Reymart Lim, Raymond Walters (TD) & R.J. Carmona
It was, by far, his most productive year at the pool tables. In the five years that Reymart Lim has been showing up on our tournament payout lists, his 2017 reported cash earnings in 11 tournaments were six times what he’d earned in any previous year. As we reported in December, he chalked up wins on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (two, including the NC State Open 10-Ball event) and finished the year by coming from the loss side to win the Action Pool Tour’s season finale on the weekend of December 9-10. A little over a month later, Lim was back on the Action Pool Tour, and once again, coming from the loss side, he completed a run through 41 entrants to defeat a hot seat occupant (R.J. Carmona, in this case) and win the APT’s season opener, held on the weekend of January 13-14, and hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
Lim was challenged early and often in this one. An opening 7-3 win over Dwight Cherry was followed by two matches that went double hill, against David Lassiter and Nilbert Lim (no relation, though close friends), before advancing him to a winners’ side semifinal against Eric Moore. Carmona, in the meantime, opened his bid for the season opening title with a 7-2, preliminary-round win over Chris Pyle, defeated Jeremy Wyatt 7-3, and then won two 7-4 victories over Steve Fleming and Tuan Chau to face Danny Bell in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Moore downed Lim 7-5, as Carmona chalked up his third straight 7-4 win and sent Bell to the loss side. Carmona claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Moore, and waited on Lim’s return.
On the loss side, Lim picked up Tim Colvin, who, after a winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Bell, had defeated Mark Lacson 7-2 and survived a double hill battle versus Tuan Chau. Bell drew Nilbert Lim, who, after defeat by his friend, Reymart, went on to defeat Greg Sabins, double hill and Jason Trigo 7-3. The two Lims advanced to the quarterfinals for their second match; Reymart eliminating Colvin 7-5 and Nilbert, with a 7-5 win over Bell.
Though their first match had been a double hill fight, their second proved to be a little easier for Reymart. He gave up only two racks to his friend and advanced to a semifinal re-match against Moore. Reymart gave up three to Moore and advanced to the finals against Carmona. A 9-6 win in those finals allowed Lim to chalk up his first (and presumably not his last) 2018 tour victory.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis Cloth, Aramith, Tiger, Predator, Viking, Ozone Billiards, Cue Sports International (CSI) and George Hammerbacher Instruction. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for February 10-11, will be the VA State 10-Ball Championships, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
The APT also announced some major changes for 2018. In recognition of the fact that in previous years, the ‘points race’ for the title of Tour Champion (and runner-up), in competition for free entry, hotel and airfare to a major event the following year, had, by mid-season, become irrelevant to most players, the APT announced the creation of a “$10,000 Top 64 Shootout” event. Players with an active one-year membership on the tour will be competing throughout the year to be among the top 64 players in tour rankings. At the end of the tour season (on a date to-be-determined), those 64 will be invited to the “Shootout,” which will feature a total prize fund of $10,000. Those who finish among the top 16 in that “Shootout” will be guaranteed $500, with the winner guaranteed $2,500.
“We are confident,” notes the tour’s Web site announcement of this event, “that this will keep the points race interesting for more players.”
The tour also announced that the VA State 10-Ball and VA State 8-Ball Championships will be restricted to the first 64 paid entries. The women’s events in both will be restricted to the first 16 paid entries. As noted in the 2017 Season Finale report, separate women’s events will not be held in 2018, although the APT has reinstituted the Top Female Bonus, which will grant the top-finishing female in each event a bonus cash award, based on the number of women in the field. This will range from $100 (with 3-5 women in the field) to $600 (with 18-20 women in the field).
For further information on the Action Pool Tour, including its plans to begin streaming its events on an APT YouTube Channel, on which all events will be stored for later viewing, visit the tour Web site at http://www.actionpooltour.com.
