Normally, when a final match in any event is not played, for whatever reason, it’s the undefeated hot seat occupant who claims the official event title. Not so on Sunday, Feb. 10, when, at the end of a long night on the Tri-State Tour, at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, hot seat occupant Chris Kemp (owner of the host venue, Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ) opted out of a final match against Artur Trzeciak, who’d won seven loss-side matches to reach the finals and was willing to play that final match. Kemp, in the role of gracious host, deferred his claim to the title and the trophy went to Trzeciak. The $1,000-added 8-ball event drew 29 entrants to Shooter’s Family Billiards.
Trzeciak opened what would be his primarily loss-side day with a victory over Dennis Quinn, before being narrowly defeated by tour regular Bob Toomey 5-4. From there, it was off to the loss side races and his seven-match trip back to the finals.
Kemp worked his way through Joe Mazzeo, Fernando Galeas and John Durr to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Tri Chau. Michelle Brotons, in the meantime, on her way to only her second 3rd place finish on the tour (she was runner-up in the Women’s Leisure Division of the 2017 NYC 8-Ball Championships) got by Kevin Serodio and John DeVito (both double hill) to arrive at her own winners’ side semifinal matchup against Jake Kislowski.
Kemp got into the hot seat match with a 6-3 win over Chau. Brotons joined him after sending Kislowski to the loss side 5-2. Kemp claimed the hot seat 6-4 and presumably resumed duties as the room owner, while waiting for Trzeciak to complete his loss-side run.
On the loss side, Trzeciak got by Kimberly Kowzu, Dennis Quinn (a second time) and John DeVito before avenging his loss against Toomey 5-3. This set him up to face Kislowski, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Chau drew Grzegorz Kasica, who’d recently defeated Frank Sieczka 5-3 and shut out Kevin Serodio to reach him.
Kasica and Trzeciak, good friends, advanced to meet each other in the quarterfinals. Kasica downed Chau 6-4, as Trzeciak was busy defeating Kislowski 5-1. Trzeciak eliminated Kasica in those quarterfinals 5-3.
Brotons, already assured of duplicating her best finish on the tour, to date, was looking for more in the semifinals, but fell short 5-2. Kemp and Trzeciak opted out of the final match, with Trzeciak claiming the title and trophy.
Tour representatives thanked Kemp and his Shooters Family Billiards staff 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, and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Sunday, February 17) will be an A/B/C/D event, hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
