(l to r): Andrew Lee, Zain Sundaram & John Morrison
Hernandez takes Open/Pro event
Andrew Lee got by John Morrison twice during the Predator Pro Am Tour’s visit to Gotham City Billiards on the weekend of May 18-19, and finished undefeated to claim the event title. According to tour director Tony Robles, the event was something of an experiment, designed to divide the normal crowds that show up for the tour’s A/B/C/D amateur events and lead to seriously late night/early morning finishes. Robles isolated the C/D players and invited them to the $1,800-added amateur event that drew 39 entrants to Gotham City Billiards.
Of arguably more ‘human interest’ in the amateur event was a match between husband and wife, Monika and Mike Callaghan. They ended up battling for the right to advance to the amateur event’s first money round. More on this when we get to the loss-side activities of the event.
On Sunday, May 19, a $700-added Open/Pro event drew 16 entrants and saw Frankie Hernandez claim that title, by winning the semifinals. More on this when we get to the Open/Pro event.
In the Amateur event, Andrew Lee and John Morrison met first in a winners’ side semifinal as Zain Sundaram and Juan Melendez squared off in the other one. Sundaram survived a double hill battle versus Melendez to earn his spot in the hot seat match. Lee joined him after sending Morrison to the loss side 7-3. Lee claimed the hot seat 7-1 and waited for Morrison to complete his three-match, loss-side winning streak.
The match between the married Callaghans would not normally appear in a report, because only one of them advanced beyond the 9/12 matches. They battled for the right to make it to the amateur event’s first money round. It was a double hill match, 6-5, won by Monika, at the end of which, according to Robles, she stuck her tongue out at husband, Mike, who was reportedly only partially amused. Her elation didn’t last because in the first money round, Mac Jankov, who’d eliminated Bob Toomey 6-3, defeated her double hill to advance and meet Melendez. Morrison picked up Joe Wilson Torres, who’d defeated Keith Jawahir 7-4 and survived a double hill fight against Tony Ignomirello to reach him.
Melendez advanced to the quarterfinals with a double hill win over Jankov. Morrison downEd Torres 7-4 to join him. Morrison took the quarterfinal match over Melendez 7-4 and then, defeated Sundaram 7-3 in the semifinals, to earn a shot at Lee in the hot seat.
Lee completed his undefeated run by allowing Morrison only a single rack in the finals. The 7-1 victory earned Lee the tour’s first-ever, strictly C/D amateur title.
Hernandez downs Sim in semifinals to claim Open/Pro title
The one time they did meet, in a winners’ side semifinal of the Open/Pro event, Jorge Rodriguez and Frankie Hernandez battled to double hill before Rodriguez prevailed to get into the hot seat match. He was joined by Del Sim, who had also survived a double hill match, against Alex Osipov. Rodriguez claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Sim, and unable to continue, forfeited the final match. This elevated the status of the event semifinals, allowing its winner, Hernandez, to claim the event title.
On the loss side, Frankie Hernandez picked up Pat Fleming, who’d shut out Jennifer Baretta and eliminated Mike Salerno 7-4. Osipov drew Mhet Vergara, who’d defeated Ashley Burrows 7-4 and survived a double hill fight against tour director Tony Robles.
Vergara downed Osipov 7-3, as Hernandez had his hands full surviving a double hill fight against Fleming. Hernandez moved on to defeat Vergara 7-3 in the quarterfinal match, and then, in what in effect was the event final, defeated Del Sim 7-4 to claim the event title.
Robles thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley and their Gotham City Billiards staff for their continuing support as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PlayNAPL.com, The DeVito Team, PoolOnTheNet.com, Cappelle (Billiards Press), AZBilliards, Pool & Billiards Magazine, and Billiards Digest. Robles also thanked his always-supportive cast of assistants, to include his lovely wife, Gail.
The next stop on the Predator Tour, scheduled for this coming Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-27), will be the 9th Annual George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial Tournament. As always, the $4,000-added event will be held under the combined auspices of the Predator Pro Am, Tri-State and Mezz Tours, and will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
It’s become something of a long-standing tradition on the Tri-State Tour that no matter how many familiar names pop up in a tour stop’s winners’ circle, there is always someone new who shows up and adds their name to a growing, very long list. The ratio is hard to determine, but for every familiar name that chalks up a win on the Tri-State, there are usually quite a few in the course of the tour’s season who add their name to the ongoing list of winners.
On Sunday, October 1, Zouraiz Ellahi added his name to the list of first-time winners on the tour with an undefeated run through a field of 38. The $1,000-added event was hosted by BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY.
Ellahi’s run through the field included victories over quite a few familiar names, like Junior Singh, Alberto Estevez, Lidio Ramirez and Carl Yusuf Khan, whom he defeated in a winners’ side quarterfinal, which set him up to face John Morrison in a winners’ side semifinal. In the other winners’ side semifinal, Suzzie Wong, who was in the midst of an impressive performance that would ultimately net her a fourth place finish, squared off against Dementhris Hudson, another new name, who’d finished fourth on his only other payout appearance on the Tri-State back in May.
Ellahi defeated Morrison, who’d come back to face him in the finals, 7-4, as Hudson sent Wong to the loss side 6-3. Ellahi claimed his first Tri-State hot seat 7-5 over Hudson, who was also looking to occupy that seat for the first time.
Morrison and Wong advanced to the quarterfinals; Morrison 8-2 over Khan, and Wong, surprisingly shutting out Tri-State veteran ‘Tony Iggy.’ Wong and Morrison battled to double hill in those quarterfinals, but Wong’s run came to an end. Morrison went on to give up only a single rack in his semifinal battle against Hudson.
Morrison, who’d won a Tri-State event back in 2015, ended up winning two more racks in the final than he had in his winners’ side semifinal against Ellahi. But it wasn’t enough. Ellahi won it 7-4 to claim his first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE 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, Joe Romer Trophies and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, October 15, will be hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Davladze, Sookhai, Schreiber, Kwak and Emil chalk up separate event victories
The 2nd Annual NYC 8-Ball Championships, held on the weekend of November 7-8, under the auspices of Tony Robles' Silent Assassin Productions, and functioning as the BCAPL's regional tour championships, experienced a modest increase in attendance over its debut last June. With the addition of a sixth event – a Mixed Masters tournament – the championships averaged 18 entrants, an increase of just over two entrants per event. The Mixed Advanced event saw the largest increase (13 to 23), with the Mixed Open event close on its heels (23 to 32). The Women's Leisure event saw a decrease from 16 to 10 entrants, while the Men's Leisure event added one entrant to last year's total of 15. The $3,500-added (total) championships drew 108 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Shaw goes undefeated a second time
The fixed-entrant, signature event – The Men's Grandmasters – with its full field of 16 saw Jayson Shaw successfully defend the title he'd won last year, going undefeated for a second time. Though Sean Morgan, last year's runner-up, was among the event's final eight, he ended up in the tie for 5th/6th, which left the door open for Jorge Rodriguez to battle Shaw twice; in the hot seat match and finals. Shaw defeated Nick Ekonomopoulos 8-7 to get into the hot seat match, while Rodriguez sent Mike Wong to the loss side 8-5. Shaw claimed the hot seat 8-5 and waited for Rodriguez to get back from the semifinals.
Those semifinals were set up when Morgan and Jeremy Sossei emerged from the 7th/8th matches over Frankie Hernandez and Hunter Lombardo. Morgan drew Ekonomopoulos, and Sossei picked up Wong. Ekonomopoulos ended Morgan's bid to be in the title match 8-4, while Sossei eliminated Wong by the same score. Sossei dropped Ekonomopoulos into fourth place 8-5, before having his bid ended by Rodriguez in the semifinals. Shaw punctuated his title defense with a commanding 8-2 victory over Rodriguez in the finals.
Emil and Kwak go undefeated to capture Men's/Women's Leisure titles
Andrew Emil and Carolina Kwak emerged from the 16- and 10-entrant fields of the Men's and Women's Leisure events and went undefeated to capture their respective titles. Emil shut out Jim Gutierrez to get into the hot seat match of the Men's Leisure tournament. He was joined by Mark Ogawa, who'd sent Rolando Rodriguez west 5-2. Emil claimed the hot seat 5-3 over Ogawa.
On the loss side, Rodriguez won three straight double hill matches for a shot at Emil in the hot seat. He got by Brad McDuffie, then Gutierrez in the quarterfinals, and finally, Ogawa in the semifinals. Emil, though, punctuated his undefeated run with a shutout over Rodriguez in the finals.
Kwak got into the Women's Leisure hot seat with, first, a double hill win over Bianca Martinez in a winners' side semifinal. Latonia Taylor, in the meantime, sent May Ng to the loss side 5-2. By that same score, Kwak sent Taylor to the semifinals to claim the hot seat. On the loss side, Martinez got into the quarterfinals, following a double hill win over Erika Zan. She was met by the woman she'd sent to the loss side, Deborah Pritchett, who'd eliminated Ng 5-2. Pritchett gave Martinez her come-uppance in a double hill quarterfinal and got a shot at Kwak with a 5-3 win over Taylor in the semifinals. Kwak claimed the Women's Leisure title with a 5-2 victory over Pritchett in the finals.
Schreiber, Davladze, and 'The Warrior' claim Mixed Titles.
Tommy Schreiber, competing in the largest-field (32) Mixed Open event, was the only other competitor to go undefeated in the six-event championships. He got into the hot seat match, following a 6-4 victory over Ambi Estevez, and was met by Cristobal Tiru, who'd defeated Joe Wilson Torres 6-4. Schreiber claimed the hot seat 6-3 over Tiru.
It was Estevez and Abel Rosario who emerged from the loss-side scuffles to meet in the quarterfinals. Rosario survived a double hill match versus Omar Chavez to face Torres, whom he then defeated 6-2. Estevez defeated John Morrison 6-3 to join him. Estevez won the quarterfinal match, double hill, over Rosario, before Tiru eliminated him 6-2 in the semifinals. Schreiber then defeated Tiru a second time to claim the title, though not before Tiru battled him to to double hill, forcing a case game.
Shawn "The Warrior" Sookhai and Koka Davladze came back from losses in the winners' side semifinals of the Mixed Advanced and Mixed Masters fields to win those events. Sookhai, sent west by Max Watanabe 7-5 in the Mixed Advanced tourney, came back through Noah Vogelman (7-4), Ehmunrao Toocaram (7-5) and successfully wreaked vengeance on Watanabe 7-5, before downing hot seat occupant Matthew Harricharam 9-6 to claim the Mixed Advanced title.
Davladze was sent to the loss side by Raphael Dabreo, 7-4, in a winners' side semifinal of the Mixed Masters event. DaBreo went on to defeat Juan Guzman 7-5 in the hot seat match. Elvis Rodriguez, who'd been sent west in the other winners' side semifinal, 7-4, by Guzman, ran into Davladze in the quarterfinals and was eliminated 7-3. Davladze finished Guzman in the semifinals 7-5 and went on to defeat DaBreo 9-7 in the Mixed Masters finals.
Tour organizer Tony Robles thanked added-money contributors Manny Stamatakis (owner of Steinway Billiards), and Michael Fedak, as well as tour director John Leyman. He also thanked Stamatakis' staff for their hospitality, and sponsors Marc Griffin and the BCA Pool League, Cue Sports International, Predator Cues, GothamCityTechnologies.com, PoolOnTheNet.com, NAPL. com, Delta 13, Ozone Billiards, Irene Kin, Ron Mason, Mandy Wu, Dan Faraguna, Allison Fisher, and (his) "amazing wife, Gail."
Chumreon Sutcharitakul, John Morrison, Owner-Operator Kevin Buckley and Tony Liang
It was just about this time last year (June 6-8) that John Morrison won the Men's Leisure division of the five-event, New York City 8-Ball Championships, the first tournament held under the auspices of Tony Robles' Silent Assassin Productions. Now, a year later, on Sunday, June 7, at a $3,500-added Tri-State 9-Ball event that drew 39 entrants to Gotham City Billiards, in Brooklyn, New York, Morrison went undefeated and chalked up his first win on the Tri-State Tour.
Following victories over Jaydev Zaveri, Mike Strassberg, Amy Yu and Ambi Estevez, Morrison moved into a winners' side semifinal versus Raul Calderon. Chumreon Sutcharitakul, in the meantime, squared off against Morrison's eventual finals opponent, Tony Liang. Morrison downed Calderon 6-4 and faced Sutcharitakul, who'd sent Liang to the loss side 7-5. Morrison claimed the hot seat, and, as it turned out, his last win of the event 8-4.
Liang moved to the loss side, where he was met by Kazuya Takagishi, who'd just completed two double hill wins over Koka Davladze and Tim Fitzsimmons. Calderon picked up Jose Palacios, who'd defeated Pat Mareno 6-4 and Ambi Estevez 6-1. Liang and Calderon got right back to work; Liang eliminating Takagishi 7-4, and Calderon ending Palacios' day 6-5.
Liang then defeated Calderon 8-4 in the quarterfinals, and followed up with a 7-4 victory that put Sutcharitakul out of business, and effectively, ended the tournament. Morrison and Liang, due to the late hour, opted out of playing a final match, leaving Morrison, undefeated, to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley and their staff at Gotham City Billiards for their continuing support of the tour, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Barton, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, June 13, will be hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Kirill Safronov, who alternates his pool time between the Tri-State and Predator tours, finally broke through on the Tri-State and chalked up a first win on the tour. The $1,000-added event, in competition with the Predator Tour and The New England Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open in Providence, RI on the weekend of February 28-March 1, drew a small field to BQE Billiards in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday.
Safronov and Lionell Swanston battled twice for the title; first, for the hot seat and later, in the finals. Safronov sent Noah Vogelman to the loss side 7-2 in one winners' side semifinal, while Swanston dispatched Steve Wade 6-4 in the other. Safronov claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Swanston and waited on his return.
Vogelman and Wade moved over and were eliminated immediately. Vogelman fell 7-5 to Gary Murgia, who'd previously defeated Shinichi Sekine 7-4 and Ramon Feliciano 7-2. Wade was a 6-1 victim to Bob Toomey, who'd survived a double hill fight versus Anthony Cuccheilla and downed John Morrison 6-1.
Toomey advanced to the first money round with an 8-6 win over Murgia in the quarterfinals. Swanston kept him right there with a 6-4 win in the semifinals to earn himself a second shot at Safronov in the hot seat.
Swanston came out gunning in the finals and took an immediate two-rack lead. Though Safronov would reduce that lead to one, a couple of times, Swantson eventually expanded it to three racks at 5-2. Safronov settled in at that point and chalked up five in a row to win it and claim his first Tri-State title.
The next Tri-State event, scheduled for March 7, will be hosted by Gotham City Billiards. Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Barton, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel.
Eric Grasman, Luis Jimenez, Jose Mendez and room owner-operator Kevin Buckley
Luis Jimenez, after a couple of unsuccessful runs competing against fellow amateurs on the Predator Tour this year, signed on to the September 20-21 stop on the Tri-State Tour, where he'd won two in a row, going undefeated, in June of 2013, and went undefeated again, through a field of 59 entrants. The $2,500-added event was hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
After victories over Dennis Kennedy, Mike Figueroa, Jaret Buyund, and T.J. Aguis, Jimenez met up with Nick Antonakis for a winners' side semifinal. Jose Mendez, in the meantime, faced Eric Grasman. Jimenez sent Antonakis over 7-5, and was joined in the battle for the hot seat by Mendez, who'd defeated Grasman, also 7-5. Jimenez defeated Mendez 7-4 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Grasman.
On the loss side, Grasman began his three-match march back to the finals against Robert Pamilar, who'd shut out Miguel Laboy, and eliminated Koka Davladze 8-6. Antonakis picked up T.J. Aguis, who'd defeated Tony Ignomirello 6-1, and John Morrison 6-4. Grasman and Aguis advanced to the quarterfinals; Grasman 8-4 over Pamilar and Aguis 6-5 against Antonakis.
Grasman earned his rematch against Mendez with a 9-6 win over Aguis in the quarterfinals, and then successfully wreaked his vengeance against Mendez 7-2 in the semifinals. Jimenez completed his undefeated run with an 8-4 win over Grasman in the finals.
Tour representatives thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley, owners of Gotham City Billiards, and their staff, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Barton, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, September 27, will be hosted by BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY.
Enoch Hooper began his Labor Day weekend as a "C+" rated player. Before the weekend was over, though, he'd picked up his first victory on the Tri-State Tour with an undefeated run, and been elevated to a "B" status. The $920-added B-C-D event on August 30-31 that brought this about drew 44 entrants to Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan.
Hooper's rise to a "B" player actually occurred during the event, as he continued to chalk 'em up on the winners' side of the bracket. He entered the winners' side semifinal as a "C+" but went into the hot seat match as a "B." Hooper had downed Colin Kelly (a "B") 7-3 and in the hot seat faced Bob Toomey, who'd defeated Andrew Cleary 6-3. The new "B" defeated the "C" (Toomey) 7-5 and sat in the hot seat on the brink of his first Tri-State victory.
Kelly moved to the loss side and had the misfortune of running into Alex Osipov, who'd been defeated in the event's opening round and was on a seven-match streak to the quarterfinals. He'd just defeated John Morrison 7-5 to draw Kelly. Cleary drew Jamiyl Adams, who'd just finished with Wanlop Chantarakolkit by the same score.
Osipov and Cleary advanced to the quarterfinals; Osipov 7-3 over Kelly and Cleary 7-5 over Adams. Osipov's run was ended 7-4 by Cleary, who advanced to the semifinals against Toomey. Clearly spoiled Toomey's chance at a second shot against Hooper with a double win in the semifinals.
Cleary took an early lead in those finals, getting out in front by 4-1. Hooper came back to win on the hill 7-6.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Amsterdam Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Batron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for September 6, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
The NYC 8-Ball Championships, sponsored by CSI, and the first event of Tony Robles' Silent Assassin Productions, featured every possible type of individual victory. Held on the weekend of June 6-8, and hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria, NY, the $2,000-added events featured three undefeated performances, one victor from the loss side who won both sets of a double elimination final, and one hot seat occupant, who was defeated in the opening set of the finals and came back to win the second.
Jayson Shaw went undefeated in the Men's Grand Masters event (see complete story among Headlines), as did Chickie Romero in the most heavily attended event, the Mixed Open, with 23 entrants. July Laban, playing in the Women's Leisure event, with 16 entrants, completed the roster of undefeated titleists. It was Adam Kwon, playing in the 13-entrant Mixed Advanced event, who came back from the loss side to defeat Chumreon Sutcharitakul twice in the finals. John Morrison gave up the opening set in the finals of the 15-entrant Men's Leisure event, but came back to win the second set.
Romero's undefeated performance in the Mixed Open event was almost derailed in his winners' side semifinal, double hill match against Izac Horne. Horne, shooting at the 8-ball in the deciding game, sunk it, only to watch, horrified, as the cue ball caromed off a few rails and dropped into a pocket to advance Romero to the hot seat match. Nick Meyer, who'd defeated Todd Trent 6-4 in the other winners' side semifinal joined Romero in the winners' side final. Romero won it 6-1 and waited for Meyer to return, which he did. Trent and Horne battled it out in the quarterfinals, and when Trent prevailed 6-2, he got a second shot at Meyer in the semifinals. Meyer defeated him a second time, 6-4, only to have Romero defeat him a second time 6-2, to claim the title.
July Laban's undefeated run through the field of 16 in the Women's Leisure event was almost derailed by the six-win, loss-side run of Akiko Taniyama, who'd been defeated by Laban in the opening round. As Taniyama was at work on the loss side, Laban and Inessa Gelman met up in the hot seat match. Laban had defeated Carolina Kwak 5-3, as Gelman was sending May Ng over by the same score. Laban downed Gelman 5-2 and waited on Taniyama. It was Taniyama and Ng who met up in the quarterfinals, and it probably didn't do Laban's waiting experience in the hot seat any good, to see Taniyama advance to the semifinals with a shutout over Ng. Nor, for that matter, did Taniyama's 5-1 victory over Gelman. Laban had given up only a single rack to Taniyama in their first meeting, and while Taniyama came within a game of forcing a double hill deciding match, Laban completed her undefeated run 5-3, and claimed the Women's Leisure title.
Adam Kwon and Chumreon Sutcharitakul ended up playing three matches that eventually decided the 13-entrant Mixed Advanced event. The first of the three came in a winners' side semifinal, when Sutcharitakul sent Kwon to the losers' bracket 7-5. In the hot seat match, Sutcharitakul faced Glenn Ramsey, who'd defeated Noah Vogelman in the other winners' side semifinal. Sutcharitakul defeated Ramsey in a double hill fight that proved to be his last win. Kwon moved over and took down Dennis Lake 7-2, and both Vogelman in the quarterfinals and Ramsey in the semifinals 7-5. Kwon then won the opening set of the finals 7-3, and followed with a 7-2 win in the second set that gave him the Mixed Advanced title.
Like Kwon and Sutcharitakul, Greg Matos and John Morrison played three times to decide the 15-entrant Men's Leisure event. Their first, following Matos' 5-3 win over Joe DeVito and Morrison's 5-2 win over Jim Gutierrez, came in the hot seat match, won by Morrison, double hill. DeVito moved to the loss side and after defeating Robert Scarmozzino 5-3 and Gutierrez in the quarterfinals 5-2, was eliminated by Matos 5-2 in the semifinals. Matos took the opening set of the finals, double hill, but Morrison came back to win the second set 5-3 and claim the Mixed Advanced title.
Promising "bigger and better events in the future," Robles and his Silent Assassin Productions team, which included John Leyman as tour director and referee for the event(s), thanked Steinway Billiards' owner, Manny Stamatakis and his staff, as well as sponsors Cue Sports International, Delta-13 Racks, Predator Cues, National Amateur Pool League (PlayNAPL.com), Gotham City Technologies, NYC Grind (Jerry and Alison Fischer), AZBilliards, Upstate AL, Joey Leon, and Bob Cmbwsu.
On Sunday, April 13, Jessica "Asia" Cycak, last seen battling Karen Corr in the finals of a stop on the JPNEWT tour, worked her way, undefeated, through a field of 45 entrants on hand, for a stop on the Tri-State Tour. The $1,500-added event, marking Cycak's first victory on the tour, was hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
Having worked her way through Rajesh Vannala, Miguel Laboy, and Luis Jimenez, Cycak faced Thomas Rice in a winners' side final four matchup, while Sam Hoffman faced Will Morales. Cycak sent Rice to the losers' bracket and in the battle for the hot seat, squared off against Hoffman, who'd sent Morales over 6-3. Cycak downed Hoffman 7-4 and waited in the hot seat for what turned out to be the return of John Morrison.
Morrison, who'd been defeated by Hoffman, worked his way through the losers' bracket, defeating Vagif Alekberov 7-3 and Bob Toomey 6-4, to pick up Morales. Rice drew Jamiyl Adams, who'd gotten by Tri V. Chau 7-4 and Bogie Uzdejczyk 7-5. Morrison and Rice defeated Morales and Adams by the same 7-3 score and faced each other in the quarterfinals.
Morrison ended Rice's day 8-4, earning himself a much-anticipated re-match against Hoffman in the semifinals. Morrison exacted his revenge 6-4 for a shot at Cycak in the hot seat. He took advantage, jumping out to a 2-0 lead before Cycak responded with seven straight to claim her first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at 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 stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for April 19, will be hosted by the Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
