The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour drew a field of thirty six players to Hippos House of Billiards in Yorkville, NY over the weekend of November 8th and 9th for a $1500 added event.
As soon as Dennis Hatch walked in the door of the room, all players knew that he would be the man to beat in this tournament. And doing that proved to be an impossible task in this event.
Hatch took advantage of a little luck in the match for the hot-seat as his opponent Greg Antonakos missed a 7-ball while running out at 8-8 and allowed Hatch back to the table to pocket the last three balls for the win.
Antonakos went to the left side of the board and found Dave Grau waiting. Grau has lost to Tim Parisian early on Saturday, but had been knocking them dead on the one loss side ever since then. Antonakos was Grau's next victim after a 9-7 match.
All of the momentum that Grau had going for him on his way to the finals was quickly snuffed out as Hatch scored a quick 9-3 win for 4th Joss Tour win of the year.
Hatch earned $1250, while Grad took home $880 for second.
All was not festive on this weekend as Hippos is owned by the Conte family and the recent loss of Al Conte was on everyone's mind. Mike Zuglan spoke about Al, and all players and fans took a moment of silence to remember their friend. It was announced at the event that the event will become a memorial for Al, starting next year.
The Joss Tour will be at the newly remodeled Golden Cue Billiards in Albany, NY next weekend. A lot of money has gone into Golden Cue's remodelling, and it is sure to be a great event.
Players are asked to remember that the Turning Stone Classic XII is getting closer and closer. This event fills up every year, so players are urged to get their entries into Mike now.
