Corr Wins Her Fifth Joss Billiard Tour Event

Corr Wins Her Fifth Joss Billiard Tour Event

Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / Providence, RI
by Skip Maloney
Women’s Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) player Karen Corr is still the only woman billiard player to have ever won an event on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, and on the weekend of May 3-4, she worked her way through a field of 60 entrants undefeated to become the only woman to win five of them. Corr defeated Ivaylo Petrov twice, once for the hot seat and again in the finals of the $2000-added event at Snookers Café and Billiards in Providence, RI.
Earlier on Sunday, the four finalists on the winners’ side battled to identical 9-5 scores to put Corr in the hot seat. Petrov defeated Bob Madenjian, while Corr moved past Randy Labonte. Petrov battled, but Corr prevailed in the hot seat match.
By Sunday, there were only four left on the one-loss side of the bracket, and the early matches there were close. Dave Fernandez and Ray McNamara battled back and forth through advances and ties, neither player moving further than a single game ahead of the other. Both had opportunities to close it out in the subsequent hill-hill game to win it, but it was McNamara who advanced. Bucky Souvanthong jumped out to a 5-0 lead in his battle versus Tom McGonagle, but McGonagle fought back to tie and kept it close, before falling just shy of bringing the match to hill-hill.
Madenjian, over from the winners’ side, took on McNamara, defeating him 9-5, as Souvanthong took on Labonte, defeating him handily 9-3. Souvanthong then held on to best Madenjian 9-6 to move into the semifinals against Petrov. Petrov jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before Souvanthong responded to tie it. The match wavered back and forth to hill-hill, where, just as in the earlier match-up between Fernandez and McNamara, both players had an opportunity to win the final game but passed until Petrov prevailed.
Corr lost no time establishing her rhythm in the final against Petrov. She jumped out to an early lead that she never relinquished and closed out her undefeated weekend with a commanding 9-4 victory.
The 2007-2008 Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour will conclude on the weekend of August 14-17 with a $25,000-added tour finale at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY. According to tour director Mike Zugman, the entry list will be capped at 128 competitors, about half of whom have already signed up. The only way to enter this tournament is to contact Zugman directly at 518-356-7163.
Results:
1st Karen Corr
2nd Ivaylo Petrov
3rd Bucky Souvanthong
4th Bob Madenjian
5th Ray McNamara
Randy Labonte
7th Dave Fernandez
Tom McGonagle
9th Trystan Speedwell
Jason Michas
Pete Ziemak
Dennis Levesque
13th Damon Sobers
Joe Tucker
Chris Leal
Chris Uhlman

Heidrich Hangs on to Win

Heidrich Hangs on to Win

Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / Parsippany, NJ
by Skip Maloney
In a true double-elimination final match on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour in Parsippany, NJ, Dan Heidrich withstood a strong attack that put him on the brink of defeat. He rallied in the second match to defeat Adam Kielar and capture the first place prize in the $2,000-added event. The tour stop drew 29 entrants to Comet Billiards on the weekend of April 26-27.
Earlier in the day, Heidrich knocked Jesse Ramirez to the one-loss side of the bracket as Kielar was doing the same to Jonathan Smith. The last two winners then squared off in the hot seat match, battling back and forth to a 9-7 win for Heidrich.
On the one-loss side, Bucky Souvanthong dropped Jason Michas into the seventh-place slot, as Carmen Lombardo, in a 9-7, three-hour marathon, did the same to Bobby Blackmore. In a series of tightly contested games and matches leading up to the quarterfinals, Smith, fresh from the winners’ side, defeated Souvanthong, and Carmen Lombardo got by Jesse Ramirez. Smith then knocked Lombardo into fourth place with a 9-6 win.
With visions of the 9-7, back-and-forth struggle that had knocked him onto the west side in his mind, Kielar wasted little time dispatching Smith into third place. He jumped out to a 7-0 lead before trading a couple of games and closing it out 9-2.
At the beginning of the true double-elimination match-up versus Heidrich, it looked as though Kielar was going to build on the momentum he’d established in his semifinal match against Smith. He won that first set handily 9-3 and stood poised to avenge his earlier defeat in the hot seat match. But Heidrich turned the tables rapidly, capitalizing on a few mistakes, running five racks in the middle of the contest and closing it out at 9-4 for the victory.
Results:
1st Dan Heidrich
2nd Adam Kielar
3rd Jonathan Smith
4th Carmen Lombardo
5th Bucky Souvanthong
Jesse Ramirez
7th Jason Michas
Bobby Blackmore

Hatch Hangs on for Win

Hatch Hangs on for Win
Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / Albany, NY

by Skip Maloney
In front of a capacity crowd, Dennis “The Hatchet Man” Hatch struggled a bit in a winners’-side final match against Mike Zuglan but hung on to win and then went on to defeat Dan Heidrich in the $3,000-added Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour stop on the weekend of April 19-20. The event drew 49 players, who played around on-going reconstruction work at the 50-year-old Golden Cue Billiards facility in Albany, NY.
On the one-loss side of the bracket Sunday, Heidrich, having been defeated by Zuglan on the winners’ side, went on to oust Ed Abraham 9-4 in the quarterfinal match. In the hot seat match, Hatch jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Zuglan responded, eventually knotting the score at 6 and again at 7. Zuglan failed to make a ball on the subsequent break and Hatch capitalized, winning the final two racks.
Heidrich had no trouble eliminating an admittedly tired Zugman in the semifinals 9-1 and moved on to the finals against the undefeated Hatch. The final match was an early, back-and-forth struggle that lasted until Hatch moved ahead 5-4. He allowed Heidrich only one other game victory before taking home the first-place prize.
Results:
1st Dennis Hatch
2nd Dan Heidrich
3rd Mike Zugman
4th Ed Abraham
5th Bucky Souvanthong
Tom D’Alfonso
7th Karen Corr
Frank Bess
9th Kevin Ketz
Damon Sobers
Tim Parisian
Greg Antonakos

Kirkwood Snaps Off Joss Tour Event

Kirkwood Snaps Off Joss Tour Event
Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / West Hempstead, NY
by Skip Maloney
Jason “The Dark Horse” Kirkwood came back from an early loss on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour to defeat hot seat occupant Bob Blackmore in a true double-elimination match-up. The tour stopped in West Hempstead, NY, the weekend of April 5-6 and drew in a total of 35 players.
Early Sunday on the winners’ side of the bracket, Blackmore and tour director Mike Zuglan had moved past Tony Robles and Andonis Brastos, respectively. Blackmore scored a 9-4 win, while Zuglan shut out Brastos 9-0 before falling to Blackmore 9-3 in the winners’-side finals.
On the one-loss side of the bracket, Kirkwood had stayed alive to reach a Sunday morning match against Chuck Altomare, who’d sent him to the one-loss bracket on Saturday in the first place with a 9-5 defeat. Tom Walter, in the meantime, defeated Ariel Rivera by the same score.
Kirkwood and Walter then faced recent arrivals from the winners’ side, Robles and Brastos, defeating them by identical 9-5 scores. They then squared off against each other, with Kirkwood winning 9-4 and moving on to face Zuglan in the semifinals. Zuglan fell to Kirkwood by the same score that had eliminated him in the hot seat match 9-3, setting up the double-elimination final between Kirkwood and Blackmore.
Kirkwood took the first match handily 9-3, and though he jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the second match, Blackmore flexed a little muscle to struggle back within two at 6-4. Kirkwood surged to reach the hill at 8-4, and despite Blackmore taking the next three racks, Kirkwood sealed the deal with a 9-7 victory.
Results:
1st Jason Kirkwood
2nd Bob Blackmore
3rd Mike Zuglan
4th Tom Walter
5th Tony Robles
Andonis Brastos
7th Ariel Rivera
Chuck Altomare

Souvanthong Scores on Joss Tour

Souvanthong Scores on Joss Tour
Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / Rochester, NY

by Rick Davis
Bucky Souvanthong topped a field of 37 billiard players at the March 29-30 stop of the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour. The event was hosted by Classic Billiards in Rochester, NY, and offered some of the best 9-ball action around for the weekend.
Late on the winners’ side Dan Heidrich sent Jason “The Dark Horse” Kirkwood west 9-6 but then fell to Souvanthong 9-7 in the hot seat match. On the one-loss side Ron Casanzio was working on a comeback, eliminating Jim Behringer 9-4 to reach the quarterfinal round. Kirkwood was also still fighting, and after ousting Pat Howey 9-5, he knocked out Casanzio 9-4. In the quarterfinals Kirkwood went on to get revenge against Heidrich, whom he eliminated with a 9-5 score.
In the final the true double-elimination format made it an interesting fight, and after Kirkwood owned the opening set 9-3 it looked to be anyone’s game. With the last set running, neither player could get an edge and finally, with the match at 8-all, both players had the opportunity to close out the set. After each had failed to claim it Souvanthong managed to capture the final rack for the 9-8 win.
Results:
1st Bucky Souvanthong
2nd Jason Kirkwood
3rd Dan Heidrich
4th Ron Casanzio
5th Jim Behringer
Pat Howey
7th Dan Smith
Chris Orme

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