Sullivan and Scalzitti split top prizes in upper-bracket event
Splitting the competitors into upper and lower brackets of this past weekend’s (May 4-5) stop on the Garden State Pool Tour yielded 17 (lower) and 15 (upper) entrants that could have been 32 in a single bracket. Vincent Chang went undefeated through the lower bracket, while Hunter Sullivan and Kevin Scalzitti split the top two prizes in the upper-bracket prize pool. The event was hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
Chang opened his undefeated run with two 6-4 victories, over Justin Chang and Brook Villa to draw Nick Mendoza in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Victoria Amparo, from the other end of the bracket, got by Mark Watt 4-5 (Watt racing to 7) and Vicki Moore 4-1 to face Joshua Droz in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Amparo and Druz fought to double-hill for advancement to the hot seat match. Amparo prevailed. Chang downed Mendoza 6-3 to join her and then, claimed the hot seat 7-2.
In the only opening-round match, designed to bring the winners’ side of the bracket down to 16, Rashid Muhammad fought and lost a double-hill battle versus Marc Lamberti. Muhammad moved over and played in the only match of the loss-side’s opening round against Orion Woodard, defeating him 5-2 and launching himself on a four-match winning streak that shut out Brook Villa and defeated Matthew Wrobel 4-3 (Wrobel racing to 6) to draw Joshua Druz.
Mendoza came over and squared off for a rematch against Marc Lamberti, who, after defeating Muhammad in the opening round, lost to Mendoza in the second round 3-6. He followed that on the loss side with two straight, double-hill wins, over Andrew Croft and Vicki Moore, ahead of defeating Mike Strassberg 5-1, to draw the rematch.
Druz downed Muhammad 5-2 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Mendoza who defeated Lamberti a second time, 5-1. Druz defeated Mendoza 4-4 in those quarterfinals (Mendoza racing to 6) and in a handicap reversal, was defeated 4-3 by Amparo in the semifinals (Amparo racing to 6).
Chang won what turned out to be the only set necessary in what might have been a true double-elimination final. He gave up only a single rack and claimed the event title 7-1.
Kevin Scalzitti and Hunter Sullivan
Sullivan defeats Scalzitti once and they opt out of a final rematch
They met first in a winners’ side semifinal; Hunter Sullivan, having defeated David Marchant 6-2 and Maurice Acuna 8-3 to get there, as Scalzitti sent Naldo Troncoso (6-2) and Pascal Dufresne (5-3) to the loss side to meet up with him. Bud Robideau, in the meantime, got by Fernando Ruiz 6-2 and Michelle Brotons 7-2 to arrive at the other winners’ side semifinal for a match against Jason Hugh Sam.
Sullivan shut Scalzitti out and was joined in the hot seat match by Robideau, who’d defeated Sam 7-3. Sullivan and Robideau battled to double hill before Sullivan pocketed the last 9-ball and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, Scalzitti picked up a rematch against Troncoso, who’d followed his loss with victories over Rachel Lang (3), Giovanna Napolitano (3) and David Marchant (4). Sam picked up Ronnie Xu, who’d lost his opening match to Napolitano and then defeated Eduardo Cordova (2), Pascal Dufresne (4), and Maurice Acuna (3).
Scalzitti downed Troncoso 6-4 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Xu and Sam battled to double hill, with Xu hanging on to advance to face Scalzitti. Scalzitti took the quarterfinal match 6-2 and then, defeated Robideau 6-3 in the semifinals.
Negotiations were initiated to split the top two prizes. Sullivan, as the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, became the event’s official winner.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked Kris Kemp and her staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards for their hospitality, along with sponsors Outsville, In the Box Apparel, Billiard Engineering, JFlowers Cues & Cases, Off the Rail Apparel, Brutal Game Gear, John Bender Custom Cues, and World Beaters Apparel.
The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for Sunday, June 30, will be a 510 and lower Fargo Rate stop, hosted by Whiskey Hideaway on Staten Island.
She won a ladies’ event on the Garden State Pool Tour last July, in which she rebounded from an opening-round loss and went on to claim the title. Rachel Lang, runner-up in the APA’s US Amateur tournament in 2022, won her first (recorded) mixed-gender event six years ago on the Tri-State Tour (now, the Predator Tri-State Tour), and last weekend (Jan. 28-29), she chalked up her second ‘playin’ with the boys, too’ title, going undefeated through a field of 67 entrants that signed on to the $300-added event, hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Split into separate, upper/lower Fargo Rate brackets, Rachel went at things from the upper bracket with her Fargo Rate of 560. She got by some of the ‘big boys,’ too, on her way to the title, downing Sean Emmitt (526), Jaydev Zaveri (607), Dinko Busanich (double hill; 637) and Julien Tierney (599) to arrive at her winners’ side semifinal match against Hunter Sullivan (600). In the meantime, Paul Madonia, Sr., having gotten by Donald Henriquez, Edwin Balcarcel, Kevin Serodio and Lysander Diaz, faced Aaron Wagner in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Lang defeated Sullivan 5-3, as Madonia sent Wagner to the loss side, double hill. And then, something very strange happened. Having won their winners’ side semifinal, Lang and Wagner did not move into the hot seat match. Instead, in order to advance to the finals, they had to play someone from their individual bracket’s loss side. But this didn’t happen right away. They had to wait until the first loss-side matches played by Sullivan and Wagner were completed, at which point, Lang would face whoever won Sullivan’s match and Madonia would meet up with the winner of Wagner’s match.
Sullivan and Wagner moved to the loss side and were met by Sylvain Anichini and Alfredo Altamirano, respectively. Anichini had defeated Dinko Busanich, double hill and Jaydev Zaveri 5-1 to draw Sullivan, while Altamirano was busy eliminating Kevin Serodio 5-3 and Paul Murphy 5-2 to pick up Wagner.
Two double hill matches ensued in pursuit of advancement in what amounted to a separated bracket for the event’s final four. Altamirano downed Wagner 6-3 (Wagner racing to 4), as, in a straight up race to 5, Anichini eliminated Sullivan 5-4.
Back come Lang and Madonia, still on the winner’s side, and in essence, skipping a hot seat match. Lang faced Anichini, as Madonia took on Altamirano. And just when you thought it was heading into normal bracket-advancement territory, those two matches were double sets, requiring the loss-side competitors to win twice. Lang lost the opening set to Anichini 6-4, but came back in the second set to defeat him 5-1, in what proved to be the de facto hot seat match, leaving Lang in the undefeated hot seat.
Altamirano had to and did defeat Madonia twice, double hill in the first set 6-5 and 5-1 in the second set, advancing to the single set final against Lang. So, the two finalists were set before the final loss-side match between Madonia and Manichini was played to determine 3rd and 4th place.
Madonia grabbed 3rd place with a 5-4 win over Manichini (Manichini racing to 6). Lang claimed the event title with an 8-6 win in the single set final.
Tour director David Fitzpatrick thanked the ownership and staff at Rockaway Billiards for their hospitality, as well as Billiards Engineering, InTheBox, JFLowers Cues & Cases, John Bender Custom Cues, Off the Rail Apparel, Kamui and Jennifer Pedtum for her assistance in running the event. The next stop on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 4-5), will be hosted by Breaker Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Clint Pires is proving himself to be a force to be reckoned with in the New York City tri-state area. In September, he chalked up a win on the Garden State Pool Tour at a C-D 9-Ball event. This past weekend, Saturday, Nov. 26, he went undefeated at a $500-added, ABCD 9-ball event on the Predator Tri-State Tour, which drew 42 entrants to Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Pires had competed in another Garden State Pool Tour stop two weeks ago and finished 9th, which normally might not have been worthy of mention, were it not for the fact that the runner-up in that event, Hunter Sullivan, turned out to be the runner-up this past weekend as well. Pires and Sullivan faced each other twice, hot seat and finals.
The two worked their way forward from opposite ends of the bracket. Pires defeated Rob Rodriguez 6-2 in a winners’ side quarterfinal to draw Don Henriques in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Sullivan downed Christian Taeza 7-3 in another winners’ side quarterfinal and faced Raymund Paragus in the other semifinal.
Sullivan advanced to the hot seat match without giving up a rack to Paragus. Pires joined him after sending Henriques to the loss side 6-4. Pires claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited on Sullivan’s return from the loss side.
On the loss side, Paragus drew Tri Chau, who’d defeated Taeza and Robert Calton, both 7-4. Henriques drew a rematch versus Rushard Patrick, whom he’d defeated 6-2 in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Patrick defeated Dennis Feliciano III 8-4 and Sung Lee 6-2 to draw the rematch.
Chau got by Paragus 7-5 and in the quarterfinals, faced Henriques, who’d defeated Patrick a second time, 6-3. Henriques took one more step, eliminating Chau 7-3 in those quarterfinals.
The semifinal was the only match among the event’s final 18 matches that went double hill. When it was over, Sullivan had earned himself a second shot at Pires in the hot seat.
The final match was a replay (by score, at least) of the hot seat match. Same 7-4 score, same result, as Pires completed his undefeated run and claimed the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton Billiards, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Poison Cues, Arcos 2 Balls, Ozone Billiards, Sterling Billiards, Kamui, Hustlin’ USA Clothing, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Billiard Engineering, Joe Romer Trophies, Phil Cappelle Publications, Pool & Billiards and Billiards Digest. The next stop on The Predator Tri-State tour, scheduled for this weekend, Saturday, December 3, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
Until this past July, it had been a long time since Tim Clark had earned a cash payout, let alone an event victory at a pool tournament; 2008, to be exact. He won a stop on the Garden State Pool Tour in July and this past weekend (Nov. 11-12), he did it again. He chalked up his second victory on the tour with a significant flourish, coming from the loss side to avenge the loss and double-dip the defending champion of the Garden State Pool Tour’s Amateur 9-Ball Championships, Hunter Sullivan. The 2022 $600-added championships drew 58 entrants to Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Clark and Sullivan both emerged from the event’s upper (A-B) bracket and met for the first time in the (overall) winners’ side quarterfinals. Sullivan took the first (and last) of their three matches 7-5 and advanced to play Kevin Scalzitti in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Sabrina Sherman and Ben Zimmerman squared off in the other one.
Sullivan got into the hot seat match with a 6-5 win over Scalzitti (racing to 7). Sherman joined him after downing Zimmerman, double hill; 5-6 (Zimmerman racing to 7). Sullivan claimed the hot seat, his last win of the event, 8-6 over Sherman.
Clark opened his loss-side campaign with a 5-6 win over Dinko Busanich (Busanich racing to 8) and a 7-1 victory over Julian Tierney, which set him up to face Scalzitti. Zimmerman drew Jorge Capillo, who’d recently eliminated Nicole Adams, double hill, and Giancarlo Delgado 6-1.
From this point on through the first set of the double elimination finals, every match went double hill. Clark over Scalzitti, Zimmerman over Capillo. Clark over Zimmerman in the quarterfinals and Clark again, over Sherman in the semifinals.
If coming back on the loss side to face and defeat the opponent who’d sent you there comes with a certain ‘satisfaction’ badge, facing that opponent in the finals and defeating him twice has a badge marked ‘double satisfaction.’ Doing both of those things and winning your first major tournament has ‘satisfaction guaranteed’ written all over it. Clark and Sullivan battled to double hill in the opening set before Clark finished it.Clark took the second set 7-5 and claimed his first (recorded) event title.
Tour director Dave Fitzpatrick thanked the ownership and staff at Rockaway Billiards for their hospitality, as well as tour sponsors Billiards Engineering, JFlowers cues, John Bender Custom Cues, Pool-a-Holic, Off the Rail Apparel and IntheBx. The next event on the Garden State Pool Tour, scheduled for Dec. 10-11, will be the tour’s by-invitation-only Grand Amateur Championship, to be hosted by Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ.
After five attempts on the Predator Tri-State Tour, dating back two years, when his first cash payout was recorded with us here at AZBilliards, Hunter Sullivan has broken through to claim an event title on the tour, albeit one with an * for being in the hot seat and opting out of a final match. Sullivan did record two regional tour victories last year, one on the Mac Attack Tour and the other at the Garden State Pool Tour’s Amateur Championships. Sullivan and Nick Torraca had played once already in the Saturday, Sept. 24 event, letting their battle for the hot seat stand as the defining match of the tournament. The $500-added, ABCD 10-ball event drew 33 entrants to Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ, where Sullivan began his quest for his first title two years ago.
Sullivan’s path went through Frank Rodriguez 6-2, Mikhail Kim 6-3 and then faced tour newcomer, Jason Halpin, in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Halpin put up a double hill fight, but it was Sullivan who advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Don Henriquez. Torraca, in the meantime, got by Vijay Patel (5-1), KC Clayton (5-3) and Dave Fitzpatrick (5-3) to face Brook Villa in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Sullivan defeated Henriquez 6-3 and was joined in the hot seat match by Torraca, who’d sent Villa to the loss side 6-4. Sullivan claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Torraca in what would prove to be his last match.
Henriquez and Villa arrived on the loss side of the bracket and walked right into two double hill struggles. Only one of them made it out of that first loss-side match. Henriquez picked up Mikhail Kim, who’d defeated Jason Halpin and Anthony Nasta, both 6-3, to reach him. Villa drew Gustavo Ardon, who’d recently eliminated Dave Fitzpatrick 5-1 and Tom Crane 7-4.
It was Henriquez who made it out alive (so to speak), barely, downing Kim. Villa ended up on the wrong side of his double hill battle and it was Ardon who advanced to the quarterfinals.
Henriquez defeated Ardon in those quarterfinals 5-3 and in what proved to be the last match of the night, Torraca defeated Henriquez by the same score in the semifinals. The agreement was reached, the cash was split and as undefeated occupant of the hot seat at the time, Hunter had his first Predator Tri-State Tour title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Poison Cues, Arcos 2 Balls, Ozone Billiards, Sterling Billiards, Kamui, Hustlin’ USA Clothing, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Billiard Engineering, Joe Romer Trophies, Phil Cappelle Publications, Pool & Billiards and Billiards Digest. The Predator Tri-State tour will return to Shooter’s Family Billiards on Saturday, Nov. 5, for a 9-ball event.
At least this time out, Jaydev Zaveri was the official winner. Having worked his way into the finals of three Predator Tri-State Tour stops at the same location this year (Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ), Zaveri and his first two opponents – Jan Mierzwa in February and Joe Valania in May, both of whom were in the hot seat at the time – negotiated a financial agreement and opted out of playing a final match. This past weekend (Saturday, August 27), Zaveri negotiated from the hot seat with tour newcomer, Brook Villa and while splitting the top two prizes with him, he did become the official winner of the $500-added Predator Tri-State stop that drew 29 entrants to Shooter’s Family Billiards.
Zaveri’s trip to the hot seat had something of a shaky start, surviving two straight double hill battles against Hunter Sullivan and Frank Krupa. A subsequent 7-3 victory over Pascal Dufresne set Zaveri up in a winners’ side semifinal against James Kearney. Aiden Wagner, in the meantime, destined for the hot seat match, got by Jowen Pichardo, Bob Toomey, and Ben Zimmerman to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Villa.
Zaveri got into what would prove to be his final match, battling for the hot seat, with a 7-2 victory over Kearney. Wagner joined him after sending Villa to the loss side 7-5. A 7-4 victory put Zaveri in the hot seat and, as it turned out, afforded him the opportunity to be declared the event’s official winner.
On the loss side, Villa picked up Ben Zimmerman who’d followed his loss to Wagner with wins over Tom Crane 7-5 and John Torp 6-3. Kearney drew Kevin Scalzitti, who’d lost his opening match to Pascal Dufresne and was working on a four-match, loss-side winning streak that had most recently eliminated Mike Strassberg 7-3, John Torp 6-3 and was about to end.
Kearney shut Scalzitti out and in the quarterfinals, faced Villa, who’d defeated Zimmerman 6-3. Villa was downing his opponents more efficiently as he got closer to the end, following his victory over Zimmerman with a 9-2 victory Kearney in the quarterfinals and then shutting out Wagner in the semifinals.
It set up an interesting title match, a contest between a tour veteran with a long list of cash finishes and victories on a number of area tours versus a newcomer, looking for his first recorded tour victory. The match, of course, didn’t happen. Zaveri and Villa agreed to the split and Zaveri went into the books as the event’s official winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues.
John Leyman, Henry Cha, Dan Cintron, Jason Goberdhan and Todd Fleitman
Since he first began showing up on the tri-state New York area’s payout lists two years ago, Henry Cha has been making steady progress, earning a little more each year since then. He earned more in 2021 than he did in 2020 (which, full disclosure and thanks to Covid, pretty much everybody did) and now, midway through 2022, he’s already surpassed last year’s earnings. He won his first Predator Tri-State Tour stop in back in March and this past weekend, (June 25-26), he chalked up his second Predator Tri-State win, coming from the loss side to down Jason Goberdhan twice in the true double elimination final of the tour’s $3,800-added, 25th Invitational Tournament. The annual event, which signals the end of one tour season and the start of another (in this case, ‘20/’21 to ‘21/’22) drew 63 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Cha’s trip went through Lidio Ramirez, Raymond Lee and Julian Tierney to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal versus Mike Pruitt. Goberdhan, in the meantime, downed Nick Persaud, Jay Chiu, Nick Torraca and Anil Dhenraj to face Linda Cheung in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Cha got into the hot seat match with a 7-3 win over Pruitt and was joined by Goberdhan, who sent Cheung to the loss side, double hill. Goberdhan, looking for his first win on the tour since four days before Christmas last year, claimed the hot seat 7-5 in what would prove to be his last win of the weekend.
On the loss side, Jaydev Zaveri, who’d lost his second round, winners’ side match to Tierney and then got by Hunter Sullivan and Basdeo Sookhai in the first money round, got a second shot at Tierney. They battled to double hill before Zaveri advanced to defeat Frank Rodriguez, also double hill, and drew Mike Pruitt, just over from the winners’ side. Chueng arrived on the loss side to draw a rematch against KC Clayton, whom she’d defeated in a winners’ side quarterfinal and who’d gone on to defeat Marc Lamberti 6-4 and Anil Dhenraj 6-3.
Zaveri defeated Pruitt 7-4 and in the quarterfinals, faced Cheung, who’d eliminated Clayton, double hill. Zaveri ended Cheung’s run 9-7 in those quarterfinals.
Zaveri’s run ended immediately thereafter. Cha defeated him 7-5 for a second and necessary third shot at Goberdhan in the hot seat. Cha took both sets of the true double elimination final 8-5 to claim the Predator Tri-State 25th Invitational Tournament. In addition to the prize money they earned, Cha took home a Predator Cue, while Goberdhan and Zaveri each were awarded a Poison Break Cue.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, Paul Dayton Cues, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Joe Romer Trophies and Quick Slick. The next stop on the Predator Tri-State Tour scheduled for the Saturday, July 30, will be a $500-added, A-B-C-D 10-ball event, hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
They played three times, once in the hot seat match and twice in the finals. Each match came down to a single, deciding game. Lidio Ramirez took the first match, sending Rodriguez to the semifinals. Rodriguez came back to double-dip Ramirez in the finals to win this past weekend’s (June 11-12) stop on the Predator Tri-State Tour. The $1,000-added event drew 36 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside, Queens, NY.
Separately, they worked their way through the field to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match; Ramirez versus Silvestre Palacios and Rodriguez against Paul Lyons. Ramirez sent Palacios to the loss side 7-5, while Rodriguez gave up only a single rack to Lyons, downing him 6-1 to join Ramirez in the hot seat match. Their first of three got underway and moved to its 18th game before Ramirez dropped the 9-ball in the 19th game and claimed the hot seat.
Palacios sent Sullivan home 7-3 and waited for Lyons to complete a double hill win over Castillo to join him in the quarterfinals. Palacios took that quarterfinal match 7-3, only to have his loss-side winning streak stopped at two wins by Rodriguez in the semifinals 8-5.
The true double elimination finals were on. They battled back and forth to double hill and Rodriguez brought their match count to 1-1. They fought to double hill in the second set and Rodriguez finished it to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, Paul Dayton Cues, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Joe Romer Trophies and Quick Slick. The next stop on the Predator Tri-State Tour, scheduled for the weekend of June 25-26, will be the Predator Tri-State’s Annual Invitational Tournament, to be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
In his first win on the Garden State Pool Tour, and as far as we know, his first win anywhere, Sebastion Kas became the tour’s Amateur 8-Ball Champion last weekend (Sunday, May 1). Kas worked his way through the field of 47, downing Julie Madlener twice; hot seat and finals. It was Madlener’s second recorded victory on the tour, having finished in the tie for 9th at a stop in Rockaway, NJ this past February. The $400-added Amateur 8-Ball Championship was hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.
Kas’ path to the winners’ circle went through Deo Alpojara, Jimmy (Silky) Acosta and Mikhail Kim to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Hunter Sullivan. Madlener, in the meantime, had bested Al Lewis, Kervens Francois, and Ginny Lewis to arrive at her winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Frank Kasetta.
Kas and Madlener advanced to their first (recorded) tournament hot seat match. Kas had sent Sullivan to the loss side 6-2, as Madlener was busy shutting Kasetta out to earn her spot in the winners’ side final. Sebastion claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited on Madlener’s return.
On the loss side, Sullivan and Kasetta downed the first opponents they faced on that side of the bracket and squared off in the quarterfinals. The match went double hill before Sullivan prevailed. The two competitors who met in the semifinals were both battling for a second chance against Kas, waiting in the hot seat for one of them. After trading racks throughout the contest, Madlener advanced for a second shot at him.
Each of the finalists added a rack to their performance against each other in the hot seat match. Kas completed his undefeated run to claim his first Garden State Pool Tour title and its 8-Ball Championship.
Tour representatives thanked Kris Consolvo Kemp and her staff at Shooter’s Family Billiards, all the players who competed, and tour sponsors Kamui, Billiards Engineering, and John Bender Custom Cues. The Garden State Pool Tour will set up two separate events for its next stop. On Saturday, May 21, there will be an ABCD 9-Ball event and on Sunday, May 22, a CD 9-Ball event, both hosted by Players Billiards in Eatontown, NJ.
Last September, Robert Calton and Henry Cha squared off in the hot seat match of the inaugural tournament of the Mac Attack Tour. Launched by Mac Jankov to accommodate the hundreds of pool players who, in the absence of the Tri-State Tour and the Predator Pro Am Tour due to the pandemic, had been left high, dry and without competition in the tri-state New York City area. Cha sent Calton to the semifinals in that nine-months-ago hot seat match, but did not face him a second time. At the end of the quarterfinals in that event, Calton, Cha and Nishant Narang opted out of playing both a semifinal and a final match and split the top three prizes.
Fast forward to this past weekend (May 22-23). Tony Robles had moved to Florida and the Predator Pro Am Tour came to a complete stop. The Tri-State Tour resurfaced last month, having sought and obtained sponsorship from Predator, and became the Predator Tri-State Tour.
And there, in the hot seat battle, and this time, in the finals, were Robert Calton and Henry Cha. Only this time, it was Calton who claimed the hot seat and then, defeated Cha a second time in the finals to claim his first event title. The $1,000-added event drew 63 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Calton’s path to the winners’ circle went through Paolo Valaverde, Philip Pearce, Adrian Daniel and Tri Chau to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Todd Trent. Cha opened his campaign up against Basdeo Sookhai and then sent Eddie Kwok, Duc Lam and Jimmy Acosta to the loss side, picking up Hunter Sullivan in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Calton got by Trent 7-5, as Cha was busy sending Sullivan over 7-3. Calton claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Cha and waited on his return.
On the loss side, Sullivan picked up Doug Youmans, who’d recently defeated Jimmy Acosta 7-5 and Jimmy Gutierrez 10-5. Trent drew KC Clayton, who was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had just eliminated Diana Rojas 6-3 (#5) and Adrian Daniel 6-4 (#6).
Sullivan advanced to the quarterfinals 9-5 over Youmans. Clayton took one more step to join him, downing Trent 7-4. Sullivan stopped Clayton’s run 6-3 in those quarterfinals.
In what proved to be the only double hill match of the entire tournament, Cha defeated Sullivan in the semifinals, earning a second shot at Calton, waiting for him in the hot seat. Calton took the opening set of the potential two, 7-4, and claimed the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, Sterling Billiards, Kamui, Quick Stik, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Joe Romer Trophies, Phil Cappelle Publications and Pool and Billiards. The next stop on the Predator Tri-State Tour, scheduled for the weekend of June 12-13, will be hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY.
Henry Cha
Robert Calton
KC Clayton
Robert Calton
Henry Cha and Doug Youmans
Adrian Daniel
Diana Rojas
Adrian Daniel
Doug Youmans
Jim Gutierrez
Sean Santoro
Adrian Daniel
Sean Santoro
Amanda Andries
CA Duque
Nishant Narang
Abel Rosario
Mike Strassberg
Jason Goberdhan
John Francisco
Ed Medina
Jimmy Acosta
Mike Strassberg
Veronica Powers
Kris Consalvo-Kemp
David Grant
Jason Goberdhan
Tom McManamon
CA Duque
CA Duque
Abel Rosario
Jason Goberdhan
Jason Goberdhan
Todd Trent
Hunter Sullivan
Veronica Powers
Millie Perez
Mio Celaj
Eddie Kwok
Libby Pranada
Tom Crane
Jackie Florez
Henry Cha
Paul Puma
Philip Pearce
Dan Cintron and Sammy (Cue Bar Owner)
Dan Cintron
Robert Calton and Henry Cha
Dan Cintron and CA Duque
John Francisco, Paul Puma, Duc Lam and Mike Strassberg
