Dennis Lake got by Junior Sanchez twice, once in the hot seat and again in the finals, to go undefeated on an A-D handicapped stop on the Predator Tour. The $500-added event, run concurrently with an Open event on the weekend of January 19-20, drew 98 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria, NY.
Lake faced Ambi Estevez in one of the winners' side semifinals, as Sanchez met Shawn Sookhai in the other. Lake sent Estevez west 7-4 for a hot seat meet-up with Sanchez, who'd sent Sookhai over 7-6. Lake dominated the hot seat match, winning it 8-3, as Sanchez moved to the semifinals.
Estevez picked up Andrew Cleary on the loss side. Cleary had defeated Jud Parker and Bob Tooney, both 7-5, to reach Estevez. Waiting on the loss side for Sookhai was John Ortiz, who was on a loss-side mission to the semifinals. Sookhai had sent him west from among the final eight winners, and Ortiz had downed Doug Masiero 7-3, and Rikki Ragoonan 7-5 to earn a second chance against him.
Cleary and Ortiz handed Estevez and Sookhai their second straight defeat; Cleary eliminating Estevez 7-6, as Ortiz was busy exacting his revenge on Sookhai with a 7-1 victory. Ortiz then ended Cleary's bid in the quarterfinals, defeating him 8-4. Sanchez, though, ended Ortiz's four-match, loss-side run with a 7-5 victory that gave him a second shot against Lake. Lake, in turn, ended Sanchez's bid for the event title with an 8-6 victory in the finals.
