The Nick Kalavrouziotis memorial eight-ball tournament has been a competitive pool tournament for the past 12 years. The organizer, Carl Sampson, says he really enjoys the competitive aspect of pool and it is the continuous good competition that motivates him to continue pointing on this tournament.

Carl said, “It’s something I take pride in and I try my best to see that it goes off pretty good. We’re going to have top-quality players.”

This Canadian tournament will run Friday through Sunday at the Billiard Connection and it is named for Sampson’s friend who also owned a number of pool halls. He passed away in 1995 and his wife Georgia now runs the business.

Sampson admits that finding pool players as of late is becoming a challenge.
“If I can get around 50 players I’ll be happy,” he said. “If I get more than that, I’ll be very happy. A lot of people are going out west to work. And money’s tight these days.”

Even though he expects to pull players from Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia as well as have a former Atlantic men’s champion Dave Boone in attendance. The overall prize pool is based on the total number of players but the overall winner is guaranteed $1,000.

This pool tournament is going to be a double -knockout, with ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions, as well as a ladies’ division.

“The tournament will be played in eight groups, with the final three going into an ‘A’ division.” said Sampson. “Everybody else will go to the ‘B’ division.”

Last year’s champion, Bill MacPherson, said he’s looking forward to defending his title this year. “It’s probably one of the toughest tournaments in Atlantic Canada now,” said MacPherson.


- 2008-02-07