It was a short field of six that signed on for the $500-added, Open/Pro event on the May 17-18 Predator Tour stop; Brandon Shuff, Tony Robles, Earl Strickland, Mike Yednak, Mhet Vergara and Raphael Dabreo. Shuff came back from the semifinals to defeat Tony Robles, sitting in the hot seat. On the Amateur side, Rhio Anne Flores, known simply as "Annie," went undefeated through a field of 43 entrants in the $500-added event, hosted by The Cue Bar in Bayside, Queens, NY.
The short field in the Open/Pro event set up a pair of winners' side semifinal matches at the end of the opening round. Robles and Shuff had picked up byes, while Strickland defeated Mhet Vergara 7-4 and Mike Yednak downed Raphael DaBreo 7-1. This set Strickland up to play Robles, while Shuff faced Yednak.
Robles sent Strickland to the loss side 7-1, and in the battle for the hot seat, faced Shuff, who'd defeated Yednak 7-4. Robles took the first of two against Shuff in a double hill fight and sat in the hot seat, waiting for him to get back.
Strickland and Yednak, in the meantime, had moved over to pick up DaBreo and Vergara. Strickland got right back to work, downing DaBreo 7-4, but Yednak fell to Vergara 7-5. Strickland and Vergara then locked up in a double hill quarterfinal, which eventually advanced Strickland to the semifinals against Shuff. Shuff and Strickland went hill-hill, as well, only this time, Shuff advanced, back to face Robles.
Robles got on the board first, and had a chance to go up 2-0, but Shuff (said Robles) started making balls.
"He had me 9-2," said Robles. "I then got three in a row, and that was it. He finished it at 11-5."
By the time the Amateur event had whittled down to its final 12, "Annie" Flores was the only female in the bunch, and on her way to an event victory. She had three matches left that commenced with a 7-2 win over Shawn Sookhai, as Dan Faraguna was busy sending Louis Jimenez to the losers' bracket 7-6. She downed Faraguna 7-4 and waited for him to get back.
On the loss side, Jimenez and Sookhai faced Paulo Valverde and Jerry Tarantola; Valverde having defeated Tony Ignomirello 7-3 and Joe Wilson Torres 7-5, Tarantola having eliminated Marco Dy and Carl Yusuf Khan by the same scores. Jimenez downed Valverde 7-2, as Sookhai ended Tarantola's day 7-4. Sookhai took the quarterfinals over Jimenez 7-4, and then, in a double hill semifinal, had his day ended by Faraguna. Faraguna had his ended in the re-match against Flores, who completed her undefeated run with a decisive 7-2 victory.
Next weekend - Memorial Day weekend, May 23-26 - the Predator Tour, the Tri-State Tour and the Mezz Pro Am Tour will present the 4th Annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament, which until this year, had been conducted over the Labor Day holiday weekend. The reason for the switch, according to Predator Tour Director Tony Robles, was two-fold.
"It just made more sense for us to have the "Ginky" Memorial on Memorial Day weekend," said Robles, "and this Labor Day, we're looking to revive an old championship tournament they used to have in the late 70s, and early 80s - The Eastern States 9-Ball Championship, which will be hosted by Snookers, in Providence, RI."
According to Robles, the Amateur side of the $4,000-added "Ginky" Memorial already has a full field of 128 entrants, while the Open/Pro event, with, at present, 25 entrants, expects to be signing on more as the week progresses. For further information, contact Robles at 917-202-2750.
