In most double elimination pool tournaments, the winner usually ends up taking down the runner-up, twice; again, usually in the hot seat match and finals. It’s what happened at the 2018 MD State 10-Ball Bar Table Championships, when Johann Chua defeated Jesus Atencio twice to claim the title. This year, on the weekend of November 30-December 1, a veteran of the mid-Atlantic pool scene returned to the tables after something of a protracted absence and a few appearances on the Action Pool Tour over the past few years. Formerly known as Pooky Rasmeloungon, he has returned to the scene as Grai Rasmechai, maintaining the "Pooky" as a nickname. Pooky had to defeat an opponent, Brandon Shuff, twice this past weekend, but had to face him three times to claim the 2019 MD State 10-Ball Bar Table Championships. They and a number of competitors in this event have been familiar opponents over the years on (among other tours/events) the Falcon Cue 9-Ball Tour. To get a sense of just how familiar the winner and runner-up in this event have been as been as opponents over the years, it should be noted that they tied for 5th place in the Pennsylvania State 9-Ball Championships, 15 years ago. The $2,000-added event this past weekend drew 103 entrants to Brews & Cues on the Blvd. in Glen Burnie, MD.
Rasmechai got by Heath Willard, Joey Scarlato, James Aranas, Clint Clayton and Brandon Sluzalis to face Shuff for the first time in a winners’ side semifinal. Shuff had defeated Joe Chester, Rick Miller, Alvin Thomas, Shane Wolford, and Shaun Wilkie to reach Rasmechai. In the meantime, Dylan Spohr and Chuck Sampson squared off in the other one. By identical 7-5 scores, Sampson and Rasmechai sent Spohr and Shuff to the loss side. Rasmechai followed his victory over Shuff with a 7-3 victory over Sampson to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Shuff picked up Thomas Haas, who’d defeated Rick Molineiro 7-1 and survived a double hill fight against Rob Cord to reach him. Spohr drew Shaun Wilkie, who, following his defeat at the hands of Shuff in a winners’ side quarterfinal, had eliminated Scott Haas 7-2 and Bob Pacheco 7-5.
Anyone familiar with the mid-Atlantic region pool scene who happened to be in attendance or possibly watching the live stream of the event (courtesy of Billiard Sports Network) could see a potential rematch between Shuff and Wilkie looming. Shuff did his part, downing Haas 7-4. Spohr, though, spoiled the reunion by defeating Wilkie 7-1.
Shuff defeated Spohr 7-2 in those quarterfinals and then found himself locked up in a double hill fight versus Sampson in the semifinals. Shuff eventually prevailed to earn himself a spot in the finals.
Shuff walked into a second straight double hill fight in the opening set of the true double elimination final and won it to force a second set. Rasmechai got out in front in the second set, winning it eventually 7-4 to claim his first event title since (according to our records) he won the opening stop of the Seminole Tour's 2005 season.
On The Hill Productions will return to Brews & Cues in Glen Burnie on the weekend of February 8-9 for the Maryland State 8-Ball Bar Table Championships.
Event directors Loye Bolyard and Rick Scarlato, Jr. thanked Anthony and Stefanie Manning and their Brews & Cues staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors McDermott Cues, Lights Out Billiards Apparel, TAP Pool League-Chesapeake Bay Region, Billiards Sports Network, AZBilliards, Aramith Balls and Simonis Cloth.
Jeremy Sossei made it “three in a row” with a win at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY on May 4th.
Although Sossei ended up in the hot-seat, he didn’t get there without a challenge. Sossei started things off with a 9-4 win over Mike Salerno, but then things got a lot closer. Three of Sossei’s next four matches ended up within two racks with a hill-hill win over Mike Donnelly and 9-7 wins over Alex Osipov and then Jennifer Barretta for the hot-seat.
Barretta took the trip to the one loss side, where she found a red-hot Frankie Hernandez waiting. Hernandez had dropped a 9-8 decision to Alvin Thomas in his first match of the day, but then won six straight matches on the left side of the board. He would stretch that streak to seven matches, with a hill-hill win over Barretta in the semi-final match.
Hernandez was able to hand Sossei his first loss in the first set of the finals 9-6, but Sossei came back to win the second set 7-5 for his third straight Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop win.
The second chance tournament saw Elvis Rodriguez in the hot-seat after a 3-2 win over Donnelly, but it was Donnelly coming back with 3-1 and 3-0 wins over Rodriguez in the finals.
The annual Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament, held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour, has developed something of a reputation for crowning new winners every year. Until this most recent, 13th annual tournament, only one competitor, Shaun Wilkie, had ever won it twice. On the weekend of April 13-14, Kevin West became the second. Having won this event in 2017, and after skipping the following year, which saw Zoren James Aranas and Dennis Orcollo battle in the finals, West returned to give it another shot. He was sent to the loss side by Brian Bryant in a winners’ side semifinal and came back after winning three to challenge and defeat Bryant in the finals. The event drew 31 entrants to First Break Café in Sterling, VA.
West was challenged early in this one; his first match, a double hill affair that eventually sent Paul Helms to the loss side. West moved on to defeat former Bob Stock Memorial Champion Brandon Shuff and Scott Roberts, both 9-5, to draw Bryant in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Bryant had defeated Alvin Thomas 9-6, Alex Parker, 9-3 and Paul Swinson 9-4 to meet West. Scott Haas, in the meantime, defeated Ali Gee 9-1, Andrew Manning 9-7 and Graham Swinson 9-3 to draw Chris Bruner in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Bryant sent West west 9-7 and in the hot seat match, faced Haas, who’d defeated Bruner 9-7. Bryant claimed the hot seat 9-5 Haas, and waited on the return of West.
On the loss side, West drew Steve Fleming, the tour’s #4-ranked player on the tour coming into the event, who, after being defeated by Chris Bruner 9-6 in a winners’ side quarterfinal, had defeated Bruce Choyce 7-1 and Brandon Shuff 7-5 to meet West. Bruner picked up Scott Roberts, who’d survived a double hill battle versus Mark Nanashee and eliminated Kirill Rutman to face Bruner.
West and Roberts advanced to the quarterfinals; West, 7-3 over Fleming and Roberts, 7-4 over Bruner, denying West a second shot at him. West took the quarterfinal match 7-5 over Roberts and then, downed Haas 7-4 in the semifinals.
The tightly contested final match between West and Bryant featured the maximum number of games possible in a race-to-11; 21, also known as double hill, but recognized, as well, as a lot of games to play to decide a winner. West dropped the final 9-Ball to claim his second Bob Stocks Memorial title.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at First Break Café, as well as sponsors East Coast Landscaping, Inc., Cue Sports International (CSI), Chix Cabinets Direct, Grant Wylie (professional photographer), Brown’s Mechanical, LLC, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the APT, will take players “Back to the Beach,” at an event scheduled for the weekend of May 18-19 at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
As he did last year, the Philippines’ Zoren “James” Aranas took advantage of some geography to compete in a pair of events that he’s won over the past couple of weeks. Last year, he followed up on his victory at the Super Billiards Expo’s ProAm Bar Box Championships to compete and win the 2nd Annual Barry Behrman Memorial, downing its inaugural champion Brandon Shuff twice. This year, Aranas won the Super Billiards Expos’ Diamond Open 10-Ball Pro Players’ Championship on the last weekend in March, and this past weekend (April 6-7), went undefeated to defend his Barry Behrman Memorial title, downing separate opponents in the hot seat and finals. Already over halfway to earning what he made in 2018, his best earnings year to date, he’s on track to make 2019 another good year.
Aranas’ opponent in the finals, Reymart Lim, stepped to the tables at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA for the $1,500-added 3rd Annual Barry Behrman Memorial having already won two of the three events on the 2019 Action Pool Tour (APT). Lim lost his opening match (to Shaun Wilkie 9-7) in a preliminary round, designed to put 32 of the 37 registered players into a double elimination bracket. He then won nine on the loss side to meet Aranas in the finals. He didn’t get to meet Wilkie a second time, because as he was facing Tuan Chau in the first money round (9th/12th), the Behrman Memorial’s inaugural champion, Brandon Shuff, was busy meeting and defeating Wilkie 9-7.
Aranas’ path went through Liz Taylor 9-3, Shuff 9-6 and Chris Futrell 9-3 to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against RJ Carmona. His future hot seat opponent, JT Ringgold, winner of the APT’s Season Finale, got by Gage Turner 9-4, Bruce Reed 9-3 and Wilkie 9-4 to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal matchup against Nilbert Lim (no relation, but a close friend of Reymart Lim).
Aranas downed Carmona 9-2, while Ringgold and Lim locked up in a double hill fight that eventually allowed Ringgold to join Aranas for the hot seat match. Aranas claimed the hot seat 9-3 over Ringgold and waited on what turned out to be the return of Reymart Lim.
Meanwhile, over on the loss side, Reymart Lim was hard at work, advancing to a meetup with Nilbert Lim. Reymart opened his loss-side campaign with a 9-3 win over Rob Wilkins and followed it with victories over Paul Swinson 9-4, Gary Ornoff 9-6, Dave White, 9-1, Tuan Chau 9-3 and Chris Futrell 9-5 to draw Nilbert Lim. Carmona, in the meantime, picked up Brandon Shuff, who, following his defeat at the hands of Aranas, had shut out Mark Lacson and eliminated Alvin Thomas 9-2, Wilkie 9-7 and Greg Sabins 9-3.
Shuff and Reymart Lim advanced to the quarterfinals; Shuff 9-7 over Carmona and Reymart Lim 9-3 over Nilbert Lim. Reymart ended Shuff’s loss-side winning streak at five with a 9-7 victory in the quarterfinals and then ended JT Ringgold’s bid for a second shot at Aranas with a 9-2 win in the semifinals.
As it turned out, Reymart Lim got as close (in game count) to defeating Aranas as any of his previous opponents. Lim and Brandon Shuff both got as close as three games. Aranas completed his undefeated run 11-8 against Lim to capture his second straight Barry Behrman Memorial title.
In a Second Chance Tournament that drew eight entrants, Bernard Andico downed Jared Pitts twice 5-4 (hot seat) and 6-3 (finals). Graham Swinson finished third.
Qays Kolee, Room Owner Andrea Duvall and Bucky Souvanthong
Bucky Souvanthong came through a field of 46 players to win his first Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop of the new season at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard on October 27th – 28th.
Kolee’s final three matches before the hot-seat match couldn’t have been much closer as he defeated Nick Brucato 9-8, Hendrick Drost 9-7 and Spencer Auigelle 9-8.
Souvanthong took the hot-seat with a fairly routine 9-5 win. Kolee scored a more convincing 7-4 win over Auigbelle on the one loss side, but dropped the first set of the finals against Souvanthong 9-3.
Twenty one players came back to Billiards on the Boulevard on Sunday for the $500 added second chance tournament. Fred Gokey defeated Mike Sykes for the hot-seat 3-2, and then defeated Nick Coppola in the second set of the finals (after a 3-0 loss in the first set) 3-2 for the win.
Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Director Mike Zuglan is urging players interested in playing in the Turning Stone Classic XXXI to contact him as soon as possible. He has “a handful of spots left”, and the event will certainly fill up.
Larry Kressel (Photo courtesy of Action Pool Tour)
He's never really been out of the East Coast regional tour spotlight, since he first started showing up on AZBilliard payout lists 13 years ago. Larry Kressel was a regular on the Planet Pool, Great Southern Billiard, Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina, and more recently on the Action Pool and Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tours (among others), and even more recently, finished second in the Amateur event of the Super Billiards Expo last month. On the weekend of May 6-7, he chalked up his first win on the Action Pool Tour since 2013, coming from the loss side to meet and defeat hot seat occupant Alan Duty in the finals of an event that drew 32 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
The challenges to his bid for the victory increased steadily through the opening rounds of play as he gave up 2, 3, and 7 racks to Jeff Fulcher, Frances Fernandez and Alvin Thomas, respectively, before facing Duty for the first time in a winners' side semifinal. Jimmy Harris and Alex Travino squared off in the other winners' side semifinal. The increasing number of racks being chalked up against him caught up with Kressel in his first match against Duty. They battled to double hill before Duty advanced to the hot seat match against Harris, who'd sent Travino to the loss side 9-6.
Kressel moved over and picked up Dave Hunt, who, in the midst of a five-match loss side streak, had survived a double hill match against Shane Buchanan and logged a 7-1 victory over Chris Trinidad to reach him. Travino drew Sonny Nassif, who was also in the midst of a five-match, loss-side winning streak, that had included wins over Christopher Wilburn (who would finish this tournament at the top of the tour rankings) and Scott Pulley, both 7-3.
Kressel and Nassif advanced to the quarterfinals; Kressel 7-4 over Hunt, and Nassif, double hill over Travino. Kressel gave up only a single rack in the subsequent quarterfinal match against Nassif, and then locked up in a double hill fight against Harris in the semifinals that eventually sent Kressel to the finals for a re-match versus Duty.
By the time it was over, Kressel's opponents had chalked up every single digit of racks against him, except 5 and 8 (in order; 2, 3, 7, 9, 4, 1 & 6). Duty managed six against him in the final match that ended 11-6 and gave Kressel his first 2017 APT win.
Max Schlothauer, who's been on the pool scene for over a decade and was seen, most recently, placing third in the Super Billiards Expo's Amateur Championship, signed on for his first Action Pool Tour stop on the weekend of June 1-2, as the tour was celebrating its second year. He ended up defeating the tour's #1-ranked player, Brett Stottlemyer twice, and double dipped tour director Ozzy Reynolds in the finals to capture the event title. The event drew 42 entrants to VIP Billiards in Catonsville, MD.
Schlothauer and Reynolds met first in the battle for the hot seat. Schlothauer had begun his first-ever Action Pool Tour campaign by sending Stottlemyer to the loss side 9-6 in the opening round of play. He'd followed that with victories over Teresa Thomas, Alvin Thomas, and Dan Madden, at which point, he moved among the winners' side final four and matchup against Jimmy Varias.
Reynolds, in the meantime, who'd been awarded an opening round bye and survived a second round, double hill fight against Trevor Dentz, went on to defeat Rick Glasscock, Cheryl Sporleder and among the final four winners, met up with David Hennessy.
Schlothauer sent Varias west 9-3, as Reynolds advanced to the hot seat match to meet him with a 9-7 victory over Hennessy. In his second successful double hill match, Reynolds won the first of three over Schlothauer, and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
On the loss side, Stottlemyer was at work on the eight-match winning streak that would bring him all the way back to the semifinals. He won his fifth against Cheryl Sporleder 7-2, and his sixth against Dominic Noe 7-1, which set him up to face Varias. Hennessy met Dave Hunt, who was on a seven-match, loss-side streak of his own, surviving a double hill match against Shaun Wilkie and defeating Don Steele 7-2, to pick up Hennessy.
Hunt advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-1 victory over Hennessy, and was met by Stottlemyer, who'd eliminated Varias 7-5. Stottlemyer won his seventh on the loss side (denying Hunt his eighth) with a 7-5 victory, setting up a re-match from the first round, in the semifinals. Schlothauer won his second against Stottlemyer 7-3 and earned a second shot against Reynolds.
Schlothauer took the opening set of the finals 9-7. In the race-to-7 second set, he defeated Reynolds 7-2 to capture the event title.
The husband and wife team of Sean and Cheryl Sporleder took home some prize money from the event. Sean won the Second Chance tournament, defeating Curtis Branker in the finals, while Cheryl, who finished in the tie for ninth place, captured the $100, highest female finisher prize.
