At the now-famous (previously just well-known) Steinway Billiards in Queens, NY, on the weekend of September 19-20, Zion Zvi and Stephen Dempsey won their respective Open/Pro and Amateur events on the Predator Tour. The $500-added (each) events drew 83 entrants (Amateur) and a very short field of seven in the Open/Pro event.
A single match, and a bye (to tour director Tony Robles) set Jorge Rodriguez up against Frankie Hernandez in one of the Open/Pro winners' side semifinals, while Robles and Mhet Vergara squared off in the other. Rodriguez sent Hernandez to the loss side 7-2, and in the hot seat match, met Robles, who'd survived a double hill match against Vergara. Robles went on to survive a second double hill match, this one versus Rodriguez, to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Zion Zvi, who'd been defeated by Frankie Hernandez in the event's opening round, got by Michael Yednak 7-2 to pick up Vergara. Juan Guzman was awarded a bye before facing Hernandez. Zvi defeated Vergara 7-4, as Hernandez was busy defeating Guzman 7-1.
Zvi took the quarterfinal match versus Hernandez 7-3, and then eliminated Rodriguez, double hill, in the semifinals. He downed Robles 7-4 in the finals to claim his second 2015 Open/Pro Predator title.
In the Amateur event, Stephen Dempsey won five on the loss side to meet and defeat Henry Hernandez in the finals. He'd been sent to the loss side by Gene Hunt, who advanced to Hernandez in a winners' side semifinal. Bob Toomey and Ambi Estevez met up in the other. In a pair of tightly contested battles, Hernandez defeated Hunt 7-5, as Toomey survived a double hill match versus Estevez. Hernandez claimed the hot seat 8-4 over Toomey.
On the loss side, Estevez ran into Dennis Lake, who'd shut out Joe DeVito and defeated Abel Rosario 7-3 to reach him. Hunt drew a re-match against Dempsey, who'd started his loss-side run with victories over Juan Guzman 7-1 and Elvis Rodriguez 7-4. Dempsey downed Hunt by the same score (7-1) that had sent him to the loss side. By the same score, Estevez eliminated Lake.
Dempsey won the quarterfinal match versus Estevez 9-6, and then defeated Toomey in the semifinals 10-9. He completed his run with a 9-5 victory in the finals to claim his first Predator title.
Yomaylin ‘Smiley’ Feliz, playing in the Amateur event of the November 29-30 stop on the Predator Tour, came back from a loss to Naldo Troncoso among the winners’ side final eight to meet and defeat him in the finals. The $500-added Amateur event drew 72 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
A concurrently-run, $500-added Open/Pro event drew 20. Spanky Kava went undefeated in this one, knocking off, in order at the end, Jayson Shaw, Zion Zvi and Frankie Hernandez.
With Feliz out of the way in the amateur tourney, Troncoso moved on to face George Poltorak, as Kapriel Delimelkonoglu squared off against ChristIan Smith in the two winners’ side semifinals. Troncoso defeated Poltorak 7-4, and in the battle for the hot seat met Delimelkonoglu, who’d sent Smith to the loss side 7-5. Troncoso won his last match, defeating Delimelkonoglu 7-3 and waited in the hot seat for vengeance to come at him from the loss side.
Feliz wasted no time getting back on track, opening her five-match, loss-side trek to the finals with a shutout over Judd Parker. She then downed Dennis Lake 7-3 and drew Poltorak. There to meet Smith was Koka Davladze, who’d defeated room owner Manny Stamatakis 7-5 and survived a double hill match against Keith Adamik.
The two battles to determine the amateur event’s quarterfinalists were just that; battles. Feliz survived, double hill, over Poltorak, while Davladze just did avoid a double hill deciding game by downing Smith 7-5.
Feliz moved on and avoided a double hill deciding game in the quarterfinals by defeating Davladze 8-6. She had a smoother run in the semifinal match against Delimelkonoglu, downing him 7-2 for a second shot against Troncoso. She completed her run with a 9-5 victory over Troncoso to claim her first Predator title.
In the Open/Pro event, Spanky Kava took the undefeated route, facing separate opponents in the hot seat and finals. He and Zion Zvi prevented a marquee hot seat match by defeating Jayson Shaw 7-4 and Earl Strickland 7-3, respectively. Kava then defeated Zvi 7-4 and sat in the hot seat, waiting on Frankie Hernandez.
On the loss side, Hernandez got by Lee Kang 7-5, gave up only a single rack to Rob Omen and faced Shaw. Strickland picked up Kevin Guimond, who’d defeated Jamiyl Adams 7-2, and survived a double hill fight against Mhet Vergara. Hernandez and Strickland eliminated Shaw and Guimond, both 7-3 and met in the quarterfinals.
Hernandez ended Strickland’s day 7-4, and then, double hill, defeated Zvi for a shot at Kava in the hot seat. To no avail, as Kava completed his undefeated run with a 7-5 win over Hernandez to claim the Open/Pro title.
The last time (on record) that Mike Panzarella was in the winners' circle of an event was in 2010, when he shared the top two Tri-State Tour cash prizes with Rich Saco. He'd come from the loss side for the right to meet Saco, but when the semifinals were over (Panzarella over Joe Varvaro), it was 2 a.m., and they opted out. On the weekend of October 11-12, at a $1,000-added, Predator Tour amateur event, which drew 78 entrants to Steinway Billiards, in Astoria (Queens), NY, Panzarella came from the loss side again, but this time, he faced an opponent (Koka Davladze) and defeated him to claim the event title.
They met twice. The first time, in a winners' side semifinal, as Bob Toomey squared off against Kyle Bubet. Davladze took the first of two against Panzarella 7-5, while Toomey was busy shutting Bubet out. Davladze won his last match 10-9, claiming the hot seat over Toomey.
On the loss side, Panzarella's first opponent was Raphael Dabreo, who'd defeated Keith Adamik 7-3 and Alex Osipov 8-7 to reach him. Bubet, in the meantime, had to contend with Kaz Takagishi, who'd eliminated Bob Schlott 7-4 and Dennis Lake 7-5.
Panzarella gave up only a single rack against DaBreo, advancing to the quarterfinals to face Takagishi, who'd downed Bubet 7-3. Panzarella then eliminated Takagishi and then, Toomey in the semifinals by identical 10-8 scores. Panzarella took full advantage of his second chance against Davladze, defeating him 9-7 in the finals to claim the event title.
The NYC 8-Ball Championships, sponsored by CSI, and the first event of Tony Robles' Silent Assassin Productions, featured every possible type of individual victory. Held on the weekend of June 6-8, and hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria, NY, the $2,000-added events featured three undefeated performances, one victor from the loss side who won both sets of a double elimination final, and one hot seat occupant, who was defeated in the opening set of the finals and came back to win the second.
Jayson Shaw went undefeated in the Men's Grand Masters event (see complete story among Headlines), as did Chickie Romero in the most heavily attended event, the Mixed Open, with 23 entrants. July Laban, playing in the Women's Leisure event, with 16 entrants, completed the roster of undefeated titleists. It was Adam Kwon, playing in the 13-entrant Mixed Advanced event, who came back from the loss side to defeat Chumreon Sutcharitakul twice in the finals. John Morrison gave up the opening set in the finals of the 15-entrant Men's Leisure event, but came back to win the second set.
Romero's undefeated performance in the Mixed Open event was almost derailed in his winners' side semifinal, double hill match against Izac Horne. Horne, shooting at the 8-ball in the deciding game, sunk it, only to watch, horrified, as the cue ball caromed off a few rails and dropped into a pocket to advance Romero to the hot seat match. Nick Meyer, who'd defeated Todd Trent 6-4 in the other winners' side semifinal joined Romero in the winners' side final. Romero won it 6-1 and waited for Meyer to return, which he did. Trent and Horne battled it out in the quarterfinals, and when Trent prevailed 6-2, he got a second shot at Meyer in the semifinals. Meyer defeated him a second time, 6-4, only to have Romero defeat him a second time 6-2, to claim the title.
July Laban's undefeated run through the field of 16 in the Women's Leisure event was almost derailed by the six-win, loss-side run of Akiko Taniyama, who'd been defeated by Laban in the opening round. As Taniyama was at work on the loss side, Laban and Inessa Gelman met up in the hot seat match. Laban had defeated Carolina Kwak 5-3, as Gelman was sending May Ng over by the same score. Laban downed Gelman 5-2 and waited on Taniyama. It was Taniyama and Ng who met up in the quarterfinals, and it probably didn't do Laban's waiting experience in the hot seat any good, to see Taniyama advance to the semifinals with a shutout over Ng. Nor, for that matter, did Taniyama's 5-1 victory over Gelman. Laban had given up only a single rack to Taniyama in their first meeting, and while Taniyama came within a game of forcing a double hill deciding match, Laban completed her undefeated run 5-3, and claimed the Women's Leisure title.
Adam Kwon and Chumreon Sutcharitakul ended up playing three matches that eventually decided the 13-entrant Mixed Advanced event. The first of the three came in a winners' side semifinal, when Sutcharitakul sent Kwon to the losers' bracket 7-5. In the hot seat match, Sutcharitakul faced Glenn Ramsey, who'd defeated Noah Vogelman in the other winners' side semifinal. Sutcharitakul defeated Ramsey in a double hill fight that proved to be his last win. Kwon moved over and took down Dennis Lake 7-2, and both Vogelman in the quarterfinals and Ramsey in the semifinals 7-5. Kwon then won the opening set of the finals 7-3, and followed with a 7-2 win in the second set that gave him the Mixed Advanced title.
Like Kwon and Sutcharitakul, Greg Matos and John Morrison played three times to decide the 15-entrant Men's Leisure event. Their first, following Matos' 5-3 win over Joe DeVito and Morrison's 5-2 win over Jim Gutierrez, came in the hot seat match, won by Morrison, double hill. DeVito moved to the loss side and after defeating Robert Scarmozzino 5-3 and Gutierrez in the quarterfinals 5-2, was eliminated by Matos 5-2 in the semifinals. Matos took the opening set of the finals, double hill, but Morrison came back to win the second set 5-3 and claim the Mixed Advanced title.
Promising "bigger and better events in the future," Robles and his Silent Assassin Productions team, which included John Leyman as tour director and referee for the event(s), thanked Steinway Billiards' owner, Manny Stamatakis and his staff, as well as sponsors Cue Sports International, Delta-13 Racks, Predator Cues, National Amateur Pool League (PlayNAPL.com), Gotham City Technologies, NYC Grind (Jerry and Alison Fischer), AZBilliards, Upstate AL, Joey Leon, and Bob Cmbwsu.
