It was one of those 6 a.m. deals, where two players who've spent all day, all night and into the next morning on their feet, look at the top two cash prizes and decide that the difference is not significant enough to make a final match desireable. Miguel "PeeWee" Laboy proved to be the 'title' beneficiary of this, finishing undefeated and chalking up his second win on the Tri-State Tour this year. Lidio Ramierez, a Predator Tour victor in June, grabbed the runner-up title, splitting the top two cash prizes. The $2,000-added event, held on Saturday, August 16, drew 64 entrants to Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
Laboy and Ramierez did face each other in a winners' side quarterfinal. A 7-1 victory by Laboy sent Ramierez on a five-match, loss-side winning streak that would eventually get him back to the finals. Laboy moved on to face Junior Singh in a winners' side semifinal, as Amy Yue Yu met up with Chris DeCaprio. Laboy defeated Singh 7-4 and faced Yu, who'd sent DeCaprio west 6-3. In what would prove to be his final win, Laboy defeated Yu 9-8 to gain the hot seat.
It was Singh who had the misfortune of running into Ramierez on the loss side. Ramierez had defeated Eric Tang 7-4 and Thomas Rice 7-5 and then, eliminated Singh 7-6. He was met in the quarterfinals by Sam Hoffman, who, after shutting out Larry Chandler and defeating Mickey Xie 6-3, had downed DeCaprio 6-4.
Ramierez sent Hoffman home 8-4, and then, in the semifinals, with dawn approaching, defeated Yu 9-7. LaBoy and Ramierez agreed to the money split, leaving LaBoy as the undefeated, official winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Gotham City Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Batron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for August 23, will be hosted by the The Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
