Brent Boemmels won the season opening event of the East Coast Pool Tour, defeating Dave Corley twice to finish undefeated. The $2,280 total-purse, handicapped amateur event drew 28 entrants to Rack and Roll Billiards in Stamford, CT.

With A/B and C/D handicapped players separated in the earlier rounds of the tournament, Boemmels (B+) moved among the winners’ side final four to face Rob Piersa (B+). In a straight-up race to 7, Boemmels hung on to win a hill-hill struggle that put him into the hot seat match versus Corley (a C), who’d also survived a hill-hill battle in a straight up race to four against Matt Varney. Corley, with, in essence, a 3-0 lead at the start of the hot seat match, managed to add only a single rack to that start, as Boemmels gained the hot seat with a 7-4 win.

On the one-loss side, Sam Poulos (B), after defeating Joe Arajuo (B) 7-4, got by the only A++ player among the final 12 – Jeremy Sossei – with a 10-6 win (Poulos starting the match up 4-0). Poulos then picked up Piersa, defeating him 7-5 to get into the quarterfinals. He was joined by Varney, who’d defeated Brooke Myer (C+) 5-4. With a two-game headstart, Varney advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4 win over Poulos. In an even up race to 4 in those semifinals, Corley got a second chance at Boemmels with a 4-2 win over Varney.

Corley had a three-game start on Boemmels, but would have to defeat him twice to take the title. He started by going 2-1 in the opening three, putting him a single game from reaching the hill. Boemmels came back to tie it at 5-5 and reach the hill first, when Corley got himself stuck behind the 9-ball, shooting at the 7 in game 11. Boemmels finished that rack and closed it out at 7-5.

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