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Mika Immonen goes undefeated at Skyline

Mika Immonen with owner Rob Pole

Sunday February 17th, the Blaze Tour rolled it’s second stop into Skyline Billiards, in Brooklyn, NY. Tour owner Jose Burgos drew 33 players to this $1,500 added event. Skyline Billiards which is on 25-15 McDonald Ave. Brooklyn, New York has rolled out the red carpet for its players. The room is owned by Rob Pole Jr and Sammy Wu, and since Rob Pole is a touring emerging professional player, he looks to make sure things are perfect, including having a hot buffet for the players.

There were several stand out players who participated in this Pro-Am (Professional/Amateur) 9 Ball event. including “The Ice Man” Mika Immonen, WPBA Pro Liz Ford, WPBA Rookie of the year “Joanne Asthon” from the world famous Ashton Twins and several other stand outs. ”Spain” Mark Videl, “Mike Fingers”, Rob Pole Jr., Hunter Lombardo, Eddie Abraham, Wali Muhammed, “Alaska” Sean Morgan and Jorge Rodrigez.

There where many tough matches throughout the event and close fought battles.Wali Muhammed, Liz Ford, Eddie Abraham and Eddie Vasquez were grinding out gritty wins from the “One Loss Side” throughout the day, which was a clinic of “playing with heart”. “Godzilla” Shin Young Park, was looking dominant in the first 3 rounds and was looking automatic as usual. “Godzilla is a battle tested tournament warrior who is very difficult to beat opponent, as the entire NY pool scene knows by now.”The Ice Man” Mika Immonen seemed as if he wanted to the let gritty Brooklyn crowd witness his poetic style and demeanor as he stood tall against the mighty “Godzilla”. Mika Immonen regained his World Champion form, as his “gear” was clearly on a different level than the rest of the field on this day.

Mika defeated “Godzilla” Shin Young Park 7-4 then defeated the blazing hot Jorge Rodrigez from Brooklyn, 9-3… cementing his place in the Finals. Jorge Rodrigez has been an emerging local superstar, who has been coming up the ranks doing very well on the local NY circuit. He also placed 32nd out of 233 of the worlds best, in the 2007 US Open. After getting steamrolled by Mika, the loss would wind up being a huge test for Jorge on his quest to reach a consistent pro speed which is his main goal. Jorge now forced a feature match between him and a determined “Godzilla” Shin Young Park. Shin Young Park was hungry to have the chance to avenge his loss to Mika Immonen in the Final Match. Jorge Rodrigez came out of the gate with an early 3-0 lead, quickly making a statement that he has the ability to take control of even the toughest opponents. The next 6 games where split 3 games a piece, resulting in a 6-3 score in Jorge’s favor. Then Jorge made a couple of costly mistakes and “Godzilla” Shin Young Park, quickly regained his footing in the set. The match went “Hill-Hill”, which means in this case 6-6… with one final game resulting in the winner. Jorge broke, but didn’t have a clear shot on the one ball. Jorge then left Park a shot, and park ran until the four ball, before missing a difficult shot to have the opportunity to stay at the table. That miss proved to be costly as Jorge runs out for the win.

In the finals, it was a rematch of Jorge Rodrigez and “The Ice Man” Mika Immonen, one of the sport of pools most dominant forces. Mika was chewing on an energy bar shortly before the match as he prepared himself mentally and physically for competition. It was clear that Mika is a professional pool player, in every sense of the word. He represents a modern athlete who conditions for battle just like any other top performing athlete. ”The Ice Man” Mika Immonen came out of the gate strong and did not look back. He rolled to another 9-3 win over Jorge Rodrigez, through world class pool playing. In the end, this was a very high finish for Jorge Rodrigez with such a strong field, and serves as an invaluable learning experience for him on his journey. In the end the “The Ice Man” Mika Immonen dominates the gritty brooklyn field at the second Blaze Tour stop.

Complete Results:

1st Mika Immonen $1,000
2nd Jorge Rodrigez $600
3rd Shin Young Park $350
4th Wali Muhammed $250
5th Eddie Vasquez $200
6th Eddie Abraham $200
7th Liz Ford $125
8th Justin Muller $125

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