 Jerry Tarantola, Tony Robles, Bill Finnegan, Mika Immonen and Wei Chao |
The Predator 9-Ball Tour's second stop started with a record 83 of the Northeast's best players, including World Champions Mika Immonen and Thorsten Hohmann, all competing for the top prize of $2,000. After the first event's major success, word spread about the tour and top notch players from all over attended, including Florida Pro Hunter Lombardo. On the 2nd day of this two day event, tour director William Finnegan called back the top sixteen players to battle it out to determine who would be crowned the winner of the second Predator 9-Ball Tour event.
First round action of day 2 included Thorsten Hohmann versus Tony Robles. Both played well but in the end, it was Robles who would advance 9-7. Mika Immonen convincingly defeated Ocean State Champion Jeremy Sossei 9-2. This lined up a face off between “the Silent Assassin” and “the Iceman” in the finals of the winner's side. This featured match drew a huge crowd to witness two champions duke it out. Both played world class pool and at 4-3, it appeared Mika would take a 5-3 lead, but missed a difficult 4 ball. Tony, “the Silent Assassin” capitalized on the miss and turned up the heat, winning the next six consecutive games to close the set out 9-4. Mika was determined to line up a rematch with Robles in the finals. He had just one more player to get through – Mr. Thorsten Hohmann.
After losing to Robles, Hohmann would seek revenge delivering convincing wins over Jeremy Sossei 7-4, hometown favorite Mhet Vergera 7-5, and NY local “Flaco” Tony Rodriquez, who was having a great tournament including wins over Bobby Blackmore 7-4, and Oscar Bonilla 7-1 and finished 4th. Hohmann looked strong as the match against Mika opened and gained an early 3-0 lead, but Mika would grind it out to tie the match at 4-4. A crucial mistake on a 1-ball would be the window Mika needed to close the set at 7-5 against Hohmann and face Robles again in the finals.
The finals would deliver a clinic in pool for the crowd. Both Mika and Tony exhibited professional talent and skill, but on this day, Tony was clearly in dead stroke, only missing one shot throughout the match. Showing impeccable cue ball control and a flawless break, everything worked in Tony's favor, rendering Mika helpless as Tony continued his dominant march to victory. He took a commanding 7-2 lead and never looked back. In the end at 11-6, it would be Tony Robles to win it all, and remain undefeated.
The tour would like to thank Mr. Joel “Master” Schapiro for his generous contribution to the tour and all it's sponsors for their continued support.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the next event back here at Master Billiards in Queens, NY, March 1st & 2nd. You can get live, in-house updates at all Predator 9-Ball tour stops at www.nycgrind.com.
