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.
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.
