Spohr goes undefeated to claim Open/Pro division of annual “Ginky” Memorial at Raxx
We’ve come a long way since the very first George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial in 2011, when Mike Dechaine (over Dennis Hatch in the finals) claimed the Open/Pro title at Amsterdam Billiards in NYC, while Raj Vannala won the Amateur division of the event. The following year, “Earl the Pearl” defeated Dechaine in the finals with […]
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Dylan Spohr
We’ve come a long way since the very first George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial in 2011, when Mike Dechaine (over Dennis Hatch in the finals) claimed the Open/Pro title at Amsterdam Billiards in NYC, while Raj Vannala won the Amateur division of the event. The following year, “Earl the Pearl” defeated Dechaine in the finals with Daniel Dagotdot claiming the Amateur title. That year, the ‘Ginky’s 128-entrant Amateur field was (we reported) “one of the largest New York City pool tournaments, ever.” The focus shifted to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens) in 2013, where Zion Zvi won the first title awarded at that location, downing Mika Immonen in the final. In one of the pool community’s great tragedies, Steinway Billiards closed for business just two years ago and the “Ginky” moved out onto Long Island, where it now resides at Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY.
A quick glance at the payout lists of those earlier “Ginky” tournaments demonstrates the participation of a lot of the sports’ top professionals at the time; Dechaine, Earl, Hatch, Mika, Thorsten Hohmann, Tony Robles, Warren Kiamco, and Ryan McCreesh, just to name a few. Oscar Dominguez came out from California a time or two, finishing in the tie for 5th place with Jeremy Sossei in 2012. Those lists also contain quite a few prominent New York (and vicinity) competitors like Sossei, Zvi, Sean Morgan, and up from the mid-Atlantic region, Shaun Wilkie, who finished 4th in the first “Ginky.”
The Open/Pro side of the annual event has lost some of its top professionals over the years. SVB used to come around. Competed against Strickland at the first Steinway “Ginky” in 2013, but never won the event (a YouTube video of that SVB/Earl match can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VieMciksjJ0). Jayson Shaw’s won it twice (’15 & ’17) and in 2014, found himself battling Karen Corr. In a way, “Ginky” himself might, in his after-life pool community, be content that while a lot of the ‘guys’ against whom he used to compete haven’t been making the trek to New York to compete in his Memorial these days, his memory and legacy are being maintained by the same level of homegrown-in-NYC-area competitors that formed something of a local George “Ginky” Sansouci fan club back in the day.
Last weekend (May 24-28) at the $5,000-added, 12th Annual “Ginky” Memorial (it was not held, twice, during the COVID years), it was Pennsylvania’s Dylan Spohr who went undefeated to claim the 26-entrant Open/Pro “Ginky’ title, his first (recorded) in 2025. New York’s Euryel Castillo went undefeated to record his first event victory in two years, winning the 115-entrant (split bracket) Amateur division. Castillo’s last recorded payout and event win occurred when he won the Amateur division of the 2023 “Ginky” Memorial.
In races to 9, Spohr’s six-match trip to the Open/Pro title saw his racks-against come down from an initial seven (versus Scott Haas), down to five (Christopher Lazarovitch), up a little to six (Daniel Torres), and down to four in a winners’ side semifinal against Frankie Hernandez that put him Spohr into the hot seat match.
Patrick Gutierrez, in the meantime, headed out on a trip that would put him up against Spohr in that hot seat match. After a bye, he downed by Duc Lam (7), ahead of facing a double-hill challenge from the event’s eventual runner-up, Mhet Vergara. Gutierrez won that double-hill challenge (they’d meet again) and downed Carl Morgan 9-5 in the other winners’ side semifinal to join Spohr in the hot seat match. Spohr claimed the seat 9-4.
On the loss side, Hernandez picked up Vergara, who’d followed his loss to Gutierrez with victories over Tsewang Topden 9-7 and Troy Deocharran 9-6. Morgan drew Josh Thiele, who’d lost a second-round match to Frankie Hernandez 9-4 and followed with wins over Max Watanabe (4) and Elvis Rodriguez (1).
Morgan and Thiele battled to double hill before Morgan prevailed to claim a spot in the quarterfinals. Vergara joined him after eliminating Hernandez 9-6. He then defeated Morgan 9-6 and in the semifinal, Gutierrez 9-3. In his only double-hill match, Spohr downed Vergara in the final to claim the 2025 “Ginky” Memorial title.
Euryel Castillo
Castillo ignores awarded ‘beads on the wire’ to claim Amateur title
In four of the five matches that it took Euryel Castillo to reach the hot seat match of the Amateur division’s High Side bracket, he was awarded a single ‘bead on the wire’ in races to 7. He didn’t need any of them, as he got by Julian Tierney (3), Cesar Ortiz (3), Alberto Estevez (4) and Wilkin Sanchez (2). Awarded two ‘beads on the wire’ in another race to 7 in a winners’ side semifinal, he battled Jose Vicente to double hill before winning the match and stepping to the table for the hot seat match.
Gary McDonnell played and won two straight-up races to 7 in his trip to the hot seat match, opening and winning the first one against Jason Goberdhan 7-4 and then, his fourth against Alexander Martinez 7-5. Between those two, he used a single ‘bead on the wire’ to down Nicolas Sandoval 6-4 and got two ‘beads’ to take out Aidan Wagner 5-4 (Wagner racing to 7). He got two more ‘beads’ in his winners’ side semifinal against Ron Gabia, sending him to the loss side 5-3 and joining Castillo in the winners’ side final.
Castillo punched his ticket to the Amateur division’s Final Four bracket with a 7-5 victory over McDonnell in the High Side bracket’s hot seat match. McDonnell moved over and in the High Side bracket’s semifinal, met up with Jose Vicente, who’d followed his loss to Castillo with wins over Henry Cha 7-2 and Lidio Suaza 7-5. Vicente joined Castillo among the Final Four with a 7-5 victory over McDonnell in those semifinals.
It was Darielvy Nuñez and Kevin Li who ended up joining them from the Amateur event’s Low Side bracket. Li got there primarily in straight-up, race-to-7 wins against Anil Dhanraj (1), Nishant Narang (4), Erick Garcia (4), and in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Matt Wrobel (5). He awarded Jose Torres a single ‘bead on the wire’ in a winners’ side semifinal, defeated him 7-2 and advanced to the hot seat match. Same story with Nuñez, straight-up races to 7 with one exception. He defeated Deborah Hopkins (3) and David Callaghan (4), prior to awarding Mark Antonetti a single “bead on the wire” in a race to 7 and defeating him 7-3. He went back to the straight-up race to 7 in his winners’ side semifinal, battling to double hill and defeating Jorge Paz.
Li downed Nuñez 7-5 to claim the Low Side hot seat. Nuñez moved over to the semifinals and defeated Wrobel 7-4 to be the final piece of the “Ginky” Memorial’s Final Four puzzle.
Castillo and Li, the two hot seat occupants of the Low and High Side brackets, respectively, squared off in a Final Four hot seat match, while Vicente and Nuñez battled in the Final Four’s quarterfinal. Castillo downed Li 7-2, while Vicente was hard at work, eliminating Nuñez 9-4. Vicente then greeted the arriving Li for their semifinal (Final Four) matchup. Vicente defeated Li 7-3 and turned for a rematch from one of the High Side bracket’s winners’ side semifinals; the one in which Castillo survived his only double-hill match and sent Vicente to the loss side.
Castillo was getting three ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 8. He hadn’t need any of the ones he’d been awarded while competing on the High Side bracket and he didn’t need the three he got in the event final. He downed Vicente 5-3 to claim the 12th George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial.
Event representatives of the Mezz ProAm Tour and the Predator Tri-State Tour, who combined to produce the event, thanked Holden Chin and his Raxx Billiards staff, along with Action After Dark for their cooperation in making it happen.
