In a very strong
field of 50 players over Memorial Day Weekend
at Master Billiards in Queens, NY, the Predator
9-Ball Tour hosted its 6th stop of the season.
The event saw standout players such as Shin Park,
Mika Immonen, Shaun Wilkie, Warren Kiamco, Frankie
Hernandez, Matt Krah, Tony Robles and many others.
Day one action saw a number of tough matches in
the early rounds. Robles and Wilkie faced off
in round one and with an early 6-1 lead, Wilkie
was sitting comfortably ahead but some missed
balls and opportunities later let Robles sneaked
in for the win 9-7. Also in round 1 action, Frankie
Hernandez met up with Evan Broxmeyer. This match
was all Frankie and Broxmeyer was sent to the
1-loss side early. Eddie Abraham and Shane Winters
had a grueling match, but in the end, Shane pulled
it out with a 9-6 win. Mika Immonen faced Shin
Park in round 3 action. Both played great pool,
but Park took the win 9-8.
 |
As Day 1 ended, the final twelve were brought
back for a chance at the top prize of $1,025.
On the winner’s side, Frankie Hernandez
battled newcomer to the tour Scott Simonetti in
the quickest match of the day, lasting under an
hour. The quick fires fought to hill hill and
Simonetti looked to win the match with a killer
safety on the 2-ball. But the unfazed Frankie
kicked three rails to make an amazing 2-ball and
run out for the 5-9 combination. Simonetti had
a great tournament finishing out in 5th/6th place.
The common match up of Robles and Park was the
other winner’s side match. Robles took an
early 5-2 lead on Park, but again Robles’
break proved inconsistent. Both struggled to make
balls and Park managed to pull ahead and win the
match 9-6.
On the 1-loss side, action saw Kari Paloheimo
(Mika Immonen’s brother) against Warren
Kiamco. Kari had been playing a great tournament
and played strong against Kiamco, but a few errors
too many by Kari let Kiamco take the set 9-6.
Kiamco played great this event and finished in
4th place. Mika was also battling his way back
through the chart. After the loss to Park, Mika
came back to win his next six in a row including
wins over Bobby Blackmore, Thomas Wan, Eddie Abraham,
Tony Robles, and Warren Kiamco to face Hernandez
in the semi-final match. Hernandez came out strong
and took an early lead over Immonen, but Mika
fought back with some great offensive shots and
a few good rolls to win the match 9-4 leaving
Frankie to settle for 3rd place.
 |
The final was all Park. Immonen seemed to show
signs of fatigue from the day’s battles
and missed shots unexpectedly. Park capitalized
and played some great pool earning a 9–5
win over the Iceman and winning the event. Congratulations
to Shin Park for his second Predator Tour win
of the season. He played impressive pool throughout
the event and truly earned the win.