Phillip Stevens’ Play Superior at Recent New England 9-Ball Series Tournament

October 12, 2008, was the date for the latest New England 9-Ball Series open event which was held at Snooker's Billiards in Providence, Rhode Island.  Tour Director/Promoter Marc Dionne posted a purse of $1410 up for grabs for twenty-nine players that were onsite.   

Recent tour winner Dave Fernandez was on-hand as well as known names Joey Dupuis, Billy Lanna, Robb Saez, Ray MacNamara, Chris Leal, and Shayne Cote.

The hot-seat match looked to be one that would fall in the category of one-sided with tough competitor Robb Saez at the table, but Phillip Stevens wasn't about to let that happen.  Stevens came out firing and stole the first four games before Saez was able to get rolling.  But in true fashion, Saez didn't let that deter him, instead, he brought the set to a 4-4 tie.  Unfortunately for Saez, only one more rack would be his, while Stevens sat as king of the hill 7-5 when it was all said and done.

On the one-loss side, the field withered down to Saez and Chris Leal.  Saez had the advantage as he had taken down Leal earlier in the day, but as we all know, that just makes someone want to avenge that loss so Leal came out 4-1 on top initially.  Saez answered that battle cry with six consecutive wins and ultimately the race win 7-4 to cause Leal to settle for a respectable third place finish.

In the finals, it appeared Stevens knew he had to get a jump on Saez early to earn the stop win and he did just that.  Bringing his “A” game, Stevens posted five games on the scoreboard before Saez had a chance at scoring.  Saez attempted a comeback bringing the score to 5-4, but Stevens took it from there and sealed the first place honors for the day.

Thanks to Snookers for a fantastic event! The tour will head to T.J.'s Classic Billiards in Waterville, Maine, on November 9th for its next open $600 added event (with 32 players).  For more information, visit www.mdpromotions.com