Ra Hanna cut through a field of 42 entrants on the Tri-State Tour stop on Saturday, January 23rd to finish undefeated. In addition to pocketing the $500 first-place prize, Hanna took home a J. Pechauer custom cue, provided by Ozone Billiards. The $500-added amateur event was hosted by Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.
Hanna survived a series of close matches early to move among the winners' side final four, where he faced Pho Tran. Dave Shlemperis, in the meantime, faced Rhio Anne-Flores. With identical 6-3 scores over Tran and Flores, Hanna and Shlemperis squared off in the hot seat match. Hanna gained the hot seat with a 6-2 win, and waited for what turned out to be the return of Tri Chau.
On the one-loss side, Chau, who'd been sent west by Flores 6-3 from among the winners' side final eight, began a five-match march to the finals with a 6-3 win over Richard Ng. He followed it with a 6-4 win over Andrew Boryszewski that set him up to meet Tran, coming west from the winners' side final four. Randy Mackin, in the meantime, defeated Peter Brennan 6-5 and Minnie Trobiano 7-6 to pick up Flores. Chau and Flores defeated Tran and Mackin by identical 6-3 scores, and turned to face each other in a quarterfinal re-match. This time, it was Chau with a 6-3 win, who emerged from the contest to move into the semifinals against Shlemperis.
Shlemperis took what looked to be a commanding 4-1 lead in those semifinals, not knowing at the time that he'd won his last game of the event. Chau roared back to win five in a row, dropping the 9-ball on the break in the final two racks.
Hanna, though, turned the tables on Chau in the finals. Like Shlemperis, Chau took an early lead in the contest – 5-2 – only to watch, also like Shlemperis, as Hanna proceeded to win all he'd need, four in a row, to win the match and crown the comeback by sinking the 9-ball on the final break.
