Shane Connors, Dan Hewitt, Ron Casanzio and Frank Connors
Danny Hewitt went undefeated through a field of forty eight players to capture the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's third stop of the season at Premium Billiards in Syracuse, NY on October 26th – 27th.
Hewitt took the hot-seat in a lopsided 9-3 victory over Ron Casanzio, but after a 9-4 match against Chance Chin, Casanzio was right back in the finals looking for another shot against Hewitt.
That rematch would not go much better for Casanzio, with Hewitt running away with a 9-4 victory for first place and $1000 in prize money.
The second chance event on Sunday drew nineteen players and witnessed another undefeated run through the field, this time at the cue of Spencer Auigbelle.
Auigbelle was relatively untested in this one, never allowing an opponent to reach the hill against him. A 3-0 hot-seat victory over Dave Dimeo was followed by a 3-1 win over Travis Salvetti in the finals.
Paul Enslin, Room Owner Tim Berlin and Ron Casanzio
Were it not for the intervention of one Nelson Oliveira, the finals of Stop # 2 on the 2013-2014 Joss Northeast Tour, held on the weekend of October 12-13, would have been a repeat of Stop #10 on the 2012-2013 tour back in March, pitting Ron Casanzio against Jason Michas. Casanzio defeated Michas in that earlier matchup, and defeated him in a winners' side semifinal in this event. Casanzio had to get by Paul Enslin twice to capture this event title. The $1,500-added main event drew 51 entrants to Sharpshooter's Billiards & Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY, while a Second Chance event, with an $800 total prize fund and won Marko Clarke, drew 15.
As Casanzio was busy sending Michas west 9-2 in one of the winners' side semifinals, Enslin was at work against Sourith Thammavong in the other. Enslin sent Thammavong after Michas 9-6 to meet up with Casanzio in the hot seat match. Over 21 games in their two meetings, Casanzio gave up only three racks to Enslin; one of them in their first meeting, which left Casanzio in the hot seat.
Michas moved over and met up with Phil Davis, who'd gotten by Dave Shlemperis and Greg Antonakos, both 9-5. Thammavong ran into Oliveira, who, after being defeated by Michas among the winners' side final eight, had defeated Chance Chin 9-1 and Matt Tetreault 9-6. A quarterfinal re-match was set up when Oliveira shut out Thammavong and Michas downed Davis 9-7.
Oliveira ended Michas' hopes for a finals re-match against Casanzio with a 9-6 win in the quarterfinals, and had his own bid foiled by Enslin, 9-6 in the semifinals. Casanzio completed his undefeated run with a 9-2 victory in the opening set of the true double elimination final.
Marko Clarke's victory in the Second Chance tournament went through Aaron Greenwood twice. He shut him out in the hot seat match. Greenwood came back from a 3-1 victory over Demian Provost in the semifinals and battled Clarke to double hill before Clarke prevailed to finish an undefeated day.
Stop # 3 on the Joss Northeast Tour, a $1,500-added event with a $500-added Second Chance tournament, is scheduled for October 26-27 at Premium Billiards in Syracuse, NY.
Angelo Innes scored his first ever Joss NE 9-Ball Tour victory over the weekend of April 14th and 15th at the NE 9-Ball Open XXV held at the Golden Cue in Albany, NY.
Innes took the direct route through the field of 44 other players and was sitting in the hot-seat undefeated after a close 9-7 win over Chance Chin in the winners side finals.
Chin then dropped a 9-5 match to Jeremy Sossei on the one loss side, and was forced to settle for third place.
Sossei had been sent to the left side on Saturday by tour director Mike Zuglan, and had battled back all day Sunday to earn his place in the finals against Innes. On paper, Sossei may have been the match favorite, and he did reach the hill first in the first set of the finals. Innes quickly joined Sossei on the hill at 8-8 and broke the rack for the case game. In what could have been a perfect Hollywood ending, Innes made a ball and saw a 1-9 carom line up for him. One shot later, Innes had earned his first Joss tour victory.
Innes took home $1000 for first, while Sossei pocketed $730 for second.
The second chance event on Sunday drew 22 players fighting it out for $940 in prize money.
Cote then came back strong and scored a 3-0 win over Bud Robideau to earn another shot at Rozonewski in the finals.
Cote kept his strong play going and defeated Rozonewski 3-0 in the first set of the finals, but fell short as Rozonewski won the final set 3-1.
Rozonewski earned $340 for first and Cote settled for $220 in second place prize money.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will take the rest of April and May off and be back in action June 9th-10th at Snookers in Providence, RI. After that event, the tour will head to Verona New York for the Turning Stone Classic XIX. Mike Zuglan still urges all players to get their entries for the Turning Stone event as it is filling fast. Players can call Zuglan at 518-356-7163.
Jeremy Sossei helped the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kick off 2012 with an undefeated (and untested) run through a field of 56 other players at Fast Eddie’s Billiards Cafe in New Milford, Ct.
Sossei raced through play on both January 7th and 8th without allowing any opponents to even get close to him. Chance Chin and Damian Provost both won five games before Sossei got to nine and that was the closest an opponent would get to him.
Sossei took the hot-seat with a 9-4 win over Vinny Zuniga, a player who had been away from the tour for a few years, by the score of 9-4. After Zuniga eliminated Nick Conner 9-5, the rematch between Sossei and Zuniga was on. The rematch would go just as quickly as the hot-seat match though, was Sossei won 9-2 to capture first place.
Sossei pocketed $1100 for first place, while Zuniga settled for $800 in second place prize money. The second place finish was the best finish Zuniga has turned in on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour.
The second chance event on Sunday drew twelve players, and Steve Mack was the winner with an undefeated run through the field that included a 3-1 win over Brent Boemmels in the finals.
Players are reminded that the next Joss NE 9-Ball tour event will not be at Diamond 8 as had originally been scheduled. That stop has been cancelled and the next stop will instead be at Sharp Shooters Billiards (Formerly Main Street Billiards) in Amsterdam NY on February 18th and 19th.
