Brian Cap and Harry Guevarez met up in the opening round of the Saturday, August 12 stop on the Tri-State Tour; the tour's first 8-ball event of the 2017-2018 season. At the end of the day, the result – Cap winning 6-4 – stood as the deciding match. Though Guevarez would win five on the loss side to earn a re-match in the finals, the two opted out of that final match, leaving Cap, the hot seat occupant, as the event winner. The $1,000-added event drew 22 entrants to Rockaway Blliards in Rockaway, NJ.

 

With what proved to be the only match between the eventual winner and runner-up out of the way, Cap moved on to defeat Michael Conoran 6-4 and then, meet up with Jaydev Zaveri in a winners' side semifinal. In the meantime, Allison LaFleur, on her way to her second top-three finish in as many weeks, made it by Mike Guevara, Michelle Brotons (friend and road partner) and Ron Lichtenberger to face Andrew Cicoria in the other winners' side semifinal.

 

Cap defeated Zaveri 6-4, and in the hot seat match, faced LaFleur, who'd chalked up her second straight, double hill win versus Cicoria. Cap claimed the hot seat 9-6 in what would prove to be his last match of the day.

 

On the loss side, Harry Guevarez opened his five-match march to the finals-that-never-were with a forfeit win, and defeated Paul Madonia 6-4 to draw Zaveri. Cicoria picked up Gil McGrath, who'd defeated Artur Trzeciak, double hill, and Lichtenberger 5-3 to reach him.

 

Guevarez defeated Zaveri 6-4, as Cicoria got right back to work and downed McGrath, double hill.  Guevarez then defeated Cicoria 6-2 in the quarterfinals. In what was described by tour representatives as a victory of "experience over determination," Guevarez dropped the final 8-ball of the semifinals, and last match of the event, winning it 7-4 over LaFleur to conclude the day's activities. The undefeated Cap claimed the event title.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rockaway Billiards, as well as sponsors John Bender Custom Cues, Ozone Billiards, Sterling Billiards, Kamui, Digicue, Billiards Digest, Human Kinetics, Blue Book Publishing,  Phil Capelle Publications and Joe Romer Trophies. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, a $1,000-added B/C/D event, scheduled for August 19-20, will be hosted by Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan, NY.

For the second week in a row Carl Yusuf Khan, known for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with pool, as The Warrior, has gone undefeated on the Tri-State Tour. Tour representatives were unable to recall the last time a player won two in a row. On September 11, he went undefeated through a field of 38 entrants to claim the title. On Sunday, September 18, at a $203-added event at Rockaway Billiards, in Rockaway, NJ, he joined an extraordinarily short field of 11 and once again, went undefeated. He and his finals opponent, Tony Ignomirello, whom Khan had defeated previously in a winners' side semifinal, opted out of a final match, allowing Khan to claim the official title while splitting the top two cash prizes.

 

He and Ignomirello met first in that winners' side semifinal, won by Khan 7-5, as Michael Conoran was busy downing Fred Garcia 7-4. Khan moved into his second straight hot seat match and defeated Conoran 7-5.

 

On the loss side, Garcia picked up Pascal Dufresne, who'd defeated Paul Madonia 7-4 and Steve Kaminow 7-3 to reach him. Ignomirello drew Martin Carducci, who'd survived a double hill battle versus Kevin Coyle and benefited from a forfeit by Liam Tully. Garcia and Ignomirello advanced to the quarterfinals; Garcia, 7-2 over Dufresne and Ignomirello, 6-3 over Carducci.

 

Ignomirello took the quarterfinal match against Garcia 7-3, and then, almost had his loss-side run derailed by Conoran in the semifinals. The two battled to double hill, and in the case game, shooting at the 8-ball (the game was 9-ball), Ignomirello scratched. With ball in hand, Conoran took aim at the 8-ball and missed, leaving Ignomirello an easy out. He took advantage, closed out the rack and turned to face Khan.

 

The match didn't happen. At a relatively early hour, the two opted out of the final, leaving Khan as the official, undefeated winner.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Rockaway Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Bloodworth Ball Cleaners. Barring fulfillment of an open date on October 1, the Tri-State Tour will be back at Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ, for a $1,000-added, double point event on Sunday, October 9.