The American Billiard Club has just held it's fourth National Championship and Mike Dechaine is our first repeat Champion. Mike sponsored by Snookers Providence RI and OB Cues earned another $3,000 paycheck at Q Masters the Saturday Sunday prior to the US Open's Monday start. Mike dominated throughout the weekend and Sunday's finals were no exception. Mike got the jump on Joe Dupuis with a 55-5 lead, held that lead and finished strong defending his title by the score of 140-54!
Joe Dupuis playing out of Stix & Stones Abbington MA who had won last year's inaugural American Rotation title in VA earned an extra $2,000 while competing in his 3rd US Open; his second via the American Billiard Club qualifying system. Through his impressive play over the past year with the American Billiard Club Joe was able to obtain his first cue sponsor and what good way to start with none other than Steve Lomax Custom Cues. Steve has got to know Joe while watching him compete in a couple of American Rotation finals and some streamed events where Joe was tearing it up. For those of you that don't know Steve Lomax, he is a good player himself and really enjoys the fast and loose natural style player, we're pretty sure Joe fits that model and we're hoping the two enjoy a nice long term relationship.
Scott Johnson and his wife Amy also made the trip from Gate City Billiards NC yet again. Scott is the only player to have qualified for all four national championships and it’s always a pleasure to have him and Amy at the finals. Scott struggled a bit on Saturday and for just the second time Scott did not make the final four semis. We believe the players at Gate City are now putting a bounty on Scott's head for Series 5!
One of the final 4 contestants on Sunday was Aaron Remijio who qualified via Hard Times Bell Flower CA which is one of the more historic rooms in the country. Aaron is definitely Series 4 poster person as he is; a college student, working man, hard practicing, aspiring pool player who was attending his very first US Open. To make this event even more special was not only did the ABC help this young man get to his first US Open with the $1,400 he earned but Aaron made this special trip with his Mom and his girlfriend Geraldine! This is what we're talking about, this is a taste of what we want for our future players, play, compete and qualify locally and we'll make it financially sensible for you to compete nationally.
Completing our final four on Sunday and playing out of Amazin Billiards Malden Ma was Suad Kantarevic. Suad tied for 3rd 4th but may also be tied for poster person with Aaron for this event as I witnessed a true pool vacation for this 50+ hour working/family man. Suad started his pool vacation early Thursday with at least a 12 hr day in the backroom of Q Masters. Friday saw a 14hr day and Saturday he played six 100 point games of rotation over 9hrs, followed that by another late night in the back room mixing it up with some of the best players in the world! These 3 days may have taken a toll on Suad as Sunday's performance definitely did not match Saturday’s strong performance. Being eliminated on Sunday was only a bump in the road as neither the backroom at Q Masters or Mondays first round draw of Earl Strickland were very far away for Suad.
All in all the Series 4 finals was a blast for everyone and it was also a nice table setter for the week’s main attraction of the 39th U.S. Open. The American Billiard Club wishes to thank Barry Behrman and his right hand girl Roberta for allowing us to hold our fourth national championship at such a historic venue. We would also like to thank the entire staff of Q Masters for making us feel so welcomed. Most of the staff was working 12hr shifts but none of them were without smiles and top notch service! We hope to qualify 32 players for next years American Rotation Championship at the US Open!
To help our sport, our industry, current and future players get your local club on board with the ABC Qualifying Series simply by uniting 10 local pool lovers, at 50 united clubs we’ll have a real product.
Visitwww.AmericanBilliardClub.com
www.facebook.com/AmericanBilliardClubLeague or
contact Joe Tucker directly at JTtenball@gmail.com.
This is a simple but strong step for our entire industry.
12 players from around the country qualified for the Series III Finals which was held in conjunction with this year’s BCAPL Nationals at the Rio in Las Vegas.
Two round robin groups of 6 players each had everyone playing five 120 point matches on the first two days of the event. Two players from each group would emerge to make the final four single elimination stage. All 12 players were in the money as soon as they landed in Vegas.
Semi finals and finals matches were races to 140 points. Up on table 2 in the pro arena was Scott Johnson of Gate City Billiards NC who is the only player to have made it to all 3 of our National Championships vs Professional player Mike Dechaine playing in his 2nd Championship. On the streaming table we had defending Champ Jerry Calderone facing Matt Tetrault who was on his first trip to our nationals. Sitting in between both tables was none other than the Man, the Magician, Efren Reyes, who had recently played two games of American Rotation himself with Daniel Busch of Pov Pool at Hard Times Bellflower. We were very honored to have him sweating it in the front row. If the streaming table didn't bring some extra heat for the players, having Efren as a spectator may have done it as neither Matt or Jerry took control of the match as opportunities to do so arose. This forced the match into the last rack with Jerry advancing and coming one step closer to becoming our first repeat Champion. On table 2 Mike Dechaine had defeatEd Scott Johnson leaving Scott tied for 3rd 4th and setting up what was sure to be a great final match.
The finals did not disappoint. Jerry is a working family man from South Florida that quite often flies under the radar so Mike was a pretty big favorite in many eyes. Jerry came out quick putting some pressure on Mike by taking leads of 29-11 and 51-29. Mike being the young but experienced player he is took a timely break to refocus in an effort to tighten the match, a big lead in AR can be tough to overcome. We think it worked as Mike scored a complete 20 point break and run making the score 51-49 in favor of Jerry. From there both players held serve fairly well on their breaks or struck back when needing to do so; 16-4 Jerry, 15-5 Mike, Mike breaks serve with a 13-7 and Jerry breaks back with a 14-6 as we hit 101 Mike to 99 Jerry. The finals to 140 points came down to a score of 121 for Dechaine and 119 Calderone with Dechaine breaking. Jerry would need to steal 2 points off of Mike's break to ensure one more rack and an opportunity to run his rack for a 2nd National title. Mike broke them nicely and started the rack with ball in hand, ran all the way down to a 12-13 combo, he sized up the shot carefully knowing that Jerry needed just one of these 2 point balls to extend the match. He made the combo but position on the 12 escaped him and he was forced to place safe with just the 12 14 & 15 remaining on the table. Jerry later stated that he had two shot choices; a return end to end safety that would allow Mike to see the 12 ball or a rail first kick that would leave Mike hooked. He opted for the kick safe but didn't get deep enough behind the 12 ball which sent both the 12 and cue ball out towards center table leaving Mike the opportunity to run the three remaining balls to become the 3rd American Rotation Nation Champion! Final score 140-119 Mike Dechaine over Jerry Calderone.
The American Billiard Club wishes to thank all the clubs and players in America and Canada that helped make this another successful Championship. Our mission is to unite some of our best billiard clubs with some of our best players to form one self sustaining tour for our sport, our industry and our players. We also aim to reduce player expenses significantly by having players earn their way to short, sweet and paid for national events, they're in the money before they ever hit a ball at our nationals.
Series IV and V Nationals will be held in VA just prior to the U.S. Open and in conjunction with the 2015 Derby City Classic. We urge all pool lovers of all playing levels to become part of the American Billiard Club simply by uniting 10 local players and sending one of them to our next Championship.
