Lucas Fracasso-Verner, Kerry McAuliffe, and Tyler Boudreau
Normally, a match between a player Fargo-rated at 677 (racing to 8) and one rated at 531 (racing to 4) would give the lower-rated player a one in three chance of winning the match. At Stop #3 on the 2020 New England 9-Ball Series this past weekend (Oct. 10-11), a 677 and a 531 played three matches, in which that expected outcome was reversed in two of them. The 677 – Lukas Fracasso-Verner – won the first of the three, battling for the hot seat, but the 531 – Tyler Boudreau, who, with the event’s lowest Fargo Rate, won the NE 9-Ball Series Tour Championships last September – won the other two, which were the true double elimination finals. The $750-added event drew 39 entrants to Strokers Bar & Billiards in Pelham, NH.
Awarded an opening round bye in the upper bracket, Fracasso-Verner began with a 6-3 win over David Simoneau and then shut out Ronny Chestna. A 6-2 win over Kerry McAuliffe put Fracasso-Verner into a winners’ side semifinal match against Tyler Campbell. Boudreau, in the meantime, was mowing them down in the lower bracket. After his opening round bye, Boudreau worked his way to a winners’ side semifinal against Emily Cady by an aggregate score of 15-2, giving up one rack each to Matt Caissie and Buddy Oldham, after opening with a shutout over Carlton Gagnon.
Fracasso-Verner advanced to the hot seat match with his third shutout, over Campbell. Boudreau joined him after sending Cady to the loss side 5-2. Boudreau’s 20-4 work through his first four matches didn’t serve him well in the battle for the hot seat. He managed only a single rack against Fracasso-Verner who claimed the seat 8-1 and, as it turned out, his last victory of the event.
On the loss side, Tyler Campbell picked up McAuliffe, who, after his defeat at the hands of Fracasso-Verner in a winners’ side quarterfinal, downed Derek Cunningham and Ronny Chestna, both 6-2. Cady drew a rematch against Joe Callaluca, whom she’d sent to the loss side in one of the other winners’ side quarterfinals. Callaluca had then survived a double hill match versus Aaron Barra and eliminated Buddy Oldham 5-2.
McAuliffe stopped Campbell 7-3 (Campbell racing to 5), and was joined in the quarterfinals by Cady, who, in a straight-up race to 5, defeated Callaluca, double hill. In an 8-4 race, McAuliffe eliminated Cady 8-1 in those quarterfinals. Boudreau, racing to 4 against McAuliffe’s 8 in the semifinals, got his second shot against Fracasso-Verner with a 4-8 win.
Working with the same Fargo Rate handicap he’d faced in the semifinals, Boudreau won the first set of the true double elimination final against Fracasso-Verner 4-4. Fracasso-Verner added a single rack to his total in the second set, but Boudreau won it 4-5 to claim the event title.
Tour director Marc Dionne thanked the ownership and staff at Strokers Billiards, as well as Predator, Poison, Arcos II, BCAPL, USAPL New England, Fargo Rate, AZBilliards, Inside English, Professor Q-Ball’s National Pool and 3-Cushion News, Bob Campbell, MJS Construction, Master Billiards, OTLVISE Billiard Mechanics of America, Piku Tips and Just the Tip Cue Repair and Custom Accessories.
The next stop on the NE 9-Ball Series (#4), scheduled for this weekend, Sunday, Oct. 18, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Amazin’ Billiards in Malden, MA.
