A funny thing happened to Jesse Draper on his way to what would become his first recorded cash finish anywhere and his first regional tour win. This past weekend (June 25-26), he ran into two opponents – Joey Fox and Brian Francis – who, though they’d recorded cash finishes on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour before, were also looking for their first tour victory. Draper met Francis in a winners’ side quarterfinal, Fox in the hot seat match and though slated to face Francis a second time in the finals, they opted out of playing the match. Draper got his tour win, albeit with its ‘no final’ asterisk, Fox recorded his highest recorded finish on the tour, ever, and Francis had to settle for his third runner-up finish on the tour. The $500-added event drew 45 entrants to the Rock House in Gastonia, NC.
Once Draper sent Francis to the loss side in their winners’ side quarterfinal, he advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Dustin Coe. Fox faced Aaron McClure in the other one.
Draper downed Coe 5-3, as Fox was sending McClure over 7-3. Draper claimed his first hot seat 5-2 over Fox and waited to negotiate with Francis over the final that wasn’t going to happen.
On the loss side, Francis began with a 6-1 victory over Adam Pendley and followed that with a shutout over John Abernathy, to draw McClure. Coe drew Billy Fowler, who’d defeated Jimmy Tanner 10-3 and Dalton Messer, double hill, to reach him.
Francis advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4 victory over McClure, while Coe survived a double hill fight (7-9) versus Fowler to join him. Francis eliminated Coe 6-3 and in what would prove to be the final match of the event, defeated Fox in the semifinals 6-5 (Fox racing to 7).
Negotiations for the two-way split got underway and while Draper and Francis, each in their own way, had to settle for the just-shy-of-completely-satisfactory results of their weekend, Draper did earn himself his first event title. Both earned more than the four other players who went home with cash and significantly more than the other 39 entrants who’d competed.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Rock House for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour and significantly, Parker, will be taking a Fourth of July vacation this weekend. The next stop on the tour, scheduled for July 9-10, will be hosted by Overtime Billiards in Columbia, SC.
When your finalists are battling to win their first event on your tour, you stick around to let them decide it on the table. When you’re either one of the finalists, you battle aches, pains and fatigue to get it done and claim your first event title. Gary South and Junior Gabriel battled three times during the March 7 (and a few hours into March 8) stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour and were chasing dawn when they broke the last rack of the 31 games they played. South won 20 of those games and two of the matches to claim his first (recorded) regional tour win, anywhere.
It was Gabriel’s second runner-up finish on the tour, having finished 2nd at a stop last August at the same location – Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC. He’d won seven on the loss side during that event to face Hunter White in the finals. As he did this past weekend, he won the opening set of the true double elimination final, but dropped the second. It happened to be Hunter White’s birthday. This most recent $500-added event, which drew 39 entrants to Break & Run Billiards was the fourth cash finish on the tour for both South and Gabriel and the best finish of all of them for South.
They both advanced to winners’ side semifinal matches; South, against junior player Landon Hollingsworth and Gabriel versus Randy Tate. South sent Hollingsworth to the loss side 7-5 and in their first of three, battling for the hot seat, faced Gabriel, who’d sent Tate over 6-3. South gave up only a single rack to Gabriel and claimed his first hot seat.
Landon Hollingsworth and Tate got right back to work on the loss side. Hollingsworth picked up Trey Frank, who’d defeated Sydney Cork and Brian Ervin, both 7-1, to reach him. Tate drew Billy Fowler, last year’s Bar Box Tour Champion, who’d eliminated Aaron McClure 9-3 and Ryan Hollingsworth (no relation to Landon) 9-1.
Landon Hollingsworth downed Frank 6-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Tate, who’d eliminated Fowler 6-5 (Fowler racing to 9). The junior player, Hollingsworth defeated Tate 6-2 in those quarterfinals, but couldn’t get past Junior Gabriel, who ended the youngster’s night with a 6-3 victory in the semifinals.
With their first major event victory on the line, it was no surprise that the opening set of the true double elimination final went double hill. Gabriel won it to force a second set. South won that 7-4 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break & Run Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards, and Tickler Pool Ball Washing Machine. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for March 14-15, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
Mackie Lowery moved into uncharted territory two months ago when he came back from a defeat in a hot seat match to win a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The win turned 2019 into his best earnings year since he first showed up on a payout list 13 years ago, finishing 7th in an earlier version of the Viking Cues’ tour. On Saturday, September 21, Lowery chalked up his second 2019 win on the tour, going undefeated through a field of 54, on hand for the $500-added event, hosted by Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
Lowery had to get by a competitor who was also in the midst of his best and also his first earnings year, and looking for his second win on the 2019 tour, Travis Worden. Worden had won his first-ever regional tour event last month at a stop, hosted by Buck’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC. They met first in a winners’ side semifinal, as Joey Fox and Sam Epps squared off in the other one.
Lowery and Fox advanced to the hot seat match with identical 7-4 wins over Worden and Epps. Lowery then downed Fox 7-2, claiming the hot seat.
On the loss side, Worden picked up Aaron McClure, who’d defeated Billy Fowler 6-6 (Fowler racing to 9) and Daniel Jones, double hill, to reach him. Epps drew a rematch against Clay Davis, whom he’d sent to the loss side in the event’s third round and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had included recent wins over Junior competitor Joey Tate 7-5 and Tommy Johnson 7-2.
Davis chalked up a successful rematch against Epps 7-3, as Worden was busy eliminating McClure 7-4. Worden then ended Davis’ loss-side run with a 6-5 win in the quarterfinals (Davis racing to 7).
Worden downed Joey Fox 6-4 in the semifinals for a shot at Lowery, waiting for him in the hot seat. He’d have had to win two to claim the title. Lowery, though, made the point moot. He won the opening and only set 7-5 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break & Run Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (September 28-29), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
Former junior competitor Hunter White is a single tour stop victory away from making 2019 his best earnings year to date. His previous best earnings year, 2016, featured three wins on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. On the weekend of August 24-25, White chalked up his second win on the 2019 tour, backing up his win two weeks ago, when he came back from a loss in the hot seat to Billy Fowler and double-dipped him in the finals. At this most recent event, White and Fowler met in a winners’ side semifinal, but not again. Instead, Junior Gabriel, defeated in the third round of play, won seven on the loss side to challenge White in the finals; Gabriel took the opening set of the true double elimination final, but White came back to win the second and claim the title. The $1,000-added event drew 60 entrants to Break and Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
As noted, White and Fowler met for the first time since the weekend of August 10-11, squaring off in this event’s winners’ side semifinals. Mike Parkins, in the meantime, faced Rob Hart in the other one.
Parkins advanced to the hot seat match 5-5 (Hart racing to 7), while White downed Fowler 8-4. White then gave up just a single rack to Parkins and claimed the hot seat.
With Hart racing to 7, Gabriel advanced to the quarterfinals over him 5-5. He was joined by Fowler, who’d defeated Abernathy 8-5. Gabriel spoiled Fowler’s hopes for a finals re-match against White with a 5-3 win over him in those quarterfinals.
By the same score, 5-3, Gabriel completed his loss-side run, downing Parkins in the semifinals and then, with White racing to 8 in the opening set of the finals, Gabriel took that opening set 5-5. Hunter came back to win the second set 8-2 to cap his birthday celebration with an event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break and Run Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (August 31-Sept. 1), will be hosted by Speakeazy Billiards in Sandford, NC.
After having their 2016 Tour Championship tournament canceled when ice and snow, in a declared 'state of emergency,' descended upon Raleigh, NC in the first full weekend of 2017, the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour had to start their 2017 season before they officially closed the books (with the Tour Championship) on 2016. So it was that on Saturday, January 14, 39 entrants showed up at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA to launch the tour's 2017 season. Greg Taylor and Travis Guerra played three times to determine the event's winner. Taylor, a former VA State Bar Table 8-Ball champion (2014), who's been away from the tables for a couple of years, came back from a loss in the hot seat match to double dip Guerra in the finals, and win his first Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball event.
With some history at the table(s), Taylor entered the tournament with a relatively high handicap (racing to 8), while Guerra was racing to 5. Taylor sent Stevie McClinton to the loss side 8-4 in one winners' side semifinal, as Guerra was busy sending Keith Arnold over 5-1. The handicap worked to Guerra's advantage in the hot seat match, as he claimed it 5-5 over Taylor.
On the loss side, there was some scrambling going on for advancement in the 9/12 matches, three of which went double hill. Among those advancing from that point was Aaron McClure, who, after being defeated by Guerra in a winners' side quarterfinal, went on a four-match, loss-side streak that took him to within one match of earning a re-match against Guerra. McClure downed Mike McPherson, double hill, and then Mike Hagood 6-3 to pick up McClinton. Arnold drew Zach Hampton, who'd eliminated Barry Lacy 9-4, and Brandon Lowe, double hill.
McClure and Hampton handed McClinton and Arnold their second straight loss; McClure 6-1 over McClinton, and Hampton 9-4 over Arnold. McClure took the resultant quarterfinal match over Hampton 6-3 (Hampton racing to 9), and turned to face the last obstacle to a hoped-for rematch against Guerra, Greg Taylor, in the semifinals.
Taylor ended McClure's loss-side run to earn his own rematch against Guerra. And took full advantage. Taylor won the double elimination opener 8-2, and then won the second match 8-3 to claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Chris England and his staff at The Clubhouse for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, Ruthless Billiards, GoPlayPool.com, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The formerly cancelled, $1,000-added 2016 Tour Championships, which, according to Parker, has already confirmed 70 entrants, will be held on the weekend of January 21-22 at Brass Tap in Raleigh.
Sixteen-year-old Hunter White went undefeated on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour stop on the weekend of October 1-2, to become the first player to win three stops in a single tour season. As a result, his handicap is likely to edge upward to '9' in the weeks ahead. The event drew 33 entrants to Randolph's Billiards in Hickory, NC.
White's victory was chalked up without benefit of a final match. Having defeated Brian Capps in the hot seat match, the two finalists opted out of the final, leaving the undefeated White as the official winner.
White and Capps got into what proved to be their last match, battling for the hot seat, on the heels of two double hill wins in the winners' side semifinals. White downed Steve Hughes 8-6 (Hughes racing to 7), as Capps sent Scott Howard to the loss side 10-6 (Howard, as well, racing to 7). With Capps racing to 10, White claimed the hot seat, and in effect, the event title, with an 8-7 win.
On the loss side, Hughes picked up Aaron McClure, who'd defeated Jeff Abernathy, double hill, and Robert Moreno 6-3. Howard drew Rick Roper, who'd shut out Robert Ash and eliminated Paul Canterbury 7-4.
Roper squeaked by Howard, double hill, and in the quarterfinals, facEd Hughes, who'd downed McClure 7-4. Hughes won the 'first money round' quarterfinals 7-5, and then had his short, two-match, loss-side run ended by Capps in the semifinals 10-3.
White and Capps then opted out of a final match. White, as the undefeated hot seat occupant, claimed the official event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff of Randolph's Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta-13 racks and Ruthless Billiards. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 8-9, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
As the two presidential candidates banter back and forth about their stamina (or lack, thereof), pool players have to be thinking that if that's a significant qualification, they should be up there trading thoughts with the candidates. The grind of a weekend tournament, or a single-day tournament that ends up racing the dawn are common on the pool circuit, and often, when it comes down to a final that could well be lit by natural daylight, the two opponents figure that the prize differential between the top two cash amounts is not significant enough to warrant playing that final game. So it was, on Saturday, September 24, when Justin Duncan and Greg Burke, after a full day, opted out of their final match on the Viking Cues' Q-City 9-Ball Tour. Having defeated Burke once, and sitting in the hot seat, Duncan claimed the official title, as 3 a.m. loomed on the event horizon. The $500-added event drew 39 entrants to Legends Billiards in Inman, SC.
They met first in a winners' side semifinal, when it was still Saturday. Aaron McClure, in the meantime, squared off against Kirk Hixon. Duncan downed Burke 5-3, and in the hot seat match faced McClure, who'd sent Hixon west 6-3. Duncan claimed the hot seat over McClure in a hard fought double hill battle, which proved to be his last.
On the loss side, Jim Jennings was doing his level best to get a shot against Duncan. An opening round bye was followed by a loss to Thomas Jones, at which point, Jennings went on a six-match, loss-side streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals. Three matches in to that streak, he downEd Scott Ward 7-3, and then, wreaked his vengeance on Jones, defeating him 7-1, to draw Hixon. Burke drew Boyd Best, who'd won two straight double hill matches, against Steve Ellis and Romeo Malonzo, to reach him.
Jennings advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-4 victory over Hixon. Burke joined him after allowing Best only a single rack in their matchup. Burke ended Jennings' streak in those quarterfinals, but not before Jennings forced a case game to decide it.
In what would prove to be the final match of the event, Burke downed McClure in the semifinals 7-2. Duncan and Burke opted out of the final, leaving the undefeated Duncan to claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Legends Billiards' co-owners Marty Opyd and April Bradley and their staff, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta-13 racks and Ruthless Billiards. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 1-2, will be hosted by Randolph's in Hickory, NC.
