Mike Strassburg and Chumreon Sutcharitakul
Prior to Sunday, April 26, the closest that Chumreon Sutcharitakul had come to the Tri-State winners' circle (based on information at our disposal) was as runner-up at an event in November, 2012. He'd been defeated in the opening round of play and marched seven matches through the loss side to challenge hot seat occupant, Ed Medina. On Sunday, he went undefeated to claim his first Tri-State title at a $1,000-added event, hosted by BQE Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
He'd survived a double hill match against Chris DeCaprio in a winners' side semifinal, as Michael Esposito was sending eventual runner-up Mike Strassburg to the loss side 6-4. Sutcharitakul claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Esposito and waited on Strassburg.
Strassburg moved over and met up with Bob Toomey, who'd defeated Arthur Russel 6-2 and Erick Carraco 6-5 to reach him. DeCaprio drew Ramon Feliciano, who'd gotten by Duc Lam 8-6 and survived a double hill confrontation versus Edward Pacumio.
Strassburg and DeCaprio resumed their winning ways; Strassburg defeating Toomey 6-5 and DeCaprio eliminating Feliciano 7-4. In what proved to be the last match of the event, Strassburg downed DeCaprio in the quarterfinals 6-2. Esposito settled for third place by forfeiting the semifinal match to Strassburg. Sutcharitakul and Strassburg opted out of a final, splitting the top two prizes. As the undefeated hot seat occupant, Sutcharitakul claimed the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, along with sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, May 2, will be hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
