Jeremy Sossei, Pat Fleming and Snookers Owner Steve Goulding
While Jeremy Sossei has won the last three Joss NE 9-Ball Tour stops, he has had to win the last two with one loss. That was what he did again at Snookers Billiards in Providence, RI on June 1st – 2nd for the final regular season stop on the tour.
Sossei cruised through Saturday’s matches undefeated with wins over Lida Mullendore, Jim Prather, Ranulf Tamba and Dev Bhattacharya. The closest any opponent got to Sossei on Saturday was Tamba at 9-4. Sossei’s undefeated run came to an end on Sunday morning, as he dropped his first match of the day to Pat Fleming 9-6. After that match, Fleming went on to defeat Tom D’Alfonso 9-5 for the hot-seat.
Sossei got by Francisco Cabral 7-4 and Jared Demalia 7-2, to earn the match against D’Alfonso in the semi-finals. That match would go hill-hill before Sossei pocketed the final nine ball. The time in the hot-seat might have proved to be a negative for Fleming, as Sossei proceeded to win the first set of the finals 9-4 and then the second set 7-3. The win was Sossei’s 6th of the season and his 4th in a row.
Sunday’s “Second Chance” tournament saw Bob Madenjian with a 3-1 win over Ray Buthe for the hot-seat and then facing Nick Coppola in the finals. Coppola won the first set of the finals 3-2, but Madenjian came back to take the second set 3-2 for the win.
The stop at Snookers was the final regular season tour stop and players will now prepare for the Turning Stone Classic XXXII on August 22nd – 25th at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. That event is full, but fans are invited to watch the action in person with free admission on all four days of the event.
l to r: Joe Dupuis, Steve Goulding (owner of Snooker’s) and Tim Perry
Last year at the 8th Annual New England Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame Open 9-Ball tournament, Joe Dupuis advanced to the hot seat, only to be double-dipped by Zion Zvi in the finals. This year, Dupuis opted for the loss-side route at the 9th annual event and achieved better results. Sent to the loss side by the man he’d later (much later) face in the finals, Tim Perry, Dupuis won seven on the loss side to earn the re-match, win both sets of the double elimination final and claim the title he’d last won in 2014. The $2,500-added event drew 48 entrants to its regular venue, Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
Dupuis and Perry met first in the third round of play. They locked up in a double hill fight, that eventually sent Dupuis to the loss side. Perry advanced to a winners’ side quarterfinal against Ivaylo Petrov, which he won 9-6, moving him into a winners’ side semifinal against the Joss NE Tour’s current #4-ranked player, Bruce Nagle. Kyle Pepin and Jason Michas, in the meantime, squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Perry downed Nagle 9-4, and in the hot seat match, faced Michas, who’d sent Pepin west 9-5. Perry got into the hot seat 9-5 over Michas, and waited on Dupuis’ return.
On the loss side, Dupuis’ trip back to the finals began against the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s #1-ranked player, and all-around tough draw, Jeremy Sossei. Sossei had been awarded a bye in the event’s opening round, and dropped his first match to Mark Ransom. On the loss side, he’d gotten by Bill Cote and Chuck Sampson before running into Dupuis, who ended his weekend with a 7-5 win. Things didn’t get any easier, either. Mike Minichello put up a double hill fight against Dupuis in the next loss-side round. Dupuis eliminated him and moved into the first money round.
Dupuis then defeated Mike Demarco 7-3 and in another double hill battle, Frank Hernandez, to draw Nagle, coming off his defeat in a winners’ side semifinal. Pepin, in the meantime, picked up Petrov, who, after his defeat at the hands of Perry in the winners’ side quarterfinal, had downed Clyde Matta 7-1 and Francisco Cabral 7-5.
Pepin advanced to the quarterfinals 7-5 over Petrov and was joined by Dupuis, who’d defeated Nagle 7-2. Dupuis got by Pepin 7-5 and then denied Michas a second shot at Perry in the hot seat with a 7-4 win in the semifinals.
Dupuis took the opening set of the double elimination final against Perry 9-6. Racing to 7 in the second set, Dupuis and Perry battled to 6-6, forcing a deciding game. Dupuis won it to claim his second New England Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame title.
A $500-added Second Chance event that drew 11 entrants saw another competitor, Mike Minichello, come from deep on the loss side to double dip the hot seat occupant, Mike Pettit. Minichello won four on the loss side, and was denied an opportunity to face the opponent who’d sent him there, Mark Ransom, when Ransom was defeated in the quarterfinals by Kevin Bauccio. Minichello went on to defeat Bauccio in the quarterfinals, Ranulf Tamba in the semifinals, and Mike Pettit, twice, in the finals; 3-1, 3-2.
Joss NE 9-Ball Tour director Mike Zuglan thanked Steve Goulding and his Snooker's staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Joss Cues, Simonis, Aramith, PoolOnTheNet.com, Heidrich Custom Cues, AZBilliards, Billiards Press, and Turning Stone Resort and Casino. The next stop on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for March 10-11, will be the $1,500-added Kevin Ketz Memorial ($500-added to Second Chance event), hosted by Trick Shot Billiards & Sports Club in Clifton Park, NY. Players are reminded that the following week’s event (March 17-18), originally scheduled to be hosted by King Smiley, will now be held at Hippo’s House of Billiards, in Yorkville, NY.
Mike Dechaine kept his recent streak of hot play going strong with his third straight win on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour on May 31st and June 1st.
Dechaine emerged from a field of 49 players at Snookers in Providence, RI to take the hot-seat with a hard fought 9-8 win over Jayson Shaw.
On the one loss side, Shaw then dropped a 9-7 decision to Nelson Oliviera. That match was a bit of revenge for Oliviera, as it was Shaw who had sent him to the one loss side on Saturday by the same 9-7 scoreline.
The finals between Dechaine and Oliviera would go two sets, with Oliviera winning set one 9-7 and then Dechaine taking the second set by the score of 9-1.
The second chance tournament saw fifteen players come back on Sunday to play, but this event was all about Mark Creamer. Creamer went undefeated and ended the tournament with a combined game score of 15-1, having only lost one game to Ranulf Tamba in the second round. Creamer defeated Luis Aybar 3-0 for the hot-seat and again 3-0 in the finals.
The Turning Stone Classic XXII is now full, and Mike Zuglan has a waiting list for players who are still interested in playing. Interested players should contact Mike at 518-356-7163 to be added to the list.
The Predator Tour, which spends a lot of its time in the Tri-State New York area, paid a visit to Rhode Island on the weekend of September 14-15, and (no surprise) was treated to a host of the New England area's top players. As the Red Sox were busy completing their sweep of the Yankees at Fenway Park, Ranulf Tamba, who's spent the past few years plying his trade primarily on the New England-based Rack 'Em Up, and J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tours went to work in the Amateur division of the Predator stop, and came from the loss side to defeat the Tri-State New York area-based Stewart Warnock. In the Open division, another New England-based regular, Nelson Oliviera, was runner-up to Tony Robles, who he challenged in the hot seat and finals. The $1,000-added Amateur event drew 30 entrants to Snookers, in Providence, RI, while the $1,000-added Open event drew a short field of 12.
In the Amateur event, Tamba was sent to the loss side from among the winners' side final eight 7-1 by Abel Barriento, who advanced to face Warnock in one of the winners' side semifinals. Gail Glazebrook squared off against Irvin Simkins in the other. Warnock got into the hot seat match with a 9-6 win over Barriento, and was met there by Simkins, who'd sent Glazebrook west 7-5. Warnock and Simkins battled to double hill before Warnock prevailed to sit in the hot seat, unaware as he waited for Tamba, that he'd won his final match.
Tamba, in the meantime, went right back to work on the loss side, defeating Brooke Meyer 7-1 and James Stevens 7-5, to pick up Glazebrook. Justin Muller won a double hill match against Billy Santiago and downed Kevin Falco 8-4 to pick up Barriento. Barriento advanced 8-6 over Muller, but Tamba handed Glazebrook her second straight loss 7-4.
Tamba then defeated both Barriento in the quarterfinals and Simkins in the semifinals 7-5. He and Warnock fought tooth and nail to double hill in the finals, but Tamba sunk the final ball to claim the title.
Robles got into the hot seat match in the Open event after downing Tom D'Alfonso 8-4. Oliviera had defeated Justin Muller (tied for 5th in the Amateur event) 8-3 to meet him. Robles took the first of their two 8-4 and waited in the hot seat for the second.
Neither Muller, nor D'Alfonso made it out of their first loss-side match. Phil Davis, who'd gotten by Dan Cintron 8-5 and Clayton Rocha 8-4, beat Muller in a double hill match. D'Alfonso was defeated 8-5 by Ray McNamara, who'd eliminated Jay McCaughey 8-3 and won a double hill battle against Joey Dupuis.
Davis took the quarterfinal match over McNamara 8-4, but was downed 8-5 by Oliviera in the semifinals. Oliviera took Robles right to the brink, but Robles completed his undefeated run through the short field of 12 to claim the event title.
Ty Speedwell took Danny Pavao to double hill twice, but Pavao came out on top both times to claim the May 19 stop on the J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tour. The $1,000-added event drew 27 entrants to Bo's Billiards in Warwick, RI.
They met first among the winners' side final four, with Pavao sending Speedwell west in their first of two double hill matches. Bill Cote defeated Bill O'Mara double hill, as well, to meet Pavao in the hot seat match. Pavao claimed the hot seat from Cote 5-1 and waited on Speedwell's return.
Speedwell moved over and picked up Tim Perry, who'd defeated Ranulf Tamba in a double hill match, and Kerry McAuliffe 5-2. O'Mara drew Choneyi Tenzin, who'd gotten by Charles Matarazzo 8-2 (Matarazzo racing to 4), and Roarke Dickson 6-1. Speedwell embarked on his three-match march back to the finals with a 5-2 win over Perry, as Tenzin was busy shutting out O'Mara.
The tour veteran quarterfinal went double hill before Speedwell prevailed to face Bill Cote. Speedwell shut Cote out in the semifinals for a second chance against Pavao. Pavao and Speedwell locked up in their second double hill match, and Pavao prevailed again to claim the event title.
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.
The final five matches of the May 27 stop on the J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tour were double hill battles that eventually led to the crowning of Dave Fredette as the undefeated event titleist. The $425-added event drew 38 entrants to Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI.
All three of the matches among the winners’ side final four were double hill affairs. Fredette defeated John Korpusik and moved into the hot seat match against Bill Roberge, who’d defeated Andy Maynard. In a straight-up race to five, Fredette gained the hot seat 5-4 over Roberge.
Maynard moved to the loss side to pick up Mike Demarco, who’d gotten by Jason D’Angelo 5-2, and Danny Pavao 4-3. Korpusik faced Zack Thweib, who was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the semifinals. He got by Ranulf Tamba 5-2 and Van Sy 5-1 to face Korpusik. Maynard got back to his winning ways with a double hill win over Demarco, but it was Thweib advancing to meet him in the quarterfinals with a 5-1 victory over Korpusik.
Thweib completed his loss-side streak by shutting out Maynard in the quarterfinals. He battled to double hill in the semifinals against Roberge that followed, but Roberge prevailed for a second shot at Fredette. As they’d done in the hot seat match, Roberge and Fredette battled to double hill in the straight-up, race-to-five finals, before Fredette completed his undefeated day.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff of Bo’s Billiards for hosting the event.
