Barnum wins Mano-a-Mano

POOL CLUB

The Leisure World Pool Club played a special Mano-a-Mano Tournament on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. It was a double elimination competition, with 16 players vying for the title of best eight-ball player in Leisure World. They played two out of three matches in the winners’ bracket, and when a player went to the losers’ bracket, it was done.

Bob Barnum defeated Bob Gronski, Eunis “Wildfire!” Christensen and Barry Chittem. And Rufino “ Ruffy” Ramos beat Tom Zimmerman, Dave Ruiz and Dave Silva to meet Barnum in the final winners’-bracket match. Barnum won two straight from Ramos to send him to meet Silva, who had won three straight matches in the losers’ bracket. Silva had a long shot on the eight ball but missed it, and Ramos ran the last three balls after a very good defensive play to meet Barnum in the finals.

In double-elimination tournaments, the player in the losers’ bracket has to win two straight games because he or she has already lost one game. Barnum took an early lead with the solid balls, and after making the two ball, he played straight in position on the eight ball in the corner pocket to win the tournament. Ramos stood in second place overall, with Silva in third.

The club thanks Christensen, Connie Terry and Connie Adkins for helping to make this tournament run smoothly. It hopes to host a tournament like this again next year.

—Dave Silva

Tournament winners Rufino "Ruffy" Ramos, Bob Barnum and Dave Silva.