The 2011 Predator Tour's second stop of the season brought 71 players to Long Island's newest pool room, Cue Nine, on February 19-20 for the $1,000 added event. Owner John Brendle has completely renovated and re-invigorated the space that was once Leisure Time Billiards, to create an upscale room with style. Cue Nine has has also brought on celebrity chefs Tony Kang & Mark Bynum who won the show "Chopped" on the Food Network on board to design a masterful menu, which surprised and delighted many.
Most recently, Cue Nine made headlines as it hosted an all-star charity fundraiser for Long Island's Little Shelter Animal Rescue & Adoption Center which featured Predator Tour founder Tony Robles along with Mika Immonen, Andy Segal, and "Kiss of Death". The players and supporters of the benefit, which was coordinated by Charles Eames, raised a total of $3,000 in funds to support the non-profit Long Island animal shelter.
Despite only having opened a few short months ago, Cue Nine is already showing support for the area tours, and this tour stop marked the Predator's first appearance at the new room. In the A/B/C/D event, a number of the tour's top players including Scott Simonetti, Phil Davis, Mike Yednak, Dinko Busanich, Ariel Rivera, Lionel Rivera, Victor Nau, Mike Panzarella, and Scott Murphy were among the competitors, along with top NY-area ladies Diana Rojas, Pam Ogarek, Erin McManus, and Gail Glazebrook.
In a breakthrough performance in this event, NYC's Dave Shlemperis would not see a loss at Cue Nine, making for his first win on the tour. Going through the winner's bracket, Dave defeated Jimmy Martinez 7-5, Joe Gibbons 7-4, Erin McManus 7-2, and Rene Villalobos 7-3 to go to the hot seat match.
One of the tour's top up-and-coming players, CT's Phil Davis, took on Dave Shlemperis for the hot seat after defeating Michael Yednak 7-3, Scott Simonetti 7-1, Ken Debroske 8-7, Jack Smith 7-5, and Mark Pantovic 7-5, before falling to Dave Shlemperis in the hot seat match, 9-3.
Phil Davis would then match up in the semifinal against the winner of the loser's bracket… Diana "Snooky" Rojas, who not only fought through nine loser's side matches after a first-round loss, but was battling walking pneumonia. In the semifinal, Diana and Phil had a close battle that ended 9-8 in Phil's favor, earning a rematch in the final against Dave Shlemperis. Kudos to Diana for showing tremendous heart to finish in third!
In the finals, both players continued their standout play… but when the dust settled, Dave Shlemperis walked away with a hill-hill 9-8 win. This was a huge win for Dave, who got a big boost in the point standings from the double points win! Congratulations to Dave for winning his first ever Predator Tour stop!
A/B/C/D Final Results:
1st: Dave Shlemperis $1000
2nd: Phil Davis $650
3rd: Diana Rojas $425
4th: Mark Pantovic $300
5th/6th: Pat Dugan, Rene Villalobos $225
7th/8th: Ron Mason, Billy Santiago $175
9th-12: Erin McManus, Luis Novas, Ed Hugh, Jack Smith $100
In the Open/Pro 10-Ball division, top Long Island player Joey Korsiak "Joey K" would persevere to snap off the one-day event on Sunday, February 20. However, he would have to get through Jeremy Sossei first.
Jeremy went through the winner's bracket undefeated with wins over Mike Fingers 8-6, Charles Eames 8-1, Oscar Bonilla 8-3, and took out Joey Korsiak in the match for the hot seat at 8-2.
Joey K started out with an 8-4 win over Jerry Tarantola, to then defeat Mike Miller 8-4, and Tony Robles 8-7 before his loss to Jeremy Sossei. However, Joey bounced back to defeat Oscar Bonilla 8-7 in the semifinal to have a second chance against Jeremy Sossei.
In the finals, Joey K took control of the match from the start and ended with a dominant 8-3 win, which locked down his position to #1 in the tour standings. Interestingly, Joey K had a history of wins at the former Leisure Time Billiards weekly tournaments, as well as a Joss Tour event hosted there… making his win a strong start to a new beginning at Cue Nine.
Pro Final Results:
1st: Joseph Korsiak "Joey K" $800
2nd: Jeremey Sossei "The Giant Killer" $500
3rd: Oscar Bonilla $250
4th: Tony Robles $140
