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James goes undefeated to win Joe Brown Memorial, Stop #15 on New England 9-Ball Series

(l to r) Xhuljiano Kamxhiu, Justin Myers & Geoff James

Geoff James and Xhuljiano Kamxhiu (known to friends, acquaintances and for the purposes of this report, as Julio) battled twice in their quest to claim title to the Joe Brown Memorial Tournament, held under the auspices of the New England 9-Ball Series on Saturday, March 7. James won them both to win the $500-added event that drew 43 entrants to Buster’s Billiards to Somersworth, NH.

As ‘residents’ of the event’s upper bracket, they met first in a winners’ side semifinal. James had advanced through Ramildo Brakaj, Tyler Campbell, Chad Avallone and Roger Vivier. After an opening round bye, Julio’s path went through an opening round, double hill battle against Daniel Simoneau, and then, Walter Kelly and Brett Chansky. From the lower bracket, Justin Myers and Junnel Balofinos squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.

James downed Julio 7-2 (Julio racing to 5), as Myers and Balofinos locked up in a double hill fight that eventually advanced Myers to the hot seat match against James. James gave up just a single rack and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Julio’s return.

On the loss side, Julio picked up Anthony Petruzzelli, who’d lost his opening round match and won six matches on the loss side, including recent victories over Roger Vivier 4-1 and Brett Chansky, double hill. Balofinos drew a rematch against Sydney Dupont, whom he’d defeated in the winners’ side third round, and who went on to win four, loss-side matches, including a 4-1 victory over Neal Katz and double hill win over Jarryd Boyd.

Julio advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5-2 win over Petruzzelli and was joined by Dupont, who’d shut Balofinos out. Julio downed Dupont in those quarterfinals, double hill and earned his second shot against James with a 5-1 victory over Myers in the semifinals.

Julio began the true double elimination finals with ‘two on the wire,’ racing to 7. He added two to reach the hill, but James had his 6 and won the deciding game to claim the event title.

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Buster’s, as well as sponsors Predator, BCAPL, 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 with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards, OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America and Piku Tips. The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (#16), scheduled for the weekend of March 28-29, will be the $1,000-added Players Championship, to be hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.

Benson double dips Felix to take Stop #22 on the New England 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Tom D’Alfonso, Ben Benson & Mike Felix

By the time the 22nd stop on the New England 9-Ball Series had worked its way down to its final 12 competitors on Sunday, July 14, the range of Fargo Rates stretched from 735 to 357, due in part to the fact that the tour initially separates higher and lower Fargo Rated players into upper and lower brackets, keeping them apart until the final matches of the event. Demonstrating that the handicapping system does tend to level the competitive playing field and make it possible for lower-ranked players to effectively compete against higher-ranked opponents, the player who eventually claimed the hot seat had one of the three lowest Fargo Rates among the remaining 12 players. That hot seat occupant turned out to be Mike Felix (485), but the competitor he had sent to the semifinals, Ben Benson (554) came back from those semifinals to defeat Felix twice and claim the event title. The event drew 66 entrants to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
 
Benson had advanced in the upper bracket to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Tom D’Alfonso, who had the highest Fargo Rate among the event’s final 12 (735). Felix, in the meantime, squared off against Buffy Oldham (468) in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Benson started the match against D’Alfonso with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. D’Alfonso chalked up five of the eight he needed, but not before Benson had won the three he needed to advance to the hot seat match. In a straight-up race to 4, Felix downed Oldham, double hill, to meet Benson in the hot seat match. Felix started the hot seat match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 5. He and Benson battled to double hill (3-4), before Felix chalked up his fourth rack and claimed the hot seat.
 
On the loss side, D’Alfonso picked up Geoff James, who’d shut out Beau Powers and eliminated Josh Rupard, double hill (3-3; Rupard racing to 4) to reach him. Oldham drew Gabriel Kirshnitz, who’d only given up a single rack in his previous two matches; that one to Mark Pulsifer and none at all to Troy Fortin.
 
D’Alfonso and Oldham advanced to the quarterfinals; D’Alfonso giving up a single rack to James in a 5-1 win, as Oldham gave up none at all to Kirshnitz in a 3-0 win. The quarterfinal match was yet another shutout, as D’Alfonso eliminated Oldham 8-0 to earn himself a rematch against Benson in the semifinals.
 
D’Alfonso was able to chalk up an additional rack beyond the five he’d managed in the winners’ side semifinal against Benson. But for the second time, Benson won the three he needed to win the semifinal 3-6 and advance to the final rematch against Felix.
 
Same situation; Felix began the final match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 5. Benson gave up only a single rack in the opening set of the true double elimination final. He gave up two in the second set, but scored the five he needed to claim the event title.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator, 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 with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The event originally scheduled for July 28, to be hosted by Stix and Stones in Abington, MA, has been cancelled. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, now scheduled for the weekend of August 3-4, will be a $500-added Summer Sizzler Partners Tournament, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT. 

Fracasso-Verner comes from the loss side to win 14th Annual Robert Dionne Memorial

Richard Comeau, Lukas Fracasso-Verner, Bobby Lewis, and Marc Dionne

At the age of 17, Lukas Fracasso-Verner has already chalked up an enviable number of regional tour victories. Most recently, in what was, to date, his best earnings year (2018), he added victories on the Predator Pro Am Tour (March) and The New England 9-Ball Series (October),  in the middle of which, on Memorial Day weekend, he became the youngest player (at 16) to ever win the Georgy “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial Amateur Tournament in New York City. He won the 8th Annual “Ginky” Memorial by emerging from a field of 143 competitors, winning 12 on the loss side (after being defeated in the opening round of play), and downing hot seat occupant, Chuck Allie, in the finals. On the weekend of January 12-13, Fracasso-Verner signed on to compete in the New England 9-Ball Series’ 14th Annual Robert Dionne Memorial (commemorating tour director Marc Dionne’s father), and trodding what would appear to be a comfortable path for himself, he came from deep on the loss side to challenge hot seat occupant, Bobby Lewis, and win his second NE 9-Ball Series title. The $750-added event drew 31 entrants to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
 
Lukas (easier to type repeatedly than Fracasso-Verner) opened what would prove to be his winning campaign with a 7-3 (upper, higher-ranked bracket) win over Jeff Furness. In the next round, he was defeated, double hill, by Jason Richard (they would come within a single match of meeting a second time). Lukas began a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the finals, and then, conclude with a title-earning victory over Lewis.
 
Richard would advance to a winners’ side quarterfinal against Lewis, who would send him to the loss side 7-3, and then meet Joe Lynch in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Richard Comeau and Emily Cady, in the meantime, emerging from the lower bracket, met in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Lewis shut out Lynch to get into the hot seat match, where he was joined by Comeau, who’d sent Cady to the loss side, double hill. Comeau would force an 11th, deciding game in that hot seat match by chalking up two of the three racks he needed against the much higher-rated Lewis (614 Fargo Rate, compared to Comeau’s 434), who was racing to 9. Lewis though dropped the 9-ball in the 9th game he needed to claim the hot seat.
 
On the loss side, Lukas was working his way toward the money rounds and an eventual meet-up in the first money round against Lynch. He’d recorded two victories on the loss side, when he chalked up two straight shutouts, over Tom Hood and Geoff James, to meet up with Lynch. Cady, in the meantime, drew Chris Ouimette, who’d defeated Jason Seavey 3-2 (Seavey racing to 4) and Juan White, double hill, 4-2.
 
Lukas downed Lynch 6-2, as Cady, in a straight-up race to 4, shut Ouimette out to join Lukas in the quarterfinals. Over the next 18 games that put Lukas into the finals, he’d give up only two racks; one each to Cady in the quarterfinals, and Comeau in the semifinals.
 
Going into the finals, Lukas, needing to win two matches to claim the title, had given up only 10 racks in his last 53 loss-side games (81% win average). With hot seat occupant Bobby Lewis racing to 5 in the opening set (Lukas to 6), Lukas took the opener 6-2. They reduced the ‘races’ in the second set; Lukas to 5, and Lewis to 4 (Lukas with the higher Fargo Rate/642-614). Lukas chalked up his third shutout, finishing with the same win average of 81% with which he went into the finals and claimed the event title.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked everyone who participated in the event, to which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the March of Dimes in memory of his father. He also thanked the ownership and staff of Crow’s Nest, and 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 (#12), will be the $2,000-added Winter Classic, scheduled for the weekend of January 26-27, at Snookers, in Providence, RI.

Khiev goes undefeated to take New England 9-Ball Series’ Randy Marcotte Memorial

(l to r): Sammy Khiev, Kassie Lam & Eddie Bissonnette

In the final event of the 2017 portion of the New England 9-Ball Series tour (Stop # 10), Sammy Khiev navigated his way undefeated through a field of 33 to capture the event title. He was challenged in the finals by Eddie Bissonnette, who won seven on the loss side, including three straight, double hill wins, for the right to meet him. The $500-added event, the annual Robert Marcotte Memorial, was held on Saturday, December 16, and hosted by Buster’s Billiards in Somersworth, NH.
 
As the event wound down to its final 12 players, all but one of them was ranked as a B, B+, C or C+ player on the tour. Joan Fraser, a D player, was the only exception. Khiev was the only B player to advance to a winners’ side semifinal, where he faced C+ player Warren Basch. Kassie Lam and Don Roy, both C players, squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal. Khiev got into the hot seat match with a 6-3 win over Basch. Lam joined him, following her 5-3 win over Roy. Khiev gave up only a single rack to Roy in the hot seat match that followed (a 7-5 race), and waited for Bissonnette to finish his loss-side run.
 
It was Roy who drew Bissonnette on the loss side; Bissonnette having allowed only a single rack to be scored against him in loss-side wins #3 and #4. He’d shut out Eli Davenport and gave up the one rack to Joan Fraser. Basch picked up Geoff James, who’d recently eliminated John Edgar 5-1 and Ben Benson 5-2.
 
Bissonnette and Roy locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Bissonnette to the quarterfinals. He was joined by James, who’d shut out Basch.
 
Bissonnette chalked up his second straight double hill win in the quarterfinals against James, downing him 4-5 (James racing to 6). He chalked up his third double hill win in the re-match against Lam in the semifinals. With Lam (C) racing to 4, Bissonnette (C+) moved into the finals with a 5-3 win.
 
Those finals came within a game of being Bissonnette’s fourth straight double hill match. Khiev, though, pulled out in front at the end to win it 6-3 (Bissonnette racing to 4) and claim the event title.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Buster’s Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-balls National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#11), scheduled for the weekend of January 6-7, 2018, will be the $1,500-added Robert Dionne Memorial Tournament, to be hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
 

Rupard comes from the loss side to capture Stop #5 on the NE 9-Ball Series

By the time the fifth stop on the New England 9-Ball Series was down to its final 12 players, Josh Rupard was one of only two A+ players left. Both he and Kerry McAuliffe were battling in the loss-side’s first money round at the time, though not against each other. Rupard advanced through five loss-side matches to meet and defeat Eli Davenport (C+) twice in a true double elimination final. The $500-added event – The Don Clemons Memorial – drew 48 entrants to Buster’s Billiards in Sommersworth, NH on Saturday, November 4.

 
Rupard chalked up three victories on the winners’ side of the event’s top bracket, until he ran into Sammy Khiev, a B player. With Rupard racing to 8, and Khiev to 5, Khiev advanced 5-4 to the event’s overall winners’ side semifinal against Paul Laverdiere (B). Coming from the event’s lower bracket, C+ Eli Davenport squared off against D+ Peter Rizzo, Sr. in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Khiev and Laverdiere locked up in a straight-up race to 7, that went double hill before Khiev finished it to advance to the hot seat match. He was joined by Davenport, who’d shut Rizzo out.
Davenport claimed the hot seat over Khiev 5-3, in what would prove to be Khiev’s final match.
 
On the loss side, it was Laverdiere who picked up Rupard, who’d opened his loss-side work with an 8-2 win over Geoff James, and an 8-1 win over Matt Gagne. Rizzo drew Kassie Lam, who’d eliminated George Morgan 6-1 and Martin Flagg 5-2. Rupard and Lam advanced to the quarterfinals; Rupard, 8-2 over Laverdiere and Lam, 5-2 over Rizzo.
 
Rupard and Lam fought to double hill in those quarterfinals, but Rupard had the last word and advanced to a semifinal re-match against Khiev. Rupard leapfrogged over that semifinal match, when Khiev forfeited.
 
Rupard and Davenport played 20 games in the true double elimination final. Rupard won 18 of them. He gave up only two in the opening set, and none at all in the second set to claim the event title.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Buster’s Billiards, as well as all of the players who came out to support this memorial event. In honor of Don Clemons, the tournament raised $340 for the American Cancer Society; $240 from tournament entries, and $100 from challenge matches played against Mike Dechaine. Dionne also thanked sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America.
 
The next stop – #6 – on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Saturday, November 18, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.

David Ty goes undefeated to win New England 9-Ball Series season opener

(l to r:) Bill Philips, Geoff James, David Ty & Rick Gatta

David Ty has recorded two payout finishes on the New England 9-Ball Series tour. His first, two weeks ago (September 9-10), came during the Tour Championships, when he finished in the tie for fifth place. On Sunday, September 24, he graduated from that to his first win, going undefeated in the tour’s 2017-2018 season opener. The event drew 39 entrants to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
 
Designated as a C+ player, Ty advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal against Justin Braley (D+), while Rick Gatta (B) faced Geoff James (B+) in the other semifinal. Ty gave up only one rack over the next two matches, which put him into the hot seat. He downed Braley 6-1, while Gatta was busy sending James To the loss side 5-2. He then shut Gatta out (5-0) to claim the hot seat.
 
On the loss side, James picked up Bobby Hooker, who’d defeated Mourad Idras 5-2, and A+ Tim Perry (racing to 9) 5-4 to reach him. Braley drew Bill Philips, who’d eliminated Ron Ricard and Shane Perron, both 5-1.
 
Philips shut Braley out, and in the quarterfinals, faced James, who’d survived a double hill fight against Hooker. James then eliminated Philips 8-2, to earn himself a re-match against Gatta in the semifinals. James won that re-match 6-2, for a shot at Ty in the hot seat.
 
As a C+ player, Ty started the final match against James with two on the wire in a race to 7. He gave up only two to James and chalked up his first win NE 9-Ball Series win 5-2.
 
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest for their continuing hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AzBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3 Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, Bob Campbell. Championship Cloth and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America.
 
The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series Tour, scheduled for Saturday, September 30, will be a $500-added, 8-ball event, hosted by Buster’s Billiards in Sommersworth, NH.