Jim Munak, Noel Bensurto, Daniel Dagotdot and John Alicea
Hosting a field of sixty-seven players, the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour held its 11th stop of the 2010 season at the Amsterdam Billiard Club on July 24-25. With a wide range of top NYC-area amateur players in the A/B/C/D 9-ball event, along with the eight-player Open/Pro 10-ball event, there was plenty of great play to be seen at Amsterdam Billiards on this weekend. Top players in the amateur event included Michael Yednak, Victor Nau, John Alicea, Stewart Warnock, and Jerry Tarantola, along with three top female players, Emily Duddy, Diana Rojas, & Gail Glazebrook.
In this event, one of the New York area's top young rising stars, John Alicea from Bayonne, NJ, would run to the top of the A/B/C/D 9-ball event. John rolled through the winner's bracket with wins over Peter Ziemak 7-5, Donald Chu 7-5, Tony Liang 7-6, Simon Lau 7-2, Daniel Dagotdot 7-3, and then defeated custom cue case maker Jim Murnak 7-4 to take the hot seat on day two. Jim Murnak won the top (C/D) bracket while John Alicea took down the bottom (A/B) bracket to set up the match for the hot seat.
While Daniel Dagotdot has been showing impressive advances in his Predator Tour performances, he would make this event his best finish yet, eventually claiming 2nd place. On day one of the tournament, Daniel claimed four winner's side matches against ChristIan Smith (7-6), Stewart Warnock (7-4), Noel Bensurto (7-5), and John Ortiz (7-4) before his loss to John Alicea in the winner's side final four.
On day two, Daniel went on to defeat Victor Nau (7-2), Alberto Estevez (7-5), followed by Jim Murnak in the semifinal (7-2) to move on for a rematch against John Alicea in the finals. In the final match, Daniel Dagotdot came back from behind in a battle against John Alicea, but still fell short. John completed his undefeated run through the event with a 7-6 final score, to win his first Predator Tour event of the 2010 season.
The top female finisher in this event would be longtime Amsterdam league player and reigning BCAPL National Champion Gail Glazebrook. After winning her first-round against Ramilo Tanglao (7-5) Gail lost to Troy Deocharran (7-4), but came back on the one-loss side to defeat Chuck Giallorenzo (7-4), Suleyman Savci (7-5), and avenged her loss to Troy Deocharran (7-6) before falling to John Stiles (7-5) to finish tied for 13th. Strong performances were also seen from Mike Panzarella, Victor Nau, Jim Murnak, and Mathew Harricharan.
Congratulations to John Alicea for his dominant win in this event, along with Daniel Dagotdot for his strong runner-up finish!
Final Results:
1st: John Alicea - $1,000
2nd: Daniel Dagotdot - $650
3rd: Jim Murnak - $475
4th: Alberto Estevez - $325
5th/6th: Victor Nau, Mathew Harricharan - $215
7th/8th: Mike Panzarella, Luis Novas - $150
9th-12th: John Stiles, Simon Lau, Andrew Kane, John Ortiz - $100
13th-16th: Gail Glazebrook, Robert Plaut, Jerry Tarantola, Noel Bensurto - $75
Open/Pro 10-ball:
With Amsterdam Billiards being home to some of NYC's top powerhouse players, pool fans who came out for this Predator Tour stop were due to see some great match ups. Many of the notable players who played in this event also play in the leagues at Amsterdam, including George "Ginky" San Souci, Zion Zvi, Mike Miller, and House Pro Tony Robles. Amsterdam 14.1 League Director Danny Barouty along with Connecticut top pro Jeremy Sossei also came to make their mark at this event.
"The Silent Assassin" Tony Robles was given a first-round loss from Jeremy Sossei, 8-4. But, Tony then charged through the one-loss side with wins over Jose Cruz (8-5), Zion Zvi (8-5), Danny Barouty (8-5), then got retribution against Jeremy Sossei with an 8-2 win to move on to the finals.
Meanwhile, George "Ginky" San Souci was busy firing through the winner's bracket, with wins over Ron Mason (8-4), Zion Zvi (8-2), and Jeremy Sossei (8-0) to claim the hot seat. In the final match, Ginky faced Tony Robles in a match that Tony dominated. Congratulations to Tony Robles for bouncing back to win this event. Tony currently holds the #1 position on the tour's rankings, while George San Souci trails at #2.
Tony Robles and the Predator Tour would like to thank their sponsors: Predator Cues, Poison Cues, Ozone Billiards, Delta-13 Racks, The Seminole Tribe of Florida, The Seminole Pro Tour, Poolonthenet.com, AZBilliards.com, Digital Ink Printing, www.pool.bz, Billiards Press, Cuetable.com, Master Chalk, RJH Custom Cues, Webb Custom Cues, Jim Murnak Cue Cases, Go4Pool.net, NYCgrind.com, Billiards Digest, Inside Pool Magazine, Pool & Billiards Magazine, Maxim Billiards & The Tournament Guide.
Final Results:
1st: "The Silent Assassin" Tony Robles - $700
2nd: "Ginky" George Sansouci - $400
3rd: "The Giant Killer" Jeremy Sossei - $150
