Tenzin Jorden and Thomas Schreiber battled
twice in the February 9-10 stop on the Predator Pro
Am Tour. The first time, the match sent Schreiber on
a three-match, loss-side trip. The second time earned
Jorden his first title on the Predator Pro Am Tour.
The $1,000-added event drew 73 entrants to Cue Bar in
Bayside (Queens), NY.
Both matches between Jorden and Schreiber went double
hill. The first, in a winners’ side semifinal,
advanced Jorden to the hot seat match, where he was
joined by Dave Callaghan, who’d defeated Mac Jankov
in his winners’ side semifinal match. Jorden claimed
his first hot seat 9-7 over Callaghan and waited on
Schreiber’s return.
Long before Dave Callaghan had moved into the hot seat
match, his brother, Michael Callaghan was busy trying
to advance on the loss side. Michael made it past the
first money round (13th through 16th) and moved into
the matches that would determine the four-way tie for
9th place. And ran into his wife, Monika, whom his brother
had sent to the loss side earlier. Displaying a level
of fearlessness rarely seen on a pool table, Michael
Callaghan defeated his wife, double hill (6-5), eliminating
her from the tournament, albeit with $150 in her pocket
. . . uhh, purse? Fortunately, they were able to stay
and watch brother/brother-in-law, Dave, compete in the
semifinals because Michael was subsequently defeated
by Esteban Morrell 7-4. We don’t know whether
they watched those semifinals together or not. We didn’t
ask.
Esteban Morrell, who’d defeated Hector Torres
7-4 previously advanced to meet Jankov, coming over
from the winners’ side semifinal. Schreiber drew
Matthew Harricharan, who’d eliminated Brian Toolsee
and Jaydev Zaveri (winner of the last Predator Pro Am
stop), both 7-4.
Morrell won a double hill battle over Jankov and in
the quarterfinals, faced Schreiber, who’d defeated
Harricharan 7-2. Schreiber gave up only a single rack
to Morrell in those quarterfinals, and then sent Dave
Callaghan to sit and watch the finals with Michael and
Monika Callaghan by defeating Dave 7-3 in the semifinals.
Jorden and Schreiber settle in to the their second straight,
double hill match; this one for all of the proverbial
marbles, all 1,250 of them. Jorden defeated Schreiber
a second time to claim his first Predator Pro Am title.
A Second Chance event that drew 14 entrants, saw Russell
Masciotti and KC Clayton battle to double hill in the
final. Masciotti dropped the last ball to claim the
Second Chance title and take home $140. Clayton added
$100 to the $100 he’d earned finishing in the
tie for 13th place in the main event. Vinnie Crescimanno
and Justin Daniels (adding to his $100 for finishing
in the tie for 13th place) each took home $20.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and
staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, as well as title
sponsor Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, NAPL, The DeVito
Team, PoolontheNet.com, Billiards Digest, AZBilliards,
Pool & Billiards Magazine and his entire staff,
including his lovely wife, Gail.
Zion Zvi will defend his two-time title at 12th Annual
Empire State Championships
The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour, scheduled
for the weekend of February 23-24, will be the 12th
Annual Empire State Championships, as usual, hosted
by Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY. There will
be a $2,000-added Amateur event, which last year, drew
111 entrants, and was won by Jason Carandang. There
will also be a $1,000-added Open/Pro event. The two-time
defending champion of this event, Zion Zvi, has indicated
that he will be on-hand to defend his title.
Story by Skip Maloney AZBilliards |
