SFPA

Congratulations to the following players who qualified for the West Coast Challenge this afternoon at Billiard Palacade:

Open individuals
1st – Leonardo Flores, New Palacade
2nd – Mike Maxwell, Billiard Palacade Rawhides
3rd – James Horsfall, Lucky Horseshoe Glue Factory
4th – Daithi O’Leary, Family Irish Brigade
5th – Thayer McDougle, Billiard Palacade Caballeros
6th – Jim Neale, Billiard Palacade Caballeros (Rising Star 1st)
7th – Salvador Miranda, Billiard Palacade Caballeros (Rising Star 2nd)
8th – Rocky Angel, Hole in the Wall Hole Wreckers (Star Search 1st)

Women’s
1st – Yuko Takahashi, 93 ’til Infinity
2nd – Crystal Kelem, Lucky Horseshoe Wild Horses
3rd – Joina Liao, 93 ’til Infinity
4th – Sarah Honig, Pilsner Innmates

We had a total participation of 34 players. “Never say die” was the theme of the day, with three of the four division winners coming from the losers bracket. Complete results and brackets are available in the Spring 2022 Summary tab.

We have made the following slight change to eligibility for the July 17 Hi-Lo tournament:

Old: Players who successfully qualified for the WCC in All-Star, Rising Star, Star Search, or Women’s qualifiers on July 10 were not allowed to participate in Hi-Lo.

New: These players are now allowed to participate in the Hi-Lo on July 17. If one of them happens to win the Hi-Lo event, they will take the WCC Hi-Lo spot and we’ll move down the alternate list for the individual WCC tournament spots. This will impact at most two players since only the winning duo of the Hi-Lo earns a WCC bid (and may not have any impact at all).

In short, all players with 25% regular season participation and who are not on the Slate of the Union team are free to participate in either or both WCC qualifiers on July 10 and July 17 at Billiard Palacade.

We hope this encourages participation in one of the league’s most social and fun events of the year – not to mention helping raise money for SFPA and the West Coast Challenge!

With the season playoffs winding down, now is the time to mark your calendars for West Coast Challenge qualifiers on July 10 and July 17 at Billiard Palacade!

Individual qualifiers

On July 10 we will have qualifiers in four categories for individual players:

– All-Star, for players with season win percentages of .600 or greater. The top 5 will advance to the WCC.
– Rising Star, for players with season win percentages between .501 and .599. The top 2 will advance to the WCC.
– Star Search, for players with season win percentages below .501 and who have not participated in the WCC before. The winner will advance to the WCC. (Players under .500 who have previously participated in the WCC will play in the Rising Star bracket.)
– Women’s, for all female league members. The top 4 will advance to the WCC.

Note that these events are not just for SFPA world-beaters – everyone has a chance to earn a spot in the West Coast Challenge. All SFPA members who are not on the City Championship-winning team and had 25% participation in the Spring 2022 season are eligible to compete.

We are aiming to have a maximum of 16 players in each bracket, so if a ton of people show up we may slot players up or down a bracket to allow the tournament to finish at a reasonable time. 🙂

Hi-Lo qualifier

The Hi-Lo scotch doubles qualifier will take place on July 17. Again, all SFPA members with 25% participation who have not already qualified as a team or individual are eligible to compete.

The entry fee for each qualifier is $20. Check the interactive calendar for more information about these events and the 81st edition of the West Coast Challenge, which will take place August 11-14 at the Hyatt Regency near the SFO airport.

A variety of SFPA-related content from the 1970s and 1980s has been posted in the new Vault portion of the History section, including articles written by founder Bruno Bereshnoy and current league members Rick Bradford and Rick Mariani.

There will be to come on this front in the coming weeks and months – keep your eyes peeled!

The playoffs begin tonight. To be eligible to play you must have played 25% of total games or 14 games this season.