Pool-Playing Couple Earn Fury Wins

Pool-Playing Couple Earn Fury WinsBy InsidePOOL StaffBarnes Captures First Fury Ladies Win Jessica Barnes and Adam Wheeler are a Florida couple with a number of things in common. First off, they are both pool players, and, for the first time, they both took home Fury Tour wins on the same weekend.Both events were held at Strokers Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL, during the weekend of April 2-3 with the amateur ladies event held on Saturday. Sixteen talented players gathered for the second stop of the season, with a few new faces in the crowd, but it was the regulars that dominated the brackets.Besides Barnes, Niki Rasmussen, Amy Poulter, and Jennifer Nelson were also having a strong tournament. one of the opening matches pitted Rasmussen against Barnes, and after falling 7-4, Rasmussen headed to the one-loss side to face Poutler, while Barnes advanced to play Stephanie Mitchell. Barnes' strong run outs paved the way for a 7-1 win, and, with after one more tough victory against Nelson, Barnes advanced to the hot seat match. On the bottom of the winners' bracket, newcomer Colleen Russell was making her way through the field, and she also advanced to the hot seat. Russell opened up with a slim 3-2 lead, but Barnes never faltered, taking the final five games to advance to her first-ever Fury finals.In the semifinals, Russell faced Mitchell, with the winner going on to face Barnes in the finals. With a 5-2 win, Russell earned a shot at her first Fury victory as well, but something was going to have to give. Barnes started off with seven straight wins, but Russell, to her credit, put together five of her own to cut into the lead. Barnes didn't waver, though, and with four more wins, she earned her first Fury Tour victory. Wheeler Completes Couple's SweepOn Sunday, 62 players filled the amateur open bracket at Strokers Billiards to battle it out in the fifth Central Florida event of the year. Wheeler's run to victory might have been helped by the extra hour of sleep he received, because he forgot to turn his clock ahead the night before.While everyone got a laugh, it didn't take long for the mood to become serious when play began. Wheeler opened up strong, capturing four straight wins by a combined score of 28-6 before Danny Sheldon gave him his first run for his money. With the fifth-round match tied at 6 apiece, Wheeler gained control of the table and ran out to reach the hot seat match. On the other side was Dave Ross, who also came through the winners' bracket undefeated to reach the hot seat match. Right out of the gate, Ross broke and ran to grab a quick 1-0 lead, but Wheeler bounced back with a vengeance, winning five straight games to take command of the match. Ross, though, wasn't deterred, capping off a four-game winning streak with a 5-9 combo. With the match square at 5-all, Wheeler turned up the jets and ran out the final two racks to advance to the finals. In the west side, Sheldon did a nice job of coming back from his earlier defeat to Wheeler. In his semifinal match with Ross, he pulled out another tough win to earn a shot in the finals.Wheeler's toughest match of the day had been against Sheldon, and he was determined not to give him as much ground as he had earlier. Within the first ten minutes, Wheeler had run through six racks, and he continued his fiery play with three more wins to earn the 9-0-shutout victory.Ladies' Results: 1st Jessica Barnes $290 + Spirit Tour qualifier 2nd Colleen Russell $170 3rd Stephanie Mitchell $100 4th Niki Rasmussen $60 Results:1st Adam Wheeler $560 2nd Danny Sheldon $320 3rd Dave Ross $200 4th Bruce Choyce $140 5th Rodel Morados, Brian Davalos $100 7th Ray Pollanz, Julio Aquino $80 9th Robert Otto, Robert Noon, Brett Lykens, Dan Whitten $60 Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the Fury Florida Amateur Tours.

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