Day one is complete at the International Open’s One Pocket Division at the Sheraton Waterside in Norfolk, Virginia, and returning champion Roberto Gomez is going to have his hands full as he tries to defend his One Pocket title from last year from the one loss side. Gomez ran into young gun Shane Wolford in both of their first matches for the day on Friday and Wolford showed why he is in just about every Mosconi Cup prognosticator’s mind.
Wolford took a 2-0 lead with steady intelligent One Pocket play, and Gomez found himself on his heels looking for a new approach. Possibly thinking he had a bigger advantage in a tactical moving game, Gomez slowed things down and dared the youngster from nearby Roanoke to take on shots. Gomez won rack three but was not able to control a late game wedge up-table and Wolford won game four to send last year’s winner to the left side of the board.
Wolford will take on Gomez’s countryman Carlo Biado Saturday at 2pm, while Gomez will start his day with German youngster Moritz Neuhausen at noon.
Fans can watch not only the featured table with full commentary, but also any other table at the event 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.
Fan’s can catch all of the action with the Accu-Stats PPV coverage at www.accu-stats.com/watch and with real time scoring and brackets at AzBilliards.com and Digitalpool.com.
Congratulations to our stop # 2, "The Hudson Valley Fall Classic IIII" champion, Jeremy Sossei ($1,000), second chance winner Tom Acciavatti ($180) & $1,600 Joss Cue raffle winner Frank Hernandez.
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour will be at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester NY, on Sat & Sun Oct. 5 & 6 for stop # 3 of our 2019/2020 season. The event will be $1,500/$500 added and as always is open to all players and is now a Banner Event. All winners will have their names hanging high on a beautiful banner at East Ridge forever. Our generous host at East Ridge is Chris Braiman who deserves our thanks for bringing the tour back to Western NY. East Ridge is the former home room of some of the best to ever play the game. Irving Crane, Larry Hubbart & Mike Sigel to name a few! East Ridge has recently completed renovations of a brand new bar and kitchen with fantastic food to meet all of our needs. The room now includes 8 of the Diamond pro tables used at one of our recent Turning Stone events, 2 Gold Crowns, 10 Diamond 7 footers, 9 Valley 7 footers. East Ridge will also be live streaming some of our matches and you can access them on Facebook at their group East Ridge Billiards Sports Bar & Lounge. Please join the group and share the stream. For more info, please contact East Ridge directly at 585-270-8215. So why not come on down and check us out and you might even win a $1,600 custom, engraved Joss Cue in our raffle. Anyone can participate and you do not have to be present to win. You can view this beautiful cue here:
I have been asked to let you know that East Ridge will also be holding 8-man $50 mini tournaments on Friday night preceding our event. Start time is 7pm and early arrival is strongly suggested as there are already players entered. There will be as many minis as time and amount of players allows. Call 585-270-8215.
There is a reasonably priced Super 8 about 10 minutes away for those in need of accommodations. 2450 Empire Blvd, Webster NY 14580, 585-347-5983. No special rate has been negotiated but it is reasonable.
This event at East Ridge 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) only for those non pro level players eliminated from the main event on Saturday.
For those of you coming to play, please arrive on Saturday October 5, BEFORE 11:30 AM, and in proper dress please. Jeans and sneakers are permitted in our billiard parlor events only. But please, NO T-shirts, No tanks, No shorts or No sweats. Complete tour info can be found on our site www.joss9balltour.com
Our $25,000 Added Turning Stone Classic XXXIII 9-Ball Open, Mid Season Championship, to be be held on January 9-12, 2020 is already close to 3/4 full!! To enter you must contact me at 518-356-7163 or see me at any of our events Before the event is full at 128. I strongly urge everyone to act now if you are at all serious about playing in this great event!!
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!!
Congratulations to our stop # 8, "Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXI" champion, Jeremy Sossei ($1,050), second chance winner Ben Werblow ($300) & $1,500 Joss Cue raffle winner Joey Berlin.
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour will be at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester NY, on Sat & Sun Feb. 23 & 24 for stop # 9 of our 2018/2019 season. The event will be $1,500/$500 added and as always is open to all players and is now a Banner Event. All winners will have their names hanging high on a beautiful banner at East Ridge forever. Our generous host at East Ridge is Chris Braiman who deserves our thanks for bringing the tour back to Western NY. East Ridge is the former home room of some of the best to ever play the game. Irving Crane, Larry Hubbart & Mike Sigel to name a few! East Ridge has recently completed renovations of a brand new bar and kitchen with fantastic food to meet all of our needs. The room now includes 8 of the Diamond pro tables used at one of our recent Turning Stone events, 2 Gold Crowns, 10 Diamond 7 footers, 9 Valley 7 footers. East Ridge will also be live streaming some of our matches and you can access them on Facebook at their group East Ridge Billiards Sports Bar & Lounge. Please join the group and share the stream. For more info, please contact East Ridge directly at 585-270-8215. So why not come on down and check us out and you might even win a $1,500 custom, engraved Joss Cue in our raffle. Anyone can participate and you do not have to be present to win. You can view this beautiful cue here: https://josscues.com/joss-tour-2018-19-cue/
I have been asked to let you know that East Ridge will also be holding 8-man $50 mini tournaments on Friday night preceding our event. Start time is 7pm and early arrival is strongly suggested as there are already players entered. There will be as many minis as time and amount of players allows. Call 585-270-8215.
There is a reasonably priced Super 8 about 10 minutes away for those in need of accommodations. 2450 Empire Blvd, Webster NY 14580, 585-347-5983. No special rate has been negotiated but it is reasonable.
This event at East Ridge 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) only for those non pro level players eliminated from the main event on Saturday.
For those of you coming to play, please arrive on Saturday February 23, BEFORE 11:30 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 on our site www.joss9balltour.com
Our $25,000 Added Turning Stone Classic XXXII 9-Ball Open, Season Finale, will be held on August 22 – August 25, 2019. I began taking entries just last month and it is already close to 3/4 full!! To enter you must contact me at 518-356-7163 or see me at any of our events Before the event is full at 128. I strongly urge everyone to act now if you are at all serious about playing in this great event!!
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!!
Earl Strickland (Photo courtesy of Karl Kantrowitz)
The final day of the Living Legends Challenge at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ was a quick one.
Going into the final day, Earl Strickland held a 5-3 lead over Mike Sigel. Strickland had dominated day one, winning 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball and Straight Pool, but Sigel came back on day two to win three of the four sessions played (One Pocket twice and the second Straight Pool session).
Day three got underway with 8-Ball and if Sigel’s day two success did anything, it got Earl’s attention and he definitely brought all of his focus to the session. The result was a quick 8-1 win for The Pearl and Sigel knew he would have to sweep the remaining sessions of the day.
Although Sigel gave it his all, he came up just short in the next session as Strickland scored an 8-6 10-Ball win for the final session win.
With a final scoreline of Earl Strickland 7 – Mike Sigel 3, Strickland was crowned the 2018 Living Legends Challenge Champion.
After dropping every session on day one of the Living Legends Challenge, Mike Sigel spent day two showing the fans at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ that he wasn’t just going to roll over for his opponent Earl Strickland.
Even with that, the day didn’t start out very well for Sigel. After having lost matches in 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball and Straight Pool on day one, Single dropped the opening session of Bank Pool to Strickland 4-2. Although Strickland won the session, Sigel appeared to be showing signs of finding his game.
Those signs were on full display in the second session of the day when Sigel just plain outplayed Strickland, defeated him in One Pocket 3-1 to close out the afternoon session.
With Sigel trailing 5-1, he was able to choose the discipline they would play in the first evening session and Sigel went back to the game he had won earlier in the day, One Pocket. This match was more competitive than their earlier affair, but Sigel still edged out Strickland 3-2.
Even with the win, Sigel still trailed 5-2 and was able to choose the final discipline of the night. Even though he had lost to Strickland 125-7 in Straight Pool on day one, Sigel went with Straight Pool and it was the right decision. This match was much more competitive with Strickland running 97 balls and Sigel running around 60. The match could have gone either way, but in the end it was Sigel edging out Strickland 125-123 for his third winning session of the competition.
Day three will get underway at 1pm EST and Sigel (by virtue of still trailing) has chosen 8-Ball to be the first discipline of the day.
Fans can watch (and listen to) all of the action between these two living legends on Accu-Stat’s PPV stream at www.accu-stats.com.
Earl Strickland (File photo courtesy of Erwin Dionisio)
Day one is complete at the Living Legends Challenge, being held in the Aramith/Simonis Arena at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison NJ, and Earl Strickland is putting on a dominating performance against Mike Sigel.
Things got underway with 8-Ball, and they couldn’t have started much better for Strickland as he cruised to an 8-2 win. The rust was evident in Sigel’s game, and Earl’s continued top level tournament play showed right from the get-go.
Even with the dominating result in 8-Ball, the 10-Ball was much closer. A Strickland miss on a game ball mid set seemed to energize Sigel’s game and he fought back to tie things at hill-hill. That would be as far as he would get though, as Strickland won the case game for a 2-0 lead at the end of afternoon play.
The evening session got underway with Straight Pool, the game most fans thought Sigel would have the best chances in. That wasn’t the case though, as Sigel got one chance to put a run together and left himself no shot after a 7 ball run and break shot. Meanwhile, Strickland was stringing together multiple rack runs like they were nothing. The final scoreline showed Earl a 125-7 winner.
The final match of the night was 9-Ball, but by this time Sigel’s confidence level was definitely lacking. Earl took early control and ran away to a quick 8-3 win.
Day two play gets underway on Saturday at 1pm EST with Banks and then One Pocket. By virtue of trailing in the overall score, Sigel will have his choice of disciplines for the 7pm session on Saturday.
Fans who can’t enjoy this match at Sandcastle Billiards can always watch the PPV stream at www.accu-stats.com
