Dave Shlemperis and Orlando Forgie
On December 1, a couple of unofficial records may have been set on the Tri-State Tour, when tour representatives re-booted a tournament that had been delayed by the impending arrival of Hurricane Sandy on October 28. When storm warnings threatened to close the Verazzano Bridge connecting to Brooklyn and beyond, to New Jersey, Tri-State representatives called a halt to the proceedings, announcing that they would finish what had been started on the December 1 tour stop at the same location, Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn. They did so, thereby creating the record-setting phenomenon. Orlando Forgie may hold the record for the longest wait in a hot seat, (one day shy of five weeks), while the eventual winner, Dave Shlemperis, may hold the record for longest amount of time on the loss side. The $1,250-added event had drawn 34 (brave) entrants to Gotham Billiards.
Back in October, Shlemperis and Forgie had advanced to the winners' side final four; Shlemperis to face Tony Ignomirello, and Forgie setting up to meet Andrzej Kaldon. Ignomirello survived a double hill battle against Shlemperis, and in the hot seat, faced Forgie, who'd defeated Kaldon 7-5. Forgie got into the hot seat 7-4, and began his five-week wait for an opponent.
Shlemperis had moved over to meet Mark Perel, who'd defeated George Poltorak 7-3 and Kapriel Delimelkonoglu 7-4. Kaldon drew Kim Meyer-Gabia, who'd gotten by Emit Yocul 8-7 and Harry Guevarez 7-4. Meyer-Gabia picked up a forfeit victory over Kaldon, and waited on Shlemperis, who defeated Perel 7-4. At the point of the matches which would have determined the winners of the 7/8 slots, the event was called on account of the potential rain, a LOT of potential rain. Over the course of the next five weeks, tour representatives played various portions of what was left of the matches, at various locations, including a Shlemperis victory over Meyer-Gabia 7-6 in the quarterfinals, and his re-match, 7-3 victory against Ignomirello in the semifinals.
On December 1, Forgie's record-setting wait in the hot seat ended. He had, by this time, gone cold, very cold, although he did open the finals with two straight wins. Shlemperis, though, then won seven straight. Forgie won the 10th rack, but Shlemperis came right back to win the next and final two, to lay claim to the delayed event title.
Tour representatives thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley, owners of Gotham City Billiards for their hospitality, especially during the difficult hours leading up to the postponement of the October tournament. They also thanked sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Poison Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics.
