Shreveport September 2023 Signature Series

It's Shreveport time! Y'all ready for some Cajun food? BeauxJax across the river has the Loaded Crawfish MacNCheese and Red Beans and Rice and they are delicious! Herby-K's is a legendary place known for its' famous "Shrimp Buster" and has been around since 1936 serving up their award winning gumbo and fresh shucked oysters as well as the coldest beer in town. For those getting there early Thursday, Herby-K's has Happy Hour from 4:30-7:30 with $1 Fresh Oysters and $2 Chargrilled Oysters. The Noble Savage (shout out Shilpan Patel) is another great option for some great food along with the Blind Tiger. Have the urge to shake your groove thang? Consider a late night/early morning at the infamous Sand Bar. Got a itch to play some blackjack, craps or maybe play some slots? Several casinos are near the host hotels. How about throwing some bags with hundreds of your closest friends? This weekend TCL will be hosting the first Signature Series Event of the 2023-24 Season at the Convention Center in Downtown Shreveport, LA. If you're feeling a little deja vu, I get it, we all were here a few months ago for the TCL Conference Championships as this venue has become one of the best for these type of events. Its big enough to handle all the boards and allows plenty of walking around room as well as being within walking distance to several casinos, restaurants and bars. What else do we need! Let's Geaux!!

Bags will start flying Thursday evening with some Switcholio events and a "B" Doubles Dual State event that may be fun to watch. Also on tap will be a Women's Singles event that should be exciting as there will be several top tier ladies in this field. Some of the ladies who are registered include reigning TCL Women's Player of the Year Tracie Beeson, Crystal Infante, Haley Davidson and Denise McEvoy. Caitlyn Allshouse, Delaney Pillod have serious potential to win this event as well. A couple of names some may not have heard of include Lauri Engleman and Tracey Chamberlain. Lauri can flat out throw a bag and can't be slept on. Chamberlain...hmmm...that name may sound familiar. Yep, she is Logan's mom and a few years ago I was lucky enough to team up with her in a blind draw and let me tell ya, Logan gets his ability honestly! The lady who wins this event will have earned it as all of these ladies will be tough to beat.

Friday is for Singles and as usual, a lot of big time players are in this field. TCL Player of the Year Sammy Soto along with Justin Burton, Jr for starters.....sheesh need I say more! As of press time there are around 90 players signed up and of those 90, they're all good. As I scroll down the list of names I'm astounded at the talent TCL has these days. Seems like everyone is good and they all have a large arsenal of shots they can and will use to their advantage. With all the talented players and with just about everyone on the list being really good, it's difficult to try and include everyone on this list. Back in the day I could get away with mentioning a handful of names but not any more. I'll do the best I can and if I don't include your name, just go "Prime Time" on me at the next Signature Event and make it "Personal". I once had a guy ask me why I didn't write about him...I told him it would be easier for me to include you if you were getting your picture taken with a handful of paper and hardware at the end of the event  as opposed to a can of adult beverage! Haven't had him say anything to me about that any more...lol. Any who, other names that could win include guys like Logan Chamberlain, Cayhill Isom, Chase Lester and Grant Upchurch. There are several players that I haven't been able to see on the boards much lately but they seem be getting their pictures taken a lot. Those include guys like Cannon Hatcher, Fletcher Jonson, Scott Beck, Dylan Cernero and Jacob Whatley. All these guys can fill it up.Then there are the likes of Q Cohee, Reef Woodsen and Tye Thompson...shoot there are simply way too many really good players. Just this week Kevin Meza took down a Singles event beating Cody Brooks in a pretty strong field. Who is gonna to be the last player standing? We will find out soon enough!

Open Doubles has around 55 teams registered and all of them are good. With the way Kevin Meza threw Tuesday night, he and Mason Vega look like they will be a tough team to beat. Logan Chamberlain is teamed up with Johnny Govea who just welcomed a new baby this week! Hope he was able to get some rest! Johnny has played a lot of events with Edgar Cardenas but this weekend Edgar is partnered up with Justin Burton, Jr which is another super stout team. Sammy Soto is playing with the Silent Assassin Kale Harrell from Oklahoma and boy that team is scary looking! Multiple time State Champ Grant Upchurch is teamed up with veteran Matt Longoria and this could be a team to watch. Brandon Gregor seems to have gotten over his arm injury and is teaming up with the young upstart Klaydon "K Money" Powell. Speaking of young studs, Cayhill Isom is playing with Scott "Robocop" Beck and from the Tyler area Fletcher Jonson and Jacob Whatley are pairing up. Some teams to watch out for are a hot throwing Cody Brooks teaming up with Denise McEvoy and Luke Anderson matching up with Kobey Alley. Don't sleep on several teams including Chase Lester and Hayden Morris, Blake Holly and Dylan Cernero, Freddy Rodriguez and Flo Zamora and Tracie Beeson and Ernest Herrera as all of these players can sling a bag pretty darn good! As always there are a few teams who get hot and seem to come out of nowhere and there are also upsets. Open Doubles has the potential for major fireworks, you won't want to miss this event!

I look forward to seeing everyone and hopefully everyone has safe travels.

Laissez les bon temps rouler baby!!