Robles Runs Through the Predator Tour at Paradise Billiards on Father’s Day Weekend
June 22, 2009
Oscar Bonilla (2nd), Tony Robles (1st), Al Zea (4th), Jerry Tarantola (3rd)
By Alison M. Fischer, NYC Grind.com
The heat was on at the Predator 9-Ball Tour’s 9th stop of the season, as 42 of the tour’s players came out to compete for the first time at Paradise Billiards in Sunnyside, Queens… and at this event, Paradise’s house players were not backing down easily.
Case in point, house pro, Al Zea, who attended his first Predator event on this weekend, suffered a first round loss to Tony Robles (8-5), but came back on a determined hot streak through the one-loss side to finish in fourth place.
Some of the other top competitors attending this event include Marc Vidal, Jorge Rodriguez, Tony Robles, “Alaska” Sean Morgan, Mhet Vergara, “Ginky” George San Souci, Zion Zvi, Oscar Bonilla, and Jerry Tarantola.
Five of the tour’s ladies also came out to show what they’re made of, including Gail Glazebrook, Olga Gashkova, Alison Fischer, Diana Rojas, and Erin McManus, who claimed the award for the highest finishing C/D player, winning $100.
In this event, the winner’s bracket was dominated by Tony Robles, Marc Vidal, Jerry Tarantola, and Oscar Bonilla. Robles & Vidal faced off in a match that Robles would dominate by a score of 8-3. On the other side of the bracket, Tarantola trailed Bonilla by 4-1, but came back with a vengeance to win 8-5.
Click Here to View the Photo Gallery From this Event (Photos By Alison M. Fischer, NYC Grind)
On the one-loss side, we saw a number of dramatic matches the between some of the toughest players. “Alaska” Sean Morgan would win a testing 8-6 match to eliminate George San Souci only to fall in the next round to house pro Al Zea, who had a strong performance, stepping out to lead 4-1. Alaska would return with two more games, but Al played lights-out, hardly missing a ball to win 8-3.
Al would then match up with Marc Vidal, returning from his winner’s side loss to Tony Robles. It looked like Vidal was falling victim to fatigue even early in this match, falling short on his safeties, risking giving the momentum to Zea. However, the battle stayed neck and neck. With the match locked at 5 games, Zea made a 1-9 carom to take the lead. In the following game, Vidal played a strong safety, but Zea returned with a strong kick shot on the one ball, and ran out. Zea then broke and ran out an impressive final rack to win the set 8-5.
Al Zea, Paradise Billiards House Pro
On the other side of the bracket, Oscar Bonilla faced off against Danny Caliente. In this match, Bonilla was too much for Caliente to handle, with Bonilla jumping out to a 5-0 lead, to finish with an 8-3 win. This set up a match between Bonilla and Al Zea in the Quarter-Finals. Zea initially continued his strong play, but the late hour was taking its toll as he made some errors, which Bonilla capitalized on, Bonilla finishing on top 8-5.
Oscar Bonilla
Bonilla moved on to play Jerry Tarantola in the Semi-Finals. This match played out much differently than their earlier set, with Bonilla easily winning by a score of 8-2, landing him in the finals against tour owner, Tony Robles.
The final match lined up Oscar Bonilla to play tour owner Tony Robles, who went through the tournament undefeated. The match would land hill-hill, but Bonilla would make a fatal error as he scratched on the 7-ball to allow Robles to take the match and the tournament, making this Robles’ 2nd consecutive Father’s Day weekend win.
The Predator Tour would like to thank all its players who came out to this event, as well as the tour’s sponsors: Blatt Billiards, Delta 13 Racks and The Seminole Tribe of Florida. Congratulations to Tony Robles for a dominant performance at Paradise Billiards.
Final Results & Payout:
1st: Tony Robles $1,000
2nd: Oscar Bonilla $600
3rd: Jerry Tarantola $400
4th: Al Zea $300
5th/6th: Marc Vidal, Danny Caliente $200
7/8th: Jorge Rodriguez, Sean Morgan $150
9-12th: Brian Hunter, Victor Nau, Olli Turkulainen, Hiram Maldonado $100
I remember watching and playing against Jerry T from La Cue in Maspeth Queens in the early 90’s. If memory serves me right I believe it was on a Tuesday night. I remember taking the Q58 bus up Grand Avenue every night and getting off on my stop right across the street from La Cue. I lived right around the block and would always be tempted to see what the hell was going on! I finally built up the nerve to go in and see what was happening. What happens? I show up just in time for the calcutta…
Here I am, in an area not more than 20′ by 20′ with a auction going on for the pool players that were there. Now remember, this is my first time walking into the room without knowing a soul! I was hooked on pool without even playing a tournament yet!
From that moment on I would save money, not for future endeavors, but for next Tuesday at La Cue. Granted, it was $20 to get in, but I was a friggin mailroom guy at the time.
I started to play the weekly tournament at La Cue. I also noticed during the calcutta, specific names were called almost everytime. Jerry Tarantola was one of these names. Now mind you, this is 1990 and I’m 20 years old and I see this skinny little kid, not more than 13 or 14 years old getting bids of $100, $200, $300 etc.,, you get what I mean??? Well, I noticed and tried to take my $120 pocket money and buy at the time ” Little Jerry”. Yeah ok, let’s put it this way, this was the last time I opened my mouth during the calcutta except when it came to my $5 dollar name!!!
I was ready to give up when La Cue held a raffle until La Cue held a raffle for $20 if you beat this young lady named Jeanette Lee, you would win this awesome shearling jacket!!! Well needless to say, I donated my $20 very quickly. If I remember clearly, If you won one out of three racks, you get the jacket. Let’s put it this way… I learned how to rack that day!
Anyhow, I know Jerry T will understand my many little short stories as will many I’m sure, so I want to take this time to thank J.T. and Allison for their continued efforts which have gone above and beyond. I commend you as does the entire billiard community!
Best regards,
Ron Mason
One major thig I did not mention is Gene Nagy. As I’m sure the majority of you can agree with, the saying… If I knew now what I new then… He was a Wiz, mentor to any he took under his wing. Here is a caption…
Nagy was born Oct. 6, 1946 in New York. Before he became a highly respected pool player he was an accomplished musician. He started playing the trumpet at age 12 and attended the Juilliard School of Music at age 17.
Nagy didn’t start playing pool until he was 18 years old, and by the time he was 23, he was invited to his first professional tournament. His lifetime personal high run of 430 is topped officially only by Thomas Engert, Min-Wai Chin, and Willie Mosconi. He is also known for running 150 and out in the 1973 World Straight Pool Open against Allen Hopkins.
Luther Lassiter was quoted as saying of Nagy, “That man was born to play this game.”
Willie Mosconi commented on Nagy’s style, saying, “It was the finest I had ever seen balls taken from the table.”
By the late 1970s, Nagy had retired from competition, but continued to teach and mentor young players. Jeanette Lee, famous the world over as “The Black Widow” was one of his best students, and considered him a father.
Lee said of Nagy:
“Everything I know, I learned from him. He was my coach, my mentor, my friend, my father, my everything. Particularly for the first five years or so, when I first started playing pool.”
Lee met Nagy when she was 19, through her then boyfriend, at a New York poolhall.
“From really that day on, he played me everyday of my life until I moved away. The poolroom opened at 11 a.m., we got there at 10, had coffee, and played until they closed at 11 at night. He never kept score. He really taught me the love of the game to always stay a student.”
Lee credits all of her ability to Gene, as well as her character. She says that he taught humility by example. When she hit her first high run of 122, the very next inning, he ran 238.
“He’s the one who really gave me compassion and gave me humility. People probably wouldn’t call me that, but as a student of the game I am. What it came down to was, he just taught me to love pool for the love of the game, above and beyond any kind of competitiveness or materialism or glory you could take from it. That’s where my willingness to want to give back to this sport and do things for the growth of the game itself, comes from.”
Lee also dedicated her 2001 book, “The Black Widow’s Guide to Killer Pool” to Nagy.
To read or share stories about the late legendary Gene Nagy, visit the online forum at http://www.billiardsdigest.com or at http://www.azbilliards.com.
Hey Ron,
Thanks for the comments. Your game has come along way since the early 90’s… keep it up. Gene was a mentor to me, and has shaped my game and perspective on the game in many ways. He is truly a legend in the game, and while he flew under the radar… he will go down in history as one of the greatest players to ever grace the game.
His high run in straight pool was 430 consecutive balls, and has run over 200 balls 20+ times in his life. That is pretty amazing to say the least.
Thanks for staying plugged in to nycgrind.com and Alison, myself and the rest of our team appreciate the kudos.
Cheers!
JT