SFPA

Another SFPA season is in the books!

Congratulations to the Happy Lounge Rawhides for winning their third consecutive City Championship. They outlasted longtime rivals from the Pilsner InnDecisives, who had themselves won the City Championship two times in a row before the Rawhides started their current streak, in a rematch from last season’s final. Temple Bar’s Holy Smokes continued their run of strong playoff finishes with a third-place result and were joined by the Happy HALLers in the top four.

In the Founders Cup, the Hole in the Wall Howlers brought their legendary host venue its first ever SFPA playoff championship with a hard-fought 9-8 victory over Pocket Full of Fizz, a brand new team this season. The Howlers’ Chris Whitacre was the clear MVP with a rare 5-0 record, going 4-0 in the match and then winning the tiebreaker. Coyle’s Commandos triumphed over the Hole in the Wall Hole Wreckers in the contest for third and fourth place.

West Coast Challenge individual qualifying took place at the BreakRoom in Berkeley yesterday, with the four brackets won by Justin Anderson (All-Star), Rocky Angel (Rising Star), Nick Chackel (Star Search), and Yuko Takahashi (Women’s).

These and other results from the season can be found in the Spring 2025 Summary section of the Records & Results page.

League members are invited to the awards party at the Pilsner Inn on August 12, which will feature a catered dinner, plaque distribution, and a turkey shoot for free dues. We hope you enjoy a few weeks off from pool and look forward to seeing you in September for the Fall 2025 season.

Congratulations to Crystal Kelem and Jerry Ball for earning the season’s first spots in the West Coast Challenge! They emerged victorious among 30 league members who formed 15 scotch doubles teams at the BreakRoom in Berkeley. This was the third Hi-Lo victory for both players.

The top four teams and winning bidders also earned cash prizes:

1st – Crystal Kelem & Jerry Ball
2nd – Joshua Maldonado & Sarah Southerland
3rd – Rick Bradford & Matt Gomez
4th – Tom Seymour & Colin O’Hara

Full results are available in the Tournaments tab.

The Long Beach Pool League has provided a link to reserve hotel rooms at the group rate of $149 per night. Please click through to the West Coast Challenge 84 home page for more information.

The Hi-Lo scotch doubles tournament is set for this Sunday at 11 am at the BreakRoom in Berkeley!

This is routinely SFPA’s best attended, most exciting, and most fun event of the year. Teams are created by pairing up the top win percentage player with the lowest win percentage player in attendance, the 2nd highest with the 2nd lowest, and so on until all players have a teammate. A Calcutta auction lets you get in on the action and help raise money for SFPA. The winning team will get plaques and a spot in the upcoming West Coast Challenge in Long Beach this August. The top 4 teams and successful Calcutta bidders will win cash payouts.

There is ample free parking on Sundays near the venue, which is also convenient to the Downtown Berkeley BART station.

Full details can be found in the event calendar. Have fun and good luck!

The four-season, rolling ranking of the top 40 SFPA players by win percentage has been updated to include the recently completed Spring 2025 regular season. Click through to the Results & Records tab to see if your name appears on the list!