Joe Valania and Ronnie Xu
One stepped to the tables having recorded only one previous ‘cash’ finish on a regional tour; a win he chalked up on the Predator Tri-State Tour this past February. The other was looking for his first ‘cash’ finish of this year, having won two of the four events in which he cashed last year (on the Predator Tri-State and Garden State Pool tours), his best recorded earnings year of three, spread out over 18 years (’05, ’20, ’22).
They met three times; hot seat match and two sets of a double-elimination final. The $100-added event this past weekend (Sat. Oct. 7) drew a short field of 16 entrants to a stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, hosted by Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ.
Ronnie Xu, the one looking for his second win this year, took the opening match of the three. Joe Valania, looking for his first cash finish and win this year (third overall in the past two years), won the opening set of the double-elimination final. Xu took the third match to claim the event title.
It took each of them three wins to meet up for the first time in the hot seat match. Xu had the arguably easier ‘row to hoe’ getting there. All three of his opponents – Michelle Brotons, Pierre Bomtempo and Jack Ho – chalked up a total of five racks against him. Brotons gave up one, Bomtempo and in a winners’ side semifinal, Ho, gave up two each. Xu faced Valania for the first time having won his first three by an aggregate score of 21-5.
Valania’s three opponents in his march to the hot seat match chalked up 13 racks against him, while he completed the march having won only 14 racks. Valania got by TJ Casper 5-4 (Casper racing to 6), Nico Torres 5-5 (Torres racing to 7) and in his winners’ side semifinal, Pascal Dufresne 4-4 (Dufresne racing to 7).
Valania was only able to add a single rack to Xu’s racks-against total in their battle for the hot seat. Xu claimed the seat 7-1 and waited on Valania’s return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, following his opening-round loss to Valania, TJ Casper won three straight against Mike Strassberg (2), Pierre Bomtempo (double hill) and John Torp (2) to pick up Dufresne. Jack Ho drew Torres, who’d also lost to Valania on the winners’ side, before shutting out Michelle Brotons and downing Thomas McManamon 7-2.
Dufresne and Casper battled to double hill before Dufresne advanced to the quarterfinals. Torres joined him after eliminating Ho 7-2. Dufresne took the quarterfinal match 6-4 over Torres and was then defeated by Valania in the semifinals 4-5 (Dufresne racing to 7).
With Xu racing to 7 in the opening set of the true double-elimination final, Valania tied their match score at one apiece with a 5-4 win. Xu took command in the second set, winning it 7-2 to claim the event title.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked Bill Hill and his Players Billiards’ staff for their hospitality, along with sponsors In the Box, Brutal, Billiard Engineering, Off the Rail Apparel, World Beaters Apparel, Outsville, John Bender Custom Cues, Kamui, and JFlowers Cues and Cases. The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 28-29 at Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ, will be one of the last three events of the 2023 season. It will feature separate brackets, one for Fargo Rates from 526 to 675 and the other, for 525 and below. The following weekend Nov. 4-5, the tour will be in Nanuet, NY at Diamond Jim’s Pub and Billiards for a 10-Ball Open event, the last scheduled event of the 2023 season before the Championships. The tour will host two championship events in the month of December; a Grand Amateur Championship (invitational 9-ball, Dec. 9-10), hosted by Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ and a Grand Open Championship (10-ball, Dec. 16-17), hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
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