Dave Hall, TJ’s Billiards General Manager Howard Fogg, TJ’s Owner Steve Reynolds and Kyle Pepin
Maine’s current 10-Ball Champion and two-time defending champion of the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s annual Maine Event made it three in a row this past weekend (Sept. 28-29). Hall went undefeated to claim title to what was, coincidentally, the tour’s third stop of the 2024-25 season, the $1,500-added Maine Event XVI that drew 48 entrants to T.J.’s Billiards in Waterville, ME.
In the 2024 event, Hall faced and defeated the competitor, who, in February, had been instrumental in preventing him from earning the state’s 2024 9-Ball title, Kyle Pepin. Pepin sent Hall to the loss side in that 9-ball championship and Hall would finish 4th. They met twice this past weekend; hot seat and finals.
Hall opened with a 9-4 win over Doug Masiero, advancing to defeat Rick Beaulieu (4), Doug Brown (5), and Matt Jarrell (4), to draw Tom Cayer in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Pepin got right down to business as he worked his way to the hot seat match, shutting out Troy Fortin. He followed with wins over Moe Cormier (3), John Dennis (2) and Robert Lee (3) to pick up Cody Francis in the other winners’ side semifinal.
On Sunday morning, Hall defeated Cayer 9-4 to get into the hot seat match. Pepin and Francis battled to double hill before Pepin won the deciding game to join Hall. Hall claimed the hot seat 9-6.
Cayer moved over to the loss side and picked up Jeff Mossiman, who was working on a four-match winning streak that had recently eliminated Robert Lee 7-2 and Tyler Hallowell 7-5. Francis came over and drew Jeff Robitaille, who was also working on a four-match streak that included a double-hill win over Matt Jarrell and a 7-5 win over Jordan Cayer.
Robitaille and Francis battled to double hill before Robitaille closed it out, advancing to the quarterfinals. Tom Cayer joined him after defeating Mossiman, almost double hill, 7-5. Cayer stopped Robitaille’s streak 7-2 in those quarterfinals.
Pepin punched his ticket to the finals with a 7-3 win over Cayer in the semifinals. Hall issued a measure of ‘pay back’ in the finals, defeating the competitor who’d defeated him in his quest for a 9-ball title eight months ago. Hall picked up his third straight Maine Event title with a 9-3 win in the finals.
In a 16-entrant, Second Chance tourney, Mike Perry and John Dennis played three times in their effort to bring home the event’s $300 top prize. They met first in the hot seat match, won by Dennis 3-1. Perry moved west to the semifinals where he shut out Doug Brown for a necessary double-shot against Dennis in the finals. Perry gave up a single rack in the opening set of the true double-elimination final and then, shut Dennis out in the second set to claim the Second Chance title.
Tour director Mike Zuglan thanked the ownership and staff at T.J. Billiards for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Joss Cues, Turning Stone Resort Casino, Simonis Cloth, PoolOnTheNet.com, Aramith Balls and Billiards Press. The next stop on the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday (Oct. 5-6), will be the $1,500-added Northeast 9-Ball Open XXXVI, hosted by Utica Billiards on the Boulevard in Utica, NY.
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