31 players competed this past Saturday, all qualified by finishing in the top 4 of the Weekly 9Ball Handicapped Tournament over the last year at HighPockets (or finishing 1st place if less than 32 players). Previous winners of the King of the Hill annual tournament were eligible to play if they had participated in the weekly event at least 3 times in the last year. Entry to the event is and always has been the same as the weekly tournament – $10 entry, plus table time, charged while you’re in a match.
KOTH Runner up Greg Hein focuses on a difficult shot.
Doors opened at 11am and tournament participants were allowed free practice time until the noon cut off for tournament entries.
The players auction, ran by owner Tracy Whitney, brought $1200 and the tournament purse totaling $560, including the $250 added would make a great win for the final 8 finishers, but to top it off, Tracy announced shortly before the start of the first round that players would not be charged table time during their matches.
Shortly before 1pm, first round table assignments were announced and the single elimination tournament was off to a great start.
As 2nd round matches came to an end, players began gearing up for the Monthly 10-Ball Tournament, or went home to rest up for the quarter finals, beginning at 1pm on Sunday.
When the doors opened at noon Sunday, players began to trickle into warm up before their matches began at 1pm.
The Final 8 consisted of Greg Hein VS , Reggie Pickard VS Josh Gilmore, Jamie Barnum, Billy Truman.
2016 KOTH Champion – Reggie Pickard