Guy Iannuzzi, Bogie Uzdejczyk, Kim Meyer-Gabia and Owner/ Operator - Vincent Sauro
All, of course, is not lost when you lose your opening, first match in a double elimination pool tournament. It does increase the number of matches you'll have to play to win the event title, and forces you into a 'no room for error' mind-set that can be exhausting. For those reasons, it's often a more impressive feat than going undefeated. Bogie Uzdejczyk took that loss-side, 'road less travelled' journey at a Tri-State stop on Saturday, October 20, winning ten on the loss side and then, knocking Guy Iannuzzi from his hot seat perch in the finals. The $750-added, A-D handicapped event drew 49 entrants to Clifton Billiards Expresso Bar & Grill in Clifton, NJ.
As Uzdejczyk was working on his comeback from his opening-round defeat at the hands of Fast Eddie Medina, Iannuzzi worked his way to the winners' side semifinals and a match against Keith Adamik. Kim Meyer-Gabia and Peter Chin joined them. Iannuzzi sent Adamik west 7-4, as Meyer-Gabia was busy sending Chin over, 6-5. Iannuzzi's final victory, 7-3 over Meyer-Gabia, left him in the hot seat, waiting for Uzdejczyk.
Over on the loss side, Uzdejczyk opened his 10-match jaunt to the finals with a victory over Christian Smith, and followed it with wins over Bryan Jeziorski, Edward Crespo, Koka Davladze, and Steve Kaminov. He allowed each of those first five, loss-side opponents less than four racks each through the 52 games he played against them. Subsequent victories over Michael Rodriguez 7-4 and Ron Gabia 7-2, set him up to face Adamik, coming over from the winners' side final four. Chin, coming over from the same place, drew a newcomer to the Tri-State Tour, Louise Petronica, who'd gotten by Dennis Kennedy 6-4, and Tony Ignomirello 6-5.
The two loss-side opponents, Uzdejczyk and Petronica, handed Adamik and Chin their second straight loss; Uzdejczyk 7-5 over Adamik, Petronica 6-5 against Chin. Uzdejczyk prevailed 7-5 over Petronica in the quarterfinals that followed, and then downed Meyer-Gabia 7-4 in the semifinals.
Uzdejczyk opened the finals against Iannuzzi with four straight wins. Iannuzzi responded with two in a row, but they were the last two. Uzdejczyk, punctuating his 10, loss-side wins, won seven straight games to capture the event title.
Tour representatives thanked Vincent Sauro, the new owner of Clifton Billiards, for his support and great playing conditions, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Poison Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. The next Tri-State Tour stop will be a $1,250-added, B-D handicapped event on Sunday, October 28 at Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
