The Masters 10-Ball and APA Regional Are Set to Kick off Tomorrow, March 1st

By NYC Grind Contributor, Geoff Conway “Pool Junkie”

I was lucky enough yesterday (Sunday) to witness the coming-together of The Masters 10-Ball, which is the brainchild of Tournament Director Barry Berhman, and his daughter & co-promoter Shannon Behrman Paschall. The father and daughter duo decided to resurrect The Masters 10-Ball event after a ten-year hiatus, due to the great success of their yearly US Open 9-Ball collaboration, which had a full field (256) for the first time in October 2010, and felt that the time was right to host two events in the same year.

The promoters have also formed an alliance with the APA Pool League, and are running an APA Regional event, which will coincide with the Pro event. The events are being held at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, VA. The pro event is to be played on nine 9-foot Diamond tables, including the Accu-Stats Arena table.

It should be noted that once again, Accu-Stats will be offering their great pay-per-view live video packages, but this year they are bringing it to you via their brand-new state of the art high-definition cameras. I am told that the difference in the picture quality is night and day. To get their live pay-per-view service log on to Accu-Stats.com.

For those of you that may be going to the event as spectators, the event starts at 11 am tomorrow, Tuesday the 1^st of March, and finishes on Saturday the 5^th of March. The first spectator session of the day includes the 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm rounds, and the night session covers the 7 pm, 9 pm, and 11 pm rounds.

The format for the pro event is 10-Ball, race to 8, and double elimination. With Saturday’s final days play changing some of the rules: The 1 pm and 3 pm quarter finals and semi finals will be a race to 8 games, but the winner must win by two games, with a cap on 11 games, whereas the final will be a race to 10 games, also the winner must win by two games, with a cap on 13 games.

For your interest, the first and only Masters 10-Ball event was held in 2001, and was won by none other than “The Magician” Efren Reyes (PHI).

Continue reading “The Masters 10-Ball and APA Regional Are Set to Kick off Tomorrow, March 1st” »

Dennis Orcullo Claims the World 8-Ball Championship Title

Only two matches remained to be played out on the final day of the 2011 WPA World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah.  With the single-elimination format in the final bracket, quarter finalists David Alcaide & Darren Appleton played for third place, before Niels Feijen & Dennis Orcullo faced off in the championship match.  Read on in the press release for all the details on the final day…

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Our final day in Fujairah began with a playoff for third place between Darren Appleton and David Alcaide. Alcaide dominated the match as Appleton only came to the table sparingly. Alcaide won 9-2.

Then it was time for the Championship match between Dennis Orcullo of the Philippines and Niels Feijen of the Netherlands. Orcullo won the lag and broke and ran the first rack. It then became the Orcullo break ad run show as repeated this performance ever and over until the score stood at 5-0. Orcullo had to play in local qualifiers to get into the tournament and he was making the most of the opportunity. When he broke the rack in game 6 he scratched in the side pocket and Feijen had his first opportunity.

Feijen polished off that rack to put his first mark on the board at 5-1 down. He then suffered a dry break but left a tough run of balls for Orcullo. Orcullo had to bank the three ball cross corner to get his run begun and then had a very tough lay of the land to navigate. He took his time surveying each shot and did a simply marvelous job of getting through the rack with one tough position after another. But he left himself long on the 8 ball and it rattled in the jaws, returning Feijen to the table.

Feijen had a big problem with the 14 ball. Everything else had a pocket but the 14 was blocked from the corner by the 8 ball. He would need to slide into a narrow window between the two to play the 14 up-table, attempt a bank, or try to move the 14 with another shot. Or he could play a safe and try to get ball in hand. He chose the safe, locking Orcullo behind the 13 ball way up-table. Orcullo called the 8 in the corner and measured his kick shot. He missed the 8 ball and scratched, again awarding ball in hand to Feijen. Feijen positioned the cue between the 8 and the 12 ball which he had moved next to the 14 on his safety, made the shot and finished off the table to bring our score to 5-2.

Feijen made two balls on the next snap and had an easy layout. He very quickly made it 5-3. He was running throughout he next rack with ease when he got what appeared to be a skid on the 4 ball and it stayed up between the corner jaws. Orcullo was back at the table. He cleared up and the score became 6-3 in our race to ten games. Orcullo made a great spread of the balls on the next break and finished that rack easily to lead 7-3.

Continue reading “Dennis Orcullo Claims the World 8-Ball Championship Title” »

February’s Mating Season Showcases the Endangered “Party Animal”

Many of the NYC area’s party animals gathered together to pasture and party at the LES’s unpretentious yet stylistic Gallery Bar.

Mating Season creator DJ AK is bringing together top emerging NYC based and guest DJ’s, which have all complimented the party uniquely.

The Burlesque dancers in animal masks, help to artistically define the Mating Season monthly party as feral and fun.

Enjoy the latest video produced by the NYCgrind.com team.

http://www.vimeo.com/20396556

If you haven’t watched the Jan Video – and read the story Click Here.

Click Here for the link for the December video.

For more info on Mating Season visit DJ-AK.com

Dave Shlemperis Wins the Predator Tour at Cue Nine Undefeated While Joey K Bounces Back to Win the Pro 10-ball

By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

The 2011 Predator Tour’s second stop of the season brought 71 players to Long Island’s newest pool room, Cue Nine, on February 19-20 for the $1,000 added event. Owner John Brendle has completely renovated and re-invigorated the space that was once Leisure Time Billiards, to create an upscale room with style. Cue Nine has has also brought on celebrity chefs Tony Kang & Mark Bynum who won the show “Chopped” on the Food Network on board to design a masterful menu, which surprised and delighted many.

Most recently, Cue Nine made headlines as it hosted an all-star charity fundraiser for Long Island’s Little Shelter Animal Rescue & Adoption Center which featured Predator Tour founder Tony Robles along with Mika Immonen, Andy Segal, and “Kiss of Death”. The players and supporters of the benefit, which was coordinated by Charles Eames, raised a total of $3,000 in funds to support the non-profit Long Island animal shelter.

Despite only having opened a few short months ago, Cue Nine is already showing support for the area tours, and this tour stop marked the Predator’s first appearance at the new room.  In the A/B/C/D event, a number of the tour’s top players including Scott Simonetti, Phil Davis, Mike Yednak, Dinko Busanich, Ariel Rivera, Lionel Rivera, Victor Nau, Mike Panzarella, and Scott Murphy were among the competitors, along with top NY-area ladies Diana Rojas, Pam Ogarek, Erin McManus, and Gail Glazebrook.

In a breakthrough performance in this event, NYC’s Dave Shlemperis would not see a loss at Cue Nine, making for his first win on the tour. Going through the winner’s bracket, Dave defeated Jimmy Martinez 7-5, Joe Gibbons 7-4, Erin McManus 7-2, and Rene Villalobos 7-3 to go to the hot seat match.

One of the tour’s top up-and-coming players, CT’s Phil Davis, took on Dave Shlemperis for the hot seat after defeating Michael Yednak 7-3, Scott Simonetti 7-1, Ken Debroske 8-7, Jack Smith 7-5, and Mark Pantovic 7-5, before falling to Dave Shlemperis in the hot seat match, 9-3.

Phil Davis would then match up in the semifinal against the winner of the loser’s bracket… Diana “Snooky” Rojas, who not only fought through nine loser’s side matches after a first-round loss, but was battling walking pneumonia. In the semifinal, Diana and Phil had a close battle that ended 9-8 in Phil’s favor, earning a rematch in the final against Dave Shlemperis.  Kudos to Diana for showing tremendous heart to finish in third!

In the finals, both players continued their standout play… but when the dust settled, Dave Shlemperis walked away with a hill-hill 9-8 win. This was a huge win for Dave, who got a big boost in the point standings from the double points win! Congratulations to Dave for winning his first ever Predator Tour stop!

A/B/C/D Final Results:

1st: Dave Shlemperis $1000

2nd: Phil Davis $650

3rd: Diana Rojas $425

4th: Mark Pantovic $300

5th/6th: Pat Dugan, Rene Villalobos $225

7th/8th: Ron Mason, Billy Santiago $175

9th-12: Erin McManus, Luis Novas, Ed Hugh, Jack Smith $100

Read on as “Joey K” takes 1st Place in the Pro Division…

Continue reading “Dave Shlemperis Wins the Predator Tour at Cue Nine Undefeated While Joey K Bounces Back to Win the Pro 10-ball” »

Niels Feijen and Dennis Orcollo Will Battle to Become the 2011 World 8-Ball Champion

After five days of world-class competition, the star-studded field at the World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah, UAE has narrowed to only two players.  Starting with fourteen double-elimination preliminary brackets of eight players each, the field moved into a single-elimination format on Wednesday with 56 players.

After having won the 2011 Derby City Classic 9-Ball title, “Robocop” Dennis Orcullo of the Philippines has stayed in top form to rise to the top of the single-elimination bracket in World 8-ball Championships… however his path to get to the final bracket was not without a loss, after falling to “The Magician” Efren Reyes in the second round of his preliminary bracket.  Orcullo rebounded to make it out of the preliminary and go on to defeat ’09 World 14.1 Champion Stephan Cohen of France 9-0, Vincent Facquet 9-8, Shane Van Boening 9-4, Takhti Zarekani 9-2, and David Alcaide 9-3 to land in the finals.

On the other had, his opponent for the finals, “The Terminator” Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, has made it through both the preliminary and the single-elimination unscathed.  Feijen, one of the most-decorated European players of the past decade and former World 14.1 Champion, eliminated Do Hoang Quan 9-6, Rodney Morris 9-2, Oliver Medinilla 9-4, and countryman Nick Van Den Berg 9-8, before scorching current U.S. Open 9-ball Champion Darren Appleton 9-0 to move on to the finals.

Read on for the press release on the latest news from the World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah… visit the AZbilliards online brackets for event here: www.azbilliards.com/2011w8bc

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The 2011 World 8-Ball Championship is now down to just two players. Niels Feijen will face Dennis Orcullo on Saturday for the title.

Friday play started with the final sixteen players and the fans witnessed the surprising elimination of Mika Immonen (9-1 at the hands of Thomas Engert) as well as a fantastic hill-hill match between Appleton and Ronnie Alcano. Appleton led the match 8-4, before coming up dry on the break and being forced to watch Alcano run rack after rack to tie the match at 8-8. Alcano made a ball on the break and looked to be out in the case rack, but missed a tricky ball down the rail and that was all the opportunity that Appleton needed to run the rack and win the match.

The final round of eight saw another great comeback as Niels Feijen looked to be on his way out the door in his match against Nick Van Den Berg. Van Den Berg held an early lead, but Feijen came back and made it a close match. Van Den Berg was running out a tricky final rack at 8-8, when he got funny on a ball early in the rack. The pressure of the situation may have gotten the better of him as he missed a semi-touch cut and conceded the match to Feijen instead of sitting and watching Feijen run his final eight balls.

Continue reading “Niels Feijen and Dennis Orcollo Will Battle to Become the 2011 World 8-Ball Champion” »

The 2nd Annual Empire State Amateur Championship Takes Over Raxx Pool Room This Weekend

This weekend, the 2nd Annual Predator Tour Empire State Amateur Championships will be held at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, Long Island.  In the Predator Tour’s fourth year running, Tony Robles and the tour staff have continued to innovate and improve the tour for both amateurs and pros, offering exciting bonus incentives including a paid entry into the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championships for the #1-ranked Open/Pro player following the tour’s 5th stop in the 2011 season.

In the heat of the pool’s spring fever, players are gearing up for big upcoming events including the 10-Ball Masters in Chesapeake, VA and the Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, and players from all over the New York area will be hoping to make a big statement at the Empire State Amateur Championships.  Along with paying out $2,000 in added prize money for this event, there will be a special bonus $500 up for grabs… read on in the announcement from Tony Robles to learn more…

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Hello Players,

Congratulations to Stop #2 ABCD Champion Dave Shlemperis for winning his first Predator Tour tournament and to Joey Korsiak for winning the Open/Pro event.

I am very proud to invite you all to the 2nd Annual Predator Tour Empire State Amateur Championship! This will mark the second time in NYC history that an amateur player will have the opportunity to win a State Championship! Jerry Tarantola of NYCgrind will be there to cover the event

THIS WILL BE A $2,000 ADDED EVENT!

Stop # 3 of the NAPL Predator Tour will be taking place this Saturday and Sunday, February 26-27 at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY and as always, we will be using the amazing Delta-13 Racks.  Many thanks to Raxx owner Holden Chin and his wonderful staff who are looking forward to seeing you all there!

STOP # 3 WILL BE A TWO-DAY ABCD DOUBLE POINTS EVENT ALONG WITH AN OPEN/PRO EVENT ON SUNDAY.

CSI is giving the Predator Tour one spot for the 2011 U.S. Open 10-Ball Championships held in May at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  This one spot will be a paid entry fee & will go to the Open/Pro that is ranked # 1 after stop # 5, which will be held April 16-17 at Mr. Cue Billiards in Lindenhurst, NY. Many thanks to CSI for supporting the tour and for helping our sport to grow.

Stop # 3 will be limited to 128 ABCD players (64 AB & 64 CD players).

Doors will open at 10AM on Saturday. Please make sure to get there early to guarantee your spot. Last year, we had a full field of 128 players and had to turn down 20 players.

Continue reading “The 2nd Annual Empire State Amateur Championship Takes Over Raxx Pool Room This Weekend” »

The 2011 Super Billiards Expo… Two Weeks Away and Counting!

It’s just two weeks away… the kickoff of The Allen Hopkins Super Billiards Expo, one of the year’s most exciting events of the year for amateurs and pros alike, as well as members of the billiards industry.  With two huge floors of exhibitors and tournament action, the Expo has proven itself to be one of the top hotspots for big tournament action as well as the cutting edge developments in equipment and gear for pool, and will run from March 10-13.

The headlining event for the Expo, held annually at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA, is the Diamond Open 10-Ball Pro Players Championship, which will feature world-renowned pros competing for a top prize of $20,000.  Plus, more pro action can be seen in the WPA World Artistic Pool Championships as well as the Professor Q-Ball Promotions Invitational Champions of 3-Cushion, and for the second year running, the Valley Forge 14.1 Challenge.

This year’s amateur championships will feature 9-ball divisions in the categories of Pro/Am, Open, Women, Seniors, Super Seniors, Juniors (free to enter), and the TAP League Rally in the Valley. For more details on each of these events and entry information, visit www.superbilliardsexpo.com/amateur.html

NYCgrind will once again be on location in Valley Forge to cover all the events at this year’s Expo… stay up to date on more news here on the Grind!

George Osipovitch Takes Down the Tri-State at Gotham City Billiards

Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn was host to the most recent stop on The Tri-State Tour on Saturday, February 19, which featured 31 of the NYC area’s dedicated players in the C/D rating categories.

The player to edge out the competition in this event would be veteran tour member George Osipovitch, who went undefeated through the field at Gotham City Billiards.  On his run through the winner’s bracket, George defeated John Egeln 6-2, James DeGiosafatto 6-4, Doreen Verna 6-4, Nicholas Chan 6-5, and Ralph Panuzzo 6-5 to claim the hot seat.

Charging through the one-loss side after a third-round loss to Nicholas Chan (6-2), Richard Ng ran through five matches, defeating Joe Diamond 6-4, Michele Li 6-1, Pat Mareno 7-4, Tony Ignomirello 6-3, and Ralph Panuzzo 6-5 in the semifinal.

Continue reading “George Osipovitch Takes Down the Tri-State at Gotham City Billiards” »

The 18th U.S. Bar Table Championships is Online With Brackets and TAR Live Stream

After wrapping up the 15th Annual Jay Swanson Memorial tournament at the legendary Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower, CA, the team of CSI (CueSports International) and The Action Report headed next to Reno for the 18th U.S. Bar Table Championships, which kicked off earlier today, February 21st.

While many West Coast players were hot from the Swanee Memorial, which drew a full field of 192 players and was championed by the undefeated Alex Pagualayan, other top players from around the country also got on the road to Reno for this big-time bar table event.

With men’s and women’s open divisions in the fields of 9-ball, 10-ball, and 8-ball, top players competing include Pagulayan, Warren Kiamco, Stevie Moore, and John Morra, along with WPBA pros Vivian Villarreal, Melissa Little, Nicole Keeney, and current World Junior 9-ball Champion Brittany Bryant among them.  Watch free live streaming of the events on www.ustream.tv/channel/tarshow and read on for more info in the press release from CSI.

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You can catch all the action of the $25,250 Added 18^th U.S. Bar Table Championships, being held this week February 21-27^th at the Terrible’s Sands Regency in Reno, Nevada.

Produced by CueSports International (CSI), the team from The Action Report (TAR) is free live streaming the top seven day, multi-division bar table event. The first event to take place is the men’s / mixed and the women’s 10-Ball divisions. The 9-Ball divisions will start Wednesday, February 23^rd and the 8-Ball divisions will start Friday, February 25^th.

In addition to the TAR live stream, you can monitor online brackets for all U.S. Bar Table Championships divisions on the CSI CueSport Tournament System (CTS). Launched 2 years ago, the CTS is the most multi-functional online tournament tracking system in the industry.

To view the event brackets visit: www.ctsondemand.com

The TAR live stream can be viewed at the following sites:
www.theactionreport.com
www.playcsipool.com (click on homepage link to viewer)
www.playbca.com (click on homepage link to viewer)
Continue reading “The 18th U.S. Bar Table Championships is Online With Brackets and TAR Live Stream” »

Great Billiards Pool School Announces Reduced Price for Two-Day Clinic at Amsterdam Billiards on March 19-20

As we recently posted on February 12, Great Billiards is bringing the world-class team of Mika Immonen, Rodney Morris, and Tony Robles to Amsterdam Billiards in NYC for a two-day pool school on March 19-20 packed with invaluable lessons for your game. In a small-group setting, each player will get the chance to work one-on-one with three of the world’s greatest players.  You can read more about the Pool School in our previous story: http://nycgrind.com/?p=13945

And now, we have more great news regarding the Great Billiards Pool School… as NYC Grind was recently informed by Great Billiards founder Keith Larsen, the tuition price for the two-day clinic has been lowered to $595 – down from its original price of $995!

NYCgrind.com’s Jerry T also interviewed Keith to help give our readers a broader perspective on his concept for the Great Billiards Pool School as well as his revolutionary product, the ProShot Glove.  Check out the Q&A below to learn more…

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JT: How long have you been playing pool?

KL: I have been playing for about 4 years after I quit for almost 35 years. When I was a teenager I was pretty good and found it hard to get games. So I just stopped playing except for an occasional bar game of 8 ball. About 4 years ago, my brother asked me to play on his team in a league and I said yes because it gave me a chance to see him once a week.

JT: How did the ProShot Glove come about?

KL: Well, I had a defect on my stroke. I would curl my wrist inward and sometimes get a little out of position if my wrist moved. I started to watch tapes of great players and noticed most of them had one thing in common which was that they kept their wrist in a very neutral position and kept it that way throughout the shot. I figured if I wanted to improve I was going to have to fix this and to do this I needed to brace my wrist and lock it into position.

JT: So how did you make this device?

KL: I went to a drug store and bought a carpal tunnel brace and then started to tinker with it to make the brace work for me. Once that was done, I started to watch a lot of other amateurs and noticed some of them bend their wrist outward. I realized that I could also help them with some design changes and this is how it came into being.

JT: Why didn’t you just keep it for yourself?

KL: That was the plan but a lot of people kept asking me if I sprained my wrist or why I was wearing it and the more I showed it to them, the more they asked me to make one for them. People encouraged me to bring it to market as it might help pool players in general.

JT: How did Mika Immonen come to endorse the ProShot Glove?

KL: I was playing pool with my friend Justin Marcus and he liked the ProShot Glove. He said I should market it as it is a really big help for a lot of players. I told him that I would need someone that people recognize to endorse it and he said he would introduce me to Mika. Justin arranged for me to meet with Mika. After Mika tried it for about one and half hours he said he thought I was on to something and suggested several small changes. We made about 7 changes after that and then we were all happy and decided to test the market.

JT: How are sales going with the Glove?

KL: We are selling gloves now all over the world, Japan, Germany, Finland, United Kingdom and many other small countries, not to mention the USA.

JT: So what does Great Billiards have to do with this?

KL: Great Billiards is the parent company. I wanted to have a parent company that could sell other billiards related item or other devices I might bring to the market.

Continue reading “Great Billiards Pool School Announces Reduced Price for Two-Day Clinic at Amsterdam Billiards on March 19-20” »

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