By virtue of having gone undefeated, Chumreon Sutcharitakul will go into the record books as the official winner of the Sunday, May 4 stop on the Tri-State Tour. He and his opponent-that-might-have-been in the finals-that-didn't-happen, Kapriel Delimelkonoglu, did not compete at the tables, at all. Delimelkonoglu won seven on the loss side to meet Sutcharitakul in the finals-that-didn't-happen, laying claim to the "most matches played" title, as well as the distinction of having, by a single letter, the longer last name (their full names tied at 21 letters). The $1,000-added event drew 47 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
With Delimelkonoglu (a B+ player) already at work on the loss side, following his loss to Amir Uddin, Sutcharitakul (an A) advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Thomas Schreiber (the #4-ranked B player on the tour). Jonathan Gravreilof, in the meantime, squared off against Ronald Bernardo in the other winners' side semifinal. Sutcharitakul sent Schreiber to the loss side 7-5, and in the hot seat match, faced Gravrielof, who'd defeated Bernardo 6-3. Sutcharitakul chalked up his last win, 9-7 over Gravrielof, and waited in the hot seat for Delimelkonoglu to complete his loss side run.
On the loss side, Schreiber ran into Delimelkonoglu, who was five matches into his seven-match, loss-side winning streak, having most recently defeated Cesar Tucios 8-5 and Pascal Dufresne 7-3 (Dufresne had spoiled any thoughts that Delimelkonoglu might have been entertaining about a rematch versus Uddin, by defeating Uddin in his previous match). Bernardo drew Bob Toomey, who'd eliminated Naoko Saiki 6-3 and Nathaniel Raimondo, double hill.
Delimelkonoglu and Schreiber locked up in a double hill fight, before Delimelkonoglu finished it, advancing to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Bernardo, who rebounded from his winners' side loss to Sutcharitakul, with a double hill win over Toomey.
By a score of 8-6, Delimelkonoglu defeated Bernardo in the quarterfinals and, in what would prove to be his last match of the event, Gavrielof in the semifinals. Sutcharitakul and Delimelkonoglu opted out of the final match, leaving the undefeated Sutcharitakul to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and 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, June 11, will be hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
