Tony's Web Log 7/24/2008 Straight Pool 146 Ball Run I made the highest run in our straight pool leauge this week with a run of 146 balls, This is also my second highest run ever which was nice as it was on my birthday, My other high run in the leauge was 102 so its a nice jump. In this match I gave 140 ball start in a race to 170, This makes you try that little extra hard to focus and it payed off. I will be taking part in the Lucasi Hybrid Invitational event which also includes a Straight pool event and a 10 ball event. This is a dragon promotions event and will take place in Jacksonville Florida. Thanks Tony Crosby 7/24/2008 KF Cue Tour The KF cue tour schedule is out and the first event will kick of in september at a new room that will be open very soon called TJS, in New port Richey. Copy and paste the link below for the tour flyer http://s324.photobucket.com/albums/k341/ncrosby79/ More info will be coming soon Thanks Tony Crosby 7/15/2008 Florida Pro Tour I lost My fourth round match to Corey Deuel 8-6, in this match I was 3-0 down and played solid pool to turn it around and take a 4-3 lead only for a lapse in concentration I would have been 5-3 up after missing a straight in ten ball. Corey would then go onto to play some good pool and close me out of the match 8-6. My next match I would lose another tight one to Donnie Mills 8-5 with Donnie closing the match out with three break an runs. I did announce the Start of my new tour, KF cue tour which will kick of in september, More news will come very soon on this tour. Thanks Tony Crosby 7/12/2008 Fl pro Tour Update My weekend has kicked of with three wins. I played up an coming player Travis Croft in my first match. I knew having watched him only just lose to Wiseman in the last event 7-6 I couldn't take any chances. I played solid pool and came out a 7-1 winner, I followed this up with two more wins 7-0 over Raymond Linares and then another good win over Tommy Kennedy 7-5. My next match will be against Corey Deuel at 7pm. There have been some very good matches with Yu Ram Cha playing very solid pool and still undefeated with wins over Dave Ross 7-3, Dan lavoie 7-2 and then Japans Sato Takuya 7-1 she will now go on to play Jon Pinnegar. There are 8 left on the winner side Jon Pinnergar v Yu Ram Cha Ron Wiseman v Stevie Moore Chip Klein v Justin Hall Tony Crosby V Coey Deuel. Complete brackets are updated on www.azbilliards.com Thanks Tony Crosby 7/11/2008 FL Pro Tour, Gainsville The FL pro tour kicks of tonight at the new room in Gainsville Art Of Billiards, This should be another very strong field of players, I will bring more news on the event later tonight. Thanks Tony Crosby 7/1/2008 Wiseman Takes down Viking event Ronnie Wiseman came out on top of a very strong 41 player field at the Viking event. My tournament kicked of with a win over Sparky Ferrell 9-6; I was then sent to the one loss side by Justin Hall 9-6; once there I had wins over Ted Lepak 9-1; Mike Janis 9-4; Neil Young 9-4; Stony Stone 9-6; Justin Hall 9-8; Shawn Putnam 9-5; and was elminated in the semi finals by Deuel 9-1. Deuel broke an ran the last 6 games not giving me a shoit so not much I could do sat in my chair. He would then go on to play Wiseman and win the first set 9-4 and then lose the second 9-6. This was a very good work out for me and I realise that these local events are a big help towards making your game and confidence stronger. I am happy with where my game is right now but also see there is still a lot of room for improvement. My next event will be at Art Of Billiards in Gainesville, Florida for the Seminole Florida Pro Tour. I have heard this is a great new room and I am really looking forward to playing in it. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/22/2008 Florida pro tour My day kicked off with a win over Jason Kirkwood 8-7 and I them followed it up with an 8-3 win over Hunter Lombardo. My tournament would then be ended by Jerry Calderon who played well beating me 8-3. For the latest results check out azbilliards.com Thanks Tony Crosby 6/21/2008 Seminole Pro Tour, Diamond Billiards, Cape Coral I managed to get through the day on the one loss side. I took my frist loss to Donnie Mills in a match a probably should have won, I was 5-3 up and hooked my self running out on the 8 ball and it just all went wrong from there. I went onto win two matches against Room owner James Oswalt and then Dave Uwate which sets up a meeting with Jason Kirkwood tomorrow morning at 10am. I dont feel I played my best pool all day which makes it nice to get through. you can check out Azbilliards.com for further updates and complete brackets. Only 12 people come back tomorrow. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/21/2008 Seminole Florida Pro Tour I won my 2nd match beating Johnathon Hennesy. 7-3. I will now play Donnie Mills. This is a tough math as I see a lot of Donnie in my home town where we do play a lot of cheap sets. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/21/2008 Seminole Florida Pro Tour 6/21/2008 Seminole Pro Tour, Diamond Billiards, Cape Coral The tournamnet kicked of last night with 60 players. Some of the notable names are Earl Strickland, Corey Deuel, Ronnie Wisemann, Tony Chohan, Johnathon Hennessy. There were some tough match ups the first round with Ronnie Wiseman surviving a scare against up an coming Travis Croft, Wiseman clawed his way back from 6-4 down to win this match. Tony Chohan would lose his first round to Johnathon Hennessy 7-4, I would beat last months 3rd place finisher Han Berber 7-4 to set up another tough match with Hennessy today at 1pm. you can also check out the brackets for the event on AZbilliards.com. I will be taking pictures at the event and post them later in the week. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/14/2008 Jones Takes the BCA Title congratulations to Jeremy Jones for winning the BCA Title. My event was ended by Stevie Moore in what was a very frustrating match. Stevie played extremely slow and complained nonstop about the rack. After one hour and twenty minutes we had played 5 racks of 9 ball, I have beaten stevie in our last few meetings so I know he changed his game plan for this match and it worked, I would go onto to lose over 3 an half hours later 11-6 which was a very frustrating exit to the event but also a very valuable lesson. My next event will be the Florida Pro Tour at Cape Coral on the 20th June. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/10/2008 Generation pool, BCA I lost to archer today 11-5, A couple of dry breaks at the start of the match and two break and runs by Archer gave him a 4-0 lead so it was an uphill battle. I will now face the winner of Stevie Moore and Warren Kimaco at 530pm. RAj Hundal lost 11-5 to Shawn Putnam and that was the only other result. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/9/2008 Generation pool, BCA I beat Kim Davenport today in my first match 11-8. This turned out to be a very tough match with Kim leading all the way till he got to 7 games. At 7-7 I broke the balls very good and took the lead for the first time, this was a big turning point and I played very strong from there to win the match and put me in the 17-24 Bracket. My next match would be against former US Open champion John Schmidt. This looked like it was going to be a stroll in the park with John never really getting going and I played some solid pool to go 10-2 ahead. John was now in the position where he didn’t care and just blasted the balls in the pocket to win the next two racks to make it 11-4 I then would miss a long rail bank on the 9 and rattle it in the hole for it to be 11-5, he then would break and run and I would then scratch on my break and he ran them out and before I know it its 10-10 my break. I broke the balls as hard and as good in the last rack making 5 balls and finishing straight in on the 2, wow what a relief I would finally run out and take this match 11-10. I will now play Johnny Archer tomorrow in the last 8 on the winners side. The last rack with Schmidt was a $1300 swing in prize money so a very good rack for me. I will bring some news on my further results tomorrow. Thanks Tony Crosby 6/8/2008 Generation pool, BCA This event will kick of at 10 am tomorrow morning. There are only 32 players on the mens division which means it is a very tough field. I will play Kim Davenport at 10am. I will bring some other news form the event later in the day. Thanks Tony Crosby 4/26/2008 Desert Shootout, 9th Place Finish My day kicked of with a good win over Cliff Joyner 9-6. Cliff played some great pool from 2-0 down to take 6-2 lead, Cliff then missed an easy 3 ball and never recovered, I got some good rolls and made some good outs to take this match 9-6. I would then lose my next match to Rob Saez 9-7 This was a tigh one with the match swaying both ways. This was a good tournament for me as I feel I never got out of 2nd gear but won some good matches to finish a respectable 9th place. This should also move me up on the pro rankings which will guarantee me some invitations. Thanks for all the support I have recieved, this was a well run event so a big hats of to the organizers. Tony Crosby 4/26/2008 Desert Shootout, Arizona, Day two My third round didn’t go as planned losing to Mike Davis 9-3 and feeling like I was lucky to be 3, Mike played solid and got some good rolls to go with it, There wasn’t a great deal I could do form my chair. I would then go onto face Jeremy Jones who is always a tough player to beat. This match was also a money match with the loser getting nothing. I played a little shaky at the start missing a 10 Ball and also one bad safe. But then Jones let me back in the game with some unforced errors and also a missed 10 ball when we were tied at 3-3. This would give me a lot of confidence and also help me towards winning the match by a score line of 9-6. I will now face Cliff Joyner who just sent Thorsten Hohmann out of the event. I play at noon tomorrow so it’s a good night from me. Thank you Tony Crosby 4/25/2008 The Desert Shootout Day One I won my first match over Stevie Moore Today, 9-3 I played some very solid pool and put pressure on from the off breaking and running the first two racks, I broke good in the 3rd only for the cue ball to get kicked in. Stevie Moore would go onto run a tough rack only to miss the ten ball for me to go 3-0 up. I played a very solid match and broke the balls as good as anyone today. My second round would be against Ernesto Domingez who I don’t think I have ever played before. This was the exact opposite to my first round with me making far to many unforced errors. The match was nip and tuck all the way and at 7-7 Ernesto flukes the ten ball in to put himself on the hill, He broke dry and I ran a very tough rack and then broke and ran the last to take this match 9-8. I will now play Mike Davis tomorrow. Ernesto’s son Oscar is having a great tournament beating Shawn Putnam and Shawn Wilkie today both by the score line of 9-7. Mika has a had a tough draw playing Playing Efren Reyes and then Earl Strickland he would win both these matches to set up another tough one with Jose Parica. Johnny Archer would have to strong wins of 9-0 and 9-1 over Louie Ulrich. Thorsten Hohmann would beat local hero Mitch Ellerman 9-5. Charlie Willaims also won two beating Jeremy Jones in the last match. I will bring some more news tomorrow. Thanks to everybody for there support and Emails. Thanks Tony Crosby. 4/24/2008 The Desert Shootout The Desert Shoot out will kick of today with a full 64 player field which is stacked with many high profile names. The event organizer ran into some difficulty with the venue that was originally chosen the Sheraton Hotel due to lack of hotel rooms booked, Rather than cancel the event arrangements were swiftly made to move it to near bye venue Kolby’s pool room in Tempe. They installed bleachers yesterday and managed to get everything ready in time. The event is going to be a very strong 64 player field, and there have been some very good first round matchups which would include my self playing Stevie Moore, Corey Deuel V Dennis Hatch and the one other big one is Mika Immonen playing Efren Reyes. Corey Deuel was trying to make his way back from Dubai for the event and would not have wanted to see a first round match like this. I will take on Stevie Moore at 3pm Arizona time, I will bring some updates on the matches as the day progresses. I think a big congratulation has to go out to the people involved in making this event happen. This is still a 25k added event which will make for a good payout. I will be bringing news and updates as much as my internet connection allows me. Thanks Tony Crosby 4/15/2008 Exciting Times Ahead. I will be heading to Arizona on the 23rd to play in the Desert Shootout which is a $25k UPA sanctioned event. Since I got back from Atlanta I have been trying to play everyday. I have played some cheap sets with Jason Richko and Corey Deuel which I have come out ahead. I have also won the two local events on Wednesday and Monday nights. I did however take my first loss in the Straight pool league I have been playing in my home room Strokers, This league has been going now for almost 3 months and has been excellent practice for me. I am giving most people 100 plus ball start and which has really helped me get focused and make some good high runs including 102 which is my highest in competing. There will be a lot going on for me over the next couple of months with three or four big events to play which include The Desert Shootout in Arizona, The international 10 ball in Vegas and the BCA in Charlotte. Its nice when you have some events to look forward to as it just gives you that extra edge you need to stay on your game.. I will be trying to keep my site updated for all these events and some other weekly updates so stay tuned. Thanks Tony Crosby 4/10/2008 Seminole Pro Tour I got back from Atlanta on sunday night. This was a very strong field tournament with only 48 players. This I didnt fair to well in this event being involved in 3 hill hill matches. I won my first match against Tommy Kennedy 7-6 and then would go onto to face one of my good buddy's Jason Richko. I knew this would be a tough one and it was I took a 7-6 loss, Jason played a very smart on the 9 ball leaving me hooked on the 10, I then would lose 7-6 Mike Davis who also is no slouch of a player, I was 6-2 down in this match with Mike playing some very good pool, I made a strong fight back only to lose 7-6 again. This was a good event and makes me even more dtermined to get my head back in gear and practice a little more. I have some big events coming up and feel good about where my game is. Next event is the Desert Shootout in Arizona and then onto Vegas to play in the Internationalk Ten Ball Championships where we will also have a Strokeitwear Booth for the BCA. 3/18/2008 Super Billiards Expo I just got back from the Super Billiards Expo, This turned out to be a great tournament with me taking a respectable 5th place and taking my first loss to Van Boening who went onto win. This was a non stop event for me as I also set up the Strokeit Wear Booth which was slammed everyday, so between playing matches I was selling products in the booth. A big hit this year was our new kids line of shirts Small Strokes which can be seen on my online shop. I will be playing a Seminole Pro Tour event next month in Atlanta and then the Desert Shoot Out in Arizona which is sanctioned by the UPA, A good event in Arizona could break me into the top ten on the UPA ranking list which is big for invitations. I am very happy to be home after a 20 hour drive. I am going to put a little more time on the table in. Thanks to everybody for there emails and support over the weekend. Tony Crosby 3/16/2008 Super Billiards Expo My day kicked off with a good win over Adam Smith who also has had a great tournament. I would then go onto lose to Van Boening 10-6, Shane missed a lot of balls in this match but never left me any clear cut chances. My next match would see Rodney Morris give me a good beating he stormed into an 8-0 lead I did mange to pull 4 gales back but it was all in vein. Rodney will now play Mika immonnen with the winner taking on Van Boening who lost to Shawn Wilkie 10-9. This was a good even all in all, The strokeit wear booth has been slammed every day. Thanks to everybody for there support and emails Tony crosby 3/15/2008 Super Billiards Expo I played a very solid match tonight against raj Hundal taking this match 10-6, Raj was 6-4 up and was looking like going 7-4 before missing an easy chance this was a big turning point in the match. I will now play Adam Smith in my next round at 130pm. Thanks for all the support Tony Crosby 3/14/2008 Super Billiards Expo I managed to win my first match against Jeremy Sossei, Sossei just finished 2nd to Archer at the Turning Stone casino event, I knew this would be a tough match and it was I won 10-9. This would now pitt me against Charlie Bryant(Hillbilly) and having won 10-9 only minutes earlier I was right back on to play again. I kicked of very well in this match not realy missing much till I got 8-1 ahead, I gave up a couple of silly racks and charlie pulled back to 8-4 only for him to miss an easy 8 ball when it looked like going 8-5, I closed the match out with a 10-4 score line. I will now play Raj Hundal who defeated Danny basavich, Raj pulled out a good win as he did kick of the match trailing 4-0. I am very happy to be 2-0 as we got here late wednesday night after a 20 hour drive and then had to be up early and spend 5 hours setting up the Strokeit wear booth. It was a good first day we lauched some of our new clothes which included a kids line of clothing called Small strokes and your no match. My cue line also was on display. I will play at 830pm so some rest is needed today. Thanks Tony Crosby I will be try bring some more new later. OK Cadilac Bob 3/9/2008 Seminole Update I ended up losing my first match on the sunday to Adam Wheeler, 8-5 this was a dissapointing loss with me making far to many errors at the start of the match. 12 players came back on the sunday and 5 of them were using my line of Jump Break cues THE SNIPER II. My cues have been selling very well and many of the top players in the world are now using them, Rodney Morris is the latest player to pick one up and start using it. I will be heading to Valley Forge on tuesday for the super billiards expo where my cues Strokeit wear will have a booth with also my cue line so come check us out. Thanks Tony Crosby 3/9/2008 Seminole Pro Tour, Strokers The first event of the season kicked of at Strokers Palm Harbor, Florida. I won my first match on the day beating Bobby Garza 7-0, I then took a 7-6 loss to Ronnie Wiseman, Then i would go onto beat Stoney Stone 7-2, James Stewart 7-4, Dan Sheldon 7-4 and then Stevie Moore 8-7. The match against stevie was a very good one with both of us only making a few errors. Moore had the break at 7-6 down and Scratched giving me ball in hand I would then go onto run the rack out and make it Hill Hill, my break hadnt worked all match so I changed the break position and hit them as hard as I could and managed to make a ball and go onto run a very good rack to take the match 8-7. I will now face Adam Wheeler in my next match sunday morning. I also have been updating the brackets for AZbilliards so check them out. http://azbilliards.com/2000storya.cfm?storynum=5217 Thanks Tony Crosby 2/20/2008 Andy Grubbs Memorial I finished fifth in the Andy Grubbs Memorial event this past weekend. This event always draws a big field stacked with talent and this one was no different almost 80 players turned out. I played some good pool Saturday going undefeated including a win over highly rated Stoney Stone coming from 4-1 down to win 9-6. Sunday would see 24 players come back with my first match would be against Mitch Yarbrogh a pool room owner from Atlanta. I would win this match 9-4 I would now face John Schmidt who also had been playing some high quality pool using his OB1 Shaft. I would race ahead in this match to a 6-2 lead only to come up dry on the break, John would go onto clear the table and my next visit would be from a push out at 8-6 down in a blink of an eye lid. I would lose the match 9-6 having not missed a single ball. Its not very often you lose in these situations and its only a high quality player like Schmidt that you kind of expect it. My next match would see me play another kind of local hero Scotty Townsend This was another tight match that I would go onto lose 9-7 having not done a great deal wrong. This event is one of the best run events of the year, Room owner Robin runs a no mess tournament and during tournament play you could be in a library. Starcade also stocks my new cue line which are selling very well. The break Jump cue is the hottest thing on the market right now and Mr 400 himself John Schmidt also picked one up to use. This is the best I have seen John play and I think his switch to the OB1 cue has brought his play to another level. My next event will be at my home room Stroker's, Palm Harbor where the Seminole Pro Tour kicks of with its first event. Thanks Tony Crosby 2/14/2008 Seminole Pro Tour The seminole Pro Tour will kick of its first event of the season at Strokers in Palm Harbor, Florida. This is my home room so which is great but always puts that little extra pressure to do well in front of your home crowd. The tour will also have two events out of state going to Atlanta and the Carolinas so this will make it very interesting season. I have posted the schedule on my site so check out the Florida pro Tour section. Thanks Tony Crosby 2/12/2008 Andy Grubbs Memorial I will be heading to Fort Walton Beach this weekend to play in the Andy Grubbs Memorial event at Starcade Billiards. I won this event last year come out ahead of 105 players so it would be very nice to try and defend the title. There is always a host of top name players that turn out to play in this one, John Schmidt, Tommy Kennedy, Scotty Townsend, Dave Broxson just to mention a few. For more info on ther event contact Starcade. 5th Annual Andy Grubbs Memorial Starcade Billiards Ft Walton Beach, FL 850-244-2349 February 16 - 17, 2008 $50.00 Entry 1/13/2008 DCC Classic Souquet beats Bustamante to take down the 9 ball event. Bustamante claimed the $20,000 all round bonus for the first time. My tournament came to end with a loss to Rick Howard 7-3, I played poorly in this match and Rick took his chances and made me pay. I had a very tough draw in this event rounds one, win over Oscar Domingez 7-3, Loss to Niels Fiejen 7-3, then wins over George Rothrock 7-0, Tony Mougey 7-3, Gabe Owen 7-4, Shin Park 7-6 and then took my second loss to Rick Howard. I played very inconsistent in the whole event which I can only put down to lack of practice over the holidays. So new years resolution is hit more balls. Thanks Tony crosby 1/12/2008 DCC Classic The 6th round draw pitched me against Shin Park from Korea, Shin is a very strong player who spends most of his time in New York playing. This is a match where I really had a very good run of the balls and came from 6-3 down to win the match 7-6. I broke in the last game making a couple of balls and almost making the 9 ball, I ended up playing a very good hook on the one ball and sending it down by the 9 which was close to the pocket, Shin didn’t make contact and I took the case game with a combination on the 9 ball. I now play at 11am and don’t know who my next opponent is. I feel I deserved a couple of rolls my 9 ball draw has been tough match after tough match. I am now looking forward to playing tomorrow and am very content with my overall play on the day. Thanks Tony Crosby 1/11/2008 DCC Classic Well they done the fifth round draw and I got matched up against Gabe Owen, so just when I thought I had had some tough matches they got tougher. I mentioned in my last post I needed to come out the gates a little quicker and I did just that playing very well to take a 6-2 lead, just when the winning line was in sight I missed a tricky 7 ball and had to watch Gabe run out and break and run two more to make it 6-5 he scratched in the last game and I ran the balls to take the match 7-5 and put my self in the 6th round. I now await the draw which will be done about 9pm. I will post some updates later. Thanks Tony Crosby 1/11/2008 DCC Classic I drew Tony Mougey who is known for being a bar table champion in my 4th round, I kicked of the match with a couple of misses and let a few games slip to to go behind 3-1, Tony then handed the games right back to me making some unforced errors and I eventually went onto win 7-3. I am now waiting on the 5th round draw so I don’t know who I play. Thanks Tony Crosby 1/11/2008 DCC Classic I lost a tough second round to Niels Fiejen Last night 7-3. This was a long match with lots of safety battles and only one break and run. I would then go onto win my third round match against George Rothenback 7-0 so I am now waiting for the redraw. There is a ton of action going on here with all the games being played so there is plenty to watch on these long first few days. I will bring some more updates later today. Thanks Tony Crosby 1/10/2008 DCC Classic The 9ball event kicked of with 430 players signed up. This is a huge turn out for the 9ball but leaves a very big backlog of matches to get through. I would wait 12 hours yesterday to play my first match, I drew Oscar Dominguez first round who is one of the top players from California. I went onto win this match 7-3 and now wait on the redraw about noon today. I played the straight pool challenge last night with the top 8 runs going to the finals, The highest run is by Mika Immonen 147 with Fabio Petroni close behind recording a 140. I had runs of 47 and 58 which was 6 balls shy of qualifying at the time. I will try and post some updates later today Thanks Tony crosby 1/8/2008 DCC Classic I just arrived at the Derby city Classic for the 9Ball event. The 9 ball had almost 400 players when I signed up today so it going to be a huge event. I am also here to show off my new line of playing cues and break cue. Which has already had a great response in Florida and arizona. I am looking forward playing in this event which is the start of a new year on the pool circuit. Thanks Tony Crosby 12/30/2007 Jason Richko, Fox 13 News Jason Richko who recently won the US National Amateur Championships was recently interviewed on Fox 13 news channel. For all of you that didn’t see it you can copy and paste the link to view it. It’s a very nice piece they did and all the publicity on pool on any news channel is very good for the game, So a big congratulations to Jason Richko 2007 US amateur Champion copy link below. http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/p...d=1.1.1&sflg=1 I have been a little slack with my site as of late, This is due to lack of tournaments and holiday period. For my next post I am going to try and give a review of how my year was. Thanks for all the support I have received from everybody. I wish you all happy holidays Tony Crosby & family 12/13/2007 Rodney Morris Challenge Match I will be playing a Challenge match V Rodney Morris next week In Arizona. The match is going to be a race to 21 Ten Ball. I am feeling very good about playing Ten Ball right now, my record this year on the Florida Pro Tour proves it, I finished NO3 on the ranking list and cashed in more events than any other player for the season. Mark Cantrill with Eclipse Media Group is the promoter of this event, also sponsored by Kolby's Corner Pocket Billiards, Micasa Lending, Killian Jack's, Boston Lobster, More Money Pawn, www.strokeitwear.com. For more information with regards to this event contact Mark Cantrill @ 480-612-7732. I will try and post a Flier with more details of the event very soon. I have already had many emails and calls about this match. there is a lot of interest for this match in an area where theres are very few pro players. People have got Rodney down as a big favorite which is just how I like it. Thanks Tony Crosby 12/1/2007 Florida Steve Mizerak Championship This event is being held in the Hard Rock live, which is one very fine venue. I am still undefeated going into saturday, I drew a bye in the first round and then had wins over Charlie Williams 7-3, Jason Richko 7-2 and George Mclanhan 7-2. My next opponent will be Ronnie Wiseman at 11.45 am saturday. Other results on the day had Archer taking a big 7-0 loss to Immonen who would later get sent to the one loss side by Thorsten Hohmann. Charlie Bryant would send Stevie Moore to the one loss side with a 7-3 win. Azbilliards.com has live brackets of the event so check them out. I will bring more news from the event later, I also have the Strokeit wear booth set up so its already been a long weekend. Thanks Tony Crosby 11/8/2007 Sniper II. Break Jump Cue I am happy to announce my new line of Break Jump Cues, The Sniper II. As a Pro Player I decided I wanted to bring out a cue that I knew would be as good or if not better than any other break Jump Cue on the market and it really is. I have gone with a maple shaft with maple stained Butt with no wrap. The butt is a dark brown and black Stain. The shaft has a 14mm phenolic Tip and ferrule all in one. This gives the cue a much higher percentage of hitting the correct spot on the cue ball, which means more accuracy and power when breaking and jumping balls. The Sniper II cue has not been out for more than 10 days and has already played a big part in helping Jason Richko become 2007 US National Amateur Champion so A big congratulations to him. The cue is also very well priced at $199. They will be available very soon on my online shop and in a pool room near you. If you would like to purchase a Sniper II you can contact me via Email through my site. If you go to my photo gallery I have posted pictures of the cue. This cue is a must buy and will definitely improve your break and jumping for all level of players. 11/1/2007 Mark Coats Wins His first FL Pro Tour Event The Seminole Florida Pro Tour stopped into Bird Bowl Billiards in Miami, Florida for their $9000 added final stop before the State Championships. stop of the season. The event attracted some of the toughest talent out there considering there was a couple of major events going on in other areas around the country. Mark Coats came out ahead of the 43 player field, to earn himself the $3500 first place. I lost my 3rd round match on the winners side 7-6 to Jerry calderon who was also having a fine event going on to beat Richard Broumpton and Corey Deuel. I then lost one match out of the money to Corey Deuel 7-5. This would mean I end up finbishing 3rd on the rankings for the year. The rankings have now been posted so check them out. Corey Deuel is confirmed player of the year. Thanks Tony Crosby 10/22/2007 US Open I ended up finishing in 25th place at this years US OPEN. I lost my 4th round match on the winner side to Dennis Orcollo 11-5 I then went on to beat Oscar Domingez and my tournamnet would come to an end playing Mika Imonnen 11-6. I felt i could have won this match only for a couple of dry breaks. A big Congrats goes out to Shane Vanboening for winning this event and proving he is with out doubt the best player in the US right now. I would also like to wish him all the best and hope he takes down the World Championships next month. I had some great support at the Open with many people coming to watch my matches. Thanks again Tony Crosby 10/18/2007 US Open I won my 3rd round match last night 11-8. This was the first time I got to see Brian Parks Play, WOW and can this guy play. I kicked of the match with a 5-0 lead only to be pegged back with some great play from Parks to 6-5. I was then leading 9-8 and just when looking like getting to the hill I miss an easy 7 ball, Parks then make s a very tough 7 and then slots in the 8 only to miss a straight in 9 ball. I manged to break and run out a very tough rack to take the match. I will play Dennis Orcollo in the 4th round, they dont come much tougher than this guy. There are no easy matches at this stage in any pro event so you just have to take what ever chances you get and thats what I have been doing. Thanks for all the support in this event. Tony Crosby 10/16/2007 US Open I just got back to the hotel room after a very good win over the 2003 US Open Champion Gabe Owen. Gabe stormed into a 6-1 and then 7-2 lead, I hadn’t had many chances at this point, with him breaking dry most of the match only to leave me hooked on the 1 ball. Gabe at 7-2 scratched on the break and left the balls a little tough so I opted to play a 1-9 combination and stole a quick rack to start my fight back. I played some good safes to force some errors from Gabe and made some good outs to win this match and put myself in the 3rd round. I will now play Brian Parks at 7pm Wednesday. There is a lot of stuff going on here this year, www.azbilliards.com has a TV Show called AZBTV which is online based. www.insidepoolmag.com also has a live pod cast going on and www.billiardclubnetwork.com so for all the latest info check these sites out. Thanks Tony crosby 10/16/2007 US OPEN I will play my first match at the open today against Gabe Owen who won this event 3 years ago. James Kay, a guy from my home town in England never showed up to play so I moved forward without playing a match. I am looking forward to the Gabe match as I don’t think we have played each other until now. This will also be a very big test for me in my first match of the tournament. The venue is as good as always and there was a good amount of people watching last night. I will try to bring some more news on my progress later today. Tony Crosby 10/10/2007 Florida Pro Tour Rankings Corey Deuel third place finish has placed him in the no1 ranked player on tour. There is only one event left and his two closest rivals Stevie Moore No2 ranked and Marlon Manalo No3 ranked are not expected to attend means he is almost guaranteed player of the year and the Big cash bonus of $1000 plus. Check the rankings out 10/9/2007 Moore Takes down the Fl Pro Tour Stevie Moore beat Brian Brekke 9-8 to take 1st spot and the $3500 first place prize. Brian Brekke who was making his first appearance on the Florida Pro tour had been playing great pool all weekend and in so made it to the final with wins over Moore and Deuel. Moore would then go onto beat Neil Fujiwara 8-5, Tony Crosby 8-6, Corey Deuel 8-3. This would also mean some big changes on the ranking list. Corey Deuel would replace Marlon Manalo in the no1 position and almost guarantee himself the player of the year spot with only one tournament left. This makes it very tough for him to be caught with Stevie Moore already commited to playing in the Viking Tour finals which clashes with The Bird Bowl event. Marlon Manalo is in 3rd spot and is not guaranteed to make the trip. I would move upto 4th on the list with Donnie Mills dropping to 5th. This could mean Me and Mills have an outside chance of stealing 2nd spot for the year. I am very happy with my performance over the weekend. I have been putting some extra time on the practice table which I know is paying off. The US Open will be my next event and I am way over due a good run in this event so who Know. Check out the new rankings they are now posted. Thanks Tony Crosby 10/7/2007 Florida Pro Tour Update The day kicked of with 12 players. I played Corey deuel on the winners side and dropped that match 8-3. The other winners side match would see Brian Brekke from Minnesota beat Stevie Moore and set up a match with Deuel. Brian Brekke went onto take the hotseat playing just how he has all weekend very strong. On the one loss side I would go on to beat Charlie williams 8-3. Stevie Moore would then go on to beat Fujiwara 8-6. This would pit me against Moore who stormed into a 6-1 lead before giving me a clear oppertunity to take a game which I didnt. So form 7-1 down I would make a good come back to get to 7-6 and just when looking like I was going to tie the match I missed a tricky 4 ball only for Stevie to make a good clearance and take the match. Stevie would then go onto beat Corey Deuel 8-4 to set up a race to 9 final against Brain Breek who sent him to the one loss side. 10/7/2007 FL Pro Tour The Florida Pro Tour Kicked off on friday at Hammerheads Billiards in Holiday Florida. I am still undeafeated and will face of with Corey Deuel today to try and get to the Final of the winners side. I will try and bring some further results later in the day and I know the tournament directors are putting up live resultson Azbilliards Forums. Thanks Tony 9/17/2007 Tony Crosby Latest I have just posted the latest rankings for the Fl Pro Tour. This latest ranking list puts me in joint 4th spot and makes the last couple of events very interesting to see who will end up no1. Jacksonville was a great event with John Ditoro taking second place, I think with the tribe now being more hands on running the event it gives John more time to play. I had a very good event playing some very strong pool over the weekend. I lost to Ditoro and Mike Davis who both finished 1st and 2nd in the event so no complaints there. My next event will be at Capone’s in Spring Hill where Tk will bring his SE Open Tour. This year has been a very busy one for me. My pool game has improved 20% which has also seen me cash in almost every event except for one. The Joss event at Turning Stone Casino last month. This will make it my most successful year to date playing pool. There is also my new business Stroke it Wear which my wife and I have taken on www.strokeitwear.com we have been bringing out new stuff all the time and this week we will launch our line of custom Cue Cases. Then I have my two small girls Emily and Kayla who are getting bigger and bigger every day. We just got back from a mini vacation which also tells me you can never spend enough time with your family watching my girls grow up is a truly amazing experience. I will bring some news from the weekend’s Se Open Tour. Don’t forget to check out www.strokeitwear.com www.axiombilliards.com Thanks Tony Crosby 9/8/2007 Florida Pro Tour The Florida Pro Tour kickeed of with 55 players today. I managed to make it through to sunday undefeated with wins over TF Whittingon 7-1, Terry White 7-2, Thorsten Hohmann 7-4 and Louis Ulrich 8-4. I played some great matches today, I have been putting some time in on the table in the last two weeks and it is paying off. I have now won 16 matches in a row at Bankshot Billiards since last sunday so I am feeling good in this room. I will now play old timer Ditoro on the winners side tomorrow. Ditoro has played some great matches today I told him I hope his age catches up with him tomorrow. you can check the brackets out at www.azbilliards.com. 9/8/2007 Bankshots Billiards, Jacksonville I am playing at Bankshot Billiards for the second weekend in a row. Last weekend I played two events Losing 9-8 to Cory Deuel in the final on saturday night. Sunday I lost my frist match and then went onto win 12 matches in a row to beat Dave Grossman in the final 9-4. This weekend I a playing the Florida pro tour, I have managed to win my first 2 matches 7-1, 7-2. Thorsten Hohmann will be my next opponent at 4pm. 8/31/2007 Bankshot Billiards, Bankshot Billiards, Jacksonville, Florida, will be holding a $2000 Added 9 Ball event tomorrow Saturday the 1st September. This event will be limited to the first 64 paid players so for all those already not payed you will have to turn up early. Entry is $65 this should be a great event. This will also be a great warm up for the folowing weekend where Bankshots also Hosts the Florida Pro tour resumes after the Summer break. I will try and bring some news and pictures from this event Tony Crosby 8/21/2007 Joss Tour Event I just returned from Verona, NY Where the Joss 25k Added was won by Lee Van Cortezza. My event didnt go as well as planned. I won my first lossed my 2nd to Allen Hopkins who did play very well, I then won my third and then lossed another very dissapointing match to Jasmin Ouchan who also had a good match against me. My game was just not there this weekend which is dissapointing. My lack of table time in the past month is starting to show, I made a lot of errors in the matches I won and the ones I lost I will also take notthing away from my opponents because they took advantage of all of my mistakes. Me and my wife had a great weekend Promoting our company which we now own Stroke It Wear clothing. The mens clothes were almost totally sold out so a very good show it was. Check out the new lines at www.strokeitwear.com I also had the pleasure of meeting Pat Flemming from Accu Stats Pool DVD's, I heped out over the weekend doing Commentary on several matches with Danny D. I will now also be doing commentary at this years US Open so looking forward to the event. A big Congrats has too go out to Louis Ulrich who finished 2nd at this event beating World Champion after World Champion, For all of you that dont know Louis he is not a Full Time Player so this makes it even tougher to turn up and do what he did. Thanks to every one for there support for this event and all the emails I recieved. And also my sponsors Axiom Cues, Strokers Billiards. Tony Crosby 8/7/2007 Joss Tour Finals I will be heading to the Joss event for there 25k added event at the Turning Stone Casino. This event will be stacked with the best players in the World turning out. Some of the Confirmed Players: Johnny Archer Thorsten Hohmann Ralf Souquet Karen Corr Jasmin Ouschan Julie Kelly Dennis Hatch Liz Ford Stevie Moore Francisco Bustamante Jose Parica Dennis Orcollo Mika Immonen Shane Van Boening Warren Kiamco Tony Robles Tony Crosby Lee Van Corteza Allen Hopkins Ronnie Wiseman Ronnie Alcano Tony Chohan The field is limited to 128 players which was full over a month ago, there are some high profile players on the list that didnt get in. This just shows that some pool events are run the right way. I will also be helping run the Stroke it Wear booth. Tony Crosby __________________ 8/2/2007 Bob Martin Memorial I will be heading to Fort Myers tomorrow to play in this event, There will be $1000 added in prize money and the field is limited to 64 players. The event will be held at the Miscue Lounge anyone in