Sam Alvarez, Koka Davladze and Chis Karp
It had been almost exactly four years since Chris Karp had stepped into a Tri-State Tour winners' circle; April 30, 2011, to be precise, when he went undefeated through a field of 32 at Eastside Billiards in Manhattan. Three years and 11 months later, on March 21, he went undefeated through a field of 41, on hand for a $1,500-added Tri-State event, hosted by Steinway Cafe and Billiards in Astoria (Queens), New York.
In his seven-match run to the finish line, Karp went through a set of Tri-State veterans, beginning with Mike Strassberg, Luis Jimenez, Kapriel Delimelkonoglu, and Bogie Uzdejczyk. Next up, in a winners' side semifinal, was Eddie Perez, while Koka Davladze met up with Sam Alvarez. Karp sent Perez packing to the loss side 7-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Alvarez, who'd dispatched Davladze 8-6. Karp took the hot seat 7-4 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Davladze.
On the loss side, Davladze ran into Uzdejczyk, who, following his defeat at the hands of Karp, had won two straight double hill matches against Jamiyl Adams and Stewart Warnock. Perez picked up Dave Shlemperis, who'd gotten by Delimelkonoglu 7-1 and Alberto Estevez 7-5. A 7-5 win for Shlemperis over Perez and a 7-4 victory for Davladze against Uzdejczyk, put them against each other in the quarterfinals.
Davladze then chalked up two straight 8-5 wins; over Shlemperis in the quarterfinals and Alvarez in the semifinals. Karp opened the finals against Davladze with three straight racks. They traded racks to 4-1, before Davladze checked in with three straight of his own, tying the match at 4-4. Karp got ahead by two, before Davladze checked in with what would prove to be his last rack. At 6-5, Karp surged ahead to win it 8-5.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway Cafe and Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Barton, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, March 29, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
