by InsidePOOL Staff

Matt McMillan overcame a case of nerves to withstand a run from the one-loss side by Yomaylin Feliz to take the Tri-State Tour’s August 6 event. The 9-ball tournament boasted a $1,000-added prize purse and attracted a field of 36 nine-ball players.

Matt McMillan overcame a case of nerves to withstand a run from the one-loss side by Yomaylin Feliz to take the Tri-State Tour’s August 6 event.

McMillan went the easy route to the finals—going undefeated. He faced off against Luis Jimenez in the winners’ side final four and sent him to the left side 6-3, as Trevor Heal defeated Raj Vannala in the other winners’ side match. McMillan was on a roll and went through Heal in the hot seat match 7-3 to await a finals opponent.

Feliz suffered an early loss and was faced with a long slog through the west side of the chart. She eliminated Paul Everton 7-5 and Charles Darwin Vergara, son of Mhet Vergara, 6-4 to reach Vannala, who had won the Ginky SanSouci memorial tournament the month prior. Feliz ousted Vannala unceremoniously 7-3 in fifth place, while Stuart Mickle, playing in his first Tri-State event, sent Jimenez in the same spot with a 7-2 win.

Feliz and Mickle squared off in the quarterfinal match, with Feliz coming out on top 7-4 as Mickle took home fourth place. Heal, a favorite in the event, was waiting in the semifinals but fell short against Feliz, who easily handled him 7-3. In the final match against McMillan, though, Feliz found her opponent too much to handle and McMillan took the title 6-3.

Results:
1st Matt McMillan $700
2nd Yomaylin Feliz $400
3rd Trevor Heal $300
4th Stuart Mickle $200
5th Raj Vannala $120
Luis Jimenez
7th Charles Darwin Vergara $90
Raphael DaBreo
9th Paul Everton $60
Ronald Gabia
Alex Berszinn
Bernard Isaacowitz

by Jose Burgos

Matt Krah dominated the small but strong field that attended the Mezz Pro-Am Tour’s August 1 event, taking first place over Oscar Bonilla. The $1,000-added tournament was hosted by Mr. Cue Billiards in Lindenhurst, NY.

Krah dominated the small but strong field that attended the Mezz Pro-Am Tour’s August 1 event, taking first place over Oscar Bonilla.

Making his move on the one-loss side, meanwhile, Oscar Bonilla rolled through Johnson 7-3, Jose Soto 7-3, Sossei 7-3, and Blair Lavandowski 7-3 to reach Vergara. Their semifinal match was an epic struggle that saw Bonilla continue after winning 7-6. In the double-elimination finals, Bonilla took the first set with little struggle 7-4. But in the second, Krah showed his skills by defeating Bonilla 7-2 to take the title.

Results:
1st Matt Krah $500
2nd Oscar Bonilla $275
3rd Mhet Vergara $170
4th Blair Lavandowski $70

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by John Leyman

The Thirteenth Annual Tri-State Tour Invitational Tournament took place July 10-11 and 17 at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ, bringing together highly skilled amateurs hoping to sharpen their game and ambitious upstarts looking to advance in class. Castle Billiards was this year’s host location, where 10 A and A+ players, 32 B and B+ players, 32 C and C+ players, and 12 D and D+ players participated for their chance to be crowned the Tri-State Tour Invitational champion.

Organizers John Leyman, Todd Fleitman, and Bill Focaccia congratulated the players on reaching the top of their classes for the season and handed out awards to the top players of the year in each class. Awards were presented to the top three players in each class and to the most improved player of the year. This year the tour also presented one player with a special award: Scott Simonetti, who has played on the Tri-State Tour for more than a decade, was recently stricken with a life-threatening illness that forced doctors to amputate Simonetti’s left hand and foot. He was awarded “Outstanding Player of the Year” for his amazing achievements over the last year. The other top players of the year were Daniel Cintron in the A+/A class, Tony Eglesias, Duane Toney, Antonio Navarro, and Dave Fitzpatrick. The top female player and the most improved player of the year was Sandie Patarino. The pro/open class was won by Mhet Vergara. Also, this year’s Sportsman of the Year award went to Daniel Cintron.

In the B+ class, Simonetti played strong and consistent and dominated all opponents. In the finals against Scott Bannon, Simonetti battled back and won the set 9-7. Geoffrey Bauer made it to the B-class finals undefeated. John Trobiano, who lost his first match of the event to Jacob Schwartz, went on to best five players to reach the final match, where he exacted his revenge on Schwartz by winning 7-5. Trobiano went on to defeat Simonetti in the B+/B playoffs, where he won 7-2.

In the C+ class Mike Harrington arrived in the finals undefeated. Ryan McCarthy lost to Jason Egeln and moved over to the one-loss side. He fought back to earn another chance at Egeln, whom he defeated 6-1. In the finals the rolls just seemed to escape Harrington, and McCarthy took advantage and won 8-5. The C class was simply dominated by Ramilo Tanglao, who played Scott Abramowitz in the finals and won 6-4. McCarthy, having watched some of the Tanglao matches, took no chances and played Tanglao tight and cautious to win their finals 6-4.

The Thirteenth Annual Tri-State Tour Invitational Tournament took place July 10-11 and 17 at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ, bringing together highly skilled amateurs hoping to sharpen their game and ambitious upstarts looking to advance in class.

This left Cintron battling Trobaino and McCarthy versus Verducci for the honor of playing in the event finals. Trobiano and Cintron’s match saw Trobiano triumph 8-6, while Verducci played well and won his match 7-4. In the final match, Trobiano wouldn’t be stopped, shutting Verducci down at every turn to win the finals 9-5 and earning the Tri-State Tour Invitational title.

by Lea Andrews

Zion Zvi may have entered Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY, on May 22 without a Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour win on the record, but it was there when he left undefeated on May 23. As the last man standing out of the original field of 31, Zvi pocketed the biggest chunk of the $1,500-added purse.

Zvi took care of tour regular Kevin Guimond 9-7 to reach the hot seat match against Mhet Vergara, who’d just notched a strong 9-4 win over George “Ginky” Sansouci. Zvi earned the hot seat with a breezy 9-2 victory over Vergara, who moved into the semifinals for another chance at the finals.

On the left side of the bracket, Brian Veska squeezed past Mike Wong 9-8 before marking up a 9-2 win over George Rodriguez, who’d just ousted Jarrod Clowery 9-4. Meanwhile, Scott Tollefson held Stu Warnock to six games to face Chance Chin, who’d blown past Ray Romanski 9-3. Chin found himself at the wrong end of another 9-3 match against Tollefson, though, to finish in seventh, and Tollefson followed him soon after running into Guimond, who advanced to the quarterfinals 9-6. There Guimond met up with Veska, who’d continued his winning streak 9-4 over San Souci, and while Veska fought hard to keep it going even further, he came up one game shy, landing in fourth 9-8. In the semifinals, Zvi’s two most recent victims went head to head to try to face him again, and Guimond rose well above 9-5 for one last shot at Zvi.

Zion Zvi may have entered Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY, on May 22 without a Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour win on the record, but it was there when he left undefeated on May 23.

by Lea Andrews

It was his first time competing on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, but Rob Krull took it all in stride, snatching victory from Tony “The Silent Assassin” Robles in the finals. The $1,500-added main event drew 47 players to Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY, April 10-11.

Krull breezed through his match with Brent Boemmels 9-2 to reach the hot seat match, where he faced Robles for the first time. Robles, who’d just sent Jorge Rodriguez west 9-4, did the same to Krull.

On the left side of the bracket, past winner Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie, who’d been edged out earlier by Robles 9-8, took care of Pete Bowman 9-5 and Joey Korsiak 9-7 to face Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Ed Abraham went through Ed Vazquez 9-6 and Mhet Vergara 9-3 to face Boemmels, a tour regular who was in the middle of his best tournament performance to date. Boemmels put Abraham in fifth 9-3 to meet up with Wilkie, who’d had his own 9-3 victory over Rodriguez. Yet another 9-3 match ensued in the quarterfinals, and it was Wilkie who earned the spot in the semifinals, while Broemmels earned fourth, his highest finish. Wilkie’s hopes for a rematch with Robles were dashed by Krull, though, who took the rematch for himself 9-5.

In the true double-elimination final match, Krull made up for his earlier loss and pushed the second set 9-6. In the second set, Krull took advantage wherever he could to earn his first victory his first time out 9-7.

It was his first time competing on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, but Rob Krull took it all in stride, snatching victory from Tony “The Silent Assassin” Robles in the finals.

Results:
1st Rob Krull $1,100
2nd Tony Robles $800
3rd Shaun Wilkie $600
4th Brent Boemmels $450
5th Jorge Rodriguez $300
Ed Abraham
7th Joey Korsiak $175
Mhet Vergara
9th Pete Bowman $75
Daniel Smith
John Alicea
Ed Vazquez

by InsidePOOL Staff

Twenty-eight players showed up for the February 6 installment of the Tri-State Tour, and Duane Toney bested them all to win the title. Hosted by Master Billiards in Queens, NY, the C-D handicapped stop featured a $750-added prize purse.

Toney went undefeated through the field, defeating Charles Vergara 6-4 in the final four of the winners’ bracket. Meeting him in the hot seat match was Raul Reyes Jr., fresh off a 6-4 victory over Kapriel Delimelkonoglu. Their match was as close as possible, but Toney prevailed 6-5, sending Reyes to the west side.

On the left side of the chart, Vergara recovered from his earlier loss, eliminating Mike Garreta 6-4, while Delimelkonoglu was ousted by Wilfredo Albay 6-3. In the quarterfinal match, Albay pressed on, sending Vergara home in fourth place 6-3.

Twenty-eight players showed up for the February 6 installment of the Tri-State Tour, and Duane Toney bested them all to win the title. Hosted by Master Billiards in Queens, NY, the C-D handicapped stop featured a $750-added prize purse.

Results:
1st Duane Toney $615
2nd Raul Reyes Jr. $340
3rd Wilfredo Albay $215
4th Charles Vergara $110
5th Kapriel Delimelkonoglu $65
Mike Garreta

by InsidePOOL Staff

Eastside Billiards in New York, NY, played host to the October 24-25 Predator 9-Ball Tour stop. This event drew some of the strongest players in the Tri-State area, including Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Mhet Vergara, and Jorge Rodriguez, with Marc “Spain” Vidal going all the way to the winner’s circle.

Morgan and Vidal played a spectacular match that including everything from strong breaking, good safety play, and picture-perfect run-outs. In the end, Vidal edged out a 9-8 win for the hot seat over Morgan.

After a hill-hill lost to Vidal, Ken Kerner was out for blood, winning his next two matches against Vergara and Frankie Hernandez to set up the semifinal match against Morgan. Both players were itching for a rematch with Vidal, but Ken found himself behind rather quickly in the match, and Morgan sealed Kerner’s exit from the tournament, defeating him 9-4.

In the final race to 11, Morgan’s break consistently failed to make a ball on the break, while Vidal seemed to be the break and run specialist. The two traded racks in the beginning, but with Morgan’s break disadvantage haunting him, it was only a matter of time before Vidal took control of the match. Vidal closed the match 11-5 for the win and title.

Gail Glazebrook was in dead stroke on Sunday as she dominated the 15-player B-D event. She started the day by defeating both Eddie Culhane and Rene Villalobos to set up a match against Ariel Rivera, who has reached the finals of the last three B-D events and won two of them. It was a back-and-forth battle, but with Glazebrook on the hill 5-4, she took a gutsy 5-9 combo and split the pocket for the 6-4 victory and a chance to play Dave Weinstein, the winner of the last BCD event at Eastside Billiards.

Glazebrook dominated this match, torching Weinstein 6-1 to earn her spot in the final. Weinstein and Rivera faced off in the semifinal match. Weinstein brought his A-game to this match, making very few mistakes and defeating Rivera 5-3 to earn another chance at Glazebrook.

A few strong outs by Glazebrook got her to the hill first. At 6-4, she made an on-the-rail, full-table-length backward cut shot on the 9 ball to seal the win. This was Glazebrook’s first B-D win of the year.

Eastside Billiards in New York, NY, played host to the October 24-25 Predator 9-Ball Tour stop.

Open Results:
1st Marc Vidal $900
2nd Sean Morgan $600
3rd Ken Kerner $400
4th Frankie Hernandez $300
5th Mhet Vergara $250
Jorge Rodriguez
7th Dave Pinkston $200
Jason Hunt

B-D Results:
1st Gail Glazebrook $160
2nd Dave Weinstein $110
3rd Ariel Rivera $75
4th Ramilo Tanglao $45

by Jose Burgos

Joey Testa took home another Blaze 9-Ball Tour title April 5 with a finals victory over Mike Miller. The tour was hosted by Master Billiards in New York City, NY, where a small but strong field came out to play.

Leading the top half of the bracket was Rob Pole with wins over Bob Madara 7-5, Darwin Vergara 7-2, and Miller 7-2. Meeting him in the hot seat match, Testa scored victories over Michael Yednak 7-3, Rene Villalobos 7-2, Eddie Abraham 7-6, and Jorge Rodriquez 7-3.

Joey Testa took home another Blaze 9-Ball Tour title April 5 with a finals victory over Mike Miller.

The hot seat match went double-hill, and when all was said and done, it was Testa who managed to pull off the 7-6 win. Waiting for Pole on the one-loss side was, who had suffered his first loss to Pole 7-2. Now it was Miller’s time, and he reached the finals with a 7-4 score. In the finals, Miller had to defeat Testa twice to win it all, but Testa brought his A game and won the match and the tournament 7-5.

Results:
1st Joey Testa $750
2nd Mike Miller $375
3rd Rob Pole $200

by Skip Maloney

Mika “Iceman” Immonen started and finished strong at the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour stop the weekend of April 4-5, winning his first two matches and the final against Dave Grau by a combined score of 27-8. The $2,000-added event, with a total purse of $5,200, drew 40 entrants to Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY.

Immonen and Grau faced each other first among the winners’ side final four. They’d each survived a hill-hill struggle in earlier rounds and defeated two opponents by identical 9-2, 9-3 scores to get there. Immonen defeated Grau 9-7 and moved into the hot seat match versus Joe Korsiak, who’d just sent George San Souci west 9-6. Immonen struggled again but gained the hot seat with a second straight 9-7 win.

On the one-loss side, perennial tour winner Dennis Hatch was on a quarterfinal collision course with Grau, who’d sent him left 9-2 in the second round. Hatch got by Tom McGonagle 9-1 and defeated Pete Tascarella, Sr. 9-3 to face San Souci. It was Matt Krah, who’d advanced past Mhet Vergara and Shaun Wilkie, who was there to meet Grau. Grau survived his second hill-hill battle of the weekend in a win over Krah, as Hatch was busy defeating Sansouci 9-7.

Grau then dropped Hatch into fourth place 9-7 and seemed to be picking up speed. He moved past Korsiak in a 9-3 semifinal match and got a second chance versus Immonen. “Iceman” lived up to his name, though, finishing his undefeated weekend with a strong 9-3 win over Grau that earned him top honors.

Mika “Iceman” Immonen started and finished strong at the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour stop the weekend of April 4-5, winning his first two matches and the final against Dave Grau by a combined score of 27-8.

Results:
1st Mika Immonen $1,350
2nd Dave Grau $950
3rd Joe Korsiak $750
4th Dennis Hatch $550
5th Matt Krah $400
George Sansouci
7th Shaun Wilkie $200
Pete Tascarella, Sr.
9th Mhet Vergara $100
Chris Lazarovitch
Tom McGonagle
Carmen Lombardo

Blaze 9-Ball Tour / Brooklyn, NY

by InsidePOOL Staff

Maryland’s Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie put on an exhibition in heart as the up-and-coming professional player came from behind to win the Blaze 9-Ball Tour’s February 15 stop. Skyline Billiards hosted 43 players and drew some of the strongest players currently in the game.

After losing a tough match to Jorge Rodriguez, Wilke made an impressive run through the one-loss side of the tournament bracket, never letting more than one opponent get to the hill. Wilkie’s road to the finals began with defeating house pro Liz Ford, then went on to best Matt Krah, Jerry Tarantola, Mhet Vergara, Bill Gallagher, Rodriguez, Ken Rutman, Mike Fingers, and Wali Muhammad. 

In the finals Wilkie met Oscar Bonilla, who recently finished as runner-up in the Predator 9-Ball Tour opener.  Bonilla’s performance was dominant throughout the tournament as he ran through the winners’ bracket undefeated, where he defeated Qtown, Mhet Vergara, Scott Freeman, Rodriguez, Marc Vidal, and Muhammad. 

In the double-elimination finals, Wilkie caught a gear in the first set and rolled over Bonilla 7-1.  In the second set, Bonilla battled toe to toe with Wilkie but could not match his firepower, and Wilkie claimed the set and title with a 6-4 victory.

Maryland's Shaun “Get Some” Wilkie put on an exhibition in heart as the up-and-coming professional player came from behind to win the Blaze 9-Ball Tour's February 15 stop hosted by Skyline Billiards.

Results: 

1st Shaun Wilkie $1,000

2nd Oscar Bonilla $500

3rd Wali Muhammad $300

4th Mike Fingers $230

5th Kenny Rutman $175

Marc Vidal

7th Jorge Rodriguez $125

Jimmy Jusman

9th Bill Gallagher $70

Sammy Wu

Scott Freeman

Eddie Abraham