Shaw wins third straight Predator Open; Singh goes undefeated to take A-D event

Two weeks ago, it was Ronnie Alcano. A week later, it was Tony Robles, and on the weekend of December 8-9, in the season finale of the Predator Tour's 2012 season, it was Earl Strickland. The 'predator' on the Predator Tour who took down all three of them in the finals of an Open event on the tour was Jayson Shaw. He went undefeated in the first and last of those three, and won the middle event on December 2 by defeating Strickland in the semifinals, and knocking Robles out of the hot seat with a victory in the finals. The $1,500-added, season finale Open event drew 16 entrants to Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY.

In a concurrently-run, $1,500-added, A-D handicapped event that had drawn 64 entrants to the same location, Romeo Singh got by Manny Stamatakis (owner of Steinway Billiards) twice. He defeated him in the hot seat match and finals to finish undefeated.

In the Open event, Shaw, for the third straight time, made it to the winners' side final four, where he faced Robles (they'd met the week before in the hot seat match). Greg McAndrews, in the meantime, faced Mhet Vergara. Shaw sent Robles to the loss side 7-5, as McAndrews survived a double hill match versus Vergara. Shaw shut McAndrews out and waited in the hot seat for what turned out to be the return of Strickland.

All three of Shaw's opponents over the last three weekends were at work on the loss side. Robles, who'd sent Strickland west in a double hill match, met up with Frankie Hernandez, who'd defeated Daniel Dagotdot 7-1 and survived a double hill match against Alcano. Vergara drew Strickland, who'd defeated Scott Murphy and Jeremy Sossei, both 7-2.

Strickland and Hernandez advanced to the quarterfinals with 7-5 victories over Vergara and Robles, respectively. Strickland defeated Hernandez 7-2 and then, in the semifinals, gave up only a single rack against McAndrews. In the race-to-9 finals, Shaw took down Strickland 9-3 to complete his undefeated run.

In the A-D event, Singh and Stamatakis got into the hot seat match following a 7-2 victory by Stamatakis over Jack Smith, and a 7-4 victory by Singh over Charles Young. Singh won the first of two against Stamatakis 7-4 and waited in the hot seat for him to get back.

Young drew Rene Villalobos on the loss side. Smith picked up Michael Yednak. It was Young and Yednak squaring off in the quarterfinals, once Young had eliminated Villalobos 7-5 and Yednak had dropped Smith into the tie for fifth place 7-4. Yednak then survived a double hill quarterfinal to take on Stamatakis.

Stamatakis got a second shot at Singh with a 7-5 victory over Yednak in the semifinals. Singh spoiled Stamatakis' return with a 7-2 finals win that completed his undefeated run through the field of 64.

OPEN Payouts

1st Jayson Shaw $1,000

2nd Earl Strickland $700

3rd Greg McAndrews $400

4th Frankie Hernandez $300

A-D Payouts

1st Romeo Singh $1,400

2nd Manny Stamatakis $950

3rd Mike Yednak $700

4th Charles Young $450

5th Jack Smith $300

Rene Villalobos