The first event of the Predator 9 Ball Tour, presented by Tony Robles along with Predator Cues, took place this weekend (February 2-3, 2008) at Raxx Pool Room in Hempstead, NY and drew out the big guns. Tony Robles, Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann, George San Souci and Shin Park were all in attendance. Even the Super Bowl couldn't stop this star studded event from being a huge success. Drawing 75 players in its first stop, the birth of a dream of Professional Pool Player Tony "The Silent Assassin" Robles, was born.
In a nutshell, the tour had it all! It had world class players and stand out local talent. It even drew the local lady talent including WPBA pro, Liz Ford. It had enticing pay-outs, along with all the excitement and fun tournament pool has been lacking. It was made clear that pool is alive and thriving in NY. After earning the respect of industry leaders for most of his career, Tony Robles took his game and his rolodex to the next level with the launch of this new 9 Ball Tour!
“Tony Robles represents not only NY, but the sport of pool. He carries it on his back with every shot, as well as every conversation,” says Jerry Tarantola of NYCGrind.com. His tour earned rave reviews from players, fans, as well as the owner of Raxx Pool Room, Holdin Chin, a force to be reckoned with on the table himself. Holden says, the tournament was great. I have never had such a large turnout. This is really something special.”
The top 12 resembled the names that you could envision on the payout list of the "US Open." The field was narrowed down to 12 players to return on Sunday to battle it out. The usual suspects were all in attendance. On the one-loss side, the Silent Assassin was knocked out early Sunday by George “Ginky” Sansouci, who would then be eliminated by the Hitman himself, Mr. Thorsten Hohmann. But Thorsten would soon learn a new name to the top of the charts, “Jersey Joey,” Mr. Joey Testa who delivered an astounding blow of 9-1 against the German powerhouse to knock him out in 4th place.
On the winner's side, Mika Immonen was tearing up the field with unstoppable shot making and a killer break. Exhibiting the iron clad nerves only a world champion could possess, he sailed through Shin Park to win the hot seat. Shin Park would also learn who Joey Testa was, as Testa knocked Park out of the tournament in an impressive 3rd place finish.
The finals had it all. Joey came out strong to take an early lead of 7-2, with incredible skill and accuracy. But Mika is no quitter. He fought back to tie the match hill-hill, but Joey had the break. Joey pulled out his best yet and fought through a tough rack to force the Iceman to settle for 2nd place. At the tournament's end many fans and players were wondering who this “kid” from Jersey is and who will he beat next.
Tony would like to thank all the players and fans for supporting the tour and contributing to such a successful opening event.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the next event at Master Billiards in Queens, NY, February 9th & 10th. Get the complete schedule at www.predator9balltour.com. You can get live, in house updates at all the Predators 9 ball tour stops at www.nycgrind.com.
