Amsterdam Billiard Club Introduces the Fall Season with $20,000-Added Prize Money!
July 31, 2010
League members Foster Stevenson, Caroline Pao, & Gina Kim-Lipsky hanging out at Amsterdam
The Team 9-Ball League at Amsterdam Billiards Club is a great mix of competitive and socially-minded pool players. But since Amsterdam Billiards is not just a pool hall… it boasts the most buzzworthy and competitive billiards league environment in NYC. Not only is winning at Amsterdam Billiards Club going to increase your social status… but it can also can make your pocket fatter.
League players will tell you that getting together for their team league night is a lot of fun, and helps bring friends together to lighten the daily grind. The tight-knit staff of bartenders and waitstaff are friendly and professional, and take pride in their work.
Management at “ABC” recently made a special announcement during it’s Thursday night early and late sessions that may cause the dust to be knocked off a lot of cue sticks in NYC…
Amsterdam Billiards Club will be boasting a $20,000 cash prize fund as part of their year-long 20th anniversary celebration!
The 20K added prize money will be in play for ABC’s upcoming Fall Season of the Team 9-Ball League.
Read on to check out photos below from the current Summer League season and more news on what’s new at Amsterdam. Photos by Jerry T.
The US Open Brings Top Regional Players Head to Head with Top Pros, Where WPBA Stars Rise to the Top
July 31, 2010
The ever-steady Jasmin Ouschan has kept her eye on the prize thus far in the US Open (Photo by Anne Craig)
By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer
While some came as established tour veterans, others came as tour rookies or even first-timers… but they all came together in hopes of becoming the 2010 WPBA US Open Champion. Sixty-four players hailing from all over the U.S. along with many other parts of the world headed to the Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK for the US Open kickoff on Thursday, July 29th.
Unlike the majority of the WPBA’s classic tour events, the US Open participants are determined through not only tour membership and regional qualifiers, but also special invitation. Playing in her first pro event ever, Melinda Bailey was one of these invited players.
“I was invited at 4:50 on Wednesday and needed to let them know by 5:00 whether I would play, so I had no time to anticipate it much,” said Melinda, ”The most important thing to me when I arrived was was to get on the table and get comfortable. With playing under different conditions with the crowd and the new atmosphere, my goal was to do everything possible to get comfortable in that setting.”
Melinda Bailey (Photo by Anne Craig)
Working their way through the early rounds of the event, WPBA powerhouse players like Jasmin Ouschan, Kelly Fisher, Ga-Young Kim, and Allison Fisher remained undefeated through the end of day two yesterday evening. After winning three matches on the winner’s side, eight players were guaranteed to move on to the final 16 single-elimination rounds.
However, the one-loss bracket would provide tougher battles for the WPBA’s up-and-coming players. The eight players to survive on the one-loss side would then be matched up against the eight undefeated players for the first round of the do-or-die single elimination on Friday night at 10pm.
Josh Brothers & Jeremy Sossei Dominate the Mezz Tour at Drexeline
July 30, 2010
Drexeline Billiards owner Bob Maidhof with Co-Champions Josh Brothers & Jeremy Sossei
The Mezz Pro-Am Tour made its way to Drexeline Billiards in Drexel Hill, PA on Sunday July 25, 2010, which brought in a strong field of fifty-two players. Included among them were some of the region’s top players… Josh Brothers, Jeremy Sossei, Manny Chau, Eddie Abraham, Matt Krah, Shaun Wilkie, Dave Daya, Ed Matushonek, Brett Stottlemyer, and WPBA pro, Jennifer Barretta.
Cruising through the top half of the bracket was Josh Brothers, who had wins over Joe Dadich 7-0, Joe Chester 7-1, Raphael Saldana 7-2, Mark Stewart 7-4, and Danny Bell 7-5. Leading the bottom half of the bracket was Jeremy Sossei with wins over Mike Miller 7-4, Tom Zippler 7-0, Brett Stottlemyer 7-5, and Shaun Wilkie 7-5.
Jeremy Sossei then faced off against Josh Brothers for the hot seat. This would turn into a great battle that went hill-hill, but when it was all said and done, Josh Brothers came away with the win 7-6, sending Jeremy Sossei to the one-loss side. Waiting for Jeremy for the semi-final match was Manny Chau… from the very start of this match, Jeremy Sossei took control, then won easily 6-3 to get to the finals.
Continue reading “Josh Brothers & Jeremy Sossei Dominate the Mezz Tour at Drexeline” »
Pool Instruction: CueTips #30 – Some Common Slip-Ups
July 30, 2010
CueTips #30 Diagram
By NYC Grind Contributor, Mark Finkelstein
I’m glad to be back in NYC. Traveling around the country is fun, but I miss New York. I want to share with you some things that I saw in Vegas as well as in Hill AFB, Salt Lake City, and Bozeman, Montana. It seems most pool players make the same mistakes over and over again. Take a close look at this list. If you recognize any of these “mistakes”, you can quickly improve your game by correcting them.
First is hitting the balls too hard. Hitting the balls hard makes the pockets play small and makes it harder to control the cue ball. Both bad results.
Using too much English. It is amazing to see people go three rails with a ton of spin when a rolling ball would get the job done.
Jumping up. This is a big one. Play a rack of nine ball and count how many times you jump up. Any time you jump up, you increase your chance of missing or losing the cue ball.
Having a loose bridge or a bridge too long. I know some tour professionals use long bridges, but I see every day a two and a half diamond rail bridge. Now that is stretching it a little. The longer your bridge, the harder it is to hit the cue ball precisely where you want to.
Continue reading “Pool Instruction: CueTips #30 – Some Common Slip-Ups” »
John Alicea Wins His First Predator Event of the Season while Tony Robles Claims the Open/Pro 10-ball
July 28, 2010
Jim Murnak (3rd), Noel Bensurto (13th), Daniel Dagotdot (2nd), John Alicea (1st)
By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer
Hosting a field of sixty-seven players, the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour held its 11th stop of the 2010 season at the Amsterdam Billiard Club on July 24-25. With a wide range of top NYC-area amateur players in the A/B/C/D 9-ball event, along with the eight-player Open/Pro 10-ball event, there was plenty of great play to be seen at Amsterdam Billiards on this weekend. Top players in the amateur event included Michael Yednak, Victor Nau, John Alicea, Stewart Warnock, and Jerry Tarantola, along with three top female players, Emily Duddy, Diana “Snooky” Rojas, & Gail Glazebrook.
In this event, one of the New York area’s top young rising stars, John Alicea from Bayonne, NJ, would run to the top of the A/B/C/D 9-ball event. John rolled through the winner’s bracket with wins over Peter Ziemak 7-5, Donald Chu 7-5, Tony Liang 7-6, Simon Lau 7-2, Daniel Dagotdot 7-3, and then defeated custom cue case maker Jim Murnak 7-4 to take the hot seat on day two. Jim Murnak won the top (C/D) bracket while John Alicea took down the bottom (A/B) bracket to set up the match for the hot seat.
Predator 10-Ball Tour Players Reunite for Shot at Victory
July 27, 2010
Tony Crosby will be one of the players appearing in the final rounds of the Predator World 10-ball Tour
Although the final rounds of the Predator World 10-ball Tour’s stop in Lloret De Mar, Spain were derailed due to severe weather, the event is now picking up where it left off, but this time the tour’s final 16 players are heading to the Philippines.
The event’s players will resume play on September 13-14 in Manila, with some of the world’s most accomplished pool stars setting their sights on the title. U.S. Open 10-ball Champion Lee Van Corteza, Hall of Fame inductee Johnny Archer, and former WPA World Champion Niels Feijen are just a few of the notables who will be appearing in Manila.
Read on for the press release on the event from Dragon Promotions…
Continue reading “Predator 10-Ball Tour Players Reunite for Shot at Victory” »
Rooftop Films to Feature “Capucine: Filmmaking Monkeys and Other Renegades” This Week in Brooklyn
July 27, 2010
"Capucine" a film about the story of a filmmaking monkey, will be featured at Rooftop Films
Specializing in bringing unique independent films to unusual outdoor venues, Rooftop Films continues to show New Yorkers what they’ve been missing in the film scene. And unsurprisingly, this week Rooftop is taking the unusual to a new level.
From the roof of the Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on Thursday, July 29, Rooftop Films will be presenting a series of groundbreaking short films by by filmmakers who have thrown convention out the window and make their own set of “rules”… as bizarre as they may seem.
Along with this series of six short films, the creator of one of the feature films, Professor Luis Nieto (known as the world’s first mad scientist filmmaker) will be performing a special live experiment for the audience. Following the experiment, Rooftop Films will present “Capucine”, Nieto’s film documenting the story of a genuine filmmaking monkey from Japan.
Sound intriguing? Read on to learn more and click here to view a summary of all of the films to be featured at this event.
Linda Haywood-Shea Makes a Comeback Win at KB Billiards While Neslihan Gurel Takes the World Qualifier
July 27, 2010
Linda Shea (1st), Kim Jones (3rd), Neslihan Gurel (2nd), Borana Andoni (5th), Ji-Hyun Park (4th), Lai Li (5th)
By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer
On the scorching hot weekend of July 24-25, the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour headed to KB Billiards in Elkridge, MD. In this event, a field of seventeen players competed to win a spot in the 2010 World 9-Ball Championships, which will be held in Shenyang, China over August 23-29.
The dominant player in the winner’s bracket of this event would be Neslihan Gurel. In her second year playing on the tour after moving to the U.S. in 2009 from Turkey, Ness has been steadily moving her way up through to the ranks on the tour, as well as making waves through many other events in the region. In this event, Ness took the hot seat by defeating Sharon O’Hanlon (7-3), Linda Haywood-Shea (7-4), Ji-Hyun Park (7-6), and Kim Jones (7-3).
After her second-round loss to Ness Gurel, Tour Director Linda Shea bounced back on the one-loss side, defeating… Shanna Lewis (7-5), Eugenia Gyftopolus (7-2), Lai Li (7-0), Ji-Hyun Park (7-4), Kim Jones (7-4).
George Osipovitch Wins the 2010-2011 Tri-State Kickoff at Edison Billiards
July 26, 2010
Mark Alicea (2nd) & George Osipovitch (1st)
On Saturday, July 24, Edison Billiards hosted the Tri-State Tour’s first stop of the 2010-2011 season. This B/C/D Class tournament drew twenty-four players to the Edison, NJ pool room, where George Osipovitch went undefeated to win the top prize of $475
Sweeping through the winner’s bracket, George defeated Ben Sadowski 7-4, Mark Alicea 6-5, and Rick Shellhouse 7-5, when he met Duane “Wutang” Toney in the match for the hot seat, which ended in a close 7-5 score in favor of George.
After having lost to George Osipovitch winner’s bracket, Mark Alicea (brother of top Tri-State player John Alicea) got busy working his way through the one-loss side. In his first Tri-State event ever, Mark eliminated a list of many of the tour’s regulars, including Antonio Navarro 6-2, Dave Fitzpatrick 7-6, Gary Murgia 7-4, Ken DeBroske 6-5, and Duane Toney 7-3.
Continue reading “George Osipovitch Wins the 2010-2011 Tri-State Kickoff at Edison Billiards” »
The Ozone Billiards Predator 9-ball Tour Heads to Amsterdam Billiards this Weekend
July 23, 2010
Ozone Billiards Predator Tour
This weekend, July 24-25, Amsterdam Billiards will be hosting the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour. With the A/B/C/D 9-ball event and the Open/Pro 10-ball event running side by side, there will be action for all levels of players.
As a nightlife hotspot in a prime location on Manhattan’s lower east side, this venue also makes for a great opportunity for players to get exposure at one of New York’s trendiest locales for billiards.
With many of the region’s top players including Mika Immonen, George San Souci, Shaun Wilkie, Jeremy Sossei, Mike Dechaine, and Amsterdam House Pro & Predator Tour Director, Tony Robles playing on the tour, there will be some great action to watch, along with tough competition for the amateurs.
Read on for more details on the event from Tony Robles…
