Left to right: Dick Dunbar, Jack Hoverter, Bob Ogle, Tony Cardillo, Russ Doering, Dave Parker, Joe Vidmar, and Lowell Hegg
Joe Giammarino
The Pool Players of The Brooke (PPB) would like to thank Rincon Country West Billiards Club (RCW), Bob McKenna, and RCW’s Billiards Team for their camaraderie and friendly competition. Another big thank you goes out to Tony “The Snake” Cardillo, PPB Travel Team captain, for organizing this event. On Dec. 14 the PPB’s Travel Team ventured over to RCW’s Billiards Club for an 8-Ball Team Challenge. We were competing on four nine-foot Connelly pool tables for temporary ownership of a traveling bronze plaque. The PPB team was made up of four two-player teams, and RCW also had four two-player teams. The PPB teams consisted of Dave Parker and Russ “Longshot” Doering, Dick “Pocket Blocker” Dunbar and Jack “Crash” Hoverter, Joe “Ball Breaker” Vidmar and Lowell “8-Ball” Hegg, and Tony “The Snake” Cardillo and Bob “O” Ogle.
The format was simple. Each of our teams would play each of their teams three games of 8-ball, with each game being worth one point for the winning team. There were a total of 48 points in the match. The PPB has had ownership of the traveling bronze plaque since Dec. 9, 2023. So, the PPB only needed to tie RCW with 24 points to retain ownership of the traveling bronze plaque.
The first round score was 9-3 in PPB’s favor. The second round also went to the PPB, with a score of 11-1. The score after the first two rounds was the PPB ahead of RCW by a score of 20-4. In the third round, the PPB won the round with a score of 9-3. Now, after the third round, the PPB was ahead by 29-7 over RCW. In the final round, the PPB again won the round, this time by an 8-4 score to put the final score at PPB 37 and RCW 11. A couple of things the PPB feels need special mention: In one of Bob Ogle’s matches, his opponent broke dry, and Bob proceeded to run out the table for the win while his opponents sat and helplessly watched. Also, congrats go out to the almost-perfect PPB team of Joe Vidmar and Lowell Hegg who won 11 games and only lost 1. Nice job, Bob, Joe, and Lowell!
We again had a chance to play for a traveling bronze plaque. With this win, it puts the eighth bronze traveling plaque on the PPB’s wall in the CRC. After the match, the teams met at Red Robin for lunch and some fun banter! SaddleBrooke is proud of their team, and they thank RCW for being such gracious hosts.