(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.
Sometimes, even the tiniest crack in what looks like an impregnable concrete wall can lead to the destruction of the entire wall. Think of a crack in a dam, that spreads with the pressure of a wall of water behind it, finally bringing the whole dam down. On the weekend of November 20-21, a week before its Tour Championships, the Predator Pro Am Tour held its final tour stop, which set a tour precedent by becoming the first event in the tour’s history at which all three events (main, Second and Third Chance) were won by a woman.
A tiny crack in the seemingly impregnable wall of separation between men and women pool players? Or just an isolated event on a random regional tour stop that no one will remember in a week? We shall see.
Although 2017 has been Rhio Anne (Annie) Flores’ best recorded earnings year, to date, her undefeated run at the $1,000-added main event of the Predator Pro Am Tour stop this past weekend, which drew 73 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY, was her first tour victory of the year and her first on any tour/event in over three years. She was runner-up at a Tri-State event in May, placed third (with Vivian Villareal) at the 2017 Super Billiards Expo Women’s Championship in March, and has placed among the top 10 in all but one of the events in which she’s competed and cashed this year (she was 17th at the 7th Annual Ginky Memorial).
To go along with Flores’ victory, Debra Pritchett chalked up a win in the 16-entrant Second Chance event, defeating Justin Muller 11-4 in the finals. In the Third Chance event, which drew 12 entrants, Suzzie Wong downed Max Watanabe, double hill, in the finals to complete the unprecedented trio of women winners at a single stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour.
Flores faced separate opponents in the hot seat match and finals of the main event. She downed Gary O’Callaghan, double hill, to get into the hot seat match against Jose Kuilan, who’d defeated Junior Singh 7-1. Flores claimed the hot seat 8-6 over Kuilan and waited on what turned out to be the return of Singh.
Singh and O’Callaghan advanced to face each other in the quarterfinals; Singh 7-5 over Gutzmann and O’Callaghan 8-2 over Acosta. Singh and O’Callaghan fought to a deciding 17th game in the quarterfinal, and it was O’Callaghan who took aim at the last 9-ball. He missed the shot, and Singh advanced to the semifinals, where he defeated Kuilan 7-5.
As he’d done in the quarterfinals against O’Callaghan, Singh battled Flores in the finals to double hill. Flores, though, took the final game and claimed the event title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PlayNAPL.com, The DeVito Team, PoolontheNet.com, Capelle Billiards Press, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine. The final event of the 2017 Predator Pro Am Tour season will be the annual Tour Championships, open to anyone who’s competed in at least five events throughout the season, with entry discounts available for competitors with larger numbers of appearances on the tour. The estimated $10,000-added event, scheduled for December 2-3, will be hosted by Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY, and will also feature two $250-added Second Chance events for the upper and lower brackets.
The event will also name tour Player of the Year in nine separate divisions, including Female Player of the Year, who is likely to be Annie Flores, whose victory this past weekend moved her ahead of Amy Yu. The Tour Championships will be streamed live with commentary by Upstate AL throughout the weekend.
It’s become something of a long-standing tradition on the Tri-State Tour that no matter how many familiar names pop up in a tour stop’s winners’ circle, there is always someone new who shows up and adds their name to a growing, very long list. The ratio is hard to determine, but for every familiar name that chalks up a win on the Tri-State, there are usually quite a few in the course of the tour’s season who add their name to the ongoing list of winners.
On Sunday, October 1, Zouraiz Ellahi added his name to the list of first-time winners on the tour with an undefeated run through a field of 38. The $1,000-added event was hosted by BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY.
Ellahi’s run through the field included victories over quite a few familiar names, like Junior Singh, Alberto Estevez, Lidio Ramirez and Carl Yusuf Khan, whom he defeated in a winners’ side quarterfinal, which set him up to face John Morrison in a winners’ side semifinal. In the other winners’ side semifinal, Suzzie Wong, who was in the midst of an impressive performance that would ultimately net her a fourth place finish, squared off against Dementhris Hudson, another new name, who’d finished fourth on his only other payout appearance on the Tri-State back in May.
Ellahi defeated Morrison, who’d come back to face him in the finals, 7-4, as Hudson sent Wong to the loss side 6-3. Ellahi claimed his first Tri-State hot seat 7-5 over Hudson, who was also looking to occupy that seat for the first time.
Morrison and Wong advanced to the quarterfinals; Morrison 8-2 over Khan, and Wong, surprisingly shutting out Tri-State veteran ‘Tony Iggy.’ Wong and Morrison battled to double hill in those quarterfinals, but Wong’s run came to an end. Morrison went on to give up only a single rack in his semifinal battle against Hudson.
Morrison, who’d won a Tri-State event back in 2015, ended up winning two more racks in the final than he had in his winners’ side semifinal against Ellahi. But it wasn’t enough. Ellahi won it 7-4 to claim his first Tri-State title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, Joe Romer Trophies and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, October 15, will be hosted by Rockaway Billiards in Rockaway, NJ.
Junior Singh, Ramon Rodriguez, Amy Yu and Phil Davis
Phil Davis became the 7th different player to win the Amateur event of the Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament, held this past weekend – May 27-29 – at Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. Held under the combined auspices of the Predator Pro Am, Tri-State and Mezz Tours, the event featured its usual array of amateur-status talent. Last year's winner, Tony Liang, was out of this one early, leaving the door open for Davis to go undefeated and follow (in order) Raj Vannala, Daniel Dagotdot, Mike Yednak, Kapriel Delimelkonoglu, Rhys Chen and Liang into the Ginky Memorial history book.
Attendance at this annual event has grown steadily over the years, although the numbers did drop a little this year; from 190 to 165 in the $2,000-added Amateur event, and from 54 to 44 in the $2,000-added Pro event, which, by the way, was won by Jayson Shaw (see separate story). Last year's winner, Zion Zvi, like Tony Liang in the Amateur event, was knocked out early.
Both events were streamed live throughout the weekend by AZBTv, sponsored by Blatt Billiards, and featuring the commentary of Upstate Al and a host of guest commentators.
The 165-entrant Amateur tournament divided the players up into two separate brackets of A players and B-D players. They did not meet until the very end. Amy Yu won the B-D bracket, while Ramon Rodriguez won the A bracket. Davis, defeated early by Rodriguez, came back on the loss side to defeat him and advance to the finals against Yu.
As the event moved into the 9/12 matches, only one previous Ginky Memorial champion remained, Rhys Chen, who, after a 7-5 victory over James Conn, was knocked out by Koka Davladze 8-6. Davladze, who'd previously eliminated James Stevens 9-6 advanced to meet Davis in the 5/6 matches. Junior Singh, in the meantime, having defeated Neven Lipovac 7-4, and Benny Rosado 7-5, picked up Gary Bozigian.
Davis and Singh advanced to the quarterfinals; Davis 7-1 over Davladze, and Singh 7-5 over Bozigian. Davis took the quarterfinal match over Singh 9-5, and then, in a re-match against Rodriguez, downed him 7-5 for a shot at Amy Yu.
He took full advantage. Giving six racks to Yu in a race to 13, Davis completed his loss side run with a 13-8 victory to claim the 7th George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial title.
Event director Tony Robles, as he is every year at this time, was demonstrably appreciative of the effort put forth by representatives from the Tri-State and Mezz Tours, as well as the ownership and staff at Steinway Billiards. In addition to thanks offered to Blatt Billiards (BlattBilliards.com) for their sponsorship of the live stream, Robles also thanked sponsors Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PlayNAPL.com, PoolOnTheNet.com, Cappelle (BilliardsPress.com), and the DeVito team.
Predator Tour Director Tony Robles had to scour his tour archives to determine whether 15-year-old Lukas Fracasso-Verner had become the youngest competitor to ever win a stop on the tour. He was not. As Robles discovered, Fracasso-Verner was the second oldest competitor to win a stop on the tour; the youngest being Thomas Rice, who at the age of 14, won a Predator stop in September, 2013. Fracasso-Verner's victory, which came at a Predator Tour stop on the weekend of January 28-29, was made all that more dramatic by the teenager's 13-match winning streak on the losers' side of the bracket. The $1,000-added event drew 80 entrants to Steinway Billiards, in Astoria (Queens), NY.
With Fracasso-Verner already at work on the loss side (he'd lost his opening match in a double hill fight against Eugene Ok), his eventual finals' opponent – Atif Khan – advanced to a winners' side semifinal match against Nick Liberatos. John Cullen faced Kanami Chau in the other winners' side semifinal. Cullen and Khan moved into the hot seat match, following Cullen's 8-6 win over Chau and Khan's 7-5 victory over Liberatos. Khan claimed the hot seat, double hill, over Cullen.
On the loss side, Fracasso-Verner edged past the halfway mark in his 13-match, loss-side odyssey and into the money rounds. He then got by Kevin Shin 7-3, and Junior Singh 7-1, to pick up Chau. Liberatos drew Duc Lam, who'd defeated Matthew Harricharan and Tom Hagan, both 7-4. Two double hill fights advanced Fracasso-Verner and Lam over Chau and Liberatos to the quarterfinals.
Fracasso-Verner eliminated Lam 8-5 in those quarterfinals, and then finished Cullen's weekend 7-3 in the semifinals. Khan and Fracasso-Verner were each looking for their first win on the Predator Tour, though Khan had two wins on the Tri-State Tour in his resume. Khan completed his unlikely, but strong loss-side run with a 9-6 win in the finals.
Lidio Ramierez, Owner/Operator Kevin Buckley, Amy Yue Yu and Miguel “Pee Wee” Laboy
It was one of those 6 a.m. deals, where two players who've spent all day, all night and into the next morning on their feet, look at the top two cash prizes and decide that the difference is not significant enough to make a final match desireable. Miguel "PeeWee" Laboy proved to be the 'title' beneficiary of this, finishing undefeated and chalking up his second win on the Tri-State Tour this year. Lidio Ramierez, a Predator Tour victor in June, grabbed the runner-up title, splitting the top two cash prizes. The $2,000-added event, held on Saturday, August 16, drew 64 entrants to Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.
Laboy and Ramierez did face each other in a winners' side quarterfinal. A 7-1 victory by Laboy sent Ramierez on a five-match, loss-side winning streak that would eventually get him back to the finals. Laboy moved on to face Junior Singh in a winners' side semifinal, as Amy Yue Yu met up with Chris DeCaprio. Laboy defeated Singh 7-4 and faced Yu, who'd sent DeCaprio west 6-3. In what would prove to be his final win, Laboy defeated Yu 9-8 to gain the hot seat.
It was Singh who had the misfortune of running into Ramierez on the loss side. Ramierez had defeated Eric Tang 7-4 and Thomas Rice 7-5 and then, eliminated Singh 7-6. He was met in the quarterfinals by Sam Hoffman, who, after shutting out Larry Chandler and defeating Mickey Xie 6-3, had downed DeCaprio 6-4.
Ramierez sent Hoffman home 8-4, and then, in the semifinals, with dawn approaching, defeated Yu 9-7. LaBoy and Ramierez agreed to the money split, leaving LaBoy as the undefeated, official winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Gotham City Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Batron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics , and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for August 23, will be hosted by the The Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Brian Hunter was sent to the loss-side early in the January 14-15 stop of the Predator Tour and clawed his way back through 11 matches to get into the finals, where he first, forced an extension to 10 games and then prevailed over hot seat occupant, Ray Feliciano to capture the event title. The $500-added, A-D handicapped event drew 81 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria, NY. A concurrently running, Open/Pro event was still underway, when the handicapped event came to a conclusion after midnight Sunday.
As Hunter was battling his way through the loss-bracket, Feliciano was moving among the winners’ side final four to face Junior Singh. Joining them were Dave Ascolese and Wellington Reyes. Feliciano downed Singh 7-5 to get into the hot seat match versus Ascolese, who’d defeated Reyes by the same score. Feliciano got into the hot seat with an 8-3 victory over Ascolese.
Hunter, in the meantime, who would not be afforded the opportunity to face the player who’d sent him to the loss side (Ricky Ragoonanan), was in the midst of his 11-match winning streak. With six behind him, Hunter defeated Steve Wright, double hill, and Lionel Rivera 7-2 to draw Reyes. Singh picked up Bob Schlott, who’d defeated Mike Fisher 7-3 and Brian Russell 7-2 to reach him. Hunter and Schlott advanced to the quarterfinals with identical 7-5 victories over Reyes and Singh.
Hunter then survived a double hill battle versus Schlott to get into the semifinals against Ascolese. A 7-4 victory over Ascolese put him into the single, potentially extended-race finals, where he would first need to reach eight games ahead of Feliciano, and then win two more to secure the event title. He did both, reaching eight games, ahead by two already. Feliciano, though, fought back to win three of the next four and knot things at double hill. Hunter won the final game to bring home the top prize.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked Manny Steinway and his staff at Steinway Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, Poison Cues, PoolOnTheNet.com, and NYCGrind.
