Pool tournament brings out best

March 27, 2005

BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Most local pool players know the Silver Fox Inn at Mile 50 Parks Hwy. as Pool Central in the Valley.

Last Sunday, some of the best pool players in the state showed up in the bar owned by Cassandra Alley, just north of Pittman Road, to show their stuff on the eight pool tables there for the first-annual Iditarod Days pool tournament.

Most had a serious sense of determination on their faces, although a few looked a bit more apprehensive.

Each had paid an entry fee of $15, except for the $20 fee in the open eight-ball division. The money goes to the top finishers in each division and Alley added $200 to each prize.

The tournament, meant to rival the well-known Fur Rondy pool tournament, has launched its annual occurrence in the Valley.

The tournament was the idea of longtime player Bill Breuer, who first convinced Alley to house the tournament, then got permission from the Iditarod Trail Committee and the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce for the name. He then organized and publicized it throughout the pool-playing community in Anchorage and the Valley, to attract the best of the best.

Breuer plays in at least three different leagues here in the Valley.

The players showing up Sunday were survivors from a long bracket of players who spent the previous weekend competing to make it to the finals and win the top prize money.

Sunday's play decided the champion in four divisions.

There was an eight-ball Intermediate division, representing the good and above average, who are generally league players; an open eight-ball division for the players considered professionals; an intermediate nine-ball division and a Dutch Doubles tournament. Dutch Doubles is for couples, and each player has to alternate shots to leave their partners a path to pocket the next ball.

The Open 8 division is made up of contestants who have placed either first or second in the Fur Rendezvous tournaments or the state tournaments in the past, making them ineligible to compete in the eight-ball Intermediate division.

In the first match, the players had to play two "races-to-four" sets. The "races to four" means that the first player to win four games wins that set. If each player wins a set, a third and deciding set is played.

Mark Tullis, a tournament player from Anchorage, was here to play Milan Janulek, one of the Valley's best, in the eight-ball open.

"This is probably about my 56th tournament or so," Tullis said.

Janulek had worked his way up from the losers' bracket to play the top-seed contender, the unbeaten Tullis, sitting in what is called the "Hot Seat."

Janulek, who has a fluid stroke and a smooth and comfortable rhythm, took the table and began performing some great shots, winning the first game. Tullis won the second, Janulek the third, and Tullis took the fourth.

Tullis then broke and ran out the last two games to win the first set. He broke and ran the table out for the first three in the next set, making it five games in a row that he broke and ran all the balls.

In the fourth game, Janulek got control of the cue ball, winning the fourth game, so he broke the balls for the fifth, but didn't make a ball.

Tullis ran the table from there, and won the match and $240.

Janulek, only winning $120 for second place, was down, but not out.

"He had control and just smoked me," a disappointed Janulek said. Janulek later got a reprieve by winning the intermediate eight-ball tournament, in which he was also eligible to play.

In the Intermediate 8 division, Janulek ran down competitor Billy Stephan 4-1 in the first and the second set became deadlocked at 3-3, but in the seventh game, Janulek ran out to win the second set 4-3, and 265 more dollars.

Janulek also placed fourth in the Intermediate 9 ball, for a few more dollars.

J. D. Halterman won the nine-ball intermediate, going 4-2 and 4-1 to beat Mohammad Hereimi. Halterman broke and ran the first three games in the first match and the two received $240 and $120, respectively.

Alex Dushkin and Theresa Fuller won the Dutch Doubles competition, rising to the top of a full sheet of 32 competitors or 16 teams, to win.

The tournament's timing after the Iditarod Days festival is because the Fur Rendezvous tournament is still running the weekend before.

"We're going to think about our timing next year, and maybe run it before the Fur Rondy tournament. I think it went off pretty well." Breuer said.