Kamran Jehle Wins 9th Annual Tri-State Tour Invitational
By John Leyman

The ninth annual Tri-State Tour Invitational took place July 8 - 9, 2006, at Amsterdam Billiards & Bar in Manhattan, NY, bringing together highly skilled amateurs hoping to sharpen their game en route to the pro circuit and ambitious upstarts looking to advance in class. The weekend was a huge success with 12 A & A+ Players, 32 B & B+ Players, 32 C & C+ Players and 24 D & D+ Players showing up to play in their respective classes. Amsterdam Billiards & Bar owners Greg and Ethan Hunt along with the staff were gracious hosts and provided a professional and engaging atmosphere for the event. Their generosity and support is without equal. They donated two $400 Espiritu Cues and two Silver Fox cue cases to the event along with their room and all the table time. Not enough positive and complimentary things can be said about them or their establishment... read more

Kamran Jehle Wins 9th Annual Tri-State Tour Invitational
By John Leyman

The ninth annual Tri-State Tour Invitational took place July 8 - 9, 2006, at Amsterdam Billiards & Bar in Manhattan, NY, bringing together highly skilled amateurs hoping to sharpen their game en route to the pro circuit and ambitious upstarts looking to advance in class. The weekend was a huge success with 12 A & A+ Players, 32 B & B+ Players, 32 C & C+ Players and 24 D & D+ Players showing up to play in their respective classes. Amsterdam Billiards & Bar owners Greg and Ethan Hunt along with the staff were gracious hosts and provided a professional and engaging atmosphere for the event. Their generosity and support is without equal. They donated two $400 Espiritu Cues and two Silver Fox cue cases to the event along with their room and all the table time. Not enough positive and complimentary things can be said about them or their establishment. As each day began, organizers John Leyman, Todd Fleitman & Bill Focaccia who volunteered their time and expertise to the event congratulated the players on reaching the top of their classes for the season and handed out awards to the top players of the year in each class. The Tri-State Tour sponsors Viking Cues, Fury Cues, Stealth Cues, Instroke Cases, Sterling Gaming, Phil Capelle, Bert Kinister, Stinger, Pool Tees.com, Jim Murnak Pool Cue Cases, Billiards Digest, Pool & Billiards, Inside Pool, Professor-Q-Balls News, Amsterdam Billiard Club, Comet Billiards, Gotham Billiards and Romer?s Trophies went out of their way to provide the event with some great equipment and prizes. All of the sponsors are owed a debt a gratitude for their dedication to the game and the players, their efforts and generosity are what made the event so special and such a great success.

The awards went to the top 3 point earners for the year in each class and to the Most Improved player of the Year. The top players of the year in their respective classes were Jesse Rice (A-Class), Carl Yusuf Khan (B+-Class), Michael Tosado (B-Class), Tony Eglesias (C+-Class), John MacArthur (C-Class), Michael Davie ( D+-Class) and Mike Amaya (D-Class). The top female player of the year was awarded to Liz Ford for the second year in a row. Michael Yednak proved that you came make great strides in your playing ability with practice, persistence, and determination and claimed the coveted Most Improved Player of the Year by making a jump in skill over the year of 2 classes he also was the top point earner in the B+-Class. This year the Pro/Open class was won for the first time by a great person and superb player Jonathon Smith. This year a new award was instituted and that award was the Sportmans of the Year Award. Which was awarded to Tony Eglesias for his exemplary conduct and professionalism in all aspects of the game.

The action in the tournament got going around ten on Saturday morning, with C and D class players kicking off the event. The C, D+ and D classes were all won by players who went undefeated for the day. In the C+ class, Caroline Pao played strong and consistent all day with her only real challenge coming in the finals against Beito Perez, Beito had only lost to Caroline earlier in the day and was determined not to lose twice to her. In the finals he went out in front and won the match 8-6. The C Class was won by Kamran Jehle who bested Dave Shlemperis on the hill to win. Dave?s only other loss was in the match to get in to the hot against Kamran. In the D+ class, Scott Abramowitz dominated all and won the event by beating Mike Poisler in the finals 5-3, who had only lost to Scott in the event. The D-Class was reflective of the D+ class with Maya DelVillar beating all comers including Jim Ireland in the finals 5-3

On Sunday, the upper classes came to play and players like Jesse Rice were there to win and win he did cruising through the one loss side of the A+/A chart after losing his first match of the day to Mhet Vergara. Jesse again met Mhet in the last match of the one loss side and beat him 7-4 to get into the finals against the undefeated Wali Muhammad. Jesse stated that beating Mhet on the one loss side was very satisfying and exhilarating after losing to him in his first match of the day. And Jesse carried that feeling into the finals where he went up on Wali 6-1 before going on to win the match 9-4. Nelson Marte played better as the day progressed until he met Liz Ford in the hot seat match in the B+ Class, where Liz played almost perfect pool and beat him 7-4. Nelson went on to beat Tim Edmonds 7-4 on the one loss side to get to the finals and another chance to play Liz. This time Nelson played almost perfect pool and beat Liz 9-6. In the B-Class, Matt Daspin played extremely well and finished the tournament undefeated and almost unchallanged. Michael Tosado made it to the finals and put up the best fight but Matt was unimpressed and just kept rolling and won the match 7-4.

This left the top players in each class to meet in the playoffs. Nelson Marte met Matt Daspin in the B+/B Class finals and with both players playing their best it was a great match with Nelson winning on the hill. Nelson Marte continued his dominance and once again crushed his next opponent, Jesse Rice in the A-B playoff 7-1, giving him the honor of competing for the overall champion. Maya Delvillar who was enjoying her wins went on to beat Scott Abramowitz on the hill in the D+/D Class finals. Kamran Jehle a young 16 year old kid who has only been playing the game about a year continued to impress everyone watching the event with wins over Beito Perez 6-2 and Maya DelVillar 7-4 to get to the final match of the evening and play for the overall champion title.

The final match between Kamran and Nelson was an exciting race to watch with Kamran moving ahead early in the match with play much higher then his ranking along with some luck and some combos. Kamran pulled ahead of Nelson who just did not get a chance to get started. Kamran won the match 8-3 and was thus crowned the 2005 ? 2006 Tri-State Tour Invitational Champion.