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.

Top Detroit player Ronnie Wiseman was also impressive fighting through the one-loss side with wins over Sammy Wu 9-3, Gregg McAndrews 9-3, Sean Morgan 9-4, and Mike Fingers 9-7 before getting knocked out by Brett Stottlemyer 9-2.

Ginky was playing strong enough to win the event, but was edged out at hill-hill by Brett Stottlemyer, who put on a gritty performance. However, Brett was eventually ousted from the tournament hill-hill by Josh Brothers, leaving him with a strong 5th place finish.

However, the standout player on the one-loss side was emerging phenom Josh Brothers, who took wins over Ed Culhane 9-7, Eddie Abraham 9-7, Sean Morgan 9-8, Jeremy Sossei 9-6, and Mike Davis 9-8, which lined up a semi-final match with Tony Robles. Tony knocked Josh over to the one-oss side earlier in the event, and Josh was looking forward to the rematch.

Josh Brothers was poised to win after keeping Tony in his seat for the first three games, leading 3-0 and continuing to lead the whole set. However, Tony showed a lot of grit was able to come from behind to win the set in hill-hill nail-biter. Tony’s win over Josh set up a rematch in the finals between Tony Robles and Stevie Moore.  In this true double-elimination final, Tony would have to win two sets against Stevie to claim the win.

Ray Hansen “Big Truck” and Mike Fingers

PoolActionTV.com was at the event to stream the feature matches throughout the tournament. Ray Hansen, along with other contributors, helped out to provide live streaming and commentary to the fans following the event.

In the first set, Stevie Moore held the lead throughout, but at 7-6 Tony was able to grind back to and win the next three games to take the set 9-6.  They then moved into the second set, but Stevie remained dominant and closed out a 9-4 win to defend his title as NYC 9-ball Champion.  Congratulations to Stevie Moore on achieving this notable feat… NYC pool fans will surely be watching in 2011 to see if anyone can steal away this title.

Tony watching on as Stevie Moore takes the lead

Final Results:

1st: Stevie Moore – $2,300
2nd: Tony Robles – $1,400
3rd: Josh Brothers – $800
4th: Mike Davis – $600
5th/6th: Mike Dechaine, Brett Stottlemyer $400
7th/8th: Barry Banks, George Sansouci – $300
9th-12th: Marc Vidal, Jeremy Sossei, Ronnie Wiseman, Jorge Rodriguez – $200

Visit NYCGrind and Mezztour.com for more information.

Caroline Pao & Dawn Hopkins

By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

On August 7th, 2010, the Mezz Women’s 9-Ball Tour held its second stop of their inaugural season at Main Line Billiard Club in Frazer, PA.  A field of thirteen players including top names such as Dawn Hopkins, Megan Smith, Caroline Pao, Gina Kim-Lipsky, and Erin McManus were set to battle that Saturday.

Also among these top players was arguably the most impressive female junior player in the U.S., PA’s Briana Miller.  Former Junior World Champion and multiple-time Junior National Champion, Briana continues to prove that she is a strong force at the table. In this event, Briana ran through to the hot seat match after defeating Sam Miskezich, Kathy Friend, and Erin McManus.

In the match for the hot seat, Briana faced Caroline Pao, who previously had wins over Eugena Gyftopoulos, Linda Cheung, and Dawn Hopkins.  Caroline would then battle against Briana Miller, where she edged ahead to win 7-5 to guarantee a spot in the final.

After Dawn Hopkin’s loss to Caroline Pao, she forged a comeback on the one-loss side, defeating Erin McManus and Gina Kim-Lipsky, before winning the semifinal against Briana Miller, 7-3.  This set Dawn for a rematch against Caroline Pao, but the two WPBA pros decided to share the win.

Congratulations to winners Caroline Pao & Dawn Hopkins! Thanks to all the players who came out to compete in this event, as well as the host room, Main Line Billiards.  Stop #3 on the Mezz Women’s 9-ball Tour will be held on September 18, also at Main Line Billiards in Frazer, PA.

Payout:

1st: Caroline Pao, Dawn Hopkins – $300
3rd: Briana Miller – $100
4th: Gina Kim-Lipsky - $60

For more information, visti mezztour.com and nycgrind.com.

Immonen wins the 10-Ball division and poses with his fellow pro competitors that he overcame to win and rooms owners Keith and Lisa Hulin

The 3rd Annual Poison Billiards DP Poison Pro Classic came to a close direct from the sugar fields of New Iberia, Louisiana. The Event was held at Emerald Billiards and brought the creme of the crop of the Billiards World… to battle it out for the sweet honor of snapping off the first pro billiards event hosted in Louisiana.

Two-time consecutive U.S. Open Champion Mika “The Iceman” Immonen broke out of a dry ice funk to go undefeated against the star-studded field. This event ran alongside the 5th Annual Ozone Billiards US Amateur Open.

Read the story for the press release from DP (Dragon Promotions)…

New Iberia, Louisiana – Mika Immonen ended his long dry spell of winless tournaments by defeating Shane Van Boening to defend his title at the 3rd Annual DP Poison Pro Classic. In a strong field including names such as Archer, Morris, Williams, Putnam, Hohmann, and Van Boening, Mika was the last man standing in an undefeated run.  Mika was a double winner at the Poison DP pro Classic as he and partner Rodney Morris earlier won the 8-Ball Doubles, ironically also over Shane Van Boening and his partner Archer.

The Dragon Promotions produced pro events coincided with the 5th Annual Ozone Billiards US Amateur Open.  All the events took place at the fantastic facilities of Emerald Billiards in New Iberia, Louisiana and are sponsored by Ozone Billiards, Brunswick Billiards, Bonus Ball, Master Chalk, Simonis Cloth, APA Acadiana, and Aramith Balls.

Fans can catch all the action live online with internet streaming provided by www.poolactiontv.com

Mika runs out the final rack of the event

Immonen started off with an easy win over Keith Fremin who had earlier won the Ozone BIlliards US Amateur Open 8-Ball crown. Then Immonen played a near flawless match against fellow pro and promoter of the event Charlie Williams 9-3. He was up 8-o and missed an easy 9-Ball that would have ended in a 9-0 whitewash, but Williams was able to put together a few more games. Next Immonen took down old foe Johnny Archer with relative ease before facing Shane.

Shane Van Boening was in good form finishing 2nd both events

Rodney Morris had a sub-par showing as he lost a tough 9-8 decider to Shawn Putnam, and then immediately lost to Jeff Beckley 9-4 in a weak performance.
“When I lost to Putnam, I just went into a coma and didn’t have anything left for Jeff”, Rocket Morris commented after.

Shawn Putnam finished a strong 3rd in the star studded field. Shawn sitting Wtih Ray Hanson with PoolACtionTV.com

Shawn Putnam had a great event with wins over Morris, Williams, and Archer. He took both losses in the event against Van Boening. Shane’s road to the finals included a 9-6 win over Hohmann, a 9-8 over Putnam, a 8-9 loss to Mika, and  another 9-5 over Putnam. With Williams and Hohmann tied at 5th, Archer at 4th, and Putnam a 3rd place semi-finals appearance.

“The fans here are unbelievable. I’ve never been treated so well in a poolroom tournament. I’ll definitely be back”, commented Putnam.

“I’ve never played in the middle of a field. I thought it was pretty cool, and I was impressed by the location,” said 2x World Champion Thorsten Hohmann.

Emerald Billiards drew some of the world’s greatest pros to its sugar cane field location

The finals pitted Mika and Shane for their 5th battle in their careers. They had played each other a previous 4 matches with each going to hill/hill , with both players splitting the wins.

But Immonen was playing careful and hungry and made very little errors and jumped to a 6-0 lead. Within less than an hour the match was over with Van Boening bowing out to Immonen 10-3.

“It feels really really good to win again. It’s been awhile, so I’m going to enjoy the feeling tonight and during this week. I have a great record at Dragon Promotions events, so I felt a good vibe coming here ”, said Immonen.

The tournament was ran smoothly under the watchful eye of Director John Leyman of New York City

Photos provided by www.dragonpromotions.com

Visit nycgrind for more information.

Winners John Alicea & George "Ginky" Sansouci

Written by Jerry Tarantola, NYCgrind.com

For the Mezz Pro/Am 9-ball Tour’s 17th stop of the season, a field of 31 top NY-area players came out to Raxx Billiards to compete for top honors.  Some of the notable players in attendance included “Ginky” George Sansouci, Shaun Wilkie, Matt Krah, Rob Pole, John Alicea, Victor Nau, Gregg McAndrews, and Brett Stottlemyer, along with three of the tour’s lady players, Caroline Pao, “Snooky” Diana Rojas, and Linda Cheung.

George “Ginky” Sansouci was making noise early through the winner’s bracket, rolling over Matt Krah 7-1, John MacArthur 7-1, and Rob Pole 7-2, before losing to Zion Zvi 7-5.

Zion had also been steamrolling over his opponents, including an impressive 7-0 win over Mike Miller, which lined up the feature match.

In the match between Zion and “Ginky”, Zion jumped out early playing flawless 5-3, but Ginky responded by tying it up 5-5. Zion then won the next game, and Ginky was breaking and running out when he uncharacteristically scratched on the 6 ball, giving the set to Zion 7-5.

Zion then was lined up for a match against young gun John Alicea to determine who would take the hot seat.  John had just come off a come-from-behind win win against Brett Stottlemeyer, where he battled back from 6-4 to win 7-6.

That win was immediately followed up by an impressive 7-5 win over the tour’s current #1-ranked player, Josh Brothers, who after the match mentioned that he was impressed with John’s performance. Josh also watched part of John’s first round match where he defeated Chip Klein 7-2 in dominant fashion.

In the match for the hot seat against Zion Zvi, John outplayed the more-seasoned Zion, controlling the momentum of the set, which  lead to an impressive 7-2 scoreline.

It is clear that John is gaining confidence and experience as he continues to defeat players he grew up admiring.

While John had some time to rest and reflect after snagging the hot seat, the one-loss side was chocked full of pool giants battling it out.

After his winner’s side loss to John Alicea, Brett Stottlemyer defeated Mike Fingers in dominant fashion, 7-2. Prior to this loss, Mike had been impressive in grinding out several consecutive hill-hill matches in a row.

This win against Mike lined up Brett against George “Ginky” Sansouci, who was fresh off his close battle with Zion.

Ginky took a 4-3 lead before Brett tied it up at 4-4. Brett got up 6-5… broke made a ball, and played safe on the one ball. Ginky kicked it one rail hard, and lucked the ball in the side pocket tying the set at 6 each. On the break, Ginky made a ball and had an easy shot on the one ball. To Brett’s frustration, the 2-9 was a dead combo… so Ginky easily made the one, then the combo for the “W”.

That win lined up a rematch between George “Ginky” Sansouci and Zion Zvi, after his protoge John Alicea knocked Zion to the one-loss side.  In this set, Zion got ahead early 3 games to 2, but Ginky grinded back to take the lead 6-4. Zion responded by winning the next game, closing the scoreline to 6-5. With the alternate break format, it was Ginky’s turn to break, and he broke and ran out a clutch rack to set up a match between the teacher versus the student in the finals.

Ginky was impressive in following up a win in the last Mezz Tour event he played in, but the big story here is John Alicea’s evolution as a player. John was hot coming off of the last Predator Tour win, and has been tearing up the local scene of late. The 22-year-old up-and-coming player has been putting in the work on the practice table as well staying busy in competition.

Ginky would have normally had to defeat John Alicea twice in the finals to win, but John decided to let Ginky share the title as co-champions, as Ginky was celebrating his birthday with friends and family.

Congratulations to both John and Ginky for showing dominance at this event.  The Mezz Tour would like to thank all the players who came out to compete at this event, as well as all of the tour’s sponsors.

The next stop on the Mezz Tour will be held at Main Line Billiards on August  15th, 2010.  Visit www.MezzTour.com to learn more and check out the complete schedule.

Final Results:

1st: $735 John Alicea
2nd: $735 George “Ginky” Sansouci
3rd: $350 Zion Zvi
4th: $170 Brett Stottlemyer
5th/6th: $100 Mike Fingers, Chip Klein

For more information, visit nycgrind.

The Mezz Women’s Tour Stop #2 will take place on Saturday, August 7th at Main Line Billiards Club. Due to the WPBA US Open, the stop has been moved back a weekend. The room will open at 10 am and the tournament starts at 12 pm.

This is a One Day Tournament.
$1000 Added.
Sliding Scale Entry Fee. …
$35 annual registration fee.
Race to 7 on A bracket.
Race to 6 on B bracket.
Alternating Breaks
True Double Elimination in final match.

Please visit www.mezztour.com for more information or contact Tournament Director, Jose Burgos, at (267) 257-8006 jabcues@aol.com.

Hope to see you there!