Stop #5 of the Predator 9-Ball Tour was hosted out on Long Island at Mr. Cue Billiards in Lindenhurst, NY. Forty-six top amateur players from around the area came out to play on April 16-17 for the two day pool event, along with a number of top open & pro players for the one-day 10-Ball event on Sunday.
A few of the top players to come out for this $1,000-added event were Michael Yednak, Lionel Rivera, Derek Schwager, Mark "Gypsy" Pantovic, Eric Grasman, room owner Scott Murphy, and top area lady players Diana "Snooky" Rojas, Sandie Patarino, Borana Andoni, and Gail Glazebrook.
The event showcased the talent of several strong emerging players in the NY area, but on this day, a few stood out from the rest of the field. Tour regular Jack Smith made his trip to Long Island count by going through the field through the winner's bracket undefeated, and had to wait for the rest of the players to battle it out to see who he would face. Jack, who is rated a B+, defeated Derek Schwager 7-1, Ariel Rivera 7-4, Lionel Rivera 7-6, Robert Gipp 7-3, Shawn Sookhai 7-4, and Mike Hertz 7-5.
Veteran tournament player and grinder Snooky Rojas brought her 'A' game to the table throughout the two-day event and turned some heads. Snooky defeated Andy Schorr 8-4, Jim Jennings 7-3, Mike Ettl 7-5, and Sandie Patarino 7-5 before losing to Mike Hertz 7-3. Diana then made a statement by defeating current BCAPL Women's Open 8-Ball Champion Gail Glazebrook in dominant fashion 7-3 and followed up with a gritty 7-5 win over Raphael Dabreo. Snooky was poised to snap off her first Predator Tour event, but on this weekend, Mike Hertz proved that he has the ability to bounce back after a tough loss.
After getting edged out by Jack Smith on the winner's side hot seat match, Mike shut out Snooky 7-0 for a dominant win in the semifinal, and followed it up with a hill-hill match against Jack Smith in the finals. By the time the final ball was pocketed, Mike earned his first Predator 9-ball Tour win, in impressive fashion.
Amateur Final Results:
1st: Mike Hertz - $800
2nd: Jack Smith - $600
3rd: Diana Rojas - $400
4th: Raphael DaBreo - $300
5th/6th: Gail Glazebrook, Shawn Sookhai - $200
7th/8th: Ron Mason, Eric Grasman- $125
9th-12th: Sandie Patarino, Charles Young, Lionel Rivera, Robert Gipp - $75
The Open/Pro 10-Ball event that runs along side the amateurs on Sunday featured several big sticks. Joey Korsiak, Oscar Bonilla, Frankie Hernandez, Tony Robles, and Zion Zvi all have exciting and entertaining games.
Top Long Island player, Oscar Bonilla, started off with two gritty hill-hill 8-7 wins over Justin Muller and "Flaco" Tony Rodriguez, before catching an impressive gear to defeat Joey Korsiak 8-1.
In the hot seat match, Oscar's opponent was breakout player Zion Zvi, who is starting to come into his own. Zion came out of the gate with dominant back to back wins over Bob Mammarella 8-0 and Ed Culhane 8-2.
Zion then edged out Tony Robles 8-7, before an impressive hot seat match win over Oscar 8-3. Oscar would meet Zion again in the finals after a hill-hill 8-7 win over Joey Korsiak.
In the finals, it was all Zion as he defeated Oscar 9-6 for his first win this season.
After the event was over, since Tony Robles was leading the tour in total points so far, he was gifted a free entry in the CSI US Open 10-Ball Championships next month in Las Vegas. Tony won the entry fee's value of $550, moved into the first place in the season's standings. Predator 9-Ball Tour players will be pulling for Tony and all other players from the area to battle against some of the strongest pool players in the world.
Open Pro Final Results:
1st: Zion Zvi - $700
2nd: Oscar Bonilla - $400
3rd: Joey Korsiak - $215
4th: Tony Robles - $100
The Predator 9-Ball Tour's next stop will be a double points event on June 4-5 at Raxx Pool Room. Raxx is located in Hempstead, NY, and will be adding $1,500 to the event.
We would also like to add a reminder about the upcoming 1st Annual George "Ginky" SanSouci Memorial ADCD & Open/Pro event on June 24-26. This stop will be a collaborative memorial event between the Predator, Mezz and Tri-State Tours, which will count towards points for all three tours.
This will be a 3 day event with the first round starting at 7PM on Friday, June 24th and the second round starting at 10AM on Saturday, June 25th. Anyone interested in playing will have to prepay their entry fee in order to participate. The draw will take place at Amsterdam Billiards as soon as the field is full before June 24th. This stop will be limited to 128 ABCD players and 32 Open/Pro players. The Open/Pro will start on Saturday at 3PM.
The host room is Amsterdam Billiards in Union Square, NYC. It is a $3,000 added event so far and anyone interested in adding more money to this special event (we are trying to make it a $5,000 or more added event) should contact tony at TonyRoblesNYC@aol.com
For more information, log on to www.PredatorProAmTour.com
