Rebecca Ellis forces a deciding match against Seavey in battle for the hot seat
Though Jason Seavey earned the headline as the undefeated winner of the New England 9-Ball Series’ 5th tour stop this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 24), he has to share part of the story with the woman who almost defeated him in the battle for the hot seat – Rebecca Ellis, who, according to our records, has never cashed in a major event anywhere and on this day, came within a single match of playing, with a chance of winning, her first major final. One has to wonder whether her defeat in the subsequent semifinals was a source of relief or concern for Seavey, who ended up facing Troy Fortin, who’d been defeated by Ellis in a winners’ side semifinal and had a short, three-match trip on the loss side, which included a successful rematch against Ellis.
They ended up 1, 2 & 3 at the $750-added event which drew 48 entrants to American Pool & Billiards (formerly Union Station Billiards) in Portland, ME.
Seavey may have been lulled into a false sense of security when he won his upper bracket opening match against a slightly higher-Fargo-rated opponent, Steven Smith (591 to Seavey’s 530). It gave Seavey a single bead on the wire at the start of the race-to-6, first round match, which, as it turned out, he didn’t need. He defeated Smith 5-1. His next three opponents were not so generous and forced Smith to face three double-hill deciding games (versus Robert Davis, Xavier Libby and Ben Savoie) just to get to his winners’ side semifinal match against Mike DeMarco.
Ellis, in the meantime, working in the lower bracket toward her winners’ side semifinal match against Troy Fortin, faced three opponents with higher ratings than her (367). She began against Bob Campbell, whose 506 Fargo Rate awarded her three beads on the wire in a race to 7, which, as it turned out, she needed. Campbell got to 6, but Ellis hit her ‘4’ target and advanced. In the only straight-up race to 5 she faced in the entire tournament, she defeated Michelle Haddock 5-2, before downing Steve Desrochers 4-4 (Desrochers racing to 6) and Shane Ryan 4-2 (Ryan also racing to 6) to draw Fortin for her winners’ side semifinal.
Ellis, with two beads on the wire in a race to 6, downed Fortin in their first meeting 4-3. Seavey, in the meantime, in a straight-up race to 6, sent DeMarco west 6-4 and joined Ellis in the hot seat match. Ellis started this match with four beads on the wire in a race to 8. They battled to a 3-7, double hill point, before Seavey prevailed and heaved (presumably) a huge sigh of relief as he settled into the hot seat.
On the loss side, Fortin opened up with a rematch against James Smith, whom he’d sent to the loss side in a double hill, winners’ side quarterfinal. Smith then defeated Bob Campbell and Ryan McCrum, both 5-1, to draw Fortin. DeMarco picked up Mark Morgan, who’d lost his opening match and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently included victories over Brandon Coley and Ben Savoie, both 6-3.
Morgan defeated DeMarco 6-3 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Fortin, who’d eliminated Smith 5-2. With two beads on the wire in a race to 7, Fortin then ended Morgan’s loss-side winning streak 5-3 in those quarterfinals.
The rematch between Fortin and Ellis did not go well for Ellis. She had two beads on the wire in a race to 6 and ended up adding just one. Fortin won it 6-1 and advanced to meet Seavey. The finals were a straight-up race to 6, won by Seavey to complete his undefeated run and claim the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at American Pool & Billiards for their hospitality, as well as Predator, Poison, Arcos II, BCAPL, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Bob Campbell, MJS Construction, Master Billiards, OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America, Piku Tips and Just the Tip Cue Repair and Custom Accessories.
The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (#6), scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 14, will be a $500-added event, 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): Eli Davenport, Ross Webster & Troy Fortin
In something of an end-of-the-year dash to an imagined finish line, Ross Webster had already made 2019 his best earnings year to date, when he came back from a hot seat loss to double dip Troy Fortin in the finals of a November 30-December 1 stop on the New England 9-Ball Series. Webster’s only (recorded) cash finishes in 2019 began in September when he finished in the tie for 9th place at the New England 9-Ball Series’ Tour Championships. Two weeks later, he finished in 3rd place at the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s Maine Event XXIII, behind Jeremy Sossei and Joe Dupuis (Webster has won three Joss Tour Second Chance events since 2017). Separated by two weeks in October, he finished in the tie for 5th place at two more stops on the New England 9-Ball Series. According to our records, his win this past weekend marked his first major regional tour victory. The $1,000-added event drew 52 entrants to Legends Billiards in Auburn. ME.
After an opening round bye, Webster downed Jason Richard, Scott Martel and Dana Oulette to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Tyler Campbell. Fortin, in the meantime, working in the lower bracket, defeated Gerry Gross, Bradley Nichols, Bob Lussier and Eli Davenport to reach his winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Jozy Vienneau.
Webster gave up just a single rack in a 7-1 victory over Campbell that put him in the hot seat match. Fortin joined him after surviving a double hill fight against Vienneau (7-4). Fortin locked up in a second straight double hill fight, battling for the hot seat and won it.
On the loss side, Campbell picked up Keith Trafton, who’d lost an opening round match to Stan Rupard and embarked on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals. He’d picked up loss-side wins #6 & #7 against Oulette (5-0) and Samoth Sam (5-2) to arrive at the battle for 5th/6th against Campbell. Vienneau drew Eli Davenport, who’d been sent to the loss side by Fortin and defeated Jason Seavey, double hill and Nathan Johnson 5-2 to reach Vienneau.
Trafton eliminated Campbell 5-2 and in the quarterfinals, faced Davenport, who’d defeated Vienneau 6-2. Davenport ended Trafton’s loss-side streak, double hill in those quarterfinals (4-5). Webster, in turn, ended Davenport’s four-match, loss-side streak with an 8-2 win in the semifinals.
With the wind at his back (so to speak), Webster sailed into the finals and claimed the opening set over Fortin without giving up a rack. Fortin was able to muster three of the four racks he needed to win the second rack and force a 12th, deciding game. Webster closed it to claim the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Legends, as well as sponsors Predator, 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 and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Sunday, December 15, will be a Partners 9-Ball Tournament, hosted by Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
By the time the 22nd stop on the New England 9-Ball Series had worked its way down to its final 12 competitors on Sunday, July 14, the range of Fargo Rates stretched from 735 to 357, due in part to the fact that the tour initially separates higher and lower Fargo Rated players into upper and lower brackets, keeping them apart until the final matches of the event. Demonstrating that the handicapping system does tend to level the competitive playing field and make it possible for lower-ranked players to effectively compete against higher-ranked opponents, the player who eventually claimed the hot seat had one of the three lowest Fargo Rates among the remaining 12 players. That hot seat occupant turned out to be Mike Felix (485), but the competitor he had sent to the semifinals, Ben Benson (554) came back from those semifinals to defeat Felix twice and claim the event title. The event drew 66 entrants to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
Benson had advanced in the upper bracket to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Tom D’Alfonso, who had the highest Fargo Rate among the event’s final 12 (735). Felix, in the meantime, squared off against Buffy Oldham (468) in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Benson started the match against D’Alfonso with five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. D’Alfonso chalked up five of the eight he needed, but not before Benson had won the three he needed to advance to the hot seat match. In a straight-up race to 4, Felix downed Oldham, double hill, to meet Benson in the hot seat match. Felix started the hot seat match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 5. He and Benson battled to double hill (3-4), before Felix chalked up his fourth rack and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, D’Alfonso picked up Geoff James, who’d shut out Beau Powers and eliminated Josh Rupard, double hill (3-3; Rupard racing to 4) to reach him. Oldham drew Gabriel Kirshnitz, who’d only given up a single rack in his previous two matches; that one to Mark Pulsifer and none at all to Troy Fortin.
D’Alfonso and Oldham advanced to the quarterfinals; D’Alfonso giving up a single rack to James in a 5-1 win, as Oldham gave up none at all to Kirshnitz in a 3-0 win. The quarterfinal match was yet another shutout, as D’Alfonso eliminated Oldham 8-0 to earn himself a rematch against Benson in the semifinals.
D’Alfonso was able to chalk up an additional rack beyond the five he’d managed in the winners’ side semifinal against Benson. But for the second time, Benson won the three he needed to win the semifinal 3-6 and advance to the final rematch against Felix.
Same situation; Felix began the final match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 5. Benson gave up only a single rack in the opening set of the true double elimination final. He gave up two in the second set, but scored the five he needed to claim the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator, 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 and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The event originally scheduled for July 28, to be hosted by Stix and Stones in Abington, MA, has been cancelled. The next stop on the New England 9-Ball Series, now scheduled for the weekend of August 3-4, will be a $500-added Summer Sizzler Partners Tournament, hosted by Yale Billiards in Wallingford, CT.
