_{A long quest for the Bonzai team from Oklahoma City, Okla. finally came to an end on Aug. 7 ^th}, as it earned the $500,000 Camel 8-Ball National Team Championship title and 1^st Place prize of $25,000. With hundreds of boisterous spectators roaring in the crowd, the six American Poolplayers Association (APA) team members celebrated once team captain Andy Sheen pocketed the winning 8-ball and advanced to the top of the Open Division field, which consisted of 494 nationally qualified teams.

Bonzai, which battled Uncle Waldo's of South Daytona, Fla. in the 1,397^th and final match of the world's largest amateur pool tournament, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the race to three matches after David Shaw won the opening match. Mike Merchant lost a tight second match, but John Chapman set the stage for Sheen to bring it all home with a victory in match No. 3. Sheen, a skill level 6, bested the Waldo's Al Ottman, a skill level 5, in the final match.

"This type of tournament is not just about the money," Sheen said. "We were so happy just to make it to Las Vegas, we had no idea this could actually happen to us."

John Gureckis, Team Captain of Uncle Waldo's said, "We're really good safety players and I think we've got a really good team here. We played our best and had a blast doing it." Uncle Waldo's earned $15,000, trophies and commemorative champagne for its performance.

   The two 3^rd Place teams, Eliminators (Gretna, La.) and Bounty Hunters (Kirksville, Mo.), each took home $7,500 in cash, a trophy, individual plaques and champagne. The Wild Bunch (Knoxville, Tenn.), Focuspocus (Evansville, Ind.) and Magnificent 7 (Olathe, Kansas) each took home $5,075 in cash, along with trophies and plaques. The 65 ^th through 9^th Place finishers earned between $1,500 and $3,000 and all Open Division teams won a minimum of $350.