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.

 

A perfect 32 player turnout this year for the Maine State 2012, 9 Ball Championship. Hosted By Steve and Tammy Reynolds at Tj’s Classic Billiards, in Waterville. The event attracted most of Maine’s finest players.

Gareth Steele battled his way through a tough bracket on the winners side, taking out Bob Bourgoin, then playing multiple state championship winner, TJ LaFlamme. Steele lost his focus to Greg Murray going down 7-1. Steele thought it was all over and was set to head West when he pulled it back from the edge, grinded it out and Defeated Murray 9-8. Gareth went on and confronted Cody Francis after taking 2nd in last years Championship. Francis seemed to loose focus early on as Steele gianed on him, making Francis know that he was not being sent to the dark side this year. Steele defeated Francis 9-4, making his mark on the winners side with his eye on the hot seat. Greg Libby gave Steele a hard time, going up 3 racks in a bid for the hot seat. Steele got stuck in and showed Libby who’s boss and defeated him 9-6 for the hot seat where he would wait for his final showdown with Francis.

Francis, knowing that he had some serious work to do to get his chance at Steele again, took TJ LaFlamme head on with a focused fury, crushing LaFlamme 9-0. Francis wasn’t leaving one man standing and continued on his war path,taking no prisoners. Mike Levitt didn’t stand a chance, and made a brave bid before being sent home by Francis with 4th place. Greg Libby was the player that absorbed the shock from Francis, slowing him down on his way to the final. Francis’s focus was unweavering and eventually took Libby out 9-6, for 3rd place.

The final couln’t be more exciting with the Superbowl starting in the background and Francis vs Steele for the second year running. Francis having to defeat Steele twice for the Championship went of to a flying start leaving Steele’s head spinning. Before Steele could get his bearings he had lost the first set 9-1. Francis charged into the second set with the same fervour going 3-0 up on Steele. The road to victory seemed to be opening up before Francis when Steele seemed to wake up out of his stupor and fought back for the next six racks taking it to 6-3. The race was definitely on when Francis and Steele went head to head. Francis picked up the ball and shot Steele out for the next five racks, determined to take the Championship Double. Steele ran out the next rack to even up the score, hill-hill. Steele broke the last rack and left Francis a tricky one ball. With Madonna singing in the background the tension couldn’t be higher when Francis missed his chance and rattled the 1 ball, leaving the final opening for Steele who manuvuered his way around the table with surgeon-like precision to claim his first Maine State 9 Ball Championship.

There was some pretty amazing pool seen at this year’s Championship, one highlight match being TJ Laflamme’s 7-rack come back from 8-2 down vs up and comer Josh Rupard. It was a tough lesson in loss for Rupard that he won’t soon forget.

Now we wait with baited breath for the Maine State 8 Ball Championships on March 3rd & 4th at Schemengees in Auburn, Maine. Will Francis and Steele meet again for a repeat performance of last years 8 Ball Championship? It’s anyone’s guess. But we are certain to be in for a great weekend of pool.

Kyle Pepin went undefeated to win the Lucasi Hybrid New England 9-Ball Series stop on Sunday, December 11. Pepin faced two separate opponents in his hot seat and finals battle; Nick Conner in the hot seat, and Sean Anderson in the finals. The $300-added event drew 20 entrants to Schemengee’s Bar & Grill in Lewiston, ME.

Pepin’s first opponent among the winners’ side final four was Josh Rupard, whom he shut out to advance to the hot seat match. Conner and Anderson, in the meantime, squared off in the other final four winners’ battle. Anderson needed only four games to win that match, but was stopped at three, advancing Conner to meet Pepin. Pepin gave up only a single rack in advancing to the hot seat, where he waited for Anderson’s return.

Rupard moved over to face Mike Levet, who’d defeated Greg Murray 4-3 and John Regan, double hill to reach him. Anderson picked up James Dunlop, who’d gotten by Mike Olcot 5-3 and shut out Corey Tapley. Anderson dropped Dunlop into the tie for fifth place 4-3, as Levet was busy ending Rupard’s day with a double hill win. In the quarterfinals that followed, Levet ended up on the wrong end of his second straight double hill match, which advanced Anderson to meet Conner, who’d sent him west from among the winners’ side final four.

Anderson came out on top this time 4-2, and stepped up to face Pepin in the finals. Pepin prevailed 6-2 to take top honors.