Edison Bao, Phil Russo and Scott Beaudreault
Edison Bao’s undefeated run through a field of 36 entrants at Stop #2 on the New England 9-Ball Series this past weekend (Sun., Nov. 12) did not include a victory in the event finals. In effect, Bao and runner-up Phil Russo allowed their meetup in the battle for the hot seat to stand as the title-deafening match. Russo was compelled to deal with a family-related issue and could not stay to play the final match. His forfeiture granted Bao the event title, his first (recorded) payout on a regional tour. The event was hosted by Run ‘Em Racks in Johnston, RI.
Instead of the double-brackets that the tour normally employs to separate higher and lower-skilled players in the early stages of a tournament, the NE 9-Ball Series opened Sunday’s event to all players with a 650 or less Fargo Rate. A single bracket was used to track results.
Bao and Russo headed out on their trip to the hot seat match with an opening-round bye. Bao then got by Bill McNeil, Ed Silvia and Bob Lewis to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Kevin Bauccio. Russo’s path went through Noah Schappa, Kevin Kiely and Scott Beaudreault to pick up Joseph Smith in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Bao, looking for his first (recorded) cash finish in an event, was facing an opponent (Bauccio) who’s been rakin’ in the pool dough for about a ‘baker’s dozen’ years now (since 2010). You wouldn’t have known it from their winners’ side semifinal. Bao put up a double-hill fight and then won it, advancing to the hot seat match. Russo, who’s in more or less the same pool-player ‘boat’ as Bao (just two recorded cash payouts over the past three years, both on the NE 9-Ball Series) did the same thing to Joseph Smith (who, also like Bao, was looking for his first recorded cash finish in an event), battling him to double hill before advancing to join Bao in the hot seat match.
Russo began the hot seat match with a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 6. He was only able to add a single rack to the one he started with, as Bao claimed his first hot seat.
Bauccio and Smith moved to the loss side and ran right into their second straight loss. Bauccio picked up Scott Beaudreault, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Russo and then defeated Ryan Stevens, double hill, and Al Michaud 5-3. Smith drew Joe Gelsomino, who’d lost his opening match to Andy Downs and went on a seven-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated Bob Lewis and Beau Powers, both double hill.
Beaudreault downed Bauccio 4-4 (Bauccio racing to 6) and advanced to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Gelsomino, who’d chalked up his seventh loss-side win by shutting Smith out.
In a straight up race to 5, Beaudreault and Gelsomino battled to double hill before Beaudreault prevailed to face Russo in what turned out to be the final match of the night, the semifinals. Russo won it 5-2 and announced the necessity of forfeiting the final to attend to some personal business.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Run ‘Em Racks for their hospitality, along with sponsors USAPL New England, BEF, Fargo Rate, AZBilliards, Professor Q-ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, MJS Construction, OTLVISE, Outsville, Cue Pocket LLC, and Just The Tip Cue Repair and Custom Accessories. The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (Stop #3), scheduled for Sunday, December 10, will be a Scotch Doubles event (1150 skill-level limit), hosted by The Nest in Plaistow, NH.
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