Congratulations to stop 9 winners, Lukas Fracasso-Verner ($3,500 & 34th Ocean State 9-Ball Champion) & Francisco Cabral ($340 Second Chance)
Congratulations to Turning Stone Classic XXXVI 9-Ball Open Champion Jayson Shaw ($10,000 & his 9th win!!), Landon Hollingsworth ($500 Second Chance) & $1,900 Joss Cue Raffle Winners, Suzzie Wong & Tim Spohr
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour stop # 10 will be at Sharp Shooters Billiards & Sports Pub in Amsterdam NY on February 18 & 19 for our “Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXIV”. Tim and Julie Berlin, owners of Sharp Shooters, deserve much thanks for once again hosting our event and allowing us the use of their beautiful room. Be sure to make it to this one as it could be our last at Sharp Shooters! Due to family obligations, Tim has decided to sell Sharp Shooters after being in business for 12 years now. He is looking to sell everything together which includes the building, all equipment and the business. Included are 8 of the 9 ft Diamond Pro tables & lights that were previously used at one of our Turning Stone events as well as 6, 7 foot Diamond bar boxes all covered in 860 Simonis, “The Cloth Of Champions”. At Sharp Shooters there is something for everyone. You can enjoy a friendly game of Pool, Foosball, Darts and even two tournament quality indoor Bocce Ball courts, all while meeting friends out for some food, drinks & to watch the game. A fun and friendly atmosphere for all ages! They feature a Pub Menu that has all of your favorites, as well as a full service bar – Sharp Shooters Billiards & Sports Pub is one stop shopping for a great night out! Check them out at www.sharpshootersbilliards.com
For serious inquiries regarding the possible purchase plus much more info about Sharp Shooters, contact Tim Berlin ASAP at 518-944-6797
For those in need of motel accommodations, there are 2 nearby: Super 8, 5502 Rt 30 S, Amsterdam NY 12010 – 518-843-5888 OR
Valley View Motor Inn, 1351 NY Rt 5 S, Amsterdam NY 12010 – 518-842-5637. Both are just off exit 27 of I90 (NYS thruway) and very close to Sharp Shooters.
This event at Sharp Shooters Billiards & Sports Pub will consist of a $1500 added Saturday and Sunday Main Event (entry Fee $120 for pro level or $70 for non pro level) and a $500 added second chance event on Sunday ($20 Entry Fee) for those non pro players eliminated from the main event on Saturday.
For those of you coming to play, please arrive on Saturday February 18, BEFORE 11:00 AM, and in proper dress please. Jeans and sneakers are permitted in our billiard parlor events only. But please, no T-shirts, tanks, shorts or sweats. Complete tour info can be found at www.joss9balltour.com
Be aware that I reserve the right to alter the format of any of our events to accommodate large fields, shortage of 9 footers or by direction of the host room owner!
SCHEDULE UPDATE: I have added stop # 16.5 at Amazin Billiards in Malden MA (near Boston) on May 20 & 21!! This will be the “Massachusetts State 9-Ball Championships” and will be $1,500 Added to the main event plus $500 Added to the second chance event. More info at joss9balltour.com or at amazinbilliards.com
Please send all replies and inquiries to mzjosstour@aol.com or call Mike Zuglan at 518-356-7163. This gmail address is only used for announcements.
Please remember to spread the word to frequent your local billiard parlors and utilize the world class products of our most generous sponsors. They are the backbone of our sport and deserve our support!!
Thanks, and I hope to see you all at Sharp Shooters.
Mike Zuglan
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour Is Proudly Sponsored By;
If North Carolina’s Joey Tate had a notion to begin his third year as a junior competitor on the Junior International Championships’ (JIC) series of events with some sort of statement, he accomplished that objective well. In the first event of the 2023 JIC season, held this past weekend (Jan. 13-15) at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA, he went undefeated through the 18U Boys division and came from the loss side to claim the ProAm division event; both drew 29 entrants. Skylar Hess, in the meantime, did much the same thing in the 18U Girls division (10 entrants), her ‘statement’ amounting to an undefeated run through the field to claim the first 2023 JIC title in that division and ending a streak of eight appearances in 2022 without a win. In all (with some crossover between different divisions and the gender/age-neutral ProAm division), the JIC season opener drew 88 entrants to Wolf’s Den.
We will cover the two 13U divisions in a separate report, though for now, we’ll report that Hayden Ernst went undefeated to claim the 13U Boys Division and Noelle Tate (Joey’s younger sister) came from the loss side (defeated in the hot seat) for a rematch against Arianna Houston and won the 13U Girls Division.
As Joey Tate and his perennial rival in these JIC events over the past two years (Landon Hollingsworth) came to the tables this past weekend, it’s likely that beyond their singular, cliched task of “taking it one game/match at a time” and “playing the table, not your opponent,” they had a portion of their sights set on the end-of-the-year 18U Boys Championship, an invitational event that plays out during the International Open in Norfolk, VA. Pitting the top players in thedivision at the end of each season each other, the inaugural 18U Boys Championship was won by Hollingsworth and Tate claimed the title last November. Though at this stage of the literal game, it’s a little early to be thinking about that, it’s hard to imagine that given their relatively short-history rivalry, they’re not thinking about that eventual ‘rubber match’ in the third 18U Boys Championship in November, at least once in a while.
In fact, it probably crossed their minds when they met for the first and only time in the opening round of the 18U Boys event, when Tate sent Hollingsworth to the loss side 7-3. They are, by the way, separated by only three Fargo Rate points; Tate, 700 and Hollingsworth, 697. Tate advanced and ran right into Landon Hollingsworth’s brother, Cameron, who battled him to double hill before Tate finished the match, eventually advancing to the hot seat against Nathan Nunes, who, on his journey to the winners’ side final, had defeated the other eventual finalist, Eddie Vonderau. Tate claimed the hot seat 7-2 over Nunes.
On the loss side, Vondereau downed Cameron Hollingsworth 7-5, Hunter Zayas, double hill and Niko Konkel to draw Landon Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth, after his opening round loss to Tate, had embarked on a five-match winning streak that had recently eliminated Logan Whitaker, double hill and Brent Worth in a shutout. His streak came to end when Vondereau defeated him 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Vondereau and Nunes engaged in a spirited semifinal, in which Vondereau edged out in front at the end to win 7-5. Joey Tate was taking no prisoners, as he completed his undefeated run by allowing Vondereau only a single rack in the finals to claim the event title.
Sklyar Hess
In the absence of one, Hess gets by two JIC opponents who finished ahead of her in 2022
Though she failed to win a JIC event in 2022, Skylar Hess was runner-up, twice; to Bethany Tate in Stop #3 and Sofia Mast in Stop # 7. Tate finished at the top of the series’ 2022 rankings, with Mast in 2nd place. Precilia Kinsley finished third in those rankings. Mast and Hess, in the first two years of the JIC, had created a rivalry dynamic similar to Hollingsworth/Tate in the 18U Boys division. Mast, though, was not present at this most recent 18U Girls event. Though present, Tate finished in 4th place and did not face Hess. Precilia Kinsley did.
Kinsley worked her way through Bethany Tate’s younger sister, Noelle and sent Hess’ eventual opponent in the finals, Courtney Hairfield to the loss side 7-5 in a winners’ side semifinal. Hess downed Hayleigh Marion and Sabrina Long to join her in the hot seat match. Hess claimed it 7-4.
Hairfield moved to the loss side and downed Marion in a double hill fight and eliminated Bethany Tate in the quarterfinals 7-2. Hairfield and Kinsley came within a game of double hill before Hairfield prevailed 7-5 to face Hess in the finals. In an extended race-to-9, Hairfield and Hess also came within a game of double hill before Hess pulled out in front to claim the title 9-7.
Tate and Hollingsworth square off in winners’ side semifinal of ProAm event
The marquee matchup of J. Tate v. L. Hollingsworth happened twice in the gender/age-neutral ProAm division of the JIC’s opening weekend. They split them, while the order in which the two matches were played proved to be significant.
They met in a winners’ side semifinal, while Nathan Nunes and Dustin Muir met in the other one. Hollingsworth sent Tate to the loss side 7-5 and was joined in the hot seat match Nunes, who’d defeated Muir 7-3. There are very few so-called surprises in the world of pool at any level, especially when two opponents are somewhat evenly matched. Hollingsworth entered the hot seat match with a Fargo Rate 59 points higher than Nunes (697-638). But it was Hollingsworth who moved to the semifinals, when Nunes claimed the hot seat 7-5.
The loss-side battles for advancement to the quarterfinals featured two, double hill matches; Tate versus Nathan Childress and Dustin Muir against Jas Makhani. Tate defeated Childress, as Muir eliminated Makhani. Tate earned his rematch against Hollingsworth with a 7-5 victory over Muir in those quarterfinals.
Surprise, surprise! The semifinal was a fight to the finish, known in the pool world as a double hill match. The three-point Fargo Rate differential gave Tate a slight edge in terms of probability, but it wasn’t one that you’d have been likely to have gotten any great odds, either way.
Tate advanced to the finals over Hollingsworth and (surprise, surprise) locked up in a second straight double hill battle, with the event title on the line. He claimed it 9-8 over Nunes to chalk up his first of two 2023 JIC titles on the same weekend.
With a much tougher field to battle with this time, Jayson Shaw still persevered to win a record 9th Turning Stone Classic as the Turning Stone Classic XXXVI in Verona, NY on January 5th – 8th.
Shaw saw his route to a 9th title getting a bit tougher, early on the final day, after he dropped a 9-6 match to Skyler Woodward. While this match was going on, Jeremy Sossei was making quick work of Joss Tour regular Kevin West. Sossei would find himself on the wrong side of another quick match in the next round, dropping a 9-1 decision to Woodward for the hot-seat.
Shaw got to work on the left side of the board, where he eliminated Japan’s Naoyuki Oi 9-6. It was in the next round that Shaw truly got into his usual dominating style at the table. He beat Fedor Gorst for the second time in the event, this time by a lopsided 9-2 scoreline. In the semi-final match, he handed Jeremy Sossei an identical 9-2 beating, to secure his rematch with Woodward in the finals.
The finals were one race to thirteen and Woodward came out of the gate strong, and quickly held a 3-0 lead. A three rack lead is nothing to players of this level, and Shaw made up the 3 rack deficit to tie the match at 3-3. Woodward scratched on the break at 4-4 and Shaw made him pay for that mistake in a big way as he ran out to a 7-4 lead. Woodward played a great 3-9 combo in the twelfth rack, only to see the cue ball follow the 9-ball into the pocket. That mistake cost him two racks as Shaw extended the lead to 9-4.
Woodward won two racks to claw back within three racks at 9-6, but a missed 2-ball by Shaw in the sixteenth rack led to another three racks for Shaw and he held the lead at 12-6. Woodward got one more opportunity when Shaw failed to get out in the nineteenth rack. He made the most of that opportunity as he ran that rack out for a 12-7 scoreline. Woodward then broke and ran the following rack. And the next. And the next. Before the fans in attendance, and watching the live stream online, knew it, the score was tied at 12-12, with Woodward breaking. Woodward would not be able to complete the comeback though, as he missed a touchy six-ball, leaving Shaw a relatively simple four balls to run for his third straight, and ninth overall, Turning Stone Classic title.
Shaw celebrated with the $10,000 first place price, while Woodward settled for $6,500 in second place prize money, as well as a nice bump on the Nineball Rankings list.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will kick off the second half of the 2022/2023 with the Northeast 9-Ball Open at Sharpshooters Billiards in Amsterdam, NY on March 4th – 5th. The next Turning Stone Classic event is scheduled for August 31st – September 3rd, once again at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY.
Risky Shotz and S & T Billiards present . . . When the Smoke Clears!
The only thing that comes logically and immediately to mind is ‘What happens when the smoke clears?” which leads one to wonder and then, search for answers and the next thing you know, you’re looking at a poster telling you the who (junior competitors), the what (a $1K-added set of four tournaments on a single weekend), the where (Center Pocket, Bowie, MD), the when (Dec. 17-18) and the whyof it (cash prizes).
As the ‘name’ indicates, the tournaments were not held under the auspices of the Junior International Championships series of tournaments, spearheaded by Ra Hanna and his On The Wire Creative Media organization, but you wouldn’t have known it from the roster of people who organized it or the junior competitors who competed in it.
Tournaments first. There were three ‘main’ events: A Boys 20U (16 entrants), a Girls 20U (8), and a 13U, either-gender tournament (13). The fourth, a Sunday Second Chance for the 13U mixed-gender crowd, drew 13, as well.
And when the smoke cleared, D’Angelo Spain (aka Jawz), riding the crest of a home-town advantage, won two of the four. He won both of the 13U events. One on Saturday, one on Sunday. He went undefeated, downing Sofia Mast in Saturday’s final, and came from the loss side to take down Cameron Hollingsworth on Sunday’s Second Chance final. He placed 5th/6th in the 20U Boys division, too. If they’d let him play with the 20U girls, he might have made it a four-fer. Spain is 11 years old.
Sofia Mast
Joey Tate and Sofia Mast won their respective 20U divisions. Tate came from the loss side to take down perennial rival, Landon Hollingsworth in the finals of the 20U Boys division, while Mast went undefeated to take the girls’ title, with two Tate sisters (Noelle,13 and Bethany,16) in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
Recently, it was learned that Mast was among the country’s 100 top Fargo-rated female pool players, nestled in at #87 between Jennifer Baretta (#1) and Kia Burwell (#100). Mast is 13.
“It has been an amazing ride,” she posted on her FB page, of the four years since she first picked up a cue and the two years that she’s since been competing against fellow juniors and adult professionals. “There have been many ups and downs, long days and nights, many plane and car rides, many laughters, many tears.”
“I will get knocked down many times,” she wrote, “but I will always go out fighting and I will come back stronger.”
She wrote this after she’d gone undefeated in the 20U Girls division and after, a day later, she’d been sent to the loss side in the 13U Second Chance event (by Jawz 7-2), before fighting backthrough Lathan Elliott 7-3, Marlin Foster 7-2 and Tanner McKinney 7-3 to face Spain a second time, in the finals. She battled him to double hill and there, but for the fall of a single 9-ball, she might have been the one to claim half of the weekend’s events.
The Tate sisters played each other in the opening round and semifinals of the 20U Girls division; Bethany took the opener 7-3 and Noelle, battling to double hill, won their semifinal matchup. Mast played them both; downing Bethany in the hot seat 7-4 and Noelle in the finals 7-2.
Joey Tate
In the 20U Boys division, it was the Hollingsworth brothers who took a ‘shot’ at each other. Younger brother, Cameron, sent eventual winner, (the Tate family’s)“Big Brother” Joey to the loss side 7-4 in the second round and advanced to take a shot at his brother, Landon in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Landon won 7-5. Nathan Childress, in the meantime, got a shot at both members of the Spain family, downing 20-year-old Marine, Snipper Spain 7-2 in the opening round. The presence of Snipper Spain came as a surprise to his younger siblings. They didn’t know he was coming until he woke them up on Friday morning; an early Christmas gift.
“I think that gave Jawz all the boost and motivation he needed to compete at a high level in the tournament, which began the very next day,” wrote their father, Frank. “It was great to see all of my kids competing in the same tournament together like they used to do.”
That said, Childress faced Jawz in the other winners’ side semifinal and defeated him 7-3. Hollingsworth grabbed the hot seat, downing Childress 7-5.
On the loss side, Jawz had the misfortune of drawing Joey Tate, who’d followed his loss to Cameron Hollingsworth with victories over two Tanners, Elliott and McKinney (7-4, 7-5) and then . . . well, Jawz would put it this way on his fan page – “Took my L’s from Nathan Childress and Joey Tate took me out (7-4).”
Tate went on to defeat Cameron Hollingsworth in the quarterfinals 7-4 and Childress in the semifinals 7-5. In a single race to 9, when the smoke cleared, Tate was champion of the 20U Boys, having eliminated his arch-rival, Landon Hollingsworth 9-2.
Jawz rallied to put on a bit of a show for his surprise-Christmas-gift, older brother Snipper, by going undefeated in the main event, mixed gender 13U, going undefeated and taking out Sofia Mast twice; once in a winners’ side semifinal 7-4 and after claiming the hot seat from Tanner McKinney 7-4, again, in the finals in a double hill thriller.
“She is a BEAST,” wrote Jawz on his fan page. “I’ve always respected her game but never had to play her. That was a different experience (and) I loved every minute of it.”
Jawz went on to win the handicapped Second Chance Tournament on Sunday, but had to come from the loss side to claim that title. He advanced through the field to face Cameron Hollingsworth in the hot seat match. Cameron had just defeated his brother, Landon 7-7 in their winners’ side semifinal (Landon racing to 9) and carried that momentum into the hot seat match where he allowed Jawz only a single rack. In something of a surprise result, Landon Hollingsworth was eliminated by Tanner McKinney in the quarterfinals and Jawz eliminated McKinney 5-3 in the semifinals.
“Up to that point (the finals, Cameron), was untouched,” wrote Jawz on his fan page. “Well, when you dig deep and grind to the finish line, anything is possible. So that’s what I did. I managed to double-dip him and claim the title.”
With Hollingsworth racing to 7 and Jawz to 5, Jawz took the opening set 5-4. He let Cameron chalk up an extra rack in the second set, but won it and the title, 5-5.
“When the Smoke Clears was an independent event, in which I (as Risky Shotz, an apparel company and as a certified PBIA instructor, train students) partnered with S & T Billiards, a cue and accessories company,” noted Frank Spain. “Based out of Center Pocket in Bowie, MD, we organized it with Ra Hanna doing the streaming and Kory Wolford as the tournament director.”
Spain, Hanna and Wolford thanked Leia Burk and Taseen Abdulbarr and their Corner Pocket staff for their hospitality at which they are planning to ‘make the smoke clear’ on an annual basis. Spain also thanked Hanna for his streaming services, along with Madison Ortiz for a “generous donation” and his teaming with Hanna in the streaming booth for commentary.
Cameron Hollingsworth, Breaktime owner Sundeep “Sonny” Makhani and Larry Hughes.
Both finalists in the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball’s 10th Tour Championships, held this past weekend (Nov. 19-20), had something to play for, beyond just the cash and whatever bragging rights they might claim later. Larry Hughes and Cameron Hollingsworth were both looking to record their first cash wins. Hollingsworth was also trying to take advantage of the fact that his older brother, the twice-defending champion of this event, Landon Hollingsworth, was in Puerto Rico. Ahead of the final match, each of them had recorded a single loss. Hughes took the last match to claim the title. Though the outcome could be attributed to any one of a number of factors, it would appear to be unlikely that it was due to which of them wanted it more. The $1,500-added event drew 56 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
Winning it was a breakthrough for Hughes. Coming from the loss side, winning seven and the opening set of the true double elimination, not to mention recording his first cash win was a breakthrough for Hollingsworth.
With Hollingsworth on the loss side, having lost a third round match to Billy Walker, Hughes advanced through the field to face Eric Stanton in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Clay Davis and Jason Blackwell squared off in the other one.
Davis defeated Blackwell 8-1, while Hughes was shutting Stanton out. Hughes grabbed the hot seat 6-2 and waited on the as-determined-as-he-was Hollingsworth to complete his loss-side run.
With two notches on that loss-side belt, Hollingsworth defeated Barry Mashburn 5-4 (Mashburn racing to 9) and Trent Talbert 5-4 (Talbert racing to 6), to pick up Stanton. Blackwell drew Josh Heeter, who’d defeated Jeff Howell and Thomas Sansone, both 9-3, to reach him.
Hollingsworth and Heeter advanced to the quarterfinals; Hollingsworth 5-2 over Stanton and Heeter 9-4 over Blackwell. Hollingsworth chalked up wins #6 and #7 with a double hill, quarterfinal win over Heeter and 5-1 victory over Davis in the semifinals.
With Davis racing to 6, Hollingsworth took the opening set of the true double elimination final 5-4. Hughes fought back in the second set to take a lead and stretch it to three games, winning it 6-3 to claim his first event title and the 10th Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour Championship title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked tour sponsor Sundeep Makhani and his Breaktime Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division.
The tour will be off for the Thanksgiving weekend and return to the felt on the weekend of Dec. 3-4. The event will be a $250-added event, hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
Collin Hall’s last victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour was just a little over three years ago, when he, sitting in the hot seat, was forced to split the top two prizes with BJ Ussery because the Gate City Billiard Club in Greensboro, NC had a curfew. This past weekend, Saturday, Nov. 12, Hall was in a similar position, having claimed the hot seat and waiting for the player he’d defeated to get back (or not) from the semifinals. There was a difference this time. There wasn’t a curfew to worry about at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA and significantly, the competitor he faced in his last two matches owned the room.
Given that in addition to being competitors, Hall and Clubhouse owner Chris England were friends as well as workplace colleagues (Hall works security at the facility), tour director Herman Parker thought that the two might possibly opt out of the final, but they didn’t. They’d battled for the hot seat, to double hill, before Hall finished it. When England won his semifinal match, the shot at the title also represented his first chance at a title on the tour and he wasn’t about to give that up.
“Chris had never won on the tour before,” said Parker, with a laugh, “and he was on a mission.”
It was almost ‘mission accomplished,’ because for a second time, they battled to double hill. Hall, though, had the last word and completed his undefeated run. The $500-added event drew 21 entrants to The Clubhouse.
They’d advanced to their respective winners’ side semifinal from opposite ends of the bracket. Hall faced Marc Becker, as England squared off against Robert Cuneo. England battled to double hill getting to the hot seat match, but did send Cuneo loss-side packing, while Hall was engaged with sending Becker to the loss side 7-3. Hall and England played their first double hill battle, which sent England off to the semifinals.
On the loss side, Becker and Cuneo walked right into their second straight loss. Becker drew Rich Cunningham, who’d just eliminated Calvin Godsey and Dustin Coe, both 7-2. Cunio picked up Bryan Glisson, who’d taken a bit of a roller coaster ride over his previous two matches, shutting out Barrett White before surviving a double hill match against Nick Call.
Glisson defeated Cuneo 5-3. Cunningham eliminated Becker 7-3. Cunningham then prevailed in the quarterfinals, 7-1 over Glisson. In what would prove to be his second of three straight double hill matches on his mission to claim the title, England defeated Cunningham 5-6 (Cunningham racing to 7).
England, entered the final phase of his mission and it almost paid off. Hall, though, completed his undefeated run with a second double hill win over his friend, his boss and his earlier hot seat opponent.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked England and his Clubhouse staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division.
The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, Nov. 19-20, will be the tour’s 10th Annual Tour Championships, a $1,500-added event to be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem. The two-time defending champion of the event and the only player in the event’s history to win it twice, Landon Hollingsworth, will not be in attendance, as he will be competing in Puerto Rico at the time; entry to the Puerto Rico Open was a prize he earned as the top-ranked player in the Junior International Championship Series’ ProAm division this year. The generally competitive field at this annual event will crown its first new champion since 2019.
Junior International Championship series crowns two new 18 & Under champions
It was a primal roar.
Shocking in its volume, its intensity, its contagious enthusiasm for the moment. He stood there, back arched, gripping his cue, his off-hand tightened to a fist, roaring to the rooftops. He put his cue down, pivoted in a single spot, his fierce glare and ongoing roar inviting the 200 or so people surrounding him in the Iwan Simonis Arena at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside in Virginia to join him in his triumph. They did.
Scotland’s Jayson Shaw had just won the 9-Ball tournament at the 2022 International Open and he wanted everybody to know, including, it would seem, the folks working at the General Dynamics shipyard across the bay from the hotel. Though somewhat familiar to any and all who’d watched him win tournaments before, it had reached a level that according to close friend and teammate on the 2016 Mosconi Cup team, Darren Appleton, was new and unique to the moment.
“I’d never seen that before,” said Appleton afterwards. “I’d seen him do it in team play, like the Mosconi Cup, but never like that before.”
Speaking to the crowds immediately following his 13-10 victory over Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski, Shaw tried to explain. He’d been asked what elevated this win above others. He didn’t reference the roar directly, but as he spoke, it added meaning and context to it. He shared the moment and everyone in the arena, who hadn’t needed or expected the explanation, understood it.
“I’ve struggled the last 12 months,” he said. “Just wasn’t feeling it.”
This might have come as a bit of a surprise to the listeners who knew something about his last 12 months; the back-to-back wins at Turning Stone, his victories at the 12th New England Pool & Billiards Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open and the Pro Players Championship at the Super Billiards Expo. But the acknowledged champion was thinking about the other 14 events at which he’d not done so well, during which time the pressure within him to ‘get back’ to where he wanted to be was strong, bottled up in a human vessel that burst like a huge champagne cork when the final 9-ball dropped.
He was definitely feeling it now, as six years, to the day, after he’d defeated Jung Lin-Chang at the Kuwait Open, he laid claim to the 2022 International Open 9-Ball title.
But so was Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski when he stepped to the table at the start of the match, with his own set of demons to exorcise, including, exactly one week ago, his runner-up finish to Dimitri Jungo at the American 14.1 Straight Pool Championships. He more than made up for that disappointment, eliminating Joshua Filler and Fedor Gorst in the single elimination stage. Shaw had eliminated Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef 10-4, Spain’s Jonas Souto 10-3 and in the semifinals, Ko Pin Yi 10-3 to join him in the finals.
For those who’d been following the two finalists’ trips through the bracket, it was setting up to be a tight match between Zielinski’s resilience and Shaw’s raw and visible determination. Determination won.
The crowd had to wait a while for the two to settle in. Zielinski opened the proceedings with a dry break, which Shaw was unable to take advantage of. Zielinski then missed the 2-ball completely, giving Shaw ball-in-hand. Shaw ran the table to draw first blood. Shaw broke the second rack and scratched, giving Zielinski the opportunity to run the table and tie things up, which he did.
Things got better quickly, although when Zielinski broke and ran the third rack, it’d prove to be the last time that he would lead in the match. Shaw broke and ran rack four, running to the 3-ball and using it to drop the 9-ball and tie things. Though Zielinski would get within one, twice, at 7-6 and 8-7, the proverbial writing was on the wall.
Zielenski got the crowd stirring right after Shaw had reached the hill, ahead by four. Shaw scratched in the next rack and Zeilinski dropped a 2-9 combination to finish rack #17, quickly, and then, after Shaw smacked three balls home on the break, Zielinski used a long bank shot on the 1-ball to start a run that brought him to within two at 12-10.
Zielinski broke dry on the next rack and Shaw used a 2-9 combination to finish.
And then, there was the roar.
Tate and Hollingsworth meet for 2nd time in JIC final, Mast and Noelle Tate meet in girls’ final
It is indicative of the entire JIC program that the two girls who squared off in the finals of the Junior International Championships’ (JIC) 18 & Under Girls final were 14 and 12 years of age. The program made the distinction between 13 & Under and 18 & Under to keep burgeoning skills at the table in separate divisions, but the younger competitors weren’t interested. Sofia Mast (14) and Noelle Tate (12) advanced through the short field of eight entrants at the 2022 JIC’s 18 & Under Championships and though, there was a possibility that this year’s final would feature Tate sisters Bethany (16) who finished at the top of the 18 & Under Girls rankings, and Noelle, who finished 6th, that didn’t happen..
Mast had defeated Bethany, double hill, to claim the hot seat, but much to Noelle and Bethany’s surprise, the younger sibling defeated the older 7-5 in the semifinals. Noelle, who hadn’t given being in the finals a single thought on her way, fell 9-2 in the finals, and ‘besties’ that they tend to be, they hugged warmly when it was all over.
Noelle’s older brother, Joey and Landon Hollingsworth in the 18 & Under Boys final, not so much.
They’d met in the 18 & Under Boys finals last year, when Hollingsworth came out of a 5-5 tie and won the last five racks in a row to claim the 2021 title. This year, the two battled back and forth through five ties, the last of which set the stage for a double hill last game. Tate took his first lead since being ahead 2-1 when he won the 15th rack that made it 8-7. A tension-filled 16th rack saw them both miss shots that elicited gasps from the assembled spectators. Tate’s miss of the 6-ball gave Landon the chance to run the rest of the balls and he did for the 8-8 tie.
They ran through the final rack pretty quickly and it was Tate who got the first look at the 9-ball, but it was like a galaxy, far, far away. The audience seemed to be literally holding its breath and before he moved into his pre-shot routine, Tate was, too. But he settled into a stance, stroked and banked the 9-ball into a corner pocket to claim the JIC’s 18 & Under Boys title.
(Editor’s note: We’ll be working on expanded coverage of both the International Open and the JIC’s two Championship events, soon. Stay tuned.
JIC quarter and semifinals feature a Tate family gathering
It’s come down to Russia’s Fedor Gorst, Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski. Scotland’s Jason Shaw and Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi. In matches that began today (Friday, Nov. 4) at around noon and lasted until about five minutes ago, the International 9-Ball Open’s field of 128, in single-elimination fashion, came down to its final four.
The final eight began squaring off immediately following the conclusion of a banquet and ceremonies which inducted Dennis Orcollo and Professional Billiard Instructor Association’s Jerry Briesath into the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame. While Briesath was present at the ceremony, addressing the crowd and accepting the award for his accomplishments as an instructor for many years. Dennis Orcollo, due to ongoing visa problems, accepted the award via a Zoom call from the Philippines, which, though it had its moments of humorous glitches went smoothly. Orcollo was introduced from a podium at the banquet and when the moment was turned over to him, he sat smiling on the screen for a number of minutes before the connection and cues translated across the thousands of miles from the Philippines and Norfolk, VA was accomplished.
Four of the eight 9-Ball quarterfinalists and a number of the Junior competitors went right from the tables in the banquet hall to the tables in the arena of the Sheraton Norfolk/Waterside in Norfolk, VA. Germany’s Joshua Filler and Wictor Zielinski took center stage in the Accu-stats feature arena, while Fedor Gorst and Austrian Albin Ouschan moved to one of the adjacent areas nearby.
The Junior International Championships matches – the semifinals of the 18 & Under Girls division and the quarterfinals of the 18 & Under Boys division got underway in another adjacent area at the edge of the center arena (more on this later).
Zielinski and Filler played before an appreciative and noisy crowd which had something to applaud at least once in all 16 games that made up their race-to-10. Zielinski edged out in front near the end to win it 10-6 and be the first quarterfinalist to advance. As Gorst and Ouschan continued their struggle, with Gorst getting ahead early and staying there to win it 10-3, Shaw and Spain’s Jonas Souto practiced in the Accu-Stat feature arena. Shortly after they gotunderway, Mario He and Ko Pin Yi squared off at a table in an adjacent area.
As Gorst had done to Ouschan, Shaw did likewise to Souto, by the same 10-3 score, becoming the third quarterfinalist to advance. And as Zielinski had done to Filler, Ko Pin Yi became the final piece to the International Open 9-Ball’s semifinal puzzle, eliminating Mario He, by the same 10-6 score.
The semifinals and finals of the 9-ball Open will play out on the Accu-State feature arena tomorrow (Sat., Nov. 5), beginning with Gorst and Zielinski at 4 p.m. Shaw and Ko Pin Yi will meet at 6 p.m. The finals are scheduled for 8 p.m.
Noelle Tate
Three siblings battle for sure slot in the finals, a chance at getting there and 3rd place in JIC
As the two sisters, 12-year-old Noelle and 15-year-old Bethany Tate began their semifinal match in the 18 & Under Girls division of the Junior International Championships, they were keenly aware of their 17-year-old brother, Joey, who was playing versus Payne McBride in the quarterfinals of the 18 & Under Boys division. They had to be, because they were playing at adjacent tables, forcing them to more or less constantly pay attention to what was happening at the next table to avoid poking someone with a stick; didn’t happen often, although checking to be sure that it didn’t happen, did happen often.
They went off at more or less the same time, while Filler and Zielinski were playing their quarterfinal 9-ball Open match. Applause emanating from the feature arena crowd had a way of coinciding with some good shooting going on in the junior matches. There was no mistaking which girl was which; the older Bethany, more than just a few inches taller than her relatively diminuitive younger sibling, Noelle. It was not a distinction that played out on the table.
One might have been fooled early, watching Bethany chalk up the first-game win, but it became clear when Noelle won the next two that this was not going to be easy for either of them. It was a pool game, but one that featured as something of a sideshow, sibling rivalry, age differentiation and that particular distaste for losing which has a way of playing out more emotionally at a younger age.
Bethany came back to tie the score at 2-2. They would go on to tie five times at each numerical progression; 1-1 through 5-5. As it happened, the ‘table’ offered each of them numerous opportunities to win using a combination that included the 9-ball. Bethany ended up doing it twice; once tying the match at 4-4 and again, at 5-5.
Meanwhile, brother Joey was behind in his match versus Payne McBride; a fact that there’s no doubt they were noticing, though they never, not once, let it be known, as they maintained their focus at their own table.
Bethany won games 2, 3, 5, 8 & 10. Noelle took games 1, 4, 6, 7 & 9. By the time they reached the 10th game, they had picked up their pace. Games 9 & 10 were played at a very rapid pace, with both girls taking and making bank shots and any other shots necessary to reach the finish line, quickly. Bethany was a little too quick in Game 11 to assess the lie of the last two balls; very close to each other, Bethany dropped the 8-ball well enough, but her shot pushed the 9-ball into a tough target range. She missed the 9-ball and Noelle sunk it to reach the hill first.
Still working at a rapid pace, Bethany was on her way through the 12th rack looking to force a double-hill, deciding game and made two successive (quick) bank shots to get the first shot at the 9-ball. It rattled in the hole and for all intents and purposes, it was over. Noelle did not shoot at the 9-ball, because Bethany saw the ‘writing on the wall’ and stepped in to give her a hug, effectively ending it.
Noelle had finished in 6th place in the JIC’s season-ending standings, based on performance in eight events. On her way to the finals in the 18 & Under Girls Championship, scheduled for noon tomorrow (Sat. Nov. 5), she had been defeated only once, by Courtney Hairfield, who’d finished in 7th place in the standings. On the loss side, Noelle had defeated Kennedy Meyman (#5), Precilia Kinsley (#3) and her own sister, Bethany, who had finished the JIC season as the division’s #1-ranked competitor.
“I was so nervous,” said Noelle, minutes after the match, “because normally, she beats me.”
Though aware that projecting how things might turn out in any ‘road ahead’ tournament setting was not generally a good idea, she did harbor some feelings about what wasn’t going to happen.
“I was not really thinking of being in the finals,” she said of tomorrow’s match versus The Pink Dagger, aka Sofia Mast, who finished as the division’s #2 competitor at the end of the season and sat next to Precilia Kinsley’s mother during the match between the Tate sisters and joined in the conversation about it afterwards. Asked how she had acquired the skills necessary to keep her own nervousness at bay during her match, Noelle smiled.
“It’s just a game, and you try to just have fun,” she said. “I have to keep thinking that.”
Meanwhile, the two Tate sisters were able to turn their attention to their brother Joey, who, last time they looked, was a few racks behind in his quarterfinal match. Though McBride reached the hill first, Tate caught up and won the final rack. He moved on within a matter of minutes to face Garrett Vaughan in the semifinals, winning it 7-4. So once again, as they did last year, Joey Tate and Landon Hollingsworth will square off in the finals of the JIC’s 18 & Under Boys Championship (2 p.m., today). He’ll get the opportunity to root for Noelle in the 18 & Under Girls final at noon and later, looking for the finals win this time, he’ll have his two sisters rooting for him from the viewing seats.
All of Saturday’s action will take place on the featured table and fans will be able to watch the junior matches free on Facebook and YouTube. Fans hoping to catch the semi-finals and finals of the main event will have to do so with the Accu-Stats PPV coverage. They can also follow all of the action online with real-time scoring and online brackets all week long.
JIC series begins its 18 & Under Boys and Girls Championships
The winners’ side final 8 has been set for the beginning of the single elimination phase of the International Open’s 9-Ball tournament tomorrow (Fri., Nov. 4). As this report is being compiled (10 p.m., Thursday night), the eight competitors who will advance to the final 16 from the loss side are still competing. If Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz emerges victorious from his match against Bader Alawahdi, the final 16 in the event will contain seven of the top eight finishers (half the field) from the recently-concluded Big Foot 10-Ball Challenge, including Fedor Gorst, who won it and runner-up Joshua Filler.
JIC underway; Boys will play winners’ side final four and 7/8 matches, Girls to play hot seat and quarterfinals
A total of 16 boys (18 & Under) and 8 girls (18 & Under) came to Norfolk to compete in the final events of the 2022 Junior International Championship series. In the course of the eight-event season, which began in January, the competitors amassed points which, at the end of the eighth stop on the series, yielded a ‘top players’ list, which led to invitations to the Championship events for the 18 & Under Boys and Girls.
Both of those events got underway today, Thursday, Nov. 3. At the end of the day, there were six boys and four girls left. The top two girls in the year-long rankings – Bethany Tate #1 and Sofia Mast #2 – will square off tomorrow afternoon (Friday, Nov. 4; 2 p.m.) in the 18 & Under Girls hot seat match. At noon, Precilia Kinsley and Noelle Tate will square off in the quarterfinals, to be followed by the semifinals at 7 p.m., pitting whoever did not claim the hot seat and the winner of the quarterfinals. The finals are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5 at noon.
At 10 a.m., tomorrow morning (Friday), the #2 and #3-ranked competitors from the 18 & Under Boys division – Landon Hollingsworth and Payne McBride will meet in one of the winners’ side semifinals. In the other one, #13 Garrett Vaughan and #15 Justin Maywin will meet. On the loss side, also at 10 a.m., playing in the two 7/8 matches, the #1-ranked Joey Tate will meet the #14-ranked Logan Whitaker.
Of the remaining six, three of them (Worth, McBride & Tate) competed in the International Open’s 9-Ball Tournament, with Brent Worth drawing what was arguably the toughest draw. He faced Hall of Fame German Ralf Souquet in the opening round and then, on the loss side, faced and lost to former junior competitor Chris Reinhold. McBride lost a winners’ side match to one of the semifinalists in last week’s American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship, Mieszko Fortunski and fell to Alecsa Pecelj on the loss side. Tate lost to Abdullah Alyousef on the winners’ side and Sullivan Clark on the loss side.
As this appears on the page, Junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth is either on his way or at Pat Fleming’s International Open in Norfolk, VA to compete in the 18 & Under Boys’ championship event of the 2022 Junior International Championship (JIC) series. As a warm-up to the event this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 29), he travelled to Columbia, SC to compete in a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour at Overtime Billiards. He went undefeated through the $500-added event that drew 33 entrants and marked his sixth victory on the tour since 2020. It’s his second tour victory of this year (he won the last stop on the tour a month ago), to go along with finishing first in the JIC’s ProAm Division (which earned him a paid entry to Puerto Rico’s 10-Ball Open later this month), the Dynaspheres Cup’s Junior 9-Ball event (20 & Under) and a third place finish in Shane Van Boening’s Junior Open, held in conjunction with Matchroom Sport’s US Open last month.
The clearest sign of his progress since he first came on the scene is not just the visible improvement of his skills. On the Q City 9-Ball Tour (and elsewhere), his ranking, based on the number of games he has to win to complete a match has steadily increased.
“Four years ago,” noted Q City 9-Ball Tour director Herman Parker, “he came into our events as a ‘5.’ He’s a ‘10’ now.”
Hollingsworth and Hunter White (himself, a recently-former junior competitor, also a ‘10’ now) battled twice for this event title; hot seat and finals. Hollingsworth won them both.
They advanced through the field from opposite ends of the bracket with Hollingsworth facing Jason Blackwell in one winners’ side semifinal and White squaring off against Jesse Draper in the other. Hollingsworth fought a double hill battle before advancing to the hot seat match against Jason Blackwell. Hunter gave up only a single rack to Draper. Hollingsworth then gave White a taste of his own ‘winners’ side semifinal’ medicine, allowing him only a single rack to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, in the first money round, Blackwell picked up Calvin Lee, who’d recently defeated Will Hammer and Josh Miller, both 6-4, which, versus Miller, was double hill. Draper drew Phil Stalls, who’d eliminated Stevie McClinton and Matt Lucas, both 6-3.
Draper advanced with a double hill win over Stalls. Blackwell did not, falling to Lee 6-3. Lee then defeated Draper 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Lee almost made the semifinals ‘double hill’ interesting, but fell a game short, as Hunter White won 10-4 (Lee racing to 6). The likelihood of White falling to Hollingsworth a second time with only a single rack to show for it was slim. As had happened in the semifinals, the final match came within a game of double hill. Hollingsworth, though, completing what could only be described as good practice for this coming week on his schedule, completed his undefeated run through the field with a 10-8 victory for his sixth Q City 9-Ball Tour win.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Overtime Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Nov. 5-6) will be hosted by Janet Atwell’s Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Everyone,
