Yomaylin Feliz
Given the fact that as of this past weekend, two women have chalked up back to back wins, it'll be a long time before anyone reports on a lengthy gap between female victories on the Tri-State Tour. In the 2011-2012 season finale, held on the weekend of June 23-24, Yomaylin Feliz, a C+ player, battled Alex Osipov, a B player, twice; once in the battle for the hot seat, and again, in the opening set of a true double elimination final. Feliz took the first match, and Osipov took the second. They opted to split the prize and not play a second set in the finals. By mutual agreement, Feliz was declared the winner. The $1,000-added A-D handicapped event drew 49 entrants to Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan.
From among the winners' side final four, in a straight-up, C-race to 6, Feliz sent Dave Weinstein to the loss side, double hill. Osipov, in the meantime, sent Keith Adamik (an A player) west 7-3. Feliz prevailed in her first of two against Osipov 7-4, and waited in the hot seat for his return.
Weinstein moved over and picked up Ben Castaneros, who'd shut out Luis Jimenez, and defeated Matt McMillen 6-3 to reach him. Adamik, battling for end-of-season bragging rights in his A class from his # 2 position in the rankings, drew Daniel Dagotdot, who entered the tournament at # 1 in the same A-class ratings, and had gotten by Raphael DaBreo 7-5 and Emily Duddy 7-3.
Adamik prevailed over Dagotdot 7-4, and in the quarterfinals squared off against Castaneros, who'd downed Weinstein 6-3.
Adamik moved into the semifinals with an 8-5 victory over Castaneros, but fell short in his re-match against Osipov. Osipov's 7-6 win in those semifinals kept Adamik just shy of passing Dagotdot for the # 1 ranking among the tour's A/A+ players. Osipov took the opening set of the true double elimination final against Feliz, at which point, the two mutually agreed to split the prize, and declare Feliz, as occupant of the hot seat, the winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff of Amsterdam Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour will be the tour's annual invitational meet, restricted to the top-players in each of six ranked divisions. Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ will host the event, scheduled for the weekend of July 14-15.
