Soel Quinones, Ambriory Minyety, Kerry Mcauliffe, Scott Reynolds, Alvin Lam and Ricardo Diaz
Ambriori Minyety and Soel Quinones went undefeated through a field of 32 teams to claim the New England 9-Ball Series title on the eighth stop of the 2020-2021 tour. The $500-added event, held on Sunday, April 11, was hosted by Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
Minyety & Quinones began their day in the lower bracket, getting by two teams (one shutout and one double hill match) to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Casey Olivieri and Joe Watt. From the upper bracket, Kerry McAuliffe and Scott Reynolds got by two team opponents (identical 5-1 scores) to arrive at their winners’ side semifinal against Kevin Bauccio and Matt Rezendes.
Two double hill matches advanced Minyety/Quinones (4-3) to the hot seat match versus McAuliffe/Reynolds (5-4). Minyety/Quinones went on to claim the hot seat 5-2 over McAuliffe/Reynolds and waited on their return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Bauccio/Rezendes drew a re-match against the mixed gender team of Stacie Bourbeau and Mark Morgan, whom they’d defeated in a winners’ side quarterfinal 5-3. Bourbeau/Morgan then defeated the teams of Jose Concepcion and Derek Cunningham and Dominick Sousa and Brandon Coley, both 5-3. Olivieri/Watt picked up Ricardo Diaz and Alvin Lam, who were working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently included a double hill victory over Steve Downs and Melissa Austin, and a 4-2 win over Rich Senna and Ryan McCrum.
Bauccio/Rezendes defeated Bourbeau/Morgan 5-2 and in the quarterfinals, met up with Diaz/Lam, who’d chalked up loss-side win #5, eliminating Olivieri/Watt 4-2. Diaz/Lam advanced one more step, defeating Bauccio/Rezendes 4-3 in those quarterfinals (Bauccio/Rezendes racing to 5).
McAuliffe/Reynolds ended the Diaz/Lam loss-side streak with a 5-2 win in the semifinals and got a second shot at Minyety/Quinones waiting on them in the hot seat.
McAuliffe/Reynolds were able to improve their score from the hot seat match, but only by a single rack. Minyety/Quinones completed their undefeated run with a 5-3 victory in the finals.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Snooker’s for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator, Poison, Arcos II, BCAPL, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, AZBilliards, Salotto, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, MJS Construction, Master Billiards, OTLVISE, Piku Tips and Just The Tip Cue Repair and Custom Accessories.
The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Sunday, April 25, will be a $500-added, 8-Ball event, hosted by Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.
(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): Lukas Fracasso-Verner, TD Marc Dionne, Josh Caesar & Ryan Lineham
Until this past weekend (Jan. 25-26), Josh Caesar had cashed in exactly five events on the New England 9-Ball Series. His name started cropping on our database (generally indicative of cash winnings) in January of 2018, when he finished 9th in that year’s Winter Classic. He cashed in only one other event that year (that we know about), the 2018 Tour Championship in September. Last year, he cashed in three of the tour’s events, winning one of them in February and tripling his recorded cash earnings from the year before.
In the finals of this year’s Winter Classic, held this past weekend, Caesar faced an opponent who’d cashed in three times as many events as he (Caesar) did last year and earned nearly six times as much money. Lukas Fracasso-Verner had won two stops on last year’s tour, was runner-up in the Player’s Championship and overall, had cashed in seven tour events. He’d also won the Predator Pro Am Tour’s Empire State Championship and was third at the Ocean State 9-Ball Championship, held under the auspices of the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour. All in all a prodigious resume for a player with somewhat limited experience to be facing in the finals of an event.
Caesar faced Fracasso-Verner three times in this event; battling for the hot seat and twice in the finals. He took the last two of those three to claim the 2020 Winter Classic title. The $2,000-added Winter Classic drew 127 entrants (15 more than it did last year) to Snooker’s in Providence, RI.
Working initially from the lower (FargoRate) bracket, Caesar opened his trek to the hot seat match with three, straight-up races to 5 in which he defeated Matt Caissie 5-2, shut out Mike Zingarella and sent Dennis Boucher to the loss side 5-3. He then downed three straight opponents, double hill, to get into that hot seat match – Kyle King, Phil Walton, and in the winners’ side semifinal, Bob Campbell. Fracasso-Verner, in the meantime, got by Billy Lanna 6-3, Jay Duffin 8-2, Beau Powers 6-2 and then, like Caesar, won two straight double hill matches against Kerry McAuliffe and Roarke Dickson to get into his winners’ side semifinal against Derrick Cunningham. Unlike Caesar, though, Fracasso-Verner shut Cunningham out in his winners’ side semifinal, and then, claimed the hot seat 8-2 over Caesar, who was racing to 4.
On the loss side, which was still featuring separated upper and lower bracket matches, Cunningham drew RYan Lineham, who’d eliminated Roarke Dickson 5-2 and Chad Avallone 6-1 to reach him. Campbell picked up Scott Reynolds, who’d recently defeated Ed Cortney, double hill and Philip Walton 4-2. Lineham and Reynolds advanced to the quarterfinals, after handing Cunningham and Campbell their second straight loss; Lineham 5-1 over Cunningham and Reynolds, shutting out Campbell.
Lineham, who battled and defeated Fracasso-Verner in the finals of a Second Chance 10-Ball event at last year’s Classic, was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that he no doubt assumed would give him a shot at Fracasso-Verner in the hot seat and potentially, the 2020 Winter Classic title. He won his sixth loss-side match in the quarterfinals, surviving a double hill battle against Reynolds, but the much-lower-handicapped Caesar ended the streak 4-2 in the semifinals (Reynolds racing to 8).
Caesar started and would play the true double elimination final with four ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. He chalked up his first four racks while holding Fracasso-Verner to two and claimed the opening set. Fracasso-Verner put up a hell of a fight in the second set, forcing an 11th and deciding game. Caesar won it to claim his second NE 9-Ball Series title and his first Winter Classic.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Snooker’s, 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 New England 9-Ball Series (#13), scheduled for Feb. 15-16, will be the $1,000-added Mark Young Memorial, hosted by Straight Shooters in Fall River, MA.
(l to r): Ricardo Diaz, Souheli Muraby, Jeff Furness, Bob Campbell, Elliot Coates & Josh Rupard
In what proved to be the only time they met and the match that decided the winning team, Jeff Furness and Bob Campbell, sporting a FargoRate of 520, defeated Josh Rupard and Elliot Coates, with a FargoRate of 593, in the hot seat match of the New England 9-Ball Series’ Partners’ Tournament, held on Sunday, December 15. The event drew 55, two-person teams to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
As with all NE 9-Ball Series events, the 55 teams were split into separate upper and lower FargoRated brackets at the outset. Rupard and Coates advanced through their first four matches and gave up only a total of five racks; two, in their opening match and one each in the other three. This set them up to face Beau Powers and Ben Savoie, also FargoRated at 593, in the Upper Bracket’s winners’ side semifinal. Powers and Savoie were challenged in their four opening matches and came to the winners’ side semifinal with an aggregate score of 20-13 and having survived two double hill matches.
The lower bracket winners’ side semifinal featured eventual winners Furness and Campbell, who’d opened their campaign with a shutout and then had to battle to double hill twice (4-3 both times) and 5-3 once to meet Shawn Ingham and Michael Beauchesne in their winners’ side semifinal.
Furness/Campbell advanced to the hot seat match with a 6-2 win over Ingham/Beauchesne. They were joined by Rupard/Coates, who’d sent Powers and Savoie to the loss side 5-3. The 73-point differential in their FargoRates gave Furness/Campbell a single rack on the wire in a race to 5. They won it, downing Rupard/Coates 4-2.
On the loss side, Powers/Savoie picked up Lukas Fracasso-Verner and Scott Reynolds, a team with a FargoRate a scant six points ahead of their own (599-593), which created a straight-up race to 4. Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds had defeated the teams of Paulie Kazalski/Dominick Souza and Everett Belliveau/Dan McCaie, both 4-2 to reach Powers/Savoie. Ingham/Beauchesne drew Ricardo Diaz and Souheli Muraby, who’d eliminated the team of Troy Fortin/Dave Morrison, double hill (4-3) and then shut out Jay Cunningham and Mike Negrelli.
Powers/Savoie, in their straight-up race to 4, downed Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds 4-2 and in the quarterfinals, faced Diaz/Muraby, who’d ended Ingham/Beauchesne’s day 6-1. Two straight-up races to 4 followed. In the first, the quarterfinals, it was Diaz/Muraby advancing past Powers/Savoie 4-2.
In the second, which proved to be the final match of the event – the semifinals – Rupard/Coates downed Diaz/Muraby 4-1. The last two teams standing – Rupard/Coates and Furness/Campbell – agreed to split the top two prizes, leaving the undefeated Furness/Campbell team as the event’s official winners.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, BCAPL New England, FargoRate, 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 and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The NE 9-Ball Series will commence the 2020 portion of its schedule with a $500-added event, scheduled for Saturday, January 4, at Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
l to r: Chris Benoit, Mike Uttley, Mike DeMarco, Jeff Harnois, Scott Reynolds, Lukas Fracasso-Verner
The generally congenial atmosphere of Scotch Doubles competition lends itself to the idea that the journey itself is more significant, and fun, than the destination of winning or losing. In that spirit, at Stop #17 on the New England 9-Ball Series, the last three teams standing at the end of the tournament on Sunday, April 7, apparently expressed a desire to be considered co-champions of the event.
Now here’s what happened. By the end of a no-doubt long Sunday, when the event came down to its final two matches (possibly three, with a double elimination final), those three teams opted out of further play and split the top three cash prizes. As the only undefeated team at that point, DeMarco and Harnois would technically be granted the official status as winners, with Benoit/Uttley as runners-up and Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds finishing in third.
It was a four-match march to the winners’ side semifinals for DeMarco/Harnois and Benoit/Uttley. Two of DeMarco/Harnois’ matches in that march went double hill. In those winners’ side semifinals, DeMarco/Harnois defeated Tour Director Marc Dionne and Dominick Souza 5-1, as Benoit/Uttley squared off and downed Justin Cunningham and Jordan Stevens 4-2. DeMarco/Harnois claimed the hot seat 4-1 in what proved to be the final match for both partnerships.
On the loss side, Dionne/Souza and Cunningham/Stevens ran right into their second straight loss. Dionne/Souza met up with the team they’d sent to the loss side in the winners’ side quarterfinals – Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds, who’d defeated Adam Blair and Kerry McAuliffe 5-3 and Jason Platt and Ran Tamba 4-1. Cunningham/Stevens faced Daniel Nizeul and Paul Fontaine, who’d recently defeated Ned McConnell and Lida Mullendore, double hill, and Jason D’Angelo and Bill O’Mara 4-1.
Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds wreaked their rematch vengeance on Dionne/Souza, though not before Dionne/Souza took them to the brink of elimination by putting up a double hill fight. Nizeul/Fontaine eliminated Cunningham/Stevens by shutting them out 3-0.
In what proved to be the last match of the night, Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds defeated Nizeul/Fontaine 4-1 in the quarterfinals. It would no doubt have been interesting to see what might have happened had two teams with a combined FargoRate separated by only five points met up in the finals (588 for Fracasso-Verner/Reynolds and 583 for DeMarco/Harnois), but that didn’t happen. Benoit/Utley (510), in the never-happened semifinals, might have had something to say about that potential matchup, but we’ll never know. Any more than we’ll likely ever know why the event format is called “Scotch Doubles,” instead of Lithuanian Doubles or Japanese Doubles. Just one of those things we’ll never know.
Tour director Marc Dionne, rallying from his and his partner Souza’s loss, though no doubt soothed by the cash they split for finishing in the tie for 5th place, thanked the ownership and staff at Snooker’s for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, 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, Bourgeois Farms and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America.
Dionne also notified potential participants at the next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series (#18) that the posted date has changed. Scheduled for this Saturday, April 13, the event has been re-scheduled to occur on Saturday, April 20, at the same location, Legends Sports Bar in Auburn, ME.
(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.
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.
Kevin Bauccio chalked up his first 2012 event victory with an undefeated showing at the J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tour stop on Sunday, March 11. The event drew 28 entrants to Bo’s Billiards in Warwick, RI.
From among the winners’ side final four, Bauccio faced Bill Bassi, as his eventual finals opponents, Scott Reynolds, squared off against Roarke Dickson. Bauccio sent Bassi west 6-3, and got into the hot seat match against Dickson, who’d defeated Reynolds 5-4. Bauccio got into the hot seat with a 5-4 victory over Dickson, and waited for Reynolds to complete a three-match streak on the loss side to meet him in the finals.
First up for Reynolds on the loss side was Ty Speedwell, who’d defeated Tony Ruzzano 5-4 and Jeff Darosa 6-3 to reach him. Bassi drew Tim Hoffacker, who’d gotten by Jamie Forcier 4-2 and Bob Mills 4-3. Reynolds dropped Speedwell into the tie for fifth place with a handicapped 5-5 win, and in the quarterfinals, met Hoffacker, who’d ended Bassi’s tournament bid 4-2.
Reynolds then defeated Hoffacker 5-3, to pick up a re-match versus Dickson in the semifinals. He gave up only a single rack against Dickson and moved into the finals against Bauccio. Bauccio gave up only two against Reynolds, completing his undefeated day with a 5-2 win.
Tour director Gloria Magnano thanked the owners and staff at Bo’s Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Cueshark, Mueller’s, Magic Rack (CSI), Narragansett Beer and 9-Ball (The Movie). Next stop on the J. Pechauer Ride the 9 Tour, a $600-added event, is scheduled for April 22 at Snooker’s in Providence, RI. According to Magnano, nearly a third of the field has already registered for this event, and she recommends that interested players should communicate with her (gloriajean71@verizon.net) to assure a spot.