The 1st Annual Empire State 9-Ball Championship presented by the Predator 9-Ball Tour took place October 11-12 at Raxx Pool Room Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, Long Island. The $3,000 added event had seventy-five of the northeast’s top players come to participate in this historic event. The top players included Jose Parica, George Sansouci, Marc Vidal, Shaun Wilkie, Eddie Abraham, Oscar Bonilla, Bobby Blackmore, Joey Korsiak, Jerry Tarantola, Jorge Rodriguez, Frankie Hernandez, Mike Miller, Lenny Favata, Joey Kong, Liz Ford, Mike Fingers & Tony Robles. The event started with an awards ceremony to celebrate the players of the 2008 season. The players of the year were: Tony Robles: Pro Division Runner up: Shin Park
Joey Kong: Open Division Runner up: Bobby Blackmore
Michael Wong: A Division Runner up: John Alicea
Lionel Rivera: B Division Runner up: Thomas Wan
Alfonso Passariello: C/D Division Runner up: John MacArthur/Jay Chiu (Tie)
Gail Glazebrook: Female Division Runner up: Borana Andoni Third place players of the year were also rewarded as were all the junior competitors who participated during the season. A special thanks was also given to tournament director William Finnegan for all his hard work and dedication throughout the season. Congratulations to all the celebrated players and many thanks to all the players, fans, sponsors and pool rooms that helped make this such a great event. Day one action saw Oscar Bonilla win his first four matches with wins over Bobby Blackmore 8-3, Jay Plonski 8-4, Jorge Rodriguez 8-6 & Mike Miller 8-5. Marc Vidal also started the day by winning his first four matches with wins against Rob Omen 8-4, Eric Tang 8-4, Thomas Wan 8-4 and Shaun Wilkie 8-6. At the bottom of the chart, George Sansouci won his first five matches, defeating Alfonso Passariello 8-2, Mike Panzarella 8-5 Tony Robles 8-7, Pete Tascarella Sr. 8-4 and Eddie Abraham 8-4. Lenny Favata also showcased his talent with wins over William Finnegan 8-3, Wali Muhammad 8-5, Jay Chiu 8-1, Frankie Hernandez 8-5 and Jerry Tarantola 8-5. At the end of day one, the expected killers found themselves on the one-loss side, while many unfamiliar faces enjoyed remaining undefeated. Day two action would have George Sansouci battle against Lenny Favata, while Oscar Bonilla faced off against Marc Vidal. Tony Robles, Shaun Wilkie, Mike Miller, Eddie Abraham would fight just to stay alive. On day two, Marc Vidal beat Oscar Bonilla 9-7 and George Sansouci won against Lenny Favata 9-8 to set up the hot seat match. Marc Vidal was playing some of the best pool of his life, but also battled his own mistakes. Trailing 7-3 against George, Marc fought back to make it hill-hill. But in the final game, Marc Vidal under stroked the 7-ball and left himself tough cut on the eight. He successfully pocketed the 8-ball but watched in horror as the cue-ball rolled into the opposing corner pocket giving George ball in hand on the nine and the victory. On the one loss side, Oscar Bonilla defeated Tony Robles 9-3 to eliminate him from the event and Lenny Favata beat Shaun Wilkie 9-8 to knock him out. This guaranteed that a new face would find himself champion of a Predator 9-ball tour event. Oscar proceeded to beat Lenny 9-6 to earn a rematch against Marc Vidal. Unfortunately for Oscar, Marc was still fuming over the loss to Ginky and tortured Bonilla in their rematch delivering Oscar another loss 9-3, leaving Oscar to settle for 3rd. Marc wanted a chance to exact revenge over George. In the final, Marc was on fire and took a commanding 6-2 lead. George then took advantage of a couple of errors and came back to tie the match 6-6. In the next rack, George made an amazing jump shot to cut the two in the corner but unfortunately missed an easy shot on the five. Again, Marc struggled keeping the cue ball on the table, delivering three ball in hands on the 9-ball, including when Marc was on the hill, 10-8. With the score 10-9, Marc broke, made a ball, but couldn’t pocket the 1-ball. Marc pushed out. George let him shoot and Marc tried to play a kick safe but left him a long shot on the 1-ball. George made it but failed to play position on the two. He decided to play safe and left Marc a long shot on the two ball. Marc missed the shot but almost made the nine ball leaving it hanging in the pocket. George had a shot on the two ball but left the crowd stunned by missing it. Marc calmly stepped up to the table and pocketed 4 balls to set up a seven-nine combination for the 11-9 win. With this win, Marc becomes the first ever Empire State 9-Ball Champion. Congratulations to Marc Vidal and George “Ginky” Sansouci for a great performance.
- photo taken by NYCGrind.com

Hello everyone, This is the press release for the 1st Annual $3,000 Added Predator 9-Ball Tour Empire State 9-Ball Championship which will be taking place this coming weekend October 11th - 12th. Please let me know if any of you need a different sized picture to put on your web site for this press release. Thanks for your time and have a great day! Tony Robles 1st Annual $3,000 Added Predator 9-Ball Tour Empire State 9-Ball Championship. The 1st Annual Empire State 9-Ball Championship (2008 Predator 9-Ball Tour Finale) will take place at Raxx Pool Room Bar & Grill on October 11th & 12th in West Hempstead, Long Island and as always, we will be using 16 beautiful Delta-13 racks provided by Terry Taggart. www.delta13rack.com. This will be a perfect warm up for the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships. Many thanks to Holden Chin who is adding $3,000 to this great event. The reason I consider this such a special event is because when I was a teenager, I always read a lot about players that won state championships. I always said to myself how great it would be to win a New York State Championship. Little did I know that a pool room in upstate New York had one for many years but I unfortunately discovered the tournament after it ceased to exist. I've won two Ocean State Championships in my career and I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences I've encountered as a pro. I am very proud to announce the tour finale as the 1st Annual Empire State 9-Ball Championship. The champion of this event will make New York history and enjoy the continued recognition of their championship win with a banner placement bearing their name and year they've won. It will hang in Raxx Pool Room Bar and Grill for years to come. You must have played in 3 or more events to pay the normal entry fee in the finale. Otherwise, you will be required to pay double the entry. NO EXCEPTIONS! Very Important: We will have an awards ceremony for the players of the year before the start of the event so please try to get to the room at least an hour earlier. Remember collared shirts/dress shirts are required. T-shirts specifically will not be allowed. No collar, no play. Sorry. I would also like to congratulate Rob Omen for designing the winning logo for this year's Empire State Championship. Rob is the web designer for our tour and we can't thank him enough for all the work he's done for us this season. Anyone interested in having Rob design a web site for them, feel free to contact him at www.poolonthenet.com. I'd like to thank everyone (Andrew Cleary, Lou Tosado, Irene Moser, Ron Mason, Mike Aro, and Howard Clark's wife) who participated in this contest for your time and thoughtfulness in creating a logo for this event. Jim Murnak of Murnak Custom Cue Cases has his site go4pool.com up & running. Go check it out for lots of interesting matches and interviews! Looking forward to seeing you all there! Tony Robles Predator 9-Ball Tour
Season Finale
Empire State 9-Ball Championship
Banner Event
US Open Warm-up
October 11th & 12th
$3000 Added Guaranteed
Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill
510 Hempstead Turnpike
West Hempstead, NY 11552
516.538.9896 Normal Entry Fees $100 Open/Pro ($200 if you've played in 2 events or less.)
$75 A/A ($150 if you've played in 2 events or less.)
$60 B/B ($120 if you've played in 2 events or less.)
$50 C/D ($100 if you've played in 2 events or less.)
$40 Juniors ($80 if you've played in 2 events or less.) Format:
128 Player Field
Double Elimination
Races to 9
Finals One Race to 11
Rack Your Own
Alternate Breaks
No Soft Breaks Allowed
Collared Shirt Required
Doors Open at 10am
Registration Closes at Noon
Matches Start at 12:30

The Predator 9-ball tour held it’s first A-B-C-D tournament this past weekend at Raxx Pool Room Bar and Grill in West Hempstead, NY. Forty-seven of the region’s top amateur players came out to win the top prize of $800 for the $1,000 added event. The event’s structure required A and B players to compete against one another on the top half of the chart while the C and D players battled it out at the bottom only to meet one another in the quarter finals going forward. Leading the A/B players was tournament veteran Pete Tascarella Jr., son of famous cue maker Pete Tascarella, Sr., who had the unfortunate luck of drawing his father first round. After a nail-biting hill-hill match, junior would defeat his dad and go on to defeat Ariel Rivera 7-4, Chris Laz 7-3, Thomas Wan 7-4, and Eric Toledo 7-6. The bottom of the chart had it’s share of close calls amongst the C/D players. After narrowly defeating John MacArthur 7-6, William Finnegan went on to defeat Emily Harrison 7-2, Mike Schloven 7-1 and Marco Dy 7-2. This set up the hot seat match between Finnegan and Tascarella, Jr. for Sunday. Day two action on the left side saw Thomas Wan defeat Mark Pantovic 7-3 before losing to Eric Toledo 7-4 leaving Wan to settle for second place in the B class player of the year. Eric Toledo met up with Marco Dy next and fought hard to beat the dangerous C player 7-5 to face Finnegan in the semi-finals, who lost a tough match to Tascarella for the hot seat 7-4. The underdog, Finnegan pulled out all the stops to close the door on Toledo’s tournament, defeating him 7-5 and leaving him to settle for 3rd place. In the finals, Finnegan showed a lot of heart but simply couldn’t keep up with the more experienced Tascarella and fell short 7-3. Congratulations to Pete Tascarella Jr. for winning the first ever Predator 9-ball Tour A-B-C-D event. The last stop of the season will be the tour’s finale, the first annual Empire State 9-ball Championship, which will take place October 11th & 12th at Raxx Pool Room Bar and Grill. This is a $3,000 added event and will host the award ceremony for all the players of the year for the Predator 9-ball tour. Many pros will be in attendance warming up for the following weekend’s U.S. Open.

The Predator 9 Ball Tour along with Cuebar in Bayside, NY hosted the 1st Annual Louis Pannullo Charity Event for the Michael Magro Foundation September 6-7. The full field of 64 included WPBA superstars Allison Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Jasmin Ouschan, Gerda Hofstatter, Liz Ford, and Caroline Pao. There were a total of ten women in the event including up and coming Gail Glazebrook, Borana Andoni, Alison Fischer, Olga Gashkova and Linda Cheung. The top men included, Mika Immonen, George Sansouci, Shaun Wilkie, Tony Robles, Marc Vidal, Bobby Blackmore, Ron Park, John Alicea, Mhet Vergara and Juniors Michael Tosado, Jonathan Castillo and Jonathan Robles. Mika Immonen lead the top of the bracket with wins over Mark Mallari 7-1, Mhet Vergara 7-1 and Joey Kong 7-2. Jasmin Ouschan defeated Rene Villalobos 7-1, Robert Darden 7-1, and Marc Vidal 7-4 to set up a showdown with Mika Immonen. The match between Jasmin and Mika was hotly contested and at 5-5, Mika won the next two games to take the set 7-5. George Sansouci won his first three matches defeating Borana Andoni 7-4, Alison Fischer 7-3, and Ron Park 7-5 before succumbing to John Alicea 7-4. John Alicea had already beaten Bob Watson 7-6, Sal Marcelo 7-1, and WPBA superstar Allison Fisher 7-6 before defeating George Sansouci. Tony Robles drew Pat Luna first round winning 7-1, and then beat Alfonso Passariello 7-1 and Lionel Rivera 7-3 to earn a shot at Gerda Hofstatter. Gerda defeated Brian Leong 7-1, Ed Filangeri 7-6 and Michael Tosado 7-1. Against Tony, Gerda made a couple of safety errors that cost her the match 7-4. In the bottom of the bracket, Shaun Wilkie was in dead stroke and easily handled Jerry Sandler 7-0, Thomas Wan 7-1, Gail Glazebrook 7-1 and Bobby Blackmore 7-6. Bobby Blackmore had already beaten Jeanette Lee 7-6 before facing Shaun. On the one loss side, Allison Fisher was upset by the incredibly talented Thomas Wan. Jeanette Lee won 7-1 against Gail Glazebrook to earn a spot for day two.
On day two, Mika Immonen struggled against John Alicea. John paced himself and played great on his way to a 9-3 win. The other winners side match saw Tony Robles lose a very tough match to Shaun Wilkie 9-8 after Tony snookered himself on the six ball at hill-hill. Meanwhile, Jeanette Lee took on Jasmin Ouschan on the one loss side. It was a crowd pleasing match as they started out at 1-1 and went all the way to 8-8 when Jeanette missed a tough shot on the five ball that cost her the match 9-8. Gerda Hofstatter defeated Thomas Wan 9-4 but fought hard in a loss to Marc Vidal 9-6. Marc squared off against Mika next and pulled it out 9-8 as Mika continued to struggle. After defeating Mhet Vergara 9-4, Jasmin Ouschan faced Tony Robles next. Tony looked comfortable at the table as he took a 4-0 lead and never looked back winning the match 9-5. Tony took a commanding 5-0 lead against Marc Vidal in his next match but Marc kept his composure and fought back only to lose 9-7 from a scratch on the break. This set up the semifinal match between Tony Robles and young and talented John Alicea. It was close in the beginning but John broke six times during the match and came up dry every single time giving Tony a 9-3 victory. In the final against Shaun Wilkie, Tony made a couple of mistakes throughout the match but caught some good rolls. In the end, Tony won the match 11-7 for the victory. This was the final regular season Open tour stop of the 2008 season (Tour Finale October 11-12). Tony played in 14 events this season and made it to the finals an astonishing nine times winning five stops while placing second four times to earn the 2008 Predator 9-Ball Tour Player of the Year. I would like to give special thanks to Dr. Louis Pannullo, his family and friends, DJ, Andrew and the entire Cuebar staff, my tournament director William Finnegan, our web designer Rob Omen, the love of my life and my inspiration Gail Glazebrook, my son Jonathan Robles, AZBilliards, Phil Capelle (thanks for the books), all the tour sponsors, and all the pros Allison Fisher, Gerda Hofstatter, Jeanette Lee (thanks for the autographed photos and the cue), Jasmin Ouschan, Liz Ford, Caroline Pao, Mika Immonen, Shaun Wilkie & George Sansouci for investing their time to help benefit this great charity. But more than anything, I would like to thank every player, friend and fan that participated in this special event to help out the Magro family. Thanks to you, we were able to raise close to $8,000 for the Michael Magro Foundation! The Magro family has a very special place in our hearts and I really appreciate them, Dr. Louis and Cuebar for giving us the opportunity to do this for them. Please feel free to visit www.michaelmagrofoundation.com if anyone is interested in making a donation.
We have an A,B,C,D event September 27-28 and the Tour Finale on October 11-12 with $3,000 added guaranteed. This tournament will be the first ever Empire State Championship and the winner will have his name on a banner at Raxx. Both events will take place at Raxx in West Hempstead, Long Island. Remember that in order to pay the normal entry fee, you must have participated in at least 3 tour stops. If not you will have to pay double the entry plus a $20 registration fee (if you’ve never played in a single event). Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

The Predator 9-Ball Tour Stop #14 had a full field of 64 players August 30-31 at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ. Top players included. John “Mr. 400” Schmidt, Ralf “The Kaiser” Souquet, Ignacio “The Mexican” Chavez, Marc Vidal, Allen Hopkins, Mike Davis, Joey Kong, Jonni Fulcher, Manny Chau, Dan Heidrich, Jason Michas, Mike Dechaine, Earl Herring, Yesid Geribello & Ryan McCreesh. On day one, Ignacio Chavez led the top of the bracket with wins over Carmen Lombardo, Ryan McCreesh and Marc Vidal, before winning a tough match against one of Maryland’s best Manny Chau 8-7. Allen Hopkins was also tearing them up with wins against Mike Panzerella, Bob Riley, John Schmidt 8-2, and Yesid Geribello 8-2. The great Earl Herring was in dead stroke as he beat Jason Miches, Chris Taormina, Tamiko Kumaturi and Mark Pantovic 8-3. Joey Kong was playing lights out as beat Dan Heidrich, Thomas Wan, Steve Lillis and Ralf Souquet 8-7 to earn his spot for day two. Meanwhile, on the one loss side, John Schmidt beat Thomas Wan 7-4 before losing to Jonni Fulcher 7-1. After losing their second round matches, Mike Dechaine and Mike Davis won five matches in a row to make it to day two. Mike Davis beat Paul Raval, Jonathan Castillo, Jay Plonski, & Marc Vidal before knocking out Ralf Souquet 7-5. Mike Dechaine, posted wins over Steve Reynolds, Ryan McCreesh, Tamiko Kumaturi, Dan Heidrich and Yesid Geribello 7-0. The format for day two was a race to nine. Chavez started out the day beating Allen Hopkins 9-3 while Joey Kong defeated Earl Herring 9-5 setting up the hot seat match Unfortunately for Kong, it was all Chavez as he easily bested Kong 9-2. On the one loss side, Mike Davis defeated Jonni Fulcher 9-3 setting up the Davis/Hopkins match. Allen Hopkins gave Davis a tough battle but fell short to the Iron Man 9-8. Mike Dechaine beat Manny Chau 9-3 and an impressive Earl Herring 9-6 to earn a chance to play Mike Davis. There’s a reason why they call Mike Davis the Iron Man as he beat Mike Dechaine 9-6 earning him a spot in the semifinal. Mike Davis and Joey Kong battled as Chavez awaited the winner. Mike put up yet another great performance overpowering Kong 9-5 and earning a spot in the finals against Chavez. The final was nothing but Chavez as he dominated Mike Davis 11-4 to earn his first Predator 9-Ball Tour victory. Congratulations to Ignacio Chavez. This coming weekend, September 6th & 7th will be the final Open Stop before the finale which will be the First Annual Empire State Championship. We still have an A/B/C/D stop on September 27 & 28 at Raxx in Long Island before the finale. Please keep in mind that the only way to pay the normal entry in the finale is to play in three or more regular tour stops. Otherwise, you will have to pay double the entry. All new registrations will also owe the $20 registration fee. This weekend’s event will be a charity event to benefit the Michael Magro foundation. Michael Magro was a thirteen year old boy that died from Leukemia and it’s the tour’s honor to do this special event for these wonderful children who deserve an opportunity at life. Please tell everyone about this event as Allison Fisher, Gerda Hofstatter, Jeanette Lee, Jasmin Ouschan and Mika Immonen will be attending this special tournament to help raise money for kids with Leukemia. Thanks to everyone for their support. Tony Robles

A tough field of 50 players showed up at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ on Saturday August 3rd for stop #13 of the Predator 9-Ball Tour. Top players included, Jeremy, Sossei, Joey Korsiak, John Alicea, Mike Fingers, Carmen Lombardo, Joey Kong, Victor Nau, Jason Michas, Sean Morgan, Bobby Blackmore, Tony Robles and Shin Park. Jason Michas had a great start going undefeated the first day with wins over Justin Muller 9-6, Duane Toney 9-3, and 9-7 against #1 ranked Open player Joey Kong, setting up a day 2 match with Tony Robles. Tony Robles had a tough win against the always ready to win Thomas Wan 9-6, and then cruised through the tournament with wins over William Finnegan 9-1, Lionel Rivera 9-1 and Wayne Nicholson 9-1. At the bottom of the chart, Jeremy Sossei was on a tear, with wins against Victor Restivo 9-0, Laura Lagudi 9-0, and Dave Shlemperis 9-5 before winning a tight match 9-8 against New Jersey’s young talent John Alicea. Shin Park also dominated his bracket by winning 9-4 against Mike Wong, Joey Korsiak 9-4, Sean Morgan 9-2 and 9-1 against Steve Lillis to set up a showdown against Jeremy Sossei for day two. On day two, Michas seemed to lose his day 1 steam. Against Robles, Michas struggling to pocket balls on the break and consistently got out of line allowing Robles to win 9-1. In his first match on day 2, Shin Park won 9-6 in a very tough match against 2007 Ocean State Champion Jeremy Sossei to set up the hot seat match against Tony Robles. Park was ahead the entire match and at 8-6 with Park on the hill, Park missed a very difficult eight ball leaving Robles a long straight in shot on the 8-ball. With his cue elevated, Robles jacked up, pocketed the 8-ball and drew the cue ball table length to get perfect shape on the 9-ball making it 8-7. Robles then broke and ran out the next rack to make it hill-hill. Park broke and pocketed 2 balls and had an easy out but surprisingly missed a routine seven ball. Unfortunately for Robles, the cue ball ended up behind the 9-ball, blocking the 7-ball. With the 7-ball in front of the pocket, Tony calmly kicked the cue ball two rails to pocket the seven and get perfect shape on the eight to win the match 9-8. Meanwhile, Jason Michas was battling it out on the next table against Jeremy Sossei. The long match saw many missed shots and a number of safety battles and at an hour and a half with the scored tied 4-4, the match was put on the clock. This seemed a difficult obstacle for Michas to overcome as Sossei closed the set, 9-6. This set up a rematch against Shin Park and Jeremy Sossei. Park took a commanding 8-1 lead, but Sossei showed a lot of heart and came back 8-6. Unfortunately a missed a combo by Sossei to make it 8-7 allowed Park to run out the rack for the 9-6 win and a chance for revenge against Robles. The final was one sided as Shin played perfect until he was up 8-1. Tony fought back to 8-6 but missed his last three shots as Shin closed the show 11-6. Congratulations to Dave Shlemperis for finishing 9th-12th and to Phil Ozoux who won the top finishing C/D player. Both players played a great throughout this tough open event.

Nearly 40 players came out to Master Billiards in Queens, NY this weekend to play in the 12th stop of the Predator 9-ball Tour. Big names included Mika Immonen, Shaun Wilkie, Shin Park, Jorge Rodriguez, Mike Fingers, Bobby Blackmore, & Tony Robles. Day one saw the usual suspects lining up for the top spots in the tournament. Shin Park was on a tear destroying everyone in his path including a 9-0 win over Tony Robles. Robles, “He shot perfect pool. Didn’t miss a ball and had a great break. He earned the shut out.” Mhet Vergara was also having a great tournament as he concluded day one undefeated along with Jorge Rodriguez and Shaun Wilkie, who sent Mika Immonen to the one loss side with a 9-5 victory. Caroline “Kapow” Pao was also tearing through the winner’s side earning two wins in a row before falling to Mike Panzarella 9-6. She would win the highest finishing female of the event. For day two, the top six were brought back to fight for the 1st place prize. Shin Park faced Mhet Vergara in the semis and Park took a huge 7-0 lead before Vergara caught a gear to earn 5 racks in a row, but couldn’t go any farther and fell to Park 9-5. Jorge Rodriguez just had all the right moves in his match to Shaun Wilkie and earned the 9-6 win over the Valley Forge runner up. Vergara seemed to keep that gear moving in his next match against Immonen, taking a stunning 5-1 lead over the Iceman, but Mika came back strong and tied the match 7-7. The battle ensued and a missed opportunity in rack 16 by Vergara let Immonen squeak out the win 9-8.Wilkie seemed to be having an off day in his match to Robles. Though Wilkie took a 3-0 lead at the beginning of the match and had some spectacular shots, a few out of position cue balls let Robles escape with the 9-7 win to face Immonen. The Robles/Immonen match was quite the crowd pleaser. Robles came out strong and took a commanding 5-0 lead over Immonen and a frustrated Mika just could not get a roll. But Robles seemed to lose focus and missed 4 kill zone shots to allow Immonen the next 7 racks in a row and take a 7-5 lead. Robles regrouped and took control to earn the next two racks and tie it 7-7. The next two racks were traded to make it 8-8 with Tony’s break. A great break proved frivolous as nothing was pocketed and Mika had his opportunity. He ran through the rack but unfortunately under stroked the six ball, leaving him virtually tied up with the 7. A disappointed Mika tried his best to cut it into the corner but missed by half a diamond allowing Robles to close the set 9-8 and leave Mika to settle for 4th place. For the hot seat, Jorge Rodriguez battled the seemingly impenetrable Shin Park as best he could. But Park was not to be stopped. Park again took a commanding 6-2 lead over Rodriguez and though Rodriguez came with some great shots to try and close the gap, it was too big a lead for Park to lose and Rodriguez fell to Park 9-2 and prepared to battle Robles on the one-loss side. Rodriguez seemed annoyed about his big loss to Park and took it out on Robles by taking a huge 5-0 lead over the Assassin early in the match. Robles however, was not to be pushed around for too long and with a reliable break and a few good rolls, regained momentum and closed the gap 8-7 Rodriguez. The last rack was a destined to be Rodriguez. On Tony’s break, surprisingly Tony broke and didn’t make a ball again when he needed it most. Rodriguez took advantage and ran through to the 6-ball only to have it skid and miss the corner pocket. The leave for Robles was a very thin cut on the 6-ball and unfortunately he made it but scratched afterwards. Robles conceded and Rodriguez took the set 9-7. Park was needed at the Sang Lee International Billiards Tournament and thus conceded his match to Rodriquez allowing Jorge his first Predator 9-ball Tour win of the season. Congratulations Jorge.

REMINDER! NEW EVENT! Predator A-B-C-D Event to be held at Raxx Pool Room

The Predator 9-ball tour has listened to the players and has now added an A-B-C-D event to the growing list of events for this season. The event will take place at Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill on the weekend of September 27th & 28th. Thank you for supporting the tour. See you this weekend at Rack n' Roll!

This past weekend, Comet Billiards hosted the Women’s Open Predator 9-ball Event sponsored by Jim Murnak Cue Cases. The event brought in WPBA pros Liz Ford, Meghan Minerich and Caroline Pao. Iris Ranola, who has been cleaning up the regional events attended, along with recent Tri-State Invitational runner up Gail Glazebrook and the always deadly Emily Duddy arrived with Asia, who recently won the JPNEWT qualifier spot. The draw brought a very difficult 1st round match for Iris Ranola and Meghan Minerich. After moving here in February from the Philippines, Iris is a recent powerhouse edition to the northeast women’s events, winning many of the region’s qualifiers this year. Meghan Minerich, sponsored by Gallery Billiards, has been on the pro circuit for a number of years now. The ladies traded racks back and forth until a costly 8-ball miss proved deadly for Minerich and allowed Ranola to pull ahead and close the match 7-5, sending Minerich to the one-loss side much earlier than expected. Liz Ford was playing very strong pool this weekend. After a 7-0 win over Glazebrook, she continued her dominance on the winner’s side until she met with Caroline Pao in the quarter finals. Pao started the day with a nail-biter in the first round as Olga Gashkova fought tooth and nail against the WPBA pro, but a 6-ball miss in rack 13 allowed Pao to squeeze out the win 7-6. After that Pao blazed through the winner’s side to meet up with Ford. This was a great match as both players were equaling hungry for the win. At hill-hill it was still a coin toss as to who was going to take the match. Pao proved victorious as she clenched the win 7-6. Emily Duddy initially lost to Ford earlier in the day and was clearing the one-loss bracket. A close call with up and coming player, Borana Andoni 7-5 seemed to give Duddy the steam she needed to beat the dangerous Asia 7-5. This set up another chance at Ford. Unfortunately for Duddy, the second time was no different as Ford continued to show her experience and talent leaving Duddy to settle for 4th place. Exhibiting a phenomenal break, impeccable cue ball control and nerves of steel, Iris Ranola has been dominating the women players of the northeast. As the winner’s bracket came to the hot-seat match, Pao struggled to maintain her momentum and fell 7-3 to Ranola setting up a rematch between Ford and Pao. The loss to Ranola may have carried into Pao’s rematch with Ford. Both ladies were visibly tired and the day’s pressures had clearly taken a toll on each player’s game, but Ford was relentless and trudged through the match, not allowing Pao much room for error. As Pao struggled, Ford dominated and clenched the match 7-1. The day was long and draining and so in the late hours of the event, both Ranola and Ford decided to crown the other as champion of the event, so the first Predator Women’s Open 9-ball Event crowned Iris Ranola and Liz Forst co-champions of the tournament. Congratulations to both ladies for a great tournament and thank you again Jim Murnak for sponsoring the event.

Fresh off his IPT Challenge victory over Karl Boyes, Tony Robles continued his winning ways as Park Slope Billiards in Brooklyn, NY played host to stop #11 of the Predator 9-Ball Tour with a field of 42 players. Notable players included, Shin Park, Chris Lynch, Eddie Abraham, Marc Vidal, Bobby Blackmore, Michael Tosado, Holden Chin, Jeremy Sossei, Steve Lillis, Jorge Rodriguez, Mike Fingers, Joey Kong and Frankie Hernandez. In the top bracket, Steve Lillis scored victories over Jason Eglen 9-2, Shin Park 9-8, Mark Pamtovic 9-4 to earn a shot against Robles. Tony beat Bora Jeong 9-2, and eked out a win against a very strong Marc Vidal 9-8, Holden Chin 9-7, Joey Kong 9-2 and won against a very tough Steve Lillis 9-7 to earn a spot for the hot seat. In the bottom bracket, Mike Fingers beat Eric Mezz 9-8, Thomas Wan 9-7, Frankie Hernandez 9-6, before losing 9-3 to the always strong Eddie Abraham. Eddie Abraham had the toughest draw in the first round playing Ocean State Champion Jeremy Sossei. It was a great match but Eddie pulled it out 9-7. Eddie then beat Gelando Allie 9-3, Joe Hong 9-3 Mike Fingers 9-3 and the owner pf Park Slope Billiards Amilcar Contreras 9-3 to earn a shot at Robles for the hot seat. The match for the hot seat between Tony and Eddie was very close as both players struggled with their breaks. Tony managed to win 9-6 to earn his spot in the finals. After his close loss to Robles, Marc Vidal was tearing up the one loss side winning seven in a row beating Eric Mezz 9-7, Jose Cruz 9-3, Mike Wong 9-5, Mark Pamtovic 9-0, Joe Hong 9-0, Amilcar Contreras 9-2 and Mike Fingers 9-3 before losing in the semifinal to Eddie Abraham 9-6. This set up a rematch in the final between Tony and Eddie. The match went back and forth until it was tied at 6-6. Tony then held off Abraham by winning the next 5 racks to earn his third consecutive Predator 9-Ball Tour victory. The next Predator 9-Ball Tour Stop will be the first ever Women’s Event sponsored by Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases and will be held July 19th & 20th at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, New Jersey. This special event is Open to all Ladies and is recognized by the WPBA. The next Pro Am Predator 9-Ball Tour stop will be taking place at Master Billiards in Sunnyside, Queens on July 26 & 27. Have a great Fourth of July weekend everyone!

The Predator 9-Ball Tour made it’s debut in Stamford, Connecticut this past weekend as Rack N’ Roll Billiards played host to stop #10. A very strong field of 51 players came out to support. Top players included, newly crowned 2008 BCA Generationpool.com women’s champion Xiao-Ting Pan, WPBA #2 ranked Ga-Young Kim, Mika Immonen, Marc Vidal, Shin Park, Mike Fingers, Bobby Blackmore, Victor Nau, Jeremy Sossei, Chuck Altomare, Steve Lillis, Ray McNamara and the great Earl Herring. After losing her third match to Victor Nau, Ga Young Kim won her next two matches on the one loss side before losing a hill-hill match to reigning Ocean State Champion Jeremy Sossei. Xiaoting Pan won her first three matches before losing to Robles 9-3 and would end with a 9th-12th finish. Marc Vidal was having his way on the winner’s side until he lost a heart breaker to Mika Immonen 9-8. Meanwhile, Mike Fingers was tearing them up on the top side of the winner’s bracket including a win over Shin Park 9-4. Mike had a few missed opportunities against Tony Robles which cost him the match 9-6. This set up the match between Tony and Mika for the hot seat. It was all Mika as he played a near flawless match to earn the win 9-3 sending Robles to the left side of the chart. Meanwhile, Shin Park knocked Marc Vidal out of the tournament 9-3 and got revenge against Mike Fingers to earn a spot in the semifinal against Robles. This was Tony’s chance to break the Shin Park curse. (Tony had a 0-9 record against Shin going into this match.) A determined Tony capitalized on a few mistakes by Park and took the win 9-5 to set up the final with Mika. In the final, both players started out strong but Tony lucked in three balls in one rack with the match tied 4-4 and again another ball in the next rack. That’s all it took to close the deal on Immonen as Robles finished out the following rack to take the 7-5 win. Stop #11 will be taking place next week at Park Slope Billiards in Brooklyn, NY. Please visit www.predator9balltour for more information, payouts and standings.

An impressive 50 player field over Father’s Day weekend gathered at Master Billiards in Queens, NY for the 9th stop of the season. With more than one third of the field at Open/Pro level and twenty percent of the field women, no one was safe from a difficult draw or the female power. First round action saw tough matches such as Frankie Hernandez over Mike Fingers 9-7, Bora Jeong over Victor Nau 9-8, Ryan McCreesh, over Marc Vidal 9-6, and Eddie Abraham over Chuckie Altomare 9-8 and the second round wasn’t any easier. Shin Park lost a close one to George “Ginky” San Souci 9-8, Abraham destroyed Shaun Wilkie 9-1, and femme fatale Liz Ford defeated the powerhouse, Frankie Hernandez in a crowd pleasing hill-hill match. Liz would win the Highest Finishing Female award of $100 and finish just shy of the money round losing to Shaun Wilkie 9-4. San Souci and Joey Kong were both having a great tournament. After defeating Park, Ginky went on to defeat Abraham 9-5, and won on the hill against Jeremy Sossei and Mhet Vergara before losing to Joey Kong, last week’s runner up, for the hot seat. Kong had earlier sent Tony Robles and Jorge Rodriguez both to the left side of the chart with 9-7 scores and waited in the hot seat for the left side of the chart to declare his opponent. After his lost to Kong, Robles was fighting his way back through the event with wins over Michael Yednak 9-6, Eddie Abraham 9-8, Mhet Vergara 9-5, Jorge Rodriguez 9-3 and a stunning 9-1 victory over Ginky to battle Kong again for the cash. The final was a close one up through the very end. In the race to 11, each player traded racks keeping the score tight. As his son Jonathan watched from the crowd, Tony would take the top prize of $1,000, a nice father’s day gift!

Announcements! Predator 9-Ball Tour Adds Three New Stops!!!

The Predator 9-ball tour has listened to the players and added more stops for this season. Women’s Open Event – July 19th & 20th – Comet Billiards (Women Only)
* Sponsored by Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases Pro-Am Open Event – August 30th & 31st – Comet Billiards Pro-Am Open Event – September 6th & 7th – Cue Bar
* Sponsored by Dr. Louis Pannullo/Leukemia Foundation Charity Event All players in the women’s event will have points go toward the Female Player of the Year tally only. Remember, in order to play in the Finale and pay the standard entry fee, you must have competed in at least 3 events. If you have not played in 3 events, you will have to pay double the normal entry fee at the Finale. Thank you for supporting the tour. See you this weekend at Master Billiards!

Abraham Snaps Off First Predator Tour Stop Win

A field of 43 players came out to support the 8th stop of the Predator 9-ball tour this weekend held at Raxx Pool Room in Hempstead, NY. The tournament saw many close matches throughout the 2-day event. John Chong, a newcomer to the tour had a great opening event defeating such tough opponents as Holden Chin & Hiram Sherman. Day 2 of the event found Jonathan Smith battling Eddie Abraham for the hot seat. Jonathan Smith was having a great tournament, but Eddie Abraham who had earlier defeated Frankie Hernandez 9-5, was simply unstoppable and convincing defeated Smith with another 9-5 victory, sending Smith to the left side of the chart. Over to the one loss side, Joey Kong was delivered an early tournament blow by Frankie Hernandez with a crushing 9-1 loss. A fueled Kong battled back through the one-loss side to face off against Hernandez again, who just escaped from Bobby Blackmore with a score of 9-8. The Kong/Hernandez match was full of ups and downs, great safety play and incredible breaking skills, and at hill-hill Kong defeated Hernandez to advance face off against Jonathan Smith. The Kong and Smith match was another nail biter as both clearly wanted a chance at Abraham in the finals. Another hill-hill match victory for Kong would leave Smith to settle for 3rd place. In the finals it was all Abraham. The unbeaten champion just wouldn’t let up exhibiting a terrific break, great cue-ball control and the same battle-tested skills that kept him undefeated throughout the event. An incredible jump shot at 7-4 simply added fuel to his game and he closed the door on Kong 11-6.

The Predator 9 Ball Tour presented by Tony Robles and Predator Cues, made its 7th stop of the season at Comet Billiards in Parsippany NJ. The event drew 62 players. Top players included, Allen Hopkins, Karen Corr, Julie Kelly, Mika Immonen, Shin Park, Shane Winters & Warren Kiamco as well as the top ranked Open, A, B & C/D players that always come out to represent. Stop #7 had it’s share of women. Nine to be exact. Karen Corr won her first match against Dave Deserio 9-2 and ran into a very hot Shane Winters who defeated Karen 9-2. Karen’s next match was against Bobby Blackmore who lost to Warren Kiamco 9-5. Bobby was in dead stroke and defeated Karen 9-6 for a rare early exit. Liz Ford won her first two matches 9-6 & 9-0 before running into newly inducted Hall of Famer Allen Hopkins. Liz lost to Allen 9-3 and Bill Horne 9-6 but received $100.00 for the highest finishing female. Meanwhile, Gail Glazebrook got a bye in the first round and beat the always solid Lionel Rivera 9-6 in the second round before falling to the Iceman 9-1. She then gave Jason Michas a run for his money before bowing out 9-5. Gail received $100.00 for the highest finishing C/D player. Congratulations ladies! Mika was business as usual, taking care of the bottom portion of the chart by defeating Julie Kelly 9-6, Bill Gricenko 9-2, Gail Glazebrook 9-1, Jim Conn 9-1 and Warren Kiamco 9-8 to earn a shot at the hot seat. The Silent Assassin was taking aim defeating Jonathan Castillo 9-1, Bora Jeong 9-4, Carmen Lombardo 9-2, Victor Nau 9-5 and the always dangerous Allen Hopkins 9-6 to earn his shot at the hot seat. The hot seat was all Tony who played a near flawless match to beat the Iceman 9-5. The Iceman was not to be denied as he defeated Warren Kiamco 9-5 in the semifinal to earn another opportunity with Robles. In the final, Tony won the first two games and missed a semi tough 2-9 billiard and lost the next seven games in a row as Mika fell into dead stroke. Mika missed only one shot from that point on as Tony struggled throughout the match to pocket a ball on the break allowing Immonen to earn his first Predator 9-Ball Tour Championship.

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.