Mike Dechaine
It was, at one time, one of the country's premier tournaments; the Eastern States 9-Ball Championships, but for a variety of reasons, it had ceased to exist. Until Tony Robles and his Predator Tour, in collaboration with Marc Dionne's New England 9-Ball Series, and Gloria Jean's Ride the Nine Tour revived the event, creating the 1st Annual Eastern States Pro and Amateur Championships, held over Labor Day weekend. The $3,000-added Pro event drew 30 entrants to Snooker's Billiards in Providence, RI, and was won by the room's house pro and sponsored player, Mike Dechaine, chalking up his seventh 2014 win (two stops on the Joss Tour, the New England 9-Ball Open XXVII, an Open event on the Tri-State Tour, the George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial, and in July, a challenge match victory (with Corey Deuel, against Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante) and the American Rotation Championship Series III Finals.
The $2,000-added Amateur event (separate report) drew 75 and was won by Eric Tang, who won three on the loss side and defeated hot seat occupant, Dennis Levesque.
"I'm always looking for ways to improve the (Predator) tour," said Predator Tour director Tony Robles, "and the Eastern States Championships used to be as well-known as the US Open. By working together (with Dionne and Gloria Jean), we were able to make people more aware of their tours.
"We had a blast," Robles added. "We love Snookers."
So, apparently, does Mike Dechaine. Sponsored by the room, Dechaine set out on an undefeated route through the field that eventually led him to a winners' side semifinal against Jeremy Sossei; the first of two against him. Joe Dupuis, a regular on both Dionne and Gloria Jean's tours, met up with Ray McNamara in the other semifinal. Dechaine got into the hot seat match with a 9-6 win over Sossei. Dupuis advanced to meet him with a 9-5 win over McNamara. Dechaine gave up only a single rack, advancing to the hot seat over Dupuis.
On the loss side, Jayson Shaw, who'd been defeated, double hill, by Sossei in a winners' side quarterfinal match, was working his way back to a re-match in the quarterfinals. He got by Tom D'Alfonso 9-3 and (picking up some speed) Nelson Oliveira 9-1, to draw McNamara. Sossei picked up Sean "Alaska" Morgan, who'd defeated Suad Kantarevic 9-2 and Michael Yednak 9-3. Sossei shut Morgan out, as Shaw eliminated McNamara 9-5.
Shaw had earned his re-match against Sossei, only to see the second verse be the same as the first. Sossei took the quarterfinal match 9-7 over Shaw, and then, in what Robles described as an "error-filled match," defeated Dupuis 9-3 to earn his own re-match against Dechaine.
In the extended race-to-13 format of the event, Sossei needed to reach 13 first, which would have extended the match to 15 games. He chalked up just a little shy of half that many, as Dechaine completed his undefeated run 13-6 to claim the newly-revived Eastern States Pro Championship title.
Tour Director Tony Robles thanked Steve and Regina Goulding, owners of Snookers, and their staff, as well as "(his) lovely wife, Gail," NYCGrind, NAPL, AZBTV, New England 9-Ball Series, Gloria Jean's Ride the NineTour, Poolonthenet.com, Gotham City Technologies, Ozone Billiards.com, Delta-13 racks and ("the Big Kahuna," said Robles) Predator Cues.
