Alan Chan (3rd), Neslihan Gürel (1st), Shawn Sookhai (2nd) On June 12-13, the Tri-State Tour held a special 2-day, $1,500-added tournament at Master Billiards in Sunnyside, Queens.  This 9-ball tournament was open to A/B/C/D level players, and drew 40 of the NY-area’s top amateurs.  While this event featured many of the tour’s familiar top finishers such as Shawn Sookhai and Scott Simonetti, a relative newcomer to the tour, Neslihan “Nes” Gürel , would stand out to surprise the field in this event.  Nes, who made her move to New York from Turkey just over a year ago, has been gaining major momentum in her game… including top finishes in the JPNEWT women’s tour, where she currently holds the #5 position alongside some of the toughest ladies in the Northeast.  On this weekend, she claimed her first win, undefeated, at the Tri-State Tour.  The diminuative Nes cleared through the winner’s bracket, defeating Ron Mason 6-3, Mike Davie (6-3), Ken DeBroske (6-4), Alan Chan (6-2), then Basdeo “Shawn” Sookai (7-6) to reach the hot seat.  After Alan Chan’s loss to Nes on the winner’s side, he got by Ramilo Tanglao (6-5) in the final four of the one-loss side.  Also in the final four, Dave Shlemperis, who had his first loss to Shawn Sookhai, would be eliminated by Scott Simonetti in a close match that ended 7-5.  In the quarterfinal, Scott’s run through the one-loss side was then ended by Alan Chan, who finished with a solid 9-4 win.  Following up his win last week at Castle, Scott Simonetti finished strong with a 7-2 win/loss record.  At the end of the semifinal, Alan Chan would then have to settle for third place when Shawn Sookhai came through with a 7-5 win, for a rematch with Nes Gürel in the final.  And that final match would not be without some drama.  Shawn Sookhai came out of the gate putting up three games, after which Nes returned with three more, to tie 3-3.  The two would trade racks, staying at 4-4, then 5-5… where Shawn had a chance to take the hill, but missed the 9 ball, allowing Nes to get to the hill 6-5.  She then closed out the final game to win 7-5, claiming an undefeated win.  Congratulations to Nes Gürel on a strong breakthrough performance at this event, we are bound to see more great showings from her to come.  Along with Neslihan’s passion to play pool at the highest level, she is also currently pursuing her degree in fasion design… and still making time to snap off tournaments! Alan Chan (3rd), Neslihan Gürel (1st), Shawn Sookhai (2nd) Payout: 1st: Neslihan Gürel - $1,000 2nd: Shawn Sookhai -$600 3rd: Alan Chan – $410 4th: Scott Simonetti – $250 5th/6th: Dave Shlemperis, Ramilo Tanglao – $165 7th/8th: Tony Eglesias, Antonio Navarro – $125 The Tri-State Tour would like to thank Sterling-Gaming , Ozone Billiards, Viking Cues , Ron Tarr Cues , Phil Capelle , Dr. Dave Billiards Insructional Products for their sponsorship leading to this event.

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