It’s hard to know how the final game in any double hill match is going to affect a player. Some buckle under the pressure, while others rise to the adrenaline-fueled challenge and win. Some, at different times, do one or the other. Thomas Schreiber’s five-year history with the Tri-State Tour suggests that he thrives on double hill matches. It’s difficult to peruse the totality of his recorded history on the tour and determine just how many double hill matches he’s played, but we do know, as one example, that the second time he cashed on the Tri-State Tour, back in December of 2014, Schreiber lost a double hill match in the battle for the hot seat, won a double hill match in the semifinals and though he’d open the finals with four straight, he lost that match, double hill, to finish as runner-up. In a win during the 2017-2018 season, Schreiber got knocked to the loss side in a double hill loss, played two double hill matches to get back to the finals and then defeated hot seat occupant Pashk Gjini double hill to win. Four months later, still in the 2017-2018 season in January of 2018, Schreiber got into the hot seat with a double hill win, and then earned the event title with a double hill win in the finals against Lidio Ramirez.
On Sunday, March 24, Schreiber had a double-hill-free trip through to the hot seat, but in the end, after Mike Mele completed a six-match, loss-side winning streak to face him in the finals, Schreiber got into yet another double hill match that he won to claim the event title. Mele entered the tournament as the Tri-State’s top ‘B’ competitor in its Player of the Year standings, with 22 appearances to his credit since last summer. Schreiber’s a ‘B’ player, as well; seventh on the list, with nine appearances since last summer. The $1,000-added 8-ball event drew 38 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY. Schreiber, a two-time winner of the annual NYC 8-Ball Championships (2015/2016), had a bit of an edge in the chosen game category.
Schreiber’s trip to the hot seat saw him win 36 of the 47 games he played, downing Harry Singh, Michelle Brotons, Luis Lopez, and John Durr, before facing David Leggat in a winners’ side semifinal. Mike Strassberg and Amanda Andries, in the meantime, met in the other one. Mele, at the time, was already at work on the loss side.
Schreiber shut Leggat out to get into the hot seat match. Strassberg survived a double hill match against Andries to join him. Schreiber gave up only a single rack to Strassberg and waited in the hot seat for his eventual double hill matchup against Mele in the finals.
It was Andries who picked up Mele on the loss side, three matches into his loss-side winning streak, which had included recent wins over Joe Romeo 6-2 and Tri V. Chau 6-4. Leggat drew John Durr, who, following his defeat at the hands of Schreiber, had won two straight double hill matches against Jerry Almodovar and Fernando Anderson to face Leggat.
Mele downed Andries 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Leggat, who’d defeated Durr 6-4. Mele and Leggat locked up in a double hill fight, won by Mele, which, in effect, sent him directly to the finals. He leapfrogged over the semifinals when his opponent, Mike Strassberg, had to forfeit that match.
Entering the finals, Mele was looking for his first win on the tour. His closest finish on the tour, to date, came in the season opener of the current 2018-2019 season, last July, when he won six on the loss side to finish as runner-up to Duc Lam. At the tail end of yet another six-match, loss-side winning streak Mele came up against Schreiber and almost predictably found himself in a double hill match for the event title. Schreiber secured it to claim his first Tri-State title since January, 2018, midway through the 2017-2018 season.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, DIGICUE OB and Hustlin USA. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for the week after the upcoming Super Billiards Expo (Sunday, April 7) will be hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
As far as we can tell, Patrick Meyers has been competing on tri-state New York pool tables for about eight years now. It may be more than that, but showing up on our database requires that a player cash in an event before he or she is entered. The first time Meyers did that, according to our records, was back in 2010, when he cashed (tied for 5th place) at a stop on what was then known as the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour at the 1st Annual Reverend Clarence Keaton Memorial Tournament; Amateur Division. He went on to place 9th twice in the 2012 Predator Pro Am season, and then, the following year, 25th in the Amateur division of the 3rd Annual Ginky Memorial (from a field of 128). He finished 9th again, twice, in 2014 and 2015, moved up to a 7th place finish on the Predator Pro Am Tour in 2017, and then, last year, had himself a breakthrough performance on the Tri-State Tour, when he finished as the runner-up in a tournament, officially won by Joe Romeo (they split the top two prizes).
On Sunday, January 27, Meyers chalked up his first event victory, an undefeated run during a C-D event on the Tri-State Tour. He got by a total of six opponents and faced different opponents in the hot seat (Jason Goberdhan) and finals (Greg Matos). The $1,000-added event drew 26 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Meyers got by Brian Schell, Ralph Ramos, Sr., and Terry Mohabir to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Ralph Ramos, Sr.’s son (Junior). Jason Goberdhan, in the meantime, squared off against Brenda Martinez. Meyers squeaked by Ramos, Jr. 7-6, and in the hot seat match, faced Goberdhan, who’d sent Martinez off to the loss side 8-6. Meyers chalked up a second straight, double hill win with a 6-5 victory over Goberdhan, and sat in the hot seat, waiting on the return of Greg Matos, who’d lost a double hill match to Martinez in a winners’ side quarterfinal and was embarked on a five-match, loss-side streak that would earn him a shot at Meyers in the finals.
On the loss side, Ramos, Jr. picked up Clint Pires, who’d defeated Nishant Narang 6-3 and Mohabir 6-2 to reach him. Martinez drew Matos, who’d opened his loss-side campaign with a double hill win over Stewart Warnock, Sr. and then eliminated a potential father/son match by downing Ramos, Sr. 6-1.
Ramos, Jr. eliminated Pires 7-2 and in the quarterfinals, faced Matos, who’d chalked up his second loss-side, double hill win over Martinez. Matos sent Ramos, Jr. home 6-2 in those quarterfinals, and then, by the same score, sent Goberdhan ‘to the showers’ in the semifinals.
Since the winners’ side quarterfinals, Meyers and Matos had survived two double hill matches, on opposite sides of the bracket. It was fitting, somehow, that their final match would be a third double hill battle for both of them. Meyers won it (6-5) to claim his first event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, 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, scheduled for this Saturday, Feb. 2, will be an A-B-C-D event, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Working on the loss side of the bracket, Leo Birdman used two straight double hill wins in his final two loss-side matches to earn a spot in the finals of a Tri-State Tour stop on Sunday, Oct. 21. He chalked up a third straight double hill win against the opponent who’d sent him to the loss side, Thomas Schreiber, to claim the title. The $1,000-added event drew 29 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Following victories over Joe Romeo, Daniel Feliciano and Stewart Warnock, Sr., Birdman moved into a winners’ side semifinal match against Schreiber. Eugene Ok, in the meantime, squared off against Nathaniel Raimondo in the other winners’ side semifinal. Schreiber sent Birdman to the loss side 7-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Ok, who’d sent Raimondo west 7-5. Schreiber survived a double hill hot seat match against Ok, and waited for Birdman to get back from his three-match, loss-side winning streak.
Birdman began his trek back to the finals with a re-match against Romeo, who’d defeated Warnock, Sr. 7-3 and won a double hill match over Ricky Motilal 7-6 to reach him. Raimondo faced Mike Garetta, who’d recently eliminated Shane Torres 7-5 and Max Watanabe 7-4.
Birdman and Raimondo went back to work and advanced to the quarterfinals; Birdman with a second win over Romeo 6-2 and Raimondo 7-2 over Garetta. In the first of his three straight double hill wins, Birdman sent Raimondo home 7-6.
His next double hill victim was Ok in the semifinals 8-7, which earned him his re-match against Schreiber in the finals. Birdman completed his title run with a cliffhanger, third double hill win 9-8 over Schreiber.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Cappelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 28, will be hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
Frank Sieczka came to Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ on Sunday, September 23, looking to chalk up his second victory of the 2018-2019 Tri-State Tour season. His good friend and travel partner, Artur Trzeciak, came in search of his first recorded event victory ever. Sieczka made it to the hot seat. Trzeciak won five on the loss side to meet him in the finals. They opted out of the final match, leaving the undefeated Sieczka as the official winner, and Trzeciak with his first runner-up finish. The $1,000-added, 8-ball event drew 40 entrants.
Trzeciak won his first two matches before running into Joshua Joseph in a winners’ side quarterfinal. A 4-2 victory by Joseph sent Trzeciak to the loss side and advanced Joseph to a winners’ side semifinal against Bernie Vogelsang. Sieczka, in the meantime, worked his way through four opponents (Joe Mazzeo, Sean Emmitt, Paul Madonia and Victor Silva) to arrive at the other winners’ side semifinal against Joshua Joseph’s father, Mark Joseph.
Sieczka sent the elder Joseph to the loss side 5-2, as Vogelsang sent the son west 6-4. Sieczka played what proved to be his last match, downing Vogelsang 6-4 to claim the hot seat, and essentially, win the event title.
On the loss side, the elder Joseph (Mark) ran into Greg Partlow, who’d benefited from a forfeit by Allison LaFleur and eliminated Victor Silva, double hill. The son, Joshua, got a re-match against the ‘finals bound’ Trzeciak, who, following his defeat by Joshua, had eliminated Chris Rudy, double hill, and Joe Romeo 5-1. Father and son got to leave at the same time; Dad downed by Partlow, double hill, while son was shutout in his re-match versus Trzeciak.
Trzeciak battled to double hill in the quarterfinals against Partlow before dropping the final 8-ball and advancing to his last match of the night, against Vogelsang in the semifinals. He won that match 6-4, agreed to the split with Sieczka, and presumably, with cash in both their pockets, they left together.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards, along with 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, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, will be a Double Points event, hosted by BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights, NY.
Joe Romeo has appeared in four recorded payout lists on the Tri-State Tour; two in the 2017-2018 season and two in the still-young 2018-2019 season. He was runner-up to Frank Sieczka this past June, and a couple of weeks ago (Aug. 25-26), finished 9th at a stop at the Amsterdam Billiard Club. In March of this year (2017-2018 season), he recorded his first victory on the Tri-State Tour, and in the waning weeks of the 2017-2018 season, he finished 4th at a Cue Bar stop in Bayside. He is currently the #1-ranked D+ player on the tour and added to his resume on Sunday, Sept. 9 with an undefeated run to claim his second Tri-State title. The $1,000-added event drew 34 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Romeo was awarded an opening round bye before facing the tour’s #2-ranked D+ competitor, Jake Kislowski, whom he downed 4-2. He followed that with a victory over Shweta Zaveri 5-2 to draw Thomas Schreiber in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Nathaniel Raimondo, in the meantime, faced Gene Ok in the other winners’ side semifinal. Ok had just sent Romeo’s eventual opponent in the finals (Matthew Harricharan) to the loss side.
Raimondo defeated Ok 6-4, and in the hot seat match, faced Romeo who’d dispatched Schreiber to the west bracket 7-2. Romeo shut Raimondo out to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Harricharan opened his five-match, loss-side run with victories over Vincent Crescimmo 6-3 and Mike Strassberg 7-4 and was scheduled for a re-match against Ok. It never happened. Ok forfeited the match, which sent Harricharan leapfrogging into the quarterfinals. Schreiber picked up Matt Klein, who’d chalked up two straight double hill wins, over Jerry Almodovar and Caitlyn Harkins, to reach him. Schreiber downed Klein 6-1 to join Harricharan in the quarterfinals.
Harricharan advanced with to the finals with identical 6-4 wins over Schreiber in the quarterfinals and Raimondo in the semifinals. Romeo completed his undefeated run with a 9-5 victory over Harricharan in the finals.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Cappelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State, scheduled for Sunday, September 16, will be an A/B/C/D 9-ball event, hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Ambi Estevez has been playing on the Tri-State and Predator Tours for about six years now; perhaps more, if he played in events prior to 2012 in which he failed to earn a payout. The winless streak came to an end on Sunday, August 12, when he went undefeated through a field of 23 entrants to chalk up (acording to our records) his first event title. So, too, with Andrew Cicoria, who faced him in the finals. Cicoria hasn’t been playing as long (records for him go back only two years), but his runner-up finish in the event was (again, as best as we can determine with existing records) his best finish, to date. The $1,000-added event drew its 23 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Estevez’ path to his first appearance in the winners’ circle went through Sung Lee, Stewart Warnock, Sr. (a double hill win), and Suzzie Wong, to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Joe Romeo (who’d just sent Cicoria to the loss side, double hill). Bob Toomey, in the meantime, squared off against one of the tour’s top female competitors, Allison LaFleur, in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Estevez advanced to the hot seat match with a 6-3 win over Romeo. Toomey and LaFleur battled to a single deciding game that eventually sent Toomey to battle Estevez. Estevez then downed Toomey 5-3 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, LaFleur picked up Cicoria, who, following his defeat by Romeo, had eliminated Arthur Trzeciak 5-1 and Wong 5-3. Romeo drew Ryan Dayrit, who’d gotten by Shweta Zaveri and Marisol Palacios, both 6-4.
Cicoria downed LaFleur 5-2, and was denied a re-match against Romeo, when Dayrit shut him out to advance to the quarterfinals. Cicoria defeated Dayrit 5-3 in those quarterfinals, and completed his loss-side run back to the finals with a 5-1 victory over Toomey in the semifinals.
It’s hard to know in a final match in which both players are looking for their first tour win whether the victory is a matter of superior skills or the simple fact that one player wanted it more than the other. In either case, Estevez won 5-3 to claim his first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Cappelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q-Ball, Bender Cues and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for August 19, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Four years ago, Frank Sieczka chalked up his first victory on the Tri-State Tour. The following year, he added two more tour victories. And then, as far as the winners’ circle went. . .crickets. He was runner-up in two events last year, and in March of this year, he placed fifth in an event won by Joe Romeo. On Saturday, July 21, Sieczka worked his way back into a Tri-State victory, going undefeated, though challenged at the end by Romeo, who’d been sent to the loss side in the opening round and won eight in a row to get into the finals. The $1,000-added 8-Ball event drew 28 entrants to Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
With Romeo toiling away on the loss side, Sieczka advanced to meet Greg Partlow in a winners’ side semifinal. Joseph Bossert faced Jake Kislowski in the other winners’ side semifinal. Sieczka downed Partlow 5-2 and in the hot seat match, faced Bossert, who’d sent Kislowski west in a double hill battle. Sieczka then defeated Bossert 5-3 and sat in the hot seat, awaiting the return of Romeo. . .
. . . who was busy. With three down, he picked up a forfeit win over Shane Soto and defeated Mac Jankov 5-2 to pick up Kislowski. Partlow drew Roberto Hung Ho, who’d eliminated Christian Long 6-1 and Qian Chen 6-3 to reach him.
Hung Ho defeated Partlow 6-3, while Romeo was sending Kislowski to the (figurative) showers 5-1. Romeo and Hung Ho locked up in a double hill, quarterfinal fight, eventually won by Romeo, who proceeded to deny Bossert a second chance at Sieczka by defeating him 6-4 in the semifinals.
Sieczka and Romeo had not met in the event this past March, when Romeo advanced to the hot seat and Sieczka advanced through the loss side only as far as the 5th/6th slot. Showing no signs of hot seat ‘rust,’ Sieczka took the final 6-2 to claim his first Tri-State title in three years.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton 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, scheduled for Saturday, July 28, will be hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
He hasn’t been around that long. We here at AZBilliards have (now) got 11 payout entries in the database for Matt Klein; nine of them for events on the Tri-State Tour and two on the Predator Pro Am, dating back only as far as a little less than a year ago in August of 2017. In that time frame, he has climbed to the #3 spot on the Tri-State Tour’s C-class Player of the Year standings for the 2017-2018 season. He’s got 24 appearances to his credit in the Tri-State’s current season, including two runner-up finishes in January. In his most recent appearance on the tour, on Sunday, June 10, he came back from a loss in the hot seat match to down Pascal Dufresne in the finals and claim his first title on either local tour. The $1,000-added event drew 47 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
And it’s not like he’s getting lucky draws. In this most recent event, following victories over Jason Goberdhan and Steven Molital, he got by Amy Yu, a C+ player and one of the top 10 women on the tour, and then, in one of the winners’ side semifinals, he drew Dave Shlemperis, the #2 B+ player on the tour. Pascal Dufresne, in the meantime, squared off against Joe Romeo in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Klein got into the hot seat match with a 7-5 win over Shlemperis, and met Dufresne, who’d sent Romeo west in a double hill battle. It was Dufresne who claimed the hot seat with a 7-5 win over Klein.
Yu and Romeo moved on to the quarterfinals; Yu, with a 7-3 win over Shlemperis and Romeo, double hill over Raimondo. Yu took the quarterfinal match over Romeo 7-2 to earn a re-match against Klein in the semifinals.
Klein had allowed Yu only one rack in their first meeting. Yu chalked up five in the semifinals to force a deciding game. Klein won it for a second shot at Dufresne in the hot seat. He took full advantage of the opportunity, downing Dufresne 9-7 to claim his first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, 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 will be the season finale, the Annual Tri-State Invitational Tournament, open exclusively to the top 16 players in each of six ranking categories. In addition to prizes for each winner in the six separate tournaments, awards will also be handed out for Player of the Year, Sportsman of the Year, and what has been described by tour representatives as the “most prestigious award” – Improved Player of the Year. The event is scheduled for June 30-July 1 at Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Checking in with his first (payout) entry in our player database, Joe Romeo went undefeated to win the March 25 stop on the Tri-State Tour. He was challenged in the finals by Patrick Meyers, who’d lost his opening round match to him and then won eight on the loss side for the right to face him a second time. Romeo, as the hot seat occupant, became the official winner, once he and Meyers opted out of playing a final match. The $1,000-added, Double Point event drew 29 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
After his opening round victory over Meyers, Romeo got by Mike Strassberg and Michelle Brotons to face Mike Mele in a winners’ side semifinal. Bob Toomey, in the meantime, following victories over Marc Lamberti and Jim Gutierrez, faced Allison LaFleur, looking for her second Tri-State victory of the month. With identical scores of 6-3, Romeo and Toomey advanced to the hot seat match over Strassberg and LaFleur. Romeo claimed his first hot seat 6-2 over Toomey and waited on the return of his first opponent in the tournament.
On the loss side, Meyers, following victories over Suzzie Wong, David Booth, and Qian Chen, shut out Tony Ignomirello and survived a double hill match against Ada Lio, to enter the first money round against Mele. LaFleur drew Frank Sieczka, who’d defeated Daniel Decker 5-3, and Jim Gutierrez 6-4 to reach him.
Meyers got through a second straight double hill match to advance to the quarterfinals over Mele. LaFleur joined him, following a 6-2 win over Sieczka.
Meyers ended LaFleur’s bid for a second March win on the tour with a 6-4 win in those quarterfinals, and then, spoiled Toomey’s hopes for a second shot against Romeo with a 5-3 victory over him in the semifinals.
It was late. The two assessed the option of a final match, taking into consideration that they’d already played once, and opted out. They settled for a split, with Romeo collecting the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, 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, scheduled for Saturday, March 31, will be a 9-ball event, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
