Jorge Decia and Pascal Dufresne
He’d recorded his first three (known), in-the-money shots on the Predator Tri-State Tour this year, all of them happening at Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ since January. Jorge Decia finished 5th in January, 9th in March and earlier this month (June 1), got into the quarterfinals before being eliminated. Last Saturday (June 22), he broke through by going undefeated through three matches in an initial double-elimination bracket and then three more matches of single-elimination to win his first regional tour title. The $500-added event drew 32 entrants to Shooter’s Family Billiards.
Decia began his trek to the winners’ circle with victories over Mark Antonetti 6-4, Marc Lamberti, double hill and Bob Toomey 6-2 and advanced to single-elimination. He was joined from the winners’ side of the double-elimination bracket by eventual runner-up, Pascal Dufresne, who opened with double hill wins over Julian Tierney and Nilson Perez before defeating Jason Halpin 6-3 to advance. Joining them in advancing from the winners’ side were Juan Pena and Aaron Butler.
The four competitors who’d lost their final qualifying round on the winners’ side of the initial bracket had to win just a single match on the loss side in order to advance to single elimination. None of them did. Gustavo Ardon, who’d lost his opening round match to Aaron Butler 6-3, won four on the loss side and in the last qualifying round, defeated Bob Toomey 6-4. Marc Lamberti won three on the loss side before eliminating Brooke Villa, double hill. Kevin Scalzitti and Hunter Sullivan both lost two on the loss side before defeating (respectively) Fernando Betancourt 7-4 and Jason Halpin, double hill.
On to single elimination, where, in the opening round, the eight-player bracket pitted qualifying players from the winners’ side of the original bracket against qualifying players from the loss side. The result was split right down the middle, with two who’d advanced from the winners’ side of the original bracket and two from the loss side of the original bracket advancing to the semifinals.
The two eventual finalists advanced to the semifinals, still undefeated, with Dufresne eliminating Scalzitti 7-3 and Decia defeating Lamberti 6-4. Hunter Sullivan downed the previously undefeated Juan Pena 7-5, while Gustavo Ardon eliminated the also-previously undefeated Aaron Butler 6-3.
Decia advanced to the finals with a 6-1 victory over Ardon. Dufresne joined him after eliminating Sullivan 7-5. Decia began the finals with four “beads on the wire” in a race to 9 against Dufresne and claimed his first regional tour title, defeating him by an actual ‘rack’ score of 5-7.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards for their hospitality, along with title sponsor Predator Cues, Romer’s Trophies, Phil Capelle and Sterling Gaming. The Predator Tri-State Tour will return to Shooter’s Family Billiards for an event scheduled for the weekend of July 27-28.
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