Rick Rodriguez and Mark Antonetti
Lampaan and Halpin split top prizes in upper-bracket tournament
In an increasingly regular format for regional tours, the Garden State Pool Tour split its entrants to create separate, paying events at a stop in Wayne, NJ this past weekend (Sat., April 20). Mark Antonetti went undefeated to win the lower bracket event for Fargo Rates of 510 or lower, while Levien Lampaan and Jason Halpin split the top two prizes in the upper bracket for Fargo Rates between 511 and 660. The upper bracket drew 20 entrants and the lower bracket drew 19 at the event hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
Antonetti, in the lower bracket, faced three women in a row to reach the hot seat match. Two of those three matches went double hill. After a bye, he chalked up a double-hill win over Jennifer Pedutem, defeated Susan Durling 7-1 and in one of the winners’ side semifinals downed Allison Honeymar, double hill, to reach the hot seat match. Rick Rodriguez, in the meantime (also with a bye), downed Tracey Muller 7-2 and Bryan Arrao 5-1, before battling to double hill and winning the other semifinal against Mike Strassberg. Antonetti claimed the hot seat over Rodriguez 5-2.
Strassberg shuffled on over to the loss side, defeated Nicole Adams 5-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Honeymar came over and lost a double-hill battle against Yuchen “Laura” Zie, who joined Strassberg in the quarterfinal match. Zie eliminated Strassberg 4-1 in those quarterfinals.
Xie began the semifinals with two ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 6 against Rick Rodriguez. She got three of the four she needed to win, but Rodriguez earned a second shot against Antonetti with a 6-3 win.
In their second, straight-up race to 5, Antonetti and Rodriguez mirrored their battle for the hot seat. Antonetti completed his undefeated run with another 5-2 win over Rodriguez.
Jason Halpin and Levie Lampaan
Lampaan and Halpin let their winners’ side semifinal match define the upper bracket result
The two competitors who negotiated a split of the upper bracket’s top two prizes faced each other once, in a winners’ side semifinal. Both Levie Lampaan and Jason Halpin met in that match, having survived a double-hill battle in earlier rounds.
Lampaan, awarded a bye, opened his campaign with that double-hill battle, versus Ryan Buczkowski. He survived it to meet and defeat Jimmy Kardias 7-2, before coming into the winners’ side semifinal. Halpin, without a bye, started out with a 7-1 victory over Mike Johnson before running into his double-hill battle, against Mark Halverson, who started their match with four ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. Halpin prevailed 8-3, and then defeated Gregory Meehan 7-2 to draw Lampaan. Meanwhile, from the lower end of the bracket, Gary McDonnell (after a bye) downed Jason Nicholson 7-3 and George Latko, Jr. 6-4 to draw Naldo Troncoso in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Lampaan defeated Halpin in the final-that-might-have-been 6-2, as McDonnell sent Troncoso to the loss side 6-2. Lampaan and McDonnell (with two ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 7) battled to double hill in the hot seat match, with Lampaan claiming it in rack #11.
On the loss side, Halpin advanced to the quarterfinal with a 7-1 victory over Jerry Cerchia, as Troncoso got by Jimmy Kardias 6-2. Halpin took the quarterfinal 7-3 over Troncoso and gave up just a single rack to McDonnell in the semifinals. Negotiations got underway to split the top two prizes and with Lampaan, undefeated in the hot seat, he became the event’s official winner.
Tournament director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked Kris Kemp “and her amazing staff” at Shooter’s Family Billiards for their hospitality, along with sponsors Outsville, In The Box Apparel, Billiard Engineering, JFlowers Cues & Cases, Kamui, Off the Rail apparel, Brutal Game Gear, John Bender Custom Cues, and World Beaters Apparel.
The Garden State Pool Tour will return to Shooter’s Family Billiards and engage in the same split-bracket format on the weekend of May 4-5.
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