When you think of top-notch players in various regions all across the country, the name Julio Burgos just doesn’t jump to the front of anyone’s list. According to Peter Ghostine, tour director of the AllOutPool Tour, that is likely to change. And soon. Burgos’ skills have been recognized, most recently on Saturday, June 16 at the 5th stop on the AllOutPool Tour, when he won nine on the loss side to defeat John Ditoro in the semifinals, and Anthony Meglino, double hill, in the finals to win his first-ever major tournament. The event drew 46 players to Beyond Billiards in Davie, FL.
“He’s new,” said Ghostine. “He’s very young, in his 20s, and he’s just coming out of his shell.”
Even in that metaphoric shell, Burgos’ skills have been noted. Though the only recorded instances of his appearance on anyone’s payout list occurred this year, when he finished 65th at the Derby City Classic’s One Pocket event in January and 17th at the 4th Texas 10-Ball Championships a month later, he entered Saturday’s handicapped tournament bearing the same handicap as the much more readily-recognized Anthony Meglino. The finals between them was a straight-up race to 11.
“We’ve been tracking his (progress) on the road, so we pretty much know his potential,” said Ghostine. “The data’s not there yet, but we’ve seen enough to know that he’s ranked that high.
“He’s capable,” he added, “of beating anybody.”
And he did, on Saturday. He beat 11 ‘anybodys;’ one in his opening round (Jason Sheerman, 8-6) and after a loss to Cristobal DeBarros (9-7), nine more on the loss side, and then, the final.
As Burgos toiled away on the loss side, his final two opponents advanced to the winners’ side semifinals. Meglino faced John Foster, as DiToro squared off against Tony Kolbe. Identical 8-4 victories sent Meglino and DiToro to the hot seat match, and eventually, in that hot seat match, DiToro to the semifinals.
With four loss-side wins to his credit (over Chad Scarborough, Michelle Ceglarek, Sandy Cheng, and TD Peter Ghostine), Burgos defeated Scott Franck 9-1, and Erick Poveda 9-3 to draw Kolbe, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. John Foster picked up Sam Kantar, who’d been shut out by DiToro in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Laz Figueroa 7-3, and William Rubin 7-4.
Burgos advanced to the quarterfinals, 9-2 over Kolbe (all scores are indicated with appropriate on-the-wire figures already added). Foster joined him by eliminating Kantar 8-2. Burgos then defeated Foster, double hill (8-7), in those quarterfinals and completed his loss-side run with a victory over (not just anybody, but wily veteran) John DiToro 8-5 in the semifinals.
At 9-9 in the race-to-11 finals, Meglino was on the verge of reaching the hill first, but miscued, affording Burgos the opportunity, which he took. Meglino did tie it up to force the deciding game, but the final rack went to Burgos, who chalked up his first victory on the AllOutPool Tour, or anywhere else, for that matter. It will likely not be his last.
In addition to the regular payouts, Janis Sessions picked up $50 as the event’s top female finisher. Tony Vierra won the event’s Made-in-USA RYO Rack raffle, valued at $200. Tour director Peter Ghostine thanked the ownership and staff at Beyond Billiards, as well as sponsors Dennis Searing, Billiard Engineering and RYO Racks. The next stop on the AllOutPool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 21-22, will be hosted by Shooter’s Billiards in Port St. Lucie, FL.
(l to r): Tommy Kennedy, Stephen Richmond & Anthony Meglino
Anthony Meglino chalked up his best earnings year, to date, in 2017, winning stops on the Sunshine State Pro Am, J. Pechauer Southeast 9-Ball and 8andOut Florida Amateur One Pocket Tours. He was among the top 10 finishers in nine other stops on the Sunshine State Pro Am and SE 9-Ball Tour, and cashed in the Derby City Classic’s (DCC) One Pocket and 9-Ball Banks Division. He opened his 2018 campaign at the tables with runner-up finishes in the DCC One Pocket Mini (to go along with a 19th in the One Pocket and 28th in 9-Ball Banks), and the February 10-11 stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am. He chalked up his first (recorded) win of the year on Saturday, February 24, going undefeated through a field of 62 on the AllOut Pool Tour. The event was hosted by Shooter’s Billiards in Port St. Lucie, FL.
After being awarded an opening round bye (one of two; the other went to Andy Breslin), Meglino started out by giving up only a single rack through his first 15 games; that one, to Javier Chirino, before he (Meglino) shut out Danny Christian. Kris Clark gave him a run for his money in a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal, but Meglino prevailed to meet James Sandaler in one winners’ side semifinal. Douglas Tittle, in the meantime, who’d defeated Meglino’s eventual finals opponent, Stephen Richmond in a winners’ side quarterfinal match, faced Kenny Willis in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Meglino went back to the quicker route, giving up only a single rack to Sandaler to get into the hot seat match. He was joined by Tittle, who’d sent Willis west 7-5. Meglino doled out another lone rack to Tittle and claimed the hot seat. Going into the finals, Meglino boasted a 35-10 game record.
On the loss side, Sandaler ran into Richmond, who’d defeated Mark Coats and Gaston Leblanc, both 6-4. Willis drew Tommy Kennedy, who’d been defeated by John Ditoro in the event’s opening round, and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would propel him as far as the quarterfinals. Kennedy had most recently shut out Chris Gentile and given up a single rack to Jason Sheerman, to pick up Willis.
Richmond downed Sandaler 6-3, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Kennedy, who’d eliminated Willis 6-2. Sandaler put an end to TK’s loss-side run 6-4 in the quarterfinals and then, earned his re-match against Meglino with a 6-2 win over Tittle.
Sandaler gave Meglino a run for his money in the finals, chalking up more racks against him than all (but one) of his opponents combined, but it wasn’t enough. Meglino concluded his undefeated run 9-5, having, throughout the course of the event, chalked up (just shy of) three out of every four games he played.
Cunningham’s Billiards Vero Beach, Fl was the latest event to host the Poison Cues Tour event. The $1000 Added amateur event attracted 62 players with 5 ladies taking advantage of the $20 entry fee.
Miami would have a large contingent of players showing up for this event which was made a extra special with the top four places all receiving a beautiful glass trophy’s supplied by Javier Chirino.
Chirino was also looking like the man to beat as he would make his way through to the hotseat with strong wins over Doug Johnson 6-2, Justin Gilsinan 6-4, Prescott Buckwold 6-3, Paul Mullins 6-0, Jeff Mabry 6-4 and then hard fought win over Raymond Linares in the winner’s side final 7-3.
The one loss side would see Tim Baron make a strong push after taking a 6-2 loss to Chris Gentile, Baron would go on to take out Jay Zink 5-4, Derek Virgilio 5-1, Paul Mullins 5-2, a 5-4 win over David Uwate would be his last as Jason Sheerman would end his run with a 5-3 loss to leave Baron in a Respectable 5th place. Sheerman would now have the task of taking on the Florida Amateur State Champion Chris Gentile this would also end his run as Gentile would come out on top with a 5-2 win leaving Sheerman in 4th spot, Gentile backed this win up with strong 5-0 win over Raymond Linares to put himself in the final.
The finals would be another great match with both players showing why they got there with strong shot making and good safety battles, However Chirino did not want to give his trophy up and would eventually come out a 7-4 winner and take the 1st place trophy and $700 1st place prize fund.
The Poison Tour also paid out more than quarter of the field for this event along with four glass trophy’s for the top four finishers. Congratulations to Kira Brown for her top lady finish receiving $50
Sunday’s $1000 Added open 10-Ball event would attract 42 players with over 30 amateurs coming back from Saturday’s event taking advantage of the two day $40 discounted entry fee.
Hunter Lombardo would be the man to beat on the day as he cruised his way to the finals with strong wins over Tim Baron 6-4, John Ditoro 6-1, Kira Brown 6-4, Mark Coats 6-0 and then a strong 7-3 win over Tony Crosby in the winners side final to capture the hotseat,.
On the one loss side Raymond Linares was proving to be a handful after taking a first round loss to David Uwate 6-2 he would go on a strong run with wins over Lincoln Seifert, Robert Raiford, Prescott Buckwold, Chettan Chhabra, John Ditoro and then Mark Coats before running into a determined Anthony Meglino who stopped his run with a 5-0 win Meglino would then go on to lose a tight 5-4 match to Tony Crosby which would set up a Lombardo Crosby Final.
The final would be a classic with neither player wanting to give an inch it would go all the way with Crosby taking it 7-6 to set up a 1 rack sudden death shootout. The shootout is designed to give the hotseat winner that 2nd chance and also guarantees 2nd place will have lost twice.
Crosby would go onto win the one rack shoot out after a positional error from Lombardo leaving Crosby a quick 2-10 combination to take down the event.
The tour would like to thank Cunningham’s pool room and its staff for hosting a very successful event.
Also our Title Sponsors Poison Cues for supplying some of the best hitting pool cues on the market.
Our next event will be 19-20th May at Park Avenue Billiards, Orange Park (Jacksonville).
Charlie Williams may have been named 2001 Player of the Year on the Florida Pro Tour but it was Super Mario that took the title of 2001 Florida State 9-Ball Champion this weekend at Shootersville in Del Ray Beach, Florida.
The two day event, the finale of the Florida Pro Tour, started with Charlie Williams being official named the Player of the Year and being presented with a very nice personalized cue case from Jack Justis as well as a glass trophy. With the formalities out of the way, the tournament began and Charlie was immediately able to put his new case to use as he was sent home after losing his first two matches to Larry Walthall and John Ditoro.
On the other side of the tournament, Mario Cruz was in cruise control and he went undefeated through the event including a 13-7 win over Dennis Searing in the finals. The win was Mario's second of the year and earned him $2500 in prize money while Searing settled for $1500 for second. Luis Viera and Will Bilbrey filled out the top 4 spots.
Charlie Williams may have gotten off to a slow start as he lost his second match of the tournament in Melbourne Florida on the first stop of the Florida Pro Open Nine Ball Tour, but that loss did not stop him. Charlie clawed his way thru the one loss side all the way to the final match with Rob Melrose and then defeated Melrose 13-11 for the tournament win. Williams collected $1600 for the win while Melrose settled for $1150 for second. John Ditoro and Steve Knoll filled out the top 4.
