Frank Sieczka spoiled an almost-undefeated performance by house player Greg Ackerman at Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ on Saturday, October 18. In a short field of 17 entrants, Ackerman made it to the hot seat in the $1,000-added event, only to be defeated by Sieczka in the finals.
Following a victory over Mike Figueroa, Sieczka was moved to the losers' bracket 6-5 by Kevin Coyle, who moved on to face Edward Lalmieu in a winners' side semifinal. In the other, Ackerman, having defeated Harry Guevarez, faced Chris Schmidt. Ackerman defeated Schmidt 7-4 and in the hot seat match, faced Lalmieu, who'd sent Coyle west 6-3. Ackerman chalked up his last win, 7-4 over Lalmieu, and sat in the hot seat, waiting on Sieczka.
It was Coyle, who drew a rematch against Sieczka on the loss side; Sieczka having defeated Juan Bombino 6-1 and Roberto Vera 6-4 to reach him. Schmidt drew Kevin Skalzitti, who'd gotten by Harry Guevarez and Mike Conoran, both 7-4.
Schmidt eliminated Scalzitti 7-3, as Sieczka was handing Coyle his second straight loss, 6-4. Sieczka then finished Schmidt's day 7-2 in the quarterfinals and faced Lalmieu. A 6-4 victory against him in the semifinals gave Sieczka a shot at Ackerman in the hot seat. He took full advantage, capitalizing on numerous errors by Ackerman to reach seven games first and extend the race to nine. Ackerman battled back to draw within a game of double hill, but Sieczka hung on to win it 9-7 and claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rockaway Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing and Human Kinetics.
