(l to r): Buddy Oldham, Tyler Boudreau & Mourad Idrais
He finished the NE 9-Ball Series’ 2018-2019 season by winning its tour championships on the weekend of September 7-8 and on Sunday, September 22 he won the tour’s 2019-2020 season opener. Tyler Boudreau has recorded five cash payouts in his first year on record with the NE 9-Ball Series and three of them have been victories. He finished 3rd at the Players Championship in March and shared 4th place with his Scotch Doubles Partner, Tom D’Alfonso, in August. The September 22nd event drew 43 entrants to Crow’s Nest in Plaistow, NH.
To claim the title, though, Boudreau had to contend with a competitor who was looking for his first major win, and like Boudreau, was making his first appearance on a regional tour payout list in 2019 - Buddy Oldham. Oldham had chalked up a victory over Kyle King in the lower (FargoRate) bracket in the opening round of the event, and then, defeated by John Mills in the second round, embarked on a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him all the way to the finals against Boudreau.
Boudreau, in the meantime, advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Chris Richard. Mourad Idrais and Roger Vivier squared off in the other one. In a straight-up race to 5, Boudreau moved into the hot seat match with a 5-3 victory over Richard. Idrais joined him after sending Vivier to the loss side 5-2 (Vivier was racing to 6). In a straight-up race to 6 (Idrais with a 512 Fargo Rate and Boudreau with a 468), Boudreau claimed the hot seat 6-4 and waited for Oldham to complete his loss-side run.
Oldham was six matches into his nine-match run. He’d chalked up wins #4 and #5 against Bob Campbell 4-1 and survived his only double hill battle against Julio Xhiu to draw Chris Richard, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Vivier picked up Tom D’Alfonso, whom he’d sent to the loss side in the event’s fourth round. D’Alfonso was working on a modest, loss-side streak of his own, having defeated Dominic Souza, double hill and Ricardo Diaz 8-2.
Oldham would advance through to the finals with three wins in which he gave up only one rack to his three opponents. He gave up none at all to Chris Richard to get into the quarterfinals against Vivier, who’d eliminated D’Alfonso with a surprising 4-3 second win. Oldham then blanked Vivier in the quarterfinals.
In a straight-up race to 4 in the semifinals, Oldham allowed Idrais a single rack and earned a shot at Boudreau in the finals. The two relative newcomers to the sport, with a 3-point differential in their Fargo rate (Oldham, 471 and Boudreau, 468) squared off in a straight-up race to 5 in the finals. Oldham gave up as many racks to Boudreau as he’d given up to his previous five opponents. Boudreau claimed his third 2019 NE 9-Ball Series title 5-2.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Crow’s Nest, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, USAPL New England, BCA Pool League, Fargo Rate, Bert Kinister, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Delta 13 Racks, MJS Construction, Bob Campbell with Lease Fundings, Master Billiards and OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America. The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28, will be the $500-added Dave Marcus Memorial, hosted by Buster’s Billiards in Somersworth, NH.
