Stefano Barahona and Mike Strassberg
In a $100-added, split-bracket 9-ball event hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ this weekend (Sat., April 19), 32 entrants (18 in a High bracket, 14 in a Low) battled at a stop on the Garden State Pool Tour (GSPT) until each separate bracket had a hot seat occupant and a semifinal winner. Those four joined a third, Final Four bracket, where, in effect, they played what would have been the two finals of the original brackets. The winners of those two matches squared off in an event final.
Stefano Barahona, who went undefeated to the hot seat match of the High bracket, lost that hot seat match, but won the High bracket semifinal to become one of the Final Four. He downed Mike Strassberg in the event final to claim the overall event title.
The initial brackets, divided by number (not FargoRate) ratings between 4 and 7 were almost, though not evenly divided. The 18-entrant High bracket consisted of a single ‘7,’ 16 competitors rated at ‘6,’ and one ‘5’ (Sanchit Mehra). There were nine ‘5’s, three ‘4’s and two ‘6’s in the 14-entrant Low bracket (Glenn Andaya and John Yarish).
Barahona’s trip to the High bracket hot seat match began with a bye, moved on to a double-hill win over Tri Chau, and (as a ‘3’) a 4-4 win over Levie Lampaan (Lampaan racing to 7). Barahona picked up Harry Artinian in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Joey Landi, in the meantime, also began with a bye and like Barahona, opened with a double-hill win, over Tony Ignomirello, and then defeated John Kerbawy 7-1 to draw Gary McDonnell in the other High bracket, winners’ side semifinal.
Barahona shut out Artinian, while Landi sent McDonnell off to the loss side 7-2. Both were now guaranteed to be among the Final Four. Landi shut out Barahona to claim the hot seat. Barahona moved over to the High bracket semifinal and 5-4, defeated McDonnell (racing to 7), who’d eliminated Artinian in the quarterfinal. The two High bracket competitors of the Final Four were set.
Meanwhile, more or less at the same time, the two other eventual competitors among the Final Four were working their ‘magic’ in the Low bracket. David Moore got by Jennifer Cabrol 5-2, and Al Farrell, double hill, to draw Glenn Andaya in the Low bracket, winners’ side semifinal. From the other end of that bracket, Yuchen Xie downed Corey Hiller and John Yarish, both 5-3, to pick up Mike Strassberg in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Moore shut out Andaya as Xie chalked up her third 5-3 win, over Strassberg, to join Moore in the battle for the hot seat. Xie won her fourth 5-3 match, over Moore, to claim the seat. Moore moved over to the Low bracket semifinal and faced Strassberg, who’d defeated Michelle Brotons and in the quarterfinals, Andaya, both 5-1, to reach him. Strassberg and Moore battled to double hill, before Strassberg won it to complete the event’s Final Four.
So, the Final Four got underway with, in effect, the finals of the two separate brackets, both rematches; Xie (in the hot seat) versus Strassberg (winner of the semifinal) and Landi (hot seat) against Barahona (semifinal winner). Strassberg and Xie battled to double hill, with Strassberg claiming the seat. Barahona, in the meantime, defeated Landi 4-3 (Landi racing to 7). In what was the first meeting of competitors from the two initial brackets, Barahona (now competing for the first time as a ‘7’) defeated Strassberg (competing for the first time as a ‘6’) 7-4. The difference in ratings, according to TD Dave Fitzpatrick, stemmed from the fact that the numbers changed in the Final Four matches because they were engaged in a small, single-elimination bracket.
Fitzpatrick thanked Kris Kemp and her Shooter’s Family Billiards staff for their hospitality (“Always going ‘one step above’ hosting events,” he said), along with tour sponsors J. Flowers Cues & Cases Hanshew Custom Cues, Kamui, Off the Rail, Outsville, In the Box, World Beaters, Brutal Game Gear, Billiard Engineering, and John Bender Cues.
The next stop on the GSPT, scheduled for this coming Sun., April 27, will be a ‘699 & Lower’ FargoRate 9-ball event with a maximum of 32 entrants, hosted by Side Pocket Billiards in Howell, NJ.
