Joe Giammarino
The Pool Players of The Brooke (PPB) would like to thank SaddleBrooke Ranch Billiards Club (SBR), Jim Kauffman, and SBR’s billiards team for their pool table prowess, camaraderie, friendly competition, and a congenial luncheon at the Agave Lounge after the 8-Ball Challenge. Another big thank you goes out to Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, the PPB Travel Team captain, for organizing this event.
On July 8, SBR’s Travel Team ventured down to SaddleBrooke for an 8-Ball Team Challenge. We were competing on four 8-foot Connelly pool tables for temporary ownership of a traveling bronze plaque that has been in the PPB’s possession since April 22, 2023. The PPB team was made up of four two-player teams, and SBR also had four two-player teams. The PPB teams consisted of Joe “Fast Eddie” Giammarino and Phelps “Montana” L’Hommedieu, Dick Dunbar and Dave Parker, Dominic “The Doctor” Borland and Jack “Crash” Hoverter, and Tony “The Snake” Cardillo and Ron “Dblo7” Ridge. Our opponent’s teams from SBR were Jim Mabbott and Tom Marshall, Bruce Keller and Kirt Warning, Jim Kauffman and Keith Vincent, and Phil “The Fixer” Jelleff and Karl “English” Knight.
The format was simple and interesting. Each of our teams would play each of their teams three games of 8-Ball with each game won being one point for the winning team. There were a total of 48 points in the match.
The first-round score was 8 to 4 in the PPB’s favor. The second round went to the PPB with a score of 9 to 3, so the score after two rounds was PPB ahead of SBR by a score of 17 to 7. In the third round, the PPB won the round with a score of 7 to 5. Now, after the third round, the PPB was ahead by 24 to 12 over SBR. The PPB went into the final round up by 12 points and would have to win only one game out of 12 to keep possession of the plaque. The PPB turned it up and won the round by a score of 7 to 5 to win the match by a final score of 31 to 17.
We again had a chance to play for the traveling bronze plaque that has been on the PPB’s wall for the past four months. We enjoy seeing and visiting with our neighbors from five miles up Oracle Road at SBR. This event was a continuation of a friendly but fierce rivalry. SaddleBrooke is proud of their team, and they thank SBR for being such gracious guests. We relish our win and will once again enjoy the traveling bronze plaque on our wall.