid out $50 to Robert Berry!

In 8-Ball Break & Run Derby there were 28 participants! Leading the pack after the opening round was Bernardo Garcia & Robert Berry, both tied with 30 and Frank Caddell with 28. The cutoff was 6 to make it to the next round! In round 2 Bernardo added 26 to his score to take the lead with 56. Mike Sandoval also scored 26 to move into 2^nd with 43. Equaling his 43 was Mike Chapa who scored 20.  20 was also the magic number to make it to the 3^rd round! It was there that Robert Berry came roaring back with 20 points to take the lead with 58! Mike Chapa added 14 to finish at 57! Sandoval knocked in 11 for a final score of 54 to take 3^rd! In the finals it was the Sandman opening with 45 points to take 1^st and win $70! Mike Chapa finished in 2^nd and took home $40! Robert Berry took home $20 for 3^rd place!

On Saturday Dozer’s opened their doors at 9am for us! The first teams didn’t start until 11am so there was lots of warm up time and breakfast too!  Breakfast burritos and sandwiches! 46 teams played on Saturday with 13 teams playing at 11! Of those early birds it was the Desert Rats who went the farthest without losing winning 3 straight before losing to No Clue! By the end of the night there were just 4 undefeated teams – Ohhh Those Guys vs Noice Toyche Biotch and Coke Fueled Rage vs 3 NDNs N Dat Guy. Three other teams won 3 straight on the winner’s side – DMT We’re DYnoMITE, Going for Three and Ohhh Those Guys. On the left side there were still 8 teams in contention heading into Sunday and one of them was the Desert Rats who won 2 straight! They went the farthest of all the Saturday morning starters. Going for Three won 5 straight on the left side before finishing the weekend in 3^rd place with $1,500! The number #1 ranked team Shake, Rack & Run went 2-3 and finished in 8^th with $350. They got beat by Show George the Money who went 3-2 to finish in 7^th with $650. The 3 Blind Mice, who started in the 21^st spot won 5 straight on the left side after starting 1-1 and finished 6-3 to finish in 6^th with $500. 5^th place and $1,000 went to Noice Toyche Biotch who finished 3-2. Coke Fueled Rage took 4^th and $1,000 after going 4-2. 

In their first match the 3 NDNs N Dat Guy faced off against Going for Three.  They shut them out 60-27 in 6. In their next match they played Daddy’s In-House champs We Own the Money. It didn’t start off so well as they lost the first 2 games before Foogie put out the fire winning 10-3. Deluna won the next one before Anthony Begay hit an 8-ball break in the 5^th! In the 6^th it was Chad with a win but the 3 NDNs won the next two for a 68-53 victory! Onto their next match against the Shamrock leaders Coke Fueled Rage! They started off strong in this one winning their first three to take a 30-17 lead into the 2^nd round. The Rage finished their Coke by now and outscored them 27-23 while winning to make it a 53-44 match heading into the final round. 2 10s put it out of reach as the NDNs win this one 73-57! In the battle for the hot seat they faced Ohhh Those Guys for the first time. The Sandman lead it off with a break & run for Those Guys but those NDNs came roaring back with 3 straight wins to take a 40-29 lead. It was Bernardo’s turn to stop the bleeding and beat Anthony 10-3 but those pesky NDNs won the next 3 to win 73-55 sending the champs to the left side and await their opponent! The loss sent the champs to the triple threat to close out the left side.  They faced off against Going for Three and Coke Fueled Rage.  Mike Sandoval had 2 break & runs and scored 32 as they beat Going for Three 69-61. Against the Rage they took their 1st lead in game 4 37-36 before giving it right back 10-5 for a 46-42 score. The next 3 were like the ’29 Yankees with Sandoval, Garcia and Sandoval again with a 30-10 run for a 72-56 lead and the win! They had some unfinished business with some NDNs N Dat Guy…. Those 3 NDNs N Dat Guy were well rested and ready for action as they jumped to a 42-9 lead after 3 games, holding Sandoval to 2 points! In the 2^nd round Those Guys snapped out of it and won 2 to score 24 to their 19 but Foogie beat Sandy 10-4 for a 61-33 lead after 6 games! Needing to go 30-2 over the next 3 games in game 7 Bernardo beat Deluna but Steve scored 7 to clinch the victory! Fitting for Steve as he has been playing in the league since the fall of 2005!  Anthony Begay has been playing consistently since the summer of 2008, his first 15 years in Flagstaff, first as a player then as the league rep! He’s now in charge of the Thursday Dozer’s division! Foogie & Darryl just started playing in the league last season. Foogie went 9-2 with 103 points scored for a 1.689PR to earn team MVP honors!

On Sunday we also had the Third Elimination Bracket with the winner receiving $1,000 courtesy of Dozer’s Grill! Every team that lost twice on Saturday and the first two rounds Sunday went into this bracket. Showing up is half the battle in this one as only 22 teams returned to compete for a grand! Of those 22 it was Lucky Roll & Unholy Trinity who both won 4 and split it $500 a piece!

If you were unlucky enough to lose your first match on Sunday you fell into the ‘I Guarantee You’ll Play 2 on Sunday’ bracket with the winner receiving a free season! No weekly dues for the entire season! 12 teams played in this bracket with No Name from Flagstaff pulling out the victory!

Overall MVP of the tournament goes to Jim Rigney of the 3 Blind Mice! He went 19-3 while scoring 206 points, allowing just 112 and shooting a 28.09 match average for a 3.883 Power Rating! Lou Smith of the Desert Rats was the women’s MVP going 10-10 with 155 scored and 146 allowed along with a 23.25 match average for a PR of 1.180! Harold Lyons of Going for Three led all players with 262 points scored. He and his teammate Francisco Serrano tied with 20 wins! Mindy Teague led the ladies with 168 points. Josh Branham hit 2 8-ball breaks! Mike Sandoval recorded 3 break & runs and Nate Holliday picked up 3 10-0s! Damien Jones of the Pool Hall Junkies was the most improved player shooting 4.71 points over his career match average!

Thanks to everyone who came out to Dozer’s Grill over the weekend!  Saw some alumni over the weekend - Randy Jacob from the Long Shanks stopped by as did former champions Ralph Gibson of Old School and a blast from way, WAY back machine 3x champion Wayne Larson of Lefty’s XXX fame stopped by! It was great to see everyone! Thanks to Dozer’s for putting in $1,000! Thanks to Jennifer for hanging out all weekend! Thanks to Myron for doing all those tips! Thanks to Diamond for setting up! Thanks to Dylan & AA for helping out! Thanks to Dozer’s Grill for a great weekend!  We all had an amazing time! The staff did a great job! And thanks to each and every one of YOU for playing and being a part of the AZPL! Another amazing season in the books!

Our 62^nd season begins the week of September 9^th! We have divisions Sunday thru Thursday statewide! The AZPL State Championships will be January 2^nd thru 5^th and first place will be $4,000!

AZPL State Championship Weekend!

Divisions forming across Arizona!

GET QUALIFIED TODAY!

How teams qualify for the State Championship tournament:

Teams play in the league to qualify for the State Championships.  56 teams will qualify! For teams that lose twice on Saturday fear not as we have a 3rd elimination bracket that plays out on Sunday for $1,000!  

 The Biggest Party in Pool!

The AZPL 2024 Fall State Championships!

January 2, 3, 4 & 5th, 2025

Dozer's Grill - The Home of the AZPL State Championships!

7012 E Hampton Rd, Mesa

Order of Events:

Thursday Night – Scotch Doubles/Singles Tournament

8-Ball Scotch Doubles/Singles Tournament – 7:00pm, sign up starts at 6pm (1)

It’s a race to the 8 every round both sides! Double-Elimination! Blind Draw! $20 entry! Limited to 64 players!

Friday Night – FIVE EVENTS TO PLAY IN!

Wild Card Challenge - 6pm (1)

To win the Wild Card Tournament and become the final team in the State Championships you must go undefeated in a single-elimination team tournament that starts at 6pm on Friday.  It's still 3 on 3 but it's a race to 3 wins!  Whichever team wins 3 games advances!  Final 2 teams play a full 9-game match for the final spot in the tournament! 

8-Ball, 9-Ball & 10-Ball Singles Tournaments - 7:00pm, sign up starts at 6pm! (2, 3, 4)

It's a race to 1 every round. $10 entry!  Limit 32 players each! You can play in TWO of the THREE!

8-Ball Break & Run Derby - 7:00pm, sign up starts at 6pm!  (5)

Players compete by breaking & running out the table!  Every player racks their own.  You get one freebie shot on the break meaning you don't have to make one on the break to continue shooting.  However, if you scratch your turn is over with 0. An 8-ball break counts as 20 points.  After that every ball you make counts as a point.  It doesn't matter what you shoot at - be it solids or stripes - as long as the 8-ball is the last ball.  Once you successfully make the 8 you'll re-rack the balls and break.  You MUST make a ball on this break to continue shooting.  Once you miss a shot your turn is over.    There are 3 ways to become eligible for this event:   Be in the Top 3 league leaders for 8 ball breaks or Break & Runs!!  Be the league leader for 10-0s!  Buy your way in!  $10 entry! 

The Fall 2024 AZPL State Championships!

January 2, 3, 4 & 5th, 2025!

FIRST PLACE PRIZE OF $4,000 and over $15,000 in cash prizes!