The following letter was released by Tony & Gail Robles of the Predator Pro Am Tour today, August 13th, 2020.
To the Players, Sponsors, Room Owners & Spectators
Never in our wildest dreams did we see 2020 ending up the way it has. January and February tournament turnouts brought big numbers and we had high hopes for the 2020 season being the best season yet. The economy was booming and tours, leagues & lessons were in high demand. Then March hit and like everyone else, the rug was pulled out from under us.
First and foremost, we truly hope you and your loved ones have weathered these difficult times as best as possible. Like so many, we have lost players, teammates, captains, mentors, friends, and even family. It’s been a devastating turn of events.
With our health in tack, we count ourselves blessed despite the trying business times.
The pandemic has affected all of us in a variety of ways, and the Predator Pro/Am Tour is no exception. Now six months without a tournament and no real end in sight, Gail and I have asked ourselves some tough questions.
Will the tour come back this year at all? Will players feel safe playing in large participation events any time soon? Will ‘WE’ feel safe hosting large, indoor events? When will NYC even open pool rooms again, let alone to full capacity?
Will we ever be the way we were before?
After speaking with several local room owners and industry leaders, we feel the timeline for being “back to normal” is years long and filled with uncertainty.
And so, it is with a very heavy heart that Gail & I have decided to no longer run the Predator Pro/Am Tour. This was an incredibly hard decision for us to make. We love our tour. We love the players, the room owners and sponsors, the atmosphere and the joy we felt seeing our contribution to the pool world. We mourn the loss every day.
Many tears and hard conversations led to this decision and we know it won’t be easy for some to accept, but ethically, we don’t feel comfortable hosting the large events we’re known to run given the health risks. Economically, pool rooms cannot afford to host our events in lieu of recovering their own financial losses. Financially, we cannot afford to wait for New York to recover. We have begun the process of selling our home and will be moving out of state by year’s end.
We have a lot of people to thank for the 12+ years we had the tour so bear with us.
Predator Cues. Thank you for trusting us since day one. Representing your brand helped propel our tour to one of the best in the country. Players from all over the world came to play in our events because you believed in us and they believed in you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being the backbone of all we do on the tour.
Ozone Billiards, Blatt Billiards, The Devito Team, Pool on the Net, Billiard Press, & Delta-13. Thank you for helping us grow and for supporting the tour all these years. You have been an integral part in the success of our events.
Our room owners. Amsterdam Billiards, Cue Bar, Gotham City Billiards, Raxx Pool Room, The Spot, Steinway Billiards. And past rooms: Boardwalk Billiards, BQE, Castle, Carom Café, Comet, Corner Pocket Café, Cue Nine, Eastside Billiards, Master Billiards, Mr. Cue, Park Slope, Rack n Roll, Sandcastle, Snookers, and Spin City.
Thank you for hosting us and the players and helping grow the sport in our area. Thank you for sacrificing tables so players could compete comfortably. Thank you for offering table time so players could practice before matches. Thank you for funding these tournaments. Thank you to your staff for taking such good care of us and the players during long tournament days. Thank you for caring. Amsterdam Billiards, Cue Bar, Steinway Billiards & Raxx Pool Room; thank you for being with us from the beginning and hosting over half of all the events in the tour’s history. We are eternally grateful for your belief in us and your generosity over the years.
To those that helped behind the scenes. William Finnegan, who started the tour with us back in 2008. You are, and always will be, an icon in the history of NYC pool tournaments. Irene Kim, who always kept us in line and organized from the day she came on board. Julie Ha, Tommy Schreiber, Marisol Palacios, Ambi Estevez, Henry Chan, Mandy Wu, and Dan Faraguna; thank you for all your help running the charts and assisting wherever you could to make the tour such a great success. Rob Omen, thank you for maintaining and revamping our website and charts over the years. Erwin Dionisio, who elevated the social reach of the tour by leaps and bounds with his beautiful photography work. Thank you. Billiards Digest, AZ Billiards and all the media outlets; thank you for advertising and reporting on all our events. Skip Maloney, you’re one of a kind. And thank you to Upstate Al, Joey & Chris Leon for the countless hours of live-streaming and advertising you’ve done over the years. You truly are a blessing for the pool community.
To our fellow tours. The Tri-State Tour, Mezz Tour, Ride the 9 & New England 9-ball Series. We wish you all the best and hope you continue promoting and supporting the sport in this area. Your work and dedication will always be revered by us. John Leyman, collaborating with you on so many different events was a true pleasure. Thank you.
Last, and perhaps the most important, THE PLAYERS! Your commitment to excel in the sport, your determination to achieve goals like winning a tour stop, winning Player of the Year, and for some, just having the guts to step up and play the strong players on the tour are qualities we have treasured witnessing. We cannot tell you the number of times we have looked over a packed room at one of our events and marveled at you. The friends, great conversations, life lessons, and learning to love each of you has brought us so much happiness. It is overwhelming and adds to the sadness of this decision. We will miss seeing you so often and hope to see you at other competitions along the way.
Also, we recognize that most players paid a $40 annual membership expecting a full 2020 season. While no one could have predicted the events that unfolded, we still wanted to offer a partial refund of these fees. Any player that paid the $40 registration, we are offering a $20 refund of dues. Please email tonyroblesnyc@gmail.com with your name and address and we will mail you a refund check.
We sincerely thank everyone for the many memories we have had with our Predator Pro/Am Tour family. We will miss you all very much and wish nothing but the best for yourselves, your families and your future pool goals.
Xavier Romero, according to our records, chalked up his best earnings year, to date, in 2017, and came to the March 17-18 stop on the 2018 Predator Pro Am Tour, looking for his first win. He’d made it to the finals of a Predator stop twice last year; the first, about a year ago, and the most recent, one week before last Christmas. In both cases, he fought a double hill battle in the finals and lost; in the first, in March of last year, he fell victim to pool’s ‘three-foul’ rule against Chris Kelly in the deciding game, and back in December, Rhys Chen took the final game to win the tour’s Player’s Championships.
This past weekend, at the $1,000-added, Double Points Predator Pro Am event that drew 86 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY, Romero battled twice against Suzzie Wong; once, in the hot seat match and again, in the finals. Although Wong had appeared in the finals of a Tri-State Tour event as recently as last month (February 25), and previously (November, 2017) won the Women’s Leisure Division of the 2017 NYC 8-Ball Championships, she became the first D/D+ player on the Predator Pro Am tour to ever make it to a final match. This, presumably, gave them both a lot to think about as they squared off in the finals. Romero won both the hot seat and final match to complete an undefeated run and claim the event title, but Wong cannot be replaced as the first D/D+ player (not just ‘woman’) to appear in the finals of a Predator Pro Am Tour stop.
Their first meeting followed a victory by Romero, over Duc Lam 8-4, and a Wong victory over Ramilo Tanglao 7-2 in the two winners’ side semifinals. Romero took the first of his two against Wong 8-6, leaving him in the hot seat, to think about his third appearance in the finals of a Predator Pro Am event in a year, as Wong moved over to battle for her right to a second shot at him.
On the loss side, Tanglao and Lam picked up two opponents who had downed their previous two loss-side opponents in double hill matches. Tanglao picked up Greg Matos, who’d defeated Kanami Chau and Ada Lio, both double hill, while Lam drew Eddie Kunz, who’d eliminated Junior Acosta and Jaydev Zaveri the same way.
Tanglao advanced to the quarterfinals 7-2 over Matos, while Lam came out on top in Kunz’s third straight double hill match, to join him. Tanglao then earned himself a re-match against Wong with a 9-7 win over Lam.
Both semifinalists were looking to advance to a Predator final for the first time (Tanglao had won an event on the Tri-State, eight years ago), and fought to double hill for the right to do so. In the final game, Tanglao was able to line up the 9-ball for the win, and though it dropped, so, seconds later, did the cue ball, and Wong got her shot.
Though it might have been expected, Romero and Wong did not face a deciding game in the finals. Romero pulled out in front and finally won it 8-5 to claim his first Predator title.
A Second Chance event drew 12 entrants and was won Eugene Ok. Abel Rosario finished second.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, NAPL, Ozone Billiards, The DeVito Team, PoolOnTheNet.com, BilliardsPress.com, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest and PoolMag.com. Robles also extended thanks to his entire Predator Staff, including his wife, Gail Robles, Mandy Wu, William Finnegan, Irene Kim, and Rob Omen. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled for the weekend of April 7-8, will be hosted by Steinway Billliards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Joey Korsiak, Zion Zvi, Raphael DaBreo & Jimmy Rivera
It is a significant rite of passage; moving from the top ranks of Amateur status to the loftier competitive environment where the Open/Pro players do battle. On the weekend of March 3-4, at a $250-added Open/Pro event on the Predator Pro Am Tour, Raphael Dabreo took that step, winning his first-ever Open/Pro event, and according to tour director Tony Robles, was “super happy about it.”
“Like a kid in a candy store,” said Robles.
DaBreo, working as a B player, first showed up on the AZBilliards’ radar 10 years ago, when he won his first stop on the Tri-State Tour. A year later (2009), he won two more on that tour. He won his first stop on the Predator Pro Am in 2010. Over the next eight years, he chalked up a baker’s dozen (13) more on the two tours, as he climbed the rankings ladder. On average, we reported here last October, he’d won an average of one event per year on both tours, dating back to those initial victories.
In a concurrently-run, $750-added Amateur event over the weekend, Lukas Fracasso-Verner went undefeated through a field of 53 entrants to claim that title (more on this a little later in this report). Both events were hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY.
DaBreo had a crack at a Predator Open/Pro event about three weeks ago, (Feb. 10-11), when he made it to the semifinals (downing Robles on the loss side along the way), before being eliminated by the event’s winner, Kudlik Marek. His first Open/Pro victory followed the same script, with the significant difference of coming back from the loss side to win it. He advanced to a winners’ side semifinal versus Jimmy Rivera in this most recent event, while Joey Korsiak and Zion Zvi squared off in the other one.
Korsiak got by Zvi 7-4. DaBreo battled Rivera to a deciding game, before Rivera sent him to the loss side. Korsiak claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Rivera and waited on DaBreo’s return.
On the loss side, DaBreo picked up Robles (whom he’d met in the quarterfinals of the Feb. 10-11 event), who’d defeated Victor Nau 7-3 and Mike Salerno 7-2 to reach him this time. Zvi drew Jorge Teixeira, who’d gotten by Yesid Garibello 7-3 and Dave Shlemperis 7-1. DaBreo got by Robles again; this time, 7-4, as Zvi eliminated Teixeira 7-2.
DaBreo, apparently very motivated to collect his first Open/Pro title, chalked up two straight double hill wins to get a shot at Korsiak in the hot seat. He downed Zvi in the quarterfinals, and then, Rivera in the semifinals. A 9-5 win over Korsiak in those finals secured DaBreo’s first Open/Pro win.
[photo id=48780|align=right]Fracasso-Verner goes undefeated to take Amateur division
Last February, at the age of 15, Lukas Fracasso-Verner became the second-youngest player to ever win a stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour; the first, being Thomas Rice, who, at 14 won a stop on the tour in 2013. What was particularly significant about Fracasso-Verner’s victory at the time was that he’d won 13 loss-side matches to meet and defeat the hot seat occupant, Atif Khan.
At this most recent stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, Fracasso-Verner, now 16, chalked up another victory, this time going undefeated through a field of 53. He advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal against Rhio Anne “Annie” Flores, while Adam Miller met up with Feng Zhao in the other winners’ side semifinal. Miller downed Zhao 7-3, while Fracasso-Verner and Flores locked up in a double hill battle that did eventually send Flores to the loss side. Fracasso-Verner then downed Miller 9-5 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Zhao picked up Suzzie Wong, who’d gotten by Greg Matos 6-3 and won a double hill match against Matthias Gutzmann. Flores drew Mark Zamora, recent double hill winner over Ocheign Carlos and Max Watanabe 7-5. The ladies advanced to the quarterfinals; Wong, over Zhao 7-2, and Flores over Zamora 7-4.
The ladies then locked up in a double hill fight, won by Wong. Miller took the semifinal 6-3 over Wong. Fracasso-Verner completed his undefeated run with a double hill 9-8 win over Miller in the finals.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. It was won by Wax Watanabe, who defeated Rich Hourihan in a double hill final. Watanabe pocketed $100, while Hourihan took home $50.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at The Spot for their hospitality, as well as special thanks to title sponsor Predator Cues, NAPL, Ozone Billiards, The DeVito Team, PoolOnTheNet.com, BilliardsPress.com, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest and PoolMag.com. Robles also extended thanks to his entire Predator Staff, including his wife, Gail Robles, Mandy Wu, William Finnegan, Irene Kim, and Rob Omen. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 17-18, will be an A/B/C/D event hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
(l to r): Mieszko Fortunski, Konrad Jusczyzszyn & Zion Zvi
Carandang goes undefeated to capture Amateur title
At the conclusion of the 2017 Empire State 10-Ball Championships (Open/Pro division), at which Zion Zvi had gone undefeated through a field of 25, he spoke of coming back from a break that he’d taken over the past few years.
“I’m going to be more active,” he said at the time, noting that he’d be “coming back one step at at a time.”
One week later, he’d claimed the 8th Annual New England Hall of Fame Tournament title, and before the year was out, he’d pocketed the best recorded earnings in his 15-year career. On Sunday February 25, he began 2018 the same way, by successfully defending his title at the 11th Annual Empire State 10-Ball Championships. He missed going undefeated by a single game, battling for the hot seat, but came back to defeat Mieszko Fortunski in the finals. For the second year in a row, the $1,000-added Open/Pro division of the Championships drew 25 entrants to the event’s traditional venue, Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY.
Commencing on Saturday, February 24, Raxx Billiards also played host to the annual Amateur division of the Empire State Championships, competing in 9-Ball. This year’s $2,000-added event drew 111 entrants, three more than it had last year. Jason Carandang went undefeated through the field to claim his first major title.
Zvi’s trek to the winners’ circle advanced through to a winners’ side semifinal match against Michael Yednak. Fortunski, in the meantime, met up with Joey Korsiak in the other winners’ side semifinal. Zvi and Fortunksi got into the hot seat match with identical 7-4 wins over Yednak and Korsiak. Fortunski claimed the hot seat 7-2, and waited on Zvi’s return from the semifinals.
By identical 7-4 scores, McAndrews and Jusczyzszyn advanced to the quarterfinals over Korsiak and Yednak. Jusczyzszyn then downed McAndrew 7-3 in those quarterfinals. Zvi put a stop to Jusczyzszyn’s run 7-3 in the semifinals, and then, in a successful 11-7 re-match against Fortunski, claimed the event title.
[photo id=48723|align=right]Carandang and Romann battle twice for the Amateur title
They met early and late. Jason Carandang sent Steven Romann to the loss side in a double hill match early in the Amateur event. Caradang advanced to the hot seat, as Romann chalked up seven wins on the loss side to meet him a second time. The finals fell a game short of being a second double hill match (7-5), but the result was the same.
Caradang advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal against Ada Lio, the Predator Pro Am Tour’s top female at this early-in-the-season juncture. Shawn Jackson and Frank Cutrone met up in the other winners’ side semifinal. Carandang sent Lio to the loss side 7-2, as Jackson sent over Cutrone over 7-5. Carandang and Jackson locked up in a double hill fight that left Carandang in the hot seat, and Jackson on his way to the semifinals.
It was Lio, who picked up the eventual runner-up, Steve Romann on the loss side. He was four matches into the loss-side streak that was taking him to the finals. He’d most recently downed Adam Miller 7-5 and Jose Kuilan 7-4. Cutrone picked up teenager Lukas Fracassso-Verner, who’d eliminated Steinway Billiards’ owner, Manny Stamatakis in a double hill fight, and Paul Everton in an almost-double hill fight (7-5).
Romann defeated Lio 7-4 and advanced to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Cutrone, who’d put Fracasso-Verner on the wrong end of another double hill fight. Two more, apparently very popular 7-4 wins, in the quarterfinals against Cutrone and in the semifinals, against Jackson, gave Romann a second shot against Carandang. To no avail, as it turned out. Carandang completed his undefeated run with a 7-5 win in the finals.
A Second Chance event that drew 16 entrants was Mike Callaghan defeat George Poltorak 7-3 in the finals. Dan Faraguna finished third, with Debby Buyukdeniz in fourth place. Max Watanabe defeated Mike Salerno 7-2 in the finals of a Third Chance event that drew 8 entrants.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Raxx Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, NAPL, Ozone Billiards, The DeVito Team, PoolOnTheNet.com, BilliardsPress.com, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest and PoolMag.com. Robles also extended thanks to his entire Predator Staff, including his wife, Gail Robles, Mandy Wu, William Finnegan, Irene Kim, and Rob Omen. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled for March 3-4, will be hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY.
Lio joins growing list of female winners on Predator Pro Am Tour
Both winners on the most recent Predator Pro Am Tour stop on the weekend of February 10-11 came back from the loss side to claim victory in the event’s Amateur and Open-Pro events. Kudlik Marek came back from a loss in the hot seat match of the $250-added Open/Pro tournament (10-ball), which drew 21 entrants, to down Alex Kazakis in the finals. Ada Lio came back from a winners’ side semifinal in the $750-added, Double Points Amateur event (9-ball), which drew 89, to defeat Bryan Toolsee in the finals. The 13 amateurs who opted to compete in the Open/Pro event paid a reduced entry fee of $60 to sign on. Both events were hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
In the Open/Pro segment of the weekend’s activities (Sunday), Marek faced Alex Kazakis twice; first, in the hot seat match and then later, victoriously in the finals. Marek had sent Raphael Dabreo to the loss side, double hill, in one winners’ side semifinal, while Marek was busy downing tour director Tony Robles 7-5. Kazakis claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Marek, and waited on his return.
Robles and DaBreo got right back to business on the loss side; Robles downing Joey Korsiak 7-3 and DaBreo eliminating Jimmy Rivera 7-4. DaBreo then defeated Robles 7-4 in the quarterfinals to earn himself a re-match against Marek. Marek downed him a second time 7-4 in the semifinals to earn his own re-match against Kazakis. The two fought to double hill at 8-8, before Marek closed it out to claim the Open/Pro title.
Ada Lio gets by the boys to claim Amateur title
[photo id=48693|align=right]Ada Lio has been appearing on payout lists in the New York area for about five years, splitting her tournament time between the Tri-State and Predator Tours. As a D+/D player on the Tri-State Tour, she went undefeated, knocking off a couple of A players, to win a Tri-State event in September of 2014. At this most recent event (now playing as a “C”), she came back from a winners’ side semifinal loss to down Bryan Toolsee in the finals of the Amateur event, which played out over two days.
She was sent to the loss side by Matt Klein 7-5, as Toolsee was busy dominating Geovanni Hosang 7-0 in the other winners’ side semifinal. At double hill, poised to claim the hot seat, Klein missed a shot at the 9-ball, and left the door open for Toolsee. Toolsee walked in, sunk the 9-ball and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Lio’s return.
Lio picked up Erick Carrasco on the loss side, who’d defeated Ryan Dayrit and John Salmon, both 7-5, to reach her. Hosang drew Rikki Ragoonanan, fresh off two straight double hill wins against Dan McGinnis and Jim Curti. As had happened in the Open/Pro event, the two recent arrivals from the winners’ side bracket got right back to business; Lio, downing Carrasco 7-4, and Hosang, coming out on the win side of Ragoonanan’s third double hill match.
Lio and Hosang locked up in a double hill quarterfinal fight that eventually sent Lio to the semifinals against Klein. She gave up only a single rack to Klein in those semifinals (7-1) and got a shot at Toolsee in the hot seat. She took full advantage, defeating Toolsee 9-5 to claim the event title.
A Second Chance event on Sunday drew 15 entrants. Jason Carandang came out on top to win $150. Juan Guzman finished as runner-up to the tune of $90, while Ambi Estevez and Max Watanabe finished in the $30 tie for third place.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, NAPL, Ozone Billiards, The DeVito Team, PoolOnTheNet.com, BilliardsPress.com, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest and PoolMag.com. Robles also extended thanks to his entire Predator Staff, including his wife, Gail Robles, Mandy Wu, William Finnegan, Irene Kim, and Rob Omen. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour will be the 11th Annual Empire State Championships, scheduled for the weekend of February 24-25 at Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead (Long Island), NY.
(l to r): Andrew Cleary, Rick Miller & Matthias Gutzmann
When the Predator Pro Am Tour held its annual tour championships back in early December, the $10,500-added event drew 89 invited entrants. The winner, Rhys Chen, pocketed $7,000 for his undefeated run through the field. Though correlation does not always signify causation, it would appear that the $7,000 top prize in that event has led to increased interest in sufficient participation in Predator Pro Am Tour events this year to qualify for (be invited to) the 2018 Tour Championships. The Predator Pro Am Tour opened its 2018 season with a record 115 entrants at a $1,000-added event, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. Though Andrew Cleary battled Rick Miller and claimed the hot seat in this event, Miller returned from the semifinals to defeat Cleary and win the Predator Pro Am season opener.
Second and Third Chance events drew 16 and 14 entrants, respectively. Jason Carandang won the Second Chance event, downing George Poltorak in the finals. Victor Nau chalked up the win in the Third Chance event, defeating Jessica Lynn in that one.
In the main event, Miller advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Tom Wan, as Cleary squared off against Matthias Gutzmann in the other one. Cleary got into the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Gutzmann, and was joined by Miller, who’d sent Wan west 7-5. Cleary claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Miller and waited on his return from the semifinals.
Singh advanced to the quarterfinals 8-6 over Wan, and was joined by Gutzmann, who’d ended Zamora’s weekend 7-6. Gutzmann advanced another step, downing Singh in those quarterfinals 7-5. Miller ended Gutzmann’s three-match, loss-side trip with an 8-5 win in the semifinals.
In the extended-race-to-9 finals, Cleary was tasked with chalking up seven racks before Miller, at which point, the match and tournament would have ended with Cleary as its undefeated winner. Miller, though, reached the seven-match mark first, and added two more – to Cleary’s 3, total – to claim the event title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff for their continuing hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PoolontheNet.com, Capelle Publishing, NAPL, TheDeVitoTeam.com, and his own Predator Pro Am staff, including his wife, Gail Robles, Irene Kim, Mandy Wu, William Finnegan, and Rob Omen. This year's Predator Pro Am Tour will feature 11 stops that will include both Amateur and Pro events. The first of these, scheduled for February 10-11, will combine a $750-added event for Amateurs and a $250-added event for Pros, both to be hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Troy Deocharran, Shawn Sookhai, Gary O’Callaghan and Greg Matos
The missing link had a way of influencing the outcome. On Labor Day weekend, at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens, one of the remaining 12 competitors, out of 63 that had registered to compete in the $1,000-added stop on the Predator Tour, forfeited a winners’ side semifinal match. The ripple effect gave Greg Matos a pass into the hot seat match, and later, gave Troy Deocharran a pass into the quarterfinals. Benefiting in one way or another from both of those matches, Gary O’Callaghan, whose last known tour victory was on the Tri-State Tour, four years ago, went undefeated to claim the event title.
As noted above, the ‘missing link,’ (Paul Lyons) forfeited his winners’ side semifinal match to Greg Matos, while O’Callaghan was busy sending Basdeo “Shawn” Sookhai to the loss side 8-3 in the other one. As an Amateur event, all of the matches were handicapped, including the hot seat match, which, in a race to 10, gave Matos five racks to start with. He chalked up three more, but O’Callaghan reached 10, claimed the hot seat and waited there for Matos to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Troy Deocharran, who’d survived a double hill encounter versus Jessica Lynn, and defeated Jason Carandan 7-4, drew Lyons, whose forfeiture, advanced Deocharran to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Basdeo “Shawn” Sookhai, who’d drawn Duc Lam, fresh off victories over Rhio “Annie” Flores 8-6 and Max Watanabe 7-4. Sookhai took the quarterfinal match 7-3 over Deocharran, only to have his own loss-side effort for a re-match against O’Callaghan derailed by Matos in the semifinals 8-6.
With the same handicap in place, Matos opened the finals with five on the wire, and didn’t add any. O’Callaghan chalked up his 10, and grabbed the event title.
The Labor Day weekend tour stop offered two Second Chance tournaments. The first, which drew 16 entrants was won by Robert Pole, who downed Cristobal Tiru 9-7 in the finals. The second (which, of course, would technically be the third) drew a smaller crowd of 10 and was won by Mike Salerno, who beat Bob Toomey 11-9 in those finals. Competitors in the Second Chance events boosted the total entrants at the tour stop to 89.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, the NAPL, Ozone Billiards, PoolOnTheNet.Com, Cappelle Publishing, and Delta-13 Racks. Robles also acknowledged the continuing support and assistance of Mandy Wu (ass’t TD), Irene Kim, and his “lovely wife,” Gail Robles. The next stop on the Predator Tour, scheduled for September 16-17, will be a $1,000-added Amateur event, hosted by Cue Bar in Bayside, Queens.
As he did last August on the Tri-State Tour, Max Watanabe came from the loss side to meet and defeat the hot seat occupant during the Predator Tour's 2017 season opener, on the weekend of January 7-8. The $1,000-added event drew 74 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Impacted by a powerful storm, it was the first time in Tour Director Tony Robles' memory that the Predator Tour's season opener had drawn less than 100 entrants. Though impacting the quantity, the storm had no discernible effect on the quality.
With Watanabe already at work on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak, it was Abel Rosario who advanced to the hot seat. He'd defeated Troy Deocharran 7-4 in a winners' side semifinal, as Brooke Meyer downed Rhys Chen 7-3 in the other one. Rosario claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Meyer and waited for Watanabe to complete his loss-side campaign.
Watanabe had been sent to the loss side by Rhio Anne (Annie) Flores. Four matches into his loss-side journey, right after defeating Dev Bhattacharya 8-5, they met a second time. Watanabe eliminated Flores 7-3 and drew Chen. Deocharran picked up George Poltorak, who'd gotten by Jose Kuilan 7-3 and Tommy Schreiber 7-2 to reach him.
It was Watanabe and Poltorak who advanced to the quarterfinals; Watanabe 7-2 over Chen, Poltorak 7-3 over Deocharran. Poltorak, due to a conflicting personal appointment, forfeited the quarterfinal match.
Watanabe then defeated Meyer 7-5 in the semifinals to earn a shot at Rosario in the hot seat. In the extended race to 9, Watanabe reached the 'trigger' number of racks (7), went on to complete his successful run 9-5 and claimed the event title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, the NAPL, Ozone Billiards, PoolOnTheNet.Com, Cappelle Publishing, and Delta-13 Racks. Robles also acknowledged the continuing support and assistance of Mandy Wu (ass't TD), Irene Kim, and his "lovely wife," Gail Robles. The Predator Tour will return to Steinway Billiards for a $1,000-added event, scheduled for the weekend of Jan. 28-29.
Justin Muller, Lukas Fracasso-Verner, Abel Rosario and Juan Guzman
It's been Juan Guzman's best recorded year. Playing on a combination of both the Predator and Tri-State Tours, Guzman has won two Predator events, one Tri-State event and was runner-up to Tony Liang at the annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial in May. He capped his 2016 efforts with a come-from-the-loss-side win at the 9th Annual Predator Tour Championships, held on the weekend of December 3-4. The $10,000-added event drew 81 amateur entrants to Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY.
The field was restricted to Predator tour members who had appeared in at least five events during the year, and was initially split into two brackets; an upper bracket of 34 players, ranked B+ or above, and a lower bracket of 47 players, ranked B or lower. The two brackets 'met' for the first, and as it turned out, the last time in the hot seat match.
Guzman, who entered the tournament ranked third among the tour's A+ players, made it to the winners' side quarterfinals before he ran into Miguel Laboy, who entered the tournament one spot below him on that A+ Predator ranking list (#4). LaBoy defeated Guzman and advanced to a winners' side semifinal against another A+ competitor, Justin Muller (#10). Meanwhile, the tour's #1-ranked B player, Abel Rosario, squared off against the tour's #1-ranked C player, Marvin Phisitkraiyacorn in the other winners' side semifinal.
Muller and Rosario advanced to the hot seat match with identical 7-3 victories over LaBoy and Phisitkraiyacorn. Muller, having chalked up wins at the Empire State Amateur 10-Ball Championships and a Second Chance event at the 7th Annual New England Pool and Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open earlier this year, moved into the hot seat with a double hill win over Rosario and waited as Guzman worked his way back to the finals.
On the loss side, LaBoy and Phisitkraiyacorn ran into Guzman and Lukas Fracasso-Verner, respectively. Guzman had opened his loss-side run with a double hill win over Ron Gabia (#9 in the A ranks), and a 7-4 victory over Rhys Chen (#5 on that same A list) to earn his re-match versus LaBoy. Fracasso-Verner (#2 in the B rankings, behind Rosario) had eliminated Dave Callaghan (#4 in the C rankings) 7-4 and Tony Ignomirello (#4 in C+) 7-3.
Fracasso-Verner and Guzman advanced to the quarterfinals; Fracasso-Verner, with a nail-biting double hill win over Phisitkraiyacorn, and Guzman successfully countering his earlier loss with a 7-5 win over LaBoy. Guzman chalked up loss side win #4 with an 8-6 win over Fracasso-Verner in the quarterfinals, and by the same score, denied Rosario a second shot against Muller.
In the modified race to 7/9 finals, Guzman hit the "7" mark first, and added two more to claim the event title 9-6 over Muller.
The 2016 Tour Championships featured both a Second and Third Chance event, which drew 15 and 12 entrants, respectively. Gene Hunt picked up the $280 first-place prize in the Second Chance event, defeating Gary Bozigian in the finals. Josh Friedberg chalked up the Third Chance event, downing Amy Yu in the finals, and pocketing the $210 first place prize.
This being the final event of the Predator Tour's 2016 season, tour director Tony Robles offered season's greetings and best holiday wishes to all of the players and room owners who participated in the tour's 22 events. In regards to the Tour Championship event itself, he thanked Raxx Billiards' owner Holden Chin, as well as manager George Florides, and the entire staff. Thanks were also extended to the tour's sponsors – title sponsor Predator Cues, the NAPL, Ozone Billiards, PoolOnTheNet.Com, Cappelle Publishing, and Delta-13 Racks. Robles also acknowledged the continuing support and assistance of Mandy Wu (ass't TD), Irene Kim, and his "lovely wife," Gail Robles.
The 2017 Predator Tour season is scheduled to commence on January 7, at an event to be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Stewart Warnock Jr., Dan Faraguna, Tony Ignomirello and Jaydev Zaveri
When they faced each other in the finals of the November 19-20 stop on the Predator Tour, Stewart Warnock, Jr. and Tony Ignomirello occupied the same spaces in their respective ranking categories; Warnock was the #11-ranked player among the tour's "A" players, Ignomirello was in the same position among the tour's "C+" players. The opponent they both defeated, Dan Faraguna (Warnock defeated him twice), was the tour's #1-ranked "B+" player. Warnock came back from a loss to Faraguna to win three on the loss side (including a re-match against Faraguna) to claim the title. The $1,000-added event drew 66 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Warnock and Faraguna squared off against each other, first, in a winners' side semifinal, as Ignomirello met up with Dave Callaghan in the other. Faraguna sent Warnock on his merry loss-side way by shutting him out. Ignomirello defeated Callaghan 7-3 to join Faraguna in the hot seat match. Ignomirello claimed the hot seat 7-4.
On the loss side, Warnock drew Arturo Reyes, who'd picked up a win on the Tri-State Tour the week before, and at this event had worked his loss-side way through Amir Uddin and Shawn Sookhai, both 7-5, to reach Warnock. Callaghan picked up Jaydev Zaveri, another recent winner on the Tri-State (Oct. 16), who'd defeated Marisol Palacios 9-6 and Akiko Taniyama 7-2.
Warnock and Zaveri advanced to the quarterfinals; Warnock 7-5 over Reyes, and Zaveri 7-6 over Callaghan. Warnock took the quarterfinal match over Zaveri 7-4 for the right to a re-match against Faraguna in the semifinals. Though their overall game totals would favor Faraguna (10-7), Warnock won the semifinal re-match 7-3 for a shot at Ignomirello in the finals.
Warnock took advantage of the opportunity he'd been granted. He downed Ignomirello 11-7 in the finals to claim the title. A Second Chance tournament that drew 12 entrants saw Eugene Ok defeat Dany Recinos in the finals 7-6 to claim the $160 first-place prize. Recinos pocketed $100.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, the NAPL, Ozone Billiards, PoolOnTheNet.Com, Cappelle Publishing, Delta-13 Racks, Mandy Wu (ass't TD), Irene Kim, and his "lovely wife," Gail Robles.
