Geoffrey Bauer Grinds Back for a Win at the Amsterdam Billiards Tri-State Stop while ABC Announces Table Time Specials!
September 7, 2010
Geoffrey Bauer (1st) & Scott Simonetti (2nd)
By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer
On the weekend of September 4th-5th, The Tri-State Tour headed to Amsterdam Billiard Club, which hosted their A/B/C/D 9-ball event. This $1,000-added, two-day event drew 28 top amateur players from around the area, including a number of Amsterdam’s top league talent.
Highlighting the field were players including 2009 Player of the Year Dan Cintron, Christian Smith, Carl Yusuf Khan, Geoffrey Bauer, and Scott Simonetti. And in this event, it would be Simonetti who would dominate throughout the winner’s bracket.
Making it through to the winner’s side final four, Scott edged ahead of Christian Smith at hill-hill, winning 7-6. Meanwhile in the final four match-up, Ryan McCarthy defeated Ramilo Tanglao 6-4. In Scott and Ryan’s face-off for the hot seat the two had another close battle, but Scott Simonetti came out on top at 8-6.
Back in the third round of the tournament, Scott Simonetti handed a 7-4 loss to Geoffrey Bauer… however, tour rising star Bauer was not ready to bow out yet. Having won two tour stops on the ‘09-’10 season and finishing runner-up in the Tri-State Tour ‘B’ Class Invitational, Geoffrey Bauer has been proving himself to be more of a threat in each event.
Dechaine Wins Seminole Empire State Title Undefeated at Raxx
September 7, 2010
Empire State Champion, Mike Dechaine (Photo by Jerry T)
Story by NYC Grind Contributor, Geoff Conway
Sunday morning saw a slew of the best players on tour fighting it out to take down this coveted title. Click here to check out the photos from Day 1 of the tournament, by Jerry T & Charles Eames.
First match up on the winner’s side final eight was Corey Deuel vs Earl Herring, where Herring handed a walk over to Deuel, with a 8-0 forfeit… as Earl Herring is a minister and had to return to church on Sunday morning.
Also in that round, we saw a much-awaited match up between Dennis Hatch and Jeremy Sossei. This match did not go the way of the betting line, with Jeremy coming out the winner 8-6. I should point out that neither player showed us their best game, and the latter racks were consumed with safety play. This win propelled Jeremy into a match against Corey Deuel, and an upset Mr. Hatch had to wait for the outcome of the loser’s side match between Matt Krah and Mike Davis, which went to Mike 8-7.
Jeremy Sossei (Photo by Charles Eames)
Next up was Mike Dechaine vs Josh Brothers, which went to Mike, 8-6. Josh was not able to capitalize on his strong break, and would then have to start his comeback in the loser’s side of the draw.
In the next match we had Mike Sigel, who had batted a 1,000 through his first three matches on Saturday. In Sunday’s 11:00 round, Mike continued his winning streak, when he devastated Dustin Morris 8-0, making for 28 games won and no losses.
Dennis Hatch & Mike Sigel Dominate on Day 1 of the Empire State Championships
September 5, 2010
Living legend Mike Sigel astoundingly went 21-0 through his first three matches. (Photo by Charles Eames)
EMPIRE STATE CHAMPIONSHIP DAY ONE AT RAXX BILLIARDS LOUNGE WEST HEMPSTEAD
By NYC Grind Contributor, Geoff Conway
Well, the big guns came out this weekend for the Empire State Championships, which is being put on jointly by the Seminole Florida Pro Tour and Ozone Billiards Predator Tours. This prestigious event is being played at Raxx Billiard Lounge in West Hempstead, NY, is filled with the who’s who of pool, with such notables as Stevie Moore last weeks winner of the Mezz Tournament held at Skyline Billiards in Brooklyn and Tony Robles who took second place at Skyline.
Dennis Hatch made the long trip from Buffalo, NY, Corey Deuel came up from Florida, Jeremy Sossei from CT, Mike Dechaine from MD, Josh Brothers from PA, and the legendary Mike Sigel decided to showcase his game to his many fans, Mike Davis who is back in form, Shaun Wilkie, Zion Zvi, George “Ginky” Sansouci, and Joey “K” Korsiak who came out of moth balls for this event.
This event has also has the added attraction of having the event covered by PoolActionTV.com with live streaming of feature matches, the brainchild of Ray Hanson from Texas. Last year’s event had a 9-Ball format and was won by Dennis Hatch, while this year the format has been switched to 10-Ball, with a call-shot format which basically eliminates most of the luck from the game.
Click here to view photos by Charles Eames from Day 1 of the event.
Kicking off the 11:00 feature table match is “The Mouth” Mike Sigel facing a young gun from Minnesota, 27-year-old Dustin Morris.
Dustin Morris is facing off with Mike Sigel on the live stream in the 11 am round (Photo by Charles Eames)
The Empire State Championships Features a 1st Round Rematch Between Hatch & Chau
September 4, 2010
Manny Chau is looking to avenge his 2009 loss to Hatch in the final
The 2010 Seminole Tribe of Florida Empire State Championships is off to the running at Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY, with 64 of the best players in the country vying for this title. As fate would have it, the first round would turn up a rematch of last year’s finals, between 2009 Champion Dennis Hatch and runner up Manny Chau.
Currently, the match on the live stream is Mike Sigel vs Shaun Wilkie:
The 3rd Annual Seminole Tribe of Florida Empire State Championships Hits Raxx This Weekend
September 3, 2010
2010 Empire State Championships
This weekend, September 4-5th the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour along with Florida’s Seminole Pro Tour will be presenting the 3rd Annual Empire State Championships at Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY. This $8,000-added 10-ball banner tour event will feature top players from across the East Coast, as this event will award ranking points on both the Predator and Seminole Tours. Some of the top names appearing on the tour include Tony Robles, George Sansouci, Shaun Wilkie, Jeremy Sossei, Zion Zvi, and 2008 Empire State Champion Marc Vidal… and this event will feature a number of guest players from the Seminole Tour as well.
Ray Hansen of the Big Truck Show on www.PoolActionTV.com will be providing live streaming coverage of feature matches at this event, free of charge. Jerry Tarantola of NYCgrind.com will also be on site covering the tournament. The Empire State Championships is free to the public… and this event will feature some of the best play in the country this weekend.
Click here to check out the highlight video from the 2009 Empire State Championships, where Dennis Hatch came back from the loser’s bracket to claim the title in a thrilling final against Manny Chau. Read on for more information about the rules and registration for this event in a message from tour owner Tony Robles.
You can also check out the photos from the first two years of this banner event, all photos by Alison M. Fischer:
Click here for the 2009 Empire State Photo Gallery
Click here for the 2008 Empire State Photo Gallery
2009 Empire State Finalist Manny Chau & Champion Dennis Hatch with Tony Robles, John DiToro, and Kevin Pickard of The Seminole Tour
Pool Instruction: CueTips #35 - Why Our Runouts Stop
September 3, 2010
By NYC Grind Contributor, Mark Finkelstein
I just came back from a lesson in Albany. Combining this with the lessons I learned from watching the NYC 9-Ball Championships, and I think I have an interesting article for you this week.
After watching pool all weekend, playing on Monday, and watching a student run out racks, it seems our run outs end in four ways. Best of all is that we make the 9 ball and win the game. Not much else to say here but rack them up and break.
Next is that we miss a shot. We’ve talked here about good fundamentals, level cue, eyes on the target ball and a host of other things that will improve your pocketing. Not much for me to add in this article about this area.
We could also miss our position due to a speed control error. Again, we have talked about drills to improve your speed control, visualization, feeling the shot and doing as little as possible with the cue and not run the cue ball around the table. I won’t go into much of that here as well.
What I do want to write about though, is the way a lot of run outs end, and this is right up to the highest levels. It is a mental error of sorts, and it sneaks into our game at the most inopportune time.
Stevie Moore Repeats as the NYC 9-Ball Champion at Skyline Billiards
September 2, 2010
Champion Stevie Moore with Room Proprietor Sammy Wu and Runner Up Tony Robles
The Mezz Pro-Am 9-Ball Tour took the F train to Skyline Billiards, NY, which hosted the 5th Annual NYC 9-Ball Championships. The $3,000-added two-day event took place on August 28-29 at the popular Brooklyn pool room, owned by players Rob Pole & Sammy Wu. A field of 43 players including many of the top names came out to capture the coveted NY title. Click here to check out the photos from this event.
Top players included Tony Robles, Mike Davis, Mike Dechaine, “Ginky” George Sansouci, Eddie Abraham, Ronnie Wiseman, Brett Stottlemyer, Zion Zvi, Jeremy Sossei, Mike Fingers, Mike Miller, Manny Chau, and defending 2009 champion Stevie Moore.
Reigning champion Stevie Moore went through the field undefeated with wins over Eddie Vasquez 9-1, Michael Wong 9-6, Manny Chau 9-6, and Brett Stottlemeyer 9-1, setting up the feature match. Meeting Moore in the match for the hot seat, Tony Robles had impressive wins over Rob Merklein 9-0, Ginky Sansouci 9-3 and Mike Davis 9-4.
In the match for the hot seat, Stevie Moore played determined to repeat as champion, with an dominant 9-4 win over Tony Robles, earning an undefeated spot in the finals.
Rising star pro Mike Dechaine was also strong in the winner’s bracket, with wins over Jerry Tarantola 9-5, Marc Vidal 9-7, and Jorge Rodriguez 9-5, before losing to Stevie Moore 9-3 and Mike Davis 9-7. Although Mike wasn’t on the top of his game, he played well enough to be a contender in this event.
On the one-loss side there were several strong players still fighting to grind back to the finals including Mike Davis, Mike Dechaine, Brett Stottlemeyer, Barry Banks, and Ginky. Meanwhile, Tony was waiting in the wings for a chance for a rematch with Stevie.
Jason Egeln Goes Undefeated at the Gotham City Billiards Tri-State Stop
August 31, 2010
Nicholas Chan (3rd), Ken DeCuire (2nd), Jason Egeln (1st)
Gotham City Billiards was host to the Tri-State Tour last Saturday, August 28. A field of 25 players came out to compete in this $750-added C/D event… where one player would go through the field undefeated to cash in on a $500 first prize.
Going through to the final four on the winner’s side of the bracket, Ken DeCuire defeated Andrew Cleary by a score of 7-3, while Jason Egeln knocked Ryan McCarthy to the one loss side, 7-4. In the following round, Jason would take another win against Ken DeCuire by the same score, 7-4, to guarantee him a spot in the finals.
Meanwhile, there was one player who stood out on the one-loss side, who would be Nicholas Chan. After an early winner’s side loss, Nicholas would go on to finish the event with a 7-2 record. Nicholas defeated John Egeln in the quarterfinal 6-2, before being eliminated in the semifinal by Ken DeCuire with the same score.
TAR 19: Immonen vs Van Boening Set to Rumble at Amsterdam Billiards
August 31, 2010
TAR 19: Mika Immonen vs Shane Van Boening
By NYC Grind Editor, Alison M. Fischer
In the past decade, two young stars in pool have risen to domination on both national and international levels. They currently hold the #3 and #4 positions on the 2010 BCA rankings list, and both hold US Open titles and multiple world titles… making them two of the most well-known and widely-followed players in the world.
Now, The Action Report is pitting “The Iceman” Mika Immonen against “The South Dakota Kid” Shane Van Boening in a three-day battle royale at Amsterdam Billiards–the first-ever TAR match to be held in NYC. This epic race to 100 games in 10-ball is set to be held on October 12-14, the weekend before the US Open 9-ball Championships, where Immonen will defend his title. The stakes are high, with a $10,000 entry and the winner takes all.
Although these two top players have had many close battles over the past few years, Immonen has taken an edge over Van Boening at their most recent match-ups, including the Turning Stone Classic and the Poison DP Pro Classic. However, Van Boening has taken on numerous TAR Challenge Matches and toppled opponents including his legendary matches against Alex Pagulayan as well as Corey Deuel and Earl Strickland, to name a few… and Immonen vs Van Boening is one that pool fans won’t want to miss.
Read more about this clash of the titans at www.TheActionReport.com and read on to check out the full-sized flyer…
Xiao-Fang Fu Wins over Allison Fisher for World 9-Ball Championship
August 30, 2010
Gold Medalist and Silver Medalist Fu and Fisher
All photo courtesy by www.top147.com & Tai Chengzhe
In the most prestigious major event in international women’s pool, star players came from all corners to compete for the title of 2010 World 9-ball Champion. And this event would see a new face rise to the top–China’s Xiao-Fang Fu. Read the full story by By Sally Lee…
Shanghai, China - A new name in the billiards world will stand out as China’s Xiao-Fang Fu has been crowned the 2010 Women’s World 10-Ball Championship. Fu toppled a star-studded field and overcame legendary Allison Fisher in the finals to become the second consecutive Chinese woman to win the World 9-Ball.
Fu made it through the beginning stage of the event making the top half cut to reach the round of 32 players. She made relatively short work of Hui Shan Lai 9-3, Ho Yun Tan 9-2, and a tough quarter finals match with former Amway Cup winner Chieh-Yu Chouh of Taiwan 9-7. In the semi-finals, she faced her friend and defending World 9-Ball Champ Sha Sha Liu of China, whom she defeated 9-6 to reach the finals.
Xiao-Fang Fu
Fu has been a rising star in China, but has not been able to translate that success in international competition. This event marks a turning point in the road for her life. On the other side of the bracket another player facing her fork in the road was Allison Fisher. Fisher almost didn’t make it to the World Championship when news of her brother’s death reached her hours before her flight. Her father had passed a few years earlier, and both had been major influences on her life and career.
