There was a lot going on in the New York Tri-State area on the weekend of April 25-26. There were stops on the Tri-State, Predator and Mezz Tours, as well as an independent event at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ. All were fairly well-attended, which, if nothing else, is a 'for now' answer to the question of how well the sport is doing, at least in the competitor-rich Tri-State area. On the Predator Tour, 51 entrants showed up to compete in the $500-added Amateur tournament, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. Stephen Dempsey, chalking up his first win on the Predator Tour, went undefeated (Zion Zvi went undefeated in the concurrently-run Open/Pro tournament; see separate story).
Dempsey's undefeated run went through Marvin This, twice. They met first in the hot seat match, after Dempsey had sent Ron Mason to the loss side 7-5, and This had survived a double hill match against Eddie Medina. Dempsey claimed the hot seat 10-8 over This and waited on his return.
On the loss side, Mason picked up Billy Santiago, recent winner of over Peter Cornell 7-3 and Mike Panzarella 7-5. Medina ran into George Poltorak, who'd defeated Tommy Schreiber 7-5 and Wanlop Chantarakolkit 7-3. Mason moved on, defeating Santiago 7-5, and was met, in the quarterfinals, by Poltorak, who'd eliminatEd Medina 7-3.
Poltorak took the quarterfinals 7-4 over Mason, and then, by the same score, fell to This in the semifinals. Dempsey took his second against This 10-5 to claim his first Predator title.
