Eddie Abraham wins first Joss Tour Stop

The 43 players who came out to Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY for the Joss NE Ball Tour Stop on December 6th and 7th finally figured out how to keep Dennis Hatch from the winners circle. Hatch had won the last three straight Joss Tour Stops, but it turned out that the secret was to keep him out of the building. Hatch did not make the trip this weekend and that left the field wide open for a first time champion.

Top players in the field this time, included Tony Robles, Shaun Wilkie, George San Souci and Joey Korsiak.

The winners side came down to Eddie Abraham vs Bob Blackmore for the hot-seat. Blackmore is a regular at Raxx, and finished in second place here last year. Abraham took the match by a lopsided 9-3 score.

Blackmore would have to settle for third place as he then lost to Jorge Rodriguez on the one loss side. The match was close early, but Rodriguez took control and won 9-5.

The first set of the double elimination finals saw Rodriguez continue his strong play and race out to a 3-0 lead over Abraham. Abraham knew he had a fight on his hands and turned his game up a notch to knot the score at 6-6 and then go on to win the next three games for the 9-6 match win.

Abraham earned $1440 for the win, his first on the Joss Tour. Rodriguez took home $1000 for second.

The Joss Tour now takes their yearly holiday break, and will be back in action on January 10th at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NY.

Players are encouraged to get their entries in for the Joss Tour's Turning Stone Classic X on February 21 - 24 at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. This event will be a point event for the BCA Pro Points List and it always fills up.