by InsidePOOL Staff

Rikki Ragoonanan went undefeated through field at the Tri-State Tour’s June 19 stop, defeating Raphael DaBreo to take the title. Hosted by Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ, this $750-added stop attracted 26 players.

Pat DiBuono made it through the winners’ side final four without a scratch, defeating George Osipovitch 7-2 to reach the hot seat match. Meeting him there was Ragoonanan, who had just bested Troy Deocharran 8-6. The hill-hill battle saw Ragoonanan take the hot seat 7-6, while DiBuono went west.

On the left side, Raphael DaBreo, a recent winner on the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour, ousted Osipovitch 7-6 at fifth place, while Allen Wong tied with Osipovitch after a 6-4 loss to Deocharran. The quarterfinal match was a close one, with DaBreo the one to advance after a 7-5 victory over Deocharran. DaBreo kept the momentum going with a hill-hill victory over DiBuono in the semifinals 7-6. But in the finals, another nail-biter, it was Ragoonanan who took the last rack and the victory 7-6.

Rikki Ragoonanan went undefeated through field at the Tri-State Tour’s June 19 stop, defeating Raphael DaBreo to take the title.

by InsidePOOL Staff

Fifteen of Wisconsin’s best amateurs showed up at the November 1 installment of the Billiard Congress of Wisconsin’s new tour, with Tom Radowitz taking home first place. The $400-added event was hosted by the Brass Ring in Madison, WI.

The field was whittled down to the final three players. Radowitz earned the hot seat, taking wins over 14-year-old Tyler Styer 6-1, Haven Ben 6-4, Jon Giles 6-5, and Francis Rave Sr. 6-5 on the way. On the one-loss side, young gun Giles went toe to toe with Rave. Both competitors did their best, and it came down to who remained in control of the game. The score seesawed to hill-hill, and though it looked like it would be all Rave when Giles scratched, Rave in turn scratched on the 7 ball, and Giles cleaned up the last two for the win.

Fifteen of Wisconsin’s best amateurs showed up at the November 1 installment of the Billiard Congress of Wisconsin’s new tour, with Tom Radowitz taking home first place.

Results:
1st Tom Radowitz $330
2nd Jon Giles $200
3rd Francis Rave Sr. $150
4th Dean Durge
5th Bob Treffeisen $50
Duncan Kaufman

by InsidePOOL Staff

Lionel Rivera triumphed over a 79-player field at the April 18-19 stop of the Blatt Billiards Predator 9-Ball Tour. This event was hosted by Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY, and was the tour’s second A-B-C-D stop of the 2009 season.

The main tournament began Saturday and drew 62 of the Tri-State area’s strongest players. Picking up right where he left off from the first A-B-C-D event, where he took third place, Rivera took advantage of a first-round bye and fell into dead stroke by defeating John Mazes 7-2, Craig Seal 7-4, Mike Wong 7-4, and Thomas Wan 7-4 to remain unscathed after the first day. Albert Estevez also enjoyed a first-round bye and then defeated Dave Ascolese 7-3, Bobby Varughese 7-3, and Shawn Sookhai 7-6.

As day one came to a close, only four were left undefeated—Rivera, Beau Baer, P.J. Puma, and Albert Estevez. On the A-B side, Rivera faced Baer for a chance at the hot seat, while in the C-D bracket, Puma battled Estevez.

(L-R) Albert Estevez, Tony Robles, Lionel Rivera and Gail Glazebrook

While Rivera remained in control of his game on day two, Baer seemed to be a different player. Rivera took advantage of a couple of mistakes and dominated Baer 7-2 for a chance at the hot seat, while Estevez took care of Puma to earn his shot at the hot seat, winning 7-5. The match for the hot seat was a barn-burner, with Rivera squeaking out the win 7-6.

On the one-loss side, Shawn Sookhai staged a comeback by winning four in a row—three of them hill-hill matches—to earn a shot at the semifinals against Estevez. But Sookhai seemed to lose his steam against Estevez, who won 7-3 for a chance to redeem himself.

In the finals, Rivera could not be denied as he calmly ran rack after rack to claim his first Predator Tour stop of this season, winning 7-4.

The tour also hosted the Delta-13 second-day B-C-D event that was won Charles Lentini, who defeated Dave Deserio in the final 7-4.

Charles Lentini (L) and Dave Deserio (R)

Results:
1st Lionel Rivera $1,000
2nd Albert Estevez $ 675
3rd Shawn Sookhai $ 500
4th Beau Baer $ 350
5th Thomas Wan $ 250
PJ Puma
7th Alex Gonzalez $ 175
Shorty Santiago
9th Charlie Lentini $ 100
John Alicea
John Hacsi
Bobby Varughese
13th Bob Mammarella $ 50
Dave Manasseri
Mike Ettl
Ryan Klett

by Jose Burgos

Toppling a strong field of 39 players, Kenny Rutman emerged victorious on the Blaze 9-Ball Tour’s March 1 stop. This event boasted a $1,000-added purse and was hosted by Hot Shot Billiards in Deptford, NJ.

Rutman went unscathed through to the finals. He notched wins over Eddie Abraham 7-6, Rob Palm 7-4, Brady Jones 7-6, Matt Douglas 7-5, and Keith Christman 7-4. Matt Krah made his way through the bottom half of the bracket, winning over Jack McPoyle 7-0, Al Tonelli 7-3, Pam Cimarelli 7-0, Jose Feliciano 7-5, and Adam Kielar 7-0.

In the hot seat match that followed between Krah and Rutman, the two players went hill-hill before Rutman sent Krah to the one-loss side. There he met Adam Kielar, and this was also a close match, with Kielar pulling away late with a 6-4 win. Kielar had to defeat Rutman twice in the double-elimination finals that followed, but all it took was one set with Rutman winning hill-hill 6-5 to earn his first-ever Blaze Tour title.

Toppling a strong field of 39 players, Kenny Rutman emerged victorious on the Blaze 9-Ball Tour’s March 1 stop. This event boasted a $1,000-added purse and was hosted by Hot Shot Billiards in Deptford, NJ.

Results:
1st Kenny Rutman $975
2nd Adam Kielar $500
3rd Matt Krah $350
4th Mike Miller $200
5th Joey Testa $150
Keith Christman $150
7th Pam Cimarelli $100
Jose Feliciano $100

by InsidePOOL Staff
To kick off the Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour’s Southern Classic Open, a total of 97 billiard players came out for the amateur division of the event. Held October 20-28 at Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA, this tournament boasted a $2,500-added prize purse.
Matt Reed ended up moving through the winners’ bracket unscathed to take top honors. After enjoying a first-round bye, he defeated Linh Nguyen 7-3, Kevin Deal 7-1, Billy Tyler double-hill, Jesse Middlebrook 7-0, Robert South 7-3, and John Thibodaux 7-0 to reach the finals.
His opponent in the final match, Henry Cofer, also was lucky enough to receive a first-round bye and then proceeded to best Stanley Lingerfelt 7-3, Joe Hughes 7-4, and Jason Stemen 7-6 before being sent to the one-loss side by Thibodaux after a double-hill match. From there he rallied, defeating Thibodaux 7-4 to meet Reed in the finals. Cofer must have run out of steam, however, for Reed handily defeated him 7-3.

Amateur Results:

1st
Matt Reed

2nd
Henry Cofer

3rd
John Thibodaux

4th
Duane Davis

5-6th
Robert South

Rodney Holland

7-8th
Jesse Middlebrook

James Farias

9-12th
James Rushing

Jeff Hooks

Elvis Rodriguez

Stephen Gonzalo

13-16th
Steve Cox

Danny Cash

Jason Stemen

Shane Wade

17-24th
Bernardo Estevan

Marty Jennings

Billy Tyler

Norberto Solano

Lane Simons

Dustin Byrd

Jason Richko

Jeff Tabet