Over a two-year span (2013/2014), Raphael Dabreo chalked up a total of seven event wins on the Predator and Tri-State Tours; two on the former, five on the latter. He was winning, at one point, an average of one event per month, which earned him a bit of national notoriety as the subject of a Billiards' Digest Tour Spotting profile. In 2015, that productivity dropped off a bit. Though he would be the runner-up in both the Empire State 10-Ball Championships and the Mixed Masters division of the NYC 8-Ball Championships in 2015, it was the first time in six years that he had failed to chalk up an event victory on either of the two New York-based Amateur tours.
On the weekend of January 30-31, he broke that streak, going undefeated on a Predator Tour stop, chalking up two gritty wins over Paul Wilkens to complete the run. The $1,000-added event drew 97 amateur competitors to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
They met first in the hot seat match. DaBreo and Wilkens defeated Brooke Meyer and Emit Yolcu, respectively, by identical 7-3 scores in the winners' side semifinals. The hot seat match came within a game of double hill, but when it was over, DaBreo was in the hot seat.
On the loss side, a gauntlet of regular Predator competitors had already been eliminated, including Manny Stamatakis (owner of Steinway Billiards), Rhys Chen (and his wife, Lenore), Alex Osipov, and Rhio Anne Flores, to name just a few. Meyer came over and picked up Miguel Laboy, who'd been responsible for eliminating Stamatakis 7-4, and Rhys Chen 7-3. Yulco drew Jose Kuilan, who'd defeated Lenore Chen and Dan Faraguna, both 7-5.
Yulco downed Kuilan 7-4, as Meyer locked up in a double hill fight versus LaBoy, eventually advancing Meyer to the quarterfinals against Yulco. Meyer found himself in a second straight double hill battle in those quarterfinals, from which, again, he came out on top.
Meyer wasn't as fortunate in his third straight double hill contest; this time, versus Wilkens in the semifinals. Wilkens prevailed for a second shot at DaBreo. The finals proved to be the event's fourth straight double hill match, commencing with Meyer's victory over LaBoy and concluding with DaBreo's eventual double hill win over Wilkens in the finals.
The top four prizes in this event featured an $800 bonus, contributed by the players themselves ($20 per player, offered as an option), and spread out over the top four spots. Thus, $350 was added to the first place prize, $225 to second, $150 for third and $75 for fourth.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, National Amateur Pool League, Ozone Billiards, Delta-13 racks, Gotham City Technologies, PoolOnTheNet.com, The DeVito Team, Billiards Press, AZ Billiards, Billiards Digest, and Pool & Billiard Magazine. He also thanked William Finnegan, Mandy Wu, and Irene Kim for their assistance with the tournament, as well as his wife, Gail Robles.
