Benny Blanco was crowned the 2018 NJ Amateur 8-Ball State Champion after an undefeated run through a field of 42 players at the Mezz Cue Tour stop at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ on November 10th and 11th.

 

After an opening round bye, Blanco won three matches on Saturday and then came back on Sunday to defeat Naim Shala and then Richard Ng for the hot-seat. 

 

On the one loss side, Gerard Soriano avenged his loss to Ng earlier in the day on Sunday and eliminated Ng in 3rd place. Soriano would have to settle for second place though, as he dropped the final match to Blanco. 

 

Sandcastle Billiards owner Ed Liddawi thanked tourney director (and Mezz Tour Director) Jose Burgos, Pat Fleming and Jim Fredericks from Accu-Stats for the online stream, his staff and family, as well as all of the players for supporting the event. 

 

Event sponsors and supporters for the tournament included Aramith Billiard Balls, Iwan Simonis Billiards, AzBilliards.com, Accu-Stats Video Productions & GoPlayPool.com.