Elvis Rodriguez
According to our database records, Elvis Rodriguez made more money shooting pool last year than he has in the previous dozen years his name has been showing up on the payout lists of varied tours from Florida to (more recently) the Tri-State and Predator Tours. He opened his 2017 campaign with a come-from-the-loss-side win on the Tri-State Tour, on Sunday, February 5. The $693-added event drew 33 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Rodriguez' loss-side trip began, following a 7-4 defeat at the hands of Henry Hernandez, who moved on to a winners' side semifinal match against the event's eventual runner-up, Lidio Ramirez. Qian Chen and Ryan Dayrit squared off in the other winners' side semifinal. Ramirez survived a double hill fight against Hernandez, and in the hot seat match, faced Chen, who'd downed Dayrit 6-4. Ramirez claimed the hot seat 10-6 and waited on Rodriguez.
On the loss side, Rodriguez got by Mike Pruitt 7-4 and Kapriel Delimelkonoglu 7-3 to earn himself a re-match against Hernandez. Dayrit drew Tony Ignomirello, who'd eliminated Mike Montalbano 6-4, and Marisol Palacios 8-5.
In a slightly tighter match than their previous encounter, Rodriguez downed Hernandez 7-5. Ignomirello survived a double hill match against Dayrit to face Rodriguez in the quarterfinals. Ignomirello came out on the losing side of his second straight double hill match, advancing Rodriguez to the semifinals against Chen.
Rodriguez ended Chen's day 9-6 to face Ramirez in the finals. In the extended-race-to-9 finals, Ramirez reached 7 first, forcing the extension, and added two more to defeat Ramirez 9-2 and claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Bloodworth Ball Cleaners. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, February 12, will be hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
