Two of Koka Davladze's last three wins on the Tri-State Tour have come as the result of making it to the hot seat match and deciding, with a finals opponent, not to play a last match. A little over a year ago (September, 2013 in Brooklyn), he split the top prize with Chris DeCaprio. In March, this year, he went undefeated again; this time, playing and winning a final match against Keith Diaz. On Sunday, October 27, Davladze found himself in the hot seat again, and this time, opted out of a final match against Keith Adamik. The $1,000-added event drew 45 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens.
Davladze opened his six-opponent, undefeated run with victories over Carl Yusuf Khan, Ed Culhane, Chumreon Sutcharitakul and a 7-4 win over Adamik. This set him up for a winners' side semifinal against Miguel Laboy. Jaydev Zaveri, in the meantime, met up with Eric Hummel. Davladze sent LaBoy (7-5) to a loss-side meet-up with Adamik. Zaveri sent Hummel over 7-4. Davladze chalked up his sixth and final win against Zaveri 9-8.
On the loss side, Adamik, having moved past Stewart Warnock 7-6 and Sutcharitakul 7-5, met and defeated LaBoy 7-2. In the quarterfinals, he faced Ramon Feliciano, who'd gotten by Tony Ignomirello 6-2 and Pat Mareno 6-4, before eliminating Hummel 7-4.
Adamik defeated Feliciano 8-4, and then, in what proved to be his final match, downed Zaveri in the semifinals 8-6. Davladze and Adamik, who opted out of a final match, are among the tour's top five "A/A+" players. Going into the event, Adamik (A) was in second place behind Miguel LaBoy (A+) whom he'd defeated in the 5/6 matches), with Davladze (A+) in fifth place, behind Eric Grasman (A+) and Jose Mendez (A).
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway 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, at BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights, NY is scheduled for November 2.
