With his sixth win on the tour, this past weekend (July 8-9), J.T. Ringgold stands as the top competitor on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour. He's played in more matches, chalked up more wins and pocketed more money on the tour than any other player. The $250-added event drew 33 entrants to Mickey Milligan's in New Bern, NC.
Ringgold faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals of this event. He got into the hot seat match after a double hill (10-7) win over Larry Faulk, and faced Jack Whitfield, who'd sent Ringgold's eventual finals opponent, David Williams to the loss side 7-3. Ringgold claimed the hot seat 10-5 over Whitfield and waited on the return of Williams.
Williams opened his loss-side trip to the finals against Ringgold's father, Terry Ringgold, who'd defeated Wayne Miller and Al Boone, both 5-3, to reach him. Faulk drew Greg Smith, who'd eliminated Wayne Sutton 9-5 and Justin Clark 9-4.
It was Williams and Faulk who advanced to the quarterfinal match; Williams 5-3 over the elder Ringgold, and Faulk 8-3 over Greg Smith. Williams, at this point, playing well above his handicap, downed Faulk (racing to 8) 5-3, and then, with Whitfield racing to 7, downed him in the semifinals 5-5.
Ringgold put an exclamation point on his sixth Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour win. He chalked up his requisite 10 games without giving up a single rack to Williams.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan's, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for July 15-16, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
It was probably one of those things that looked good in the window, but terrible when you got it home. The Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour made a stop at the Brass Tap in Raleigh on the weekend of October 29-30 and 39 entrants showed up to participate in a rare 8-ball event that proceeded the NC State 8-Ball Championships the following week in Cary, NC. They made a decision to finish it in one day, instead of asking people (some of whom traveled a good distance) to return on Sunday. Somewhere in the vicinity of around 3 a.m., the players left were probably wondering whether the one-day idea was such a good one. As it turned out, when it got down to three players, the semifinalists (J.T. Ringgold and Travis Guerra) opted out of their match, and left the hot seat occupant, Blade Best, to claim the event title, unopposed in a final match.
Ringgold may have been the most affected by the shortened event. He lost his first match on Saturday to Peter Abatangelo and then won eight on the loss side to advance to the semifinals, at which point he and Travis Guerra opted out of the match. Assuming a 50-50 split, Ringgold went home with $300 (half the 2nd – $400 – and 3rd – $200 – payouts), instead of a potential $600, which might have come his way had he a) defeated Guerra, and b) went on to face and defeat Best in the hot seat. We and they will never know if they made a "good deal."
It was Guerra and Best who battled for the hot seat in this one. Guerra had sent Justin Clark to the loss side, double hill, in one winners' side semifinal, while Best sent Mike Mullins west 5-3. Best claimed the hot seat 5-1 over Guerra and for all intents and purposes, his night was over.
On the loss side, Ringgold was halfway through his eight-match, loss-side run, when he downed Glenn Smith 9-4 and Al Boone, double hill (9-3) to pick up Clark. Mullins drew Rich Anderson, who'd recently shut out Matt Lucas, and downed Clay Davis 7-3. Ringgold advanced to the quarterfinals 9-3 over Clark, and was joined by Mullins, who, in a straight-up race to 7, had defeated Anderson, double hill.
Ringgold ended the tournament with a 9-3 win over Mullins. He and Guerra opted out of their semifinal match, and Best went into the books as the event winner.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at the Brass Tap, 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 November 5-6 will be the North Carolina State 8-Ball Championships, to be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Cary, NC. In attendance will be defending champion, Mike Davis.
On January 22nd of this year, at about 1 a.m., Chad Bostic was working in the small bar and billiards hall he owned, called The Pit Stop, in Kinston, NC, when two gunmen entered the establishment, opened fire and then fled with an unknown amount of cash. Bostic was fatally wounded in the armed robbery.
On the weekend of Oct. 15-16, the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour held a Chad Bostic Memorial pool tournament, the proceeds of which were donated to Bostic's family. The event, which drew 40 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Cary, NC, featured a contingent of inexperienced players who signed on to support the Bostic family. The event was won by Steve Page, but not before he was challenged, and in the end, one game away from losing in the finals to Scott Roberts.
Page and Roberts met first in a winners' side semifinal, as Kristy Norris and Dustin Boone squared off in the other one. Page took the first of three versus Roberts 10-4 (Roberts racing to 7). Page was met in the hot seat match by Norris, who sent Boone to the loss side 7-2. Page claimed the hot seat 10-5 over Norris and waited on the return of Roberts.
On the loss side, Roberts picked up Ricky Dixon, who'd shut out Geno Hernandez 4-0, and James Wheeler 4-1. Boone drew Anthony Mabe, who'd gotten by Dustin Boone's father, Al Boone, 7-1, and David Brown, double hill. Mabe and Roberts advanced to the quarterfinals by identical 7-1 scores over Dustin Boone and Dixon.
Roberts took the quarterfinal match over Mabe 7-3, and then, almost had his loss-side campaign ended by a straight-up race to 7, double hill effort by Norris in the semifinals. He prevailed, though, to get his second shot at Page in the hot seat.
Roberts used some semifinal momentum to take the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-3 (Page racing to 10). He capitalized on that victory by reaching the hill in the second set, ahead by five racks, 6-1. His sixth game, though, proved to be his last, as Page went on a nine-rack run that earned him the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Breaktime 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 22-23, will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Billy Carroll and Montez Lloyd locked up twice to determine who'd walk away with the Q City 9-Ball Tour win on Saturday, October 24. Carroll took both matches to claim the title, in the event that drew 28 entrants to Anytime Billiards in Jacksonville, NC.
They met first in the hot seat match. Carroll had sent Gerry Shepherd (owner of Mickey Milligan's in New Bern, NC) to the loss side 6-4, while Lloyd was doing likewise to Robert Perez 7-1. Carroll took the first of the two versus Lloyd 6-2 and waited in the hot seat for the second.
On the loss side, Calvin Harper was doing what he could to prevent Lloyd from getting that second chance. Defeated in the opening round by Raymond McGinn, Harper went on a seven-match, loss-side run that would earn him the right to face Lloyd in the semifinals. Harper got by Solomon Pope 5-5 (Pope racing to 7) and Leon Williams 5-3 (victories #4 & # 5) to draw Shepherd. Perez picked up Justin Himes, who'd defeated Al Boone and Kim Stakley, both 6-2.
It was Harper and Himes advancing to the quarterfinals; Harper, 5-3 over Shepherd, and Himes, 6-3 over Perez. Harper and Himes fought a double hill quarterfinal, eventually won by Harper, whose loss-side run then came to an end at the hands of Lloyd, 7-2, in the semifinals. Carroll then defeated Lloyd a second time, by the same 6-2 score to claim the event title.
It's been said (reportedly, by Albert Einstein, but nobody seems to know for sure) that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. In addition to it being, reportedly, the most overused cliche of all time (Salon, August 6, 2013), it's obvious that Einstein didn't play a lot of pool.
After somewhere between 30 and 40 attempts to win a Great Southern Billiard Tour stop in his own room, Mickey Milligan's in New Bern, NC, Gerry Shepherd became the first owner, ever, to win a stop on that tour. He went undefeated through a field of 40 to win the $1,000-added event that drew 40 to his place on the weekend of July 25-26.
"That was awesome," said Shepherd, moments after collecting the trophy and dough. "Surprised a lot of people. Surprised me, too."
In fairness to the insanity definition, Shepherd wasn't exactly doing the same thing over and over. In fact, he was doing things quite differently. He'd had some health issues arise in his family, and was looking ahead to some back surgery. He'd come to the realization, in the face of those issues, that "pool isn't all there is about life."
"And that," he said, "is when I started shooting better."
With players racing to their rating, Shepherd played as a "3" in this event, against a field with a few "7"s and "8"s. He faced one of those "8"s – J.T. Ringold – in a winners' side semifinal, while Robert Ash (a "4") got into it with Russell Sasser (a "7"). Shepherd defeated Ringold 3-6, and in the hot seat match, faced Ash, who'd sent Sasser to the loss side 4-5. Shepherd claimed the hot seat 3-2 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Brian Pate.
Pate had advanced through to a winners' side quarterfinal before chalking up his first loss; to Sasser. He moved to the loss side, defeating Wayne Miller and Al Booner, both 6-2, to meet up with Ringold. Sasser had drawn Scott Crain, 5-1 winner over Mike Gaskins, and double hill survivor versus Greg Smith.
Crain spoiled any re-match hopes that Pate may have been entertaining, by defeating Sasser 5-3. Pate joined Crain in the quarterfinals with a double hill win over Ringold. Pate took the quarterfinal 6-2 over Crain, and then fought tooth and nail to a double hill win over Ash in the semifinals.
Pate needed six games to claim the title. Shepherd needed three. They both got three, and Shepherd became the GSBT's first tour stop winning owner.
The next stop on the Great Southern Billiard Tour, scheduled for the weekend of August 1-2, will be hosted by Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.
