Earl Strickland, Jeremey Sossei, William Finnegan, Warren Kiamco and Larry Ross
Perhaps cognizant of their last meeting in the semifinals of the George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament in September, when he scratched shooting at the 9-ball in a double hill match, Warren Kiamco, sitting in the hot seat, stopped a six-match, loss-side streak by Earl Strickland to win the Open/Pro event of the Predator Tour on the weekend of October 6-7. The $500-added event drew 16 entrants to The Cue Bar in Bayside, NY.
It was Michael Yednak going undefeated on the event's $500-added, A-D handicapped event. The amateur tournament drew 51 entrants to the same location.
With Strickland already working on the loss side, after an opening round 7-1 victory by Jeremy Sossei, Kiamco advanced among the winners' side final four, where he 'mhet' up with Mhet Vergara. Tour director Tony Robles, in the meantime, picked up Sossei. Three 7-4 matches followed, with Sossei sending Robles west, Kiamco sending Vergara over, and finally, Kiamco getting into the hot seat over Sossei.
On the loss side, Strickland defeated Israel Rota 7-3, Mike Wong 7-1 and Jennifer Baretta 7-3 to pick up Robles. Vergara picked up Ramon Mistica, who'd defeated Vikram Vasari 7-1 and Gregg McAndrews, double hill. Strickland and Vergara advanced to the quarterfinals, 7-5, over Robles and Mistica. Strickland and Vergara battled to double hill before Strickland prevailed for a semifinal re-match against Sossei.
Strickland turned the tables on Sossei, defeating him by the same score that Sossei had tallied sending him to the loss bracket, 7-1. Kiamco, though, ended Strickland's six-match, loss-side winning streak with a 9-7 victory that completed his undefeated romp through the field and secured the event title.
Yednak's undefeated path to the amateur victory went through Charles Young (known as "CBK," which reportedly stands for 'cold-blooded killer') twice. They met first in the battle for the hot seat, after Yednak had sent Arturo Reyes to the loss bracket 7-6 and Young had defeated Rich Lang 7-5. Yednak downed Young the first time 9-5 and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
On the loss side, Reyes picked up Tony Cosenza, who'd gotten by Rhys Chen and Shawn Sookhai to reach him. Lang drew Meshak Daniel, who'd defeated Junior Singh and Glenn Ramsey. It was Cosenza and Daniel advancing to the quarterfinals; Cosenza 7-4 over Reyes and Daniel 7-3 over Lang. Daniel took the quarterfinal match 7-5, but had his ambitions thwarted by the same score in the semifinals against Young. Yednak put a stop to the (only sometimes, apparently) 'cold-blooded killer' 9-8 in the opening set of the finals to complete his undefeated trek through the 51-entrant field.
Open/Pro
1st Warren Kiamco $800
2nd Earl Strickland $400
3rd Jeremy Sossei $300
4th Mhet Vergara $150
A-D handicapped event
1st Michael Yednak $1,000
2nd Charles Young $700
3rd Meshak Daniel $500
4th Tony Cosenza $300
5th Arturo Reyes $180
Rich Lang
7th Shawn Sookhai $125
Glenn Ramsey
9th Carl Yusuf Khan $75
Rhys Chen
Junior Singh
Photo courtesy of Jerry Tarantola - NYCGrind.com
