Raj Vannala must enjoy being around at the end of these Tri-State
Tour events. This time, once again at Comet Billiards, he churned past
Neil Walmsley 7-5 to grab the bragging rights and the up-top cash. But
it wasn't the final match that grabbed the attention of the onlookers.
That honor belonged to the hot-seat match.
That match, again between Walmsley and Vannala, was
a doozie. Vannala began the match with a torrent of wins and stood on
the hill with the overwhelming lead of 6 games to 1 in the quest for 7.
You couldn't have gotten a bet on Walmsley at a convention of failed
stakehorses. But the son of a gun came scratching his way back, one
rack at a time, until he got to stand on that hill right beside
Vannala. Of course, pool is a lot like life, so our charging hero wound
up getting his teeth kicked in for the effort when he flubbed up in the
last rack and left the scoop out for Vannala to run the remaining balls
and take the seat.
No matter. Walmsley would get the opportunity to
get his revenge. All he had to do was get past a very tough Gary
Murgia. But, once again, the man rose to the challenge and took out
Murgia 7-5 to get back in the ring with Vannala. Once there, reality
rose its ugly head once again and crushed the dream when Vannala iced
the racks.
