It’s sort of a February tradition at Sharpshooters Billiards in Amsterdam, NY. The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour comes to visit, and Jeremy Sossei ends up standing in the winner’s circle. For the fifth straight year (and sixth time in seven years), Jeremy Sossei finished in first place on February 16th and 17th. Even with his winning streak there, it wasn’t easy this year.
Sossei remained undefeated all day Saturday and started Sunday with a 9-3 win over Rick Kravetz. While Sossei was getting that win, Joey Cicero was sending BCA Hall of Famer Pat Fleming to the one loss side 9-6. Cicero then sent Sossei to join Fleming on the left side of the board as he took the hot-seat match 9-7.
On the one loss side, Jorge Teixeira was on a roll. After losing to Ron Casanzio on Saturday morning, Teixeira had won nine straight matches culminating in a 7-3 win over Bruce Nagle for 4th place. Teixeira gave Sossei almost all he could handle but ended up dropping the semi-final match 7-5.
That win left Sossei with the task of beating Cicero twice in a row, which he did in two hard-fought matches. Sossei scored a 9-6 win in the first set, followed by a 7-5 win in the second.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Ben Werblow dominate the field of nineteen players. Werblow went undefeated with wins over Bob Merkert, Greg Bombard, Nate Marshall and then Demian Provost for the hot-seat. In those four matches, Werblow lost a total of one game (to Bombard). Bruce Carroll eliminated Provost 3-0 in the semi-final match but was only able to manage one rack against Werblow in the finals.
Danny Hewitt cruised – unbeaten and relatively untested – through a field of 45 players to win the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at Sharp Shooters Billiards in Amsterdam, NY on February 8th and 9th.
An early Satruday 9-5 win over Paul Rozonewski was the closest any opponent would get to beating Hewitt all weekend. Hewitt wouldn't even break a sweat in the match for the hot-seat, as he defeated Jeremy Sossei 9-0.
On the one loss side, Rozonewski was on a six match winning streak and would have to get by Sossei to earn another shot at Hewitt in the finals. Rozonewski would have to settle for third place though, as Sossei handed him another 9-5 loss.
The final match between Hewitt and Sossei was just a little longer than their first meeting, with Hewitt scoring a 9-2 win in the first and only set of the finals.
The second chance tournament on Sunday drew fifteen players and Mike Donnelly scored an undefeated win, with victories over Demian Provost for the hot-seat and again in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's next stop will be February 22nd and 23rd at Trick Shot Billiards in Clifton Park, NY.
Tour director Mike Zuglan urged players interested in participating in this year's Turning Stone Classic XXII on September 18th – 21st to get their entry fees in to him as soon as possible. The field is roughly 35% full already.
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.
