The weekend began on
Thursday with the AZPL’s Celebration of Champions where we brought out 31 of
our former champions in a red carpet entrance to honor their historical
achievements in the AZPL! There was a short video presentation featuring all
56 championship winning teams followed by a speech and presented trophies to
the 1st & 2nd place teams and MVPs in each division!
After the presentation there was a buffet for the players and their guests
followed by a scotch-doubles tournament! Non-championship winners were
paired with championship winners in a blind draw format. We had 26 teams in
a race to 1 on both sides. Of those teams it was Harold Lyons & Sylvia
Salinas beating out Mike Sandoval & Tony Begay! Third place went to Kip
Anderson and Eric Ashley! 1st place took home $180, 2nd
won $60 and 3rd got $20! Thanks to JR for running that bracket!
It was so great to see so many former champions, some of you I haven’t seen
in 15 years! Thank you for coming out and participating!
On Friday we had men’s &
women’s 8-ball singles, 10-ball/9-ball singles and 8-ball Break and Run
Derby! In the men’s 8-ball there were 32 players competing. Of those it was
Chris Navas beating out Darren Bradford for the hot seat then Harold Lyons
for the win! 1st took home $130, 2nd got $95 and 3rd
received $65! Fourth went to Ernest Kenneth who took home $30 for his
efforts! There were 32 players in the 10-ball/9-ball tourney too! Of those
the final four were Tony Begay who went undefeated in 10-ball and finished
in first, Charlie Ward who lost his first game of 10-ball and went
undefeated in 9-ball only to lose to Tony in 10-ball finished in 2nd,
Ernest Kenneth won 4 straight in 10-ball before losing 2 to finish in 3rd
and Enrique Gomez won 3 on the 10-ball side and another in 9-ball before
being eliminated by Charlie to finish 4th! Payouts were the same
in both of these tourneys! In the women’s 8-ball there were 9 ladies signed
up! League MVP Stephanie Sterling beat out Ramona Seabaugh for the title and
took home $60 for the win! Ramona took $30 for the 2nd place
finish! There were 30 players in the 8-Ball Break & Run Derby! Harold Lyons
led the way with 49 points in the first round! Charlie Ward scored 30 in the
opening round as well! In the 2nd round Ernest Kenneth scored 33
to move into 2nd place with 48! In the 3rd round
Harold added another 13 to give him the lead. In the finals it was Harold
with 15, Ernest with 8 and Charlie with a goose egg! 1st won $95,
2nd got $55 and 3rd took $20! Thanks to Lisa Bradford
for running this event!
The main event began at 11am
Saturday with 12 teams in the A bracket on the 7s and 10 teams in the B
bracket on the 9s! Of those first 12 in A The Lone Rangers with a 4-person
rotation of Adam Garcia, Randy Torres, Jason Cote & Maria Viramontes won 7
straight winning $840 along the way and winning the C slot and be one of 3
teams in the triple threat! No Name with Gary Wimmer, Kip Anderson and Eric
McKay, started in the 2nd round and won 5 straight before losing
to those Lone Rangers! Andy Benavidez, Brad Andrews, JR Ascencion & Ernest
Kenneth of Suck My 8 Ball won 5 straight to win the B slot and the second
team in! Tournament MVP Chris Soto-Chimelis, JC Carlisle & Freddy Millan of
Trash Squared won 5 straight to take the A slot and be the third team in the
triple threat for the A bracket win! The triple threat is where each team
plays each other in a round robin. Go 2-0 and you advance! Trash Squared
went 2-0 to advance to the A vs B match vs Epic Balls and Bust! Chris went
29-3 with 303 points, 6 30-point games, 6 10-0s, 2 break & runs, had a
12-game winning streak, finished the day with a 16-game streak and shot
28.41 on average while allowing his opponents on average 3.3 points a game!
The 8.796 power rating good enough for 2nd all-time in the
tournament! His teammate JC was no slouch either, winning 28 games while
scoring 320, 4 break & runs, 5 30s and an 8-ball break which equated to a
6.261PR good enough for 4th! On the left side of the bracket I R
Sloth with Eric Danielson Jr, Chad Hibbard & Clif Dominquez went 8-0 before
losing to the Diamond Girls and finishing in 7th overall. No Name
won their first match on Sunday but eventually lost to the Diamond Girls and
finished in 8th overall. In the next round it was those Diamond
Girls with Lisa Tarlip, Peggy Hurst and Stephanie Sterling who had gone 5-0
to this point, the Lone Rangers and Suck My 8-Ball in another triple threat!
This time it was Suck My 8-Ball advancing to the next round in a triple
threat vs the winner of Bs left side and the A vs B loser! The Diamond Girls
finished in 5th overall and the Lone Rangers took 6th!
Reigning champs Invest in Bukaki Futures with Ryan Levengood, Robert Berry &
JR Ascencion took it on the face as they lost their first match 65-24 vs
Trash Squared, won their next match 76-61 against Shape is Overrated with
Carter & Jessica and Eric Culpepper and then lost 86-60 to 2 Kings and a
Queen with Joe & Trish D’Aguanno and Chuck Young to knock them out of main
bracket contention!
Of course the EPIC story
came out of the B bracket with Epic Bust & Balls winning 7 straight
including the A vs B match to take the hot seat before losing their only
game to Trash Squared then winning it all in EPIC fashion blowing the doors
off after two matches that were decided by 4 or fewer points locking it down
after 7 games! But we’ll get to that! On the way there so much more
happened!
Of those first 10 teams in
the B bracket Epic Bust & Balls won 6 straight on the way to winning B! The
Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies with Donald & Carey Hudings and Mike Krause
won 4 straight before losing to Steal Your Face with Lisa & Darren Bradford
and James Goodman! Pogue Mahone with Michael Kerin, Marc Quiroz & Derek
Nylund won 3 straight before losing to Epic on the right and the Desert Rats
on the left! On the left side of B it was the Girthy Marmot Brothers with
Chris Jones, Greg Aguilar & Eric Culpepper winning 6 straight before losing
to the Desert Rats with Dylan Van Eseltine, JT and Scott Elliott! It was
those Desert Rats that went on to represent the B bracket in a triple threat
with the winner from A’s left side, Suck My 8-Ball and the loser from A vs
B, Trash Squared. In that match it was Triple Threat with the 2-0 win to
advance, 3rd place went to Suck My 8-Ball and 4th went
to the Desert Rats!
In the championship match it
was an undefeated Epic Bust and Balls vs already beaten by Epic Trash
Squared! Knowing they had to bring it to the table twice they SQUARED it up
with a 90-86 win in the first match to give Epic their first loss of the
weekend! In the rematch, their 3rd of the day against each other
JC led it off with an 11-0. Carter won the next 10-2 to even it up 1 game
each. Chris won 10-5 in the 3rd game but Epic pulled out 2 more
wins giving them a 78-32 lead after 5 games! An EPIC victory for the ages
and an EPIC end to an EPIC weekend! Epic Bust and Balls slaying some dragons
to become the 57th AZPL State Champion!
In the stats… Chris Soto-Chimelis
was the tournament MVP and subsequently had the 2nd best
tournament power rating! His teammate had the 5th best all-time!
They’ll receive $225 & $150 for their achievements and Chris wins another
$100 being the MVP! On the ladies side Stephanie Sterling led the ladies
with a 17-8 record and 214 points for the 2nd best all-time for
the ladies! Her teammate Peggy Hurst went 15-11 with 208 points good enough
for 7th all-time in the championships! They’ll receive $225 and
$100 for their efforts! Carter Fike played on 2 teams during the season –
Shape is Overrated and Epic Balls & Bust – but it was a team he subbed for
that he played the best with in the championships as he shot a 25.6 match
average while playing for the Pocket Pimps and was the tournament’s most
improved shooter shooting 5.42 points above his career average! Thomas
Shaffer shot 3.8 points over his average for a 25.11 match average
throughout the tourney for Beer Thirty!
All-time speaking Donald
Hudgings passed Darren Bradford in championship points scored with 4,635 for
3rd all-time! Harold Lyons passed Chris Negrin for 6th
all-time with 4,236. Lisa Tarlip reached the 1,000 championship point mark
this season reaching 1,160 good enough to move into 6th all-time!
Peggy Hurst moved into the top 10 going as high as 8th with 941
points! Gary Wimmer & Kip Anderson, both from team No Name, moved ahead of
Chris Negrin in all-time tourney wins with 304 & 301 respectively. Carey
Hudgings picked up her 68th win in the tourney moving her into 5th
all-time! Peggy won her 65th game good enough for 6th
all-time and moved into a tie for 4th all-time with her 7th
30! Diamond Girl teammate Lisa Tarlip moved into 8th all-time
with her 54th all-time win. Kip Anderson moved ahead of Anthony
Begay and Chris Negrin to tie Darren Bradford with his 38th 30!
Pete Williams and Steve Key are still both tied for 10th now with
30!
Every time your team won a
match whether it be in the A bracket or B your team won cash! Out of 65
teams playing 43 won anywhere from as little as $20 to as much as $2,365 for
1st! They were 4 points away from winning another $750! Here’s a
list of the payouts:
1st Epic Bust and Balls $2,365
2nd Trash Squared $2,150
3rd Suck My 8-Ball $1,000
4th Desert Rats $295
5th Diamond Girls $780
6th The Lone Rangers $1,280
7th I R Sloth $750
8th No Name $740
9th Good Times $1,250
$420 Real Deal
$330 Get Lucky
$240 Black Shirts
$200 Saved by the Ball
$190 Mountainaire
$190 Girthy Marmot Brothers
$180 The Girthy Sirs
$165 Pogue Mahone
$120 Rubber & Liquor
$120 Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies
$110 Beer Thirty
$100 Who’s on First?
$100 Just Three Lesbians
$100 All BAllz Matter
$90 Veni, Vidi, Vici
$90 Pool Hall Junkies
$90 Goof Balls
$80 Heywood Jablomey
$80 2 Kings and a Queen
$60 Invest in Bukaki Futures
$60 Help Wanted
$60 Electric Boogaloo
$60 E Mac
$50 Team Boozer
$50 Steal Your Face
$50 Nice Rack
$50 Let’s Skoo-Den
$40 Shape is Overrated
$40 Pocket Pimps
$30 Hot Pockets
$30 Craigslist Companions
$30 2 White Guys and an Asian
$20 Squealing Hogs
$20 Cover the Spread
I’d like to thank everyone
who’s ever played in the league whether it be a single match all the way up
to the only member other than myself to reach 1,000 matches played Cecil
Attson! THANK YOU for choosing to play in the AZPL! Thank you to all of the
bars that have hosted the league over the years! Thank you to all the
people who have helped out in one way, shape or form over the years,
especially Jen who has been there since 2005! Thanks to Cecil, Alyssa
Rockhard, Jessica Pugh & Kaila Warfield for all their help on Thursday!
Thank you all for being a part of the longest running state championship
tournament in Arizona for twenty consecutive years and going! 57 consecutive
championships! It’s been an amazing twenty years! Cheers to twenty more!
See you in the summer season! THANK YOU!
How teams qualify for the State
Championship tournament:
Teams play in the league to qualify for the State Championships.
Only 66 teams will qualify. First place in the Championships is $3,000. For teams that lose twice on
Saturday in the Championships fear not as we have a 3rd elimination bracket that
plays out Sunday!
The Biggest Party in Pool!
The AZPL 2023
Summer State Championships!
September 1, 2, 3 & 4, 2023
Mill's
Modern Social –
The Home of the AZPL!
83 E Broadway Rd, Tempe
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! $10 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 70th 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 65th spot in the tournament! Of the losing teams in the Wild Card
tournament ONE of you will win a spot by lottery pick!
Singles
Tournament -7:00pm, sign up starts at 6pm! (2)
It's a
race to the 8 in every round. $10 entry!
Limit 32 players!
8-Ball Break & Run Derby
-7:00pm, sign up starts at 6pm! (3)
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!
9-Ball/10-Ball
Tournament-7:00pm, sign up starts at
6pm!(4)
10-Ball on the
winners side, 9-Ball on the losers side - $10 entry Limit 32
players!
Ladies 8-Ball Singles
on the 7s! – 7:00pm, sign up starts at 6pm! (5)
The women of the AZPL
compete to see who’s the best! 32-player limit, $10 entry!
Saturday
AZPL State
Championship Team Tournament – The Main Event!
Doors
open at 10:30am – First group of teams start at 11am!
Local teams NO Entry /
Out-of-Town Teams $150 Entry – Limit 66 teams! – 2 Brackets!
Sunday
AZPL State
Championship Team Tournament – The Main Event!
Doors
open at 10:30am
Continuation of both brackets as well as
the start of the
Third Elimination brackets! Starts at 11am on the 9' tables!
The Summer 2023 AZPL State
Championships!
Sept 1, 2, 3 & 4, 2023
FIRST PLACE PRIZE OF $3,000 and over $15,000 in cash prizes!
Tournament Start times
Start times will be determined shortly after the end of the regular season!