Stephen Dempsey entered the Predator Tour's season finale in second place among the tour's A+-ranked players, just behind Tony Liang. When it was over, following a five-match, loss-side winning streak and a victory in the finals over Manny Stamatakis, Dempsey moved into the #1, A+ slot in the tour rankings. The $5,500-added season finale for the tour, held on the weekend of December 12-13, drew 80 entrants to Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY. A $1,500-added Open/Pro event (separate story) drew 24 entrants, and was still ongoing as this report was filed.
Dempsey's trip on the winners' side of the Amateur bracket came to an end during the winners' side quarterfinals, at the hands of Rhys Chen, who advanced to a winners' side semifinal versus Manny Stamatakis, owner of Steinway Billiards. Todd Trent, in the meantime, squared off against Mike Figueroa. Two double hill matches advanced Stamatakis and Trent to the hot seat match, where Stamatakis prevailed 7-3 to sit in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Dempsey downed Ron Mason 8-5 and Scott Murphy 8-6, earning a re-match versus Chen. Figueroa drew Bob Toomey, who entered the tournament in second place among the tour's C players, and had defeated Luis Jimenez 7-4 and Judd Parker, double hill, to face Figueroa. Dempsey and Toomey advanced to the quarterfinals; Dempsey successfully wreaking his vengeance on Chen, and Toomey, downing Figueroa, both 7-3.
Dempsey took the quarterfinal match 11-7 over Toomey, whose finish in fourth place advanced him into first place among the tour's C players. Dempsey moved on and picked up a forfeit win over Trent in the semifinals. Dempsey completed the event win, with a 9-6 victory over Stamatakis in the finals.
