In addition to victories at the pool table, Jeffrey Ignacio has been chalking up some Frequent Flyer Miles. He began the year with a victory in the Predator Tour's season opener, defeating Earl Strickland twice to claim the title. He flew to California, where he defeated Oscar Dominguez in the finals of the Chuck Markulis Memorial Tournament, and a day later, opened a campaign that resulted in a finals victory over Skyler Woodward in the US Bar Box 10-Ball Championships in Reno, NV. He came back to New York to compete in the Predator Tour's $500-added Open/Pro event again on the weekend of February 28-March 1, and went undefeated through a short field of seven entrants to claim his second Predator Tour Open/Pro title.
In a concurrently-run, $500-added Amateur event that drew 41 entrants, Bud Robideau came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to defeat Carl Yusuf Khan. The events were hosted by the Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
In the Open/Pro event, Ignacio got into the hot seat match against Tour Director Tony Robles. Ignacio had defeated Eugene Ok 7-2, while Robles was sending Lee Kang to the losers' bracket 7-5. Ignacio claimed the hot seat in a double hill battle against Robles.
On the loss side, Kang picked up Michael Wong, who'd been awarded a loss-side bye. Ok drew Elvis Rodriguez, who'd eliminated Bob Schlott 7-2. Kang, down 6-3 against Wong, came back to tie it and win, while Rodriguez was busy defeating Ok 7-4. Kang took the quarterfinal match against Rodriguez by the same score and then smoked Robles 7-1 in the semifinals. Ignacio, though, ended Kang's loss-side streak with a 9-6 win in the finals.
In the Amateur event, Robideau and the "Warrior" (Khan) met first in the hot seat, once Robideau had defeated Joe Gibbons 7-5 and Khan had sent Ron Mason west 7-3. Khan took the first of two against Robideau 7-2.
On the loss side, Gibbons picked up Chris Brooks, who'd defeated Darren Schmidt 8-5 and Jamiyl Adams 7-5. Mason drew Steve Wright, who'd gotten by Vinnie Santiago 7-3 and Dave Shlemperis 7-2. Brooks eliminated Gibbons 7-2 and Mason survived a double hill battle versus Wright.
Brooks then eliminated Mason 7-4 in the quarterfinals, before himself being eliminated by Robideau in the semifinals, double hill. Robideau came out gunning in the finals against Khan and reached the hill, five games ahead. Khan battle to tie things up and force a case game, but Robideau won that last battle to claim the Amateur title.
Tour director Tony Robles thanked the ownership and staff of the Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Ozone Billiards, TheDeVito Team.com, PlayNAPL.com, Gotham City Technologies, NYCGrind, PoolontheNet.com, and Delta-13.com.
