Bud Robideau and Levie Lampaan
In what appears to be a never-ending search for the best regional tournament format to draw the most pool players to an event, tournament directors have attempted a number of them; from separating brackets into higher and lower Fargo-rated (or other rating system) competitors who only play against each other late in a tournament, to ‘modified double-elimination’ tournaments, which create a ‘second phase,’ single-elimination bracket comprised of upper and lower-rated players who meet for a few rounds at the end (accomplishing, more or less, the same thing), to events that ignore any kind of separation and allow player handicaps to provide the lower-ranked players an opportunity to be competitive throughout a given event, which is probably the ‘oldest’ idea of the bunch.
Hard to know, because of insufficient data on the subject, but the notion that instead of trying to combine the different levels of play into a single event, there are some indications that the best solution is two events, one each for the two skill levels that one is hoping to draw. Two winners, at different skill levels, instead of one, which usually ends up being among the higher-ranked competitors. It has a way of reducing the field size of both events, but in the end, for example, 18 and 18 is 36, the larger number being, presumably, the number you might have drawn in any split-bracket tournament and with two, you end up with two ‘happy campers’ (winners) instead of one, and two groups of competitors feeling as though they came into and eventually out of a tournament having experienced at least a ‘better’ of chance of winning than they might have otherwise.
This past weekend (Sat. Mar. 2), the single and combined example numbers (18 & 36) came together for what amounted to two stops on the Garden State Pool Tour, hosted by Shooters Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ. A $100-added event (18 entrants) featured competitors with a Fargo-rated skill level of between 660 and 511, while the other drew its 18 entrants to a $120-added event for Fargo-rated skill levels of 510 and lower.
The two ‘happy campers’ were Levie Lampaan in the upper bracket event and Joseph Patti in the lower bracket. Lampaan went undefeated, while Patti came back from a first-set loss in a true double-elimination final to win the second set and claim that event title.
We’ll go with the undefeated Lampaan’s trip first. He got through his first two matches by giving up just a single rack each to Anthony Torre and Glenn Andaya before Juan Pena chalked up three against him, sending him to a winners’ side semifinal against Gregory Meehan. In the meantime, Bud Robideau, the eventual runner-up, was awarded an opening-round bye before downing Chris Hanold (1) and surviving a double-hill match against Rachel Lang, setting him up for a winners’ side semifinal against Clint Pires.
Robideau and Pires battled to double hill before Robideau advanced to the hot seat match. Lampaan defeated Meehan 8-2 to join him. Lampaan gave up a single rack to Robideau and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Aidan Wagner showed up to face Pires after winning four in a row, including two double-hill wins. Meehan picked up Lang, who’d followed her loss to Robideau with loss-side wins over Luis Jimenez (1) and Naldo Troncoso (3).
It was Wagner meeting up with Meehan in the quarterfinals, once Wagner had eliminated Pires 6-3 and Meehan downed Lang 5-1. Wagner made it six in a row with a 7-3 win over Meehan, but had his streak stopped by Robideau in the semifinals 6-3. Lampaan completed his undefeated run with a single-set 7-2 win in the finals.
Justin Chang and Joseph Patti
Patti takes two out of three over Chang to claim the lower bracket title
Joseph Patti had to win two, double-hill matches against two women (Vicki Moore and Michelle Brotons), with a 5-2 win over Mike Strassberg in the middle to get into the hot seat match of the lower bracket event. Justin Chang had to win two double-hill matches, as well, right at the start vs. Jason Hugh Sam and Jason Nicholson before downing Marc Lamberti in an almost-double-hill 5-3 win over Marc Lamberti in a winners’ side semifinal to face Patti. Patti won his first of their three matches 5-3 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Lamberti picked up Fernando Ruiz, who’d lost his opening match and won four in a row to reach him, including recent wins over Strassberg 5-3 and Allison Honeymar, double hill. Brotons drew Nicholson, who’d followed his loss to Justin Chang with victories over Vincent Chang (no relation) 5-3 and Vicki Moore 5-1.
Ruiz shut out Lamberti, as Nicholson eliminated Brotons 5-2. Nicholson took the quarterfinal match 5-3 over Ruiz and then lost 5-3 to Chang in the semifinals. Chang then took the opening set of the double-elimination final, double hill. Patti re-established his ‘mojo’ in the second set, giving up just a single rack to Chang and claiming the lower bracket event title.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked Kris Kemp and her Shooters Family Billiards staff for their hospitality, especially given the fact that they responded to a last-minute location change in hosting the event. Fitzpatrick also thanked sponsors Brutal, Billiard Engineering, JFlowers Cues & Cases, In The Box, Off the Rail apparel, John Bender Custom Cues, Outsville, Kamui Tips, and World Beaters apparel.
A Garden State Pool Tour, previously scheduled for the weekend of March 23-24, was cancelled because of a double-booking at the planned location. The next stop on the tour, now scheduled for the weekend of April 6-7, will be a 660 and lower Fargo 8-ball event, hosted by Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ.
0 comments