Thanks to the awarding of ‘double points’ on the Predator Pro Am Tour’s 18th stop of the season, the finalists in the event, with two stops left in the tour season, moved into the top spots in their respective ranking positions on the tour. As the winner, Mike Salerno jumped up two slots to move in front of Rob Pole for the top spot in the A++ division of the tour’s competitors, while, as runner-up, Dave Callaghan moved up a single notch ahead of Paul Carpenter in the C rankings. The $1,000-added, Double Points event drew 67 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
The two faced each other twice, once in the hot seat and again, in the finals. Callaghan had sent Ambi Estevez to the loss side, double hill, in one winners’ side semifinal, while Salerno sent Lidio Ramirez west 7-4 in the other one. This set up the hot seat match, won by Callaghan 11-8. Salerno was giving up six racks to Callaghan at the outset, which Salerno initially erased to create a 6-6 tie. Callaghan then won five of the next seven to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Estevez picked up Troy Deocharran, who was working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak and had, most recently, gotten by Frank Tonn 7-4, and Patrick Meyers 7-5. Ramirez drew Eugene Ok, who’d eliminated Justin Muller, double hill, and Annie Flores 7-3.
Deocharran and Ramirez advanced to the quarterfinals; Deocharran 7-5 over Estevez and Ramirez 8-5 over Ok. Deocharrran chalked up what would prove to be his last win, over Ramirez 8-3 in that quarterfinal match.
Salerno ended Deocharran’s loss-side run 9-6 in the semifinals, and moved into the ‘extended-race-to-13,’ second shot at Callaghan in the finals. Salerno reached the 11-win plateau that advanced the finals to a race to 13, and finished it at 13-9.
A Second Chance event, which drew 10 entrants, saw Chickie Romero take home the top $120 first prize. Romero and Thomas Schreiber fought to double hill in the finals, before Romero edged out in front to claim the Second Chance title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar for their hospitality, and made note of next week’s (November 25-26) Thanksgiving Classic, which will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY. The 2017 Predator Pro-Am season will conclude with its finale, the Tour Championships, on the weekend of December 2-3, and be hosted by Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY. Robles also extended best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving Day weekend, which he hoped would conclude, for many, with attendance at the Thanksgiving Classic on the following Saturday and Sunday.
