Eddie daCosta, Eddie Lum and Chris Soto-Chimelis
Back in May, on the Tri-State Tour at Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan, Eddie Lum got close to chalking up his "first ever" tournament win. He advanced to the winners' side final four, and when sent to the loss side from there, won a match that put him into the quarterfinals. It was as far as he got.
On Saturday, August 10, Lum was back at Amsterdam Billiards and once again, found himself among the winners' side final four. This time, though, he advanced into the hot seat and defeated Eddie DaCosta twice to capture the event title and claim the tournament win that had eluded him in May. The $640-added, C-D handicapped event drew 35 entrants to Amsterdam Billiards.
Lum faced Chris Soto-Chimelis in one of the winners' side semifinals, as DaCosta squared off against Paolo Valverde in the other. Lum, who'd win his final three matches by the same 6-3 score, downed Soto-Chimelis, as DaCosta was sending Valverde west 7-5. Lum got into the hot seat over DaCosta, and waited on his return.
Valverde and Soto-Chimelis got right back into the swing of things on the loss side. Valverde drew John Lazo, who'd defeated Wanlop Chantarakolkit 6-2. Soto-Chimelis faced Will Hodgins, who'd eliminated Javier Colayco. Valverde got by Lazo 7-4, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Soto-Chimelis, who'd given up only a single rack in his contest against Hodgins.
It was Soto-Chimelis who advanced to the semifinals against DaCosta, with a 7-5 win over Valverde. DaCosta stopped Soto-Chimelis' brief, loss-side run with a 6-3 victory in the semifinals, and got a second chance against Lum. Lum, though, closed out his undefeated run with his final 6-3 victory, and chalked up his first ever tournament win.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Amsterdam Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics.
