Miguel Laboy & Kapriel Delimelkonoglu
Three years ago, during Miguel Laboy’s best earnings year at the tables, he won four stops on the Tri-State Tour, and was among the top 10 finishers in 12 of the 13 events in which he competed on both the Tri-State and Predator Pro Am Tours. Since that time, he’s continued to chalk up wins on both tours, and has maintained that ‘top ten finisher’ pace every year. On Sunday, December 10, he added another victory on the Tri-State Tour to his growing list of accomplishments, coming from the loss side to meet and defeat Kapriel Delimelkonoglu in the finals of a $1,000-added event that drew 34 entrants to Cue Bar Lounge and Billiards in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Laboy and Delimelkonoglu met twice in this event, first, in a winners’ side semifinal, won by Delimelkonoglu 7-5 that sent Laboy to the loss side, and later, in the finals. In the hot seat match, Delimelkonoglu faced Juan Melendez, who’d sent Luis LaPuente over 6-3 in the other winners’ side semifinal. Delimelkonoglu claimed the hot seat with a 9-7 win over Melendez and waited on Laboy’s return.
On the loss side, Laboy opened his trip back to the finals against Jimmy Martinez, who’d defeated Thomas Schreiber 7-2 and Carl Yusuf Khan 7-3 to reach him. LaPuente drew Matt Klein, recent winner over Mac Jankov 6-3 and Ilija Trajeski 6-4.
Laboy advanced to the quarterfinals 8-5 over Martinez and was joined by LaPuente, who’d eliminated Klein 6-4. Laboy moved on to defeat LaPuente 10-6 in the quarterfinals, and Melendez 11-8 in the semifinals.
Laboy reversed his hot seat fortunes in the finals. He defeated Delimelkonoglu 9-4 to claim his first Tri-State title of the year.
Tri-State representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling Billiards, John Bender Custom Cues, Kamui, Digicue, Billiards Digest, Human Kinetics, Blue Book Publishing, Joe Romer Trophies and Phil Capelle Publications. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, the last of 2017, is scheduled for Sunday, December 17, and will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
