SIX NATIONS – Six Nations’ semi-pro 8-ball player Adam Monture, already a regionally recognized regional champion was practising hard for months to up his game to the Canadian Championship level.
All of that hard work and dedication paid off when he won the Canadian 8-Ball Championship beating out some of the best shooters in Canada. The competitions included 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball.
“I played pretty well in the first day,” says Monture. “I had some good games.”
One game had him play against John Warrick, one of the top five players in the world and soundly beat him to go to the finals.
In the final round, he met Jason Klatt of Winnipeg, another world ranked player, in the finals.
Monture beat him 11-7 to take the Canadian Billiards and Snooker 8-Ball Championship and with it an invitation to participate in the World Championships held in China, September 4 to 17th.
The win lifted his rankings from semi-pro to professional where the competition and the prizes purse earning both go up significantly. He already has invitations to a few professional tournaments in the U.S. when he returns.
Monture represents a new wave of world-class players displacing one of four perennial Canadian Champions who were eliminated by some newer names in the game.
“I feel good because I beat ‘em all, and I beat ‘em pretty good,” he says.
He was nervous about playing in the Canadian Championships, but when he got there and started playing, by his own account, he settled down and found his rhythm.
Monture wants to share the experience with his two teenaged sons, Sheldon who is 19, and 17-year-old Stanley and by taking them with him to China. This will require a considerable amount of fundraising which he and his family are busy working on.
His sons are casual players too, but Monture hopes they will look at the game more seriously after China and come back with a deeper love of the game and the competition, the same things he inherited from his father, also a Champion pool player in his day.
He watched his father, Wilber Monture, play and started playing himself when he was 15 years old.
“He was really happy when I won the Canadian title,” says Monture.
In 2005 Adam won the Reno 9-Ball tournament in Reno Nevada but shortly after took seven years off from competition.
“I was just playing so much I was kinda getting burned out,” he recalls.
But when he picked up the cue again he didn’t loose much at all, winning $10,000 at a Toronto semi-pro 10-Ball tournament.
“About a month ago I won $10,000 at another Toronto tournament,” he says.
China will be a first for Monture, who has never been that from from home and has never been on an airplane.
Monture is still excited about winning the Canadian’s but China will represent the pinnacle of his careen to date. He plans to play professionally throughout the fall and winter tournament season and sustain himself with his other world class skill as an artist, in the summer.
Monture’s “home table” is at “On the Snap Billiards” in Stoney Creek, where he spends most of his time getting ready. Patrick and Suzan Peters who own the facility have been a big supporter of Monture’s through the years and can’t be happier with his success.
Six Nations Elected Band Council have an award for him as well in recognition of his accomplishments in the game of Pool, which will be given at a future session of council.
The CBSA was first established in 1974 and has been operating in this capacity for 40 years. It consists of all Provinces of Canada, and is governed by five individuals, who are elected by delegates of the Provincial Associations.
The prize fund for this prestigious event will be over $275,000 CAD and will carry a first prize of $100,000 CAD.
Could not have happened to a more deserving person. Good luck at the World Championship.