Keith Adamik and Michael Aro
Michael Aro won his first Tri-State stop at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ, five years ago. In the hot seat at the end, he and Joe Fego opted out of a final match. Aro's gone on to chalk up at least one Tri-State victory in each of the past three years, winning twice at House of Billiards on Staten Island (October 2012, and May 2013) and most recently, November 2, at BQE Billiards, in Jackson Heights, NY. He met up in the finals with Alex Osipov, who won eight on the loss side to challenge him. The $1,000-added event drew 29 entrants to BQE Billiards.
Following victories over Pat Mareno, Paulo Valverde, and Larry Chandler, Aro faced Todd Trent in a winners' side semifinal. Keith Adamik and Miguel Laboy (winner of three Tri-State stops this year) squared off in the other. Adamik sent LaBoy to the loss side 7-5, and faced Aro, who'd dispatched Trent 6-5. Aro got into the hot seat 8-6 Adamik and waited for Osipov to complete his loss-side trip to the finals.
Osipov had been on the losers' side of the bracket since the opening round, when he was defeated by Chumreon Sutcharitakul 7-5. After three loss-side victories, Osipov took out Akbar Karmoeddien 7-3 and Ambi Estevez 7-2, which set him up to face LaBoy. Osipov was denied a re-match against Sutcharitakul, who had forfeited out of his match versus Estevez. Trent drew Bob Toomey, who'd gotten by Larry Chandler 6-3, and Mike Esposito 6-4.
It was Osipov and Trent who advanced to the quarterfinals; Osipov with a 7-5 win over LaBoy, and Trent 6-4 over Toomey. Osipov chalked up loss-side win # 7 with a 7-4 victory over Trent, and then survived a nail-biting double hill match against Adamik in the semifinals.
Aro established himself early in the finals against Osipov, winning the first three matches. Osipov came back to pull within one, which he'd do a total of four times; at 3-2, 4-3, 5-4, and 6-5. Aro chalked up the win in rack 12 to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Bartron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for November 8, will be hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
