From the loss side, Wrobel collects 2nd cash payout, 2nd win on the Garden State Pool Tour
It’s not unheard of, but rare. Normally, when a pool player enters the AZBilliards database for the first time, he (or she) does so by finishing in a tournament at the outer edge of the cash-winning field; 9th/12th or 7th/8th. Over time, those cash finishes mount up as the player improves and the finish positions […]
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Matt Wrobel and Michelle Brotons
It’s not unheard of, but rare. Normally, when a pool player enters the AZBilliards database for the first time, he (or she) does so by finishing in a tournament at the outer edge of the cash-winning field; 9th/12th or 7th/8th. Over time, those cash finishes mount up as the player improves and the finish positions move down, toward smaller numbers; from that 9th/12th place to 5th, 4th and at some point (which can take years), the player will capture their first regional-tour event title.
Matt Wrobel opted out of that long road to a tournament victory. With only two APA sessions under his belt and just two (unrecorded) attempts at which he finished out of the money in cash-paying tournaments, Wrobel went undefeated on the Garden State Pool Tour last July to record his first cash finish and his first regional tour win. Apparently exhausted from that first win, Wrobel dropped out of sight, as defined by no reported cash finishes anywhere in 10 months. And then, showed up on the Garden State Pool Tour again this past weekend, Saturday, May 3 for a $200-added, 599 & Under (FargoRate) event that drew 24 entrants to Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ. He won his first three matches before being sent to the loss side, where he won three straight to meet and double-dip Michelle Brotons in the final, thereby recording his second-ever cash finish and second-ever regional tour win. Rumor has it that Wrobel will be returning next March to collect his third cash payout, after winning his third straight regional tour title.
Wrobel’s day began with victories over Nick Mendoza 6-3 and Fernando Betancourt 4-5 (Betancourt racing to 7), before running into Michael Vigna, defeating him, double-hill to draw Chris Hanold in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
In the meantime, Michelle Brotons, who, by the way, joined our AZBilliards database in what turned out to be her best recorded earnings year in 2017, and spent a lot of the intervening years as one of the top female competitors on the NYC area’s Tri-State Tour, came from the bottom half of the bracket, bound for the hot seat match. She got by Marc Lamberti 6-4, Matt D’Errico 4-4 (D’Errico racing to 8) and Logan Ringleben 5-4 (Ringleben racing to 7). Brotons drew Jimmy Sobel in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Off Wrobel went to the loss side, as Hanold defeated him 6-4. Hanold was joined in the hot seat match by Brotons, who’d defeated Sobel 4-2. Hanold and Brotons went double hill, battling for the hot seat, and it was Brotons who grabbed it.
On the loss side, Wrobel started out against Ringleben, who’d followed his loss to Brotons with victories over Betancourt 4-2 and Harry Artinian, double hill. Sobel picked up Vigna, who’d followed his loss to Wrobel with victories over D’Errico 4-3 (D’Errico racing to 6) and Stefano Barahona, double hill.
Wrobel got into the quarterfinal 5-3 over Ringelben and was joined by Sobel, who’d ended Vigna’s short loss-side trip 5-2. Wrobel, picking up some speed as he ‘rounded the far turn and headed for home’ (like Sovereignty did, that same day, a little earlier at the Kentucky Derby). He gave up one rack each, to Sobel in the quarterfinal and Hanold in the semifinal that followed.
Wrobel needed to defeat Brotons twice to claim the event title and not wanting to break his record at winning regional tour events, that’s just what he did. He would give Brotons a single ‘bead on the wire’ in both sets of the final; the first in a race to 6 and the second, in a race to 5. He kept his ‘closing’ speed up, allowing Brotons only a single rack in both sets of the double-elimination final to claim his second straight title (10 months apart) on the Garden State Pool Tour.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked Kris Kemp and her Shooter’s Family Billiards staff for their hospitality, along with sponsors Kamui, In the Box, Outsville, Brutal Game Gear, World Beaters, John Bender Cues, JFlowers Cues & Cases, Off the Rail Apparel, Billiard Engineering and Hanshew Custom Cues. The Garden State Pool Tour will return to the ever-friendly confines of Shooter’s Billiards in Wayne, NJ for its next stop. A FargoRate 499 & Lower (with 250 Robustness) event, it is scheduled for the weekend of July 26-27.
Fitzpatrick also alerted members “to look out for an earlier event in July,” about which information will be disseminated as soon as it becomes available.
