Mike Sigel Dominates the Accu-Stats 14.1 Matchup vs Jerry T as he prepares for the 70th World Tournament Next Week

By NYC Grind Editor, Alison M. Fischer

On Monday, September 27th the Iwan Simonis Accu-Stats Arena at Breaker Billiards in Clifton, NJ hosted a feature live 14.1 matchup between one of the world’s most legendary living players, Mike “Captain Hook” Sigel, and NYC Grind founder & creative director, Jerry Tarantola.  This match, streamed live via www.ustream.com/accu-stats-on-location, featured Mike and Jerry in their first-ever player review session, where each player jumped into the booth after their inning was finished.  Mike would dominate this match and give Jerry very few chances to get the ball rolling, closing out with a 125-28 win.  View NYC Grind’s photos from this match, by contributor John Yee.

Hall-of-Famer Mike Sigel, who is known as one of the toughest straight pool players in the country, has been making a return to the game as of late, and his passion appears to be going strong.  Mike most recently had a big win at the Bob Stock Memorial at First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA, which featured top talent including Max Eberle, Shaun Wilkie, Brandon Shuff, and Manny Chau.

“This is the first time in 20 years I’ve been excited about playing,” said Sigel.  “I feel like I’m playing as good as I can play, and I’m really looking forward to the next two big events.”  Those next two events for Sigel will be the Predator World Straight Pool Championships and the US Open 9-ball Championships.  “I really had a great time playing on Accu-Stats again, and I hope everybody enjoyed it as much as I did.”

Continue reading “Mike Sigel Dominates the Accu-Stats 14.1 Matchup vs Jerry T as he prepares for the 70th World Tournament Next Week” »

Pool Instruction: CueTips #39 – How Not to Choke

By NYC Grind Contributor, Mark Finkelstein

I played a young fellow the other day… he is a good player, but he tends to try to do too much.  Every time he misses he says bad things to himself.  It was interesting watching him try to “beat me”.  The harder he tried to win, the tighter he got and the worse he played.  To make matters even worse, he began trying to do difficult things to get himself out of trouble, or impress me.  None of it seemed to work for him.

One of the things I see in all my students, most people playing in tournaments, and a lot of players in general, is how hard they are trying to win.  It is amazing how people move their body, jump up, twist, turn, and try to will the balls into the pocket.  I must confess, I too am sometimes guilty of this!   I suppose we all are.  Now the sad part is that all that energy we expend trying to move the balls with our “body English” is really wasted.  All the words and twists in the world won’t move the cue ball one inch.  Our energy would be much better spent focusing on doing great fundamentals.

The lesson in this is really very simple.  We don’t control winning, or the rolls.  I know a lot of you think that when you get behind, you have to bear down and try even harder to win, to make the shot etc.  Unfortunately, all this does is tighten you up and cause mistakes.  I’m going to give you a focus for each and every shot that will help you eliminate choking, overtiring and beating yourself up.  But first, let’s look at a situation on the table.

Continue reading “Pool Instruction: CueTips #39 – How Not to Choke” »

Brenda Heras Becomes the 1st Woman to Win on the Predator while Ginky Makes a Comeback Win in the Open/Pro

By Jerry Tarantola, NYCgrind.com

A field of 24 players came out to battle at Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ on September 18-19th for the 15th stop of the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour 2010 season. This event would feature both the Amateur 9-ball division and the Open-Pro 10-ball division.

Notable players in the amateur field included Noel Bensurto, Victor Nau, Wali Muhammed, Daniel Dagodot, John Ortiz, and several strong female players: Neslihan Gurel, Borana Andoni, Diana Rojas, Pam Ogarek, Brenda Heras, and 2010 BCAPL Women’s Open 8-ball Champion Gail Glazebrook.

The six strong aspiring pro female players clearly all wanted to make a statement.. and one of them would.  It would be Brenda Heras who would would deliver a breakthrough performance, by not only going farther than any other woman, but also any other man. On that weekend, Brenda earned the honor of becoming the first woman player to ever win a Predator Tour event.

Brenda’s road to the finals included wins over Soner Bulut 7-2, Daniel Dagodot 7-2, and Noel Bensurto 7-4, before losing to Pat Dibuono 7-3. Brenda would grind back to the finals with a buzzworthy 7-2 win over the previous week’s Predator Tour winner Daniel Dagotdot.

Pat Dibuono’s undefeated run to the finals included wins over Ramilo Tanglau 7-4, Gail Glazebrook 7-1, Roger Hanas 7-6, and ultimately Brenda Heras in the hot seat match.

Continue reading “Brenda Heras Becomes the 1st Woman to Win on the Predator while Ginky Makes a Comeback Win in the Open/Pro” »

Andrew Cleary Along with Top Pro Talent Team Up For a New Web Series: “Big Tony’s Quest for US Open Glory”

For every aspiring pro from the US (along with many other countries around the world), there is no bigger conquest than becoming a US Open 9-ball Champion.  And as many players find out, this is not such an easy task to take on.  “Big Tony” is one such player… and in this new web series comedy created by and starring Andrew Cleary, you’ll get to follow him on his journey to get to the Open.  Read on for more details in the press release…

Big Tony’s Quest For US Open Glory is an inspirational comedy web series staring Andrew Cleary a the ever-lovable “Big Tony”. Big Tony, an over eater/under thinker, becomes inspired by the movie “Tin Cup” to win the US Open 9ball championship. Unbeknownst to Big Tony, he cannot play. On his push to train for the Open, Big Tony runs into several big names in the pool world including, Sarah Rousey, Jason Klatt, Justin Collett, Mika Immonen, Caroline Pao, Jennifer Barretta, Tony Robles, and more. All offering seemingly terrible advice, though it all ends up helping Big Tony make a run at the Open.

Big Tony’s Quest is made possible thanks to SPOT Clothing (www.spotclothing.com), The Action Report (www.theactionreport.com), Sugartree Cues (www.sugartreecues.com), Seyberts Billiard Supply (www.seyberts.com), NYCgrind.com, Amsterdam Billiards (www.amsterdambilliardclub.com), JB Cases (www.jbcases.com), and Sterling Gaming (www.sterling-gaming.com).

You can check out the show at:
www.thebigtonyshow.com

WPBA Launches Preliminary New Website at Atlanta Classic – WPBA Live Stream!

WPBA.com recently received a much needed facelift this week. Fans are invited to follow all of the action at the WPBA Atlanta Classic on WPBA.com.

The live stream can be found at http://www.wpba.com/tournaments/2010-atlanta-classic.html and will kick off with a behind the scenes look at the Classic Tour with a Membership Drive Telethon which will feature player interviews, tips, and a live stream of the players meeting for the Atlanta Classic.

Fan and Patron Memberships range from $10-$2500 with varying levels of exposure and benefits including items such as player posters or headshots, WPBA merchandise, VIP tickets to WPBA Classic Tour events and DVD’s of previous matches.

The live stream of the Atlanta Classic is brought to you by PoolDawg. Matches will be streamed Thursday and Friday beginning at 10AM and Saturday at 11AM EST.

The new site is still under construction and new content will be added over the next few weeks and months.  Currently, the site features information about upcoming WPBA tour stops, ESPN match airings and WPBA Regional Tours. Soon, fans will be able to connect with WPBA pro players and other fans in the new Players Club.

The Players Club is WPBA’s very own social network of players, sponsors and fans. Create your own club profile and enjoy posting to private and community walls, creating and joining groups, uploading and managing photos/videos and much more. Tune into WPBA.com this week to catch all of the live coverage!

Daniel Dagotdot Wins His Second Tri-State Stop of the Season at Master Billiards

Daniel Dagotdot has continued on his hot streak in New York, as he came back on the one-loss side to win the Tri-State Tour’s $1,000-added A/B/C/D 9-ball tour stop at Master Billiards, which drew a field of 37 players.  Daniel, who is based in Jersey City, had also won the Tri-State’s September 21st stop at Sandcastle Billiards, along with the Predator Tour’s Reverend Clarence Keaton Memorial, which was also at Master Billiards.

In this event, Daniel Dagotdot dominantly won his first-round match against “A” player Michael Wong, but was sent to the one-loss side by Scott Simonetti 7-5 in his following match.  Daniel’s day was far from over however, as he grinded back to defeat Dan Cintron 7-5, Ed Culhane 7-6, Scott Simonetti 7-1, Wilfredo Albay 7-5, and Ron Mason in the quarterfinal, 9-7.

Meanwhile, the player to dominate the winner’s bracket was top up-and-coming female player, Yomaylin “Smiley” Feliz.  Yomaylin cruised through defeating Kevin Early 6-4, Ryan McCarthy 6-3, Ramilo Tanglao 6-5, Tran Tran 6-3, and George Osipovitch 6- 4.  She then faced off against Wilson Cruz for the hot seat, who she edged out to win 9-8.

Continue reading “Daniel Dagotdot Wins His Second Tri-State Stop of the Season at Master Billiards” »

Stacie Bourbeau Goes Undefeated to Win the JPNEWT Qualifier for the Women’s World 10-ball Championships

By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

On the weekend of September 25-26, the JPNEWT Ladies Tour headed to Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ for a special qualifier for the 2010 Women’s World 10-ball Championships, to be held in Manila, Philippines.

With the winner gaining such a big opportunity for their pool career, pressure was high at this event, and it was certainly reflected in their match scores.  In total, there were 13 matches that finished at hill-hill!  Certainly none of the ladies were going out without a fight at Castle.

There were a number of strong contenders in this event, including three-time 2010 winner, Megan Smith.  In this event, Megan started with a bye, then took wins over new member Sara Oubre 7-6 and Linda Shea 7-5, before losing to Stacie Bourbeau 7-6.

Stacie Bourbeau from Massachusetts would in fact be the player to take the reigns at Castle.  Stacie went through the winner’s bracket undefeated, starting with a bye and then defeating Borana Andoni 7-5, Emily Duddy 7-5, Megan Smith 7-6, and Gina Lipsky for the hot seat at 7-2.

Continue reading “Stacie Bourbeau Goes Undefeated to Win the JPNEWT Qualifier for the Women’s World 10-ball Championships” »

Si Ming Chen is the New China Open Champion While Allison Fisher Moves into #1 in the World Rankings

Photo by Markus Hofstatter - to view more photos from this event, visit www.appb.markus-hofstaetter.at

With a tremendous field of talent in the 2010 China Open loaded with Chinese star players, the world saw Si Ming Chen rise to the occasion to win this prestigious title in her home country.  Although Allison Fisher came up short just short of Chen in this event to finish 2nd, this was enough to bump her into the #1 position in the WPA World Rankings.  Read on for Geoff Conway’s insight into this thrilling event.

…

To quote Charlie Williams in his coverage of this event, “Allison Fisher is once again the last westerner standing in a sea of Asian female talent”… this says it all, as the Asians dominated this prestigious event.  Two weeks ago made it to the final of the World 9-Ball event in China, where she finished second and took home $20,000. Surprisingly, many of the stars in this event, such as Ga Young Kim and Jasmin Ouschan never made it through the second round. Whereas Fisher experienced a close first match over Kawahara (Japan’s #1) 9-8, but then turned it up a notch taking down Ga Young Kim 9-4. Next up in Allison’s path was fellow Brit Kelly Fisher who fought hard, but lost the battle at 9-7.

In her next match against Rubilen Amit, which was a lopsided affair at 9-3, Miss Amit, the reigning World 10-Ball Champion, unfortunately met Fisher, who was on top of her game in this match. In her evening match-up against her old adversary Karen Corr, who had just beaten former World Champion Sha Sha Liu 9-2, then beat up on China’s Zhou Doudou 9-1, this match again did not go the way of good intention.  Allison kept Karen from getting to the table, stopping her from getting past the semifinal match by a scoreline of 9-0. Yes, nine-zip.

Continue reading “Si Ming Chen is the New China Open Champion While Allison Fisher Moves into #1 in the World Rankings” »

Live Streamed Player Reviewed 14.1 Match-Up Between Mike Sigel & Jerry Tarantola from Iwan Simonis Accu-Stats Arena Tonight!

By NYC Grind Editor, Alison M. Fischer

In a special live streaming match-up hosted by Accu-Stats.com, NYCgrind.com founder and longtime NY player, Jerry Tarantola will be facing off against 10-time World Champion Mike Sigel in a 125-set straight pool match.  The match is set to begin at 8pm EST this evening, Monday, September 27.  This live streamed match is taking place at the Iwan Simonis Arena at Breaker Billiards in Clifton, NJ, and throughout the set, you will get to hear player analysis commentary from Mike & Jerry… along with commentary from hosts Geoff Conway (NYC Grind Contributor) and WPBA pro Megan Smith.

After each player finishes an inning, they will jump into the booth to share their insight on the dynamics of the game.  Pat Fleming of Accu-Stats is continually coming up with unique ways for the fans to get new and fresh insight into the game, and this match-up should make for an entertaining and unique match-up.

Log on to the Accu-Stats Ustream Channel to view the show at 8pm tonight: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/accu-stats-on-location

As a six-time US Open Champion, “Captain Hook” Mike Sigel has become known as one of the most legendary living players, through both his dominance in the sport, along with his charismatic personality.  Thus, Mike Sigel was nominated “The Greatest Living Player of the 20th Century” along with being the youngest player inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame at age 35.  Sigel has in fact become the winningest player in the history of the sport, having won a record of 106 pro titles!

More recently, Mike Sigel has been getting back into the groove, winning the Bob Stock Memorial 9-ball Tournament, along with taking 5th in the Predator Tour – Seminole Tribe of Florida Empire State Championships, where he impressively went four consecutive matches without giving up a single game to his opponents.  Sigel is also included in as a member of the elite group of legendary players, “The Magnificent 7“, who will be conducting an all-inclusive weekend-long clinic in November.  Check out the video from Mike Sigel’s exhibition match against Tony Robles at Amsterdam Billiards: http://nycgrind.com/?p=5232

Sigel’s challenger, Jerry Tarantola (known as “Jerry T”) established himself as a member of the NYC pool scene since his early teens.  Along with promoting pool via NYCgrind.com as the site’s creative director and founder, Jerry T has been known as a tough regional contender for over a decade.  While coming up in the game, Jerry T was mentored by 14.1 master Gene Nagy, who also coached “The Black Widow” Jeanette Lee.  During this time period, both Jerry and Jeanette were also sponsored by La Cue Billiards in Maspeth, Queens.  At age 18, Jerry T had hit a high run of 122 in 14.1.

Through his career, Jerry T has claimed “even” wins over top players including Shawn Putnam, George Sansouci, Tony Robles, Shin Park, Rafael Martinez, and Danny Harriman.  In the area of 14.1, Jerry took a first-round win from behind against “Spain” Marc Vidal in the 2009 Predator World Straight Pool Championships.  Jerry currently plays out of Amsterdam Billiard Club, where he finished this summer’s 14.1 league with a 7-1 record in the “Expert” division.

Jerry T can also be seen often playing in local weekly tournaments in NYC, along with playing on the Mezz Tour, Tri-State Tour, and Predator Tour, in which he finished tied for 2nd place in the “A” Class Player of the Year rankings for 2009.  An interview with Jerry T was also recently featured on TheExaminer.com in a two-part review of NYC Grind, which you can find at the following links:

http://www.examiner.com/billiards-in-national/review-of-the-nycgrind-part-1
http://www.examiner.com/billiards-in-national/review-of-the-nycgrind-part-2

You won’t want to miss out on this exciting match-up between two of pool’s unique personalities!  Check out http://www.ustream.tv/channel/accu-stats-on-location to watch it live!

This Weekend in Pool on the Grind… Great News for 14.1 Lovers!

By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

No matter where you’re located in the NY tri-state area, or what game you’re looking to play, there will be tournament action to be had this weekend!  One of the headlining events in New York this this weekend will be held in the heart of lower Manhattan at Union Square’s Amsterdam Billiard Club.

Tomorrow, Saturday, September 25th, Amsterdam will be hosting one of the few qualifier events for the 2010 Predator World Straight Pool Championships, which will be coming up on October 6-11 and produced by Dragon Promotions.  This qualifier, directed by Danny Barouty, will kick off at 12:00 noon (sign-up deadline at 11:00am), and will be a double-elimination, race to 100 format.  The entry fee for this event is $100, and the top two finishers will win paid entries into the World Tournament in 14.1 (valued at $550), to be held at Breaker Billiards in Clifton, NJ!

Meanwhile, another exciting qualifier will be happening at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.  The JPNEWT women’s pro qualifier tour will be holding a qualifier for the 2010 Women’s World 10-ball Championships this weekend, Sept. 25-26.  Last year, Long Island’s Erin McManus was the winner of this qualifier, and many of the regions top female players will now be battling for the next chance at this tremendous opportunity.  This year’s As a player or a spectator, there will be some great action to check out!  The player meeting will be held at 11am, with tournament start time at 12 noon.  Visit www.JPNEWT.com for more details!

Also, The Tri-State Tour will be heading to Master Billiards in Sunnyside, Queens on Saturday, Sept. 25, for one of their biggest 9-ball events of the month.  This event will be open to all amateurs, rated A/B/C/D class, and will feature $1,000 in added prize money, along with a Lucasi break cue going to the winner.  This event will no doubt draw many of the best up-and-coming players, so you won’t want to miss it!  Check out www.TheTriStateTour.com to learn more.

Continue reading “This Weekend in Pool on the Grind… Great News for 14.1 Lovers!” »

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