Coming through the C-D side of a 59-player field, Dave Jusis met and defeated A-B player Scott Simonetti twice to claim the Tri-State Tour stop title, his first, on Saturday, February 8. The $1,000-added event was hosted by Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.
Divided early, into A-B and C-D brackets, Jusis got by Gil Costello, Tony Ignomirello, Paul Wilkens, and Mike Farley, before meeting up with Mike Strassburg in the C-D final. Simonetti, in the meantime, defeated Geoff Bauer, Bob Labelestein, and Paul Raval before squaring off against Stewart Warnock in the A-B final. Jusis downed Strassburg double hill, to be met in the battle for the hot seat by Simonetti, who'd sent Warnock to the losers' bracket 7-3. Jusis sent Simonetti to the semifinals 9-7 and sat in the hot seat to await his return.
Strassburg moved over to pick up Paul Wilkens, who, after being defeated by Jusis in the third round, went on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He defeated Quinn Chen, Mike Figueroa, Eddie Perez and Mike Farley to face Strassburg. Warnock drew Bogie Uzdejczyk, who was on a six-match, loss-side streak of his own, having eliminated Chuck Giallorenzo, Roger Hanos, Mike Zimny, Geoff Bauer, Paul Raval and Max Watanabe.
Wilkens survived a double hill match against Strassburg and in the quarterfinals, faced Warnock, who'd ended Uzdejczyk's winning streak 7-1. Wilkens and Warnock locked horns in a double hill fight that eventually advanced Wilkens to meet Simonetti in the semifinals.
Simonetti, in what proved to be the final match of the evening, defeated Wilkens 9-7. He and Jusis opted out of playing a final match, allowing the undefeated Jusis to lay claim to the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Castle Billiards for their hospitality and continuing support of the tour, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, February 16, will be hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Ricardo Mejia got as close as runner-up last February on the Tri-State Tour. On Saturday, January 11, he shed the bridesmaid role by going undefeated through a field of 37 players, on-hand for the $1,000-added stop on the tour, hosted by Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.
Originally divided up between A/B and C/D players, the ranks would come together at the approach of the finals. Working in the A/B bracket, Mejia would get by Mike Zimny, Shin Sekin, Alex Gutierrez, and in the A/B final, defeat Raj Vanalla in a double hill match that would put him in the event hot seat. Paul Wilkens, in the meantime, was advancing through the C/D bracket, defeating Jan Mierza, Richard Anderson, Frank Sieczka and finally, Scott Abramowitz 6-3, which would move him into the hot seat match against Mejia. Mejia would gain the hot seat, double hill, and wait on what would turn out to be the return of Chuck Giallorenzo.
On the loss side, Vanalla would have the misfortune of running into Giallorenzo, who'd gotten by Max Watanabe 7-3 and Mike Zimny 7-4. Abramowitz would have the equal misfortune of meeting up with a streaking Jaydev Zaveri, who'd defeated Mike Figueroa 6-4 and Bernie Vogelsang 6-5 to reach him.
Giallorenzo ended Vanalla's run 7-4, as Zaveri ended Abramowitz' run 6-4. Giallorenzo then survived a double hill quarterfinal over Zaveri, and spoiled Wilkens' bid for a rematch against Mejia with a 7-4 win in the semifinals.
Giallorenzo, with momentum on his side, took the opening two games of the finals, before Mejia responded with an early 9-ball combination in the next two games, and broke and ran to a 3-2 lead he'd never give up. Giallorenzo chalked up only one more rack as Mejia went on to complete his undefeated run 7-3.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Castle Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Heptig Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour is a $750-added, A-D handicapped event, scheduled for Sunday, January 19 at Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Though he'd won stops on the tour in both 2011 and 2012, two in each year, the Tri-State Tour winners' circle had eluded Bogie Uzdejczyk in 2013. He had won a stop on the Predator Pro-Am Tour back in October. Uzdejczyk opened the 2014 proceedings on the Tri-State Tour with an undefeated run, during a two-day tour stop on the weekend of January 5-6. The $2,200-added event drew 64 entrants to Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
Uzdejczyk had to get by Ben Castaneros twice to complete the event victory. Castaneros' last victory on the Tri-State Tour was back in January, 2012 and on this weekend, he found himself in a winners' side final four battle against Mike Harrington, while Uzdejczyk faced Basdeo Sookhai. Uzdejczyk and Castaneros met first, once Uzdejczyk defeated Sookhai 7-3 and Castaneros had sent Harrington to the loss side 6-1. In their first of two, Uzdejczyk prevailed 8-5 to sit in the hot seat.
Meanwhile, on the loss side, Arturo Reyes, who'd been sent over by Uzdejczyk in a winners' side final eight battle, was working his way back. He survived a double hill battle against Chuck Giallorenzo and defeated Shivam Gupta 7-4, to pick up Sookhai. Harrington drew Kevin Chong, who'd gotten by Chris DeCaprio 7-2 and Keith Diaz 7-5, to reach him.
Reyes dropped Sookhai into the tie for fifth place 7-4, as Harrington was busy surviving a double hill struggle versus Chong. Reyes then eliminated Harrington 7-3 in the quarterfinals and faced Castaneros in the semifinals; one match away from a re-match against Uzdejczyk.
Castaneros denied Reyes that opportunity, stopping his four-match, loss-side winning streak 7-3 and turning for his own second shot against Uzdejczyk. Castaneros opened the final match with three straight. Uzdejczyk chalked up a single rack before Castaneros won the fifth rack. It proved to be his last, as Uzdejczyk went on a seven-rack run to secure the event title.
Tour representatives thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley, owners of Gotham City Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Heptig Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next Tri-State Tour stop, at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ, is scheduled for January 11.
Basdeo Shawn Sookhai, Kim Meyer-Gabia and Keith Adamik
Keith Adamik has been a consistent top 10 finisher on the Tri-State Tour for a few years now. He finished the 2011-2012 season as the # 2-ranked player in the A/A+ class, 15 points behind Daniel Dagotdot that year, but until this past Saturday (July 20), a victory on the tour had eluded him. As it played out, it looked as though it might elude him again, as Stewart Warnock shut him out in the opening round of play. Adamik came back from that defeat to win nine on the loss side, then meet and defeat hot seat occupant Basdeo Sookhai to claim his first Tri-State Tour title. The $1,500-added event, the first of the Tri-State Tour's 2013-2014 season, drew 38 entrants to Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
With Adamik busy on the loss side, Sookhai and Kim Meyer-Gabia were advancing to meet in the battle for the hot seat. In one of the winners' side semifinals, Sookhai sent Lidio Ramirez to the loss side as Meyer-Gabia sent Tony Ignomirello over; both by scores of 7-4. Sookhai moved into the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Meyer-Gabia.
Adamik survived his one and only double hill fight, defeating Ramirez, as Toomey advanced to meet him in the quarterfinals with a 6-1 victory over Ignomirello. Adamik then dropped Toomey into fourth place 9-6 and spoiled Meyer-Gabia's bid to get back to the finals with an 8-6 win over her in the semifinals.
In the final match, Adamik and Sookhai got things underway by trading racks back and forth to a 3-3 tie; Adamik taking his first lead at 3-2. At the tie, however, it was over. Adamik chalked up six straight to win the match and claim his first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Gotham City Billiards, along with sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Heptig Cues, Steve Dunkle Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour is scheduled for July 28 at Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
