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Dupuis double dips Kantaravic to win Lucky Stop #13, Mark Young Memorial, on NE 9-Ball

(l to r): Suad Kantaravic, Bill O’Mara & Joe Dupuis

Joe Dupuis and Suad Kantaravic, winner and runner-up at the Mark Young Memorial, Stop #13 on the New England 9-Ball Series this past weekend (Feb. 15-16), have long pool resumes; Kantaravic, with recorded cash winnings dating back to 2000 and Dupuis, a little shorter, going back (in our records) to 2005. Dupuis’ record, however, is substantially more active, with three cash finishes this year alone and more in the past two years (7) than Kantaravic has recorded since 2000. This disparity, however, did not interfere with Kantaravic’ march to the hot seat, to include an early victory over Dupuis, although it may have had something to do with Dupuis’ return from the loss side and his two-set victory over Kantaravic in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 49 entrants to Straight Shooters Family Billiards in Fall River, MA.

Dupuis was just cruising along in the early going of this event. In the upper bracket, he faced three opponents (Carlo Cifiello, Saba Khundadze and Ed “Corky” Courtney) and gave up only four racks, total, to all three of them in his first 28 games. Then, in a winners’ side quarterfinal, he ran into Kantaravic for the first time. Kantaravic, at that point, had, following an opening round bye, played 18 games and given up five racks to two opponents (Rich Senna and Derek Cunningham). This time, it was Dupuis who was held to a single rack. Kantaravic advanced 6-1 to a winners’ side semifinal against Henry Leighton. From the lower bracket, Bill O’Mara and Paul Soucy emerged to face off in the other winners’ side semifinal.

Kantaravic and O’Mara, each gave up only a single rack to their respective opponents. Kantaravic, in a straight up race to 6, gave up the one to Leighton, while O’Mara, in a straight up race to 5, gave one up to Soucy. O’Mara, sporting a Fargo Rate nearly 200 points lower than Kantaravic (518/702) began the hot seat match with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 9. He added three to those five to tie the score at 8-8, before Kantaravic chalked up the final rack to claim the hot seat.

On the loss side, Dupuis (699) opened up his five-match, loss-side trip back to the finals with a double hill win (5-3) over Rich Senna, followed that up with a 5-2 win over Paul Laverdiere and drew Leighton, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Soucy picked up Scott Reynolds, who’d defeated Tyler Boudreau 4-2 and leapfrogged to Soucy when Andrew DeChristopher forfeited a match.

Dupuis and Reynolds handed Leighton and Soucy their second straight loss; Dupuis over Leighton 5-1 and Reynolds over Soucy 4-1. Reynolds opened the quarterfinals with four ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. Dupuis defeated him 8-4 and then, shut out Bill O’Mara in the semifinals.

With the wind of momentum from his semifinal win over O’Mara continuing to fill his sails (so to speak), Dupuis took the opening set of the true double elimination final 6-3. Trading racks back and forth, they battled to double hill in the second set before Dupuis dropped the final 9-ball to win the set and claim the event title.

Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Straight Shooters Family Billiards, as well as title sponsor 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, OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America and Piku Tips. The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (#14), scheduled for Saturday, February 22, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Legends Sports Bar in Lewiston, ME.

Caesar double dips Fracasso-Verner to capture NE 9-Ball Series’ 2020 Winter Classic

(l to r): Lukas Fracasso-Verner, TD Marc Dionne, Josh Caesar & Ryan Lineham

Until this past weekend (Jan. 25-26), Josh Caesar had cashed in exactly five events on the New England 9-Ball Series. His name started cropping on our database (generally indicative of cash winnings) in January of 2018, when he finished 9th in that year’s Winter Classic. He cashed in only one other event that year (that we know about), the 2018 Tour Championship in September. Last year, he cashed in three of the tour’s events, winning one of them in February and tripling his recorded cash earnings from the year before.
 
In the finals of this year’s Winter Classic, held this past weekend, Caesar faced an opponent who’d cashed in three times as many events as he (Caesar) did last year and earned nearly six times as much money. Lukas Fracasso-Verner had won two stops on last year’s tour, was runner-up in the Player’s Championship and overall, had cashed in seven tour events. He’d also won the Predator Pro Am Tour’s Empire State Championship and was third at the Ocean State 9-Ball Championship, held under the auspices of the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour. All in all a prodigious resume for a player with somewhat limited experience to be facing in the finals of an event.
 
Caesar faced Fracasso-Verner three times in this event; battling for the hot seat and twice in the finals. He took the last two of those three to claim the 2020 Winter Classic title. The $2,000-added Winter Classic drew 127 entrants (15 more than it did last year) to Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
 
Working initially from the lower (FargoRate) bracket, Caesar opened his trek to the hot seat match with three, straight-up races to 5 in which he defeated Matt Caissie 5-2, shut out Mike Zingarella and sent Dennis Boucher to the loss side 5-3. He then downed three straight opponents, double hill, to get into that hot seat match – Kyle King, Phil Walton, and in the winners’ side semifinal, Bob Campbell. Fracasso-Verner, in the meantime, got by Billy Lanna 6-3, Jay Duffin 8-2, Beau Powers 6-2 and then, like Caesar, won two straight double hill matches against Kerry McAuliffe and Roarke Dickson to get into his winners’ side semifinal against Derrick Cunningham. Unlike Caesar, though, Fracasso-Verner shut Cunningham out in his winners’ side semifinal, and then, claimed the hot seat 8-2 over Caesar, who was racing to 4.
 
On the loss side, which was still featuring separated upper and lower bracket matches, Cunningham drew RYan Lineham, who’d eliminated Roarke Dickson 5-2 and Chad Avallone 6-1 to reach him. Campbell picked up Scott Reynolds, who’d recently defeated Ed Cortney, double hill and Philip Walton 4-2. Lineham and Reynolds advanced to the quarterfinals, after handing Cunningham and Campbell their second straight loss; Lineham 5-1 over Cunningham and Reynolds, shutting out Campbell.
 
Lineham, who battled and defeated Fracasso-Verner in the finals of a Second Chance 10-Ball event at last year’s Classic, was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that he no doubt assumed would give him a shot at Fracasso-Verner in the hot seat and potentially, the 2020 Winter Classic title. He won his sixth loss-side match in the quarterfinals, surviving a double hill battle against Reynolds, but the much-lower-handicapped Caesar ended the streak 4-2 in the semifinals (Reynolds racing to 8).
 
Caesar started and would play the true double elimination final with four ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. He chalked up his first four racks while holding Fracasso-Verner to two and claimed the opening set. Fracasso-Verner put up a hell of a fight in the second set, forcing an 11th and deciding game. Caesar won it to claim his second NE 9-Ball Series title and his first Winter Classic.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Snooker’s, as well as title sponsor 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, OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America and Piku Tips. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#13), scheduled for Feb. 15-16, will be the $1,000-added Mark Young Memorial, hosted by Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.

All Hail Caesar: Official winner of the 13th stop on the New England 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Ben Savoie, Josh Caesar & Rick Faggioli

Josh Caesar navigated his way through a field of 42, on-hand for the 13th stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (February 16-17) and chalked up his first win on the tour. It came with the somewhat standard asterisk, indicating that an agreement was reached between the finalists (Caesar and Rick Faggioli) to not play a deciding match and award the event title to the hot seat occupant at the time. Faggioli had won the opening set of a true double elimination final before the agreement was reached. The $750-added event was hosted by Straight Shooter’s Family Billiards in Fall River, MA.
 
In the lower bracket, Josh Caesar won his opening round match against Josh Christian, and followed it with victories over Matt Solis, Nathan Camara and Sandy Kostant, before arriving at a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Phil Russo. Faggioli, in the meantime, after an opening round bye in the upper bracket, had defeated Rick Ferrell, Mark Ruzzano and Ben Savoie. Faggioli then sent Kevin Bauccio to the upper bracket’s loss side. Bauccio won a single match on the loss side of that bracket and joined Faggioli in an immediate, overall winners’ side semifinal rematch.
 
In a straight-up race to 5, Caesar downed Russo, double hill. Faggioli joined him in the hot seat match with a 6-2 victory over Bauccio. Caesar claimed the hot seat over Faggioli 6-5 (Faggioli racing to 7).
 
Bauccio and Russo moved to the loss side and ran right into their second straight defeat. Bauccio drew Ben Savoie, who’d defeated Henry Leighton 6-1 and Mike Cote 7-4 to reach him. Russo picked up Adam Blair, who’d eliminated Sandy Kostant 6-2 and Rob Rogan, double hill. In a straight-up race to 7, Savoie downed Bauccio 7-4. Blair joined him in the quarterfinals, after picking up a forfeit win over Russo.
 
In a straight-up race to 6, Ben Savoie survived the double hill quarterfinal match against Blair. In what was his third straight-up race in a row (another to 6), Savoie gave way to Faggioli, who earned his rematch against Caesar with a 6-4 semifinal win.
 
Faggioli took the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-4. The agreement was reached to split the top two prizes, and Caesar marched home victorious.
 
The New England 9-Ball Series raffled off a Predator Cue at this event. The $1400 raised was donated to the family of long-time tour member, Mark Young from New Bedford, MA, who passed away on February 2 at the age of 63.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff of Shooter’s Family Billiards, 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 (#14), scheduled for Saturday, February 23, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Yale Billiards at its new location (169 N. Plains Industrial Rd.) in Wallingford, CT.

Bertrand wins battle-of-first-timers vs. Lineham to capture NE 9-Ball Series title

(l to r): Ryan Lineham & Justin Bertrand

According to our records, neither Justin Bertrand nor Ryan Lineham had ever won a major event before they met in the hot seat and finals of Stop #6 on the New England 9-Ball Series. And they represented the opposite ends of a FargoRate spectrum; Bertrand with a lower 482 and Lineham with the higher 651. This gave Bertrand ‘five on the wire’ in their two races to 8 in the hot seat and finals. Bertrand is likely to be edging up the FargoRate scale following his victory in both of those matches, in which he claimed his first (recorded) event victory. The $500-added event, held on Sunday, Nov. 4, drew 56 entrants to Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI.
 
Following a lower-bracket, opening round bye and victories over Charlie Matarazzo and Felix Batista and Tyler Boudreau, Bertrand moved into a winners’ side semifinal against Jason D’Angelo. Lineham, in the meantime, had gotten by Russell Belisle, Josh Christian, Rick Faggioli and Rick Gatta to meet up with Kevin Bauccio in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
In a straight-up race to 5, Bertrand downed D’Angelo 5-3. Lineham downed Bauccio 6-3 (Bauccio racing to 5). In their first of two, battling for the hot seat, Lineham managed to erase Bertrand’s ‘five on the wire’ handicap deficit, but not before Bertrand chalked up three racks to win the battle 3-5.
 
On the loss side, D’Angelo picked up Jason Parker, who’d lost his opening match and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d most recently shut out Boudreau and downed Cho Loy Yen 3-1 (Yen racing to 5) to meet D’Angelo. Bauccio drew Mark Young, who’d eliminated Gatta 5-3 and TJ Perrino 5-4.
 
In a straight-up race to 5, Bauccio defeated Young 5-1. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Parker, who’d picked up a forfeit win over D’Angelo. Parker advanced one more step, downing Bauccio 3-5 in those quarterfinals (Bauccio racing to 8). His loss side streak was stopped by Lineham in the semifinals, though not before Parker had forced a double hill deciding match at 8-2.
 
Lineham came out on the losing end of his second straight double hill match, against Bertrand in the finals. He chalked up seven of the eight racks he needed, but Bertrand chalked up his three to claim the event title.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Bo’s Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, FargoRate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool & 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 (#7), scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 10-11, will be a $1,000-added event to be hosted by Spin City Billiards & Café in Woodside, NY.

O’Connor hangs on in double elimination final split with Pina to win New England 9-Ball Series

(l to r): Patrick O’Connor, Rob Pina & Kevin Brule

They had to be some anxious moments for Patrick O'Connor there at the end of the sixth stop on the New England 9-Ball Series tour, held on Saturday, November 18. Having successfully dispatched Rob Pina to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal, O’Connor’s anxious moments would likely have come at the end of the first set in the double elimination finals, after Pina had defeated him, forcing a second and deciding set. O’Connor weathered the anxiety storm, and won the second set to claim the event title. The $500-added event drew 43 entrants to Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.
 
With Pina already at work on his five-match, loss-side march back to the finals, O’Connor advanced to meet Dennis Levesque in a winners’ side semifinal. Kevin Brule, in the meantime, faced Adam Blair in the other winners’ side semifinal. With Levesque racing to 5, O’Connor got into the hot seat match with a 3-3 victory, as Brule, in a straight-up race to 3, survived a double hill fight against Blair to join him. O’Connor defeated Brule 4-3 to claim the hot seat, and wait on Pina.
 
On the loss side, Pina opened his trek to the finals with two straight double hill wins; over Paul Laverdiere and Mark Young (4-4 both times, LaVerdiere and Young racing to 5), which set Pina up to face Levesque.  Blair drew Scott Reynolds, who’d shut out Rob Rogan and downed Todd Yarborough 3-1 to reach him.
 
Pina eliminated Levesque 3-3 (Levesque racing to 5), and in the quarterfinals, faced Blair, who’d defeated Reynolds, double hill. Pina chalked up loss-side win #4 against Blair 4-1, and completed his trip to the finals with a shutout over Brule in the semifinals.
 
Pina took the opening set of the finals 4-1, and although the total game score over the two-set, straight-up race to 4 final, was 6-5, in favor of Pina, O’Connor won the game-set-match-deciding second set 4-2 to claim the event title.
 
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Straight Shooters, 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.
 
Stop #7 on the New England 9-Ball Series is scheduled for this coming Thanksgiving Day weekend, on Sunday, November 26. The $500-added event will be hosted by Maxamillians Billiards in Tyngsboro, MA.