by Jose Burgos

Matt Krah followed up his victory on the Planet Pool Tour the week prior with another W at the Mezz Pro-Am Tour’s July 24 stop, besting Brett Stottlemyer in a hill-hill final match. The event was hosted by Main Line Billiards in Frazer, PA, where a strong field of 28 players came to vie for the $810 first-place prize.

Matt Krah followed up his victory on the Planet Pool Tour the week prior with another W at the Mezz Pro-Am Tour’s July 24 stop, besting Brett Stottlemyer in a hill-hill final match.

Krah dominated the top half of the bracket, notching wins over Lou P. 7-5, Rob Vannatta 7-4, Sean Morgan 7-5, and Josh Brothers 7-3. Leading the bottom half of the bracket was Joey Testa, who had wins over Max Much 7-1, Wali Muhammad 7-3, and Jose Burgos 7-1. In the following hot seat match, Krah and Testa collided, and Krah escaped with a double-hill victory.

Stottlemyer awaited Testa on the one-loss side after relegating Burgos to fourth place. Testa fared little better and went home with third as Stottlemyer easily handled him 7-2. In the finals, Stottlemyer had to best Krah twice for the title. The first and only set went hill-hill, but in the end the day belonged to Krah, who came away with the 7-6 win.

Results:
1st Matt Krah $810
2nd Brett Stottlemyer $400
3rd Joey Testa $250
4th Jose Burgos $200
5th Josh Brothers $150
Dave Grau

by Jose Burgos

Zion Zvi narrowly escaped a late charge by Frankie Hernandez at the July 10 stop of the Mezz Pro-Am Tour to take top honors. The event was hosted by Raxx Bar and Grill in West Hempstead, NY, and featured a field of 34 players, including Matt Krah, Joey Testa, Oscar Bonilla, Michael Wong, and Ramon Mistica.

Zvi narrowly escaped a late charge by Frankie Hernandez at the July 10 stop of the Mezz Pro-Am Tour to take top honors. Picture Winner Zion Zvi, 2nd Frankie Hernandez, 4th Ramon Mistica, 3rd Daniel Dagotdot, 7th Noel Bensurto

Hernandez suffered a loss to Dan Dagotdot in the third round 7-4, while Dagotdot went on to best Mistica hill-hill to reach the hot seat match. Meeting him there was Zvi, who had scored wins over Samantha Miskevich 7-0, Tony Tjioe 7-3, Bob Madara 7-3, and Bonilla 7-3. Their match turned out to be a one-sided affair, with Zvi taking control of the match from the start and winning easily 7-2.

Awaiting Dagotdot on the one-loss side was Hernandez, who wanted revenge for his earlier loss. This, too, was a lopsided match as Hernandez dominated Dagotdot and won 7-2 to reach the finals. In the true double-elimination format, Hernandez had to best Zvi twice in order to win the event. The first set saw Hernandez triumph 7-4. However, the second match came down to double-hill before Zvi eked out the 7-6 victory.

Results:
1st Zion Zvi $875
2nd Frankie Hernandez $570
3rd Daniel Dagotdot $370
4th Ramon Mistica $200
5th Matt Krah $150
Oscar Bonilla
7th Michael Wong $100
Noel Bensurto

by InsidePOOL Staff

Full fields gathered at Amsterdam Billiards and Bar in New York City, NY, to pay homage to one of New York’s finest pool players, George “Ginky” SanSouci, the weekend of June 25-26. The $5,000-added tournament featured two divisions—the amateur event won by Raj Vannala and the pro/open won by Mike “The Fireball” Dechaine.

In the handicapped amateur event, Vannala went undefeated through the full 96-player field to face Mike Panzarella for the first time in the winners’ side final four. After sending his opponent to the one-loss side 7-5, Vannala advanced to the hot seat match. There he met Jimmy Martinez, who was fresh off a 7-4 victory over Nicholas Chan. Vannala remained unscathed with a narrow 7-5 win, and Martinez went to the west side.

Dechaine (pictured) and Vannala picked up the titles the First Annual George Sansouci Memorial.

On the one-loss side, Panzarella was making his move—he matched up with Phil Davis, who had just ousted Chris Giannokouros 8-6, and overpowered him 7-4. At the same time, Frank Ramos eliminated Diana Rojas 7-4 in seventh place to tie with Giannokouros and then did the same to Chan 7-5. However, Ramos’ tournament ended in fourth place after a close 8-6 match with Panzarella.

Panzarella went on to the semifinals to meet Martinez and triumphed 8-6 to advance to the final match with Vannala. There, though, Vannala took control of the match and took home the title 7-5.

“The Fireball” was unassailable as he scorched the 32-player field in the open/pro division. He met Jeremy Sossei in the winners’ side final four and delivered him to the left side 7-3, as Joey Testa defeated Zion Zvi 7-5. The two met in the hot seat match that followed, with Dechaine searing Testa 7-2 to await a finals opponent.

Meanwhile, Dennis “The Hatchetman” Hatch was blazing through the west side of the chart, eliminating Sean Morgan at seventh place 7-2. Tying with Morgan was Jorge Rodriguez, who suffered a double-hill loss to Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie. Zvi was the next victim of Hatch’s, who sent him packing 7-3. Wilkie fought another hill-hill bout, this time with Sossei, who ended up in fifth place tied with Zvi.

Once the final four players were left, the race changed to 8. In his third consecutive hill-hill match of the event, Wilkie and Hatch fought in the quarterfinals, but it was Hatch this time who triumphed 8-7. With the finals in sight, Hatch breezed through his semifinal match with Testa and sent him home in second with an 8-2 victory.

See video matches from the First Annual George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial.

In the extended final match, as the undefeated player, Dechaine was racing to 11, while Hatch had to reach 13 to claim the victory. The players were neck and neck the entire match, with Dechaine reaching the hill first with Hatch at 8. Hatch put one more game under belt before it came down to the last rack. Dechaine got out of line after a bank on the 7 and had to jack up and shoot the 8 ball, drawing back for shape on the 9. He executed the shot perfectly to win the game and claim the title.

Amateur Results:
1st Raj Vannala $2,000
2nd Mike Panzarella $1,400
3rd Jimmy Martinez $1,000
4th Frank Ramos $700
5th Phil Davis $400
Nicholas Chan
7th Diana Rojas $250
Chris Giannokouros
9th Steve Way $175
Noel Bensurto
Jose Burgos
Trevor Heal
13th Raphael DaBreo $100
Bob Schlott
Charles Young
Gregg McAndrews
17th Ramilo Tanglao $75
Michael Toohig
Andrew Cleary
Eric Hu
Niko Bernishivili
Donald Chu
Andrew Kane
Tony Liang

Pro/Open Results:
1st Mike Dechaine $2,000
2nd Dennis Hatch $1,400
3rd Joey Testa $850
4th Shaun Wilkie $500
5th Jeremy Sossei $350
Zion Zvi
7th Sean Morgan $225
Jorge Rodriguez