Eddie Abraham came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to take down Shaun Wilkie in the finals of the Great Slates Bar Table 9-Ball Championships, held on the weekend of December 5-6. The $500-added event drew 85 entrants to Great Slates in Cambridge, MD.
Abraham built up a head of steam in this tournament that saw him win his opening matches by a rack or two, while later matches were chalked up, against arguably tougher opponents, with three or four rack differentials. He won his first three matches by an aggregate score of 21-13. He won his next two, against Brett Stottlemyer and Dan Madden, by an aggregate score of 14-5.
Abraham's victory over Madden was in a winners' side semifinal, which put him into the hot seat match against Shaun Wilkie. Wilkie was steady through his opening three (21-8), but then had to navigate his way through two straight double hill matches, first, against Matt Krah, and then, in a winners' side semifinal, against Kenny Rutman. Wilkie was three winning percentage points behind Abraham when he faced him in the hot seat match. Wilkie won it 7-5, although it proved to be his last match win of the weekend.
Ruttman and Madden moved over to the loss side to face two of the mid-Atlantic region's toughest competitors; Brett Stottlemyer and former Mosconi Cup team member, Brandon Shuff. Stottlemyer had defeated Adam Kielar 7-3 and R.J. Carmona 7-4 to draw Rutman. Shuff had gotten by FrEd Scott 7-5 and Matt Krah 7-1 to pick up Madden.
Stottlemyer advanced to the quarterfinals 7-4 over Carmona. Shuff joined him with a 7-1 victory over Krah. Shuff ended up in fourth place on the heels of Stottlemyer's 7-5 victory in those quarterfinals. Abraham downed Stottlemyer by the same score in the semifinals.
Abraham moved back for a second shot at Wilkie in the hot seat. Abraham prevailed in the single set, race-to-9 final match to secure the event title.
