It was the same matchup that had occurred at the 2017 Empire State Championships on Long Island two years ago. At that tournament two years ago (February), Tony Kuo and Duc Lam met twice – hot seat and finals – to determine the event’s amateur champion. Kuo got into the hot seat, but Lam came back from the semifinals to win it. On Saturday, August 17, at a $1,000-added Tri-State Tour stop that drew 36 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY, Kuo and Lam battled it out for the hot seat again and again, Kuo prevailed. This time, though, Lam didn’t get a second chance. Although Lam did win the semifinal match for the right to challenge Kuo in the final, the late hour led to a mutual agreement to split the top two cash prizes. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, Kuo claimed the official event title.
Victories over Joe Wilson Torres (double hill), Juan Melendez and Shweta Zaveri set Kuo up for a winners’ side semifinal against Raymond Lee. Lam, in the meantime, squared off against Bianca Martinez. Lam and Martinez locked up in a double hill fight that eventually did send Lam to the hot seat match. Kuo joined him after 7-4 victory over Lee. In what proved to be the decisive match of the tournament, Kuo and Lam fought to double hill, as well, with Kuo prevailing in his last match of the evening.
Martinez arrived on the loss side of the bracket and ran into Dax Druminski, who’d been sent to the loss bracket by Lam in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then, defeated Max Watanabe, double hill and Luis Lopez 6-2. Lee picked up Luis Jimenez, who’d eliminated Shweta Zaveri 8-4 and Rick Rodriguez 7-4 to reach him.
Druminski chalked up his third straight loss-side win 6-1 over Martinez. Jimenez recorded his third straight on the loss side, as well, downing Lee 7-3.
Druminski took the quarterfinal match 7-5 over Jimenez to earn his rematch against Lam in the semifinals. Lam, though, closed out the event proceedings with a 9-4 win over Druminski, before agreeing to the split with Kuo in the hot seat.
Tour representatives thanked Manny Stamatakis and his Steinway Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Bludworth Ball Cleaner, Quick Slik, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, and Paul Dayton Cues. The Tri-State Tour will return to Steinway Billiards this weekend (August 24-25) for a two-day, B/C/D event.
Already having his best earnings year to date, Ryan Dayrit added his first major tournament win by going undefeated* on the Tri-State Tour’s second stop of its 2019-2012 season on Sunday, July 21. At the end of the $1,000-added event, which drew 41 entrants to Cue Bar in Astoria (Queens), NY, Dayrit and his opponent in the finals, Lidio Ramirez, opted out of a final match, leaving Dayrit, the undefeated occupant of the hot seat as the official winner.
Dayrit faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals of this one. After victories over Chris Schmidt, Sabrina Sherman and Luis Jimenez, he advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against DeMenthris Hudson, as Tony Kuo squared off against Kapriel Delimelkonoglu in the other one; Delimelkonoglu had just sent Ramirez to the loss side 7-2. Dayrit got into the hot seat match with a double hill win over Hudson, as Kuo downed Delimelkonoglu 7-5. Dayrit claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Kuo and waited for Ramirez to complete his three-match, loss-side run.
Delimelkonoglu moved to the loss side, where he ran into an immediate re-match against Ramirez, who’d defeated Basdeo Sookhai 7-5 and Amanda Andries 10-7 to earn the rematch. Hudson drew Luis Jimenez, who’d lost to Dayrit in a winners’ side quarterfinal and had defeated Sabrina Sherman 7-4 and Michelle Brotons, double hill.
Ramirez and Jimenez handed Delimelkonoglu and Hudson their second straight loss; Ramirez successfully wreaking his vengeance on Delimelkonoglu 7-2 and Jimenez sending Hudson to the figurative ‘showers’ 7-3. Ramirez then defeated Jimenez 8-6 in the quarterfinals.
By the same score (8-6), Ramirez then defeated Tony Kuo in the semifinals in what proved to be the last match of the event. Ramirez and Dayrit agreed upon a split, with Dayrit claiming the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Liquid Weighted Cues, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Quick Stik, Phil Capelle, Pool & Billiards, Bender Cues, Dayton Cues, and Romer Trophies. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, July 27, will be hosted by Shooters Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
When the Tri-State Tour stop held on Sunday, June 9 got down to its last 12 players (from 41 entrants), 10 of them were competitors who will likely be invited to the tour’s annual invitational tournament, restricted to the top 16 players in each of the tour’s six ranking divisions (not including either the Open or Pro class) and scheduled for June 29-30. The player who got into the hot seat and won (*) the tournament, Euryel Castillo (#29 among the tour’s C+ players) is not likely to be among the invitees, unless over a dozen invited players from the C+ division can’t make it. The man he would have played in the final, Juan Melendez, is a likely invitee in the C division, having entered the tournament as #12 on that list. Also likely to be invited will be the 3rd place finisher, Yomaylin Feliz-Forman (#15 on the B List), who gave up only one rack in her first five matches before being sent to the loss side by Castillo in the battle for the hot seat. She was defeated by Melendez in the semifinals (she’d sent him to the loss side originally). The $1,000-added event was hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Following victories over Thomas Schreiber (#7 among B players), Joe Mazzeo, and a double hill win over Tony Kuo, Castillo advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against the tour’s #2-ranked B+ player, Matt Klein. Two of the tour’s top-ranked women squared off against each other in the other winners’ side semifinal; Yomaylin Feliz-Forman (better known as “Smiley”) versus Shweta Zaveri, the tour’s top-ranked female and its #1 competitor in the D+ division.
Castillo sent Klein to the loss side 7-3, as “Smiley” got the best of Zaveri 9-5. Castillo and Feliz locked up in a double hill fight for possession of the hot seat, eventually claimed (7-6) by Castillo.
On the loss side, Klein picked up Thomas Schreiber (#7 among B players), who’d defeated Tony Kuo 7-3 and eliminated Max Watanabe (#2 among the A/A+ players) in a double hill battle. Shweta Zaveri drew Juan Melendez, who’d been sent to the loss side by “Smiley” 7-2 in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then, defeated Bob Toomey (#1 C+) 6-4 and Bianca Martinez (#8 D+), double hill.
Schreiber downed Klein 7-5 to get into the quarterfinals. He was joined by Melendez, who’d defeated Zaveri in his second straight double hill win. Melendez more or less solidified the likelihood of joining the invitational tournament with a 7-5 victory over Schreiber in those quarterfinals.
Melendez turned for a re-match against Feliz and in his third, loss-side double hill match, defeated her 8-7 for a shot at Castillo in the hot seat; a shot not taken, as it were. The two agreed to a split, with Castillo as the undefeated occupant of the hot seat claiming 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 last regular tour stop of the 2018/2019 Tri-State Tour season, scheduled for Saturday, June 15, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ. Two weeks later, on the weekend of June 29-30, the Annual Tri-State Invitational Tournament will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
One of the trickier concepts of most regional tour ranking systems is the balance between actual accomplishments and participation. Winning the most event titles does not necessarily guarantee that you’ll be ranked as the tour’s top player in any given division. While your victories might put you ahead in cash, if a fellow competitor has appeared in three times as many events as you, he/she could well be ahead of you in tour ranking points, because he/she was collecting points, sometimes for less notable finishes, when you weren’t competing.
Case in point: Matt Klein, who, two weeks ago, entered a tournament as the Tri-State Tour’s #4-ranked B player. He won that tournament, his second of the tour’s 2018-2019 season, and this past weekend (Sunday, April 28), he added a third Tri-State title with an undefeated run at a $1,000-added event that drew 49 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. Going into this past weekend’s tournament, Klein had not moved up in the B-player rankings, because while the three players ahead of him on the list didn’t compete, they’d participated in more tournaments, overall, and retained their lead in the B rankings. That might change this week, as Klein’s 14th appearance on the 2018-2019 Tri-State season likely edged him closer to or possibly above Tri Chau in third place. Nathaniel Raimondo and B leader, Mike Mele are somewhat out of reach (points-wise) to allow Klein to take the top spot, this week. But stay tuned, as the Tri-State season edges toward its mid-summer conclusion. With three wins to his credit, he could finish the season as its top ranked B player.
Klein faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals of this most recent event. He sent Tony Kuo to the loss side 7-3 in one winners’ side semifinal, as Bryan Jeziorski (the tour’s #4-ranked B+ player and winner of the previous week’s Tri-State event) downed Pashk Gjini (#27 on the B list) 7-2 in the other one. Klein claimed the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Jeziorski.
It was Gjini who would face Klein in the finals and he began his loss-side trip back to that match, against Jose Estevez, who’d defeated Nick Limbertos 7-4 and shut out Ryan Dayrit to reach him. Kuo picked up John Durr, who’d most recently eliminated “Smiley” Feliz 7-4 and Bianca Martinez 8-3.
Gjini moved into the quarterfinals with a 7-4 victory over Estevez and was joined by Durr, who’d defeated Kuo 7-1. Gjini then defeated Durr in those quarterfinals 7-1 to draw a rematch against Jeziorski in the semifinals.
A somewhat predictable double hill match ensued, with odds in favor of the higher-ranked player, Jeziorski. Gjini, though, prevailed to earn his slot in the finals. There, Klein put an end to his loss-side run 7-1 to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked Manny Stamatakis and his Steinway Billiards staff, 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 this weekend (Sunday, May 5) will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Jorge Rodriguez, Zion Zvi, Jimmy Rivera and Kang Lee
Zion Zvi, winner of last spring's 6th Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament, chalked up not only his first win, but his first paying finish since then, with an undefeated run at the 10th Annual Empire State Championships, held on the weekend of February 25-26. The $1,000-added Open/Pro, 10-Ball division of the championships drew 25 entrants to the event's traditional home, Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY. A concurrently-run, $2,000-added, 9-Ball Amateur event drew 108 entrants and saw Duc Lam return from a defeat in the hot seat match to down Tony Kuo in the finals.
"I took a break over the past few years," said Zvi, who's sponsored by Molinari Cues and Steinway Billiards, "but I'm going to be more active this year.
"I'm coming back, one step at a time," he added.
Zvi and Jimmy Rivera battled twice in this one; once, in the hot seat match and again, in the finals. Zvi had sent Frankie Hernandez to the loss side 7-4, as Rivera was downing Lee Kang by the same score. Zvi took the hot seat by that same 7-4 score as well, and waited on Rivera's return.
Over on the loss side, Jorge Rodriguez, following victories over Jim Conn 7-2, and Eugene Ok 7-4, was laying in wait for Hernandez. Waiting for Kang was veteran player Danny Basavich (better known as Kid Delicious), who'd defeated Chris Derewonski 7-3, and Holden Chin 7-2.
Rodriguez downed Hernandez 7-5 as Kang was busy eliminating Kid Delicious 7-4. Rodriguez then defeated Kang in the quarterfinals 7-2. In the semifinals, Rivera ended Rodriguez' loss-side run 7-5.
Zvi, though, on something of a comeback trail that looks to be stepping up its pace in the weeks and months ahead, was too close to let this one slip away. He downed Rivera a second time, this time 7-2, to claim the title.
Lam comes back from hot seat defeat to down Kuo in Amateur finals
Duc Lam and Tony Kuo battled twice in the Amateur event, with the lower-handicapped Kuo getting '4 on the wire' (racing to 9) in the hot seat match, and '3 on the wire' (racing to 8, and then, to 10) in the finals. In the winners' side semifinals, Lam had sent the event's defending champion, Justin Muller, to the loss side 7-5, as Kuo was sending Ryan Dayrit over by the same score. Lam and Kuo played 10 games in the hot seat match, each winning five. Kuo's handicap advantage made it 9-5 for him, and he was in the hot seat.
Kuz ended Muller's hopes of defending his title 7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Dayrit, who'd downed Schreiber 8-5. Dayrit took the quarterfinals 9-5, and then had his short loss-side streak ended by Lam in the semifinals 10-5.
As noted, Kuo opened the finals with '3 on the wire,' racing initially to 8. Lam reached 8 first, with Kuo at 6, having won 3. Lam went on to win it 10-8 to claim the event title.
