Sean Zeng has made a habit of cashing in one Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop per year. He finished in 7th place at Eastridge Billiards in 2018, 2nd in the second chance tournament at Diamond Billiards in 2019 and 4th at Sharpshooters early last year. Each finish was progressively better each year as far as prize money, but if you are only going to cash in one tour stop a year, you may as well shoot for the moon. He hit the moon at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at Brickhouse Billiards in Syracuse, NY on June 26th and 27th.
Zeng was one of the forty eight players who competed in this, the second “post covid” stop on the tour. He kicked things off with a win over Jordan Turner and then turned in back to back hill-hill wins over Mike Lally and Bucky Souvanthong. A must less stressful 9-4 win over Tony Antone sent Zeng into Sunday play undefeated.
Zeng kept up his winning ways on Sunday with a 9-4 win over Rohit Aggarwal. On the opposite side of the board, Len Gianfrate had a little more of a problem with Marko Clarke, but won the match 9-7. Zeng would then beat Gianfrate by that same 9-7 scoreline.
On the one loss side, two early tournament favorites were heading towards a showdown. Both Ron Casanzio and Souvanthong had lost their third round matches on Saturday. Souvanthong to Zeng and Casanzio to Dave Grau in a 9-1 match he would likely prefer to forget.
Casanzio and Souvanthong both had five straight match wins on the left side of the board, and faced off against each other for third place. As expected, that match was a close one, that went to Casanzio 7-6. Casanzio would have to settle for second place though, as he then lost to Gianfrate in the semi-final match 7-5.
The rematch between Zeng and Gianfrate only went one set, with Zeng scoring another 9-7 win for his first Joss NE 9-Ball Tour victory.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw nineteen players looking for their share of $500 in added prize money. The winner’s side came down to Dan Sharlow and Dave Ricci, with Ricci taking the hot-seat 3-1. After Sharlow eliminated Jim Kearney on the one loss side, he came back and avenged his earlier loss with a 3-1 win over Ricci in the first set of the finals. The second set went to Ricci with another 3-1 scoreline for first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will take the 4th of July weekend off, and get back to their next event at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY on July 10th – 11th.
Bucky Souvanthong, Brickhouse Billiards Co Owner Brad Rees and Ron Casanzio
The talk on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour this season has been the six tournament winning streak put together by Jeremy Sossei. Over the October 26th – 27th weekend at Brick House Billiards in Syracuse NY, Bucky Souvanthong started building a winning streak of his own.
Souvanthong had three lopsided Saturday wins over Gary Hinkley (9-3), Eric Hamel (9-4) and Hendrik Drost (9-5). Things got tougher on Sunday morning though, as Souvanthong went to hill-hill before sending Ron Casanzio to the one loss side. Next up for Souvanthong was Jay Goyer in the hot-seat match. That match went to Souvanthong 9-6.
After wins over Tony Antone, Dave Ricci and Goyer, Ron Casanzio would be the one to come out of the one loss side to challenge Souvanthong in the finals. Looking back on Souvanthong and Casanzio’s hill-hill match earlier, it was no surprise that the rematch would be another close one. The players were tied at 7-7 when Souvanthong took the hill at 8-7 and then proceeded to make the 9-ball on the break in rack sixteen, for the 9-7 win.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester, NY on November 2nd and 3rd for their next stop. Players who are interested in playing in January’s Turning Stone Classic XXXIII are urged to contact Mike Zuglan and get their entry fees in.
Spencer Auigbelle, Qais Kolee, Nick Brucato & Kyle Bova
Possibly forgoing the inevitable march of procrastinators searching for gifts three days before Christmas, a hearty crew of 28 entrants braved near-freezing temperatures in Rochester, NY to attend the Western New York Pool Tour’s 6th Annual Jingle Grind Christmas Classic, hosted by Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester. At the end of the evening, Qais Kolee, sitting in the hot seat, and Kyle Bova, who’d won five on the loss side to get a shot at him, decided against a final match and split $1,650 in prize money, a decent ‘Merry Christmas’ money for the both of them.
Kolee had chalked up three straight 6-3 wins over Luis Bani, Jake Miosi and Geoff Montgomery to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Brad Wesley. Spencer Augbelle, in the meantime, had downed Dave Ricci 6-4, and then survived two straight double hill matches, sending Mark Hadley and Kyle Bova to the loss side. Bova, like Jacob Marley, would return to haunt Augbelle in the semifinals, but for the moment, Augbelle advanced to face Jeremiah Imburgia in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Kolee got into the hot seat match with a 6-4 victory over Wesley, and met up with Auigbelle, who’d defeated Imburgia 6-2. Kolee claimed the hot seat and his last victory of the day, 6-4.
On the loss side, Wesley picked up Bova, who, following his defeat at the hands of Augbelle, had shut out Nick Cappolla and given up four to Adam Smith. Imburgia drew tour director Nick Brucato, who never did get a chance for a re-match against Wesley, who’d sent him over, but was working on a modest, three-match, loss-side winning streak that included recent wins over Jerry Sullivan 6-3 and Geoff Montgomery 6-4.
Brucato’s hopes for a re-match were spoiled by Bova, who shut Wesley out. Brucato joined him in the quarterfinals with a 6-2 win over Imburgia. Bova ended Brucato’s day (competing) with a 6-4 quarterfinal win.
Bova and Augbelle’s semifinal re-match proved to be the last match of the event. Bova won it 6-4, and as the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, claimed the event title. The decision to split the final two cash prizes was made, and everybody went home to their respective holiday revels.
Dave Driedel has competed on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour as far back as our records go (2000) and has a 5th place finish in 2014 as his best finish. He outdid himself by a large margin over the February 24th – 25th weekend with his first tour stop win at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester NY.
Dreidel was looking good on Saturday with three straight wins to stay on the right side of the board. He defeated Nabil Lazouzi 9-6 to get his tourney started, and then scored lopsided wins over Tony Antone and Dave Ricci (9-3 and 9-1).
Sunday play kicked off for Dreidel with a close 9-7 win over tour newcomer Joe Mayo, while Ron Casanzio was sending Spencer Auigbelle to the one loss side on the other half of the board. That left Casanzio and Dreidel to fight it out for the hot-seat, where Dreidel scored another 9-7 win.
Waiting on the one loss side for Casanzio was Bucky Souvanthong. Bucky had lost a hill-hill match to Casanzio early Saturday but then forged a six-match winning streak to meet up with Casanzio again in the semi-final match. That rematch didn’t go Souvanthong’s way though, as Casanzio scored a quick 7-1 win to earn the right to play Dreidel in the finals.
Dreidel was ready for Casanzio though and scored a 9-5 win in the first set of the finals for his first ever Joss Tour Stop win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw eleven players come back to play, with room owner Chris Braiman going undefeated with a 3-2 win over Sourith Thammavong for the hot-seat and then a 3-0 win over Thammavong in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will be back in action March 3th – 4th at Snookers Billiards in Providence RI for the 9th Annual North East Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open. That event will include a $2500 added main event and a $500 added second chance event on Sunday.
Tour players are reminded that the March 17th – 18th event that was scheduled at King Smiley Billiards has been moved to Hippos House of Billiards in Utica, NY.
