by Skip Maloney

Dmitri Rozenfeld captured his second Tri-State Tour billiard win on December 6.

Dmitri Rozenfeld captured his second win on the Tri-State Tour December 6. As he did in Somerset, NJ, last month, Rozenfeld double-dipped his final opponent to finish undefeated and capture the first-place prize. The $500-added, B-D handicapped event drew 27 entrants to Master Billiards in Queens, NY.

Rozenfeld and Arturo Reyes, half of the winners’ side final four, sent Tony Arroyo and Ryan McCarthy, respectively, to the one-loss side before squaring off against each other for the hot seat. Rozenfeld won that matchup 6-4 and waited for Reyes’ return.

On the one-loss side, Gary Murgia moved past Dave Fitzpatrick and Mike Davie by identical 8-4 scores to meet Arroyo. Jason Egeln defeated Tore Larson 7-3 and Tony Iglesias 7-4 for a shot at McCarthy. It was Murgia and Egeln dropping Arroyo and McCarthy into the tie for fifth place and facing each other in the quarterfinals. In a match that came down to the last ball in the last rack of a hill-hill battle, Murgia advanced to the semifinals against Reyes.

In a carbon copy of an earlier match between the two that had sent Murgia to the one-loss side, Reyes took a 5-2 lead, which was then erased by Murgia. Reyes reached the hill first, but at 6-5, Murgia, as he had done in the previous match, tied it up for a single game chance to advance. A safety battle ensued in that final game, which was broken when a random carom sent the cue ball rolling toward the 9 ball and sunk it to move Reyes back into the finals against Rozenfeld.

In the straight-up, C+ handicap final, Reyes and Rozenfeld battled back and forth through the early stages. Rozenfeld took command, reaching the hill ahead by one and finishing it at 6-4 to take top honors.

Results:
1st Dmitri Rozenfeld $520
2nd Arturo Reyes $240
3rd Gary Murgia $130
4th Jason Egeln $85
5th Ryan McCarthy
Tony Arroyo
7th Tony Iglesias
Mike Davie
9th Tore Larsen
Andrew Kane
Duane Toney
Dave Fitzpatrick