In a very strong field of 50 players over Memorial Day Weekend at Master Billiards in Queens, NY, the Predator 9-Ball Tour hosted its 6th stop of the season. The event saw standout players such as Shin Park, Mika Immonen, Shaun Wilkie, Warren Kiamco, Frankie Hernandez, Matt Krah, Tony Robles and many others.
Day one action saw a number of tough matches in the early rounds. Robles and Wilkie faced off in round one and with an early 6-1 lead, Wilkie was sitting comfortably ahead but some missed balls and opportunities later let Robles sneak in for the win 9-7. Also in round 1 action, Frankie Hernandez met up with Evan Broxmeyer. This match was all Frankie and Broxmeyer was sent to the 1-loss side early. Eddie Abraham and Shane Winters had a grueling match, but in the end, Shane pulled it out with a 9-6 win. Mika Immonen faced Shin Park in round 3 action. Both played great pool, but Park took the win 9-8.
As Day 1 ended, the final twelve were brought back for a chance at the top prize of $1,025. On the winner's side, Frankie Hernandez battled newcomer to the tour Scott Simonetti in the quickest match of the day, lasting under an hour. The quick fires fought to hill hill and Simonetti looked to win the match with a killer safety on the 2-ball. But the unfazed Frankie kicked three rails to make an amazing 2-ball and run out for the 5-9 combination. Simonetti had a great tournament finishing out in 5th/6th place.
The common match up of Robles and Park was the other winner's side match. Robles took an early 5-2 lead on Park, but again Robles' break proved inconsistent. Both struggled to make balls and Park managed to pull ahead and win the match 9-6.
On the 1-loss side, action saw Kari Paloheimo (Mika Immonen's brother) against Warren Kiamco. Kari had been playing a great tournament and played strong against Kiamco, but a few errors too many by Kari let Kiamco take the set 9-6. Kiamco played great this event and finished in 4th place. Mika was also battling his way back through the chart. After the loss to Park, Mika came back to win his next six in a row including wins over Bobby Blackmore, Thomas Wan, Eddie Abraham, Tony Robles, and Warren Kiamco to face Hernandez in the semi-final match. Hernandez came out strong and took an early lead over Immonen, but Mika fought back with some great offensive shots and a few good rolls to win the match 9-4 leaving Frankie to settle for 3rd place.
The final was all Park. Immonen seemed to show signs of fatigue from the day's battles and missed shots unexpectedly. Park capitalized and played some great pool earning a 9–5 win over the Iceman and winning the event. Congratulations to Shin Park for his second Predator Tour win of the season. He played impressive pool throughout the event and truly earned the win.
For tournament payouts and standings, please visit:
www.predator9balltour.com
1st Shin Park
2nd Mika Immonen
3rd Frankie Hernandez
4th Warren Kiamco
5th/6th Scott Simonetti
Tony Robles
7th/8th Matt Krah
Eddie Abraham
9th – 12th Kari Paloheimo
Jorge Rodriguez
Joey Kong
Victor Nau
