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Bingham double dips Vance to win his first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop

Ricky Bingham

Fourteen years ago, Ricky Bingham finished in the tie for 33rd place at the 29th Annual US Open 9-Ball Championships, sharing the spot with (among others) Charlie Bryant, Mike Davis, Keith Bennett and Ryan McCreesh. A year later, he showed up on one payout list (Stop #4 on the Viking Tour; 13th) and then, for all intents and pool purposes, he dropped out of sight for a dozen years. Last year he joined a growing list of veteran players (like Davis, like Bennett, like BJ Ussery) who’ve been stepping back up to the tables and signing on to the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. He finished 5th at a 2017 Q City 9-Ball Tour stop at Janet Atwell’s place, Borderline Billiards, in Bristol, TN. In July of this year, back again at Borderline Billiards, he chalked up another 5th place finish on the tour. On the weekend of September 8-9, at (you guessed it) Borderline Billiards, Bingham joined the ranks of Q City 9-Ball winners, coming from the loss side and double dipping Reid Vance to capture the event title. The event drew 41 entrants to Borderline Billiards.
 
Bingham and Vance played three matches in this event. The first was a winners’ side semifinal, while Steve Dye and Zac Leonard faced off in the other one. Vance sent Bingham to the loss side 5-2 and in the hot seat match, faced Dye, who’d sent Leonard over in a double hill match. Vance claimed the hot seat 5-1 over Dye and waited for the veteran to get back from a three-match, loss-side run.
 
Bingham’s loss-side trip back began against Dustin Coe, who’d defeated Alex Boles 6-1 and Mike Staubes, double hill (7-8; Staubes to 9) to reach him. Leonard drew Ikey Maynard, who’d eliminated room owner and pool veteran Janet Atwell and (heeeere’s) Johnny Carson, both 7-2.
 
Leonard downed Maynard 7-3, while Bingham was busy eliminating Coe 5-3. Leonard and Bingham battled to double hill in the quarterfinals that followed, before Bingham advanced to down Dye, double hill as well, in the semifinals.
 
In straight-up races to 5, Bingham took the double elimination opening set over Vance 5-3. He got even stingier in the second set, allowing Vance only a single rack to claim the event title; his first on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff, 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 (Sept. 15-16), will be hosted by 21 Poolroom in Charleston, WV.  

Maynard stops loss-side ‘footsteps’ of Chumbley to win his first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball stop

Ikey Maynard

The volume of loss-side footsteps heard from the hot seat in a pool tournament is in direct proportion to the length of time those footsteps have been on the move. Everybody in the hot seat of a double elimination tournament has to face someone who’s been on the loss side, and a sizeable percentage of the time it’s the player defeated in the hot seat match, who’s taken a single step. A second sizeable percentage of the time, it’s someone defeated in a winners’ side semifinal, who’s taken three steps. When the loss-side victories get up above five, the footsteps get louder and louder with every step taken.
 
On the weekend of December 9-10, Ikey Maynard, looking for his first-ever victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour made it to the hot seat, and waited for Eric Chumbley to complete a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would put him into the finals. Chumbley took the loudest footstep of them all, winning the opening set of a true double elimination final, before Maynard rallied to win the second set and event title. The event drew 44 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
 
With Chumbley already at work on the loss side, having won his first-round match, and lost his second (to Josh Williams), Maynard advanced to a winners’ side semifinal versus Scott Howard. Jason Potts, in the meantime, squared off against Dustin Coe in the other one. Maynard downed Howard, double hill, and, in the hot seat match, faced Potts who’d sent Coe to the loss side 7-2. Maynard claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Potts and sat listening for the footsteps.
 
On the loss side, Chumbley wasn’t the only one making noisy footsteps. As the event edged toward its first money round (determining the tie for 7th place), Chumbley and Bobby Jack Connor (who’d lost his opening match and was working on a seven-match, loss-side streak) were competing against opponents, and each other, as they advanced to a meeting in the quarterfinals. Chumbley chalked up loss-side wins #5 & #6 against Jose Irizarry (5-2) and shut out Alex Boles to draw Howard. Connor won his 5th and 6th matches against Mike Kirby (9-1) and Sam Patel (9-4) to pick up Coe.
 
Chumbley downed Howard 8-5, and heard the loud thud of a single footstep by Connor, who shut Coe out to advance to the quarterfinals. Not surprisingly, Chumbley and Connor fought tooth and nail (aka double hill) for a slot in the semifinals, and it was Chumbley who advanced.
 
Chumbley spoiled Potts’ bid for a second shot at Maynard in the hot seat with an 8-3 semifinal win. He then fought Maynard to double hill in the first set of the true double elimination final, and sunk the final ball to square the losses at one apiece. With Chumbley racing to 8, Maynard took the second set 7-6 to secure the event title.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff for their hospitality, 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 will be the season finale Tour Championships, a $1,500-added event open to the top 100 ranked players who’ve played on the tour this year. Scheduled for this weekend (December 16-17), the event will be hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
 
As is always true with point-ranking systems, players are rewarded not only for their performance at individual tour stops, but for the number of stops in which they’ve competed. A player, for example, who’s competed in all of the tour’s events, but not won any, would, at the end of the year, be likely to rank higher than a player who’s won the only three events in which he/she participated. The top five players on this year’s tour were Travis Guerra, Angela Parker, Scott Roberts, Daniel Adams and Steve Ellis. 
 
 

Boles and Pinegar split top prizes on Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

There were a number of factors which contributed to Alex Boles and Jonathan (Hennessee from Tennessee) Pinegar's decision to split the top two prizes on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour stop on Memorial Day weekend (May 27-28). One of them was dawn on Sunday, May 28. Another was a striking difference in skill levels, related to their ages (Boles is 15, Pinegar is. . . much older). Among the most significant, however, was the fact that they'd driven to the event together and when it came down to the finals, with the youngster Boles in the hot seat, and the veteran Pinegar having just completed a seven-match, loss-side run, well. . .there was, so to speak, no contest. The undefeated Boles became the event winner and Pinegar gladly settled for runner-up. The event drew 28 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
 
With Pinegar already at work on the loss side, the teenager (Boles) advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Scott Howard. Randall Bowman, in the meantime, faced Josh Williams. Boles downed Howard 5-5 (Howard racing to 7), and in the hot seat match, faced Bowman, who'd sent Williams west 6-4. Boles claimed the hot seat 5-3 over Bowman.
 
Two matches in to his loss-side run, Pinegar defeated Brandon Kidwell 12-4 and Buffie Jolie 12-1, to pick up Williams. Howard drew Scott Roberts, who'd defeated Brandon Helton 7-2 (thus, denying Pinegar the pleasure of a re-match) and Jerry Ray 7-4 to reach him. Pinegar downed Williams 12-2, as one 'Scott' (Howard) downed the other 'Scott' (Roberts) 7-4.
 
Howard put up a bit of a fight against Pinegar in the quarterfinals, battling to double hill (11-6), before Pinegar finished it at 12-6. Pinegar then gave up only a single rack to Bowman in the semifinals, completing his loss-side run. The decision was made at dawn (more or less) to split the top two prizes, leaving the undefeated Boles in possession of the event title.
 
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her staff at Borderline Billiards, 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 June 3-4, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
 

Musselman and Hancock split top prizes on final 2016 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Each, having chalked up a victory against the other, Mike Hancock and Jody Musselman opted out of a final deciding match and split the top two prizes on the December 17-18, last 2016 stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour. The event drew 41 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN. 
 
They met first in a winners' side semifinal. With Musselman racing to 7, Hancock advanced to the hot seat match 6-5. He was met by Jonathan "Hennessee from Tennessee" Pinegar, who'd sent Alex Boles to the loss side 12-1. Hancock claimed the hot seat over Pinegar 6-4, and waited on Musselman's return.
 
Musselman began his three-match trek back to the finals again Jonathan Ailstock, who'd defeated Mike Robertson 6-3, and Zach Hampton 6-6 (Hampton racing to 9) to reach him. Boles drew James Parks, who'd gotten by Kevin Albaba and Brandon Helton, both 5-2.
 
Musselman eliminated Ailstock 7-4, and was met in the quarterfinals by Parks, who'd defeated Boles, double hill (5-3). Musselman then eliminated Parks 7-2 in those quarterfinals, and went on to defeat Pinegar 7-7 in the semifinals (Pinegar racing to 12).
 
Though they'd come within a game of double hill in their winners' side semifinal match, Musselman took control of the opening set in their true double elimination final, winning it 7-2. They opted out of a second, deciding match, leaving hot seat occupant Hancock as the official winner, and splitting the top two prizes.
 
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her staff at Borderline Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, Ruthless Billiards, GoPlayPool.com, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. Parker also extended best holiday wishes to all participants, sponsors, and room owners for their support in 2016.
 
The 2017 Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour will commence with the 2016 Tour Championships, scheduled for January 7-8. The $1,000-added event is an invitation-only tournament among the tour's top 80 players in 2016, and will be hosted by Brass Tap in Raleigh, NC.