First Women’s Mezz Tour Stop – May 8th, 2010

Mezz USA – Caroline Pao and Mika Immonen

Mezz USA is proud to announce the first stop of the Mezz Women’s Pool Tour, a $1,000 added event, will be held on Saturday, May 8, 2010, at Drexeline Billiards.

WPBA Pro and Mezz USA President, Caroline Pao, along with Tournament Director, Jose Burgos, will be overseeing the Women’s tour.

“With so many great female players in the Northeast region, this is a great opportunity to provide a competitive tour for them to participate in.  We will feature great prizes at each stop as well as hold a Grand Finale tournament with added monies.  Prizes will also be awarded for the Top 3 players of the year with the Top Player receiving paid entry to the prestigious Turning Stone Classic Tournament in Verona, NY.  I am very excited be able to provide an opportunity for our local female players to sharpen their competitive edge. Once we complete the 8 event schedule, it will be on our official Mezz Tour website, www.mezztour.com,” says Caroline.

The tour is open to both professional and amateurs with the sliding scale entry fee based on skill level.  The format alternating breaks in a race to 6, both sides of the bracket.

Stop #1 – May 8th – $1,000 Added*
Mezz Womens Pool Tour
Drexeline Billiards
5100 State Street
Drexel Hill, PA 19026

*$1,000 added is based on a full field of 50 players.

Visit the official Mezz Pro-Am Tour website, www.mezztour.com, for more information.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact info@mezztour.com.

Mika Immonen Digs Deep to Snap off the Mezz Tour at Skyline Billiards

April 20, 2010

By Jerry Tarantola, NYCgrind.com

The seventh event of the Mezz Tour season was hosted by Skyline Billiards in Brooklyn on Sunday, April 18th.  The strongest one-day pro/am tour drew a total of 30 players, including the world’s #1-ranked pool player and Mezz Cues representative, “The Iceman” Mika Immonen.  The “Iceman” has been taking the pool world by storm over the last few years, and continues to dominate many of the regional events in New York area.

Along with Mika, the event drew a number of up-and-coming NY-area players, along with several other notable players such as “The Silent Assassin” Tony Robles, Rob Pole, “Smitty” Daniel Smith, Mike Fingers, Mike Miller, and Jorge Rodriguez, along WPBA pros Caroline Pao and Jennifer Barretta.

Tough performances were seen a number of players at this event, including Skyline house player Sammy Wu, who went through the winner’s bracket in impressive fashion, with wins over Mike Wong (7-4), Juan Peralta (7-3), Oscar Bonilla (7-2), and Mika Immonen (7-5).  For the “hot seat”, Sammy lost a tough hill-hill battle to Gregg McAndrews, 7-6.

Gregg McAndrews had a breakthrough performance at this event, with super-impressive wins over Paul Bramwell (7-4), Tony Robles (7-6), Jorge Rodriguez (7-3), and Sammy Wu  (7-6)–earning a spot in finals, undefeated.

Dan Smith also played tough in this event. After winning his first two matches over Diana “Snooky” Rojas (7-5) and Mike Fingers (7-5), he fell to “The Iceman”, 7-2.  Smitty bounced back from his loss to Mika, and defeated Mike Wong (7-0), Oscar Bonilla (7-3), and Jorge Rodriguez (7-3), before losing his battle with Mika, 7-4.  On the weekend prior to this event, “Smitty” ran a 9-pack at the Joss Tour, and has been continuing to take his game to the next level… this event showcased several top up-and-coming players from .

Mika’s run through the winner’s bracket with wins over Jerry Tarantola (7-2),  Michael Yednak (7-5), and Daniel Smith (7-1) before his loss to Sammy Wu (7-5).  On the one-loss side, Mika defeated Dan Smith (7-4) and avenged his loss to Sammy Wu to win 7-5, earning a spot in the finals.

In the finals match, Gregg McAndrews was up 4-0 in a blink of an eye.  When Mika was down 1-0, he bobbled the seven in the side pocket, the Gregg broke and ran out to lead 3-0, then extended the lead to 4-0. Mika breaks and runs out… 4-1. Gregg comes right back to win the next game 5-1. But, from that point on it was all Mika… coming back with eight games while Gregg returned with only two, finishing off an impressive tournament with a come from behind “W” in the finals.  The final score for the match was 9-7.

Congratulations to Mika Immonen on his comeback win, and to Gregg McAndrews for a very strong showing.  Along with Mika continuing his dominance, this event showcased the gritty play of some of Brooklyn’s toughest up-and-coming players who showed heart, grit, and determination…such as Sammy Wu, Gregg McAndrews, and Daniel Smith.  Keep it up guys!

Look out for the next stop on the Mezz Tour, which will be held at Drexeline Billiards in Drexel Hill, PA on Sunday, April 25th.

Joey and Josh Co-Champions at Hot Shot

The Mezz Pro-Am Tour made its way to Hot Shot Billiards in Deptford NJ, A Strong field of 38 players came out to play players like: Josh Brothers, Joey Testa, Dominic Noe, Adam Keilar, Matt Krah, Denise Reeve, Joe Hong, Derek Schwager and Bob Madara to name a few. Leading the top half of the bracket was Dominic Noe with wins over Manny Chau 7-3, Al Tonelli 7-5, Derek Schwager 7-5, and Adam Kielar 7-5. Leading the bottom half of the bracket was Joey Testa with wins over Mark Horne 7-2, Sharon O’Hanlon 7-0, Denise Reeve 7-3, and Matt Krah 7-5. Playing for the hot seat was Joey Testa Vs Dominic Noe this was a great match with Joey Testa pulling away late in the match to win 7-4 sending Dominic Noe to the one lost side. The big story was Josh Brothers after losing his first match to Al Tonelli 7-5 Brothers went on a winning streak by beating Jose Burgos 7-3, Manny Chau 7-1, Bill Gallagher 7-1, Wali Muhammad 7-2, Jack Springfield 7-2, Devon Ward 7-3, Matt Krah 7-2, Adam Kielar 7-3 and Dominic Noe 7-4 to get to the finals. In the finals it was Josh Brothers VS Joey Testa, the Mezz tour is a true double elimination event so Josh Brothers has to beat Joey Testa twice to win the event. The first set was a great match that came to the end but when it was all said and done it was Brothers winning the first set 7-5. Both Josh Brothers and Joey Testa decided to spit and become Co-Champions of the event. Congratulations to top female finisher Denise Reeve with a 7th place money finish. Joey Testa would like to thank his sponsor Mezz Cues and Jose Garcia for all their support and Josh Brothers would like to thank his sponsor Dan Decola from Decola custom cues and Bob Maidhof for their support. I would like to thank all the players that came out to play also all the sponsors for there on going support.