During the May 17 stop on the Tri-State Tour, Jud Parker made it as far as a winners' side semifinal, before being sent to the losers' bracket by Vagif Alekberov. Parker would return, after winning three straight to meet and defeat Quin Y. Chen in the finals of the $750-added, event, hosted by House of Billiards, on Staten Island.
Parker's winning side trail went through Marco Costello, and Edward LaLmiev, before encountering Alekberov in a winners' side semifinal. Chen, in the meantime, squared off against Mike Strassberg. Alekberov bested Parker 6-4, as Chen was downing Strassberg 6-3. Chen defeated Alekberov in the battle for the hot seat, and waited on the return of Parker.
Parker moved over to face Richard Anderson, who'd defeated Luis Lopez 6-5 and Marco Costello 8-2 to reach him. Strassberg ran into Robert Jew, who'd gotten by Pat Mareno 6-5 and Eddie Perez 6-2. Parker started his trip back to the finals with a 6-3 victory over Anderson, as Strassberg was being sent home Jew 6-2. Parker then downed Jew 6-3 and got a second shot at Alekberov in the semifinals.
Parker gave up only a single rack against Alekberov, and moved into the finals against Chen. Chen got on the board first, but Parker answered with five straight to take a lead he'd never give up. Parker had increased his lead by one at the 7-2 mark, before Chen came up with three straight to pull within two at 7-5. Parker ended it though in the next rack to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at House of 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, to be conducted in cooperation with the Predator and Mezz Pro Am Tours, will be the fourth annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament, scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26, at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens, NY.
If you didn't know better, you'd swear that the Tri-State Tour was somehow or other designed to add a new name to the winners' list, every week. While you do get your regular, repeat customers, the number of times you see a new name far outnumbers the list of regulars. Some of this is attributable to the players on the tour who excel and move into Open/Pro status. Sometimes, it's about geography; certain players show up on the tour when it stops at certain locations. Then, too, there's the unpredictability about the game itself, which lends itself to a variation on the "any given Sunday" theme, which dictates that at a certain level of competition, anyone can emerge as the winner.
On Sunday, January 26, at a $750-added event, hosted by House of Billiards on Staten Island, Miguel Laboy worked his way through a field of 27 to add his name to the Tri-State's ever-expanding list of winners. He did so at the expense of Dennis Kennedy, one of the tour's former winners (February '12), and owner of the host location. Laboy took him down twice; once in the hot seat and again, in the finals.
After a double hill start against Giovani Hosang, Laboy moved on to defeat Marco Dy and Annie Flores, before facing the "ever-dangerous" Gary O'Callaghan in one of the winners' side semifinals. Kennedy met up with Quin Y. Chen in the other. Laboy downed O'Callaghan handily 7-1, as Kennedy was moving into the hot seat match with a 6-4 win over Chen. Laboy took the first of his two against Kennedy 6-4 and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
O'Callaghan moved over to face Raj Vannala, who'd defeated Justin Muller 7-4 and Marco Costello 7-5. Chen picked up Tony Ignomirello (another Tri-State, winners' circle veteran), who was in the midst of a six-win, loss-side winning streak that would carry him all the way to the semifinals. He got by Yagif Alekberov 6-2 and Pat Mareno 6-4 to draw Ignomirello. Both winners' side semifinalists – O'Callaghan and Chen – went down; O'Callaghan 7-5 to Vannala and Chen 6-1 to Ignomirello.
Ignomirello survived a double hill battle against Vannala in the quarterfinals, only to be shut out by a determined Kennedy in the semifinals. Former winner versus new name was on, and in light of the tour's penchant for chalking up new names on the list of winners, you'd have had to give Laboy the edge.
Kennedy didn't think so, and he jumped out to a 4-0 lead, before Laboy checked in with a couple. Kennedy came back to chalk up his fifth, and Laboy promptly fought back with three to tie, and one more to take his first lead at 6-5. Kennedy would win only one more, as Laboy advanced to claim the event title 9-6.
Tour representatives thanked Kennedy and his staff at House of Billiards, along with 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 February 1, will be hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
Dennis Kenedy, Akbar Karmoeddien and Marco Costello
Two weeks ago, Dennis Kennedy had to forego a finals re-match against Scott Bannon and missed an opportunity to chalk up a second Tri-State win. On Saturday, December 21, Kennedy was sitting in the hot seat, looking, once again, to chalk up a Tri-State win. This time, Akbar Karmoeddien, whom he'd sent to the loss side, came back and made him a runner-up for the second time this month. The $750-added event drew 24 entrants to House of Billiards in Staten Island, NY.
They met for the first time among the winners' side final four, with Kennedy advancing to the hot seat match 6-5. Joining Kennedy in that hot seat match was Marco Costello, who'd sent Matthew Harricharan west 7-4. Kennedy chalked up his final win of the day and got into the hot seat 9-5 over Costello.
Karmoeddien, in the meantime, opened up his three-match march back to the finals against Steve Persaud, who'd defeated Joe Varvaro 6-5 and Paulo Valverde 6-4. Harricharan picked up Omar Alli, winner of the December 14 stop on the tour, who'd defeated Keith Adamik 7-5 and Basdeo Sookhai 7-3.
Karmoeddien advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3 win over Persaud, as Alli made it clear he was looking for a second straight win on the tour with a shutout over Harricharan. Karmoeddien ended that bid with a 7-3 win in the quarterfinals and earned his second shot at Kennedy with a shutout over Costello in the semifinals.
Karmoeddien and Kennedy fought back and forth, trading racks to a 3-3 tie; Kennedy with the initiative, and Karmoeddien coming back to tie each time. Karmoeddien then won two straight to go ahead 5-3, before Kennedy came right back with two of his own to knot the score at 5-5. Karmoeddien ended it right there, winning three straight to complete his first win on the Tri-State Tour.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at House of 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, scheduled for December 29, will be hosted by The Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Though he'd chalked up a victory on the Predator Tour in June, Carl Yusuf Khan, known as The Warrior, had yet to win a 2013 Tri-State Tour event. He corrected that on Saturday, October 12, with an undefeated victory in a $300-added event, hosted by House of Billiards on Staten Island, NY.
Khan defeated Marco Costello 7-3 and advanced among the winners' side final four to meet up with Joe Rubino, as his eventual hot seat opponent, Anthony Mattia, squared off against Inna Bediner. Khan defeated Rubino 8-4, while Mattia was busy surviving a double hill match against Bediner. Khan got into the hot seat 8-6 over Mattia, and awaited the return of Keith Diaz.
Diaz had been moved to the loss bracket by Mattias in a winners' side final eight battle, and defeated Bob Toomey 6-2 and Jud Parker 6-4 to draw Bediner. Rubino picked up Marco Costello, who'd gotten by Thomas Rice 7-5 and Dennis Kennedy 9-5. Rubino eliminated Costello 8-6, and thanks to a forfeit by Bediner, met Diaz in the quarterfinals.
Diaz dropped Rubino 6-4 in that quarterfinal match and then spoiled Mattia's bid for a finals rematch against Khan with a 6-3 win in the semifinals. Diaz took advantage of his loss-side momentum to open up a 5-0 lead in the finals. Khan, though, won six of the next seven to knot things at 6-6. He completed a six-pack for an 8-6 win.
Tour representatives thanked the staff and ownership at House of 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 Saturday, October 19, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
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.
Juan Guzman chalked up his fourth Tri-State area victory in as many months with an undefeated run on the Tri-State Tour on the weekend of June 8-9. He was undefeated on Tri-State events in March and April, and in May, on the Predator Tour, won nine on the loss side to meet and defeat hot seat occupant, Darwin Vergara. This most recent event, a $2,750-added, A-D handicapped tournament, hosted by Gotham Billiards in Brooklyn, drew the largest field of all of them (62). Though it hasn't happened yet, this third Tri-State victory is likely to advance him out of his current B++ class, and have him competing as an A player, real soon.
Following victories over Marco Costello, Rajesh Vannala, Jimmy Acosta, and a double hill win over the Tri-State Tour's current top-ranked B player, Gary Murgia, Guzman moved among the winners' side final four to face Geoffrey Bauer. Raymond Lee and Dennis Kennedy squared off in the other winners' side semifinal. Guzman defeated Bauer 7-5, and in the hot seat match, faced Lee, who'd dispatched Kennedy to the loss side 6-3. For the third time since March, Guzman was in the Tri-State hot seat, awaiting a finals opponent.
Bauer moved west to pick up Steve Wright, who'd handed Murgia his second straight loss 7-1 and gone on to survive a double hill match against Meshak Daniel. Kennedy faced Ambi Estevez, who'd defeated Bredon Hollack 6-5 and Luis Jimenez 6-3. Two double hill battles ensued, with Bauer and Estevez winning them and moving on to face each other in the quarterfinals.
Bauer downed Estevez 9-6, leaving only the semifinals against Lee between him and a re-match versus Guzman. Lee spoiled that reunion with an 8-4 win in those semifinals to earn his own re-match.
Lee took a quick, three-rack lead in the finals, only to have Guzman come right back to tie things up. From there it was back and forth, one rack at a time, to a 6-6 tie, at which point, Guzman took final command, and completed the 8-6 win that gave him his third Tri-State victory.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Gotham Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Poison Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next Tri-State stop, an A-D handicapped, $1,000-added event is scheduled for June 15 at Steinway Billiards in Astoria.
