Both the Amateur and Open/Pro side of the March 29-30 stop on the Predator Tour saw the same two players face each other in the hot seat match and finals. In both the $500-added Amateur event, and $500-added Open/Pro event, the hot seat occupants (Amateur Mike Harrington and Open/Pro Jorge Rodriguez) failed to win a second time, leaving Amateur Chris Derewonski and Open/Pro Jayson Shaw to claim the respective titles. The concurrently-run dual events were hosted by Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY.

 

In the short field (11) Open/Pro event, Rodriguez advanced to the hot seat match with a winners' side semifinal victory over Earl Strickland 7-4, while Jayson Shaw advanced to meet him with a 7-2 win over tour director Tony Robles. Rodriguez took the hot seat battle 7-2 and waited on Shaw's return.

 

Strickland and Robles moved to the loss side where they met up with young Thomas Rice and Hunter Lombardo, respectively. Rice had gotten by Larry Ross and Steve Kalloo, both 7-3, to draw Strickland, while Lombardo had defeated Joe Gibbons 7-1 and Jeremy Sossei 7-5 to pick up Robles. Strickland downed the youngster 7-3, and in the quarterfinals, drew Robles, who'd ended Lombardo's day by the same score. 

 

Strickland and Robles hooked up in a double hill quarterfinal match, which ultimately advanced Strickland to meet a familiar foe, Shaw, in the semifinals. Shaw downed Strickland 7-3 for his second shot against Rodriguez. In an extended race to 11, Shaw claimed the event title 11-6.

 

In the 59-entrant Amateur field, Derewonski and Harrington met up in the hot seat match, once Derewonski had dispatched Brooke Meyer to the loss side 8-4 and Harrington had taken command of a match against Sookeeo Ramkissoon 7-1. Harrington took his first against Derewonski 10-3, and waited in the hot seat for him to return.

 

Meyer and Ramkissoon's event day would end in their first loss-side matches. Meyer fell victim to Steve Astashen, who, after being defeated by Emily Duddy, was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals. Wins #5 & #6 came against Dave Ascolese 7-3 and Brian Russell 7-2. Ramkissoon picked up Gail Robles, who was on a four-match, loss side winning streak of her own that would take her as far as the semifinals. She'd gotten by Patrick Meyers and Meshak Daniel, both 7-4, to draw Ramkissoon.

 

Robles defeated Ramkissoon 7-4, as Astashen was eliminating Meyer 7-3. With both of their loss-side winning streaks on the line, Robles shut Astashen out in the quaterfinals, before she had her own loss-side run stopped by Derewonski 9-7 in the semifinals. Derewonski earned his rematch and took full advantage, defeating Harrington in the finals 12-6 to capture the event title.

Wellington Reyes won three straight double hill matches to finish an undefeated, March 24-25 weekend on the A-D handicapped Predator Tour. In a concurrently run Open/Pro event on Sunday, Mika Immonen stopped a loss-side challenge from Tour Director Tony Robles to also go undefeated. The $500-added handicapped event drew 52 entrants, while the $500-added Open/Pro event drew 14 to Carom Cafe and Billiards in Flushing, NY.

The first of Reyes’ final double hill wins came among the winners’ side final four, when he sent Lidio Rasta to the loss-side 7-6. Andrew Cleary, in the meantime, defeated Wilfredo Albay 7-4 to join Reyes in the battle for the hot seat. Reyes chalked up his second straight double hill win with a 10-9 victory over Cleary that left him in the hot seat.

Albay and Rasta moved to the loss side and lost no time getting back into the swing of things. Albay shutout Hector Ruiz, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Rasta, who’d eliminated Tony Liang 7-4. Rasta then squeaked by Albay double hill and defeated Cleary in the semifinals 9-7. Reyes, though, ended Rasta’s three-match, loss-side bid with his third double hill victory in the finals to complete his undefeated weekend. 

The Iceman’s journey through the short field on-hand for the Open/Pro event went through Robb Saez among the winners’ side final four. Saez moved west on the heels of a 7-5 Mika victory, as Jeremy Sossei was busy sending Zion Zvi over, 7-4. Immonen and Sossei battled to double hill before The Iceman sunk the 9-ball that left him in the hot seat.

Over on the loss-side, Tony Robles, who’d been sent over by Zvi, was at work on a five-match streak that would set him up against Immonen in the finals. He got by Brian Russell 7-1 and Frankie Hernandez 7-3 to pick up Saez. Zvi drew Jorge Rodriguez, who’d defeated Jennifer Baretta 7-2 and Greg McAndrews double hill. Robles gave up only a single rack against Saez, and a Zvi/Robles re-match was avoided when Rodriguez eliminated Zvi 7-5.

Robles downed Rodriguez in the quarterfinals 7-3, and then survived a double hill semifinal match against Sossei for a chance against The Iceman. Immonen allowed Robles only a single game in the match that completed his undefeated day.

Tour director Robles thanked the owners and staff of Carom Cafe and Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, Poison Cues, PoolOnTheNet.com, and NYCGrind.

A-D

1st Wellington Reyes $1,000

2nd Lidio Rasta $700

3rd Andrew Cleary $450

4th Wilfredo Albay $300

5th Hector Ruiz $200

Tony Liang

7th Charles Young $125

9th Mike Fisher $75

Open/Pro

1st Mika Immonen $650

2nd Tony Robles $450

3rd Jeremy Sossei $300

4th Jorge Rodriguez $200