Park Plays Perfect Billiards
Tri-State Tour / Manhattan, NY
by InsidePOOL Staff
The Tri-State Tour held it’s annual Labor Day tournament at the luxurious new Amsterdam Billiards and Bar in Manhattan, NY. Drawing 43 players from the area, including Tony Robles, George San Souci, Frankie Hernandez, and Mika Immonen, this event was topped by Shin Park, who bested Robles in the finals.
With the open random draw creating a top-heavy chart, the tournament immediately became a tough event for the leading players to progress in. Hernandez went two-and-out, first to Jonathan Smith and then Robles. “The Silent Assassin” was sent to the west side of the chart earlier by Immonen, who then went on to meet SanSouci and get sent to the one-loss side himself. San Souci ended up there next after a 9-6 loss to Danny Barouty.
Barouty was playing strong and ended up meeting Park in the hot seat match, where they both exhibited some fine play. Though Barouty reached the hill first at 8-6, Park didn’t hold back. He narrowed the gap to 8-7, broke and ran out to make it hill-hill, and then dropped the 9 ball on his last break.
Robles had the most difficult road to follow to get to the finals, and a grueling rematch with Immonen didn’t stop him. The players were neck and neck until Robles put three wins together to make it 8-5 in his favor. In return, Immonen ran a three-pack, making it double-hill. A foul by Immonen gave ball in hand to Robles in the last rack, which he cleared. Robles went on to best Smith 9-5, San Souci 9-8, and Barouty 9-4.
In the finals, Park came out strong and played precision pool. Robles never had much of a chance and mostly sat in his chair watching as Park went on to win the event with a score of 9-1.
Results:
1st
Shin Park
2nd
Tony Robles
3rd
Danny Barouty
4th
George San Souci
5-6th
Jesse Rice
Jonathan Smith
7-8th
Adam Kosmin
Mika Immonen