Nate Tsegay was a beast at the beginning of this PDA 2007 season, he won back to back tournaments (only player to ever do it and he’s done it twice), he went to the finals table 3 tournaments in a row...

Nate Tsegay was a beast at the beginning of this PDA 2007 season, he won back to back tournaments (only player to ever do it and he’s done it twice), he went to the finals table 3 tournaments in a row...

Nate Tsegay was a beast at the beginning of this PDA 2007 season, he won back to back tournaments (only player to ever do it and he’s done it twice), he went to the finals table 3 tournaments in a row (the first to ever do it) and he became the #1 player in the PDA. It looked as though Nate was going to run away with the #1 ranking and the Dominators would once again rule the PDA hierarchy………. Well a lot can change in a few weeks in the PDA and as fate would have it Tsegay found out all that changes isn’t good at least not in the beginning of the change…….. After Jerome Wooten came back into the league, everyone thought it was the end of the Nate Tsegay era. It seemed as though his reign was in fact over as he couldn’t put a winning streak together since his 2nd place finish (Jerome Wootens first tournament back of the season & he won) on March 24th 2007. The closest Nate came to the Money was a 8th place finish on May 12th and a 9th place finish June 9th 2007, that was until the 11th tournament of a 12 tournament PDA season which is fast coming to a close.

Nate, more than anyone must have felt the urgency and need of a victory. With Alex Esver #2 ( Bay Area Bone Slammers), Jerome Wooten #3 ( Kansas City Dominators) & Keith Pace #4 ( Bay Area Bone Slammers) breathing down his neck and his #1 ranking in jeopardy of getting away from him Nate once again put together a great escape. His get away started in round 3 since there were 61 players competing Nate, Alex & Jerome where given byes which left 58 players competing for 29 spots to round out the top 32. Round 3 found Nate Tsegay in a battle with Herman Young (145-150, 150-55, 150-75, 130-150, 150-95) finally clubbin Herman enough to get him to let loose of game 5.

While Alex Esver got by PDA newcomer George Sanders (150-135, 120-150, 150-90, 30-150, 150-50) Sanders had a great showing but fell prey to the pressure, some bad bones and the #2 player in the PDA.

Jerome Wooten on the other hand had a little lady luck on his side as Bazin Girma (PDA Vet) gave King Wooten all that he could handle and but for a mistake allowed by Girma might have seen himself packin in the 3rd round. Wooten and Girma traded punches early as Jerome won game 1 (150-75) Girma came back in Game 2 (150-120), Jerome won game 3 (150-90) and Girma came right back in game 4 (150-115) both players were ready for game 5 when Jerome started with the tre/deuce (3/2) to start the hand off with 5 points Girma laid down the double tre (3/3) Wooten came right back with the double deuce (2/2) to score 10 points and Girma followed him with the four deuce (4/2) to score 10 points Jerome then played the blank deuce to take 10 points and Girma played the four tre (4/3) which forced Jerome Wooten to play on the blank and that’s when Girma realized the spinner Jerome played on was incorrect and he wanted the PDA to correct the mistake……well in the game of dominoes (at least in the PDA) you can’t take the dominoes back once they’ve been played and in rule 10c in the official PDA rule book, it says if a player makes a play on an incorrect spinner and you play that spinner now stands as the correct spinner and you must continue to play on. Unfortunately for Girma he was not paying attention and let the spinner he laid be taken away from him because of what we believe was an honest mistake (Jerome Wooten has never been in an argument or controversy since joining the PDA and has never been called or looked upon as a cheater) Jerome barely made it past Girma 150-145. In round 4 Nate strode past Eric Holmes (Obvious Giants) 150-125, 150-90, 150-120. while Ken Lawson (Obvious Giants) a PDA mainstay last year who was missing this whole season came out of nowhere and completely shocked the PDA by crushing the #2 player Esver 150-90, 150-70, 50-150, 150-140 to move into the next round and seize the #2 spot (at least for the day). Wooten got his finger waves while relaxing past a victory over Jeremiah Johnson 150-120, 150-70, 150-100.

In round 5 Nate got what he was asking for all day…… He wanted to play Rock Johnson (Obvious Giants) who let the whole Casino know, “He owned Nate” (because he had knocked Nate out of the previous 2 tournaments) Nate seemed unamused and unconcerned as he literally stomped a hole in Rocks spirit beating him 150-80, 150-100, 150-110 and with Alex gone (Ken L. took care of him) Nate only had one other player still lingering who could challenge his #1 position and that was Jerome Wooten and he was going up against the #6 ranked player in the PDA Stephen Gibbs (Obvious Giants) Jerome struck blood first winning game one 150-100 but after that it was all Gibbs 150-95, 150-145, 150-120 dismantling Wooten in 4 games and putting an end to anyone who could remove Nate from the #1 position. But Nate wasn’t through yet as he had to get past another PDA Vet Charles “the lock” Smith (Obvious Giants) Charles was ranked #7 coming into this tournament and was looking for his 2nd PDA championship this season, but Nate was destined for greatness today and he unlocked, unleashed and uncorked his game on Charles Smith and beat him to smither-eens 150-120, 150-90, 20-150, 150-135. While Nate was doing that Stephen Gibbs was busy stepping on and shrinking fellow Giant Ken Lawson 150-95, 150-60, 150-65 to set up a second championship round meeting for these to dominating giants. Nate struck first winning games 1 thru 3 150-110, 150-120, 150-85 and before Stephen knew it was obvious he was only a giant to very small people, although he did win one game 150-95 Nate finished him off 150-50 to win his 3rd PDA Season Tournament for the 2nd season in a row giving him more tournament wins (6) than any other player in the PDA and solidifying Travis Newsome's Kansas City Dominators the #1 Player position for the 2nd year in a row (Jerome Wooten was #1 in 06.

We salute Nate Tsegay and Stephen Gibbs for another great finals show and look forward to the end of the 2nd successful PDA season the only professional domino league in the world everyone involved should be proud!!!