(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.
(l to r): George Morgan, David Soule, Kevin Bauccio and TD Marc Dionne
For many amateur competitors, non-handicapped events can be a good news/bad news situation. It’s good news for the higher-ranked players, who don’t have to think about the possibility of being defeated by someone who’s chalked up fewer racks in a match. For the lower-ranked players, their safety net of a rack or two (or more) is gone, and they’re faced with a mano a mano battle against someone who, on paper at least, is considered to be better than they are.
In a way, George Morgan, a C+ Player, split that difference on Stop #13 on the New England 9-Ball Series tour, held on Sunday, January 20. The event drew 42 entrants to Stix and Stones in Abington, MA. It was not handicapped and restricted to players B+ and below. Morgan spent most of his time in the lower bracket (C+ and below) where he downed three fellow C+ opponents to move into an overall winners’ side semifinal. He would go on to defeat a C player and a B+ player (twice) to finish undefeated.
First up for Morgan in the winners’ side semifinal of the now-combined brackets was Tim Schroeder (C). David Soule and Keith Platt (both B+) squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal. Soule downed Platt 6-2, and in the hot seat match, faced Morgan, who’d sent Schroeder to the loss side 5-3. Morgan got into the hot seat with a first (of two) wins over Soule 5-3.
On the loss side, Schroeder and Platt walked right into their second straight loss. Platt was eliminated 5-3 by fellow B+ shooter Kevin Bauccio, who’d been defeated by Paul Laverdiere in his second, upper bracket match, and was in the midst of a five-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the event semifinals. Schroeder, a C player, battled to double hill before giving way to Adam Blair (C+), who’d defeated Kevin Brule 4-1 and Jiten Patel, double hill, to reach him.
Bauccio gave up only a single rack to Blair in the race-to-4 quarterfinals that followed. The semifinals – a straight-up race to 4 against the two B+ players – saw Soule earn a second shot against Morgan in the hot seat with a 4-2 win.
Morgan improved on his 5-3 hot seat performance with a 5-2 win in the finals against Soule.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Stix and Stones, 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 on the New England 9-Ball Series Tour (#14), scheduled for January 27-28, will be the annual $5,000-added Winter Classic, hosted by Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
(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.
By the time the fifth stop on the New England 9-Ball Series was down to its final 12 players, Josh Rupard was one of only two A+ players left. Both he and Kerry McAuliffe were battling in the loss-side’s first money round at the time, though not against each other. Rupard advanced through five loss-side matches to meet and defeat Eli Davenport (C+) twice in a true double elimination final. The $500-added event – The Don Clemons Memorial – drew 48 entrants to Buster’s Billiards in Sommersworth, NH on Saturday, November 4.
Rupard chalked up three victories on the winners’ side of the event’s top bracket, until he ran into Sammy Khiev, a B player. With Rupard racing to 8, and Khiev to 5, Khiev advanced 5-4 to the event’s overall winners’ side semifinal against Paul Laverdiere (B). Coming from the event’s lower bracket, C+ Eli Davenport squared off against D+ Peter Rizzo, Sr. in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Khiev and Laverdiere locked up in a straight-up race to 7, that went double hill before Khiev finished it to advance to the hot seat match. He was joined by Davenport, who’d shut Rizzo out.
Davenport claimed the hot seat over Khiev 5-3, in what would prove to be Khiev’s final match.
On the loss side, it was Laverdiere who picked up Rupard, who’d opened his loss-side work with an 8-2 win over Geoff James, and an 8-1 win over Matt Gagne. Rizzo drew Kassie Lam, who’d eliminated George Morgan 6-1 and Martin Flagg 5-2. Rupard and Lam advanced to the quarterfinals; Rupard, 8-2 over Laverdiere and Lam, 5-2 over Rizzo.
Rupard and Lam fought to double hill in those quarterfinals, but Rupard had the last word and advanced to a semifinal re-match against Khiev. Rupard leapfrogged over that semifinal match, when Khiev forfeited.
Rupard and Davenport played 20 games in the true double elimination final. Rupard won 18 of them. He gave up only two in the opening set, and none at all in the second set to claim the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Buster’s Billiards, as well as all of the players who came out to support this memorial event. In honor of Don Clemons, the tournament raised $340 for the American Cancer Society; $240 from tournament entries, and $100 from challenge matches played against Mike Dechaine. Dionne also thanked 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 – #6 – on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Saturday, November 18, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.
Bobby Hilton, Paul LaVerdiere and William Gibbs Jr
At the eighth stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, held on Saturday, Sept. 26, Bobby Hilton won three on the loss side and the opening set of a true double elimination final to force a single, deciding match against hot seat occupant, William Gibbs, Jr. Gibbs won that second set to claim title to the $500-added event which had drawn 26 entrants to Town Billiards in Hamden, CT.
The winners' side semifinals in this event pitted two C+ and two B+ players against each other to determine the hot seat opponents. The C+ players, Gibbs, Jr. and Frank O'Malley faced off, while Hilton and Paul Laverdiere, representing the B+ class, met in the other winners' side semifinal. Gibbs, Jr. won his straight-up race to 5, 5-2, while Laverdiere sent Hilton to the loss side in their race to 6, 6-1. Gibbs, Jr. started the hot seat match with three on the wire, and won it 5-5 over Laverdiere, who was racing to 8.
Hilton started his trip back to the finals against Dave Gavrish, who'd gotten by Robert Piersa 6-4 and Chris Gloersen, double hill (8-4) to reach him. O'Malley picked up Ed Murray, the only D+ player still at work among the event's final 12, who'd eliminated Kajone Ky, double hill (3-6) and Chris Masterson 3-1.
Hilton defeated Gavrish 5-3, and in the quarterfinals, faced Murray, who'd ended O'Malley's day 3-4 (O'Malley racing to 6). Murray took a six-game advantage into those quarterfinals, and almost made it happen. He chalked up two of the three racks he needed against Hilton, but Hilton chalked up the nine he needed to win it.
The semifinal matchup between Hilton and Laverdiere was more competitive than their earlier match in the winners' side semifinal. In their straight-up race to 6, Hilton prevailed 6-4 for a shot at Gibbs, Jr. in the hot seat.
With Gibbs, Jr. racing to 5, Hilton took the double elimination opener 8-3. Gibbs, though, rallied in the second set, giving up only two racks to Hilton, and claiming the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Town 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. Stop # 9 on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for December 3-4, will be a $1,500-added event, hosted by Stix and Stones in Abington, MA.
