 Dennis Hatch |
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour was in action this weekend at Hippo's House of Billiards in Yorkville, NY with a field of 26 players at a $1500 added event.
From the start of the event, it looked like favorites Dennis Hatch and Jerry Slivka were on a collision course for the hot-seat. Both players made it through Saturday undefeated, but Slivka found himself on the wrong side of a hill-hill match with Dan Heidrich to start the day on Sunday.
Hatch started his day Sunday a little better with a 9-3 win over Gary Empey. Hatch went on to score a dominating 9-4 win over Heidrich for the hot-seat.
Slivka rebounded nicely with a 9-4 win over Seth Delvillano on the one loss side and then followed that up with a 9-5 win over John Morra. Slivka then defeated Empey 9-5 to set up a rematch with Heidrich. The rematch was another hill-hill battle, but this time it was Slivka on the right side of the score.
The fans finally got to see the matchup between Hatch and Slivka, and it was everything thay they expected. The first set of the true double elimination finals was close the entire way, with Slivka pulling out a hill-hill win. Hatch took an early lead in the second set and looked safe at 7-3 ahead. Slivka trailed 8-5, when he won three straight games to knot the match at hill-hill again. This time though, it was Hatch pocketing the final 9-ball.
Hatch earned $1150 for first place, and Slivka pocketed $780 for second. Heidrich and Empey filled out the top four spots.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be at Snookers Cafe and Billiards in Providence, RI on November 18th and 19th for their next event. Tour director Mike Zuglan is taking entries now for the Turning Stone Classic VIII 9-Ball Open scheduled for February 22nd - 25th, 2007. Interested players can reach Zuglan at 518-356-7163.
Complete Results:
1st Dennis Hatch $1150
2nd Jerry Slivka $780
3rd Dan Heidrich $550
4th Gary Empey $400
5th/6th John Morra, Seth Delvillano $250
7th/8th Mike Zuglan, Erik Hjorliefson $100
