John Alicea and George San Souci
For the Mezz Pro/Am 9-ball Tour's 17th stop of the season, a field of 31 top NY-area players came out to Raxx Billiards to compete for top honors. Some of the notable players in attendance included “Ginky” George Sansouci, Shaun Wilkie, Matt Krah, Rob Pole, John Alicea, Victor Nau, Gregg McAndrews, and Brett Stottlemyer, along with three of the tour's lady players, Caroline Pao, “Snooky” Diana Rojas, and Linda Cheung.
George “Ginky” Sansouci was making noise early through the winner's bracket, rolling over Matt Krah 7-1, John MacArthur 7-1, and Rob Pole 7-2, before losing to Zion Zvi 7-5.
Zion had also been steamrolling over his opponents, including an impressive 7-0 win over Mike Miller, which lined up the feature match.
In the match between Zion and “Ginky”, Zion jumped out early playing flawless 5-3, but Ginky responded by tying it up 5-5. Zion then won the next game, and Ginky was breaking and running out when he uncharacteristically scratched on the 6 ball, giving the set to Zion 7-5.
Zion then was lined up for a match against young gun John Alicea to determine who would take the hot seat. John had just come off a come-from-behind win win against Brett Stottlemeyer, where he battled back from 6-4 to win 7-6.
That win was immediately followed up by an impressive 7-5 win over the tour's current #1-ranked player, Josh Brothers, who after the match mentioned that he was impressed with John's performance. Josh also watched part of John's first round match where he defeated Chip Klein 7-2 in dominant fashion.
In the match for the hot seat against Zion Zvi, John outplayed the more-seasoned Zion, controlling the momentum of the set, which lead to an impressive 7-2 scoreline.
It is clear that John is gaining confidence and experience as he continues to defeat players he grew up admiring.
While John had some time to rest and reflect after snagging the hot seat, the one-loss side was chocked full of pool giants battling it out.
After his winner's side loss to John Alicea, Brett Stottlemyer defeated Mike Fingers in dominant fashion, 7-2. Prior to this loss, Mike had been impressive in grinding out several consecutive hill-hill matches in a row.
This win against Mike lined up Brett against George “Ginky” Sansouci, who was fresh off his close battle with Zion.
Ginky took a 4-3 lead before Brett tied it up at 4-4. Brett got up 6-5… broke made a ball, and played safe on the one ball. Ginky kicked it one rail hard, and lucked the ball in the side pocket tying the set at 6 each. On the break, Ginky made a ball and had an easy shot on the one ball. To Brett's frustration, the 2-9 was a dead combo… so Ginky easily made the one, then the combo for the “W”.
That win lined up a rematch between George “Ginky” Sansouci and Zion Zvi, after his portage John Alicea knocked Zion to the one-loss side. In this set, Zion got ahead early 3 games to 2, but Ginky grinded back to take the lead 6-4. Zion responded by winning the next game, closing the scoreline to 6-5. With the alternate break format, it was Ginky's turn to break, and he broke and ran out a clutch rack to set up a match between the teacher versus the student in the finals.
Ginky was impressive in following up a win in the last Mezz Tour event he played in, but the big story here is John Alicea's evolution as a player. John was hot coming off of the last Predator Tour win, and has been tearing up the local scene of late. The 22-year-old up-and-coming player has been putting in the work on the practice table as well staying busy in competition.
Ginky would have normally had to defeat John Alicea twice in the finals to win, but John decided to let Ginky share the title as co-champions, as Ginky was celebrating his birthday with friends and family.
Congratulations to both John and Ginky for showing dominance at this event. The Mezz Tour would like to thank all the players who came out to compete at this event, as well as all of the tour's sponsors.
The next stop on the Mezz Tour will be held at Main Line Billiards on August 15th, 2010. Visit www.MezzTour.com to learn more and check out the complete schedule.
