Jayson Shaw only had to win three matches to claim the Predator Open/Pro title at stake during the tour's September 6-7 stop at The Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY. Chris Derewonski, working the Amateur side of things, had to win twice that (and then some) to claim the amateur title. The $1,000-added ($500 each) events drew 53 entrants – eight to the Open/Pro, and 45 to the amateur event.

 

A victory in the opening match put Shaw into a winners' side semifinal against tour director Tony Robles. Jeremy Sossei faced Frankie Hernandez in the other. Shaw and Sossei moved into the hot seat match after identical 8-3 wins over Robles and Hernandez. Shaw took the winners' side final 8-6 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Hernandez. 

 

On the loss side, battling for 7th/8th, Nigel Francis and Jerry Tarantola defeated Eugene Ok and Jonathan Russell, both 8-1. Francis and Tarantola were then eliminated by Robles and Hernandez by the same 8-2 score. Hernandez then shut out Robles in the quarterfinals and got a second shot at Sossei in the (1st money round) semifinals. They battled to double hill before Hernandez prevailed for a chance against Shaw. Shaw completed his short, undefeated run with an 8-3 victory in the finals.

 

In the Amateur event, eventual winner, Chris Derewonski made it to the winners' side final four, before being sent to the losers' bracket 7-5 by Alex Osipov. By the same score, Kyle Bubet defeated Ron Mason in the other winners' side semifinal. Another 7-5 win put Bubet in the hot seat, and sent Osipov to the semifinals.

 

On the loss side, Derewonski began his trip back against Brooke Meyer, who'd defeated Brian Russell 7-1 and Junior Sanchez 7-4 to reach him. Mason drew Paolo Valverde, who'd gotten by Tony Ignomirello 7-4 and Roy Lim 7-5.

 

Derewonski advanced to the quarterfinals 7-5 over Meyer, and met up with Valverde, who'd survived a double hill battle against Mason. Derewonski went on to defeat Valverde in the quarterfinals (10-7), and Osipov in the semifinals (8-6). He claimed his second Predator Tour title of the year by defeating Bubet 11-6 in the finals.

Back in May, on the Tri-State Tour at Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan, Eddie Lum got close to chalking up his "first ever" tournament win.  He advanced to the winners' side final four, and when sent to the loss side from there, won a match that put him into the quarterfinals. It was as far as he got.

 

On Saturday, August 10, Lum was back at Amsterdam Billiards and once again, found himself among the winners' side final four. This time, though, he advanced into the hot seat and defeated Eddie DaCosta twice to capture the event title and claim the tournament win that had eluded him in May. The $640-added, C-D handicapped event drew 35 entrants to Amsterdam Billiards.

 

Lum faced Chris Soto-Chimelis in one of the winners' side semifinals, as DaCosta squared off against Paolo Valverde in the other. Lum, who'd win his final three matches by the same 6-3 score, downed Soto-Chimelis, as DaCosta was sending Valverde west 7-5. Lum got into the hot seat over DaCosta, and waited on his return.

 

Valverde and Soto-Chimelis got right back into the swing of things on the loss side. Valverde drew John Lazo, who'd defeated Wanlop Chantarakolkit 6-2. Soto-Chimelis faced Will Hodgins, who'd eliminated Javier Colayco. Valverde got by Lazo 7-4, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Soto-Chimelis, who'd given up only a single rack in his contest against Hodgins.

 

It was Soto-Chimelis who advanced to the semifinals against DaCosta, with a 7-5 win over Valverde. DaCosta stopped Soto-Chimelis' brief, loss-side run with a 6-3 victory in the semifinals, and got a second chance against Lum. Lum, though, closed out his undefeated run with his final 6-3 victory, and chalked up his first ever tournament win.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Amsterdam Billiards, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Qpod Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics.