Predator 9-Ball Tour / Queens, NY
by Alison M. Fischer
On May 30-31, the Predator 9-ball Tour took over Master Billiards in Queens, NY, for their third A-D event of the season. This event attracted 60 of the best amateurs from around the New York area, such as John Alicea, Michael Yednak, Dan Cintron, Jose Cruz, and Jay Chiu, with Alicea ending up winning his first Predator Tour event.
In this format, the C-D players played against each other on the bottom half of the bracket, while the A-B players took the top, in a handicapped race to 7 with the lower-ranked player spotted games on the wire.
After defeating Shorty Santiago, William Finnegan, and John Chong, Ed Hugh faced off against young gun Alicea in a match that Alicea dominated 7-4. Rising to the top of the winners’ bracket on the C-D side, Jay Chiu defeated Ron Mason by a score of 7-4 to move on to the hot seat match against Alicea. This match went hill-hill; however, in the final game, Alicea’s firepower kept him on top.
Jose Cruz came a long way through the one-loss bracket, winning ten matches to land in the finals against Alicea after crushing Jay Chiu. In the final match, Cruz and the undefeated Alicea met in a final race to 9 in which Cruz got 2 games on the wire. The score seesawed to hill-hill before Cruz got out of line on the final 9 ball. He went for a full-table bank shot and missed, leaving the match and win for Alicea.
This event attracted 60 of the best amateurs from around the New York area, such as John Alicea, Michael Yednak, Dan Cintron, Jose Cruz, and Jay Chiu, with Alicea ending up winning his first Predator Tour event.
Results:
1st John Alicea $1,000
2nd Jose Cruz $650
3rd Jay Chiu $500
4th Michael Yednak $375
5th Ed Hugh $225
Ron Mason
7th John Chong $150
Arturo Reyes
9th Dan Cintron $100
Juan Guzman
Alberto Estevez
John Hacsi
photo courtesy NYCGrind.com