Luis Jimenez, Rhio Anne Flores and Lidio Ramirez
For the second time in as many weeks, Luis Jimenez has gone undefeated to win a stop on the Tri-State Tour. He did it in the opening weekend of June at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ and on Saturday, June 15 at Steinway Billiards in Astoria; a $1,000-added event that drew 52 entrants.
In the earlier event, Jimenez faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals. In this latest win, he faced the same opponent - Rhio Anne Flores. After wins over Gail Glazebrook, Chris DeCaprio, and Michael Aro, he moved into a winners' side semifinal matchup against Ambi Estevez. Flores, in the meantime, faced Emerson Verano. Jimenez downed Estevez 6-2, as Flores was busy surviving a double hill match against Verano. Jimenez took the first of two against Flores 7-4, and waited on her return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Verano picked up Lidio Ramirez, who'd been sent west by Flores and was in the midst of an eight-match, loss-side streak that would set up a semifinal re-match. With four down and four to go, Ramirez faced and won two, back-to-back, double hill challenges from Manny Stamatakis and Bogie Uzdejczyk, which set him up to face Verano. Estevez, in the meantime, drew the youngster, 14-year-old Thomas Rice, who'd defeated DeCaprio, double hill, and Shivam Gupta 6-3 to reach him.
It was Ramirez and Rice who advanced to the quarterfinals; Ramirez, 7-4 over Verano and Rice, 6-2 over Estevez. Ramirez then ended Rice's day 8-4 to earn his re-match shot against Flores. Flores, though, took him down a second time 7-5 and earned her own re-match versus Jimenez.
Jimenez took a quick 2-0 lead in the finals, but Flores came right back with two racks of her own to tie it. They proved to be her last. Jimenez chalked up the requisite five in a row to claim his second June victory on the Tri-State.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway 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 Tour stop, a $750-added, A-D handicapped event, is scheduled for June 22, at Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
