Multiple winners on the Tri-State Tour are rare. Back-to-back wins on the tour fall into the ‘relatively unheard of' category. Paul Everton carved his name into the slim annals of this category with a second straight win on the tour on Saturday, November 28. The $750-added, B-D handicapped event drew 36 entrants to Sandcastle Billiards in Edison, NJ.
On the previous tour stop, on November 21 in Queens, Everton came back from the one-loss side to win it. In Edison, NJ, his victory completed an undefeated day, which included two wins over his opponent in the finals, ChristIan Smith. After opening victories against Joe Varvaro, Jonathan Laino and Scott Abramowitz, Everton faced Smith for the first among the winners' side final four. After defeating Smith7-5, Everton faced off against Eric Tang, who'd just sent Rajesh Vannala to join Smith 7-6. Everton gained the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Tang and waited for what turned out to be Smith's return.
Smith's first matchup in the west bracket was Tom McCloud, who'd defeated Drew Smith 7-5 and Dave Fitzpatrick 9-6. Vannala, in the meantime, met up with Robert Hannah, who'd dispatched Carl Sallo 7-5 and Abramowitz 6-4. Vannala and Smith met in the quarterfinals after identical 7-6 victories over Hannah and McCloud. Smith made short work of Vannala 7-3 and then dropped Tang into third place 7-4 for his second shot of the day at preventing Everton's chance at a second straight tour win.
The two traded racks to open the final match, before Everton opened up a three-rack lead at 4-1 that would eventually characterize the final score. Down by three, Smith closed that gap to two, twice; at 4-2 and 6-4, but would see it widened to four at the 6-2 mark. Smith won the tenth and eleventh racks to get back within two, but Everton closed it out at 7-4 to take home the first place prize.
The staff of the Tri-State Tour extended its thanks to Sterling-Gaming, Inside Pool, NYCGRIND, AZBilliards, OnTheBreakNews and Professor Q Ball for their continued support of the tour
