Loye Bolyard, Nathan Childress, Joey Korsiak and Rick Scarlato
Though known to travel wherever necessary to compete, Joey Korsiak, whose residence is listed as Ronkonkoma, NY (about 50 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island) is known primarily for haunting pool tables in the Northeast corridor. In what was his best year at the tables (2005), when he cracked the top 100 on our AZB Money Leaderboard, five of the 10 events in which he cashed that year were on the NY-based Joss Tour and two others were in Pennsylvania (SBE Players Championship; 5th) and Rhode Island (16th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship; 17th). The other three were Derby City’s 9-Ball Division (Louisville, KY; 38th), the BCA Open (Las Vegas; 13th) and the US Open 9-Ball Championships (Virginia Beach, VA; 33rd).
He began his 2021 campaign with a single event in Connecticut in February and then has embarked on a southern journey, which took him to Maryland earlier this month (May 1-2), where he competed at the Dynaspheres Cup 10-Ball Championships and finished 3rd behind Van Boening and Raphael Dabreo. Then, onward, south, to Gastonia, NC (about 30 miles west of Charlotte), where he competed in the 1st Annual Ron Park Memorial Tournament, won by Jesus Atencio, in which he finished in the tie for 9th. This past weekend (May 15-16), he headed back north to Maryland, where he went undefeated to chalk up his first victory of the year at the 3rd Annual Maryland State 9-Ball Championships. The event, which would have been the ‘4th Annual,’ but did not occur during the year-that-wasn’t, was held under the auspices of On the Hill Productions and drew 90 entrants to Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD.
Along the way, Korsiak defeated the event’s 2019 champion, Brandon Shuff, and later, much later, in the finals, had to contend with one of the country’s hot ‘young guns,’ two-time Billiard Education Foundation champion, Nathan Childress (‘15/’16, 14 & under boys). As might have been expected, these MD State championships were packed with some of the top competitors in the Mid-Atlantic region, including, though not limited to Shuff, Shaun Wilkie, Paul Oh, Steve Fleming, Brett Stottlemeyer, Matt Krah and the Mastermaker brothers, Danny and Joey. We’d be remiss if we didn’t include Loye Bolyard and Rick Scarlato, Jr. from On the Hill Productions in that crowd (Done!).
Korsiak’s path went through Harshit Kedia, Dylan Spohr, and Robert Calton before he ran into the defending champion, Brandon Shuff. Shuff chalked up just one less rack against him than all three of his previous opponents combined (6-5), but Korsiak prevailed and advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Mike Saleh. Jose Mendez, in the meantime, who’d defeated Daniel Sharlow, James Ward, and Danny Mastermaker, drew Shaun Wilkie in a winners’ side quarterfinal. A 7-4 win set Mendez up to meet Nathan Childress in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Korsiak got into the hot seat match on the heels of a 7-2 victory over Saleh and was joined by Mendez, who’d sent Childress to the loss side 7-5. The hot seat match was Mendez’ second double hill challenge and Korsiak’s first. Korsiak won it and sat in the hot seat, awaiting what turned out to be the return of Childress.
On the loss side, Saleh picked up Jason Kochenour, who was working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently eliminated Jimmy Acosta 7-3 and narrowly, the aforementioned Rick Scarlato, Jr. Childress drew Danny Mastermaker, who’d defeated Christopher Funk 7-5 and then downed another, ‘young gun,’ more recently out of his teens than Childress, Lukas Fracasso-Verner 7-3.
Saleh and Kochenour locked up in a double hill battle that eventually sent Saleh to the quarterfinals. Childress and Mastermaker almost had themselves a double hill match, but Childress pulled out ahead at the end and won it by two 7-5.
Childress downed Saleh 7-4 to earn his rematch against Mendez in what turned out to be a double hill semifinal. Childress closed it out for a shot at Korsiak in the hot seat. Korsiak shut Childress down early and claimed the event title with a 7-2 win in those finals.
On the Hill Productions, in the persons of Rick Scarlato, Jr. and Loye Bolyard thanked the ownership and staff at Champion Billiards, as well as sponsors AlleyKat Cue Sports, AZBilliards, Aramith Balls, Lucid Ballsports (Predator Arena Light), Mezz Cues, Turtle Racks, Simonis Cloth, TAP Chesapeake Bay Region and Safe Harbor Investments. The next event on the On the Hill Productions’ schedule will be the 2021 9-Ball Summer Slam, to be held on the weekend of June 12-13 and hosted by Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD.
Coming off his best earnings year to date, Lidio Ramirez started the new year off right with an undefeated run through a field of 50 entrants to chalk up his first 2020 Tri-State Tour event title. Ramirez cashed in eight 2019 events; six on the Predator Pro Am Tour and two on the Tri-State Tour. He won a Predator stop and was runner-up twice, once on each tour. Runner-up Adrian Daniel was looking for his first win on the Tri-State Tour in three years, and his first cash finish anywhere since November 2018, when he finished 7th at the 2018 NJ State 8-Ball Championships. The $1,000-added event on Sunday, January 12 drew its 50 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Ramirez’ path went through Jose Mendez, Russell Masciotti and Kevin Shin to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match versus Edwin Gutkin. Adrian Daniel, in the meantime, squared off against Qian Chen.
Ramirez sent Gutkin to the loss side 7-4 and in the hot seat match, faced Daniel, who’d defeated Chen 6-2. In his first Tri-State hot seat match in two years, Ramirez downed Daniel 9-6.
On the loss side, Gutkin picked up Shin, who, following his defeat at the hands of Ramirez in a winners’ side quarterfinal, had gone on to eliminate Ray Feliciano 7-5 and Eugene Ok 7-4. Chen drew a rematch versus Debra Pritchett, whom he’d sent to the loss side 7-5 in one of the other winners’ side quarterfinals.
Shin advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5 win over Gutkin. He was joined by Pritchett, who’d successfully wreaked her vengeance on Chen 7-4. Shin defeated Pritchett 9-7 in those quarterfinals and joined Daniel in a mutual semifinal quest for a second shot at Ramirez in the hot seat.
Daniel put an end to Shin’s four-match, loss-side streak 7-4 in those semifinals. With that intangible benefit of momentum, Daniel took what appeared to be a commanding lead in the finals that followed and was ahead by 4, when he reached the hill at 8. Ramirez, though, came back to win the four he needed to make it a double hill battle and sunk the final 9-ball to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Bloodworth Ball Cleaners, Paul Dayton Cues, Liquid Weighted Cues, Pool & Billiards, Bender Cues, Billiards Engineering, and Romer Trophies. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, January 19, will be hosted by Shooters Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
(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.
(l to r): Raphael DaBreo, Suzzie Wong, & Jose Mendez
On average, Raphael Dabreo wins an event on the Predator Pro Am Tour about once a year, and has been doing so since 2009. In that same time frame, he’s won, on average, exactly one event on the Tri-State Tour every year. In the only year since 2009 that he failed to record a victory on either tour, he was runner-up in the Empire State 10-Ball Championships (won by Jorge Rodriguez) and the Mixed Masters division of the NYC 8-Ball Championships (won by Koka Davladze). On the weekend of October 28-29, DaBreo chalked up a second victory on the 2017 Predator Pro Am Tour, which he’d won in June. It was the first time in almost four years that DaBreo had recorded two wins on either or both of the tours. The $1,000-added Predator Pro Am event drew 59 entrants to Spin City Café Billiards in Woodside (Queens), NY.
Unlike his effort in June, when he won seven matches on the loss side to meet and defeat hot seat occupant, Koka Davladze, DaBreo took the undefeated route in this one. DaBreo was challenged by Jose Mendez in one of the winners’ side semifinals, while Suzzie Wong (about to record Predator Pro Am history) faced veteran Tony Ignomirello.
DaBreo got into the hot seat match with a 7-4 win over Mendez, as Wong was sending “Tony Iggy” to the loss side 8-5. Wong became the first D-class player to get into a hot seat match in the history of the tour. Though she battled mightily, and forced a deciding game, she did not become the first D-class player to sit in a Predator Pro Am hot seat, because DaBreo sent her to the semifinals 11-10.
As Wong had done versus DaBreo in the hot seat match, Yu put up a double hill fight against Ignomirello, but he prevailed to advance to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Mendez, who’d eliminated Hosang 7-4.
Mendez ended Ignomirello’s bid for a win with a 9-7 win in those quarterfinals. In the semifinals, with both players looking for a re-match against DaBreo, Mendez ended Wong’s bid to become the first D-class player in a Predator Pro Am final by defeating her 11-8. DaBreo closed it out with a 7-5 win over Mendez in the finals.
A concurrently-run Second Chance event drew eight entrants, and was won by Pascal Dufresne. Dufresne pocketed $100 with a victory over Duc Lam ($50) in the finals.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Spin City for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, the NAPL, Ozone Billiards, PoolOnTheNet.Com, Cappelle Publishing, and Delta-13 Racks. The next stop on the Predator Tour, scheduled for November 18-19, will be hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside, Queens.
Tom Acciavatti, Sharpshooters Rep. Kayla Riccio and Danny Hewitt
Danny Hewitt was the man to beat at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's John Babravich Memorial, held at Sharpshooters Billiards in Amsterdam, NY on October 14th and 15th.
After an opening round bye and a 9-4 win over Ron Casanzio, Hewitt faced his toughest oppoent all weekend, Jeremy Sossei. Hewitt won that match 9-6, and cruised through the event from there. Hewitt remained undefeated Saturday, and started Sunday with a 9-4 win over Jose Mendez. Meanwhile, Bruce Nagle was sending Mark Creamer to the one loss side by a 9-6 scoreline. Hewitt then sent Nagle to join Creamer on the one loss side, 9-3.
While it was Nagle that Hewitt sent to the left side of the board, it was Tom Acciavatti who came back from the left side of the board to face Hewitt in the finals. Acciavatti defeated Nagle 9-7 on the left side of the board to earn that match with Hewitt. The final would go one set, and would be quick as Hewitt scored a one sided 9-2 win over Acciavatti.
Sunday saw twenty five players come back to Sharpshooters to compete in the second chance tournament. That event saw Billy Arquette cruise through the bracket undefeated for first place. Arquette defeated Joe Ziegler 3-1 for the hot-seat, and then Spencer Auigbelle 3-1 in the first set of the finals.
In addition to all of the players who cashed in one of the events, Joey Berlin was also a winner as he won the raffle for the $1200 custom Joss Cue.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back at Sharpshooters next weekend (Oct 21-22) for the 2nd "Joss Junior 9-Ball Championship". After that event, the tour will be at Hippo's House of Billiards in Yorkville, NY on November 4th – 5th.
They say that pool is a young man’s game, and they are right for the most part. On the other hand, after a 10-year break from the game to play online poker, Connecticut’s Jorge Teixeira says he is playing the best pool of his life and he backed that claim up with a win at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop at Salt City Billiards on Jan 21st and 22nd.
Teixeira, born in Portugal but now a resident of Connecticut, was just one of the 46 players to pony up their entry fees to compete in this event, but he cruised through the winner’s bracket with Saturday wins over Jason Hall, Tony Antone, Bruce Nagle and Geoff Montgomery. Teixeira came out strong in his Sunday morning match, scoring a 9-2 win over Jose Mendez. One 9-6 win over Jeremy Sossei later, and Teixeira was sitting in the hot-seat awaiting an opponent.
On the one loss side, Sossei took on Spencer Auigbelle. Auigbell had dropped a match to Dave Grau late Saturday night but bounced back with four wins on the left side of the board on Sunday. Auigbelle would settle for third place, though after a quick 9-3 loss to Sossei.
Sossei kept his strong play going and avenged his loss to Teixeira 9-5 in the first set of the finals. The second set was a different story, though with Teixeira scoring the 9-6 for his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win.
Fifty-four year old Teixeira credited his new table at home and his practice regimen for the win. “After I started back up, I learned how to practice better. Winning that tournament meant a lot to me only because of my age and the hard work paid off. It was the best pool day of my life.” said Teixeira. He continued “Right now I'm playing the best pool of my life because of my work ethic. I know I’m going to improve even at 54 because I believe I’m doing the right kind of practice. It's a challenge vs my self. That's the only reason I play pool.”
The second chance tournament brought back fifteen players on Sunday with Hendrick Drost taking the hot-seat with a 3-2 win over Jamie Garrett. Garrett then beat Brian Lipes 3-1 to earn another shot at Drost in the finals. Garrett would get his revenge with a 3-1 win over Drost in the first set of the finals, but it was Drost with an identical 3-1 win in the second set to earn first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Sharpshooters Billiards in Amsterdam NY on February 18th – 19th for their next stop, another $1500/$500 added event.
Derrick Beckwith, room owner Frank Delconte, Danny Hewitt, Bucky Souvanthong and Jolie Delconte
It took him two sets, but Bucky Souvanthong held off Danny Hewitt to win his first Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop of the season.
Souvanthong raced through the winner's side on Saturday with impressive wins over Martin Daigle, Hendrik Drost and Geoff Montgomery. A sunday morning win over Spencer Auigbelle set Souvanthong up in the hot-seat match against Travis Salvetti. Salvetti had ended Saturday with a 9-6 win over Danny Hewitt, and then started Sunday with a tough 9-7 win over Aaron Greenwood. It would be another close match for the hot-seat, with Souvanthong winning 9-7.
After the loss to Salvetti, Hewitt eliminated Jamie Garrett 9-2 late on Saturday night. Sunday saw Hewitt defeat Ron Casanzio 9-5, Auigbelle 9-4, Daigle 9-7 and then Salvetti 9-7.
Hewitt rode his momentum into the double elimination finals, and scored a 9-4 win over Souvanthong in the first of two sets. The second set was a mirror of the first set though, with Souvanthong taking the match 9-4 for first place.
The second chance event on Sunday saw Jose Mendez defeat Dave Ricci twice in the finals to take first place. Mendez lost to Ricci 3-1 for the hot-seat, but came back to score a 3-1 and then a 3-0 win over Ricci in the finals.
Derrick Beckwith was the lucky winner of the $1700 custom engraved Joss cue at this event.
Players are reminded that the tournament scheduled on April 23rd and 24th at Raxx in West Hempstead had been postponed. The next Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stop will be June 4th – 5th at Snookers in Providence, RI.
Two of Koka Davladze's last three wins on the Tri-State Tour have come as the result of making it to the hot seat match and deciding, with a finals opponent, not to play a last match. A little over a year ago (September, 2013 in Brooklyn), he split the top prize with Chris DeCaprio. In March, this year, he went undefeated again; this time, playing and winning a final match against Keith Diaz. On Sunday, October 27, Davladze found himself in the hot seat again, and this time, opted out of a final match against Keith Adamik. The $1,000-added event drew 45 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens.
Davladze opened his six-opponent, undefeated run with victories over Carl Yusuf Khan, Ed Culhane, Chumreon Sutcharitakul and a 7-4 win over Adamik. This set him up for a winners' side semifinal against Miguel Laboy. Jaydev Zaveri, in the meantime, met up with Eric Hummel. Davladze sent LaBoy (7-5) to a loss-side meet-up with Adamik. Zaveri sent Hummel over 7-4. Davladze chalked up his sixth and final win against Zaveri 9-8.
On the loss side, Adamik, having moved past Stewart Warnock 7-6 and Sutcharitakul 7-5, met and defeated LaBoy 7-2. In the quarterfinals, he faced Ramon Feliciano, who'd gotten by Tony Ignomirello 6-2 and Pat Mareno 6-4, before eliminating Hummel 7-4.
Adamik defeated Feliciano 8-4, and then, in what proved to be his final match, downed Zaveri in the semifinals 8-6. Davladze and Adamik, who opted out of a final match, are among the tour's top five "A/A+" players. Going into the event, Adamik (A) was in second place behind Miguel LaBoy (A+) whom he'd defeated in the 5/6 matches), with Davladze (A+) in fifth place, behind Eric Grasman (A+) and Jose Mendez (A).
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Bartron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, at BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights, NY is scheduled for November 2.
Eric Grasman, Luis Jimenez, Jose Mendez and room owner-operator Kevin Buckley
Luis Jimenez, after a couple of unsuccessful runs competing against fellow amateurs on the Predator Tour this year, signed on to the September 20-21 stop on the Tri-State Tour, where he'd won two in a row, going undefeated, in June of 2013, and went undefeated again, through a field of 59 entrants. The $2,500-added event was hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
After victories over Dennis Kennedy, Mike Figueroa, Jaret Buyund, and T.J. Aguis, Jimenez met up with Nick Antonakis for a winners' side semifinal. Jose Mendez, in the meantime, faced Eric Grasman. Jimenez sent Antonakis over 7-5, and was joined in the battle for the hot seat by Mendez, who'd defeated Grasman, also 7-5. Jimenez defeated Mendez 7-4 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Grasman.
On the loss side, Grasman began his three-match march back to the finals against Robert Pamilar, who'd shut out Miguel Laboy, and eliminated Koka Davladze 8-6. Antonakis picked up T.J. Aguis, who'd defeated Tony Ignomirello 6-1, and John Morrison 6-4. Grasman and Aguis advanced to the quarterfinals; Grasman 8-4 over Pamilar and Aguis 6-5 against Antonakis.
Grasman earned his rematch against Mendez with a 9-6 win over Aguis in the quarterfinals, and then successfully wreaked his vengeance against Mendez 7-2 in the semifinals. Jimenez completed his undefeated run with an 8-4 win over Grasman in the finals.
Tour representatives thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley, owners of Gotham City Billiards, and their staff, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Barton, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, September 27, will be hosted by BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY.
