Jayson Shaw
It was about five years ago that Great Britain's Jayson Shaw shifted his base of operations from the UK to the US. In 2011, he won a stop on the GB9 Midlands Classic Pro Cup, and cashed in tournaments all over the world; Italy, Hungary, Sarajevo, Germany, France (Paris and French Open), and Austria. Recorded at the bottom of that list was his 25th place finish at the US Open 9-Ball Championships. The following year, he chalked up a couple of wins on the GB9 Tour, and continued to cash internationally, but for the first time, his name started to appear regularly on the cash lists of US tournaments. He won three stops in a row on the Predator Tour that year (defeating, in the finals, Ronnie Alcano, Tony Robles and Earl Strickland), finished third on a Joss NE Tour stop (behind Strickland and Mike Dechaine), and finished 9th at the 2012 US Open 9-Ball Championships.
In 2013, Shaw had a breakout year, almost tripling his 2012 earnings by winning six stops on the Predator Tour, including the Empire State 10-Ball Championships, and defeating Jeremy Sossei in the finals of a Joss Tour stop. He also finished third in the US Open that year, behind Shane Van Boening and Lee Van Corteza. There were 35 tournaments in which he cashed that year, almost half of them (16) as either the winner or runner-up. Things slowed down a bit last year; only 26 tournaments (in which he cashed), with six wins on the Predator Tour, including a victory in the first-ever NYC 8-Ball Championships (Grand Master division), held under the auspices of Tony Robles' Silent Assassin Productions.
He's back on track this year. With 13 cashed tournaments to his credit, to date, he's picked up wins on the Joss Tour, the 5th Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial, Turning Stone XXIII, and on the weekend of June 20-21, he chalked up another win on the Predator Tour. He went undefeated on the $750-added Open/Pro event that drew 17 entrants to Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY (A concurrently-run Amateur event, won by Tony Liang, drew 58; see separate story).
Shaw got by Michael Wong twice to complete his undefeated run. He and Wong sent Jeremy Sossei and Jorge Rodriguez, respectively, to the loss side 7-5 in the winners' side semifinals and then faced each other in the hot seat match. Shaw got way out in front and grabbed the hot seat 7-2.
On the loss side, Sossei and Rodriguez came up against Michael Yednak and Tony Robles; Yednak having survived a double hill match against Zion Zvi and defeated Frankie Hernandez 7-4, while Tony Robles was busy eliminating Holden Chin 7-2 and surviving, double hill, against Sean Morgan.
Sossei and Rodriguez advanced to the quarterfinals; Sossei 7-4 over Yednak and Rodriguez, double hill, over Robles. In something of an epic and extremely slow-paced quarterfinal that contributed to a 4:30 a.m. finish to the event, Sossei and Rodriguez battled to double hill before Rodriguez prevailed for his second shot against Wong. Wong defeated Rodriguez 7-4, earning his second shot against Shaw in the hot seat.
It wasn't as easy for Shaw as it had been in the hot seat match, but the result was the same. He and Wong battled to double hill before Shaw completed his undefeated run and claimed his first Predator Tour title of the year.
