TJ’s Classic Billiards owner Steve Reynolds, Alex Osipov, Dave Hall and GM Howard Fogg Jr.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off their 2022/2023 season with The Maine Event XIV at TJ’s Classic Billiards in Waterville, Maine on September 17th – 18th, and crowned a first time tour stop winner in local favorite Dave Hall.
Hall, from nearby Portland Maine, is one of the top players in the area and always does well when the Joss Tour comes to town. With all of that success though, he still had yet to win a tour stop. Hall kicked the weekend off with a hill-hill win over Doug Brown, and then got comfortable with wins over Mike Perry (9-1), Cody Porter (9-4) and Ray McNamara (9-5) to finish undefeated for the day.
Sunday kicked off with Hall taking on Alex Osipov for the hot-seat. In another hill-hill thriller, Osipov sent Hall to the left side of the board 9-8.
Ray McNamara was waiting for Hall on the one the loss side but was still unable to win more than five racks in their rematch, and lost the semi-final match to Hall 7-5. That set up Hall and Osipov for a rematch in the finals.
Being a true double elimination tournament, Hall would have to beat Osipov twice if he wanted to win his first Joss Tour title, and he did just that. Hall won the first set 9-7 and then the second set 7-5 for the tournament win.
Sunday’s second chance event saw Jeff Mosimann hold off an attempt by Doug Brown to duplicate Hall’s double dip. Mosimann took the hot-seat with a 3-0 win over John Francis. Brown won the first set of the final match 3-1, but dropped the second set 3-2 for Mosimann’s victory.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action this weekend with stop 2 of the 2022/2023 season at Yale Billiards in Wallingford, Ct.
As Tyler Dunbar entered the Bangor Bash, Stop #3 on the New England 9-Ball Series’ 2019-2020 tour, held on the weekend of October 12-13, he was looking to collect what he hoped would be his third cash prize in a regional tour event. According to our records, he’d collected his first cash prize in January, when he finished in the tie for 9th place at the 10th stop on the NE 9-Ball Series’ 2018-2019 season. Two months later, he finished third at a Joss NE Tour stop in Portland, ME. Working from the lower (Fargo Rate) bracket, Dunbar went undefeated through to the hot seat, before giving up the opening set of a true double elimination final to Jeff Yerxa. Dunbar won the second set to claim his third cash prize as he won his first major title. The $2,000-added event drew 43 entrants to Rack City in Bangor, ME.
Following lower bracket victories over Becca Ellis, Kasandra Lam, Kyle King and Ben White by an aggregate game score of 26-9, Dunbar arrived at a winners’ side semifinal against Phil Walton. Cody Porter, in the meantime, who’d finished 7th in the Joss NE Tour stop in which Dunbar had finished third and like Dunbar, was looking for his third cash win in a regional tournament, faced Ross Webster in the other one. Webster had just sent Jeff Yerxa to the loss side 7-4.
Dunbar advanced to the hot seat match with a shutout over Walton. Porter and Webster battled to double hill before Porter prevailed to join Dunbar. With the higher-ratEd Porter (583) racing to 8, Dunbar (481) claimed the hot seat 5-3.
Over on the loss side, Yerxa opened his run to the finals with a 6-2 victory over Joash Neault and followed with a 6-3 win over Michael Levitt, to draw Webster, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Walton drew a rematch versus Jason Seavey, whom he’d sent to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal and who’d won two straight double hill matches against Mark Pulsifer and Ben White to earn the rematch.
Yerxa advanced to the quarterfinals 6-4 over Webster. He was joined by Seavey, who’d wreaked his rematch vengeance on Walton 5-2.
Yerxa then chalked up two straight, double hill wins (7-4) against Seavey in the quarterfinals and Porter in the semifinals (both racing to 5) for a shot at Dunbar in the hot seat. With a 119-point differential in their Fargo Rates, Dunbar (481) started the first set of the true double elimination final against Yerxa (600) with four on the wire in a race to 9. Dunbar added three to that four, but Yerxa chalked up the nine he needed to claim the first set.
The race was reduced in the second set, with Dunbar awarded three on the wire in a race to seven. Dunbar chalked up the four racks he needed to claim the event title, while allowing Yerxa only two racks in his quest for 7.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Rack City, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, BCA Pool League, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (#4), scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 19, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
(l to r): Kyle Pepin, Tyler Boudreau & Kevin Bauccio
Pepin wins 11 on the loss side to meet him in the finals
Tyler Boudreau picked the 2019 New England 9-Ball Series Tour Championships to chalk up his first singles win on the tour. On any tour, according to our records. He and Tom D’Alfonso shared first-place honors during the tour’s 20th stop in May, a partners tournament and placed 4th in another partners event in August. Boudreau finished in 3rd place, behind Cullen Ryan and Lukas Fracasso-Verner at the tour’s Players’ Championship in March. Boudreau finished in 9th place in what was his only cash-earning appearance on the 2018 tour. He went undefeated at the $10,000-added event that drew 112 entrants to Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI on the weekend of September 7-8.
Boudreau, who, Fargo rated at 445, was the lowest ranked competitor among the event’s final 12, faced a total of eight opponents, with an average Fargo Rate of 522 (+). He faced a lower Fargo rated player only once; Don Roy (435) in the opening round of play. He faced separate much higher-rated opponents in the hot seat and finals – Kevin Bauccio (607) and Kyle Pepin (655).
Boudreau got by Don Roy, Josh Edmonds, James Stonkus, Josh Staples and Casey Olivieri to draw Justin Myers in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Kevin Bauccio, in the meantime, after victories over Rick Gatta, Tom D’Alfonso, Ricardo Diaz, Joe Dupuis (last year’s Tour Champion), and Ross Webster faced Cody Porter in the other winners’ side semifinal. Kyle Pepin, who’d opened his campaign with a 7-3 win over Rich Senna, fell to Mike Nicoloro 6-4 I the second round and embarked on an 11-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him into the finals against Boudreau.
In a straight-up race to 7, Bauccio defeatEd Porter 7-4. He was joined in the battle for the hot seat by Boudreau, who, in a straight-up race to 6, had defeated Myers 6-3. With Bauccio racing to 9 in the hot seat match, Boudreau gave up only three racks to him and claimed the hot seat 4-3.
Over on the loss side, Pepin was working his way through the field. He was six matches into his winning streak that had included two double hill wins (over Tom D’Alfonso and Chad Bazinet) when he ran into his third double hill win (over Gene Hunt) and then, eliminated Lukas Fracasso-Verner 6-4 to draw Cody Porter. Justin Myers picked up James Stonkus, who’d eliminated Casey Olivieri 5-2 and Josh Caesar 5-3.
Pepin advanced to the quarterfinals, chalking up his fourth double hill win over Porter. He was joined by Myers, who’d defeated Stonkus 5-2.
Pepin’s fifth and final double hill win of 11 loss-side matches came in those quarterfinals as he eliminated Myers. He then defeated Bauccio 7-4 for a shot at Boudreau in the hot seat.
With Pepin racing to 10, Boudreau completed his undefeated run with a first set 4-4 victory that earned him his first major regional tour win.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Bo’s Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, BCA Pool League, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The 2019-2020 season of the New England 9-Ball Series (Stop #1) will commence on Sunday, Sept. 22 and will be hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
