There's something to be said for playing in your own room, whether it's a recreation room with a pool table in your house, or the familiar surroundings of a local pool hall. Jose Liz Domeneche would attest to that and proved the point by going undefeated on Saturday, October 11 at his local pool room; Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ. Domeneche, who placed fifth in the Tri-State's opening event in July, and third in August, navigated his way through a field of 44 entrants, on hand for the $1,000-added Tri-State event, and from the hot seat, opted out of a final match, splitting the top two prizes with Nelson Tran.
After victories over Ricardo Mejia, room owner John Trobiano, and Joe Palone, Domeneche faced Chris Schmidt in a winners' side semifinal; Schmidt had just survived a double hill fight against Tran. Jerrmichael Canson, in the meantime, met up with Robert Jew. Domeneche cruised into the hot seat match 7-1 over Schmidt, and faced Canson, who'd defeated Jew 6-2. Domeneche got into the hot seat, double hill and waited on Tran.
Tran's loss-side trip opened with double hill fights against two Castle Billiards players; Trobiano and house pro Scott Simonetti. Tran moved on to his rematch against Schmidt, as Eddie Perez, winner over Andrew Cleary and Teddy Lapadula, both 6-3, drew Jew. Tran had a comparatively easier time with Schmidt, downing him 7-1 and advancing to the quarterfinals against Perez, who'd defeated Jew 6-4.
In those quarterfinals, Tran and Perez were both working on loss-side winning streaks; Perez working on his fifth match, Tran on his fourth. It was Tran ending Perez' streak 8-5, and then, in what proved to be the event's final match, defeated Canson in the semifinals, 7-5. The decision to not play a final match was reached, and Domeneche, undefeated, claimed the title.
Tour representatives thanked Trobiano and his Castle Billiards staff, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod, Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics.
