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2014 Predator Pro-Am Tour Season Finale – Emily Duddy vs Chad Boling

 

Can comes back from semifinals to win Empire State Open Championships

Wang Can

There's nothing quite like rivalries, players with a history of matchups, to spark heightened interest in the outcome of any sporting event. So it was, that as the 6th Annual Empire State Open Championships, held on Sunday, February 16, came down to the final 12 players, there remained some hope that the event finals would be a repeat of last year's epic, double hill battle between Jayson Shaw and Earl Strickland
 
Five of last year's final 12 were still in it – Shaw, Strickland, Holden Chin, Jeremy Sossei and Jennifer Baretta. Wang Can and Zion Zvi spoiled the party, so to speak; Zvi, by advancing to the hot seat and Can, by coming back from the semifinals to claim the event title. The $1,500-added event drew 25 entrants (the exact same number it drew last year) to Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY (same location).
 
As they were last year, Shaw and Chin were two of the winners' side semifinalists. They faced each other last year, with Shaw advancing to the hot seat match. This year, Shaw was shut out by Can, while Chin was defeated 7-5 by Zvi. Zvi, in his first of two against Can, moved into the hot seat with a 7-5 win, ending spectator hopes for a Shaw/Strickland rematch in the finals, while at the same time, keeping them alive for a loss side match between the two, which happened immediately.
 
Strickland, who'd been sent to the loss side by Zvi, had gotten by Rob Omen 7-4 and Phil Davis 7-1 to pick up Shaw, fresh off Can's shutout of him in the winners' side semifinals. Chin picked up Jeremy Sossei, who was looking to improve on his 2013 third place finish. He shut out Chad Bowling and defeated Kevin Guimond 7-4 to reach Chin. Shaw took out Strickland 7-5, as Sossei was busy eliminating Chin 7-3. 
 
Sossei fought hard, battling to double hill, before giving way to Shaw, who moved on to face Can in the semifinals. Can eliminated him handily enough 7-2 and got a second shot at Zvi in the hot seat. He took full advantage, downing Zvi 11-5 to claim the 6th Empire State Open Championship title.
 
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Raxx Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Poison Cues, The National Amateur Pool League (PlayNAPL.com), Delta-13 Racks , AZBilliards, NYC Grind, Billiards Digest, Inside Pool Magazine, Pool & Billiard Magazine, PoolOnTheNet.com and GothamCityTechnologies.com.

The Pearl wins Predator Open finale; Davis comes from the loss side to win Amateur event

Earl Strickland

Anytime Earl Strickland and Jayson Shaw get into a tournament together (and it's happening frequently, now that they're both residing together in The Big Apple), spectators are poised for fireworks. And it's a little like the anticipation of actual fireworks; no matter how many times you've seen it, you still "Ooh,' and "Ahh" at the really good explosions of color. They failed to materialize during the season finale of the Predator Tour. They both made it to the winners' side semifinals, but Wang Can sent Shaw to the loss side, from whence he would never return. Earl Strickland, though, went on to complete an undefeated run through a field of 16, on-hand for the $1,500-added event, hosted by Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY.
 
A concurrently-run, $1,500-added Amateur event drew 64 entrants and saw Phil Davis come from the loss side and win six straight matches to defeat hot seat occupant, Stewart Warnock.
 
In the Open event, as Wang Can was busy sending Shaw off to what would turn out to be a second straight loss, Strickland was sending Mhet Vergara over 7-5. Strickland completed his short, three-match run to the hot seat with a 7-5 win over Can, and waited on what a few folk thought might be Shaw, but turned out to be a second meeting versus Can.
 
On the loss side, Shaw's undoing came immediately at the hands of Frankie Hernandez, who'd downed Chad Bowling 7-4 and Michael Yednak 7-5 to reach Shaw. Vergara picked up tour director Tony Robles, who'd gotten by room owner Holden Chin and Nigel Francis, both 7-3. 
Shaw and Vergara both went down for their second straight losses; Shaw to Hernandez 7-5, and Vergara to Robles 7-3.
 
Hernandez then took Robles down 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Can delivered an even more decisive victory over Hernandez in the semifinals, allowing him only a single rack in the match that sent Can back for a second shot at Strickland. They'd played 12 in the hot seat match and Strickland had come up with seven. They played 15 in the final match, and Strickland racked up nine to claim the event title.
 
In the Amateur event Stew Warnock sent Phil Davis to the loss side 7-5 in a winners' side final eight match and turned to face Manny Stamatakis, owner of Steinway Billiards. Rafael Ortiz, Sr., in the meantime, met up with Roberto Mendoza. Warnock and Stamatakis battled to double hill before Warnock prevailed. Ortiz, Sr. joined him in the hot seat match after a double hill fight against Mendoza. Warnock gained the hot seat 7-5, in what would prove to be his last victory.
 
As would happen later in the Open event, the two players making their loss-side debut were eliminated by their loss-side opponents; by the same 7-3 score as it turned out. Stamatakis was downed by Eric Grasman, who'd defeated Koka Davladze 7-5 and Meshak Daniel 8-5 to reach him. Mendoza fell to Davis, who, following his defeat at the hands of Warnock, had given up only three racks in victories over Rhys Chen (1) and Bogie Uzdejczyk (2).
 
Davis then dropped Grasman into fourth place 7-5 and spoiled Rafael Ortiz, Sr.'s chance for a rematch against Warnock with a 7-3 win. Davis, whose last recorded win on the Predator Tour was almost exactly two years ago, in the same location, defeated Warnock 9-4 in the finals to complete his loss-side journey and claim the event title.
 

Bonilla stops loss-side run by Shaw to take Predator title; Sookhai wins Amateur event

Two years ago, Oscar Bonilla was chalking up Northeast wins all over the place. He won a Predator Tour stop, a couple of Sandcastle Billiards weekly Gauntlet events, and two second chance tournaments on the Joss Tour. He finished first, second or third in nine of the 11 events in which he cashed that year. Last year, he finished fourth in a Predator event and that was about it. This year, until the weekend of November 30-December 1, nothing, and then, he signed on to a short-field Open Predator event, and ran the table, defeating Jayson Shaw in the finals. The $500-added event drew 11 entrants.

 
In the concurrently-run, $500-added Amateur event that drew 32 entrants, Basdeo Sookhai took the title. He'd been defeated in the battle for the hot seat, and came back from the semifinals to take down Billy Santiago.
 
In the short-field (16-player bracket) Open event, Bonilla got into a winners' side semifinal matchup with Tour Director Tony Robles, as Shaw squared off against Travis McKinney in the other one. Bonilla hung on to win his double hill match against Robles, while McKinney downed Shaw 7-4. Bonilla took the hot seat match 7-4, and waited on what turned out to be Shaw's return.
 
Shaw moved over and picked up Chris Derewonski, who, not satisfied with a second place finish on the Tri-State Tour the day before, had been sent to the loss side by Robles, and defeated Raphael Dabreo 7-5 and Liam Monk 7-1. Robles drew Mhet Vergara, who'd gotten by Scott Murphy and Chad Bowling, both 7-3.
 
Shaw dropped Derewonski into the tie for fifth place 7-3, and by the same score, Robles ended Vergara's day. Shaw then finished Robles bid, with a 7-3 win in the quarterfinals, and went on to a re-match against McKinney. Another 7-3 win, and Shaw got a shot at Bonilla. Bonilla, though, gave up only a single rack completing his undefeated run through the short field.
 
In the Amateur event, Sookhai and Santiago met first in the hot seat match, once Sookhai had sent Gail Robles west 7-5 and Santiago had survived a double hill battle against Darren Defilips. It was Santiago in double hill, survival mode in the hot seat match, moving Santiago to the semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Stuart Warnock was at work on a four-match run to the semifinals. He'd been sent over by Defilips and defeated Chad Bowling 7-4 and Keith Adamik, double hill, to pick up Robles. Defilips drew Scott Murphy, who'd defeated Meshak Daniel 7-4 and Eric Grasman 7-6.
Warnock and Defilips advanced to the quarterfinals; Warnock, 8-5 over Robles and Defilips, double hill over Murphy.
 
Warnock's loss-side winning streak ended with a double hill win over Defilips in those quarterfinals. Sookhai defeated him in the semifinals 7-2, and then went on to defeat Santiago 9-7 to claim the event title.