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Darigis Earns First Career Joss Tour Win
Joe Darigis
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour was back in action over the Halloween weekend. This time, Mike Zuglan had the tour at American Pool & Billiards in Portland Maine, with a field of 32 players, including the 2018 and 2019 winner at this room, Kyle Pepin. Pepin was shooting for a three-peat and looked to be well on his way to that achievement. Tour regular Joe Darigis had other plans though.
Darigis and Pepin both made it through Saturday’s matches unscathed. Darigis had Saturday wins over Derrick Burnham, Bob Dennis and Nick Brucato, while Pepin beat Mike Giurleo, Jim Hayden and Cody Porter to qualify for Sunday play. Joining them on the winner’s side on Sunday were Ben Savoie and Dave Hall.
Hall made quick work of Darigis on Sunday morning 9-3, while Pepin kept his streak going and defeated Savoie 9-5. Pepin then went on to take the hot-seat in a 9-7 battle with Hall.
Darigis took the trip to the one loss side and found Giurleo waiting. Giurleo had just eliminated Joe’s Dad, Bob Darigis, and was looking for a clean sweep for this event. Darigis avenged his Dad’s loss though, with a 7-5 scoreline. Darigis then sent Ben Savoie to the seats with another 7-5 win and then defeated Hall in the semi-final match 7-2.
Darigis came into the finals against Pepin with the unenviable task of trying to defeat Pepin twice. Pepin’s last Joss Tour match loss at American Pool & Billiards was in the finals back in 2018, and he came back to win that match in the second set. The first set of the finals, this time, went to Darigis hill-hill. The second set was just a little less stressful as Darigis completed the double dip with a 7-5 win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament did see a repeat, as Jim Hayden defended his win from the 2019 second chance tournament with an undefeated win. Hayden had wins over Gary Bryant, Larry Haskell, Steve Sutton and then Nick Brucato to take the hot-seat. The win over Brucato was a hill-hill match and Hayden repeated that scoreline with another hill-hill win over Brucato in the finals.
Sossei and Fracasso-Verner Score Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Wins
Ryan Cullen, Jeremy Sossei and Yale Billiards Owner Bobby Hilton
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Stop at Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT on July 24th – 25th featured two division winners who will be hoping to build on their weekend wins in the upcoming week.
The main event winner, Jeremy Sossei, will be traveling 2500 miles west this week, as he heads to Tucson, Arizona for the Predator US Pro Billiard Series Stop at Casino Del Sol on July 28th – Aug 1st.
Sossei, a multiple time winner on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour, found himself in unfamiliar territory after dropping a late Saturday match to Ryan Cullen. Sossei had wins over Lukas Fracasso-Verner, Dave Fernandez and Pete Genovese before dropping a hill-hill match to Cullen late in the day on Saturday. Sossei then defeated Yesid Garibello on the one loss side 7-2 to end his Saturday play.
Sunday was business as usual for Sossei, with wins over Ron Casanzio, Shawn Dickson and Rob Piersa to earn a rematch with Cullen in the double elimination final match. Cullen had come back on Sunday to score wins over Bob Madenjian and Piersa to take his first career Joss Tour hot-seat, with hopes to turn that hot-seat into his first career Joss Tour Win. Cullen would have to wait for that first win though, as Sossei won both sets of the finals 9-4 and then 7-2 for the tournament win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw a win from another competitor who will be adding to his frequent flyer miles this week. Lukas Fracasso-Verner will be traveling a little further this week, as he will fly to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the Billiard Education Foundation’s Junior National Championship.
After the aforementioned loss to Sossei in the main event, Fracasso-Verner rode the one loss side with a bye and then three match wins before finally dropping a late Saturday match to Steve Mack to finish one spot out of the money. Undeterred, Fracasso-Verner came back for the second chance tournament on Sunday where he had wins over Demian Provost, Darren Jevons and Nick Coppola before dropping the hot-seat match to Joe Darigis 3-2. Fracasso-Verner took that loss in stride and quickly defeated Coppola 3-0 for another shot at Darigis in the finals. He then made the most of that second shot, scoring 3-1 and 3-2 wins for first place.
With the Yale Billiards stop being its final “supplemental tour stop”, the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will now take three months off before kicking off the official 2021/2022 season at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester, NY on October 2nd – 3rd.
Dabreo Earns First Career Joss Tour Win
Mike Zuglan, Raphael Dabreo, Tom D’Alfonso and Snookers Owner Steve Goulding
Raphael Dabreo earned his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win over the weekend of March 2-3 with an undefeated run at the 10th New England Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open at Snookers Billiards in Providence, RI.
After a hill-hill tester against Steve Mack in his second match of the day on Saturday, Dabreo finished day one of this event with a 9-5 win over Qais Kolee and then a 9-3 win over Marko Clarke. Joining Dabreo on the winner’s side on Sunday were Tom D’Alfonso, Austin Ross and Zion Zvi. Dabreo sent Zvi to the one loss side Sunday morning 9-6 and then took the hot-seat with a 9-3 win over D’Alfonso.
Ivaylo Petrov had lost to Pat Fleming midway through Saturday play, but bounced back nicely with six straight match wins on the left side of the board. Petrov would settle for third place though, as he finally lost to D’Alfonso 7-3 in the semi-final match.
Dabreo came out on fire in the first set of the finals, taking a quick 3-0 lead. D’Alfonso then came back to win five straight racks for a 5-3 lead. After Dabreo tied things back up at 5-5, the match would be tied at 6-6 and 7-7. D’Alfonso got to the hill at 8-7, but a scratch on the break led to Dabreo running that rack to tie things again at 8-8. Dabreo came up dry on the break at hill-hill, but a D’Alfonso safety on the 1-ball left Dabreo the opening he needed and he ran that rack for the 9-8 win in one set.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Ben Werblow go undefeated with wins over Joe Darigis for the hot-seat and again in the finals for the victory.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action this weekend (March 9-10) at Trick Shot Billiards in Clifton Park, NY.
Sossei over Charette for Joss Tour Season Opener Win
Nicolas Charette, TJs manager Steve Claude and Jeremy Sossei
Mike Zuglan’s Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked off their 2018-1019 season at TJ’s Classic Billiards on September 22nd – 23rd for “The Maine Event XXII”, and this event came down to a Joss Tour veteran against a player in their first ever regular season Joss Tour stop.
The veteran player was Jeremy Sossei, winner of over sixteen Joss Tour titles, who has been winning tour stops for over 10 years. Sossei has been away from the game for most of this year, with a win at the NE 9-Ball Open XXX back in February as his only appearance on the AzBilliards money list. Sossei has been spending his time on a new business that he opened, but hopes to be getting out to regularly compete again very soon.
The newcomer was Quebec’s Nicolas Charette, who got his Joss Tour feet wet at the Turning Stone Classic XXIX, but was in Waterville Maine for his first regular tour stop. Charette credited his appearance on this weekend to his love for the game. “I just enjoy playing tournaments, competing, traveling, experiencing different conditions. But really, I love the game” he said.
The players kept pace with each other all weekend until the hot-seat match. Sossei scored wins over Bill Cote, Steve Reynolds, Joe Darigis, Cody Francis and Kyle Pepin on his way to the match, while Charette had wins over Samoth Sam, Emily Cady, Jorge Teixeira, Chad Bizinet and Rich Kravitz.
The first meeting between Sossei and Charette went to the veteran 9-7 and he waited to see who he would play in the finals. Charette would face off against fellow countryman Tom Theriault in the semi-finals, but he would score a quick 7-3 win to earn another shot at Sossei in the finals.
Anyone expecting another close match between these two competitors was shocked to see the Canadian cueman score a decisive 9-2 win over Sossei in the first set of the finals. With the players now tied at one set each, a third set was played to determine a winner and Sossei pulled out a tight 7-5 win for Joss Tour Stop title #17.
Nine players came back on Sunday to compete in the second chance tournament where Dan Couture defeated Steve Reynolds two sets out of three for first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will be back in action on October 6th – 7th for the Hudson Valley Fall Classic at The Spot in Nanuet, New York.
Friedberg Credits Road Partner Chin for First Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Win
Mike Zuglan, Josh Friedberg , Bucky Souvanthong and Snookers Owner Steve Goulding
Road partners Josh Friedberg and Holden Chin teamed up for first place finishes in the open and second chance event at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s final regular season stop June 2nd – 3rd at Snookers Billiards in Providence, RI.
Friedberg survived hill-hill matches against Ben Savoie and Kerry McAuliffe in his first two matches and didn’t really have any non-stressful wins as his 9-5 win over Alex Morin on Sunday morning was his largest margin of victory. It was another close one for the hot-seat, where he defeated Bill Cote 9-7.
On the one loss side, Bucky Souvanthong was making up for his early loss to Joe Darigis. Souvanthong won nine straight matches, including a 7-2 victory over Darigis in the final four. Souvanthong then went on to defeat Cote 7-3 in the semi-final match.
The finals would go one set with Friedberg scoring a 9-6 win over Souvanthong for his first Joss Tour win.
After back to back hill-hill losses for Holden Chin in the main event, he was one of the fourteen players who came back on Sunday to compete in the second chance tournament. After an opening round win over Andrew Griffin, Chin dropped a hill-hill match to Jared Demalia. That would be the last time Chin would taste defeat in this event though, as he won five straight on the left side and then double dipped Francisco Cabral in the finals.
While it was Friedberg with the win in the main event, he gave all the credit to Chin. “When it comes to this game, Holden is the absolute greatest teacher. I would never ever have even come close to winning without his help.” he said. “ I think there were players there that were better than me. That had more skill and more experience than I did. (…) I just kept my head down and tried to remember all the things that Holden had taught me along the way.”
This event was the final regular season stop on the 2017 – 2018 season. Next up for the tour is the Turning Stone Classic XXX on August 23th – 26th at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY.
Casanzio goes undefeated to capture his first Al Conte Memorial title
(l to r): Andrea Duvall (owner of Hippo’s), John McConnell, Ron Casanzio, & Matt Tetreault
Ron Casanzio has had several shots at the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s Al Conte Memorial over the years. He’s cashed in seven of the nine, to date. He was runner-up to Dennis Hatch in the first one (2009) and Shaun Wilkie in the fifth (2013). On the weekend of November 4-5, he became the event’s seventh winner, following in the footsteps of (in order) Hatch, Shane Winters, Mike Davis, Jeremy Sossei (three-time winner; ’12, ’14 and ‘15), Wilkie and Nelson Oliveira. The $1,500-added, 9th Annual Al Conte Memorial, the fourth stop on the 2017-2018 Joss NE 9-Ball Tour, drew 33 entrants to Hippo’s House of Billiards in Yorkville, NY.
Casanzio was one of three competitors at this event, along with Bucky Souvanthong and Angelo Hilton, who cashed in the first Al Conte Memorial. He became the only one of the three to do so in this one. Match by match, until the finals, Casanzio’s opponents steadily closed the margin of victory against him. He got by Bruce Nagle in the opening round 9-1, then Aaron Greenwood 9-3, and Marko Clarke 9-4 to join Matt Tetreault in one of the winners’ side semifinals. John McConnell, in the meantime, who’d sent Frank Cartani (9-4), Jerry Crowe (9-3), and Dwight Dixon (9-4) to the loss side, squared off against Mike Donnelly in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Casanzio got into the hot seat match with a continuation of the ‘reduced margin of victory’ phenomenon, downing Tetreault 9-5. McConnell joined him with a 9-5 victory over Donnelly. Casanzio claimed the hot seat 9-7 over McConnell and waited on his return.
On the loss side, Tetreault picked up Joe Darigis, who’d been sent over by Donnelly in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Nick Brucato 9-4 and Dwight Dixon 9-6. Donnelly drew Jose Mendez, who was on a modest four-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had included recent wins over Norm Vernon 9-3 and Marko Clarke 9-5.
Tetreault advanced to the quarterfinals with a 9-6 win over Darigis, and was joined by Mendez, who’d handed Donnelly his second straight loss 9-7. Tetreault eliminated Mendez in that quarterfinal 9-3, but had his hopes for a re-match against Casanzio eliminated when McConnell defeated him 9-5 in the semifinals.
In their second of two, Casanzio broke the ‘margin of victory’ chain. He defeated McConnell 9-5 to claim his first Al Conte Memorial title.
A $500-added Second Chance tournament saw Willie Oney finish in the top spot, downing Mark Creamer in the finals. Aaron Greenwood finished third and Bruce Carroll took the fourth spot. Pete Khudc took home a $1,200 Joss Cue in the event’s raffle.
The fifth stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be the 29th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship. Scheduled for the weekend of November 11-12, the $5,000-added event will be hosted by Snooker’s Billiards, Bar and Grill in Providence, RI.
Oliveira Kicks Off Joss Tour’s 21st Season With Win
Tom Theriault and Nelson Oliveira
Mike Zuglan kicked off the 21st season of the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour on September 23rd and 24th, with a field of 38 players competing in The Maine Event XI at TJ’s Classic Billiards in Waterville Maine. The tournament would come down to Nelson Oliveira winning by the narrowest of margins over Canadian Tom Theriault.
Oliveira and Theriault were two of the players to emerge from Saturday matches undefeated, joined by Samoth Sam and Cody Francis. Sunday morning winner’s side matches saw Francis sneak by Sam 9-8, and Oliveira send Theriault to the one loss side by a 9-7 margin. Oliveira would then go on to defeat Francis 9-8 for the hot-seat.
On the one loss side, both Sam and Theriault would bounce back from their earlier losses, with Sam eliminating Xavier Libby 9-2 and Theriault eliminating Matt Tetreault 9-7. Theriault would then go on to defeat Sam 9-1 and then Cody Francis 9-3, to earn a rematch with Oliveira in the finals.
With the 9-7 scoreline in their earlier match, the finals were expected to be close, and they definitely were. Theriault ended Oliveira’s unbeaten streak 9-8 in the first set of the finals, and then Oliveira came back to defeat Theriault 9-8 in the second set for first place.
The end of Sunday's 16 player second chance tournament looked very similar to the end of the main event with Ross Webster defeating Joe Darigis 3-2 for the hot-seat and then Darigis coming back to force a second set of the finals 3-1 before Webster scored a 3-2 win in the second set of the finals.
Although he finished one out of the money in 9th place, Jordan Labbe was the winner of the $1200 custom Joss Cue at this event.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action on Sept 30th and October 1st at The Hudson Valley Fall Classic, held at The Spot Billiards Cafe in Nanuet, NY.
Souvanthong Earn’s First 2017 Joss Tour Win
Bucky Souventhong, Hippos Owner Andrea Duvall and Spencer Auigbelle
After his 9-1 win over Jared Zimmerman, things were looking pretty good for Bucky Souvanthong and his chances to win his first Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win of year at Hippos House of Billiards in Utica, NY on April 8th and 9th. It turned out to not be as easy as he might have thought it would be though.
Zimmerman took the trip to the left side of the board, and found Spencer Auigbelle was on a roll. Auigbelle had lost his third round match to Ron Casanzio on Saturday, but he fought back with six straight wins on the one loss side. After a 9-4 win over Mark Creamer, Auigbelle downed John McConnell, Bruce Nagle, Casanzio and Joe Darigis in identical 9-5 matches. Auigbelle then eliminated Zimmerman 9-6 to earn his place in the finals against Souvanthong.
Auigbelle took early control of the first match in the double elimination finals, and scored a 9-4 win to push things to a second set. Souvanthong had to be wondering if he was fated to settle for his second straight second place finish, as he lost to Bruce Nagle in the finals of the tour's stop at King Smiley's Billiards back in March. The second set saw a different player in Souvanthong though, as he took control and cruised to a 9-3 win and his first win of the year.
The second chance tournament on Sunday saw Dwight Dixon bounce back from a final four loss to John McConnell to double dip Hendrik Drost in the finals. After defeating Dixon, McConnell lost to Drost for the hot-seat 3-1. Dixon them eliminated McConnell 3-0, followed up by 3-1 and 3-2 wins over Drost in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action on April 29th – 30th at Union Station Billiards in Portland, ME for another $1500/$500 added event.
Danny Hewitt & Dave Mills Take Joss Stop At Salt City Billiards
Salt City Billiards in Syracuse NY was our host for stop #4 of the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour's current 20th season with Danny Hewitt taking top honors in the main event. Hewitt's road to the finals was a relatively easy trip with wins over Dave Johnson 9-1, Rohit Aggarwal 9-2, former NYS Champ Alan Kiehle 9-6, Joe Darigis 9-4, Spencer Auigbelle 9-6 and Hendrik Drost 9-3 for the hot seat. His opponent in the finals, Martin Daigle, had a much tougher task at hand. Having lost a hard fought hill-hill 1st round match to Bucky Souvanthong, things were not looking good. But, that loss seemed to trigger a winning attitude as Daigle proceeded to knock off opponents one by one to the tune of 9 wins in a row for him to reach the finals verses Hewitt. Daigle's victories included wins over Lance Kellogg 9-2, Bruce Carroll 9-1, Dwight Dixon 9-3, Dave Grau 9-3, Joe Darigis 9-4, Ed Saur 9-7, Bruce Nagle 9-8, Spencer Auigbelle 9-3 and Hendrik Drost 9-4.
In the true double elimination format it appeared that Daigle had not lost any steam, winning the first set of the all Canadian finals over Hewitt 9-6. The set was somewhat close early on but hewitt was always slightly behind and seemed to have a little trouble getting his game in gear. The second set however was much different as Hewitt simply dominated Daigle to the tune of 9-2. Hewitt collected $1,000 while Daigle settled for second money of $700 and Drost earned $550 for a great 3rd place finish.
Our $20 entry fee Sunday second chance tourney saw Dave Mills come back from an early loss for the win. That event saw Jason Hall defeat Jerome Rockwell for the hot seat. Mills then beat Rockwell and went on to defeat Hall two sets in the final by scores of 3-2 & 3-2. Mills collected $280 for first, Hall $180 for second and Rockwell $120 for third.
The lucky winner of our $1,500 custom engraved Joss Cue raffle was a local player, Charles Maitland.
We are fast approaching our mid season championship "Turning Stone Classic XXVII 9-Ball Open" on January 5-8, 2017. If you would like to compete in this world class event, I suggest you contact Mike Zuglan immediately to avoid being left out. The event is limited to the first 128 paid entries and Always fills months ahead. If just coming to watch, spectator admission is Free once again. Mike Zuglan can be reached at 518-356-7163.
Main Event results:
1st – Danny Hewitt – $1,000
2nd – Martin Daigle – $700
3rd – Hendrik Drost – $550
4th – Spencer Auigbelle – $400
5/6 – Bruce Nagle & Aaron Greenwood – $300 each
7/8 – Ed Saur & Marco Kam – $200 each
9/12 – Bucky Souvanthong, Joe Darigis, Ron Casanzio & Mark Creamer – $100 each
Second Chance results:
1st – Dave Mills – $280
2nd – Jason Hall – $180
3rd – Jerome Rockwell – $120
4th – Nate Marshall – $80
5/6 – Lance Kellogg & Russ Randall – $40 each
The picture includes Frank Delconte, owner, Martin Daigle 2nd place Dan Hewitt 1st Jennifer Delconte, owners wife
Front Meane Daigle Nichole Delconte (daughters)
Front Meane Daigle Nichole Delconte (daughters)