Samantha Barrett downs a much higher-rated Chad Bazinet to face Savoie a second time
Though Ben Savoie gets primary accolades for going undefeated on the New England 9-Ball Series’ 10th stop this past weekend (Sunday, May 3), runner-up Samantha Barrett has earned a bit of press for facing him in the hot seat, meeting and defeating a much higher-rated challenger in the semifinals and taking a second shot at Savoie in the finals. The $500-added event drew 34 entrants to House of Billiards in Hampton Falls, NH.
What was surprising about Barrett’s finish was not the fact that she faced and was defeated twice by the eventual winner, but that she faced and defeated a much higher-rated competitor in the semifinals, Chad Bazinet, whose 653 Fargo rate was the third highest at this tournament, behind only Kerry McAuliffe at 665 and Bob Lewis at 657. Winner Ben Savoie at 611 was #7 on that list of top-rated competitors. Samantha Barrett came into the tournament with a 577 Fargo rate.
Barrett was not, however, just ‘off the boat,’ so to speak. She’d recorded some history at the tables which had not reached us here at AZBilliards. She had reportedly competed a lot when she was in college, but stopped when she entered the working world. She hadn’t been competing very much recently, although she did place 5th at the Super Billiards Expo’s Amateur women’s event in 2015, did finish 3rd in an APA’s Women’s amateur event and 1st in a BCA Northeast Regional Partners 8-Ball event. As a matter of perspective, she was and presumably still is a ‘7’ in APA 8-Ball competition. She is also, along with Stacey Tonkin and Catherine Fiorilla, one of the co-founders of the recently-launched Women’s Pool Alliance, which will hold its second event in about three weeks (May 23) at Amazin’ Billiards in Malden, MA.
Working, at the start, in the lower bracket, Barrett got by two male (Jason Seavey & Andy Downs) and one female competitor (Rachelle Rainey) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Dorothy Gauvin. Savoie, in the meantime, in the upper bracket, downed his first two opponents, Mike Nicoloro & Michael Barbagallo by a combined score of 12-2, and then, defeated Beau Powers 6-4 to draw the aforementioned Kerry McAuliffe in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Savoie and McAuliffe battled to double hill before Savoie prevailed 5-5 (McAuliffe racing to 6). Barrett, in the meantime, racing to 7, gave up only a single rack sending Gauvin, racing to 4, to the loss side. Savoie took the first of their two matches 7-3 (Barrett racing to 5), claiming the hot seat and awaiting her return.
On the loss side, McAuliffe picked up Bazinet, who was wending his way to a fateful meet-up with Barrett in the semifinals. Bazinet had lost his second round, upper bracket match and was working on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would end in those semifinals. He’d recently eliminated Beau Powers and Dan Simoneau, both 6-1. Gauvin drew Fred Gilis, Jr., who was working on a six-match, loss-side streak that had included recent wins over the competitor who’d sent him to the loss side, Kyle King 5-1 and Rachelle Rainey 6-1.
In a straight-up race to 6, Bazinet downed McAuliffe 6-4, as Gilis, Jr. was defeating Gauvin 6-1. Bazinet ended Gilis, Jr.’s loss-side streak rather dramatically, shutting him out in the quarterfinals that followed and advancing to face Bassett in the semifinals.
The Fargo Rate Web site, given Bazinet and Barrett’s respective rates (653/537), calculated that the odds were heavily in favor of Bazinet; 62.5% to 37.5%. But in a clear representation of what, in football, is known as the ‘any given Sunday’ rule, Barrett beat the odds, battling Bazinet to double hill before prevailing in the deciding game for a second shot at Savoie, waiting for her in the hot seat.
Fargo Rate calculations actually gave Barrett a better chance at winning the final; a 39.7% chance versus Savoie’s 60.3%. Savoie, apparently did not get the memo. He gave up only a single rack, completed his undefeated run and claimed the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at House of Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator, Poison, Arcos II, BCAPL, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, AZBilliards, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, MJS Construction, Master Billiards, OTLVISE, Piku Tips and Just The Tip Cue Repair and Custom Accessories. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#11), scheduled for this weekend (Saturday, May 8), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Run ‘Em Racks in Johnston, RI.
(l to r): TD Marc Dionne, Dave Morrison, Tom D’Alfonso, Mike Verducci and Jen Brown, daughter of Joe
Going into the finals, there had been three distinct phases to Tom D’Alfonso’s victory on the New England 9-Ball Series’ tour stop #15 – The Joe Brown Memorial – on Saturday, March 9. In his opening three matches, he won 90% of the games he played (29-4). During a three-match trip on the loss side, he chalked up 92% of the games he played (24-2). In one match, a winners’ side semifinal, double hill loss, he won only 61.5% of the games he played (5-8; D’Alfonso was racing to 9). He returned from that defeat to face Dave Morrison in a double elimination final and over 20 games, gave up only two racks (90%, exactly). The single loss left D’Alfonso with a deceptively low, although admittedly good 85% overall win percentage in games played. The $500-added event drew 49 entrants to Buster’s Billiards in Somersworth, NH.
After an opening round bye in the event’s upper bracket, D’Alfonso gave up a surprising (only in hindsight) three racks to Jeff Provencher in a 9-3 win. Over the next 21 games in two matches, he gave up only one, to Matt Gagne, first, and then, none at all to Fred White, which set D’Alfonso up to face Mike Verducci in a winners' side semifinal. Morrison, in the meantime, working in the lower bracket following a bye, had defeated Catherine Ong 5-3, Walter Kelly 4-4 (Kelly racing to 6) and shut out Carlton Gagnon, to face Jason Seavey in the other winners’ side semifinal.
In a straight-up race to 5, Morrison advanced to the hot seat match over Seavey 5-1. Verducci started his winners’ side semifinal match against D’Alfonso with four on the wire in a race to 9. He chalked up the five he needed and sent D’Alfonso to the loss side, double hill 5-8.
On the loss side, D’Alfonso picked up Fred White, who, in a straight-up race to 6, defeated Carlos Aguilar 6-3 and then, with three games on the wire in a race to 7, beat Ben LeBlanc 4-1. Seavey drew Fred Gillis, who’d eliminated Carlton Gagnon, double hill (4-3) and Walt Kelly 4-2.
In a straight-up race to 4, Seavey advanced to the quarterfinals 4-2 over Gillis. D’Alfonso, giving White four on the wire in a race to 8, shut him out to join Seavey in the quarterfinals. Also giving both Seavey and later, in the semifinals, Verducci, four on the wire in races to eight, D’Alfonso defeated them both 8-1.
Giving Morrison in the hot seat five on the wire in races to 9, D’Alfonso took the opening set of the true double elimination final 9-2. He didn’t give up a single rack in the second set and claimed the Joe Brown Memorial title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Buster’s Billiards for their hospitality and support for the Joe Brown Memorial, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Bourgeois Farms and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#16) will be the $1,000-added Players Championship, scheduled for this weekend (March 16-17) at Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
Room Owner Corey Hanson, Claude Poitras, Jane Imm, Greg Murray and Chad Bazinet
Not only did Jane Imm advance to the hot seat in her first pool tournament, she took two out of three against a much higher-ranked opponent to seal the deal and claim her first event title. The occasion was the $3,000-added New England 9-Ball Series’ Bangor Bash (Stop #8), held on the weekend of December 1-2 at Rack City in Bangor, ME. Jane worked her way through a field of 81 entrants, winning six in a row (including back-to-back double hill wins) to get into the hot seat, losing the opening set of a true double elimination final and fighting back to take the second set and win it all.
Assisting her in the moral support department were her father, Samoth Sam, a long-time ‘A’ player on the tour, who finished in the tie for 9th place, and her brother Sam, who competed, but finished out of the money. Standing in her way, towards the end, was Greg Murray, boasting a FargoRate 200 points above hers (550-350), giving Jane six ‘on the wire’ in what proved to be their three races to 9. He almost got there in their hot seat battle and allowed her only a single rack in their first of two in the double elimination final.
Coming out of the lower bracket in the early stages of the tournament, Jane, after an opening round bye, defeated Amandas Soucy and Macdonald, Mark Pulsifer and Fred Gillis to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Jason Richards. Murray, in the meantime, having defeated Mike Gagne, Ron Ricard, Kyle Pepin, Stan Rupard, and Jeff Furness, squared off against Ben Harvey in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Murray, in a straight-up race to 7, got into the hot seat match 7-5 over Harvey. Imm joined him after a double hill (3-7) win over Richards. In her second straight double hill fight, Imm claimed the hot seat 3-8 over Murray and waited for him to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Harvey picked up Michael Verducci, who’d been sent to the loss side by Jane Imm’s Dad, Samoth Sam and won six in a row, including most recent victories over Steve Smith 7-4 and Jeff Furness 7-2. Richards drew a re-match against Claude Poitras, who, after being sent to the loss side by Richards, downed four in a row, including Fred Gillis 4-2 and Jenn Brown 5-1.
Verducci advanced to the quarterfinals with an 8-2 win over Harvey, and was joined by Poitras, who’d eliminated Richards 4-4 (Richards racing to 6). Pointras’ FargoRate was 169 points lower than Verducci’s (420-589), which gave Poitras five ‘on the wire’ in a race to 8. Poitras, as it turned out, didn’t need any of them. He shut out Verducci out in the quarterfinals 3-0, and turned for a shot against Murray in the semifinals.
Poitras only got four ‘on the wire’ in the semifinal race to 8. He chalked up two more, but fell to Murray 8-2, setting up the finals re-match.
With six ‘on the wire’ in a race to 9, Imm chalked up only one more, before Murray won the opening set 9-1. In the second set, Murray got to six racks before Imm collected her first event title with a 3-6 win.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the owner Corey Hanson and his Rack City staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Bourgeois Farms and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (Stop #9), scheduled for Sunday, December 9, will be a Partners Tournament (Maximum Fargo Rate of 1200), hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
