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Chicago Winners: Dobosenski & Cozzolino Head to the Andy Cloth World Tournament of 14.1

The first qualifier for the 2015 Andy Cloth World Tournament of 14.1 took place Saturday, June 6, 2015 at Red Shoes Billiards in Alsip, Illinois for the 7th straight year. Longtime 14.1 specialists Ron Dobosenski of Wisconsin and Chicago's Bob Cozzolino took the top honors. For the 10th year in a row, qualifiers will be held nationwide for the 75th edition of The World Tournament of 14.1. Players all over the United States will be able to take their chance to win a spot into the grand slam of straight pool! Each qualifier winner will be guaranteed a minimal of 6 round robin matches in the finale main event. The main event will take place once more in New York City. Dragon Promotions is pleased to keep the oldest billiard event in the world alive with the 75th production on July 13th-19th, 2015. As usual, a star studded field is expected this year at Steinway Billiards Cafe, who is once more hosting this world class event. The World Tournament Official Equipment include Viking Cue with all matches played on Andy Cloth. Event partners include Mr.Tom Gleich, Dr. Gregory Diehl, Mr. Greg Hunt of Amsterdam Billiards, & Mr. Jim Gottier of Greenleaf's Pool Room. Patron sponsors include Mr. Harold Siegel of Excelsior Graphics, Dr. James Heller, Mr. Charles Eames of Charles Eames Photography, Frank Scharbach of Frank's Billard Cafe, and the National Amateur Pool League. 
 
The World Tournament will be live streamed on AZBTV . Official media partners are www.NYCGrind.com , Pool & Billiard Magazine, & tech support by Gotham City Technologies. 
 
Most of the usual suspects were there, but a few out of towners showed up to take a shot at the biggest straight pool event in the world. We had Hal Johns and Peter Hull coming in from Ohio this year and we had Jim Colling making the trip from Texas as well as Ron Dobosenski and Robert Crawford coming down from Madison Wisconsin all for the second straight year. The rest of our 15 man field was rounded out by local guys from the Greater Chicago area.
 
Ed Latimer, who has been a straight pool fixture in Chicago forever started out with a match against one of the Ohio fellows, Hal Johns. Hal is a straight pool enthusiast who has made trips to Chicago before most notably, whenever Danny Diliberto was in town to give lessons. Hal is an old school player who owns a Balabushka cue. He said he was just getting in the tournament to help support our effort, yet he acquitted himself well, falling just a bit short with Mr. Latimer, 67-100. 
 
Bob Crawford of Madison Wisconsin had been in the Red Shoes Straight Pool League last session, making the 3 hour plus drive twice a month to compete. He had recently made 140 balls in back to back innings, but again, he said he was coming down to help support straight pool in our area. In his first match he bested a young sharpshooter named Chris Medvid, who has been in a few of Red Shoes straight pool leagues, but with a new baby, has had to cut back on his pool playing recently.
 
Tom Karabatsos who has been playing straight pool forever and is a pupil of Dallas West’s matched up with Ted Antle, who is a great straight pool supporter and is in the 14.1 club this year as well as being a 2016 George Fels Memorial Derby City Straight Pool Challenge sponsor.
 
Jim Colling of Texas matched up with Vince Crovetti, a local golf pro who has been playing in Red Shoes Straight Pool Leagues, Illinois Billiard Club Leagues, and who has played in other tournaments closer to the Wisconsin Border where he lives for many years. 9Ball Jim, as he calls himself on AZBilliards has been a nine ball player and is a good shooter, but has been transitioning his game to Straight Pool for probably the last 5 years. He boasts a high run of 70, so far. He was able to beat Vince in their opening round.
 
Rich Klein who has been running most of the straight pool leagues in Chicago, and who is a member of the 14.1 club, and who is a sponsor yearly for the George Fels Memorial Derby City Straight Pool Challenge was matched up against one of the Ohio lads, Peter Hull. Peter Hull is a lawyer from Hinckley, Ohio, who is active in Ohio straight pool circles. He told me he has a pool table and a billiards table in his basement. He ran a 37 en route to dispatching Rich and moved ahead in the brackets.
 
Yours truly, Dennis Walsh got the dubious honor of matching up with Bob Cozzolino in the first round. Coz, as we call him has already been to the big show three previous times and Walsh has never ever beaten him. Perhaps because it was early or perhaps because he was conserving his strength for later, Coz allowed me to get to 95 before running 7 and out to win his first match.
 
Ron Dobosenski is from Madison, Wisconsin where he lives with his wife of 39 years. He is a former multiple state and Midwest champion who played numerous professional events in the early 1980s. He is a student of 14.1 Hall of Fame inductee, Frank “Sailor” Stellman and boasts a high run of 211. He is now retired and has started playing again. He met up with Mario Galletti in the first round and was able to emerge triumphant.
The fellow who got the bye in the first round, Joe Klein, was rewarded by getting to meet up with Tom Karabatsos in the second round. Tom has probably played Joe many times over the years and was able to take him down and move forward.
 
Bob Crawford got to 70 something against Ed Latimer. Jim Colling got to 81 against Cozzolino and Ron Dobosenski was able to beat Peter Hull.
In the next round on the winner’s side, Ed Latimer got to sit in his chair while Tom Karabatsos had two 40 ball runs against him. Bob Cozzolino got ahead of Ron Dobosenski 86-79, but he must have blinked because Ron ended up winner 100-87.
 
This led to the winner’s side matchup between Ron Dobosenski and Tom Karabatsos. Ron had played Tom twice in last year’s qualifier and Tom had won both games, sending Ron back to Wisconsin. This year, Ron saved his best for last, running 52 and a 28 back to back, winning easily.
 
Tom then had to wait while me and the rest of the losers had to battle it out on the left side for the opportunity to play Tom for the second spot. There was a lot of commotion over on the loser’s side, but eventually, Bob Cozzolino beat Peter Hull to take on Tom Karabatsos for the final spot. Bob saved his best for last running a 40 and 2 20s on his way to victory. 
 
Last year’s inductee to the 14.1 Straight Pool Hall of fame, Frank “Sailor” Stellman was there watching most of the matches and hand delivering his $250 donation to the 14.1 club to help with the prize fund. As always, John Lavin was the perfect host , making everyone feel welcome and creating a 14.1 oasis in the Midwest that cannot be beaten. Thanks to all of the players and all of the spectators for creating a wonderful Straight Pool Event once again.
 
The finale qualifier will be held at Amsterdam Billiards in New York City. Amsterdam has been a huge supporter of the World Tournament of 14.1 from the start of its resurrection in 2006 and has held a qualifier every year for 10 years straight, giving them the distinction of being the only billiard room to do so. This has all been due to the enormous generosity of Greg Hunt, owner and founder of Amsterdam Billiard Club since 1989.

Pam Takes on the Men: Winners of the Predator World 14.1 Qualifiers

Pam Cimarelli

Queens, New York-  Chicago, New York City, New Jersey, and Ohio produced 9 winners to add to the elite field in this Sunday’s start of the 72nd Predator World Tournament of 14.1. Players traveled from New Jersey to New York, New York to New Jersey, Georgia to Ohio, and so on to earn their way to the biggest straight pool event of the year. One unique standout will be Pam Cimarelli, the sole woman in the men’s field during the Predator World Tournament.

“I was really surprised to see so many new guys show up to play in the qualifier. Some I knew didn’t really have a chance to win, but they just wanted to be a part of the experience, which tells me the World Tournament has really gained alot of ground here. I run the straight pool leagues here, and I definitely noticed a spike in interest over the years. The World Tournament is helping keep 14.1 going in many places”, said Danny Barouty, one of the great 14.1 players and advocates in NYC. Barouty also ran the World Tournament Qualifiers for Amsterdam Billiards.

In New Jersey, Dennis Spears went undefeated including a nice 70+ ball run at Sandcastle Billiards owned by Ed Liddawi . Joey Kong got the 2nd place spot.

In Ohio, Mark Ritter won his second year in a row qualifier with John Crawford coming in second spot at Continuous Play Billiards owned by Joe Toth.

In Chicago, Tom Karabotsos won for the third year in a row with a 70+ ball run and Bob Cozzolino getting the second spot at John Lavin‘s Red Shoe Billiards  .

In New York City, Bob Madenjian won his second straight year qualifier with 14.1 newcomer “Alaskan”  Sean Morgan in second at Greg Hunt’s legendary Amsterdam Billiard Club.

And of course, New Jersey’s Pam Cimarelli won the Amsterdam Billiards Women’s Only qualifier and will be the lone female entrant in the 72nd World Tournament. 

“I’m so excited. I’m really at a loss for words. Excitement is all I feel! Allen Hopkins has been showing me some things at my poolroom and so has Jimmy Fusco who is like my uncle. I absolutely love playing the guys”, said Cimarelli who’s high run in straight pool is an incredible 142 balls.
And her reaction when Pam was informed that she was in Group 1 and would face the reigning World Tournament Champion Thorsten Hohmann?
“Oh wow! I will love it!”, she exclaimed. “He doesn’t intimidate me at all. Because he is such a gentleman.”
 
“She’s a real good ball pocketer, so she could surprise some people”, said Allen Hopkins, former World 14.1 Champion.

The 2012 Predator World Tournament by Dragon Promotions & Dr.Michael Fedak is proudly co-sponsored by Championship Cloth, Olhausen Tables, Amsterdam Billiards, Aramith Balls, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Championship Tour Edition Chalk, and straight pool aficionados Dr.Louis Pannullo of NYC, Stu Mattana of NYC, Ralph Rubin of MD, and Tom Gleich of NC. Co-contributors Dr.James Heller, Drew Thomas, and Charles Eames. 

Collectors can purchase the main TV table where the finals and all streamed matches will be played on. The beautiful new Olhausen Grand Champion Pro II is valued at $6500 but will have an incredible $5000 price tag which includes souvenir Aramith Balls used in the event, Championship Tour Edition Cloth, and free installation! The table will also be signed by the champion along with an autographed poster of all the World Tournament players. For more information on buying the table, player registration, sponsorship, or if you would like to submit a comment, please email worldstraightpoolchampionships@gmail.com or contact Dragon Promotions at 1-407-782-4978.
Full event info is now at www.Worldstraightpool.com and more info on www.dragonpromotions.com

The 2nd Annual Straight Pool Hall of Fame Dinner will be inducting Danny Diliberto and Jack Colavita. Fans can buy tickets in advance by going to http://worldstraightpool.com/tickets.html 

Get the latest news by following http://www.facebook.com/Worldstraightpool and www.twitter.com/Dragonpromoter
Reserve your tickets for the main events and the exhibitions at: caromcafe.qrickets.com 
Pay per view streaming available (14.1 and 3c):  www.worldstraightpool.com

National Qualifiers for the Predator World 14.1

Queens, New York – Any player who likes straight pool can have their chance to play in the 14.1 event of the year! The Predator World Tournament of 14.1 Qualifiers will be held in California, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. Players attending these events will not only enjoy competing in top-notch straight pool, but vie for a chance to win a free spot into the main event to be held in New York City July 29 – Aug 3, 2012. The 11 qualifier winners from around the country will be paired in groups that include stars such as Thorsten Hohmann, Mika Immonen, John Schmidt, Stephan Cohen, Johnny Archer and many more stars of the billiard world!

Dragon Promotions, in partnership with Dr. Michael Fedak, will once again produce this event which will take place at Carom Cafe in Queens. Sixty-four world class 14.1 masters will arrive on American soil and attend this prestigious event to play for the coveted title of greatest straight pool player in the world. Billiard industry giants Championship Cloth, Olhausen Tables, and Aramith Balls are also the official sponsors of the event and joining together in support of the oldest tournament in billiards in the 72nd edition of the World Tournament of Straight Pool. 

“We are happy to showcase our Tour Edition 3030 cloth at the World Tournament and have the best players in the World see for themselves why Championship has always been the best playing and longest lasting Worsted cloth on the market today.  As America’s oldest tournament, for us it’s fitting that America’s largest Cloth Manufacturer should support it,” said Fred Cohen, President of Championship LLC.

Each qualifier is a $105 entry fee and double elimination races to 100 points. The top 2 finishers in each event will get a free entry and spot into the Predator World Tournament, with the exception of the Virginia Qualifier which only will award 1st place the free spot.

The winners of the qualifiers will also be invited and have a paid reserved seat for the Straight Pool Hall of Fame Banquet on August 1st.

The qualifiers:

July 7-8   Newport News, VA    Pockets Billiards  (757) 591-2162  Owner Allen Cox
July 7-8   Los Angeles, CA  Hard Times Billiards  (562) 867-7733  Owner  Eddie Arreguin
July 14-15   Cleveland, OH  Continuous Play  (440) 842-5177  Owner Joe Toth
July 14-15  Edison, NJ   Sandcastle Billiards  (732) 632-9277  Owner Ed Liddawi
July 21-22  Chicago, IL  Red Shoe Billiards (708) 388-3700  Owner John Lavin
July 21-22 New York City, NY Amsterdam  (212)-995-0333  Owner Greg Hunt