It was the second time that Russell Masciotti and Matt Klein had met in the hot seat match on the Tri-State Tour. Last year, in April at Cue Bar in Queens, NY, Masciotti, looking for his first regional tour win anywhere, sent Klein to the loss side in that event’s hot seat match. Klein returned from a semifinal victory over Shane Torres to deny Masciotti that first regional tour win.
This year, on Sunday, March 8 at a $1000-added stop that drew 38 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY, things played out a little differently. The event last year was described (by me) as a “battle of the Bs,” both players at the time playing at a ‘B’ level on the tour. This year, Klein’s an ‘A’ player; second on the tour’s ‘A’ list, and was just coming off of a tour win a week ago. Masciotti is still a ‘B’ player; #15 on that list and still in the hunt for his first major win. They didn’t play in the hot seat match this year, because Klein was sent to the loss side early by Abel Barriento and had to win seven loss-side matches just to be in the finals. Masciotti stopped Klein’s run in the finals, finishing undefeated to claim the event title and his first regional tour win.
Masciotti’s path went through Basdeo Sookhai, David Grant and Julian Tierney before coming up against Thomas Schreiber in a winners’ side semifinal. In the meantime, Allison LaFleur and Ada Lio squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Masciotti got into the hot seat match with a 7-3 win over Schreiber. LaFleur joined him after sending Lio to the loss side 6-3. Masciotti claimed his second-ever hot seat, downing LaFleur 7-5.
On the loss side, it was Schreiber who picked up Klein, four matches into his loss-side winning streak, that had recently included wins over Julian Tierney 7-5 and a double hill win over Sherwin Robinson. Lio drew Jason Goberdhan, who’d eliminated Qian Chen 6-2 and survived a double hill win over Brandonne Alli to reach him.
Klein defeated Schreiber 7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Goberdhan, who’d sent Lio home 6-2. Klein advanced into two straight double hill fights, winning the first 8-7 over Goberdhan in those quarterfinals and then, defeating LaFleur 9-8 in the semifinals.
And so it was, that just a month shy of a year later, Klein and Masciotti met again in the finals on the Tri-State Tour. They battled back and forth to a 5-5 tie, before Masciotti reached the hill (6) first. In the middle of what looked to be a relatively easy runout that would have extended the match for Klein, he missed his shot at the 8-ball. Masciotti stepped up and cleared the table to claim the event title and his first regional tour win.
Tour representatives thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards for their hospitality, as well as Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, Liquid Weighted Cues and Billiards Engineering. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, March 15, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Matt Klein is the Tri-State Tour’s fourth highest-ranked player on its 56-entrant “B” player list, behind Mike Mele, Nathaniel Raimondo and Tri Chau. He’s risen to that level on the basis of 11 appearances on the 2018-2019 tour, which began last summer. Mele has appeared 23 times, while Raimondo and Chau have made 14 appearances each. Klein has already exceeded his previous best earnings year (2018) and it’s only April. In February, after winning a stop on the Tri-State Tour, he chalked up a runner-up finish at the Empire State 9-Ball Championships. Klein added his second victory on the Tri-State in the current season, coming back from a hot seat loss to fellow B player, Russell Masciotti to down him in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 30 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY on Sunday, April 14.
Klein ran a rogue’s gallery gauntlet of top-notch Tri-State talent to claim the title, beginning with Mike Strassberg (the tour’s current #2 C player) 7-5, Thomas Schreiber (one spot below Klein on the B list) 7-2, and Jason Goberdhan (#7 on the C+ list, and winner of the April 6-7 stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour) 7-3, before running into Bob Toomey (#1 on the C+ list) in a winners’ side semifinal. Masciotti, in the meantime (#26 in the B class), squared off against Keith Adamik.
Klein defeated Toomey 7-5 and in the hot seat match, faced Masciotti, who’d sent Adamik to the loss side 7-4. Masciotti won the ‘battle of the Bs’ hot seat match 7-3 and waited on Klein’s return.
On the loss side, Adamik picked up Luis Jimenez, who’d eliminated Nathaniel Raimondo 7-2 and Tri Chau 7-3, which could, dependent on how the numbers play out, elevate Klein above Raimondo and Chau on the B player list. Toomey drew a re-match against Shane Torres, whom he’d defeated in an earlier round, and who was on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals against Klein. He’d most recently defeated Stewart Warnock, Sr. 7-3 and Goberdhan 6-3.
Adamik and Jimenez battled to double hill before Adamik advanced to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Torres, who’d successfully wreaked vengeance on Toomey 6-4. Torres then downed Adamik 8-6 in those quarterfinals, before having his loss-side streak ended 7-5 by Klein in the semifinals.
In an extended-race-to-9 final, Klein reached the ‘7’ threshold first to extend the race to 9 games. He advanced two more to down Masciotti 9-5 and claim 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, DIGICUE OB and Hustlin USA. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, April 20, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
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.
Stewart Warnock came out of the gate fast on Sunday, April 27, chalking up a shutout in his first match, and following through with an undefeated run through five other opponents to capture the event title on a Tri-State Tour stop. The $1,000-added event drew 52 entrants to BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights, NY.
Ari Hirshfeld was on the receiving end of Warnock's opening-round shutout, before Bogie Uzdejczyk, Robert Pamilar, and Kapriel Delimelkonoglu went down, moving Warnock into a winners' side semifinal against Vinny Ferri. Jaydev Zaveri, in the meantime, who'd end up facing Warnock twice, faced Kevin Ippolitto. Warnock defeated Ferri 8-5, and met up with Zaveri, who'd downed Ippolitto 7-6. Warnock took the first of two against Zaveri 9-7 and waited in the hot seat for the second.
On the loss side, Lidio Ramirez was putting together an eight-match winning streak that had started when he fell in the opening round to Mike Pruitt. Halfway through the run, he defeated Wilfredo Albay 7-6, and Basdeo Sookhai 7-5, which set him up to face Ferri. Ippolitto, in the meantime, met up with David Gumbs, who'd defeated Yurgos Hatziefthimiou 7-4 and Shane Torres 7-5, to reach him.
Ramirez got by Ferri 7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Ippolitto, who'd eliminated Gumbs 7-2. Ramirez completed his loss-side run with a 10-7 win over Ippolitto, and then ran into Zaveri, who stopped him 8-5 for a second chance against Warnock.
Like Warnock in the tournament, Zaveri came out of the starting gate in the finals, fast. He opened up a 4-0 lead, before Warnock responded. He responded, though, with a vengeance, chalking up nine straight to take the match and the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE 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 is scheduled for May 3 at Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
