Ruairi Roars at the 2023 Puddle Jumper!

39 players came to the 2023 Puddle Jumper $300 Entry 456 & Under 9-Ball Championship and battles were had! We had many exciting hill-hill thrillers. With just under $20,000 in the prize fund there was a lot on the line with every shot. (Follow M.O.B. Productions on Facebook)

We had players travel from 13 different states from Hawaii and Alaska to Florida, South Carolina and Delaware. And I would say everyone had a great time! Stace Dieckman (NM), Alan Barry (Las Vegas), Rob Salinas (TX and Casey Guell (Las Vegas) all had strong showings finishing tied for 9th place. Joshua Shumate (TX) and Justin List (AZ, Tucson – BearDown!) both played very well finishing strong in 7th place. Lawrence Thompson (HI) and Kurt Vester (DE) played very strong, and both benefitted from getting in the sidepots finishing in 5th place.

Tony Staub (TX) ground his way to a 4th place finish after losing his second match. On the Loser’s Side he beat Bryan Champagne (ND) 5-4, Mark Francom (OR) 5-0, his road buddy Rob Salinas 5-3, Justin List 5-2 and Karl Vester 5-3 before falling to Michael Haynes (SC) 1-5.

Michael Haynes made it to Day Two on the Winner’s Side. Won his first match Sunday beating Rob Salinas 7-2 before heading to the Loser’s Side after falling 4-7 to Ruairi Byrne (Las Vegas). Michael went on to best Lawrence Thompson 5-3, and then fell 1-5 to Ruairi again after beating Tony to finish strong in 3rd place.

Rex Major (AK) played an outstanding tournament. He went undefeated, grinding through the winner’s bracket winning matches with scores of 7-3, 7-6, 7-6, 7-4, and winning the hotseat match over Ruairi Byrne 7-6, He only fell to the eventual champ 5-9. Rex definitely made Alaska proud!

The work Ruairi Byrne, of Las Vegas, has put into his game has shown through with his strong finish in the recent M.O.B. 550 & Under and lept into the light this weekend. His ball pocketing was on point from match one and did not disappoint besting the previously undefeated Rex Major 9-5 in the finals. he was calm (at least appeared to be) and composed all tournament long. Congratualtions, Ruairi, on a great win and being the 2023 Puddle Jumper Champion! See all of the matches here on the online bracket.