Posted on Jul 02, 2009 under 9 Ball Updates, Uncategorized |
Great Southern Billiard Tour whittles field down to 32
Thirty-two of the original 61 players who started the day are moving into Sunday play in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s Choo Choo Amateur 9-Ball Classic. The tournament, which is taking place at Diamond Billiard Club in Chattanooga, TN, features some of the most recognizable amateurs in the south to include Landon Shuffett, Mike Laney, Danny Smith and Bill Bailey. However, as play on Saturday came to a close, some of those names found themselves on the wrong side of the tournament chart or out of the tournament.
Mike Laney was one who could not navigate the tough field, getting knocked out of the tournament early Saturday evening. Other top players finding the way difficult going are Russ Edwards, Danny Smith, and Bill Bailey. Top names still fighting in the winners’ bracket are Landon Shuffett, Diamond Billiard Club proprietor Davey Crockett Jr., Josh O’Neal, and Arlo Walsman.
Play will begin again on Sunday at 12:00pm with 1-loss bracket action. Some of the feature matchups going into day 2 of this $1500 added tournament are Josh O’Neal vs. Landon Shuffett, Arlo Walsman vs. Matt Reed and Daniel McKinney vs. Jimmy Dickerson, all on the winners side. Top names still alive on the one-loss side include Bill Bailey, Smith, David Rice, Russ Edwards, Nicholas Hickerson and Jason Jahop.
Thirty-two of the original 61 players who started the day are moving into Sunday play in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s Choo Choo Amateur 9-Ball Classic.
Landon Shuffet will compete to Arlo Walsman at the finals. But Arlo Walsman won in the Great Southern Billiard Tour Choo Choo Amateur 9 Ball Classic
Thirty-two of the original 61 players who started the day are moving into Sunday play in the Great Southern Billiard Tour’s Choo Choo Amateur 9-Ball Classic.
Players are using the GSBT’s newly implemented, and popular, handicapping format. Players who are rated an “AA” have to go to 10 games, “A” players have to go to 9, and “B” players have to go to 7 in an alternate break race. This format levels the playing fields for multiple skill levels in the amateur ranks.
Posted on Jul 02, 2009 under 9 Ball Challenge |
World No. 1 Orcollo aces Qatar billiards crown
Also in this year, he won the BCA Open Nine-ball Championship, a tournament where three fellow Filipinos were defeated in the final in past editions of that event. He competed for the second time at the World Straight Pool Championship. Unlike the previous event, where he was the only Philippine player in contention, Warren Kiamco joined him. He had a much better performance in the tournament and achieved a high run of 117 (the fourth highest in the tournament). However, he was defeated by Oliver Ortmann, the eventual winner of the event, in the quarter-finals by a lopsided 200-7 score, the largest margin in the history of the tournament.
2009 Dennis Orcollo trounced veteran Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, 13-5, to win the inaugural 2008 Qatar International Open 9-Ball Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation in Doha.
It was the World Number 1’s third title this year after the Quezon City 9-Ball Championship and the All-Japan Open last March, fortifying his tag as the best and most fearsome cue artist today.
“Masayang-masaya ako sa pagkapanalo kong ito, at ang tagumpay kong ito ay iniaalay ko sa lahat ng ating mga kababayang Pilipino (I’m very happy for this win which I dedicate to my countrymen),” said Orcollo, one of the 12 Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines (BMPAP) members who competed in the $150,000 (P6.75-million) event.
The 29-year-old Surigao del Sur native pocketed the $40,000 (P1.8-million) top purse at stake in the week-long event participated by over a hundred world-class players from around the world.
Orcollo was among the 18 Filipinos who were seeded in the 96-man main draw. He swept his group stage matches against Subah Habib of Bharain (9-1) and Darren Appleton of England (9-6) to easily barge into the knockout stage.
There, he blasted former world champion Oliver Ortmann of Germany (11-6) in the Last 32 and countrymen Warren Kiamco (11-6) in the Last 16 and Ramil Gallego (11-9) in the quarterfinals and reigning world 8-ball champion Ralf Souquet of Germany (11-8) in the semis.
Against Feijen, Orcollo romped off to a blazing start, quickly building an 8-3 lead to set the tone for the unexpected rout.
The other Filipinos who competed in the tournament were BMPAP’s former world titlists Efren “Bata” Reyes, Pagulayan and Ronnie Alcano, former world No. 1 Francisco “Django” Bustamante, Gomez, Gandy Valle, Joven Bustamante Lee Van Corteza and Benjie Guevarra, as well as Marlon Manalo, Antonio Gabica, Jeff De Luna and Middle East-based Alan Cuartero, Joyme Vicente and Ruben Cuna.
Posted on Jun 30, 2009 under 9 Ball Challenge |
The Filipino pool wizards would like to thank the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) headed by its president Sebastian Chua and chairman Yen Makabenta and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping for their undying support regarding the China Open.
JEFFREY “The Bull” de Luna scored back-to-back wins on Friday to join WPA World No.1 Ralf “Kaiser” Souquet of Germany in the knock-out stage the 2009 (JUS) World 9-Ball China Pudong Tang Cheng Open gets underway at the Pudong Yuanshen Gymnasium in Shanghai, China.
De Luna, the 2007 Manny Pacquiao International 9-ball Open champion clobbered Mateusz Sniegocki of Poland, 11-7, then subdued He Wen Li of China, 11-4, in Group 3.
Souquet, who beat Ronato Alcano in this year’s World 8-ball finals in Fujairah turned back Yukio Akakariyama of Japan, 11-3, and Shu Chun Zang of China, 11-5, respectively in Group 1.
Antonio “Ga-Ga” Gabica, who earlier beat Chen Cong of China, 11-3, in Group 1 but relegated to the loser’s brackets bowing to Che Wei-Fu of Chinese-Taipei, 11-6.
The Lapu-Lapu City native Gabica failed to advance in the money round losing to Akakariyama, 9-11, from an 6-all deadlock.
2008 World Ten Ball Semi-Finalists Demosthenes “Plong-Plong” Pulpul, playing under the banner of Cebuano sportsman Paul Monera Magadan of Magi Group and MPC Glass and Alluminum trading GM Mark Monera Magadan also start to packed his things suffered two consecutive loss to Jinhu Dang of China, 11-6, and current two-time WPA World Junior Champion Ko Pin-Yi of Chinese, Taipei, 11-7, in Group 8.
Last Filipino entry Marlon “Marvelous” Manalo bowed to two-time Asian Games 9-ball gold winner Yang Ching-Shun of Chinese-Taipei, 11-6, in Group 5 then stuns Louis Condo of Australia, 11-5, in the one-loss side but yielded to Kuo Bin-Won of Chinese-Taipei, 11-10, for the last 32 seat.
The format calls they will play a double round robin for the race-to-eleven in the last 64 (Stage 2), while single knock-out affair will be employ in the last 32 in the US $40,000 championship prize with the runner-up will bring home $20,000 while the losing-semi-finalists gets $5,500 each. The prizes up to the last 32 according to the organizing group.
The Filipino pool wizards would like to thank the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) headed by its president Sebastian Chua and chairman Yen Makabenta and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping for their undying support regarding the China Open.
Posted on Jun 30, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
OBJECT OF THE GAME
Nine Ball is played with nine object balls numbered one through nine and a cue ball. On each shot the first ball the cue ball contacts must be the lowest-numbered ball on the table, but the balls need not be pocketed in order. If a player pockets any ball on a legal shot, he remains at the table for another shot, and continues until he misses, fouls, or wins the game by pocketing the 9-ball. After a miss, the incoming player must shoot from the position left by the previous player, but after any foul the incoming player may start with the cue ball anywhere on the table. Players are not required to call a shot. A match ends when one of the players has won the required number of games.
RACKING THE BALLS
The object balls are racked in a diamond shape, with the one ball at the top of the diamond and on the foot spot, the nine ball in the center of the diamond, and the other balls in random order, racked as tightly as possible. The game begins with cue ball in hand behind the head string.
LEGAL BREAK SHOT
The rules governing the break shot are the same as for other shots except:
1. The breaker must strike the 1-ball first and either pocket a ball or drive at least four numbered balls to the rail.
2. If the cue ball is pocketed or driven off the table, or the requirements of the opening break are not met, it is a foul, and the incoming player has the cue ball in hand anywhere on the table.
3. If on the break shot, the breaker causes an object ball to jump off the table, it is a foul and the incoming player has cue ball in hand anywhere on the table. The object ball is not respotted (exception: if the object ball is the 9-ball, it is respotted).
CONTINUING PLAY
On the shot immediately following a legal break, the shooter may play a “push shot.” (SEE PUSH SHOT). If the breaker pockets one or more balls on a legal break, he continues to shoot until he misses, fouls, or wins the game. If the player misses or fouls, the other player begins his inning and shoots until he misses, fouls or wins. The game ends when the nine ball is pocketed on a legal shot, or the game is forfeited for a serious infraction of the rules.
PUSH OUT
The player who shoots the shot immediately after a legal break may play a push out in an attempt to move the cue ball into a better position for the option that follows. On a push out, the cue ball is not required to contact any object ball nor any rail, but all other foul rules still apply. The player must announce his intention of playing a push out does not count and remains pocketed except the 9-ball. Following a legal push out, the incoming player is permitted to shoot from the position or to pass the shot back to the player who pushed out. A push out is to considered to be a foul as long as no rule (except rules for BAD HITS and NO RAIL) is violated. An illegal push out is penalized according to the type of foul committed. After a player scratches on the break shot, the incoming player cannot play a push out.
FOULS
When a player commits a foul, he must relinquish his run at the table and no balls pocketed on the foul shot are respotted (exception: if a pocketed ball is the 9-ball, it is respotted). The incoming player is awarded ball in hand; prior to his first shot he may place the cue ball anywhere on the table. If a player commits several fouls on one shot, they are counted as only one foul.
BAD HIT
If the first object ball contacted by the cue ball is not the lowest numbered ball on the table, the shot is foul.
NO RAIL
If no object ball is pocketed, failure to drive the cue ball or any numbered ball to a rail after the cue ball contacts the object ball on is a foul.
IN HAND
When the cue ball is in hand, the player may place the cue ball anywhere on the bed of the table, except in contact with an object ball. He may continue to adjust the position of the cue ball until he takes a shot.
OBJECT BALLS JUMPED OFF THE TABLE
An unpocketed ball is considered to be driven off the table if it comes to rest other than on the bed of the table. It is a foul to drive an object ball off the table. The jumped object ball(s) is not respotted (exception: if the object ball is the 9-ball, it is respotted) and play continues.
JUMP AND MASSE SHOT FOUL
If a match is not refereed, it will be considered a cue ball foul if during an attempt to jump, curve or masse the cue ball over or around an impeding numbered ball, the impeding ball moves (regardless of whether it was moved by a hand, cue stick follow-through or bridge).
THREE CONSECUTIVE FOULS
If a player fouls three consecutive times on three successive shots without making an intervening legal shot, he loses the game. The three fouls must occur in one game. The warning must be given between the second and third fouls. A player’s inning begins when it is legal for him to take a shot and ends at the end of a shot on which he misses, fouls or wins, or when he fouls between shots.
END OF GAME
A game starts as soon as the cue ball crosses over the head string on the opening break. The 1-ball must be legally contacted on the break shot. The game ends at the end of a legal shot which pockets the 9-ball; or when a player forfeits the game as the result of a foul.
Posted on Jun 27, 2009 under 9 Ball Challenge, Uncategorized |
Darren Appleton, the reigning World 9 Ball Champion became the third ever Englishman to win the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters title following a fighting 8-4 win over Holland’s Nick van den Berg at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.
The 33 year-old, who converted to big table pool in recent years, following an outstanding career at English 8 Ball, beat Raj Hundal, Ralf Souquet and Mika Immonen en route to the final.
As well as the title and magnificent trophy, Appleton takes a cheque for $20,000 while Van Den Berg earned half that amount.
“It’s unbelievable to win the World Pool Masters,” said Appleton. “It has been my goal to win a Matchroom event and to win this is like winning another world title.
“After the 9-ball victory I put a lot of expectation on myself and hopefully this will help me get in the World Cup of Pool and the Mosconi Cup. We all want to play in Matchroom tournaments and this hasn’t done me any harm.”
“This gives me a lot more belief that I can go on and keep winning titles. My target has been to get in the Mosconi Cup and winning this puts me in the mix. It is every pool players dream to play in the Mosconi Cup.”
Appleton won the lag but delivered an illegal break as the requisite number of balls failed to travel past the headstring. Both players had visits but it was the Dutchman who took the rack.
Van den Berg, whose break had served him so well throughout the tournament came up with a dry break but his opponent missed a routine 6-ball but then made up for it with a fine 6-8 combination to level the score at 1-1.
Appleton produced a legal break and a fine long pot on the red 3 set himself up to run out the rack which he did to lead 2-1. That became 3-1 as he produced one of the best breaks of the tournament as four balls disappeared.
Van den Berg had a chance after Appleton missed the red 3 into the centre pocket, but he over- screwed and scratched potting the 4 ball and with ball-in-hand, Appleton moved 4-1 in front.
A scratch from Darren Appleton gave ball in hand to van den Berg and the score quickly moved to 4-2. In the next a fluke from Appleton gave him a three-rack advantage after a fortunate 4-6 combination helped him.
Appleton had a dry break in the eighth and the rack wasn’t a long one as van den Berg closed the gap to two thanks to a 1-9 carom. After serving him well, Van den Berg was beginning to struggle with his break. An illegal one helped Appleton inch closer to the title as he moved into a 6-3 lead in the race to 8.
Fortune went with van den Berg in the tenth rack as Appleton made an illegal break and then failed with a 2-7-9 combination. The Dutchman avoided scratching by millimetres after he potted the 6-ball and saw the cue ball hanging on the edge. He went on to win the rack to reduce the deficit to 4-6.
Appleton moved to the hill after another breaking error from van den Berg - this time a dry break,
and he clinched the title thanks to a 4-9 combination in the 12th rack to win by an 8-4 margin.
“I probably didn’t play as well in the final as I did in the semi-final,” added Appleton. “I didn’t break as well as I had done and neither did Nick - he had three dry breaks in the final.
“Nick recently won the European Championship so I had him as the favourite and had broken the best to get to the final.
“He’s a great guy and we’re very good friends so we both tried to enjoy the final and was just a shame someone had to lose.
“He was on a great run so to beat him in the final is a dream come true especially with the three other players that I defeated.”
Posted on Jun 25, 2009 under 9 Ball Challenge |
Three players continued their excellent run of form in recent weeks and capitalised by lifting GB9 Titles, two of them for the first time.
Newly installed Professional number 1, and reigning World 9-ball Pool Champion, Daryl Peach took his second consecutive Pro Cup title with a 9-2 victory over Scott Higgins. Higgins was in his third GB9 final and it is the second time he has been beaten by Peach in an attempt to pick up a trophy.
In the Challenge Cup, fresh from a very productive trip to the USA where he beat top professional Shane Van Boening, Stephen Folan played magnificently for a 9-4 win over Challenge Cup promotion favourite Anthony Ginn. The standard across all divisions of the GB9 tour is continually improving with now at least 16 players capable of lifting a title at any given event.
The main event is the one that everyone wants to win and the Paul Medati Trophy was all the more special as it was named in memory of GB9 regular, Paul Medati, who died of cancer last year.
GB9 is turning out to be very exciting this year with a number of first wins already having been achieved by Michael Valentine, Steve Petty, Craig Osborne, Damian Massey and now Stephen Folan. Well the trend continued into Sunday as the very in-form Karl Boyes finally lifted a GB9 title that he has been threatening to win for some time. His 11-5 victory over Adam Benn Smith (a Pro Cup player last year but with undoubted talent) was fully deserved and he has been playing really well for the last 4 weeks.
The next event’s venue has yet to be decided so stay tuned.
Videos from the tournament will be available very soon on CueSport TV.
The Venue
I don’t normally leave a section of a report to talk about the venue, but with all the recent discussions about the quality and standard of equipment across the Rileys chain I thought it was worth a mention.
Barnsley Rileys is the best Rileys club I have ever been in, the club is clean, the tables are well maintained and through the efforts of George Vetters and his staff the equipment is treated with respect. I personally think that it is this ‘education’ of the punters that keeps a club in check and other venues across the UK should start taking note.
Posted on Jun 25, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
Massey, Peach & Osborne Win in Croydon - CueSport
Got back monday morning from the GB9 Southern Masters at the weekend. 128 players in Britain’s official professional 9-ball tour and what a weekend it was!
We were of course at the event in our capacity as official streaming media partners of the GB 9 Ball Tour and we recorded 14 matches and a few interviews from the weekend which will be available later this week.
The first thing I must offer is my greatest respect to the organisers as they faced their biggest challenge yet when 4 of the tables for the tournament were deemed unplayable.
With 128 players in three divisions the GB9 Tour is built around a 16 table format. This meant that the 12 table contingency plan had to be adopted. This meant a change to match times and every player had to be called to give them a new start time. A phenomenol amount of work carried out by both Lee Rigby and Shirley Ang to make sure the event could still run smoothly.
This did mean that the finals of the pro and challenge cups finished very late on Saturday/Sunday. But all was worth it with two very high quality final matches.
In the Challenge event, incidentally our choice for ‘Player Focus’ during the weekend, Damian Massey beat Adam Benn Smith in a match where he was 5-1 down and came back to lift his first GB9 Tour title with an 11-7 victory. Fully deserved from a man that has always had the game and has won numerous small open events. This now means a possible step-up for Damian to the Pro Cup in 2010.
In the Pro Event - our video coverage is mainly from this event - local boy Damian Overton came up against 2007 World 9-ball Champion Daryl Peach. A high quality match that ended up going hill-hill with Daryl to break after having won the earlier lag. Daryl prevailed and won his second GB9 Pro title. Both players were on top form and it was shame for Damian, as one of the most likeable characters on tour, that he couldn’t lift his first ever tournament title. Overton who by his own admission struggled in 2008 and thought he may not keep his pro tour spot has now moved up to number 4 in the Professional rankings.
The Main Event
Last year we only covered the main event finals in Solihull and Croydon and cncentrated mainly on the Pro Cup, this year, where possible, we will also be offering some match coverage from the sunday.
We picked up our action with a last 32 match between UK number 1 Imran Majid and a newcomer to the tour Kevin Hew. Kevin is no newcomer to the game of 9-ball though having won a number of events on the old UK 9-ball tour. In a match I thought would have been a touch closer Imran Majid booked a last 16 spot with a 9-4 win.
In the last 16 our attention turned to the Predator World 10-ball Champion, Tony Drago, who was playing against Challenge Tour winner Damian Massey. A very close and entertaining match ended up with Drago winning 9-7 to get into the 1/4 finals.
In the 1/4 finals we focused our attention on Karl Boyes versus Craig Osborne. Craig missed the first event in Solihull as he was in New York taking a holiday but bounced back in this event showing some true class. He bested Karl 9-5 to book his third GB9 semi-final place. The quarter-finals threw up some very interesting matches the most notable was challenge tour player, Martin Chapman, beating Daryl Peach 9-4. The other big shock was Scott Higgin beating Raj Hundal 9-7. The other match featured Majid and Drago, Majid won it 9-7.
So to the semi-finals where we picked UK number 1, Imran Majid against Martin Chapman. Chapman never really got going and failed to show the class he had produced against Daryl Peach in the previous round and ended up losing 9-3 to the man that was defending this title. In the other match Craig Osborne went further than before by booking a birth in the final with a 9-4 victory over Scott Higgins.
The Final
Rarely have we had a GB9 Tour final that has been heavily one-sided, this was also no exception to that rule. One of the most entertaining finals ever saw Craig ‘Shotgun’ Osborne lift his first GB9 Tour title 11-10. Fully deserved and he looks like he is brimming with confidence for the 2009 season. Unfortunate for Imran after he had also had his car towed away earlier in the day due to a parking infringement!
Roll on the next event in May!
Posted on Jun 25, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
9-ball is played using the 1-ball through the 9-ball and the cue ball. The object of the game is to shot at the lowest number ball on the table. You win the game by
making the 9-ball. The balls are racked in a diamond shape. The 1-ball is always placed in the front of the rack and the 9-ball always goes in the middle. The two
players can lag and the winner of the lag decides who goes first. The winner of each game breaks. On the break you must hit the 1-ball first. If you scratch on the break
then the other player gets ball in hand and can place the ball anywhere on the table. Lag means that the player shoots a ball from behind the header towards the footer.
The object is to get the ball to hit the rail and stop as close as possible to the rail. The next person does the same thing. The person who is closest to the rail gets to go
first. When it is your turn you are not require to call your shot. You are allowed to make a ball that is not the lowest ball on the table as long as you make contact with
the lowest ball first. If you fail to make a shot then it is the other players turn. After the break the player shoots next can call a “push out” in order to move the cue ball
into a better position. The cue ball does not have to may contact with an object ball or touch a rail. You must call a push out before you attempt the shot or it is a normal
shot. If a ball other than the 9-ball is made on a push out it remains pocketed. If there is a scratch on the break than a push out is not allowed.
Steps:
1 — First, set the 9 balls on the table inside a diamond shaped rack: the 1-ball should be on the foot spot and the 9-ball in the middle of the diamond.
2 — Then,choose the player who will open the game by tossing dice, drawing cards, etc. The chosen player has to hit 1-ball with the cue ball.
3 — Afterwards, the player can call “push out” and to shoot only to move the cue ball to a better position.The game continues normally: on each shot, the cue ball has to contact the ball of the lowest number,
4 — Each player who’s made a legal shot continues playing.
5 –Lastly, the first player who pockets the 9-ball legally wins the game.
Posted on Mar 28, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
How billiards came to America has not been positively established. There are tales that it was brought to St. Augustine by the Spaniards in the 1580s but research has failed to reveal any trace of the game there. More likely it was brought over by Dutch and English settlers. A number of American cabinetmakers in the 1700s turned out exquisite billiard tables, although in small quantities. Nevertheless, the game did spread throughout the Colonies. Even George Washington was reported to have won a match in 1748. By 1830, despite primitive equipment, public rooms devoted entirely to billiards appeared. The most famous of them was Bassford’s, a New York room that catered to stockbrokers. Here a number of American versions of billiards were developed, including Pin Pool, played with small wooden targets like miniature bowling pins, and Fifteen-Ball Pool, described later.
The American billiard industry and the incredible rise in popularity of the game are due to Michael Phelan, the father of American billiards. Phelan emigrated from Ireland and in 1850 wrote the first American book on the game. He was influential in devising rules and setting standards of behavior. An inventor, he added diamonds to the table to assist in aiming, and developed new table and cushion designs. He was also the first American billiard columnist. On January 1, 1859, the first of his weekly articles appeared in Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. A few months later, Phelan won a prize of $15,000 at Detroit in the first important stake match held in the United States. He was a tireless promoter of the game and created the manufacturing company of Phelan and Collender. In 1884 the company merged with its chief competitor, J.M. Brunswick & Balke, to form the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, which tightly controlled all aspects of the game until the 1950’s. Its successor, Brunswick Billiards, is still the largest American manufacturer.
The dominant American billiard game until the 1870s was American Four-Ball Billiards, usually played on a large (11- or 12-foot), four-pocket table with four balls-two white and red. It was a direct extension of English Billiards. Points were scored by pocketing balls, scratching the cue ball, or by making caroms on two or three balls. A “carom” is the act of hitting two object balls with the cue ball at one stroke. With so many balls, there were many different ways of scoring and it was possible to make up to 13 points on a single shot. American Four-Ball produced two offspring, both of which surpassed it in popularity by the late 1870s. One, simple caroms played with three balls on a pocket less table, is sometimes known as “Straight Rail,” the forerunner of all carom games. The other popular game was American Fifteen-Ball Pool, the predecessor of modern pocket billiards. The word “pool” means a collective bet, or ante. Many non-billiard games, such as poker, involve a pool but it was to pocket billiards that the name became attached. The term “poolroom” now means a place where pool is played, but in the 19th century a poolroom was a betting parlor for horse racing. Pool tables were installed so patrons could pass the time between races. The two became connected in the public mind, but the unsavory connotation of “pool-room” came from the betting that took place there, not from billiards.
Posted on Mar 24, 2009 under 9 Ball Billiard |
Geoff Dawson says Seventh Street NW across from Verizon Center needs more entertainment.
The Washington Capitals and Bono just aren’t enough, even when you factor in a new 500-seat Clyde’s restaurant and upscale bowling alley Lucky Strike, both of which opened last fall.
Dawson, the co-owner of Bedrock Management, is putting together a lease at 714 Seventh St. NW with Douglas Development for 5,000 square feet in a basement that will highlight the company’s standard offerings: pool, shuffleboard and board games.
It’s a sizable parcel in a high-rent strip that’s commanding more than $80 per square foot. Dawson, whose company owns Atomic Billiards, Buffalo Billiards, The Continental and Bedrock Billiards, says he doesn’t know which brand will go in there yet.
“It’s just our kind of space — quirky,” says Dawson, adding that he hopes the space below Comfort One Shoes and Ecco will be ready in six months. The shoe stores signed about four months ago and are expected to open this summer.
The strip along Seventh Street is saturated with retailers that have been competing to be near Urban Outfitters, Aveda and Ann Taylor Loft, among others.
Trendy restaurants such as Zengo at Seventh and H streets, which opened last fall, are moving in at a fast clip. Former Vidalia executive chef Peter Smith signed a lease at Seventh and Eye streets NW in March — after a year of negotiations — to open a modern American restaurant.
Not much is left in the area. There’s a 30,000-square-foot parcel of retail expected to become available at Seventh and H streets NW, now home to CVS and owned by Yeni Wong.
“The property doesn’t deliver for two years,” says Transwestern Commercial Services broker Bill Miller, whose company is soft marketing the space now.
CVS may stay in the space, says Miller, who’s negotiating with the retailer. Regardless, more than 20,000 square feet will be available at $100 a sqaure foot. “No one has gone, ‘You’re nuts,” Miller says. “We’re being patient.”