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Boudreau wins NE 9-Ball Series Tour Championship with lowest Fargo rate among final 12

(l to r): Kyle Pepin, Tyler Boudreau & Kevin Bauccio

Pepin wins 11 on the loss side to meet him in the finals
 
Tyler Boudreau picked the 2019 New England 9-Ball Series Tour Championships to chalk up his first singles win on the tour. On any tour, according to our records. He and Tom D’Alfonso shared first-place honors during the tour’s 20th stop in May, a partners tournament and placed 4th in another partners event in August. Boudreau finished in 3rd place, behind Cullen Ryan and Lukas Fracasso-Verner at the tour’s Players’ Championship in March. Boudreau finished in 9th place in what was his only cash-earning appearance on the 2018 tour. He went undefeated at the $10,000-added event that drew 112 entrants to Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI on the weekend of September 7-8.
 
Boudreau, who, Fargo rated at 445, was the lowest ranked competitor among the event’s final 12, faced a total of eight opponents, with an average Fargo Rate of 522 (+). He faced a lower Fargo rated player only once; Don Roy (435) in the opening round of play. He faced separate much higher-rated opponents in the hot seat and finals – Kevin Bauccio (607) and Kyle Pepin (655).
 
Boudreau got by Don Roy, Josh Edmonds, James Stonkus, Josh Staples and Casey Olivieri to draw Justin Myers in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Kevin Bauccio, in the meantime, after victories over Rick Gatta, Tom D’Alfonso, Ricardo Diaz, Joe Dupuis (last year’s Tour Champion), and Ross Webster faced Cody Porter in the other winners’ side semifinal. Kyle Pepin, who’d opened his campaign with a 7-3 win over Rich Senna, fell to Mike Nicoloro 6-4 I the second round and embarked on an 11-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him into the finals against Boudreau.
 
In a straight-up race to 7, Bauccio defeatEd Porter 7-4. He was joined in the battle for the hot seat by Boudreau, who, in a straight-up race to 6, had defeated  Myers 6-3. With Bauccio racing to 9 in the hot seat match, Boudreau gave up only three racks to him and claimed the hot seat 4-3.
 
Over on the loss side, Pepin was working his way through the field. He was six matches into his winning streak that had included two double hill wins (over Tom D’Alfonso and Chad Bazinet) when he ran into his third double hill win (over Gene Hunt) and then, eliminated Lukas Fracasso-Verner 6-4 to draw Cody Porter. Justin Myers picked up James Stonkus, who’d eliminated Casey Olivieri 5-2 and Josh Caesar 5-3.
 
Pepin advanced to the quarterfinals, chalking up his fourth double hill win over Porter. He was joined by Myers, who’d defeated Stonkus 5-2.
 
Pepin’s fifth and final double hill win of 11 loss-side matches came in those quarterfinals as he eliminated Myers. He then defeated Bauccio 7-4 for a shot at Boudreau in the hot seat.
 
With Pepin racing to 10, Boudreau completed his undefeated run with a first set 4-4 victory that earned him his first major regional tour win.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Bo’s Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, BCA Pool League, 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 2019-2020 season of the New England 9-Ball Series (Stop #1) will commence on Sunday, Sept. 22 and will be hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.

Leblanc gets by Mossiman twice, goes undefeated to win Stop # 4 on New England 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Jeff Mosimann, Ben LeBlanc & Matt Benson

Most major sports experience the football-originated “any given Sunday” phenomenon, which acknowledges that while favorites and underdogs exist, when you get into the games, almost anything can happen, and often enough, it does. The growing popularity of the FargoRate system in pool has a way of codifying favorites and underdogs and even, if you look it up, provides the odds in a match between opponents in possession of a FargoRate.
 
On Sunday, Oct. 21, at Legends Sports Bar in Auburn, ME, 54 entrants competed in the $1,000-added 4th stop on the 2018/2019 New England 9-Ball Series. The Fargo-rated ‘underdog,’ Benjamin Leblanc, with a rating of 525, went undefeated, downing the ‘favorite,’ Jeff Mosimann (616) twice. On this particular Sunday, Leblanc’s Fargo-rated odds of winning either of the two matches was 38.4%.
 
Leblanc and Mossiman, both emerging from the event’s upper (higher rating) bracket, met first in a winners’ side semifinal, as Matt Benson and Josh Edmonds from the lower bracket faced off in the other one. Both matches featured an opponent (Leblanc and Benson) who began the match with two ‘on the wire’ in a race to 6. Benson sent Edmonds to the loss side 4-3. Leblanc didn’t give up a rack to Mossiman. Nor did he give up a rack to Benson in the subsequent match that put him in the hot seat.
 
Mossiman moved to the loss side and met up with Kyle Sariceno, who’d defeated Ricky Bergevin, Jr. 4-1, and a racing-to-7 Ross Webster 3-5. Edmonds drew Greg Morse, recent winner over Justin Myers 4-1 and Derick Lycette, double hill 4-2.
 
Mossiman chalked up two straight double hill wins. He defeated Sariceno 6-2 and then, after Morse had downed Edmonds 4-2 to join him in the quarterfinals, he beat Morse 8-2. With Benson racing to 3 in the semifinals that followed, Mossiman gave up only a single rack to advance 8-1, to a re-match final against Leblanc.
 
Leblanc started the finals with 3 on the wire in a race to 7. He completed his undefeated, ‘any given Sunday’ run with a 4-2 victory.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Legends, along with sponsors Predator, 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 (#5) on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Nov. 4, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Bo’s Bar & Billiards in Warwick, RI.

Aguilar and Dunbar split top prizes in NE 9-Ball Series’ opener

(L to r): Matt Rezendes, Carlos Aguilar & Tyler Dunbar

Carlos Aguilar and Tyler Dunbar opted out of a final match at the end of the New England 9-Ball Series’ 2018-2019 opener, held on Sunday, September 23. As the undefeated competitor, Aguilar claimed the event title. To secure his runner-up position, Dunbar, who’d been defeated in the second round of play, won nine on the loss side to earn a spot in the finals that didn’t happen. The event drew 57 entrants to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne announced at the start of this new season for the New England 9-Ball Series that the tour would no longer be using letter ratings (A, B, C, etc.) to determine handicaps and match races. They have switched to the FargoRate system for this purpose and with certain competitors and matches, we’ll be providing current FargoRates, in parentheses, as a reference.
 
The tour continues to separate the players into lower and upper (rank) brackets at the start of events, combining them towards the end. Playing in the lower bracket, Aguilar (503) chalked up victories over Peter Rizzo, Sr., Lida Mullendore and Tyler Boudreau, who’d just sent Dunbar (461) to the loss side.  Aguilar then defeated Dorie Oakes, advancing to an overall winners’ side semifinal against Josh Edmonds (479). From the upper bracket, Matt Rezendes (539) and Jose Concepcion (585) squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
In a straight-up race to 5, Aguilar and Edmonds battled to double hill before Aguilar prevailed, advancing to the hot seat match. He was joined by Rezendes, who’d sent Concepian to the loss side 5-2 (Concepcian racing to 6). With Rezendes racing to 6, Aguilar claimed the hot seat 5-2 in what proved to be his final match.
 
On the loss side, it was Edmonds who picked up Dunbar, seven matches into his loss-side winning streak that had included recent victories over Dorie Oakes and Ben Come, both 5-1. Concepcian drew Mike Gagne, who’d chalked up two straight double hill wins against Gabriel Kirshnitz and Ruben Soto to reach him.
 
In what was Gagne’s third straight, straight-up race to 5, Concepian allowed him only one rack and advanced to the quarterfinals. Dunbar joined him following a 4-1 victory over Edmonds.
 
Dunbar started the quarterfinal match with three on the wire in a race to 6, and though he and Concepcian chalked up three racks each, the handicap advantage gave Dunbar the win and advancement to his last match of the night.
 
Dunbar and Rezendes battled to double hill before Dunbar finished it to earn a shot at Aguilar in the hot seat. The two opted out of the final match and split the top two cash prizes.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, FargoRate, 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, scheduled for October 6, will be the $500-added Dave Marcus Memorial Tournament, hosted by Buster’s Billiards in Somersworth, NH.

Parsons and Conner split top prizes on NE 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Carlton Gagnon, John Parsons & Nick Conner

By the time John Parsons and Nick Conner reached the finals of the March 24 stop on the New England 9-Ball series, they’d played a total of 56 games, and won 41 of them. Parsons (the C+ player) had been a little stingier than Conner (the A player), giving up only five racks in his 25 games. Conner went 21-10. It was to have been a true double elimination final, but when Conner took the opening set (chalking up more racks against Parsons in that single set than all of Parsons’ previous opponents combined), the two opted out of a final match and split the event’s top two prizes. The $500-added event drew 43 entrants to Legends Sports Bar & Grill in Auburn, ME.
 
The first of their two matches played out in the battle for the hot seat. Conner had defeated Samoth Sam (as an A+, racing to 5) 4-4. Parsons shut out his ‘C’ opponent, Carlton Gagnon, to join him. With Conner racing to 6 in the hot seat match, Parsons sent him to the semifinals 3-2, and waited on his return.
 
On the loss side, Sam drew an immediate re-match against Tyler Campbell, whom he’d defeated in a winners’ side quarterfinal, and then downed Josh Rupard 3-5 (Rupard racing to 6), and Steve Smith, double hill. Gagnon picked up Gary Columbie, who’d eliminated Roland Beaulieu 3-1, and Josh Edmonds, double hill.
 
Campbell defeated Sam 3-3 (Sam racing to 6), and was joined in the quarterfinals by Gagnon, who’d eliminated Columbie, double hill (3-3). By the same score, Gagnon defeated Campbell in those quarterfinals, and then had his short, loss-side streak ended by Conner, who shut him out for a second shot at Parsons in the hot seat.
 
Conner gave up only a single rack in the opening set of the true double elimination final. There wasn’t a second set. The event title and relevant cash was split between them.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Yale Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#21), scheduled for Saturday, March 31, will be an ‘A and below’ event, hosted by Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.
 

Nickerson follows 7th place Joss NE 9-Ball finish with a win on the New England 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Kyle Pepin, Dan Small (Legends owner), Carlton Chagnon & Dillon Nickerson

Recognition as a contender in the world of pool usually begins with a player’s first finish ‘in the money,’ from which it will proceed (hopefully) to higher and higher finishes and larger amounts of money to show for the efforts. To have that first (recorded) payout occur on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour isn’t unheard of, but it’s a significant radar blip on a pool career screen that suggests the player might be someone to watch. Dillon Nickerson finished 7th in the Joss NE 9-Ball’s season opener last month (The Maine Event XI in September) and the radar blip of that finish put his name into the AZBilliards database for the first time. A month later, on the weekend of October 14-15, a slightly stronger blip appeared on Nickerson’s career screen when he navigated his way through a field of 52, on-hand for the third stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, and chalked up his first event title. It should be noted that occasionally, a player’s victory or a number of them might not, for a variety of reasons, show up in the extensive AZBilliards database, because that one or those victories might not have been reported to the site’s administrators. That said, as the blip on the career screen is recorded for posterity, Nickerson has now won a regional tour title, and the money that it represents. The $1,500-added event was hosted by Legends Sports Bar & Grill in Auburn, ME.
 
At the start of an event, players on The New England 9-Ball Series are divided into two brackets that initially separate higher and lower-ranked players. Without delving too deeply into the minute details, this creates two hot seat matches (winners’ side finals), one each for the initially separate upper and lower brackets. In a single bracket, these two separate hot seat matches would be identified as the two winners’ side semifinals, leading to one hot seat match. So it was, that Nickerson, after being awarded an opening round bye and defeating three opponents faced Al McGuane in this recent event’s upper bracket hot seat match, while Charlton Chagnon (winner of four matches) faced Charles Rosco in the lower bracket’s hot seat match. Nickerson downed McGuane 6-4, as Chagnon sent Rosco to the loss side 5-1. Nickerson claimed the overall event hot seat with a double hill (8-4) win over Chagnon.
 
On the loss side, McGuane ran into an immediate re-match against Kyle Pepin, whom he had defeated earlier. Pepin’s loss-side trip in the upper bracket amounted to a single match, which he won, over Derick Burnham 8-4. This advanced him to the loss side of a single, merged bracket, where he survived a double hill fight against George Morgan to draw the re-match against McGuane. Rosco picked up Mike Pepin (Kyle Pepin’s uncle), recent winner over Kevin Lank (forfeit) and Josh Edmonds 5-3.
 
Uncle and nephew Pepin moved on to face each other in the quarterfinals; Nephew Kyle, defeating McGuane, double hill and UncLe Mike, 5-2 over Rosco. Kyle chalked up the quarterfinal win over his uncle 9-2 (Mike racing to 5). Kyle then defeated Chagnon 10-5 in the semifinals to earn a spot in the finals against Nickerson.
 
Pepin battled Nickerson to a deciding game in the opening set of the true double elimination final and won it to force a second set. Nickerson, though, came back to win the second set 6-5 (Pepin racing to 8) and claim his first recorded tour victory.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Legends, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop (#5) on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for October 21, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.

Candy Whalen goes undefeated to take New England 9-Ball Series stop in New Hampshire

Dennis Daniels, Candy Whalen and Randy Gilbert

One day after Rachel Lang went undefeated to claim a Tri-State Tour title in New Jersey (Sat., March 4), Candy Whalen chalked one up in New Hampshire with the New England 9-Ball Series. In the end, Whalen's victory (playing as a C-) came at the expense of (B player) Dennis Daniels, who had two shots at her in the hot seat match and finals, and fell short by the same score, both times. The $500-added Joe Brown Memorial event, drew 48 entrants to Buster's Billiards in Somersworth, NH.
 
In a straight-up race to 3 against fellow C- player, Randy Gilbert, Whalen survived a double hill fight in a winners' side semifinal to get into the hot seat match. She was met by Daniels, who'd defeated Dave Marcus, also double hill, in the other winners' side semifinal. With Daniels racing to 8, Whalen claimed the hot seat 4-6 and waited for him to get back from the event semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Gilbert picked up Marc Murphy (C-), who'd gotten by Roger Bowley 4-2 and Dorothy Gauvin 5-2, which, with Gauvin racing to 3, was double hill. Marcus drew fellow C+ player Josh Edmonds, who'd shut out Robert Whalen (playing as a B-), and given up only a single rack to another B-, Martin Flagg.
 
Gilbert downed Murphy 3-1, and was met in the quarterfinals by Edmonds, who, in a straight-up race to 4, had eliminated Marcus 4-1. With Edmonds racing to 5 in those quarterfinals, it was Gilbert who advanced to the semifinals with a 3-3 win. 
 
Daniels ended Gilbert's run with a decisive 7-1 victory in the semifinals and got a second chance against Whalen. Whalen, though, repeated her hot seat performance against Gilbert, claiming the event title with a second 4-6 win.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne, who was inducted into the New England Pool & Billiards Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Rhode Island on the Friday before this event, thanked the ownership and staff at Buster's Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Molinari, Bert Kinister, AzBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta-13 Racks, Bob Campbell, Championship Cloth, and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America.  The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for the weekend of March 25-26, will be the $2,000-added Players Championship, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.