Shaun Wilkie and BJ Ussery entered the AZBilliards database for the first time at the turn of the century. Wilkie’s first recorded payout finish came when he finished 9th at a stop on the Planet Pool Tour in June, 2000. Ussery’s came in September that year, when he finished in a tie for 65th place in the 25th annual US Open 9-Ball Championships; won for the fifth and last time by Earl Strickland.
Together, Wilkie and Ussery are part of a core group of Mid-Atlantic elite players whose names have appeared consistently, registering victories and cash payout finishes for over two decades. Together, along with a number of other well-known, consistent performers among the Mid-Atlantic pool community (Brett Stottlemeyer, Steve Fleming and Chris Wilburn, among others) and a few from the further-North-Atlantic community (Raphael Dabreo and Miguel LaBoy, among others), they signed on to compete in the 1st Annual Delaware State 10-Ball Bar Box Championships, held last weekend (May 7-8). Together, they advanced to the hot seat match and later, played in the finals. Ussery claimed the hot seat before, together, they appeared in the finals, treating spectators and viewers on a live stream to a pair of double elimination matches that eventually earned Wilkie the event title. The event drew 57 entrants to Milford Billiards in Dover, DE.
Ussery’s path to the hot seat match went through five opponents, who, combined, chalked up only 10 racks against him; Henry Taylor (2), Nelson Tull (1), Steve Fleming (3), Miguel Laboy (3) and, in a winners’ side semifinal, Vinny Cimarelli (1). Wilkie’s opponents on his way to the hot seat match chalked up 14; Mike Saleh (1), Zachary Paitsel (3), Dave Barnes (3), Marty Ciccia (2) and, in the other winners’ side semifinal, Lukas Fracasso-Verner (5).
The opponent racks-against tipped even further in Ussery’s direction, as he claimed the hot seat 7-4. Ussery was in the hot seat with a 42-14 record (a 75% game-winning average), as Wilkie headed off to the semifinals at 39-20 (66%).
Neither of them, as it turned out, would have to face the one competitor who’d recorded the most racks against either of them, Fracassso-Verner. He moved to the loss side and picked up Raphael Dabreo, who’d lost his second-round match to Rick Miller and embarked on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak, which would end in the semifinals against Wilkie. Dabreo had just recently eliminated Miguel Laboy 7-4 and Russ Redhead 7-3. Cimarelli drew a re-match against Kirill Rutman Kenny, whom he’d defeated in a winners’ side third round match and had gone on five-match winning streak that had recently included the elimination of two of the aforementioned Mid-Atlantic elites;Brett Stottlemeyer 7-5 and Steve Fleming 7-1.
Dabreo eliminated Fracasso-Verner 7-5, as Kenny extended his loss-side streak to six matches with a 7-4 win over Cimarelli. Kenny didn’t give up his streak easily, as he and Dabreo fought to double hill in the quarterfinals; the first of four straight double hill matches at the very end of the championship event. The second came in the semifinals, as Dabreo battled Wilkie to a single deciding game before Wilkie earned his rematch against Ussery.
One can’t ask much more of a regional event final than to have two of its strongest competitors battling to double hill. Twice. And they did. By winning the hot seat match, Ussery had, in effect, extended Wilkie’s match count by one. Wilkie made him pay for that extra match he’d had to play, defeating him twice in what was described as “a very wonderful two sets of pool” that closed out the 1st Annual Delaware State’s 10-Ball Bar Box Championships with Wilkie in possession of the title.
Tour director Tarek Elmalla extended thanks to Leo and Sherrie Weigand and their Milford Billiards staff for their hospitality and to all of the players who came from near and far (New York, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and more) to compete. He also thanked the folks at https://www.amateursportsstream.com, including Ray Netta and to everyone who joined him in the booth for the live streaming, which, for feature matches, utilized three camera angles that heightened the experience for all of its viewers. And in the ‘keeping everything smooth’ department, Elmalla also acknowledged the assistance of Travis Parker, Ran Ji, Jennifer Benton Boxwell and Eric Probst.
The next item on the Delaware State Championship agenda will entail a switch to 8-Ball, when the 1st Annual DE State 8-Ball Bar Box Championships, scheduled for the weekend of June 25-26, opens the doors, once again, at Milford Billiards in Dover, DE.
Congratulations to our 32nd Ocean State 9-Ball Champion Raphael Dabreo ($3,000), Second Chance winner Chad Bazinet ($340) & $1,600 Joss Cue Raffle winner Neil McCarthy.
Our next event will be at the brand new Brick House Billiards in N. Syracuse NY on June 26 & 27, 2021. Our hosts Mary & Brian Holmes have created one of the most beautiful rooms in the state while sparing no expense. Brick House comes complete with 8 of the Diamond Pro tables used at one of our Turning Stone events, plus 8, 7 foot Diamond tables for the bar league crowd. There is also a brand new full bar and kitchen boasting a full pub menu with a few homemade specials thrown in to satisfy all of our needs. So lets give Brick House a warm Joss Tour welcome by coming out to play in or just watch another great 9-ball tournament. While you are there, you could even win a gorgeous, custom engraved, Joss Cue, valued at $1,600 in the raffle. Anyone can participate in the raffle and you do not have to be present to win! This beautiful cue can be viewed here: https://josscues.com/product/joss-northeast-9-ball-tour-19-20/
For more info about Brick House, look them up on Facebook or call them at 315-455-1979.
For those of you needing motel info, please call Brick House directly at 315-455-1979
This event at Brick House Billiards 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) for those non pro level players eliminated from the main event on Saturday. All of our events are open to players of all skill levels. Please remember that all of our billiard parlor events are now races 9 on the winners side and races to 7 on the one loss side.
Those coming to play must arrive on Saturday June 26, Before 11:00 AM in proper dress of No t-shirts, tanks, sweats or shorts!! Clean Jeans and sneakers and a shirt with a collar work just fine for our billiard parlor events. Complete tour info can be found on our site: www.joss9balltour.com
Please remember to spread the word to frequent your local billiard parlors and utilize and promote the world class products of our most generous sponsors. They are the backbone of our sport and deserve our support!!
Thanks, and I hope to see you all at the brand new Brick House billiards.
Mike Zuglan
518-356-7163
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour Is Proudly Sponsored By;
Mike Zuglan, Raphael Dabreo, Francisco Salas and Snookers owner Steve Goulding. Photo courtesy of Sheikvision Photography.
After a break of 454 days, the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour kicked things off (post Covid) at the same place where it left off, Snookers in Providence, Rhode Island. The occasion was the 32nd Ocean State 9-Ball Championship, and the players showed how ready they were to get back to action, as a field of 112 players came out to try to earn a banner hanging in the rafters of Snookers with their name on it.
Through the matches on Saturday and early Sunday, Francisco Salas set himself as the man to beat, with dominating wins in his matches. His Saturday matches consisted of wins over Chris Leal 9-4, Jerry Guitard 9-1 and Ray Lee 9-2. He then started his Sunday off with the same domination he showed on Saturday, with a 9-4 win over John Francisco and then a 9-2 win over Pat Fleming.
By comparison, Salas’s next opponent, Raphael Dabreo, didn’t have things as stress-free. Dabreo had wins over Max Watanabe, Jason Noble and Brian Chase on Saturday, followed by a 9-3 win over Joey Dupuis and then a 9-7 nail biter against Levy Lampaan. Their final four match was another one-sided win for Salas and he moved on to the hot-seat match with a 9-2 win.
The hot-seat match also went to Salas, with a more competitive 9-6 win over Jared Demalia.
After the loss to Salas, Dabreo won a tough one on the left side of the board over Mike Yednak 7-5, and then he appeared to get settled into his game. “I felt like I struggled quite a bit on Sunday dealing with my own emotions. The weight I placed on myself going into the tournament, wanting the win and my name placed on that legendary snooker banner, played a major part in that.” said Dabreo after the event.
After the win over Yednak, Dabreo rolled over Lanna 7-2 and then Demalia 7-3 to earn another shot at Salas in the double elimination finals. Beating Salas twice in the finals would be a tough goal to accomplish for Dabreo, but he did have recent experience in matches like that to rely on. Dabreo had recently played Shane Van Boening in the finals of the Dynaspheres Cup 10-Ball Championship back in May. “After coming back home placing second to SVB In Maryland, I felt I could have performed better. To win that would of been great, but I appreciated the lessons learned losing to him. To share the table with greatness such as him is addictive for me.” said Dabreo.
In the end, it was Dabreo who scored a 9-2 win over Salas in the first set of the finals, and then a 7-2 win in the second set, for the tournament win. It was Dabreo’s second career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win and it will certainly lead to more confidence from Dabreo in the future. It will also help Dabreo as he continues to display the game he knows he is capable of. “Becoming aware of my potential and staying honest with myself helps me target areas I need improvement. “ said Dabreo.
Sunday’s second chance event saw 31 players come back to Snookers to compete for the $500 in added prize money. Chad Bazinet bounced back from a final eight loss to Francisco Cabral and double dipped Jim Prather in the finals 3-0 and 3-2 for first place.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Brick House Billiards in N. Syracuse, NY for their next event on June 26th – 27th.
The $5,000-added Dynaspheres Cup 10-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Maryland-based Billiard Sports Network this past weekend (May 1-2) at Center Pocket in Bowie, MD had a little bit of everything going for it. The most prominent thing it had going for it was Shane Van Boening, who went undefeated through a field of 128 to claim the event title. Though it was a fairly diverse group, geographically, it featured a list of prominent Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Florida-based players, a few women from the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) and a small contingent of junior players.
Although predominantly made up of US Players (92%), the field also featured two players each from Puerto Rico and India, as well as one player each from Ecuador, South Korea, the Philippines, Egypt, Scotland and England. By the time the field had whittled down to 12; four on the winners’ side of the bracket and eight on the loss side, it was all US of A. The final fourstanding were two guys from the New York City area and a pair of Shanes; one a wily veteran from South Dakota and the other, a recently-graduated-from-juniors player from Virginia.
It’s tough to beat a guy who, through eight matches, racing to 9, is winning just about four out of every five games he plays, while giving up an average of only 3.6 racks per match (63-24/79% game-winning average). And so went Shane Van Boening’s tournament, commencing with victories over Jeffrey Pry, Sr., Ryan McCreesh, Bryan Jones, Clint Palaci and Matt Krah, to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Derick Daya.
NYC’s Joey Korsiak, in the meantime, who’d end up winning just over half of his games and giving up 6.36 racks per match, on average, got by Larry Richards, Jimmy Conn, Shayne Morrow, Scott Haas (double hill) and Kevin West, to arrive at his winners’ side matchup against fellow NYC competitor, Raphael Dabreo.
Van Boening downed Daya 9-4, while Korsiak was sending Dabreo to the loss side 9-6. Van Boening sent Korsiak to the loss side, claiming the hot seat 9-6.
On the loss side, DaBreo ran into Matt Krah, who, after his winners’ side quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Van Boening, had defeated one of the junior players, Landon Hollingsworth and Mark Nanashee, both 9-2. Daya picked up Shane Wolford, who followed his winners’ side quarterfinal defeat at the hands of Dabreo with victories over Chip Klein, double hill, and Kevin West 9-7.
The circle had closed, so to speak. The final six competitors were either still on the winners’ side (Korsiak and Van Boening), or had only seen action, at most, in two matches on the loss side Dabreo & Krah, Daya & Wolford). Wolford advanced to the quarterfinals 9-1 over Daya. Dabreo eliminated Krah 9-5 and joined him for their rematch.
Dabreo and Wolford put on a hell of show in those quarterfinals. Old school vs. new generation stuff. It came within a game of double hill, but in the end Dabreo advanced for another rematch, against Korsiak in the semifinals. It seemed as though the hot seat match had taken somethinout of Korsiak that he couldn’t get back. That, or Dabreo was just on a determined roll for a shot against Van Boening. Either way, Dabreo advanced to the finals 9-4.
There was an element of dominance in that final match, but Dabreo didn’t just lie down, either. Van Boening’s overall 79% game-winning average was only 64% in the final. He did, though, complete his undefeated run with a 9-5 victory.
Tournament director Steve Fleming and Billiard Sports Network’s Jake Lawson and Josh Setterfield extended thanks to the ownership and staff at Center Pocket for their ongoing hospitality throughout the Dynaspheres series of events, as well as title sponsor Dynaspheres Balls, Lucid Ballsports (Predator Arena Light), Gina Cunningham (Keller Williams Integrity), East Coast Prime Meats, Courtyard by Marriott (Bowie, MD), Hampton Inn by Hilton (Bowie, MD), Luke Thompson Photography, MB Cues/Mike Burton, Integrity Cues, Break Out Billiards Apparel, WhoDem Billiards Apparel, AZBilliards, Premier Billiards, CueScore.com, The League Room, Championship Fabric, LLC, Jacoby Custom Cues, Vyc’s Cue Repair, S&T Billiards and JB Cases.
The next event in the Dynaspheres’ series, scheduled for the weekend of June 4-6, will be the $1,500-added Dynaspheres Cup 8-Ball Championship, to be hosted by Center Pocket in Bowie, MD. This Open/Pro event, limited to the first 128 entrants, will feature races to 7 on both sides of the bracket, and be played on the room’s 7 ft. Diamond tables.
