Tony Ignomirello and Thomas Schreiber came to the Sunday, May 6 stop on the Tri-State Tour, looking for their second 2018 Tri-State win. Schreiber had won in January and Tony “Iggy” had chalked one up in March. Schreiber was actually looking for his third win on the 2017-2018 tour schedule, which begins and ends mid-summer in each year. Ignomirello made it to the hot seat, as Schreiber was at work on a five-match loss side streak that would afford him the opportunity to challenge Ignomirello in the finals. The two opted out of a final match, which gave Ignomirello, in the hot seat, the official match title and his second win of the year. The $1,000-added event drew 36 entrants to BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY.
Following victories over Dementhriss Hudson and Ambi Estevez, Ignomirello played his first, and what proved to be, only match against Schreiber, defeating him 7-5 and advancing to a winners’ side semifinal against Shweta Zaveri. Amy Yu, in the meantime, squared off against Tri V Chau in the other one. Ignomirello downed Zaveri 8-6 and was joined in the hot seat match by Yu, who’d sent Chau west 7-3. Ignomirello won what proved to be his last match, getting into the hot seat, double hill, over Yu.
On the loss side, Schreiber opened his trek back to the finals with a 7-4 win over Iilia Trajceski, and followed it with a 9-4 victory over Marisol Palacios, which set him up to face Zaveri. Chau drew Max Watanabe, who’d defeated Dave Shlemperis (official winner of the previous week’s Tri-State stop) 7-3 and Matt Klein 8-6.
Both battles for advancement to the quarterfinals went double hill, with Watanabe downing Chau and Schreiber eliminating Zaveri. A third double hill match in those quarterfinals advanced Schreiber over Watanabe into the semifinals.
Schreiber completed his loss-side run with a 7-4 victory over Yu. He and Ignomirello made the choice not to play a final, and it was over, with Ignomirello claiming the official event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, a $1,000-added event, scheduled for Saturday, May 12, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
You'd think, having defeated someone in the opening round of a tournament, that the chances of seeing that player a second time, especially in the finals, would be minimal; too many possibilities, both in terms of the number of matches played on the loss side of a double elimination bracket, and the vagaries of individual matches played during that run. But it happens.
Just ask Kevin Scalzitti, who on Sunday, May 7, at a $640-added event that drew 29 entrants to BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY, was one match away from an undefeated run on the Tri-State Tour, only to have the opponent he'd defeated 7-2 in the opening round – David Leggat – return from a seven-match, loss-side run and not only defeat him, but shut him out in the finals.
It was not the tournament's only oddity. It was an A/B, C/D tournament, which means (meant) that the two sets of rankings are (were) separated at the beginning into different brackets, and only combined into a single event bracket towards the end. But there were 21 players ranked in the lower C/D bracket, while there were only eight in the upper A/B bracket. In effect, with their own separate bracket, the C/D players had to play three rounds to advance to the same spot in which the eight A/B players began. Two wins put two A/B players into a winners' side semifinal. It took four wins to put two C/D players into a winners' side semifinal.
Advancing to those winners' side semifinals were Scalzitti, who faced Amir Uddin, and Ron Bernardo, who squared off against Dax Druminski. Scalzitti got by Uddin, double hill, and in the hot seat match, met Bernardo, who'd sent Druminski to the loss side 6-4. Scalzitti claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Bernardo, without a clue that he'd just won his last game of the tournament.
On the loss side, Leggat was working his way back. With two under his belt already, he downed Chumreon Sukaritachul 7-3 and Thomas Schreiber, double hill, to draw Uddin. Druminski picked up Dementhriss Hudson, who'd defeated Pashk Gjini 6-1 and Zouraiz Ellahi 6-4.
Leggat and Hudson advanced to the quarterfinals; Leggat 7-5 over Uddin, and Hudson 6-3 over Druminski. Leggat took the quarterfinal match 7-3 over Hudson, and then completed his loss-side run with a 7-3 win over Bernardo in the semifinals.
The Leggat/Scalzitti re-match was an extended race to 9 in the finals. Leggat needed to reach seven wins first, to extend the match to nine games. He did so without giving up a rack and added two more to claim his first Tri-State title in only two attempts.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Bloodworth Ball Cleaners. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 13, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. A week later, the Tri-State will be at Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ before joining the Predator and Mezz Tours in presenting the 7th Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial, scheduled for May 27-29 at Steinway Billiards. Event coordinators are reminding players that the "Ginky" Memorial is a pre-paid event (which fills up fast in both the Amateur and Pro events). Contact a representative from any of the tours for information on signing up before the May 21 deadline.
