A double hill hot seat match sent Quoc Dinh to the semifinals of the 3rd Annual Eastern States Amateur Championships, held on the weekend of August 13-14. Dinh returned to face and eventually defeat Troy Deocharran in the finals. The $1,000-added Amateur event, held under the auspices of the Predator Tour, The Ride the 9 Tour and the New England 9-Ball Series, drew 76 entrants to Snookers, in Providence, RI. A concurrently-run Open/Pro event, won by Jayson Shaw (separate story), drew 31 entrants to the same location.

 

Deocharran and Dinh had a relatively easy time in their respective winners' side semifinal matches; Deocharran sending John Francisco to the loss side 7-2, as Dinh was sending Tim Perry over, 7-3. Their first meeting was a double hill affair, eventually won by Deocharran, who sat in the hot seat awaiting Dinh's fateful return.

 

On the loss side, Francisco picked up Tim Strunk, who'd been sent to the loss side by Mike Demarco, and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side run that would take him all the way to the semifinals. Wins #3 and #4 came against Dan Martis (7-4) and Roarke Dickson (double hill), which set Strunk up to face Francisco. Perry drew John Ortiz, who'd eliminated Richard Senna 7-4 and Dan Faraguna 7-3.

 

Strunk chalked up a second straight double hill win, advancing to the quarterfinals over Francisco. He was joined by Perry, who'd eliminated Ortiz 7-4. Strunk won his last match, defeating Perry 9-4 in those quarterfinals.

 

Dinh stopped Strunk's loss-side run 9-4 in the semifinals, for a second shot against Deocharran in the hot seat. Dinh used some semifinal momentum to defeat Deocharran in the finals 9-5. 

 

Between the hot seat and true double elimination finals, Ed Powers and Quoc Dinh played 26 games of pool. They each won 13 of them, but the last 10 won by Powers were in the two final matches, as he came back to capture the August 26 stop on the J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tour. The $200-added (by Josh and Steve Soulliere) event drew 28 entrants to Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI.

Dinh and Powers were among the winners’ side final four with Dinh facing Paul Linteris, as Powers squared off against T. J. Perrino. They each gave up only a single rack in the two matches that advanced them to the hot seat battle; Dinh 5-1 over Linteris, Powers 3-1 over Perrino. Dinh got into the hot seat, winning the first of three against Powers 5-3.

Linteris moved over to the loss side, picking up Ranulf Tamba, who’d defeated Charles Matarazzo, double hill, and shut out Kevin Bauccio. Perrino drew Derrick Morgado, who was in the midst of a four-game, loss-side winning streak, and who’d shut out Scott Reynolds and downed Bill Roberge 4-2. Morgado and Tamba advanced to the quarterfinals; Morgado with a 4-1 victory over Perrino, and Tamba 5-3 versus Linteris.

Tamba defeated Morgado 5-2 in those quarterfinals, and turned to face Powers. Powers, anxious for a second crack at Dinh, defeated Tamba 4-3 in the semifinals to earn the re-match.

Powers took full advantage of his second (and third) chance. He captured the event title by surviving a double hill opening set in the true double elimination final, and then, took the second set, double hill, as well.