David Gutierrez stormed through a 64-player field at R House Bar and Grill in Houston, Texas, defeating Johnny Griffin in overtime, to capture the second stop on the 2022 Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour. Gutierrez sustained an early hit from Andy Jethwa, but fought his way back to victory. Turkish phenom, Raed Shabib, finished in a respectable third place, while Andy Jethwa slid into fourth position. On February 5th-6th, 2022, title sponsor Poison by Predator Cues, sponsors Predator Cues, Alamo Billiards, Outsville Billiards, and Team Straight Pool Eye, facilitated another successful event for players across Texas. The $1,000 added, two-day 9-ball tournament, featured a full, 64-player field, with a nearly $7,000 payout. In addition to the Poison Lone Star Event, the room hosted a Gulf Coast Women’s Regional Billiards Tour Event, adding $500 to the ladies’ event, which garnered 19 players. R House Bar and Grill provided 14, 7’ Diamond bar tables for match play, in a smoke-free environment, along with a free, “in-house” live stream. Predator sponsored Arcos II ball sets, and Outsville Billiards provided Accu-Racks for discussion-free racking, for each table.
On the winners’ side final eight, Johnny Griffin bested Cesar Arechiga, 7-4, and Leon Contreras shut out Andy Jethwa, 7-0, while Raed Shabib squeezed by Joey Bourgeois, Jr., 7-6, and Danny Bennett defeated Ronjan Mathur, 7-4. In the following round, Griffin slid past Contreras, 7-6, and Shabib sent Bennett west, 7-1. The hot seat match witnessed a determined Griffin overtake Shabib, 7-5, one step closer to capturing his first event title. On the one-loss ide, following a blow in the third round, Gutierrez won three matches to reach the final eight players. Gutierrez went on to eliminate defending champion, J.C.Torres, 7-5, and Contreras, 7-3, while Jethwa denied Arechiga, 7-6, and Bennett, 7-6. Gutierrez was on fire, with five wins, bringing him full circle, back to Jethwa. Gutierrez redeemed himself, eliminating Jethwa, 7-5, then Shabib, 7-5, logging seven match wins to meet Griffin in the finals.
The final sets drew a record number of live stream viewers, as both players fought an epic battle, with few mistakes made on each side. David “G” maintained his momentum, and Griffin could not find an edge. Griffin fell to Gutierrrez, both sets, by the same score of 7-4, marking an incredible 9 match wins for the straight-shooting Gutierrez. Congratulations to David on capturing one of the most exciting events to date on the Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour.
The next event will be held March 19th-20th at R House Bar and Grill in Houston, Texas.
For more information about the Poison Lone Star Billiards Tour, visit www.LoneStarBilliardsTour.com.
Open Payouts – Total $ $6,955
1st David Gutierrez $1,060/$1,400
2nd Johnny Griffin $750/$915
3rd Raed Shabib $440/$600
4th Andy Jethwa $260/$400
5th-6th Leon Contreras, Danny Bennett $110/$200 ea.
7th-8th J.C. Torres, Cesar Arechiga $75 ea.
9th-12th Biller Fuller, Joey Bourgeois, Jr., Ronjan Mathur, Jamie Moody $50 ea.
13th-16th Alex Cardenas, Richard Rodriguez, Joseph Pruiett, Ryan Louviere $40 ea.