Eastside Billiards in NYC played host to stop # 17 of the 2009 Predator 9-Ball Tour. This event drew some of the strongest players in the Tri-State area. Top players included Marc “Spain” Vidal, Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Mhet Vergara, Jorge Rodriguez, Victor Nau, Ken Kerner, Frankie Hernandez and Dave Pinkston.
Day one action saw Sean Morgan go undefeated at the top of the bracket, beating Donald Chu 9-3, Walter Goller 9-1, Mhet Vergara 9-7 and Jorge Rodriguez 9-7.
Marc Vidal was in dead stroke as he dominated the bottom of the chart defeating Kevin Tenery 9-3, Jason Hunt 9-3, and Dave Pinkston 9-5 before squeaking a 9-8 victory over Ken Kerner.
For the C/D players, Ramilo Tanglao surprised everyone with his stellar play this stop. A newbie to the tour, Ramilo took out Eastside Billiards veteran, Dave Weinstein & Patrick Myers, before losing a close call battle with Open player Jorge Rodriguez! Tanglao easily won the C/D player of the event so congratulations Ramilo.
On the one loss side, Frankie Hernandez was in the zone after an earlier loss to Mhet Vergara by a score of 9-5. Hernandez went on to beat Wali Muhammad 9-5, Lionel Rivera 9-5, Dave Pinkston 9-6 and Jorge Rodriguez 9-7 to survive the day.
On day two, Sean Morgan and Marc Vidal played a spectacular match that including everything from great breaking, good safety play and picture perfect run outs. In the end, Vidal edged out a 9-8 win for the hot seat over Morgan.
After his devastating hill/hill lost to Vidal, Ken Kerner was out for blood winning his next two matches against Mhet Vergara and Frankie Hernandez, setting up the semifinal match against Sean “Alaska” Morgan. Both players were dying for a rematch with Vidal as both lost to the undefeated player on the hill. Unfortunately for Ken, he found himself behind rather quickly in the match and Morgan sealed Kerner's exit from the tournament, defeating him 9-4. Morgan had earned his second chance with Vidal.
In the final race to 11, Sean Morgan's break consistently failed to make a ball on the break, while Marc seemed to be the break and run specialist. The two traded rack in the beginning, but with Morgan's break disadvantage haunting him, it was only a matter of time before Vidal started to take control of the match. Marc closed the match 11-5 for the win.
Many thanks to Eastside Billiards owner Jerry Shipman and his incredible staff for hosting the event. The next event will be taking place at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ November 7-8. www.castlebilliards.com This will be an ABCD event only! No Open or Pro players will be allowed.
This is the last tour stop before the $3,000 added year end Open finale at Raxx Pool Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY. www.raxxpoolroom.com Players that have played in 3 or more events this year Will Pay the normal entry fee for the finale. Players that played less than 3 stops will pay double the entry fee in the finale.
I would like to thank Predator & Poison Cues again for supporting the tour this year as well as Blatt Billiards, Delta 13, The Seminole Tribe of Florida, The Seminole Pro Tour, Designer of the Predator 9-Bal Tour site, Rob Omen of PoolOnTheNet.com, Billiards Press, Mike Webb Custom Cues, RJH Custom Cues, Tiger Products, Mezz Cues, Mika Immonen & his Mastering Pool DVD Series, Cuetable.com, Jim Murnak Custom Cue Cases, Master Chalk, Billiards Game Stroke Trainer, NYCGrind.com, AZBilliards, Billiards Digest, Inside Pool Magazine, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Maxim Billiards and The Tournament Guide.
Special thanks to Digital Ink-The Official Print Company for the Predator 9-Ball Tour.
www.dig-ink.com
Gail Glazebrook Dominates the 2nd Day BCD Event
“Kiss of Death” captain Gail Glazebrook was in dead stroke on Sunday as she dominated the 15 player field at Eastside Billiards.
Glazebrook started the day by taking a 5-0 lead against Eddie Culhane. Eddie stormed right back to take the next three games. With the score 5-3, Gail approached the table, smashed the balls and calmly completed the break and run, for a 6-3 win.
Glazebrook then took her calm approach against #1 ranked C/D player Rene Villalobos wining 5-1 and setting up a match against the very tough Ariel Rivera. Rivera has been on fire with the BCD events. He has reached the finals of the last three BCD events and won two of them. With Glazebrook though, Rivera has his hands full. It was a back and forth battle but with Gail on the hill 5-4, she took a gutsy 5-9 combo and split the pocket for the 6-4 victory and a chance to play Dave Weinstein, coincidentally, the winner of the last BCD event at Eastside Billiards.
Weinstein, a super strong B player had a tough first match against the always dangerous Diana Rojas, winning 6-4. He then went on to defeat Patrick Meyers 6-5 and Chris Karp 5-4 for a chance to play for the hot seat against Glazebrook.
Glazebrook however would dominate this match, torching Dave 6-1, earning her spot in the final. Weinstein and Rivera, both previous BCD winners, faced off in the semi final match. Dave brought his ‘A' game to this match making very few mistakes and defeated Rivera 5-3, allowing Weinstein another chance at Glazebrook.
The final was a lot closer than the previous match as these two warriors went toe to toe. A few incredible outs by Glazebrook got her to the hill first. At 6-4, Glazebrook made an incredible, on the rail, full table length backward cut shot on the 9-ball to seal the win! This was Gail's first BCD win of the year.
Congratulations to both players for a great tournament!
1st Gail Glazebrook $160
2nd Dave Weinstein $110
3rd Ariel Rivera $75
4th Ramilo Tanglao $45
