Ruberto Rules The Box

The C2 Bar Box Tour held their inaugural event o­n the weekend of Feb. 27th-28th at Instant Replay Bar & Billiards in Huntington NY. Instant Replay, owned and operated by Jay Kaufmann and his lovely wife Peggy, is the home of 12 immaculate bar tables, with over 50 televisions and a classy pub with a full menu for dinning. It is the Mecca for bar table pool in New York. C2 created this tour to promote the game of bar table pool in the northeast, with a double elimination, loser breaks, alternating games of 9 Ball and 8 Ball format, it gives all players a chance to compete and win. C2’s first ever event drew a field of 55 players of all skill levels, from top APA players-John Walsh and Eddie Dunn,

Nationally ranked amateurs-Scott Ireland, Joe Cutler and Scott Casagrande, to Joss Tour regulars, Flaco Rodrigues, Tony Ruberto, Sean Morgan and Nick Schulman. Kim Segal, wife of artistic pool world champion Andy Segal, was the lone female to enter the event. Kim made some noise late Saturday night, when she knocked off Long Island’s Bar Table legend, Mike Crowder. o­n Sunday, the field was narrowed down to the final 12, with Tony Ruberto, Scott Casagrande, Flaco Rodrigues and Mark Pantovic all o­n the undefeated side. Two of the best matches of the tournament took place early Sunday o­n the o­ne loss side, Oscar Bonilla out dueled Carlo Cappabianco, and Nick Schulman, at hill-hill, ousted Sean Morgan, by getting him o­n three scratches in 9 ball. Meanwhile local favorite, Joe Cutler, was making his move o­n the losers side, when he ran in to the “Russian” . By Sunday afternoon, the stage was set for an entertaining and classic final. Mark “Gypsy” Pantovic worked his way through the losers bracket, and would meet

Tony “First Names o­nly Please” Ruberto. A huge crowd was o­n hand, and the two colorful players had their attention from start to finish. The tournament directors never had to worry about keeping the crowd noise down, because Ruberto and Pantovic did all the talking. o­ne of the funniest parts of the match was when Ruberto won a rack of 9 ball.

With the loser breaks format, “Gypsy” went to break the balls in 8 ball, backed off and told Tony “You break em, I’m tired of breakin dry”. His plan worked and G Rock won that rack and the crowd went nuts. But in the end, Ruberto, who played flawless the entire weekend, went undefeated to win the first ever C2 Bar Box Championship.

Results:

1st    Tony Ruberto $2400  

2nd   Mark Pantovic   $1400

3rd   Flaco Rodriguez   $800

4th   Steve Astashian   $500,

5th-6th   Scott Casagrande, Nick Schulman $180

7th-8th Joe Cutler, Oscar Bonilla $125

9th-12th   Carlo Cappabianco, Sean Morgan, Bob Gipp, Henry Flores $80.

 In attendance all weekend, along with Andy Segal, were Long Island’s top pro Joey “K” Korsiak and Bill Finnigan. The C2 Bar Box Tour would like to thank them for their support and for helping promote our new tour.

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