Dave Dreidel, Chris Braiman and Ron Casanzio
Dave Driedel has competed on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour as far back as our records go (2000) and has a 5th place finish in 2014 as his best finish. He outdid himself by a large margin over the February 24th - 25th weekend with his first tour stop win at East Ridge Billiards in Rochester NY.
Dreidel was looking good on Saturday with three straight wins to stay on the right side of the board. He defeated Nabil Lazouzi 9-6 to get his tourney started, and then scored lopsided wins over Tony Antone and Dave Ricci (9-3 and 9-1).
Sunday play kicked off for Dreidel with a close 9-7 win over tour newcomer Joe Mayo, while Ron Casanzio was sending Spencer Auigbelle to the one loss side on the other half of the board. That left Casanzio and Dreidel to fight it out for the hot-seat, where Dreidel scored another 9-7 win.
Waiting on the one loss side for Casanzio was Bucky Souvanthong. Bucky had lost a hill-hill match to Casanzio early Saturday but then forged a six-match winning streak to meet up with Casanzio again in the semi-final match. That rematch didn’t go Souvanthong’s way though, as Casanzio scored a quick 7-1 win to earn the right to play Dreidel in the finals.
Dreidel was ready for Casanzio though and scored a 9-5 win in the first set of the finals for his first ever Joss Tour Stop win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw eleven players come back to play, with room owner Chris Braiman going undefeated with a 3-2 win over Sourith Thammavong for the hot-seat and then a 3-0 win over Thammavong in the finals.
The Joss NE 9-Ball tour will be back in action March 3th - 4th at Snookers Billiards in Providence RI for the 9th Annual North East Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open. That event will include a $2500 added main event and a $500 added second chance event on Sunday.
Tour players are reminded that the March 17th - 18th event that was scheduled at King Smiley Billiards has been moved to Hippos House of Billiards in Utica, NY.
