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Francisco comes from the loss side, again, to win his first on Predator Tri-State Tour

John Francisco & Carlos Duque

Four years ago, during a stop on Tony Robles’ Predator Pro Am Tour at Amsterdam Billiards, New York’s John Francisco, in the midst of what is still his best recorded earnings year (2108), was sent to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal and came back to face and defeat in the finals, the man who’d sent him there, Ehmunrao Toocaram. It was Francisco’s first recorded win and this past weekend (May 21-22), he chalked up his second, this time on the Predator Tri-State Tour. He once again took a loss-side route to the winners’ circle, although it was a considerably shorter route than the one he’d taken in 2018. The $1,000-added event drew 33 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.

Francisco made it to the hot seat match in this event, his first (that we know about) since 2017, when he was denied the hot seat and eliminated in the finals of a stop on the Tri-State Tour. He duplicated all but the last step of that end-game maneuver this time out. He got by Kevin Shin and Abel Rosario to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal versus Jason Goberdhan. In the meantime, his eventual hot seat and final opponent, Carlos Duque navigated his way through Brian Schell (double hill), Amanda Andries and Tom Crane to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal matchup with Mike Pruitt. 

Francisco moved into the hot seat on the heels of a 7-4 victory over Goberdhan and was joined by Duque, who survived his second double hill match, against Pruitt. Duque took a commanding lead in the hot seat match and held on to it, sending Francisco to the semifinals 8-3.

On the loss side, Goberdhan picked up Adrian Daniel, who’d eliminated Thomas Schreiber 7-4 and survived a double hill match against Jaydev Zaveri, to reach him. Pruitt drew Euryel Castillo, who’d knocked out Bob Toomey 7-1 and Tom Crane 9-5.

Daniel gave up only a single rack to Goberdhan and advanced to the quarterfinals. Pruitt and Castillo battled to double hill before Pruitt advanced to join Daniel. In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Daniel advanced to the semifinals after shutting Pruitt out. Francisco came within two racks of doing the same to Daniel in the semifinals, earning himself a second shot at Duque with a 7-2 win.

In the extended-race final, Francisco reached his ‘magic number,’ extending the race to 8. In the end, it proved to be a double hill battle for the title, with Francisco winning it 8-7. 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, as well as title sponsor Predator, 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 Memorial Day weekend (May 28-30), will be the $2,000-added, 10th Annual George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. 

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Schreiber benefits from late forfeit to chalk up his first win on Predator Tri-State since 2019

Thomas Schreiber

You have to go back to the week between Christmas and New Year’s in late 2019 (his best recorded earnings year) to find the last time Thomas Schreiber won an event on what was then just the Tri-State Tour but is now the Predator Tri-State Tour. This past weekend, however (Saturday, Aug. 28), he recorded his first victory since that holiday weekend two years ago. He advanced to the hot seat match, where he was defeated by Solomon Brown. The final never happened. Brown forfeited the final match, citing a family emergency, and the event title was assigned to Schreiber. The $1,000-added event drew 28 entrants to Cue Bar Lounge & Billiards in Bayside (Queens), NY.

Schreiber and Brown advanced through the field to face opponents in the two winners’ side semifinals; Schreiber versus Kevin Shin, while Brown took on Jake Chiu. Brown shut Chiu out, as Schreiber sent Shin to the loss side 7-2. Though Schreiber would check in with some late racks to make the hot seat match a little closer than it appeared it was going to be when Brown had a 6-1 lead, Brown did persevere and claim the hot seat 7-5, in what would prove to be his last match.

On the loss side, Shin and Chiu walked right into their second straight losses. Shin drew Henry Cha, who’d defeated Thomas Hagan 7-5 and Josh Friedberg 7-4 to reach him and then, defeated him, double hill, to advance to the quarterfinals. Chiu picked up K.C. Clayton, who’d eliminated Jason Goberdhan 6-3 and Esteban Morell, Jr., double hill, before downing Chiu, double hill, as well.

Cha got out in front of Clayton in the quarterfinals that followed and won 9-5, for a shot at Schreiber in the final match of the event, the semifinals. The last match was another double hill affair, with Schreiber dropping the last ball, and thanks to Brown’s forfeiture of the finals, claiming his first event title in almost two years.

Tour representatives thanked the Cue Bar owners and staff, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, Sterling Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Cappelle, Blue Book Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Romer Trophies and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Predator Tri-State Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 25-26, will be a $1,250-added, 10-ball event, hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY.

Valania and Dagotdot split top prizes at second stop on the new Mac Attack Tour

Joe Valania & Daniel Dagotdot

Well, at least now, it has an official name. With two stops in the books and one coming up this weekend, Mac Jankov’s Mac Attack Tour may still be working to establish itself in a pool community, recuperating from the losses of pool rooms and players in the tri-state New York area, but it is attracting fair numbers and recognizeable personalities to its venues. This past weekend – Sunday, September 27 – the tour drew 32 entrants to Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ. Joe Valania went undefeated through the field, downing Daniel Dagotdot in the hot seat match and then, by mutual agreement, opting out of a second match, in the finals, and splitting the top two prizes with him. 

Their first and only match against each other came after Dagotdot had defeated Ricky Mejia, double hill, in one of the winners’ side semifinals and Joe Valania had sent Frank Kasetta to the loss side 6-3 in the other one. They battled to an appropriate double hill, deciding game in the battle for the hot seat, before Valania prevailed.

On the loss side, Mejia picked up Kyle Manuel, who’d defeated Jimmy Conn and Erwin Jao, both 5-3, to reach him. Kasetta drew Tommy Schreiber, who’d recently defeated Juan Melendez 5-1 and survived a double hill match versus Alfredo Altamirano.

The first money round, and in fact, all of the matches up to the final that didn’t happen, featured double hill matches. In the first two of four, Schreiber handed Kasetta his second straight loss and Mejia eliminated Kyle Manuel.

The quarterfinal match that followed was won, double hill, by Schreiber over Mejia. And in what proved to be the final match of the event, the semifinals, two very familiar rivals on the New York area pool scene, Dagotdot and Schreiber, battled to double hill before Dagotdot prevailed. The agreement was reached to opt out of a final and with Valania in the hot seat, he claimed the official event title.

Tour director Mac Jankov thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton Billiards, along with all 32 participants who came out to support his efforts to re-start the pool ‘engine’ in the tri-state area. The next stop on the Mac Attack Tour, scheduled for this Sunday, October 4, will be hosted by Breakers Billiards in Clifton, NJ.

Masciotti breaks through to win his first regional tour event, going undefeated on Tri-State Tour

Russell Masciotti & Matt Klein

It was the second time that Russell Masciotti and Matt Klein had met in the hot seat match on the Tri-State Tour. Last year, in April at Cue Bar in Queens, NY, Masciotti, looking for his first regional tour win anywhere, sent Klein to the loss side in that event’s hot seat match. Klein returned from a semifinal victory over Shane Torres to deny Masciotti that first regional tour win.

This year, on Sunday, March 8 at a $1000-added stop that drew 38 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY, things played out a little differently. The event last year was described (by me) as a “battle of the Bs,” both players at the time playing at a ‘B’ level on the tour. This year, Klein’s an ‘A’ player; second on the tour’s ‘A’ list, and was just coming off of a tour win a week ago. Masciotti is still a ‘B’ player; #15 on that list and still in the hunt for his first major win. They didn’t play in the hot seat match this year, because Klein was sent to the loss side early by Abel Barriento and had to win seven loss-side matches just to be in the finals. Masciotti stopped Klein’s run in the finals, finishing undefeated to claim the event title and his first regional tour win.

Masciotti’s path went through Basdeo Sookhai, David Grant and Julian Tierney before coming up against Thomas Schreiber in a winners’ side semifinal. In the meantime, Allison LaFleur and Ada Lio squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.

Masciotti got into the hot seat match with a 7-3 win over Schreiber. LaFleur joined him after sending Lio to the loss side 6-3. Masciotti claimed his second-ever hot seat, downing LaFleur 7-5.

On the loss side, it was Schreiber who picked up Klein, four matches into his loss-side winning streak, that had recently included wins over Julian Tierney 7-5 and a double hill win over Sherwin Robinson. Lio drew Jason Goberdhan, who’d eliminated Qian Chen 6-2 and survived a double hill win over Brandonne Alli to reach him.

Klein defeated Schreiber 7-5, and in the quarterfinals, faced Goberdhan, who’d sent Lio home 6-2. Klein advanced into two straight double hill fights, winning the first 8-7 over Goberdhan in those quarterfinals and then, defeating LaFleur 9-8 in the semifinals.

And so it was, that just a month shy of a year later, Klein and Masciotti met again in the finals on the Tri-State Tour. They battled back and forth to a 5-5 tie, before Masciotti reached the hill (6) first. In the middle of what looked to be a relatively easy runout that would have extended the match for Klein, he missed his shot at the 8-ball. Masciotti stepped up and cleared the table to claim the event title and his first regional tour win.

Tour representatives thanked Manny Stamatakis and his staff at Steinway Billiards for their hospitality, as well as Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Bloodworth Ball Cleaner, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, Liquid Weighted Cues and Billiards Engineering. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, March 15, will be hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.

Schreiber goes undefeated to win last 2019 stop on the Tri-State Tour

(l to r): Thomas Schreiber & Victor Herrera

Thomas Schreiber splits his TOT (time on table) between work on the Tri-State and Predator Pro Am Tours and is a B player on both; second on the Predator Pro Am among B players (behind Pascal Dufresne) and third on the Tri-State behind Joe Mazzeo and Paul Madonia. Schreiber chalked up his second 2019 win on the year’s final Tri-State Tour stop on Sunday, December 29. The victory edged him closer to the top among the Tri-State’s B players because along the way, he defeated Joe Mazzeo, who finished in the three-way tie for 9th place. The $1,000-added event drew 44 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
 
Schreiber’s path went through Terry Mohabir and the tour’s #1-ranked female and C player, Michelle Brotons, before encountering Mazzeo and sending him to the loss side. He advanced to meet and defeat Emit Yolcu (who would go on to defeat Mazzeo on the loss side) and faced Rajkumar Persaud in one of the winners’ side semifinals. The other winners’ side semifinal featured the tour’s #4 B+ player (Eugene Ok) against its #2 C+ player (Bob Toomey).
 
Schreiber got into the hot seat match with a shutout over Persaud. He was joined by Ok, who’d sent Toomey to the loss side 7-2. Schreiber and Ok got locked up into a somewhat predictable double hill fight for the hot seat, eventually won by Schreiber.
 
On the loss side, the battle for 5th/6th featured replays of two of the winners’ side quarterfinals. Toomey ran right into a rematch against Alison Fischer, whom he’d sent to the loss side, double hill, in one of those winners’ side quarterfinals. She’d moved over and launched her loss-side campaign with a successful (6-3) win against Brotons and then, double hill, eliminated Elvis Rodriguez. Persaud walked into a rematch against Victor Herrera, who, in a quest to improve his #26 position among the tour’s C+ players, had eliminated Gil Costello 6-3 and Emit Yolcu (fresh off his elimination of Mazzeo) 7-4.
 
Herrera, on his five-match, loss-side way to the finals, downed Persaud 7-4 and in the quarterfinals, faced Toomey, who’d defeated Fischer 6-4. Herrera and Toomey fought tooth and nail (aka double hill) before Herrera prevailed and then leapfrogged over a semifinal match against Ok, who, due to work responsibilities, forfeited.
 
The final match see-sawed back and forth to a final and deciding game. Herrera missed a shot at the deciding 9-ball, which Schreiber obligingly dropped for him to claim the event title.
 
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, Paul Dayton Cues, Bludworth Ball Cleaner, Joe Romer Trophies and Quick Slick.         

Rosario returns from hot seat loss to chalk up third 2019 regional win on the Predator Pro Am

(l to r): Alberto Estevez, JC Iglesias, Abel Rosario & Jason Goberdhan

Abel Rosario, #3 on the Predator Pro Am Tour’s B+ standings list, won his third 2019 regional tour victory on the weekend of November 16-17. Last month, he went undefeated in the Mixed Advanced division of Michael Fedak’s  NYC 8-Ball Championships, while earlier this year (August), he came from the loss side to win a rematch victory over (at the time), relative newcomer Euryel Castillo in a Tri-State Tour stop at Steinway Billiards. As he’d done in August, Rosario gave up the hot seat in this most recent event, this time to another relative newcomer JC Iglesias. Rosario returned from the semifinals to down Iglesias in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 73 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
 
Their first meeting followed victories in their respective winners’ side semifinals. Rosario had defeated Russell Masciotti 7-3, as Iglesias was at work on a 7-4 win over Carlos Duque. Iglesias, on the basis of five appearances, is the #30-ranked C+ player on the Predator Pro Am Tour’s standings list. He downed the tour’s #3-ranked B+ player 7-5 and sat in the hot seat awaiting his return.
 
On the loss side, Duque and Masciotti ran right into their second straight loss. The tour’s #2 C+ player, Jason Goberdhan, who’d defeated Zain Sundaram 7-5 and Juan Melendez 7-3, eliminated Duque 7-4. Alberto Estevez, who’d gotten by John Francisco 7-3 and the tour’s #1 A player, Lidio Ramirez, also 7-3, defeated Masciotti 7-5.
 
Goberdhan then eliminated Estevez 7-2 in the quarterfinals, before having his bid for a title ended 7-4 by Rosario in the semifinals.
 
In the extension-to-9 finals, Rosario reached his ‘7-spot’ first. He added two more to defeat Iglesias 9-4 and claim the event title.
 
A 15-entrant, single elimination Second Chance event was won Euryel Castillo with a double hill final victory over Thomas Schreiber. Castillo pocketed $160 for the win, Schreiber took home $100. Shawn Sookhai and Irene Kim each won $20 for their third place tie.
 
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the owner and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PlayNAPT.com, The DeVito Team, Poolonthenet.com, Capelle (BilliardsPress.com), AZBilliards, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Billiards Digest and his own Predator Pro Am team, to include his lovely wife, Gail. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled for the weekend of November 30-Dec. 1 will be the tour’s annual Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. Two weeks later, the tour will host its final event of the 2019 season, the Predator Pro Am Tour Championships, scheduled for the weekend of Dec. 14-15, and hosted by Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY.

Hohmann backs up Steinway Classic title with NYC Singles 8-Ball Championship title

Tony Robles, Thorsten Hohmann and Tournament Director John Leyman (Erwin Dionisio)

Soto, Rosario, Sugiyama, Musser and Karwas win other division 8-ball titles
 
Three days after winning the 7th Steinway Classic in a thrilling, double hill final match against Fedor Gorst (Oct. 17), Thorsten Hohmann, at the same location, won the Grand Master Division of the NYC 8-Ball Championships (Oct. 20) with a slightly less dramatic 6-1 finals victory over Ruslan Chinakhov. The Grand Master division of the annual event, which drew 22 entrants to Steinway, was one of six division 8-ball tournaments held on the weekend of October 19-20. In all, under the sponsorship of Michael Fedak, the NYC Singles 8-Ball Championships added $15,000, divided among the six divisions, which drew 151 unique entrants.
 
It was Jose Soto who won in the 16-entrant Mixed Master’s Division, Abel Rosario in the 32-entrant Mixed Advanced Division, Akiko Sugiyama in the 32-entrant Women’s Leisure Division, and Maxwell Musser in the 32-entrant Men’s Leisure Division. The largest field, 48 entrants, was the Mixed Open Division, won by Sebastian Karwas.
 
Hohmann’s path to the winners’ circle in the Grand Masters event went through Chinakhov twice. He opened with a double hill win over Joey Korsiak and then, sent Chinakhov to the loss side 6-4. Hohmann then defeated Del Sim 6-4, to draw Damianos Giallourakis in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Nick Ekonomopoulos in the meantime, after being awarded an opening round bye, downed the Steinway Classic’s runner-up, Fedor Gorst 6-2 and Jalal Yousef 6-4 to draw Jimmy Rivera in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Hohmann defeated Giallourakis 6-3 and in the hot seat match, faced Ekonomopoulos, who’d sent Rivera west 6-1. Hohmann claimed the hot seat 6-3 and waited on the return of Chinakhov.
 
On the loss side, Chinakhov was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would give him a second chance against Hohmann. He got by Raphael Dabreo 6-2, Ryan Hsu 6-4, Tony Robles 6-2 and survived a double fight versus Burgos to draw Giallourakis, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Rivera picked up Roland Garcia, who after being defeated by Giallourakis ended Gorst’s run 6-1 and  by the same score, Del Sim’s.
 
Chinakhov and Giallourakis battled to double hill before Chinakhov advanced to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Garcia, who’d eliminated Rivera 6-2. Chinakhov took the quarterfinal match 6-2.
 
He completed his loss-side run with a double hill win over Ekonomopoulos in the semifinals. Hohmann, though, shut Chinakhov down early in the finals and completed his undefeated run with a 6-1 victory over Chinakhov.
 
Soto is the only competitor to come from the loss side to win Mixed Masters Division
 
Five of the six divisions of the NYC Singles 8-Ball Championships featured winners who went undefeated through their respective fields. Jose Soto, in the smallest field (16), competing in the Mixed Masters division, was the only competitor to win a division by coming from the loss side to defeat the hot seat occupant. And he did so, by losing in his first round and winning six loss-side matches to down Cesar Turcios in the finals.
 
Soto lost 5-1 to Tim Edmonds in the opening round of play. Edmonds was subsequently defeated by Brooke Meyers, who advanced to face Turcios in the hot seat match. Turcios claimed the hot seat in a double hill win over Meyers. On the loss side, three of the six matches Soto played, forced him to play a single deciding game to advance; matches against Eddie Kunz, Matthew Harricharan and his quarterfinal match against Miguel Laboy. Soto downed Meyers 6-3 in the semifinals and then, claimed the title with an 8-4 win over Turcios.
 
The largest field of 48, in the Mixed Open division, was won by Sebastian Karwas, who went undefeated. It took Karwas as many matches on the winners’ side of the Mixed Open bracket to claim the title, as it took Soto on both sides of the Mixed Masters bracket to win his. Karwas got by Jim Gutierrez, Keith Stefanowitz, Omar Chavez, Alex Kent and Marco Daniele to face Paul Lyons in the hot seat match. He claimed the hot seat 6-1 over Lyons, who moved to the loss side and downed Daniele in the semifinals 5-3. Karwas took their second match 6-4 to claim the title.
 
Rosario and Schreiber battle it out for Mixed Advanced title
 
Two of the New York area’s better competitors in their respective ranking divisions battled twice to claim the 32-entrant Mixed Advanced title. Abel Rosario and Thomas Schreiber hold top positions in the standings of both the Tri-State and Predator Pro Am Tours. Rosario is #10 on the Tri-State’s A+/A standings list and the #3 B+ player on the Predator Pro Am Tour. Schreiber is #5 on the Tri-State’s list of B players and # 2 on the Predator Pro Am Tour’s list of B players.
 
After four victories each, they met first in the hot seat match. Rosario claimed the hot seat 6-3. Schreiber moved to the loss side and downed Matthew Rezendes 5-1. He and Rosario fought to an appropriate double hill game 11 before Rosario finished it to claim the title.
 
In the 32-entrant Women’s Leisure division, Akiko Sugiyama won five straight to claim that title. She faced Melissa Schleifer twice and gave up only a single rack over the two matches; that one, coming in Sugiyama’s victory in the hot seat match. Schleifer shut Debra Pritchett out in the semifinals, but punctuating her undefeated run through the field, Sugiyama shut Schleifer out in the finals.
 
Completing the six-tournament event, it was Maxwell Musser, who went undefeated through the 32-entrant Men’s Leisure field. Musser faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals, defeating Brian Schell to claim the hot seat, and after Henry Chan had downed Schell double hill in the semifinals, Musser shut him out to take the title.
 
As always, event director Tony Robles thanked Manny Stamatakis and his Steinway Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as Dr. Michael Fedak for his continuing financial support for this event (Fedak finished in the tie for 13th place in the Mixed Open tournament). Robles also noted sponsorship support from Predator Cues, and Blatt Billiards. According to Robles, the 2020 NYC 8-Ball Championships are going to be even better. It’s being planned as a three-day event on Columbus Day weekend and Dr. Fedak will be adding $20,000.
 
“This event wouldn’t be possible without the support of Michael and Marilyn Fedak,” said Robles.

2019 NYC 8-Ball Championship – Ilija Trajceski vs Tommy Schreiber

Dufresne comes from the loss side to win second 2019 Tri-State event, first of 2019-2020 season

(l to r): Luis Jimenez & Pascal Dufresne

It was apparently the Tri-State Tour’s turn on Pascal Dufresne’s calendar. He won a stop on the Tri-State Tour back in March, which was a part of the Tri-State Tour’s 2018-2019 season. In April, he chalked up a victory on the Predator Pro Am Tour. On Sunday, September 22, Dufresne came back from a winners’ side semifinal loss to down Luis Jimenez in the finals of the $1,000-added, Double Points Tri-State event that had drawn 19 entrants to BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights (Queens), NY. It was his second 2019 win on the Tri-State Tour, but his first of the 2019-2020 tour season.
 
They met twice. The first time was in a winners’ side semifinal, as Robert Calton and Shweta Zaveri were battling it out in the other one. Jimenez, who’d cashed in 10 stops on the Tri-State Tour this year, including two runner-up finishes (March & July) was looking for his first win on the tour in (as far as we can determine) five years. He sent Dufresne to the loss side 7-5, as Calton sent Zaveri over 7-4. Jimenez guaranteed himself, at minimum, another runner-up finish with a 7-2 win over Calton in the hot seat match.
 
On the loss side, Zaveri picked up Thomas Schreiber, who’d been defeated by Dufresne in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Amanda Andries 7-4 and Lionel Swanston 6-5. Dufresne drew Joshua Joseph, who’d recently eliminated Michael Fedak and Allison LaFleur, both 6-3.
 
Dufresne and Zaveri got right back to work. Zaveri downed Schreiber 8-2, as Dufresne advanced to join her in the quarterfinals with a 7-3 win over Joseph. Dufresne ended Zaveri’s bid for a rematch against Calton in the semifinals by defeating her 8-3.
 
Dufresne complete his loss-side campaign with a 7-5 victory over Calton in those semifinals. He then proceeded to spoil Luis Jimenez’ bid for a victory on the 2019-2020 Tri-State Tour season by defeating him 9-7 in the finals.
 
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues,  Paul Dayton Cues, Bludworth Ball Cleaner, Joe Romer Trophies and Quick Slick. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Saturday, September 28, will be hosted by Shooter’s Family Billiards in Wayne, NJ.

Laboy goes undefeated to chalk up his first 2019 win on the Predator Pro Am Tour

(l to r): Bianca Martinez, Julien Tierney, Miguel Laboy, Amanda Andries (photo by Erwin Dionisio)

Miguel Laboy brought about 14 years of competitive pool experience and a lot of regional tour victories to the September 14-15 stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour. Before he earned the event title, however, he had to get by two particular competitors with a total of about three years of experience, both of them looking for their first regional tour event victory. Laboy would end up going undefeated at the $1,000-added event that drew 68 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY, but not before he’d dispatched one of the relative newcomers (Julien Tierney) twice (winners’ side semifinals and finals) and the other to the loss side (Bianca Martinez) in the battle for the hot seat.
 
As Laboy was busy sending Tierney to the loss side 8-5 in one of the winners’ side semifinals, Martinez was locked up in a double hill fight with Erick Carrasco that she eventually won. Martinez began the hot seat match against Laboy with ‘six beads on the wire’ in a race to 11. She’d fail to add another bead to that wire, as Laboy claimed the hot seat (officially) 11-6.
 
On the loss side, another relative newcomer was making some competitive noise. Amanda Andries had lost her opening match to Marisol Palacio and set out on a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would take her as far as the quarterfinals where she’d run into Tierney. She chalked up wins #7 and #8 against Corey Avallone 6-3 and shut out Brandonne Alli to draw Carrasco. Tierney, in the meantime, picked up Yomaylin “Smiley” Feliz-Forman, who arrived on the heels of two straight double hill wins, over Chris Kelly and Abel Rosario.
 
Andries advanced to the quarterfinals when job obligations forced Carrasco to forfeit. Tierney joined her after downing “Smiley” 7-3. Tierney ended Andries’ loss-side run 8-5 (Andries started with ‘three on the wire’) and then defeatEd Martinez (who also started with ‘three on the wire’) 8-6 for a shot at Laboy, waiting for him in the hot seat.
 
The relative ‘youngsters’ were edged out of the day, with clear indications that they’ll be back and will need to be reckoned with. Laboy completed his undefeated run with an 8-3 victory over Tierney in the finals.
 
A Second Chance event that drew 16 entrants saw Dave Callaghan take home the $160 first-place prize, with Thomas Schreiber as runner-up ($100). Lidio Ramirez and Euryel Castillo each took home $30 in the tie for third.
 
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, PlayNAPL.com, The DeVito Team, Poolonthenet.com, Capelle (BilliardsPress.com), AZBilliards, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Billiards Digest and his own Predator Pro Am team, to include his lovely wife, Gail. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled for this weekend, Sept. 21-22, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.