Spring 2024 Championship write-up:

Congratulations to Bernardo Garcia, Julian Perez & Mike Sandoval of Ohhh Those Guys out of Mills Modern Social on Sundays! They are your 60^th AZPL State Champions! They went 5-1 beating Show Us the Money, the Girthy Sirs, 18 Rings, Going for Three and the Dawgs to win $3,995 over the weekend! They also got the exclusive AZPL State Championship shirts and their names immortalized on a banner to be revealed at the next championship! This is Mike's 3rd championship, his first since 2008 and Bernardo & Julian's first!

The 60^th AZPL State Championships began on Thursday night at the valley’s newest pool hall Dozer’s Grill located at 7012 E Hampton in Mesa. For those of you who haven’t been there it’s located on Power north of the 60 and features 20 7 foot and 10 9 foot diamonds as well as darts. 16 people signed up for a double-elimination 8-ball tourney. Joe Farias finished in 1^st, Jim Rigney took 2^nd and Chris Navas finished in 3^rd.

On Friday things moved back to Mill’s Modern Social in Tempe. There were 2 singles tournaments – an 8-ball tourney and a 10-ball/9-ball tourney – and 8-Ball Break & Run Derby as well as a ladies 8-ball tourney to play in. It was a race to 1 in all events with a $10 buy in for each.  Short & Sweet, Fast & Fun! The singles tourneys were both full at 32 players each.  In 8-ball Robert Berry beat out Mike Sandoval twice to go undefeated at 6-0 and win $100! Mike took home $80 for 2^nd. Jim Rigney finished in 3^rd and won $60. 4^th and $40 went to Mike Chapa. Ryan Fedora and Ed Clark tied for 5^th and each won $20.

In the 10-Ball tourney it was once again Robert Berry on the hot seat going 5-0 before beating out Mike Sandoval to take 1^st and $100. Mike lost to Thomas Shaffer in 10-ball after going 2-0 to go to the 9-ball side. He went 5-0 in 9-ball with his last win being again Thomas setting up the match against Robert.  Mike finished with $80 for 2^nd. Thomas took home $60 for 3^rd. 4^th place and $40 went to Dylan Van Eseltine. Ryan Fedora & Chris Navas finished in a tie for 5^th and each won $20. Thanks to Anthony Begay for running that bracket!

There were 5 ladies in the women’s 8-ball.  Ramona Seabaugh took 1^st with Audrey Jake finishing in 2^nd and Andrea Carmody taking home 3^rd!

We had 30 players sign up for 8-ball break & run derby! In the opening round Joe Farias scored 38 to take the lead. Jim Rigney was 2^nd scoring 27. Ryan Fedora, Ed Clark & Mark Hopkins all tied with 14 to tie for 3^rd! After round one the bottom 3^rd of the field was eliminated. In the 2^nd round Jim Rigney scored 21, Ryan Fedora scored 15 and Chris Navas picked off 12 but the leaders at the end of round 2 would be Jim Rigney with 48, Joe Farias with 41 and Ryan Fedora with 30. At the end of round 2 the top third of the field advances to round 3. In that round Chris Navas led the way with 18, Jim Rigney picked up 17 and Robert Berry and Joe Farias each scored 15 but it was Joe Farias with 66, Jim Rigney with 65 and Robert Berry with 43 to advance to the finals! Robert finished 1^st with 13, Jim scored 12 and Joe got 1. 1^st got $110, 2^nd $60 and 3^rd $30! Thanks to Lisa Bradford for running this event!

And then there was Saturday! 11 teams were there for the opening round of the handicapped bracket and 7 for the no-handicap bracket. Out of all of those the Nerf Herders won 5 straight to win $315 on Saturday! That was also the longest winning streak of the tourney! At the end of day Going for Three was atop the leader board at 4-0. Rounding out the top 3 in the handicap bracket were Ohhh Those Guys and 18 Rings, both at 2-0. On the No-Handicap bracket it was Ohhh Those Guys Again at 3-0 and the Dawgs at 2-0! Quentin Kilbride was the Power Rating leader at 4.240! He had 111 points and an 11-1 record for Deadstroke! His teammate Steff Moreno led the ladies going 7-4 with 83 points and a PR of 1.218!

12 teams were still in competition in the handicapped bracket on Sunday. Of the 6 teams to start off the morning Shake, Rack and Run went the farthest winning 4 matches before being eliminated by 18 Rings, finishing in 3^rd in the handicapped bracket. 18 Rings won out on the loser’s side of the bracket for a rematch against Ohhh Those Guys! In the rematch they lost their only match. The two teams opted to flip a coin instead of a rematch, splitting the $2,000 prize 6 ways and the understanding they split the $1,000 bonus money if they win it. 6 teams were still playing in the No-Handicapped bracket on Sunday. Of those 6 the Dawgs with Andy Benavidez, Sammy Martinez and Michael Kerin went 2-0 to win the bracket, defeating Ohhh Those Guys Again twice, the first time to win the hot seat, the 2^nd to knock them out! The Dawgs won $2,000 after that second win!

In the bonus match it was the winner of the Handicapped bracket against the winner of the No Handicap bracket for $1,000. It was Ohhh Those Guys who won the coin flip and home field.  Those Guys went up 20-2 finishing 30-9 in the opening round. The Dawgs fought back winning 2 of 3 in the middle round scoring 25-19 narrowing the gap 49-34. Andy beat Mike 10-7 to open the 3^rd round bringing it to 56-44 but Bernardo completed the 30 beating Sammy 10-4 to complete the win 76-58 in 8 games!

Gary Wimmer of No Name was the championship MVP going 19-2, scoring 203 points, allowing just 101 and averaged 29.00 points a match, a 3.83 improvement over his career average! His power rating was 4.243 in 7 matches. Steff Moreno of Deadstroke led the ladies with an 11-6 record, 133 points and a 23.47 match average over 6 matches for a 1.847 power rating. They’ll each win $100 for their efforts!

Over the two days we handed out $11,690 from the regular season and $12,815 in the championships for a total payout of $24,505 to over 49 teams! Thanks to Mills Modern Social for adding $1,000 of that and thanks to Jen for handling all those envelopes! 18 Rings led the league with $1,000 won for first place in their division with 12 teams. Last place in all local divisions won no less than $50. In the championships every time you won a match you won cash with each round paying out higher than the last. 38 teams won money in the tournament! Opening round payouts started at $15 and went up from there all the way to $500 in the 8^th round. On the losers side payouts started at $10 and went up to $80 before you went on to play for the bracket and $2,000 or $2,500 followed by the bonus round for $1,000! Ohhh Those Guys won $3,995 on top of the $550 they won for finishing in 2^nd place during the season!  Mike also won $75 for being MVP giving them a total of $4,620 for a team of 3 in a 14-week season! That’s a cool $1,540 each and they didn’t even max out what they could have won, leaving $450 on the table by finishing in 2^nd by a mere 5 points which would’ve pushed their total to over FIVE GRAND!!!!

On Sunday all the teams that lost twice on Saturday play in the Third Elimination Bracket! In that event it’s a race to 3 wins every round with a top prize of $750! Of the 40 teams that played in that event it was Chris Navas, Steve Key & Brandon Warren of the Shadow Wizard Money Gang that went 6-0 to claim victory! Congratulations!

For the teams that lost their first match on Sunday they fell into the ‘Guarantee You’ll Play Two on Sunday’ bracket! Of those teams it was Randy Torres, Jason Cote & Adam Garcia of the Lone Rangers who went 5-0 to win a free season! That’s right – no weekly dues for the entire season! Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the 60^th AZPL State Championships! It was another amazing weekend! I love seeing all of you! It’s like a family reunion every four months!  Thanks to the entire staff of Mill’s Modern Social, especially Taffy & Bella!  Those two took charge of the floor and were serving drinks from open to close!  They kicked ass for you! Can’t thank them enough for the job they did!

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.  42 teams will qualify for the Handicapped Bracket.  20 teams qualify for the No Handicap Bracket! Every time you win a match you win cash in the tournament!  For teams that lose twice on Saturday fear not as we have a 3rd elimination bracket that plays out on Sunday for $750!  

 The Biggest Party in Pool!

The AZPL 2024 Summer State Championships!

August 29, 30, 31 & September 1, 2024

Mill's Modern Social – The Home of the AZPL!

83 E Broadway Rd, Tempe

Order of Events:

Thursday Night – Singles Tournament at Dozer's Grill in Mesa

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 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! 

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! 

The Summer 2023 AZPL State Championships!

August 29, 30, 31 & September 1, 2024

FIRST PLACE PRIZE OF $3,000 and over $10,000 in cash prizes!