Attention all Predator Tour players and fans: The next stop on the Predator 9-Ball Tour will take place on
July 25th & 26th at
Amsterdam Billiard Club in NYC
See you there!

Attention all Predator Tour players and fans: Due to scheduling conflicts on the weekend of June 27th & 28th
at Cue Bar in Bayside Queens will be cancelled.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

The heat was on at the Predator 9-Ball Tour's 9th stop of the season, as 42 of the tour's players came out to compete for the first time at Paradise Billiards in Sunnyside, Queens. One of the highlight players in this event was house pro Al Zea, who attended his first Predator event on this weekend. Zea suffered a first round loss to Tony Robles (8-5), but came back on a determined hot streak through the one-loss side to finish in fourth place. Some of the other top competitors attending this event include Marc Vidal, Jorge Rodriguez, Tony Robles, "Alaska" Sean Morgan, Mhet Vergara, "Ginky" George San Souci, Zion Zvi, Oscar Bonilla, and Jerry Tarantola. Five of the tour's ladies also came out to show what they're made of, including Gail Glazebrook, Olga Gashkova, Alison Fischer, Diana Rojas, and Erin McManus, who claimed the award for the highest finishing C/D player, winning $100. In this event, the winner's bracket was dominated by Tony Robles, Marc Vidal, Jerry Tarantola, and Oscar Bonilla. Robles & Vidal faced off in a match that Robles would dominate by a score of 8-3. On the other side of the bracket, Tarantola trailed Bonilla by 4-1, but came back with a vengeance to win 8-5. For the hot seat, Tony Robles and Jerry Tarantola met up in a one-sided match that Tony would mop up by a score of 8-1, sending Jerry to the one-loss side. Tony was tapped into the zone in this match, and took advantage of Jerry's errors--ending his winning streak, having not let previous opponents aside from Bonilla get past 3 games. On the one-loss side, we saw a number of dramatic matches the between some of the toughest players. "Alaska" Sean Morgan would win a testing 8-6 match to eliminate George San Souci only to fall in the next round to house pro Al Zea, who had a strong performance, stepping out to lead 4-1. Alaska would return with two more games, but Al played lights-out, hardly missing a ball to win 8-3. Al would then match up with Marc Vidal, returning from his winner's side loss to Tony Robles. It looked like Vidal was falling victim to fatigue even early in this match, falling short on his safeties, risking giving the momentum to Zea. However, the battle stayed neck and neck. With the match locked at 5 games, Zea made a 1-9 carom to take the lead. In the following game, Vidal played a strong safety, but Zea returned with a strong kick shot on the one ball, and ran out. Zea then broke and ran out an impressive final rack to win the set 8-5. On the other side of the bracket, Oscar Bonilla faced off against Danny Caliente. In this match, Bonilla was too much for Caliente to handle, with Bonilla jumping out to a 5-0 lead, to finish with an 8-3 win. This set up a match between Bonilla and Al Zea in the Quarter-Finals. Zea initially continued his strong play, but the late hour was taking its toll as he made some errors, which Bonilla capitalized on, Bonilla finishing on top 8-5. Bonilla moved on to play Jerry Tarantola in the Semi-Finals. This match played out much differently than their earlier set, with Bonilla easily winning by a score of 8-2, landing him in the finals against tour owner, Tony Robles. The final match lined up Oscar Bonilla to play tour owner Tony Robles, who went through the tournament undefeated. The match would land at hill-hill, but Bonilla would make a fatal error as he scratched on the 7-ball to allow Robles to take the match and the tournament, making this Robles' 2nd consecutive Father's Day weekend win. The Predator Tour would like to thank all its players who came out to this event, as well as the tour's sponsors: Blatt Billiards, Delta 13 Racks and The Seminole Tribe of Florida. Congratulations to Tony Robles for a dominating performance at Paradise Billiards.

On Saturday June 13 the Predator 9-Ball Tour kicked off its 8th stop of the season at Eastside Billiards, one of the newest rooms added to the tour's roster this season. Eastside is the premier location in upper Manhattan to play pool and relax with friends, and the staff and regulars... made it a great host room for the Predator Tour. The Predator Tour brought some of the toughest players in the area out to compete at Eastside, including Jeremy Sossei, Marc Vidal, Bobby Blackmore, Joey Kong, Oscar Bonilla, "Ginky" George San Souci, Jonathan Smith, Zion Zvi, George Rodriguez, and Sean Morgan, with a total of 44 players in attendance. WPBA Pro Liz Ford also came out to this event, along with regional ladies players Borana Andoni, Alison Fischer, and Gail Glazebrook, who had a breakout performance in this event, placing 9-12th. This was a particularly interesting event because two newcomers to the tour had standout performances. Qi Liu, a player from North Carolina, came out to the Predator for the first time, and had a solid run through the winner's bracket until he hit the tour's other newbie, Zion Zvi in the quarterfinals of the winner's bracket, in a 9-6 loss for Liu. In a breakout performance, Zion Zvi makes a statement in NYC through a remarkable percise weekend of stellar pool. Although Zion Zvi may be a new name to some, this player from Tel Aviv, Israel made a mark at the Predator this weekend. He pulled off wins over Trevor Heal, Jonathan Smith, Tony Robles (7-5), Jason Hunt (7-5) Qi Liu (9-3), and Marc Vidal (9-5) which landed him in the hot seat. After a first round loss to Tony Robles, George San Souci displayed heart with a gritty performance, going straight through the one-loss side to defeat Jason Trager, Trevor Heal, Brian Hunter, "Alaska" Sean Morgan, Gail Glazebrook, and Tony Robles. Jerry Tarantola also bounced back from an early loss to Brian Hunter grinding back to fourth place, with notable wins over Jeremy Sossei, Oscar Bonilla, and Bobby Blackmore, before he was eliminated by George San Souci in a one-sided 9-2 match. This win landed San Souci a shot in the semi-finals against "Spain" Marc Vidal, who had just finished a run through the winner's bracket, stopped by Zion Zvi. This match would show a strong display of kicking, banking, and safety battles, with the players staying in line with one another, landing in a hill-hill tie. One of the defining points in the match was Spain's critical kick safe which locked up the cue ball, allowing him to take control over the set to move to the finals. In the finals, Marc Vidal returned to take another shot against Zion in single set final race to 11. In this match, Zion would remain the dominant force, keeping a steady edge over "Spain," who wasn't able to control the cue ball as well as previous matches. Zion Zvi presented a calm, controlled game, looking fearless as he moved around the table with ease. The match would end with a final score of 11-6 in favor of Zion Zvi, capping off a breakout performance. Zion, who currently resides in Long Island, had been a long-time snooker player in Israel before picking up 9-ball in 2005. After watching the European Pool Championships, he decided to pick up 9-ball, and went on to win the Best of the East Championship within a year of the switch. Tony Robles and his staff would like to extend their congratulations to Zion for his outstanding performance in his first Predator event, as well as thank the Predator Tour's sponsor, Predator Cues, Delta Rack, the Seminole Pro Tour, and Blatt Billiards. Jerry Shipman, owner of Eastside Billiards, rolled out the red carpet for all of the pool players who were in attendance for it's first Predator Tour Event. A fan of competitive pool, he remarked that it was great to see so many of his local players into the event, and plans more in the future.
The Predator Tour also held the 2nd day handicapped "BCD" tournament on Sunday, with 16 players stopping out for this event. Teddy Cook would rise to the top of the winner's bracket, after a win over David Weinstein. Weinstein came back to land in the finals after a win against Alison Fischer (6-4) who had beat Luis Novas (5-2) and Wilfredo Albay (5-0) on the one-loss side. In the final, Weinstein avenged his loss to Cook with a 7-3 win.

David Weinstein wins Day 2 BCD Event

On May 30-31, the Predator 9-ball Tour took over Master Billiards in Queens, NY, for tour stop #7, their third ABCD event of the season. This event attracted 60 of the best amateurs from around the New York area, such as John Alicea, Michael Yednak, Dan Cintron, Jose Cruz, and Jay Chiu. Four of the toughest female players from around the area also came out to compete... Gail Glazebrook, Borana Andoni, Linda Cheung, and the highest finishing female, Diana "Snookie" Rojas, who was awarded $60. In this format, the C/D players played against each other on the bottom half of the bracket, while the A/B players took the top, in a handicapped race to 7, lower ranked player spotted games on the wire. The Winner's Bracket: After defeating Shorty Santiago, William Finnegan, and John Chong, Ed Hugh faced off against young gun John Alicea, in a match that Alicea dominated by a score of 7-4. Rising to the top of the winner's bracket on the C/D side, Jay Chiu would defeat Ron Mason by a score of 7-4 to move on to the match for the hot seat against Alicea. In the match for the hot-seat, underdog up-and-comer Jay Chiu, who had an impressive performance in this event, faced of against John Alicea, spotting Jay 2 games on the wire in a race to 7. This match impressively went hill-hill, with the players trading game for game, and Jay showing some strong banking skills. However, in the final game, John's firepower kept him on top to win a spot in the finals. The One-Loss Side: There were still plenty of tough players fighting it out on the one-loss side come Sunday morning when the action started at noon. Michael Yednak, who was knocked to the one-loss side by John Alicea, would have a great run to defeat Jerry Tarantola, William Finnegan, Dan Cintron, John Chong, and Ed Hugh, to fall to Jose Cruz in a close 7-5 match. Jose Cruz also came a long way through the loser's bracket, winning a stunning 10 matches to land in the finals against John Alicea, after crushing Jay Chiu by a score of 7-1. Jose's play was very impressive, and I would say he was playing near-perfectly on Sunday afternoon. The Finals: In the final match, Jose Cruz would meet with the undefeated John Alicea in a final race to 9. Cruz, rated as a "C," got 2 games on the wire in this match, as Alicea is rated an "A." However, as mentioned, Jose was showing some outstanding play on that afternoon, and with the two-game spot, this match turned out to be an uphill battle for Alicea. Early on, Alicea made some uncharacteristic mistakes, and Cruz jumped to a 4-2 lead after John scratched on the break. In the following game, Jose would break dry to allow John to runout and close the gap to 4-3. Just as things were looking to turn around for Alicea, Cruz jumped up to a huge 8-3 lead over Alicea after a couple crucial missed balls, landing him one game away from the win. But, in the following game, Cruz missed a safety, letting John run out, making the score 8-4, and Alicea started to pick up some momentum. Cruz also started to make some little mistakes that weren't customary in the beginning of the set, as he hung an 8-ball, allowing Alicea another game 8-5. John was finally getting into his stroke, and turned his game around making some smarter defensive decisions. To close the gap to two games, John broke successfully and left a 2-9 combo to make the score 8-6. After John missed a 1-ball in the next rack, the players exchanged safeties with John coming out on top. From there, John ran to 8-ball, but made a misstep on his position for the 9, tapping it into the rail and leaving the cue ball facing the 9 to the rail. John and Jose exchanged safeties, nudging the cue into the 9, but John played the game winning safe by skimming the cue off the 9, keeping the 9 on the rail and the cue on the opposite rail. Jose would attempt a bank on the 9, but miss and leave it for John, making the score hill-hill. In the hill game, Jose broke, then missed a 1-7 combo. John ran to the 4, but got out of line on the 5 and played safe. However, Jose got another chance, but landed bad on the 9, with the 9 near the end rail and the cue facing at an 80 degree angle. Jose went for a full-table bank, and it barely rattled, leaving the match and the win for John. Both players showed a lot of heart throughout the event and fought hard to make it to the finals. Congratulations to John Alicea for his first Predator 9-ball Tour win! The next Predator event will be the $1500 added Eastside Billiards stop on June 15-16th.

John Hacsi wins Day 2 BCD Event

The Predator Tour's sixth stop of the season came through Comet Billiards this past weekend, and drew an extremely strong field of 58 players. The players were all business as they came out to play on Memorial Day weekend all vying to make a statement at the home of the "Accu-Stats Arena". Pat Flemming (Accu-Stats) has been doing a great job in contributing towards the revitalization of pool on a local level providing a professional TV arena driving interest from Pro players to play in local events. There was a surprise showing besides the super-strong regional players such as "Ginky" George San Souci, Tony Robles, Ryan McCreesh, Manny Chau, Jonathan Smith, Oscar Bonilla,"Alaska" Sean Morgan, Joey Kong, Jeremy Sossei, and Shaun Wilke. Legendary pro Mike Sigel also made a rare appearance to compete. Mike is a 10-time World Champion and was also voted the Greatest Living Player of the 20th Century. It was also good to see that legendary straight pool player Earl Herring came out to compete as well. Mike Sigel drew a big crowd and his ability to liven up a crowd left the pool room buzzing. While Mike played strong overall including several dominant sets, he lost to Tony Robles 9-7 and "Ginky" 9-6 leading to a respectable 4th place finish.
Ryan McCreesh went through the winner's side of the bracket undefeated delighting the rail birds with stellar play. On the road to the finals Ryan went through Jonathan Smith 9-6, Wayne Nicholson 9-4, Manny Chau 9-5, Greg McAndrews 9-0, Tony Robles 9-2. In the finals, Ryan was matched up against "Ginky" George San Souci, who put on a clinic of heart and determination, grinding out match after match earning him a spot in the finals. Ginky played a stellar set against Mike Sigel on the TV table defeating him 9-6 and followed it up with a gritty "Hill-Hill" Hot Seat Match victory over Tony Robles. In the finals the Accu-Stat's TV stage was set... a match up between Maryland's Ryan McCreesh and NY's "Ginky" George San Souci. Ryan McCreesh has been on fire of late recently winning the Maryland 10 Ball Championships and the Maryland bar table championships. Ginky continues to be a favorite in the Predator Tour and other local events. Ryan took off out of the gate with a 5-0 lead after a few missed opportunities by Ginky and combination of stellar play and fortunate rolls. Ryan began struggling on the break and started to lose some of his momentum and Ginky began to capitalize closing the gap to 6-4. Unfortunately for "Ginky" he began getting several bad rolls and was unable to come up with a shot after the break leaving him frustrated. While "Ginky" didn't show much frustration it was clear that he was unable to continue his momentum as Ryan regained control of the match. Ryan caught a second wind and hit his high gear and pulled away from the set leading to his first Predator Tour Title. The Predator Tour's next stop will be a A-B-C-D event May 30-31 at Master Billiards. (39-01 Queens Blvd, Sunnyside, NY)

Christian Smith Takes Day 2 BCD Event

Congratulations to team Kiss of Death for winning the 2009 BCA Women's Open Team National 8-Ball Championship in Las Vegas. All the ladies on team Kiss of Death play on the Predator 9-Ball Tour and we couldn't be more proud of them for their accomplishement. From left to right, Michele Li, Emily Duddy, Olga Gashkova, Alison Fischer, Team Captain Gail Glazebrook, and Borana Andoni. See you guys at the next event!

The Blatt Billiards Predator 9-Ball Tour held its second “A-B-C-D” stop of the 2009 season. A total of seventy-nine players showed up for tour’s two events of the weekend. The main tournament began Saturday and drew sixty-two of the Tri-State area’s strongest players. The tournament structure lets the A-B players battle it out at the top of the chart, while the C-D players compete on the bottom. Picking up right where he left off from the first A-B-C-D event (3rd place), Lionel Rivera, took advantage of a first round bye and fell into dead stroke by defeating John Mazes 7-2, Craig Seal 7-4, Mike Wong 7-4 and Thomas Wan 7-4 to remain unscathed after the first day. Albert Estevez also took advantage of a first round bye and defeated Dave Ascolese 7-3, Bobby Varughese 7-3 and a close call with Shawn Sookhai 7-6. The very classy Beau Baer was having a monster tournament with clear-cut wins over Mark Perel 7-5, Charlie Lentini 7-4, Bob Mammarella 7-3 and Shorty Santiago 7-5. Stop #4’s B-C-D winner PJ Puma also went undefeated with wins over Dennis Lake 7-6, Mike Ettl 7-2, and a very tight win over Alex Gonzalez 7-6. The one loss side still had many killers fighting to stay alive. Thomas Wan continued to fight after his loss to Lionel Rivera but was stopped by Beau Baer 7-3. Shorty Santiago was defeated by Beau Baer 7-5, but came back to defeat Charlie Lentini 7-4 only to fall short against Thomas Wan 7-2. Dave Ascolese was grinding it out after his first loss to Albert Estevez and defeated Duane Toney 7-4 and Gregory Charles 7-2 before losing to Mike Ettl 7-3. New comer to the tour Charlie Lentini was also having a great tournament with incredible wins over Justin Muller 7-0 and John Alicea 7-3. John Hacsi was taking care of business on the one-loss side. After losing to Jim Murnak 7-2, John came back to defeat Stefan Wiegmann 7-0, Teddy Cook 7-2, Rob Slayback 7-1, and Mike Ettl 7-3 but lost a heart breaker to Shawn Sookhai 7-6. As day one came to a close, only four were left undefeated; Lionel Rivera, Beau Baer, P.J. Puma & Albert Estevez. On the A-B side, Lionel Rivera would face Beau Baer for a chance at the hot seat, while in the C-D bracket, P.J. Puma would battle Albert Estevez. While Lionel Rivera remained in control of his game on day two, Beau seemed to be a different player. Lionel took advantage of a couple of mistakes and dominated Baer 7-2 for a chance at the hot seat. Albert Estevez took care of PJ Puma to earn his shot at the hot seat winning 7-5. The match for the hot seat was a barn burner with Lionel squeaking out the win 7-6. On the one loss side, Shawn Sookhai staged a comeback by winning four in a row, (three of them hill-hill matches) to earn a shot at the semifinals against Albert Estevez. But Sookhai seemed to lose his steam against Estevez and Albert played tough pool. Estevez won 7-3 against Sookhai for a chance to redeem himself against Lionel. In the final, Lionel could not be denied as he calmly ran rack after rack to claim his first Predator Tour stop win of this season, winning 7-4. Click here to view Gallery of Pictures on NYCGrind.com courtesy of James Javier

Charlie Lentini Wins Day 2 BCD Event Stop #5

The tour also hosted the Delta-13 second day B-C-D event which was won by my good friend Charles Lentini. Charles defeated Dave Deserio in the final 7-4. Stop #6 will be taking place May 23-24 at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ. Pat Fleming will be on hand to stream the matches live through www.accu-stats.com. This stop will be open to all players! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Stop #4 of the Predator 9-Ball Tour kicked off Easter Weekend with a very strong field of 45 players at Cue Bar in Bayside, NY. Top players in attendance included World Champion and Hall of Famer Mike Sigel, Oscar Bonilla, Shaun Wilkie, Al Lapena, Holden Chin, Frankie Hernandez, Jorge Rodriguez, Jeremy Sossei, Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Mhet Vergara, Mike Fingers, Victor Nau, Eddie Uber, Marc Vidal, George SanSouci and Tony Robles. Before we go on to the results, I would like to inform everyone that a dear friend of the tour, Scott Simonetti came up with a rare bacterial infection and had part of his left arm and left leg amputated. I’ve known Scott for about 20 years and can honestly tell you that he was always fearless and had the heart of a lion when it came to competition on the green felt. Please keep Scott in your prayers as he recovers. With the sixteen Open and Pro players in the event, no player was ever comfortable with the matches that lay before them. And many of the higher ranked players found victory against the usually dominating Pros. Opening first round matches saw open player Mhet Vergara against the ever improving Lionel Rivera (A) with Lionel nearly giving Vergara a donut winning 8-1. Another impressive win was John Alicea (A) who took down giant player Frankie Hernandez (Pro) 8-5. Victor Nau also had a tough opening draw in Al Lapena who has continued to do well in the Predator events this season. Victor struggled to stay in the match and lost 8-4. Later rounds found Mike Sigel, winner of the Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases $50 give-back, against Predator tour veteran Oscar Bonilla. The match opened with Oscar coming out strong 4-1 with Mike finding the tables unfriendly to his break. A couple of missed shots by Oscar allowed Sigel to close the gap and tie it hill/hill, Oscar’s break. Oscar broke and found a very difficult 1-ball shot. Rather than push out, Oscar made an incredible shot pocketing the 1-ball and ran out the table to defeat Sigel 8-7. Tony Robles was on cruise control until he ran into Sean “Alaska” Morgan. Morgan played strong throughout the set and capitalized on a number of mistakes by Robles and defeated the Assassin 8-6. Michael Yednak had a great tournament with big time wins over Thomas Wan 8-7, Rene Villalobos 8-7, Andrew Kane 8-7, then lost a heartbreaker to Jeremy Sossei 8-7 and then Tony Robles knocked Michael out leaving him with a 9th thru 12th finish.
Shaun Wilkie started out strong defeating Mike Fingers 8-6, then Darwin Vergara 8-5, Mike Wong 8-6, then ran into tour new comer Eddie Uber and lost 8-7. He would fight back on the one-loss side with two strong wins over Mike Sigel 9-4 and Marc Vidal 9-8 before falling to Jeremy Sossei 9-7. Oscar Bonilla continues to show the crowd he is a force to be reckoned with. Before his big win over Mike Sigel, Oscar defeated Brian Hunter 8-2, then Sigel 8-7, Al Lapena 8-5, Jeremy Sossei 9-7 and won the hot seat match against Sean Morgan 9-6. The comfortable Bonilla then waited for the one-loss side to catch up. After losing to Alaska , Robles worked out his demons on the one-loss side with big time wins over Mhet Vergara 8-4, Michael Yednak 8-0, Al Lapena 9-6, Eddie Uber 9-8 & Jeremy Sossei 9-4. This set up a rematch between Robles and Morgan who enjoyed his best Predator Tournament ever with wins over Erin McManus 8-0, Jorge Rodriguez 8-3, Tony Robles 8-6, Marc Vidal 8-3, & Eddie Uber 9-5, before losing to Oscar Bonilla 9-6. In the semi-final match, Tony came out vengeful with a 9-3 win and geared up to face Oscar in the finals. The finals, as predicted, was a close battle that saw both players playing great pool with few errors. At hill/hill, Tony broke and calmly ran out to win his first stop of the 2009 season. Our Delta-13 Highest Finishing C/D player was Steve Wright. Steve played incredible pool this tournament with amazing wins over Louis Pannullo 8-5, Brian Hunter 8-6 & John Lazo 8-4. This is Steve’s second time winning the Delta-13 Highest Finishing C/D and after his stellar play this season, he was raised to the B level. Congratulations Steve!

PJ Puma Wins Day 2 BCD Event Stop #4

The tour also hosted a B-C-D tournament on Sunday with 10 players vying for the top prize of $150. Players that played in the Open event on Saturday got to play for $20 on Sunday and earn double points for their Open tournament finish, plus 10 points for playing in the event. The finals of the event saw the Delta-13 Highest Finishing C/D Player Steve Wright (now a B player) versus newbie P.J. Puma, a Cue Bar regular. P.J. was undefeated going into the finals with wins over Jesse Thomas, Paul Raval, Andrew Kane & Alex Borukovich. In the finals, at hill/hill, Steve devastatingly hooked himself in the side pocket. A failed masse attempt on the 2-ball left P.J. with a five ball run out that he successfully completed allowing him to finish in 1st place. Congratulations to P.J. Puma for winning the tournament in his homeroom, Cue Bar! The tour would like to thank Cue Bar billiards for hosting another great event and look forward to returning to the venue June 27th & 28th. We would also like to thank Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases for their contribution toward the play fund. Each tournament for the rest of the season, Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases will donate $50 toward a random player’s entry fee. Names will be drawn from a hat to determine the winner each tournament. This week’s winner was none other than Mike Sigel!
Stop #5 will be taking place at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill this coming weekend April 18th & 19th. This will be an ABCD event only! No Pros or Open players will be allowed! Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Tony Robles and the Blatt Billiards Predator 9-ball Tour held their first "ABCD" tournament of the season this past weekend at Mr. Cue's Billiards in Lindenhurst, NY. The tour's 3rd $1,000-added stop welcomed a total of 80 of its players to this new pool room on the tour's schedule, and they created a significant buzz within the pool room. The main tournament drew a full field of 64 players, which comprised a perfect mix of 32 C's and D's and 32 B's and A's. This two-day event brought many of the Tri-State area's strongest up-and-coming men and women players trying to climb the Predator Tour points standings. After day one came to an end, the buzz was all about the impressive play of emerging players Justin Muller, Marco Dy, Borana Andoni, and Lionel Rivera who were impressive in staying in full control as they remained undefeated. There was also a solid showing from local Long Island players, including Beau Bear, James Swanson, Frankie Cologne, Joe Hunter, Erin McManus, Dennis Lake, and John Mazes, who brought their A-game. Though Borana Andoni was the highest finishing female, Erin McManus was awarded the $100 for the runner-up Delta-13 highest finishing female, due to Borana cashing in 9th – 12th place. As play unfolded on Sunday, the story was all about players who showed a no-quit attitude on the table, and the final match-up was surely not easily predicted. Emerging player Thomas Wan lost his first match, but quietly won 8 consecutive matches before losing a come-from-behind set to none other than the Predator Tour Tournament Director, William Finnegan. Finnegan had a stand-out performance and surely surprised a few people, as he bounced back from a hill-hill loss to Erin McManus before winning 9 consecutive matches in a row to land his spot in the finals. In the Finals, Finnegan met up with Marco Dy, who also had a breakthrough tournament earning an undefeated spot in the finals after squeaking through a hard-fought hill-hill set with Lionel Rivera. Lionel was then taken out in the semi-finals by Finnegan in another dramatic hill-hill battle, with Finnegan making the 9 on the break to win the match. The final set saw Finnegan start out strong to build a 7-2 lead in the race to 9 games, looking very dominant. In a surprising turn of events, Marco grinded back to tie the score at 8-8 putting himself in another gut check hill-hill situation. Finnegan had the break and successfully pocketed a ball and had an open table for a chance to earn the title and the personal victory of having gone through 10 consecutive players... Uncharacteristically, he missed an easy 2-ball to the crowd's surprise, giving Marco the easy run out and his 1st Predator Tour victory. Congratulations to both Marco and Finnegan, who showed true performances of heart.
Click here to view Gallery of Pictures courtesy of NYCGrind.com

Dave Manasseri Wins Day 2 BCD Event Stop #3

The Predator Tour also hosted a second day B-C-D event, which brought out 16 players to compete on Sunday afternoon. Dave Manasseri and Bob Mammarella fought through this field to make it to the finals, but it was Dave Manasseri who would come out on top in the finals with a dominant 7-2 win over Mammarella. Stop # 4 will be taking place April 11-12 at Cuebar in Bayside, Queens. This will be an Open/Pro-Am event. Please visit www.predator9balltour.com to see the complete schedule.

The Blatt Billiards Predator 9-ball Tour kicked off its second stop with an astonishing 108 players at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ this weekend. Seventy nine players showed up for the open on Saturday and twenty nine players competed for the top prize in the second day BCD event. Top players in attendance included Mezz Cues Representative Mika Immonen, Stop #1 winner Ignacio Chavez, George Sansouci, Rob Saez, Shaun Wilkie, Marc Vidal, Jorge Rodriguez, Bobby Blackmore, Oscar Bonilla, Mhet Vergara, Frankie Hernandez, Sean Morgan, Jason Michas, Al Lapena and Tony Robles. Day one action found many of the top players in comfortable positions following the first rounds. Frankie Hernandez was playing strong pool in his first stop of the season with wins over John Lazo 7-1, Holden Chin 7-1 Brian Hunter 7-2 and a tough win against Oscar Bonilla 7-4 to come to day 2 undefeated. Ignacio Chavez was in top form following his stop #1 victory with wins over Dennis Lake 7-0, Michele Li 7-1, Scott Simonietti 7-0, Mhet Vergara 7-5. Chavez finished off day one with a solid win over Rob Saez 7-5 ending day one still undefeated. Tony Robles quickly got into a groove with wins over Borana Andoni 7-2, Randy Schwager 7-4, Damon Sobers 7-1. Robles remained undefeated at the conclusion of day 1 with a strong 7-4 win over Al Lapena. Meanwhile, George “Ginky” Sansouci defeated Raj Vannala 7-0, Chris Lynch 7-2, and Jason Michas 7-2 to also close out day one unscathed. Mika Immonen started the day in normal form with wins against John Alicea 7-2, Wayne Nicholson 7-3, Jonathan Castillo 7-2 but fell to Seminole Pro Tour player Rob Saez 7-5 and scooted to the one-loss side. Raphael DaBreo had a terrific weekend defeating Sal Lanuto 7-5 before losing to Bobby Blackmore on the hill 7-6 and starting his tear through the one loss side defeating “Devil” Dave Ascolese 7-6 and a stunning win over Carmen Lombardo 7-6 before falling to Junior Sanchez 7-6. Raphael was the Delta 13 highest finishing C/D player for the event as well as the B-C-D runner up on Sunday. Congratulations Raphael for an excellent weekend of tournament play! Liz Ford continued to play her best against the boys. She defeated Mark Pantovic 7-0, but lost to Damon Sobers 7-5. Unphased, Ford went on to defeat open player Steve Lillis 7-6 before losing to Randy Schwager 7-2, but still got farther than all the other women in the event to win the Delta 13 highest finishing female for the second tournament in a row. On day two, Ignacio Chavez picked up right where he left off by defeating Frankie Hernandez 9-6 to earn a spot for the hot seat. Tony Robles won a hard fought set against the legendary George “Ginky” Sansouci 9-6 to set up the match against Chavez. In the match against Chavez, Robles took the lead 4-2 early in the match but scratched on three routine shots which ultimately cost him the set 9-6. Now all Robles could do was wait for the winner of Mika Immonen and Jorge Rodriguez.
Mika was on a mission on day two and was determined to make it to the finals. He dominated the one loss side with wins over Randy Schwager 7-3 and Mhet Vergara 7-2 to end day one. Mika started the second day by defeating Sean Morgan 9-2, Al Lapena 9-7, Frankie Hernandez 9-0 and Jorge Rodriguez 9-3 for the right to meet Tony in the semifinal. Mika’s break and patterns were in perfect form against Tony as he defeated the Silent Assassin 9-3. Tony stated: “In my opinion, I don’t think that anyone in the world is playing better than Mika right now. He will not beat himself. You have to beat him. And in order to do that, you have to keep pace with him and keep your mistakes to a minimum.“ Everyone was excited to watch the final match between these two great warriors. Mika continued to break and run with consistency while Chavez struggled to make a ball on the break and whenever he did, he usually could not see the one ball.
Mika dominated the match making few mistakes. He came with his full arsenal and put on a clinic in shot making, position play, kicking, banking and defense to easily win the match by a score of 11-4.

Christian Smith Wins BCD Event Stop #2

The Predator 9-Ball Tour also hosted a second day BCD event. Twenty nine players came out to battle for the top prize. Christian Smith took care of business in the top of the chart to earn his spot for the hot seat with wins over Guy Ianuzzi 5-0, Scott Abramowitz 5-2, Dave Fitzpatrick 5-3 and Michael Esposito 5-3. In the bottom half of the chart, Raphael DaBreo was still hot after winning the highest finishing C/D prize in the Open the day before. Raphael started the day with wins over Gary Barnish 5-2, Chris Root 5-1, Paul Raval 5-3 and Eddie Crespo 5-4 to set up a hot seat match against Christian Smith. It was a close match from the beginning but Christian came out on top defeating Raphael 5-3. Meanwhile, Guy Ianuzzi was making everyone pay for his first lost by winning 6 matches in a row to earn a spot against Raphael in the semifinal. Guy ran out of steam and succumbed to Raphael 5-3. In the final race to seven, Christian started strong and Raphael put up a great fight but fell short losing to Christian 7-5. Thanks to Comet Billiards (Bill and Marcia Haley), Pat Fleming, and all the players and spectators who came out to support the tour and Comet Billiards this past weekend. The next Predator 9-Ball Tour stop will be taking place at Mr. Cue Billiards in Lindenhurst, NY on March 28-29. This stop will be an ABCD event only. No Open or Pros will be allowed to play in this event. I look forward to seeing you all in Lindenhurst.
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The Blatt Billiards Predator 9-Ball Tour opened up the 2009 season at Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY with 70 players vying for the top prize. Top players in attendance included Jeremy Sossei, Oscar Bonilla, Ignacio Chavez, Fran Crimi, Empire State Champion Marc “Spain” Vidal, Liz Ford, Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Bobby Blackmore & Tony Robles. Day one had its share of surprising matches and stand out players. Tour owner Tony Robles started out strong with wins over Thomas Wan 8-4 & Marc Vidal 8-3 but ran into trouble against Jeremy Sossei, losing 8-5. Robles fought back through the one-loss side until he ran into Oscar Bonilla, losing 9-7 and finishing 7th/8th. Liz Ford started the Predator tour season in winning fashion. Liz won highest finishing female, easily finishing 3 rounds higher than any of the other ten females in the event. But this wasn’t enough for the WPBA pro as she fought hard at the end of day one defeating Pete Tascarella Sr. 7-4 to return for day two action to play Pete Tascarella Jr., the son in the family of cue makers. Pete Jr. couldn’t tame Miss Ford either and lost to her 9-6. Liz continued to play strong against Jeremy Sossei keeping it close in the beginning, but Jeremy took control of the match at 3-3 and never looked back. Ford lost 9-4 to Sossei, finishing 9th–12th. Other standout players included John Alicea, who continues to push and test many of the tours top players. On day one, John scored big wins over Victor Nau 8-4 and Jeremy Sossei 9-5. Day two saw John struggle and lose to Mhet Vergara 9-2 and Oscar Bonilla 9-5 leaving Alicea to settle for 5th/6th. Our other 5th/6th finisher was Jerry Tarantola who came out swinging on day one. With his monster break on his side, Tarantola easily defeated Jonathan Trager 8-0, Caroline Pao 8-3, and Pete Tascarella Jr. 8-2. Tarantola looked good playing Bobby Blackmore on day two with a 9-7 win but hit a wall name Ignacio Chavez, losing 9-2. Tarantola seemed to lose his steam and became another Sossei victim finishing with a 9-5 loss. Mhet Vergara had his best Predator 9-Ball tournament ever staying undefeated on day one with wins over “the other” Allison Fischer, Andrew Kane, Chris Laz, and Lionel Rivera . On day two, Vergara continued to have success with a close call against Holden Chin winning 9-8 & John Alicea 9-2. Vergara then took on Ignacio Chavez for the hot seat. Ignacio played incredible pool this tournament with convincing wins over Dave Danchak 8-3, Steve Wright 8-5, Sean “Alaska” Morgan 8-5, Mike Fingers 9-2, & Jerry Tarantola 9-2. In the hot seat match, Chavez was the clear winner defeating Vergara 9-4. Oscar Bonilla had a long road to the final three. He started out strong defeating Justin Muller 8-4 and Rob Omen 8-3, but lost to Holden Chin on the hill. On the one-loss side, Bonilla fought back defeating Thomas Wan 7-2, Lionel Rivera 9-5, Mike Fingers 9-2, Tony Robles 9-7, John Alicea 9-5 and made Jeremy Sossei settle for 4th place with a 9-5 win. Semi-final action saw Bonilla and the recently defeated Vergara battle for a chance at Chavez in the finals. Vergara appeared focused but tight during the match against Bonilla. Bonilla capitalized on the tension and defeated Vergara 9-4 for a chance at Chavez in the finals. The final was all Chavez. The rested Chavez seemed calm and poised throughout the match and dominated Bonilla. The final race to 11 seemed one-sided as Chavez was beating Bonilla 9-4. Bonilla mounted a comeback closing the gap 10-7, but Chavez put an end to Bonilla’s run and finished the set winning the tournament with an 11-7 final score. The tour also started an amateur event on Sundays for B-C-D players. Players that played in the Open event on Saturday got a lower entry fee in the event which includes bonus points for the player of the year standings. Of the 26 players, Romeo Singh and Jose Soto ended up in the finals. In the end, Soto took the 1st place prize, defeating Singh 7- 4. Click here to view Gallery of Pictures

After a hugely successful inaugural year, the Predator 9-Ball Tour is ready to start the 2009 season with the addition of some big name sponsors and exciting new events. We would like to thank The Predator Group for supporting this tour and making it possible to help the sport grow. “The 2008 Predator 9-Ball Tour established a new standard in billiards tournament series,” said Karim Belhaj, CEO of The Predator Group. “We look forward to growing the tour even more in 2009, through our collaboration with Tony Robles, by bringing together billiards' top pros and generating a new level of excitement in the United States.” The tour welcomes Blatt Billiards as one of its title sponsors for 2009. Blatt Billiards is one of the most prestigious names in pool and billiards equipment, supplying the largest collection of antique, contemporary and custom pool tables in the country. Blatt is also the largest Predator Cue dealer in the world so uniting with the Predator 9-Ball Tour was a natural choice. Blatt celebrated its 85th anniversary last year and is excited to partner their prominent name with the class and sophistication of Tony Robles and his Predator 9-Ball Tour. "Blatt Billiards, is proud to be the presenting sponsor in this important 9-Ball Tour. Tony Robles and Predator Cues make a great partnership, and they know how to do things right."…Ron Blatt. The tour is also very proud to announce their partnership with the Seminole Tribe of Florida & the Seminole Pro Tour. The Predator 9-Ball Tour held the first ever Empire State Championship last year and crowned Marc Vidal its champion. This year, the Seminole Tribe of Florida is sponsoring this special event which will count as points toward both the Seminole Pro Tour and the Predator 9-Ball Tour, the first time ever two regional tours have worked together to host an event to Pro-Am players. In a statement released by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Seminole Pro Tour Director Kevin Pickard states: “The Seminole Tribe of Florida and The Seminole Pro Tour are happy to partner with Tony Robles and the Predator 9-Ball Tour for this upcoming event at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill. We have worked with Tony in the past and are confident that this event will be of the highest quality. We look forward to continuing our great relationship with the billiard industry as we venture around the United States supporting and promoting events. For more information on the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Seminole Pro Tour, please visit www.semtribe.com or www.seminolesportsmanagement.com.” The Seminole Tribe of Florida Empire State Championship, hosted by the Predator 9-Ball Tour, will take place on September 12-13, 2009 at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, Long Island NY. This will be a $6,500 added event! The tour is also happy to have Tiger Products, Webb Custom Cues as well as Phil Capelle (Billiards Press) come on board this year. Tiger Products & Webb Custom Cues are both top names in cue craftsmanship and development and the tour is thrilled to have them join the Predator 9-Ball Tour family. Phil Capelle, a close friend of Tony Robles, did not hesitate to sponsor the tour after witnessing the Empire State Championship last year. "I had the pleasure of watching the Empire State Championship and was extremely impressed with the quality of play, the enthusiasm of the crowd, the sportsmanship of the players, and the way Tony and his team conducted the proceedings. It was a first class event from start to finish."...Phil Capelle All stops are 2-day Pro-Am events and this year the tour will also host amateur B-C-D events on day 2 (Sunday.) “We want to give the players as much opportunity to play as possible. We must continue to do everything we can to keep the sport alive,” Tony Robles, founder of the Predator 9-Ball Tour. The tour would also like to thank its many supporters and most importantly the players and room owners for their continued dedication to the sport and the game of pool. “I got so much joy out of seeing a room full of avid lovers of the game competing in the sport I love so dearly and look forward to the year ahead,” Tony Robles.