According to information in our records, it's been something of an 'off' year for Jayson Shaw. Reported earnings of $50K in 2013 were cut by almost half in 2014 (as was his Money Leaderboard ranking; down from 14 at the end of 2013 to 29 at the end of this year). Going into the final event of the Predator Tour season, on the weekend of December 13-14, Shaw was poised to pick up his sixth overall win of the year, having previously won three on the Predator Tour, along with victories at Turning Stone XXII and the NYC 8-Ball Championships. By the end of 2013, he'd chalked up 10, including some head-to-head matchups against Mike Dechaine and Johnny Archer, and a doubles victory with Earl Strickland over Francisco Bustamante and Warren Kiamco.
Shaw recorded that fourth win on the 2014 Predator Tour, coming from the loss side of an Open/Pro field of 30 that had shown up to compete in the Predator Tour's season finale; a $2,000-added event, hosted by Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar and Grill in West Hempstead, NY.
According to information, also in our records, it's been an 'on' year for 15-year-old Thomas Rice, who won the $3,000-added Amateur event of the Predator Tour's finale. It was the young man's first Predator tour win since September 2013, and came on the heels of a November win on the Tri-State Tour, which he'd not won since May 2013. Though he's 'cashed' in fewer 2014 events, he's made almost twice as much money (the recent Tri-State win, which drew 64 entrants, accounted for just about half his 2014 winnings). Unlike his Open/Pro counterpart in this most recent event, Rice went undefeated through the field of 87 that came out to play, and added another $2K to his yearly total.
In the Open/Pro event, the finish of the final three (Shaw, Frankie Hernandez, Jeremy Sossei) duplicated the final three finish of a September Predator Tour stop in Queens. However, how each of the three got there was a lot different. Shaw went undefeated in September, defeating Sossei for the hot seat, and then, Hernandez in the finals. On the weekend of December 13-14, it was Hernandez over Sossei for the hot seat (7-2), with Shaw battling back from the loss side to defeat Sossei in the semifinals (7-2) and shutting Hernandez out in the finals.
Mike Dechaine and Raphael Dabreo were the winners' side semifinal victims; Sossei surviving a double hill match against Dechaine, as Hernandez was downing DaBreo 7-4. It was DaBreo who had the misfortune of running into Shaw, who'd already eliminated Chris Derewonski 7-2 and shut out Phil Davis on the loss side. Dechaine drew Jorge Rodriguez, who'd gotten by Holden Chin 7-4 and Kevin Guimond 7-1. Shaw defeated DaBreo 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, met up with Dechaine, who eliminated Rodriguez 7-4.
The quarterfinal meeting between two of the game's feistier competitors came within a rack of going double hill, but Shaw finished it 7-5, and then, picking up steam, he downed Sossei in the semifinals 7-2. Not content with that, Shaw turned to face Hernandez and didn't give up a rack to claim his fourth Predator and sixth overall event of 2014.
In the Amateur event, Rice's victory went through Laszlo Kovacs in a winners' side semifinal, as Todd Trent met up with Wanlop Chantarakolkit. Rice squeaked by Kovacs, double hill, and faced Trent, who'd defeated Chantarakolkit 7-2. Rice claimed the hot seat 7-3 and waited on the return of Mike Panzarella, whom he'd sent to the loss side, double hill, in an earlier match.
Panzarella moved over, chalked up two, and then defeated Eric Grasman 7-3 and Tom Hagan 7-2, to draw Kovacs. Chantarakolkit picked up Josh Friedberg, who'd eliminated Giovanni Maga 7-5 and George Poltorak 7-2. Both battles for the right to play in the quarterfinals went double hill; Panzarella over Kovacs and Chantarakolkit over Friedberg.
Panzarella took the quarterfinal match over Chantarakolkit 9-7 and then chalked up his seventh, loss-side win 9-7 over Trent in the semifinals. Rice put an end to Panzarella's winning streak 7-5 in the finals.
In the final event of the Predator Tour's 2014 season, tour director Tony Robles sent out special thanks to all of the room owners that have sponsored stops on the tour, as well as all the players, spectators and fans who went to those rooms to play, watch and support the tour. He also thanked his assistants – Gail (his wife), and Bill Finnegan – without whom, very little would have been possible. He also thanked tour sponsors Delta-13 Racks, The National Amateur Pool League (NAPL), NYCGrind.com (Alison Fischer and Jerry Tarantola), PoolOnTheNet.com, AZBilliards.com, Gotham Technologies, Billiards press (Phil Capelle) and Billiards Digest.
Two of Koka Davladze's last three wins on the Tri-State Tour have come as the result of making it to the hot seat match and deciding, with a finals opponent, not to play a last match. A little over a year ago (September, 2013 in Brooklyn), he split the top prize with Chris DeCaprio. In March, this year, he went undefeated again; this time, playing and winning a final match against Keith Diaz. On Sunday, October 27, Davladze found himself in the hot seat again, and this time, opted out of a final match against Keith Adamik. The $1,000-added event drew 45 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens.
Davladze opened his six-opponent, undefeated run with victories over Carl Yusuf Khan, Ed Culhane, Chumreon Sutcharitakul and a 7-4 win over Adamik. This set him up for a winners' side semifinal against Miguel Laboy. Jaydev Zaveri, in the meantime, met up with Eric Hummel. Davladze sent LaBoy (7-5) to a loss-side meet-up with Adamik. Zaveri sent Hummel over 7-4. Davladze chalked up his sixth and final win against Zaveri 9-8.
On the loss side, Adamik, having moved past Stewart Warnock 7-6 and Sutcharitakul 7-5, met and defeated LaBoy 7-2. In the quarterfinals, he faced Ramon Feliciano, who'd gotten by Tony Ignomirello 6-2 and Pat Mareno 6-4, before eliminating Hummel 7-4.
Adamik defeated Feliciano 8-4, and then, in what proved to be his final match, downed Zaveri in the semifinals 8-6. Davladze and Adamik, who opted out of a final match, are among the tour's top five "A/A+" players. Going into the event, Adamik (A) was in second place behind Miguel LaBoy (A+) whom he'd defeated in the 5/6 matches), with Davladze (A+) in fifth place, behind Eric Grasman (A+) and Jose Mendez (A).
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Bartron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, at BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights, NY is scheduled for November 2.
Eric Grasman, Luis Jimenez, Jose Mendez and room owner-operator Kevin Buckley
Luis Jimenez, after a couple of unsuccessful runs competing against fellow amateurs on the Predator Tour this year, signed on to the September 20-21 stop on the Tri-State Tour, where he'd won two in a row, going undefeated, in June of 2013, and went undefeated again, through a field of 59 entrants. The $2,500-added event was hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
After victories over Dennis Kennedy, Mike Figueroa, Jaret Buyund, and T.J. Aguis, Jimenez met up with Nick Antonakis for a winners' side semifinal. Jose Mendez, in the meantime, faced Eric Grasman. Jimenez sent Antonakis over 7-5, and was joined in the battle for the hot seat by Mendez, who'd defeated Grasman, also 7-5. Jimenez defeated Mendez 7-4 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Grasman.
On the loss side, Grasman began his three-match march back to the finals against Robert Pamilar, who'd shut out Miguel Laboy, and eliminated Koka Davladze 8-6. Antonakis picked up T.J. Aguis, who'd defeated Tony Ignomirello 6-1, and John Morrison 6-4. Grasman and Aguis advanced to the quarterfinals; Grasman 8-4 over Pamilar and Aguis 6-5 against Antonakis.
Grasman earned his rematch against Mendez with a 9-6 win over Aguis in the quarterfinals, and then successfully wreaked his vengeance against Mendez 7-2 in the semifinals. Jimenez completed his undefeated run with an 8-4 win over Grasman in the finals.
Tour representatives thanked Kevin and Isabel Buckley, owners of Gotham City Billiards, and their staff, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Barton, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, September 27, will be hosted by BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY.
Raphael Dabreo closed out 2013 with an undefeated victory on the Tri-State Tour in late December. He opened proceedings in 2014 with an undefeated run through a field of 105, on-hand for the $750-added Amateur Predator Tour on the weekend of January 11-12. In so doing, he added a sixth tour win to a 'one-per-month' pace he'd initiated last August. The Amateur event, run concurrently with an Open event on January 12 (story) drew those 105 competitors to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
From among the winners' side final four, DaBreo sent Keith Adamik to the loss side 7-3. His hot seat and finals opponent, Bryan Toolsee, in the meantime, defeated Bryan Singh 7-5. In their first of two, DaBreo sent Toolsee to the semifinals 10-5.
Moving to the loss side, Adamik picked up Jack Smith, who benefited from a forfeit by Eric Grasman and defeated Marco Dy 7-4. Singh drew Izac Horne, who'd gotten by Meshak Daniel 7-5 and Chickie Romero 7-4. Identical 7-5 victories over Smith and Singh, sent Adamik and Horne to the quarterfinals. Adamik prevailed in those quarterfinals 9-5, and was then defeated by Toolsee in the semifinals 8-2. DaBreo completed his undefeated run and claimed the Amateur event title with a 10-8 victory in the finals.
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.
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.
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.
Huidji See and Tony Robles battled twice during the $500-added Open portion of the September 21-22 Predator stop, which drew only eight entrants to the Cue Bar in Bayside, Queens. They split the two matches, but See captured the event title by winning the second one, the finals. In the concurrently-run, $500-added, A-D handicapped event, Raphael Dabreo went undefeated through a field 50 to take the top Amateur prize.
See and Robles met first in the hot seat match. Robles had sent Frankie Hernandez west 8-3, as See was busy with an 8-4 win over Dave Grau. Robles took the first of his two against See 8-4 and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
Hernandez moved over to take on Adrian Daniel, who'd defeated Vikram Dasari 8-4. Grau picked up Nigel Francis, who'd gotten by Jim Yonge 8-6. Grau and Hernandez moved on to match up in the quarterfinals with identical 8-1 victories over Francis and Daniel. Hernandez took the quarterfinal 8-5, but was stopped by See in a double hill, semifinal match.
In the extended-race final, Robles need to reach 8 games, ahead of See, to chalk up an undefeated run. He almost got there. Ahead by four, and on the hill at 7-3, Robles admitted to missing numerous opportunities, which allowed See to close the gap, pass him and eventually win 10-9 to claim the event title.
As in the Open event, the Amateur finalists – Raphael DaBreo and Tony Liang – met twice; once in the battle for the hot seat and again, in the finals. Unlike the Open event, the hot seat occupant, DaBreo, won both matches to go undefeated and claim the amateur title.
DaBreo had downed Meshak Daniel 7-5, as Liang was sending Bogie Uzdejczyk west 7-1. DaBreo gave up only three racks to Liang in the hot seat match and sat in that seat, waiting for the re-match finals.
Hagan took the quarterfinal match against Grasman 7-4, but was eliminated by Liang 7-2 in the semifinals. DaBreo completed his undefeated run with a second victory over Liang, 7-5.
