It marked the second year in a row that Reymart Lim had won the Action Pool Tour’s (APT) season opener at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. Last year at this time, he went undefeated through a field of 49 to win his first of two APT events; the second came in March. This year, there was just a little hitch in his get-along, as he succumbed to Nathan Childress in the battle for the hot seat and had to come back from a semifinal versus 2019’s Tour Champion, Chris Bruner, for a second shot at Childress. He took that second shot and won the match to claim his first 2020 title. In the past four years, Lim has finished, in order, 29th, 13th, 5th and 4th in the APT’s final tour standings. If he’s looking to improve (and why wouldn’t he be?), this could be the year he secures that APT Tour Champion title. Winning this event that drew 53 entrants to Q Master Billiards on the weekend of January 18-19 was a good start.
Lim got a bye out of a preliminary round and started his march to the winners’ circle with an 8-1 victory over Graham Swinson. He then defeated Bill Duggan 8-4 and Johnathan Syphanthavong 8-3 to draw a winners’ side semifinal match against Scott Roberts, who finished two spots below him on last year’s tour standings list. Childress, in the meantime, who was the Billiards Education Foundation’s 14-and-under Junior National Champion two years in a row (’15 & ’16) and was looking to secure what would be (according to our records) his first major regional tour title, opened with an 8-5 victory over RJ Carmona, who finished one step above Lim last year. After Carmona, Childress sent Jason Trigo (double hill), Reggie Jackson (8-4) and another junior player, Shane Wolford (8-4) to the loss side to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Bruner.
Childress sent Bruner west 8-6 and in the hot seat match, faced Lim, who’d defeated Roberts, double hill. Childress claimed the hot seat 8-4 and waited in it for Lim to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Bruner picked up Nilbert Lim (no relation to Reymart, although a close friend), who’d lost a double hill match to Scott Roberts in the second winners’ side round and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had most recently included two victories in which he’d allowed his opponents only a single rack, combined; none to Syphanthavong and one to Mac Harrell. Roberts drew David Hunt (5th in the 2019 standings), who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal match to Bruner and gone on to defeat David Givens, double hill and Shane Wolford 7-4.
Roberts moved on to the quarterfinals with a 7-2 win over Hunt. Bruner, flexing his muscles a bit, shut Nilbert Lim out to join him. Bruner then defeated Roberts 7-5 in those quarterfinals.
Reymart Lim stepped into the semifinal ‘frame,’ flexing a few muscles of his own. He gave up only a single rack to Bruner, to earn himself a second shot at Childress.
Childress didn’t give up his shot at his first major ‘pro’ title easily. He fought tooth and nail to double hill before Lim sealed his first 2020 victory 10-9.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. It was won by Graham Swinson, who came back from a 5-2 hot seat loss to shut Johnathan Syphanthavong out 6-0.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth. Viking Cues, Brown’s Mechanical LLC, Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, CSI, Grant Wylie Photography and George Hammerbacher, Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the 2020 APT, scheduled for February 15-16, will be the VA State 10-Ball Championships, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
Chris Bruner competed in all but one of the 12 Action Pool Tour stops in 2019. He won four of them – June, July, October (VA State 8-Ball Championship) and the tour’s season finale this past weekend (December 7-8). He was runner-up in two others; to Mike Davis in May and Kristina Tkach in August. He tripled the number of appearances he made on the tour this year, which, factored into tournament results as the APT’s season concluded, gave Bruner the 2019 Tour Champion title. Last year’s champion, Steve Fleming competed in all but two of this year’s tour stops and finished as runner-up.
Bruner went undefeated through a field of 19 pre-qualified entrants, who signed on for the season finale – The Pineapple Morris Memorial Shootout on Saturday, December 7 at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. Named after Craig “Pineapple” Morris, a fixture as a teacher at Q Master Billiards and doorman at the annual US Open 9-Ball Championships for many years, the event was limited to the Top 16 men and three women in the tour’s point standings. Thanks to primary tour sponsors Predator Cues, Aramith and Simonis, every player who competed was paid.
Fleming was on-hand as well, with the opportunity to defend his tour championship title there for the taking. Fleming was one of six entrants who played a preliminary round for entrance into the event’s official 16-player, double elimination bracket. He and Larry Kressel locked up in a double hill fight that advanced Kressel and sent Fleming to the loss side, where he lasted three rounds.
Bruner’s path to the winners’ circle climbed a straight-up ladder that went through #12 Greg Sabins and #8 Bill Duggan, to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against #4 Reymart Lim. Scott Roberts (#6), working in a pressure cooker of his own making, won two straight double hill matches against David Hunt (#5) and Jimmy Byrd (#18) to draw his winners’ side semifinal opponent, none other than the aforementioned Larry Kressel (#11).
Roberts won his third straight double hill match, downing Kressel to earn a spot in the hot seat match. Bruner joined him with a double hill win over Lim. Roberts recorded his first double hill loss, as Bruner chalked up his second straight double hill win to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Kressel picked up #3 RJ Carmona, who’d lost to #7 Scott Haas in the event’s first full opening round and was working on a four-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end. He’d recently eliminated Bill Duggan 9-6 and David Hunt 9-5. Lim picked up Haas, who’d been sent over by Kressel in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Greg Sabins 9-5 and Jimmy Bird, double hill.
The possible Carmona/Haas rematch didn’t happen, as Kressel moved into the quarterfinals 9-7 over Carmona. Haas downed Lim 9-3, but in those quarterfinals, fell to Kressel 9-2.
The Roberts/Kressel semifinal came within a game of being the 5th double hill match among the event’s final 13 matches. Roberts prevailed 9-7 for a second shot at Bruner in the hot seat.
Bruner got out in front and claimed the event title and title of tour champion with an 11-7 victory over Roberts.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth. Viking Cues, Brown’s Mechanical LLC, Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, CSI, Grant Wylie Photography and George Hammerbacher, Advanced Pool Instructor.
Kristina Tkach has been a busy young woman. Since March, she’s chalked up three major titles, commencing with her win at the 2019 Super Billiards Expo’s Women’s 9-Ball Championship, followed by a May victory in a European tour event and just last week (Aug. 8-11), a WPBA victory at the Sondheim Diamond Invitational in Iowa. She had no sooner made it back home to Virginia (Roy’s Basement), when she signed on to the August 17-18 stop on the Action Pool Tour, where she went undefeated to claim that event title. The event drew 41 entrants to Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD.
Not only did Tkach work through a field dominated by men (36 of the 41), she defeated the top-ranked player in the Action Pool Tour’s standings and winner of the last two stops on the tour, Chris Bruner. Twice.
Tkach embarked on her trip to the winners’ circle with an 8-1 victory over Skylar Hess and then, defeated the 2018 runner-up in the tour’s rankings, Jason Trigo 8-3 (this was only Trigo’s third appearance on the 2019 tour). Tkach then defeated Elva Abernathy 8-4 to draw Brian Bryant in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Bruner got into the hot seat match with an 8-2 victory over Wilkie. Tkach joined him after defeating Bryant 8-4. Tkach then claimed her first of two over Bruner 8-6 and waited in the hot seat for him to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Wilkie picked up Scott Roberts, who’d been sent to the loss side by Brian Bryant (8-5) and then defeated Scott Haas, double hill, and then, Thomas Haas 7-1. Bryant drew Matt Krah, who’d been sent to the loss side by Wilkie, shut out Chuck Sampson and defeated Chris Funk 7-5.
Wilkie and Krah advanced to the quarterfinals, both 7-4, over Roberts and Bryant. Wilkie gave up only a single rack to Krah in those quarterfinals to earn his rematch against Bruner.
Bruner and Wilkie battled to within a game of double hill, but Bruner edged out in front near the end to win it 7-5. With the intangible of momentum presumably on his side, Bruner turned his attention to the young woman waiting for him in the hot seat (and how many times, one wonders, has that happened?)
Tkach and Bruner did battle it out to a 19th and deciding game in the finals. Tkach, though, had the last ‘word,’ as it were, and dropped the final 9-Ball to claim the event title.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. Don Steele and Alavaro Valle battled twice (hot seat and finals) for it. Steele took them both, taking home $100 after a 5-2 win in the hot seat and shutting Valle out in the finals. Valle took home the $75 second-place prize.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Champion Billiards Sports Bar, as well as sponsors CSI, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Chix Cabinets, and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). The next stop on the Action Pool Tour (#9), scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 14-15, will be a Double Points event, hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
Last month (June 15-16), Chris Bruner won seven on the loss side of the Action Pool Tour’s Brown’s Mechanical 9-Ball Open (Stop #6 on the tour) to chalk up his first 2019 win. In so doing, he climbed two rungs on the tour’s ranking ladder (from 5th to 3rd). At the Action Pool Tour’s Bar Box 10-Ball Open (Stop #7), which drew 32 entrants to Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA this past weekend (July 13-14), Bruner won his second straight APT event, coming back from a defeat in the hot seat to claim the event title in a final match against JT Ringgold. This time, and once again, in the absence of some of the tour’s top-ranked competitors at this event (Steve Fleming, RJ Carmona and Reymart Lim, among others), Bruner took three steps up the ranking ladder to become the APT’s top-ranked competitor.
Bruner came into this most recent event, having already surpassed his reported 2018 earnings at the tables. When it was over, and he’d claimed the event title, he’d turned 2019 into his best earnings year, to date. Just a little over halfway through the year, he’d surpassed his best earnings year, to date (2014) by a couple of hundred dollars. Though Ringgold has already earned over twice what Bruner has earned in 2018/2019 (so far), he is a little behind schedule in his quest to match his best earnings year to date, which was 2018. At this time last year, Ringgold had earned about 39% of the total he’d earn by the end of the year. With his 2018 earnings as a hypothetical target, he’s at 32% now, and having now appeared in three of the APT’s 2019 events, he’s moved himself up in the tour’s rankings from #17 to approximately 7th or 8th, depending on how the math played out for some of the players above him who competed in this event. He and Bruner have each chalked up a victory in 2019; this most recent victory for Bruner and a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour for Ringgold. The APT’s Bar Box 10-Ball Open drew 32 entrants to Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
Bruner’s path to the hot seat match went through Bethany Sykes 8-2, Bill Duggan in a double hill match and a shutout over Thomas Spivey to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Dave Hunt. Ringgold got by Donnie Huet 8-4, Johnny Syphanthavong 8-2, and Nilbert Lim 8-6 to pick up Mike Davis in his winners’ side semifinal. Bruner and Ringgold got into the hot seat match by chalking up identical 8-6 scores over Hunt and Davis. Somewhat predictably, the battle for the hot seat was decided by a single, 15th game in the match. Ringgold won that deciding game and waited in the hot seat for Bruner to come back from the semifinals.
Mike Davis showed up on the loss side and faced Christopher Wilburn, who’d lost an opening round, double hill match to Dave Hunt and set out on a five-match winning streak that almost, but not quite, earned him a rematch against Hunt. He’d most recently defeated Thomas Spivey and Scott Roberts, both 7-3, to draw Davis. Hunt, in the meantime, picked up Bill Duggan, who’d gone on from his early-round loss to Bruner, to win four on the loss side, including a 7-4 win over Coen Bell and a 7-3 victory over Nilbert Lim.
Hunt got by Duggan 7-2, while Davis and Wilburn locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Davis to the quarterfinals with Hunt. Davis took command of those quarterfinals quickly, downing Hunt 7-1 for a shot against Bruner in the semifinals.
It would prove to be Bruner’s second straight double hill match. The first had sent him to the semifinals. The second was the semifinals and the double hill win over Davis sent him on to a rematch against Ringgold in the hot seat. Bruner completed his second straight win on the APT with a 10-8 victory in the finals.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. Johnny Syphanthavong and Josh Harget battled twice in the hot seat and finals to win the top $115 first-place prize. Syphanthavong won them both, 6-2, 6-3.
Tour directors Kim Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Peninsula Billiards, as well as sponsors CSI, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Chix Cabinets, and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). The next stop on the Action Pool Tour (#8), scheduled for the weekend of August 17-18, will be hosted by Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD.
It was, apparently, Reymart Lim’s turn, so to speak. In the third stop of the 2019 Action Pool Tour (APT) season, Lim went undefeated to capture his second APT title of the year. In the finals, he downed RJ Carmona, who’d won the APT’s second stop, which was the 2019 VA State 10-Ball Championships, held last month (Feb. 16-17), at which Lim finished in the two-way tie for 7th place. Lim had won the season opener back in January, with Carmona finishing in the three-way tie for 9th place. They finished last year’s season opener the way they finished this year’s third stop; as winner and runner-up. This most recent event (for double tour points) – The East Coast Landscaping Bar Box Bash – drew 31 entrants, playing 8-ball, to Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
It was a dominant performance by Lim, who ended up playing 43 games of 8-ball and lost only five of them to six different opponents; an astonishing 88% win percentage, or, put another way, winning, on average, damn near nine out of every 10 games he played. He arrived at a winners’ side final match against Steve Fleming, having shut out his first two opponents (Larry Phlegar and Jimmy Bird) and given up only two games to his third (Greg Sabins). Carmona, in the meantime, had downed Tony Plumb 6-3 and Bill Duggan 6-4, before he was sent to the loss side 6-4 in a winners’ side quarterfinal against Fleming, who moved on to face Lim.
At the opposite end of the 32-player bracket, Liz Taylor started her campaign as the only competitor to be awarded an opening round bye. She then, in her own initially dominant performance, gave up only a single rack to her next two opponents; one to Jacki Duggan and none at all to Justin Darouse to draw Trent Parrish in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Lim chalked up his third shutout, over Steve Fleming, to get into the hot seat match. Taylor joined him after sending Parrish to the loss side 6-4. Lim gave up the third of his five total games in that hot seat match and sent Taylor to the semifinals 6-1.
On the loss side, Fleming picked up Bill Duggan, who’d lost his second-round match to Carmona and was in the midst of a five-match, loss-side streak that would end the way it started, against Carmona. He’d most recently eliminated Darouse, double hill and JT Ringgold 5-3. Parrish drew Carmona, who’d defeated Ryan Martin 5-3 and Greg Sabins 5-2 to reach him.
Duggan advanced one more step, downing Fleming (last year’s tour champion, by the way) 5-3. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Carmona, who thought it was about time to join the shutout parade and chalked one up against Parrish. He then chalked up another one in his rematch against Duggan in those quarterfinals.
Carmona then gave up only a single rack in his semifinal match against Taylor to earn himself a shot at Lim in the hot seat. The two of them arrived at the event finals sporting decidedly different winning percentages overall. Carmona had upped his percentage considerably with his two, loss-side shutouts and his 5-1 victory over Taylor in the semifinals, but he entered the finals with a 41-19 record (68%). Their Fargo Rates were only 84 points apart (731 for Lim and 647 for Carmona), but the system gave Carmona only a 12.7% chance of winning their race-to-8. Lim gave up the last two of his five total games in the event, downing Carmona 8-2 to pick up his second 2019 APT title.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Peninsula Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors East Coast Landscaping, Inc., Cue Sports International (CSI), Chix Cabinets Direct, Grant Wylie (professional photographer), Brown’s Mechanical, LLC, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the APT, scheduled for the weekend of April 13-14, will be the 13th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament, hosted by First Break Café in Sterling, VA.
The opening rounds of the Action Pool Tour’s (APT) 2019 season opener on the weekend of January 19-20 featured a match between the winner of the 2018 APT Season Finale a little over a month ago (JT Ringgold) and the eventual winner of the opener, Reymart Lim. Between the preliminary round, and the second winners’ side round, seven of the APT’s top 2018 players participated, including the 2018 Tour Champion, Steve Fleming, runner-up Jason Trigo, and Reymart Lim, who finished 2018 in fifth place on the tour rankings. Lim went undefeated through the field, downing separate opponents in the hot seat (Kenny Miller) and finals (Ty Laha). The $200-added event drew 49 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
When enough women had signed on to the opening event, APT’s tour directors opted to hold a Ladies’ season opener, as well. Seven women signed on to compete in the $150-added ladies event, including the 2018 VA State 8-Ball Ladies Champion, Bethany Sykes. Sykes went undefeated through the short field, playing two of her three matches against Liz Taylor, whom she faced in the hot seat match and finals (6-2, 7-1). Both Sykes and Taylor competed in the Open event, with Taylor cashing in both.
As noted above, the season opener’s main event began with a match between Reymart Lim and JT Ringgold. The two battled to double hill before Lim prevailed 7-6. Ringgold moved to the loss side and began a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the matches to determine the tie for 5th place. Lim, in the meantime, moved on to continue his seven-match, winner’s side streak that would eventually earn him the event title. Four matches in, he met his eventual opponent in the finals, Ty Laha, in a winners’ side semifinal. Kenny Miller, in the meantime, squared off against Bill Duggan in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Lim sent Laha to the loss side 7-3, where he ran in to an immediate match against Ringgold. Miller downed Duggan 7-2 and met up with Lim in the hot seat match. Lim won 7-2 and waited on the return of Laha.
On the loss side, Laha drew Ringgold, who’d recently chalked up loss-side wins #5 and #6, defeating Danny Bell 6-3 and Dave Hunt 6-2. Duggan picked up Mac Harrell, who’d just eliminated RJ Carmona 6-3 and Coen Bell 6-2.
Laha ended Ringgold’s run 6-4 and in the quarterfinals, faced Harrell, who’d defeated Duggan 6-1. Laha and Harrell fought back and forth to double hill in those quarterfinals before Laha prevailed 6-5. Laha’s subsequent match, the semifinals against Miller, wasn’t as obviously difficult. Laha defeated Miller 6-1 to earn a rematch against Lim in the finals.
Lim was on the verge of starting 2019 the same way he’d started 2018, as the winner of the APT season opener. He won two on the APT last year, won the NC State 9-Ball Championships in March and was runner-up in the state’s 10-Ball Open. He completed his 2019 season-opening run with a 9-2 victory over Ty Laha in the finals.
Eight players signed on to a second chance event. It was won by Derek Davis, who the APT’s 2018 Player Champion Steve Fleming in the finals.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator, Tiger, Kamui Tips, Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the 2019 Action Pool Tour, scheduled for February 16-17, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
For the Action Pool Tour, the 2018 season ended where it began, at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. For JT Ringgold, his aspirations as a competitive pool player had a new beginning, when the APT’s 2018 season finale came to an end, with him as the winner of the tour’s $3,750-added, Invitational season finale that drew 46 entrants on the weekend of December 15-16. It was Ringgold’s first victory in an Open event, and by the time he reached the finals, he was already further along in an Open field of competitors than he’d ever been. He was truly thrilled enough to be there to take the nerves out of actually getting on the table against Eric Moore and winning in those finals.
“It was strange for me,” he said of the ‘finals’ experience, “because I wasn’t nervous at all.”
“I didn’t want to give up and just be satisfied, either,” he added. “I did want to compete, and when I started coming back against him, I got confident, thinking – I can take control of this.”
And he did. And has, over the course of 2018; Ringgold’s strongest recorded earnings year to date, which has included three wins on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. He was runner-up once, third three times (to include the tour’s annual Bar Box Tour Championships), fourth twice and 5th three times in 12 appearances on that tour this year. In his only money-earned appearance on the APT this year, he finished 7th.
That said, Ringgold ran a sort of gauntlet of the APT’s top competitors, which began with a victory over Jake Lawson (#4 on the tour’s Points List), and then went through Bill Duggan (#35) and Chris Bruner (#31), to draw a winners’ side semifinal match against Mike Davis, Jr. (#22). Meanwhile, Eric Moore (#7) squared off against RJ Carmona (#28, and the APT competitor who knocked Ringgold out, back in May).
Moore and Carmona locked up in a double hill fight that eventually, 9-8, sent Moore to the hot seat match. Ringgold joined him after a 9-6 win over Davis. Moore and Ringgold got into a double hill fight, as well, and contrary to how he’d feel in the later finals, Ringgold was a bundle of nerves in the battle for the hot seat.
“I never shook so hard in my life,” he recalled. “My hands and legs were just shaking during that hot seat match.”
He held on to win it though, using a bank to seal the deal.
As Carmona and Davis showed up for the first time on the loss side, they ran into Scott Haas (#20) and Shaun Wilkie (#3). Haas was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had, moving into the money rounds, included victories over Tuan Chau and Steve Fleming (#1), both 7-5 and a double hill win over Bruner that set him up to face Carmona. Davis drew Wilkie in something of an APT marquee matchup.
Carmona stopped Haas’ loss side run and got into the quarterfinals with a 7-5 win. He was joined by Wilkie, who’d eliminated Davis 7-2. Wilkie, who’d been sent to the loss side by Carmona and was in the midst of his own seven-match, loss-side run, advanced another step when he successfully won his re-match against Carmona 7-5 in those quarterfinals.
Moore stopped Wilkie’s seven-match, loss-side run with a 7-5 victory in the semifinals. And then, in the finals against Ringgold, in a race to 11, Moore took an early 4-0 lead. It was, according to Ringgold, just the way he liked it.
“Whenever (I get ahead and) someone comes back at me,” he said, “is when I get worried.”
Ringgold chalked up the next three racks to draw within one. Moore, though, came right back to win three of his own to put him up 7-3. It was Ringgold’s turn (and preference, apparently) to come back. He would win eight of the next 10 games, and won it 11-7, with another bank shot at the end. The ‘nervous’ shoe was apparently on the other foot.
“Moore made a few more mistakes than I did, at the end,” said Ringgold, “including a couple of that (normally) he wouldn’t have made.”
Tour directors Tiger Baker and Kris Wylie thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards for their season-finale (and season-opening) hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Tiger, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Kamui Tips and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor).
In his first win on the Action Pool Tour (APT) since the season opener in January, Reymart Lim went undefeated on his home turf again (Q-Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA) to take his second APT title. Lim got by Scott Roberts twice to claim the event title that drew 42 entrants to Q-Master Billiards.
Getting by Kenny Miller, Rob Gager, Bruce Reed, and Kenny Daughtrey, Lim gave up a total of only six racks over 42 games to reach a winners’ side semifinal against Mac Harrell. Roberts, in the meantime, who was awarded an opening round bye, gave up 13 racks through 40 games to reach his winners’ side semifinal against Troy Miller.
Harrell chalked up one rack less (5) than all four of Lim’s previous opponents, but it was Lim who moved on to the hot seat match. He was joined by Roberts, who’d sent Miller to the loss side 9-3. Lim claimed the hot seat 9-5 and waited for Roberts’ return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Harrell picked up the APT’s #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming, who’d been sent to the loss side by Bill Duggan in the third round and was working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d most recently eliminated Dave White 7-2 and Graham Swinson 7-1 to reach Harrell. Miller drew Nilbert Lim (no relation but a close friend of Reymart), who was working on his own six-match, loss-side streak that included recent wins over Daughtrey and Duggan, both 7-5.
Fleming and Lim handed Harrell and Miller their second straight loss; Fleming 7-5 over Harrell and Lim, 7-4 over Miller. Fleming and Lim fought to double hill in the quarterfinals that followed, with Fleming advancing to the semifinals against Roberts. The oft-sited intangible of momentum did not appear to work in Fleming’s favor in his matchup against Roberts. Roberts shut him out and earned his rematch against Lim in the hot seat.
The race was extended to 11 for the finals, though Roberts chalked up only as many racks as he’d won in the hot seat match. Lim won 11-5 to claim his second 2018 APT title.
Bill Duggan, who just did make it to the money rounds in the main event (tie for 7th, $100) went on to win a 13-entrant Second Chance tournament. Duggan lost a 2nd round match to Kenny Daughtrey, who tied for 9th in the main event, and came back to best Daughtrey 6-1 in the finals.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Q-Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Kamui Tips, Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Billiard Balls, Ozone Billiards, and Tiger. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for September 8-9, will be hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
(l to r): Ronnie Alcano, Raymond Walters (TD) & Johnny Archer
Over the years, the Virginia-based Action Pool Tour (APT) has seen its share of top-notch professionals show up to compete on the tour. Dennis Orcollo, as just one example, who won last year’s VA State 10-Ball Championships, and just last month finished as runner-up at the 12th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial, behind Zoren James Aranas (both happened to be in the neighborhood, preparing to compete in the Super Billiards Expo). On the weekend of May 12-13, the APT drew two more, both for the first time – Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer and Ronnie "Volcano" Alcano – who not so surprisingly battled in the finals, with Archer winning to finish undefeated. In the three matches that each of them played, prior to the finals, they faced the same three opponents in slightly different order. In a strange sort of coincidence, two of the three they faced in that situation were players that Orcollo had to defeat to claim last year’s VA State 10-Ball title. The 10-Ball event, stop #5 on the 2018 APT, drew 45 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
Eight of the APT’s top-10-ranked players at this stage of the season were on-hand to compete in this event (Shaun Wilkie, #3 and Kenny Miller, #9 did not). Neither Archer nor Alcano had to face any of those top eight players, which is about as straightforward a definition of ‘luck of the draw’ that you’re likely to find. Archer got by Jacki Duggan (#42 on the tour), Lea Owens, and Kenny Daughtrey (#14), before downing RJ Carmona (the first of his last three, prior to the finals against Alcano; #13) and drawing Reymart Lim (#10) in a winners’ side semifinal. By this time, Alcano was already at work on the loss side, having been defeated by Mike Davis (#22) in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Davis advanced to face Dave White in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Archer sent Lim to the loss side 7-5, and in the hot seat match, faced Davis, who’d defeated White 7-1. Archer claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Davis and waited for Alcano to face the same three opponents he’d just faced (Carmona, Lim and Davis) and challenge him in the finals.
On the loss side, Alcano opened his five-match, loss-side trip to the finals with a shutout over Daughtrey, and downed James Blackburn 7-5, to draw Lim. White drew Carmona, who, following his defeat at the hands of Archer, had eliminated Bill Duggan 7-3 and JT Ringgold, double hill. Alcano started his duplication of Archer’s last three, out of order, first downing Lim 7-5, as Carmona was busy defeating White 7-2. Carmona put up a fight in the quarterfinals that followed, but Alcano prevailed to earn himself a re-match against Davis in the semifinals.
Alcano took care of Davis 7-2, and turned to face Archer in a race to 9. Archer completed his undefeated run with a 9-6 win that earned him his first APT title.
A Second Chance event, which drew 14 entrants, saw Jake Lawson, owner of Lights Out Billiards Apparel, come back from a 4-1 defeat in the hot seat match to down the tour’s #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming, in the finals. Lawson moved to the loss side to defeat Rob Gager 4-1 in the semifinals, and then battled to double hill against Fleming in the finals before closing it out to claim the Second Chance title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Tiger Cues, Ozone Billiards, Aramith Billiard Balls, Diamond Billiard Products, Kamui Tips, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of June 16-17, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
In terms of attendance, the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop on the weekend of April 14-15, was likely affected by the concurrent Super Billiards Expo (SBE) in Philadelphia. Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC is about eight hours away from the SBE site, which drew over a thousand entrants to its Amateur tournament, many of them residing within an eight-hour travel distance. The winner of the SBE’s Pro Player Championships (Mike Dechaine) drove six hours to compete. The $250-added Q City 9-Ball stop drew 21 entrants and came to an end when Frank Owens and Zach Leonard opted out of a final match, which would have been their second, and split the top two prizes.
They met first in the hot seat match. Owens had sent Matt Lucas to the loss side, double hill, in one winners’ side semifinal, while Leonard downed Richard Limo 7-3 in the other one. With Leonard racing to 7, Owens claimed the hot seat 5-4.
On the loss side, Lucas and Limo ran right into their second straight loss. Lucas picked up Jack Whitfield, who’d shutout C.B. Brown, and defeated Cody Jones 7-4 to reach him. Limo had the misfortune of meeting up with the tour’s most prolific winner, J.T. Ringgold, who, after being awarded an opening round bye, had dropped his first match to Bill Duggan, and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d gotten by Chris Gentile 10-5 and shut out Wayne Miller to draw Limo.
Ringgold downed Limo 10-4, and in the quarterfinals, faced Whitfield, who’d defeated Lucas 7-2. Ringgold then ended Whitfield’s run 10-3, before coming up against Leonard in the semifinals. With Ringgold racing to 10, he and Leonard fought back and forth to double hill (6-9), before Leonard dropped the deciding 9-ball to earn a second shot against Owens.
That second shot did not materialize. Owens and Leonard opted out of the final match, with Owens, in the hot seat, claiming the official event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela 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 April 21-22, will be hosted by Gate City Billiards Club, in Greensboro, NC.
