Three of the four matches that Shiekh Ahmed played to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal during the 4th stop on the New England 9-Ball Series on the weekend of October 19-20, went double hill. Working from the event’s lower (Fargo Rate) bracket, in straight-up races to 5, he gave up four racks to all but one opponent. He was sent to the loss side in the winners’ side semifinal match, won three on that side of the bracket and then, double-dipped hot seat occupant Brian Tierney to claim his first recorded event title. The $500-added event drew 42 entrants to Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.

 

Looking for your first regional title, getting locked up in two straight double hill fights right out of the gate can’t be encouraging. Ahmed survived his opener against Mark Menillo and his second match against John Porto, before he caught a bit of break and was able to down Sarah Archer 5-2. He was right back in the soup for the winners’ side quarterfinal, where once again, he had to play a single, deciding game. He won that game versus Mike Zingarella and advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Phil Walton.

 

Meanwhile, in the upper bracket neighborhood, Brian Tierney, following a bye, was working his way toward the hot seat with victories over Dennis Brewer 6-4, Ryan Cullen 4-4 (Cullen racing to 7) and Tom D’Alfonso 4-5 (D’Alfonso racing to 8) to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Brett Cavazos.

 

Tierney sent Cavazos to the loss side, double hill (6-5) and in the hot seat match faced Walton, who’d sent Ahmed over 4-3 (Ahmed racing to 5). Tierney claimed the hot seat 7-1 over Walton and waited on the return of Ahmed.

 

Ahmed moved over and picked up Kevin Brule, who was in the midst of a roller-coaster, five-match, loss-side winning streak, in which he’d shut out two opponents (Liana Pitre and Mike Zingarella), gave up a single rack to two more (Aundria Reynolds and Mark Menillo) and survived a double hill match against a fifth (Justin Bertrand). Brett Cavazos picked up Lukas Fracasso-Verner, who was working on a six-match, loss-side streak that had most recently eliminated Frank Porto 6-1 and shut out Tom D’Alfonso.

 

Ahmed advanced to the quarterfinals by recording his fourth double hill win, over Brule. He was joined by Fracasso-Verner, who won his seventh loss-side match 6-2 over Cavazos (racing to 4).

 

With Fracasso-Verner racing to 7, Ahmed advanced 4-7 to his semifinal rematch against Walton. With Walton racing to 4, Ahmed earned his shot at Tierney in the hot seat with a 5-2 semifinal victory.

 

With Tierney racing to 6 in the first set, Ahmed won it 5-4. The second set, technically a loss-side match, featured a different dynamic, as the two squared off in a straight-up race to 5. Ahmed took that match 5-2 to claim his first event title.

 

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Yale Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, 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 and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#5), scheduled for Saturday, October 26, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Legends Billiards in Lewiston, ME.

Lukas Fracasso-Verner got by the slightly higher-ranked Ryan Cullen once, but he couldn’t get it done a second or third time in the finals of the New England 9-Ball Series’ Players Championship (stop #16), held on the weekend of March 16-17. Cullen came back from the initial loss and double dipped Fracasso-Verner in the event finals to become the tour’s 2019 Players Champion. The $1,000-added event drew 50 entrants (27 in a lower bracket, 23 in an upper bracket) to Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.

The two met first in a winners’ side semifinal, which, in effect, was the final of the event’s initial upper bracket. So, too, did Tyler Boudreau and Jimmy Gonzalez meet in a winners’ side semifinal, which, in effect, was the final of the event’s initial lower bracket. Playing with a FargoRate that was six points below Cullen’s (650-644), Fracasso-Verner got by him the first time 7-4, which put him into the hot seat match against Boudreau, who’d defeatEd Gonzalez 4-3 (Gonzalez with the higher FargoRate – 500 to 400 – racing to 6). Fracasso-Verner gave up only a single rack against Boudreau (racing to 4) and claimed the hot seat 10-4.

Put another way, Fracasso Verner won the event’s upper bracket competition, while Boudreau picked up the win in the event’s lower bracket competition. Neither one of them would win the overall Players Championship title, won by Cullen.

On the loss side, with the brackets still divided, upper bracket competitors Cullen and Mike Hurley met, while in the lower bracket, Gonzalez and John Porto hooked up. Hurley had survived a double hill fight against Bart Rivezzi and eliminated Mario Argentino 7-3 to draw Cullen. Porto had downed Nicole Netherland 5-3 and shut out Tim Nieves to pick up Gonzalez.

Cullen downed Hurley, double hill (7-5) and in the quarterfinals, faced Gonzalez, who’d defeated Porto 5-3. In those quarterfinals, Cullen (from the upper bracket) eliminated Gonzalez (from the lower bracket) 9-2.

In the semifinals, Boudreau, separated from Cullen by 250 FargoRate points (600-450) put up a double hill fight (in essence, Boudreau began a race to 10, with 6 on the wire), but it wasn’t enough. Cullen chalked up the 10 he needed before Boudreau had won his necessary 4th rack.

In a straight-up race to 7, in the opening set of a true double elimination final, Cullen and Fracasso-Verner battled to double hill before Cullen finished it to force a second set. Fracasso-Verner weakened a little in the second set, and Cullen pulled ahead to win it by three 7-4 and claim the Players Championship title.

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Yale Billiards 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 (#17), scheduled for Sunday, April 7, will be a Partners Tournament, hosted by Snookers, in Providence, RI. The event will be limited to the first 64 teams and pre-registration is recommended.