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Queens, NY
by Alison M. Fischer
The Predator 9-ball Tour spent the September 5-6 weekend at Master Billiards in Queens, NY, bringing some of NYC’s toughest players along with it, such as George San Souci, reigning Empire State champion Marc “Spain” Vidal, Tony Robles, Joey Korsiak, and Oscar Bonilla. However, of the 55 entrants, it was Jeremy Sossei who went undefeated to take top honors for the first time on the Predator 9-Ball Tour.
On his way to the finals, Sossei landed in the final four of the winners bracket along with San Souci, Jorge Rodriguez, and Vidal. Sossei defeated Vidal 9-5 score to move on to play for the hot seat against Rodridguez, who had just bested San Souci. Though Sossei took a 7-1 lead, Rodriguez fought all the way back to make it 8-7 in his favor; however, Sossei notched the next two racks for the 9-8 victory.
Tour director Robles avenged his first loss to San Souci by defeating him 9-8, but Robles was given his walking papers by Vidal 9-5 in what Vidal called his first-ever win over “The Silent Assassin.”
This win moved Vidal into the semifinals to meet Rodgriguez. In this race to 9, Rodriguez and Vidal stayed locked, alternating games to meet at 6-6. After Vidal took a one-game lead at 7-6, Rodriguez had a chance tie the match again but missed a surprising 9 ball, and Vidal sailed through to win the set 9-6 to get a chance in the finals.
Marc “Spain” Vidal then met with the undefeated Jeremy Sossei in the finals. At the late hour, the players decided to shorten the race to 7 games. In the first few games, Jeremy took charge of the match with an early 3-1 lead, and continued to move forward to win dominantly with a final score of 7-3. Congratulations to Jeremy Sossei for his first win on the Predator 9-ball Tour, along with Marc Vidal for a strong performance.
On his way to the finals, Sossei landed in the final four of the winners bracket along with San Souci, Jorge Rodriguez, and Vidal.
Results:
1st Jeremy Sossei $1,100
2nd Marc Vidal $800
3rd Jorge Rodriguez $550
4th Tony Robles $400
5th George San Souci $275
Mike Miller
7th Joey Korsiak $200
Jerry Tarantola
9th Teddy Cook $150
Jonathan Smith
John Alicea
Oscar Bonilla