Vidal and Glazebrook Take Top Predator Honors
Predator 9-Ball Tour / New York, NY
by InsidePOOL Staff
Eastside Billiards in New York, NY, played host to the October 24-25 Predator 9-Ball Tour stop. This event drew some of the strongest players in the Tri-State area, including Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Mhet Vergara, and Jorge Rodriguez, with Marc “Spain” Vidal going all the way to the winner’s circle.
Morgan and Vidal played a spectacular match that including everything from strong breaking, good safety play, and picture-perfect run-outs. In the end, Vidal edged out a 9-8 win for the hot seat over Morgan.
After a hill-hill lost to Vidal, Ken Kerner was out for blood, winning his next two matches against Vergara and Frankie Hernandez to set up the semifinal match against Morgan. Both players were itching for a rematch with Vidal, but Ken found himself behind rather quickly in the match, and Morgan sealed Kerner’s exit from the tournament, defeating him 9-4.
In the final race to 11, Morgan’s break consistently failed to make a ball on the break, while Vidal seemed to be the break and run specialist. The two traded racks in the beginning, but with Morgan’s break disadvantage haunting him, it was only a matter of time before Vidal took control of the match. Vidal closed the match 11-5 for the win and title.
Gail Glazebrook was in dead stroke on Sunday as she dominated the 15-player B-D event. She started the day by defeating both Eddie Culhane and Rene Villalobos to set up a match against Ariel Rivera, who has reached the finals of the last three B-D events and won two of them. It was a back-and-forth battle, but with Glazebrook on the hill 5-4, she took a gutsy 5-9 combo and split the pocket for the 6-4 victory and a chance to play Dave Weinstein, the winner of the last BCD event at Eastside Billiards.
Glazebrook dominated this match, torching Weinstein 6-1 to earn her spot in the final. Weinstein and Rivera faced off in the semifinal match. Weinstein brought his A-game to this match, making very few mistakes and defeating Rivera 5-3 to earn another chance at Glazebrook.
A few strong outs by Glazebrook got her to the hill first. At 6-4, she made an on-the-rail, full-table-length backward cut shot on the 9 ball to seal the win. This was Glazebrook’s first B-D win of the year.
Eastside Billiards in New York, NY, played host to the October 24-25 Predator 9-Ball Tour stop.
Open Results:
1st Marc Vidal $900
2nd Sean Morgan $600
3rd Ken Kerner $400
4th Frankie Hernandez $300
5th Mhet Vergara $250
Jorge Rodriguez
7th Dave Pinkston $200
Jason Hunt
B-D Results:
1st Gail Glazebrook $160
2nd Dave Weinstein $110
3rd Ariel Rivera $75
4th Ramilo Tanglao $45