Carlo Biado
In a crowded, nationwide weekend of pool tournaments (Sept. 16-17), the RAXX MVP Tour Open, out on Long Island, took center stage as one of the last nine Mosconi Cup ‘ranking points’ events before the event itself in December. In so doing, it joined such far-flung locations (to come) as Serbia, Vietnam, Slovenia, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Connecticut and Virginia (twice). Apparently unaffected by lingering jet lag from arriving in West Hempstead, NY from competing in Shanghai at the China Open last week (finishing 5th), the Philippines’ Carlo Biado battled twice against Germany’s Moritz Nuehausen, who didn’t have to travel any further than from his last (presumed) hotel on the island, after finishing as runner-up to Lee Vann Corteza at a RAXX 10-Ball Open event last weekend.
Anyone looking for ‘barn burner’ competition found plenty to like at this $10-000 added event that drew 80 entrants to RAXX Pool Room, Bar & Grill in West Hempstead. There were 15 double-hill matches (one of every 10) and 20 almost-double-hill matches (9-7) between world champions, established regional competitors and a few of the ‘up and coming’ breed of player. You’ll ‘hear’ about some of these as we proceed.
Biado’s trip to the finish line almost got interrupted early as Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura started him out with a double-hill challenge. He survived it to start reducing the numbers of his opponents’ racks-against, giving up five to Oliver Szolnoki and two to Max Lechner before Shane Wolford moved that needle one rack in the other direction with three racks against him in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Things weren’t getting any easier as Biado came up against Spain’s David Alcaide in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Neuhausen in the meantime started out in another way; small racks-against at the beginning, advancing to stronger and stronger challenges. He got by Kyle Duggan (1), Joey Landi (2), Pat Fleming (3), Emil Gangflot (4) and, in his winners’ side quarterfinal, Alex Kazakis (5). This set him up to face one of the top competitors in the world, Russia’s Fedor Gorst, in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Working to advance, Biado nudged the racks-against-him needle as far as possible to the ‘less’ side, allowing Alcaide only a single rack and advancing to the hot seat match. Neuhausen, not surprisingly, had his hands full with Gorst, but they got to 8-8 before Neuhausen closed it out to join Biado. It’s hard to know at any given event or with any individual match how someone who’s just won a ‘nail biting’ double-hill match is going to react going forward. Sometimes the adrenaline energy can work in a players’ favor and help him. Sometimes it can be exhausting and work against him. Neuhausen responded to his victory over Gorst by moving Biado’s racks-against needle as far to the ‘less’ side as it could get, defeating him 9-4 to claim the hot seat.
Following his loss to Neuhausen in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Alex Kazakis began his loss-side trip against two world-class opponents and got by both of them, downing Austria’s Mario He 9-7 and surviving a double-hill battle against Spain’s Jose A. Delgado to pick up another Spaniard, Alcaide. Gorst came over and picked up Norway’s Gangflot, who’d followed his loss to Neuhausen with four straight, defeating Lukas Fracasso-Verner (double hill), Jeffrey DeLuna (1), Mika “The Iceman” Immonen (5) and Marcel Fortunski (7).
Gangflot gave Gorst the proverbial ‘run for his money’ in one of the event’s 20 almost-double hill matches. Gorst, though, prevailed in the end, 9-7, advancing to the quarterfinals. Kazakis defeated his second Spaniard in a row, Alcaide, 9-2 and joined him.
At this point (155 matches down, three to go), the four remaining competitors had an average Fargo Rate of 814, with Gorst at the top (838), Biado second (825), Kazakis third (813) and the man in the hot seat, Neuhausen, at the bottom (780). The quarterfinal between Gorst and Kazakis, predictably, went double-hill, though the result likely would have vexed odds-makers. Kazakis (winner of the Most Matches Played prize at 9) won it, only to have his impressive, four-match, loss-side streak ended by Biado 9-4 in the semifinals.
And the assembled crowd got just the final they’d been hoping for when they sat down, whenever it was that they’d sat down; a race-to-13, double-hill thriller. Biado prevailed to claim the RAXX MVP Tour Open title.
As if there weren’t enough excitement to fill up a player/spectators cup on the weekend, the event featured a concurrently-run 14:1 straight pool challenge. Open to all interested, 24 players, many of whom had been in the main tournament (Mortiz Neuhausen among them) paid $50 for three tries to get their best straight pool run. They added $500 and the winner-took-all. David Alcaide doubled his weekend income, adding $1,700 to the $1,600 he’d earned placing 5th/6th in the Open event. He was the winner who took it all in the straight pool challenge, running 79 balls. Mika Immonen’s 58 balls were second, while Max Lechner finished 3rd with 55.
Tour director Mhet Vergara (who finished in the tie for 33rd) thanked Holden Chin (who finished in that spot with him) and his Raxx staff for their hospitality, along with sponsors Queens Bodega, JCNYC Entertainment LLC, Nara Construction Company, PERI and Vergara Events. The next Mosconi Cup ranking event, scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 22-23; look for another international field as the players climb into vehicles for a short hop to Connecticut), will be hosted by US 1 Billiards and Bar in West Haven, CT.
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