Archive Page

Jayson Shaw goes undefeated to claim his second Ginky Memorial Pro title

Jeremy Sossei, Mike Dechaine, Jayson Shaw and Frankie Hernandez

With Jayson Shaw and Mike Dechaine in the house, there's always going to be a little buzz about a potential matchup between the two. It's something about their fiery personalities, and a sense of determination that they bring to the table when they play that makes their matches electrifying to watch. So when it happened, early at the 7th Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament's $2,000-added Pro event on Memorial Day weekend, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Queens, NY, and Dechaine went down 8-5, a little air went out of that balloon.
 
When the 44 players had been whittled down to the final 12, and the event moved into its first money round, air was getting pumped back into that balloon, because there was Dechaine, five matches away from a potential re-match in the finals. In all, Dechaine, already a two-time winner at this event (Shaw won it two years ago), would chalk up six on the loss side before running into Frankie Hernandez in the semifinals, where the streak would end, and the air went back out.
 
In its place was a balloon that inflated over two matches between Shaw and Frankie Hernandez; hot seat and finals. Shaw had sent The Iceman, Mika Immonen to the loss side 8-3 in one winners' side semifinal. In last year's Pro event, Immonen had battled twice against the eventual winner, Zion Zvi, and been beaten twice. Tony Robles, in the meantime, who, for the second year in a row, found himself in a winners' side semifinal, was beaten back by Hernandez 8-2. In their first of two, Shaw gave up only a single rack to Hernandez, claiming the hot seat 8-1 and adding a little air to the loss-side balloon that saw Dechaine move into the semifinals against Hernandez.
 
Over on the loss side, Dechaine moved into the first money round and downed Reymart Lim 8-6. He followed that with a double hill win over Tim Murray, which led to a match against Immonen, coming over from his loss to Shaw. Robles drew Jeremy Sossei, who'd gotten by Mike Miller 8-1 and Jorge Rodriguez 8-3. It made sense, though probably not to Immonen, that "Fireball" Mike Dechaine eliminated "The Iceman" Mika Immonen 8-5. Dechaine was joined in the quarterfinals by Sossei, who'd defeated Robles (for his second straight 5th/6th finish) 8-3.
 
Dechaine took the quarterfinal match 8-2 over Sossei, and turned to the last obstacle in his potential path back to a re-match against Shaw – Frankie Hernandez, in the semifinals. Being in New York, a lot of support rallied behind Hernandez, although it was doubtful that anyone watching it live at Steinway, or on the AZBTv stream (sponsored by Blatt Billiards) would have been disappointed had a finals matchup between Shaw and Dechaine materialized.
 
To Hernandez' credit, it didn't. He defeated the two-time Ginky Memorial champion, Dechaine, 8-3 and got his own second shot against Shaw. Shaw completed his undefeated run with an 11-3 victory over Hernandez in the finals.
 
Event director Tony Robles, as he is every year at this time, was demonstrably appreciative of the effort put forth by representatives from the Tri-State and Mezz Tours, as well as the ownership and staff at Steinway Billiards. In addition to thanks offered to Blatt Billiards (BlattBilliards.com) for their sponsorship of the live stream, Robles also thanked sponsors Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PlayNAPL.com, PoolOnTheNet.com, Cappelle (BilliardsPress.com), and the DeVito team. 
 

Orcollo spoils Van Boening’s bid for a fourth straight win at 23rd Annual Super Billiards Expo

Dennis Orcollo (Photo courtesy of Johnny Sturgis)

Hopkins wins Women's Open 9-Ball, Brown takes One-Pocket Title
 
Dennis Orcollo went undefeated through a field of 64 entrants, on-hand for the 23rd Annual Super Billiards Expo's $9,000-added Open 10-Ball Professional Players Championship, held on the weekend of April 16-19 at the Greater Philadelphia Center in Oaks, PA. Over the past three years, Shane Van Boening had defeated Stevie Moore (2012), Thorsten Hohmann (2013) and Tommy Kennedy (2014) in the finals of this event. This year, however, Orcollo defeated him in the hot seat match, and Jayson Shaw foiled his attempt at a rematch against Orcollo by defeating him in the semifinals.
 
Orcollo's path to the hot seat went through Patrick Carosi, Danny Olson, Rodney Morris,  Johnny Archer, and, in the winners' side semifinal, Hohmann, before he handed Van Boening his first of two straight losses. Van Boening had gone through Francis Crevier, Beppu Kenji, Corey Deuel, Mika Immonen and, in the other winners' side semifinal, Warren Kiamco, before he ran into Orcollo, never to return. 
 
The other two runner-ups from the last three years were on-hand, as well. Tommy Kennedy, last year's runner-up went two and out, falling to Scott Frost in the opening round, and Yu-Huan Kevin Chang in the first loss-side round. Moore, 2012's runner-up, was defeated in the opening round by Kevin Clark, and then, defeated Raj Vannala, Michael Yednak and Dan Cintron, before falling to Corey Deuel in the fourth loss-side round. Hohmann defeated, in order, Tim Murray, Justin Bergman, Mike Dechaine and Darren Appleton to earn himself a winners' side final four matchup against Orcollo. Orcollo sent him west where he picked up his second straight loss versus Mike Dechaine.
 
Shaw, who faced Orcollo in the finals, defeated Alan Rolon, and Lee Kang on the winners' side before Warren Kiamco sent him to the loss side. Shaw then ran the gauntlet through a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that was arguably as tough as any set of opponents faced by any of the event's competitors. He got by Jeremy Sossei, Hunter Lombardo, Darren Appleton,  and Johnny Archer, before successfully navigating his re-match against Kiamco. He then defeated Dechaine and Van Boening to earn his spot in the finals.
 
The Open 10-Ball Professional Players Championship was the marquee event of four held over the weekend. Dawn Hopkins came from the loss side and defeated Caroline Pao in the finals of the $2,800-added Women's Open 9-Ball Players Championship that drew 28 entrants, and Jason Brown took the $2,200-added One Pocket event that was expanded to include 48 entrants. 
 
The weekend also featured four Amateur events; an Open event, won by Alex Olinger, that drew a record-breaking 960 entrants, a Senior Division (age 50+), won by Dennis Spears, that drew 384, a Super Seniors Division (age 65+), won by Warner Burton, that drew 128, and a Women's Division, won by Brianna Miller, that drew 160.
 
Further detailed reports on the Super Billiards Expo, to include more complete reports about the Women's, One-Pocket and Amateur events will follow, soon.