"Mad Max" Eberle Wins 9-Ball at Winter Jamboree

Dec. 22, 2002"Mad Max" Wins 9-Ball, Billy Palmer Reigns in one Pocket at Hard TimesMax Eberle stunned the onlookers with resounding victories over Jose Parica and Rodney Morris to snatch the 9-Ball title at the Hard Times Winter Jamboree. Eberle had won four matches in succession (including a 9-2 trouncing of Ernesto Dominguez) before falling to Parica 9-6. on the south side of the board he bumped off Tony Chohan 9-6, and squeaked by Kris Iverson 9-8 when Kris could not convert on an open 7, 8 & 9.
Meanwhile Parica and Rodney Morris were playing for the hot seat in a matchup everyone expected to see again in the finals. Both had won five in a row to reach this point. Rodney prevailed by a 9-6 margin and waited for Parica to dispatch the winner of the Eberle-Iverson match. No one gave either player much of a chance against Jose. No one told Max though and he jumped into an early 4-0 lead with Parica and never let up on the way to a 9-3! win. But now he had to face the invincible Mr. Morris who seemed to effortlessly demolish anyone in his way. Fresh off his third place in Reno and hungry for a second straight Hard Times title, Rodney looked confident and relaxed prior to the match. The only question seemed to be, how bad would he beat Max. Wrong question! It should have been the other way around. Max sent a strong statement to the pool world that he has arrived, winning going away by an 11-5 wipeout. During the tournament, when asked by an onlooker what he hoped to achieve in pool, Max responded that he wanted to be a champion. He took a big step in that direction this week. Although Hard Times is not a major championship, it is always a difficult test and takes a top player's ability to win. This should be a tremendous boost to Max's confi-dence and he will be a force to be reckoned with in 2003.1. MAX EBERLE $4,000 + $880 Calcutta 2. Rodney Morris $2,200 + $550 Calcutta 3. Jose Parica $1,200 + $330 Calcutta 4. Kris Iverson $800 + $220 Calcutta 5-6. Tony Chohan & Alex Laingco $600 + $110 Calcutta 7-8. Gerardo Jamito & Ralph Daloian $4009-12. Joey Gebron, Santos Sambajon, Tony Watson & Ernesto Domingues $300 13-16.Jason Williams, Jon Henson, Chico Williams & Brian Somer $200 17-24. $100Billy Palmer continued his domination of West Coast one Pocket events going undefeated in six matches to take the crown. He bumped off Mike Mares 3-0, Melvin Mackay 3-0, Max Harbaugh 3-2, Tony Chohan 3-1, Santos Sambajon 3-2 and 4-2 in the finals. It looked like business as usual for Mr. Palmer who seems to have whatever it takes to win his matches. When he needs to come with a big shot, he does, and when the game calls for canny strategy, he always has something clever up his sleeve. Look out for him if he decides to visit Louisville in January. Palmer is right up there with the top guns of one Pocket.1. BILLY PALMER $1,500 2. Santos Sambajon $900 3. Joey Gebron $600 4. Tony Chohan $400 5-6. Jose Parica & Rodney Morris $250 7-8. Gene Ventura & Tony Melendez $150 9-12. Max Harbaugh, Mike Mares, John Henderson & Chris MacDonald $75by Jay Helfert, Tournament Director

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