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Gann takes two out of three over Pendley to win Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop

Michael Gann

In what proved to be his best recorded earnings year at the tables (2021), Mike Gann won a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour and finished as runner-up to Daniel Autrey in another, both at the same location; Peyton’s Place in Knoxville, TN. He shifted his Tennessee location to Hummy’s Bar (formerly, JAC’s All-American) in Newport, TN this past weekend (Sat., March 26) to chalk up a second win on the tour, taking two out of three versus Adam Pendley to claim the title. The $250-added event drew 31 entrants to Hummy’s Bar.

Gann and Pendley both had to deal with venue owner, Brady Brazell, before facing each other in the finals. Gann picked Brazell up in a winners’ side semifinal, while Pendley was battling another room owner, Josh Newman of West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC, in the other one.

Pendley sent Newman to the loss side 9-7 and was joined in the hot seat match by Gann, who’d defeated Brazell 10-4. Gann and Pendley battled to double hill, before Gann prevailed (10-8) to claim the hot seat.

On the loss side, Brazell and Newman got right back to work. Brazell drew Brandon Stiltner, who’d defeated Ricky Bingham 7-1 and Chris Crawford, double hill to reach him. Newman picked up Dalton Messer, who’d just eliminated Matt Lucas 6-3 and Keith Young 6-2.

Brazell and Stiltner locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Brazell to the quarterfinals. He was joined by Newman, who’d downed Messer 10-4.

Brazell took the room owner vs. room owner quarterfinals 7-5, and then, it was Adam Pendley’s turn to face him in the semifinals. Pendley ended Brazell’s run 9-3 for a necessary double shot at Gann in the hot seat.

With Gann racing to 10, Pendley took the opening set of the true double elimination final 9-4. In the early hours of Sunday, they repeated the five-point differential in the second set, but it was Gann who came out on top 10-5 to clinch the event title. 

Tour director Herman Parker thanked Brady Brazell and his Hummy’s Bar staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Break Time Billiards of Winston-Salem, NC, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (April 2-3), will be a $500-added event, hosted by the League Room in Parkersburg, WV.

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South goes undefeated at JAC’s Billiards in Newport, TN on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour

Gary South

Though the tour directors of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour – Herman and Angela Parker – tend to work together, the tour’s stop on Saturday, July 11, was run solo by Angela Parker. Herman, in the meantime, was recovering from a “dissected aorta,” for which he had to be airlifted to Duke Medical Center last week. Doctors told him that he was lucky to be alive, as untreated, the problem could have led to a massive heart attack. As Angela noted in a Facebook post last Thursday, “doctors said that he should be fine.” As Angela made the trip to Newport, TN, where JAC’s Billiards hosted a $500-added event that drew 37 entrants, Herman had himself a few days off. Word from the Parkers, at present, is that Herman might have to undergo surgery, but they’re concentrating for the moment on getting and keeping his blood pressure down.

“The show must go on,” wrote Angela in Thursday’s Facebook post. And “go on” it did.

Gary South picked up his second win on the tour and is probably thankful that it wasn’t anywhere near like his first one (held on the weekend of March 7-8), when he and Junior Gabriel battled three times, both in search of their first tour victory. They played 31 games, over three matches. Gabriel won 20 of the games and two out of the three matches to go undefeated and claim that first title. This past weekend, the event slipped into an early Sunday morning, before Gary South completed his second undefeated run, downing Brady Brazell twice; hot seat and finals.

They met first, after Brazell had defeated Matt Marrisette 7-1 in one of the winners’ side semifinals and South had sent Daniel Autry to the loss side in a double hill battle. South staked his claim for a second tour victory with a shutout over Brazell in the hot seat match.

On the loss side, Marrisette picked up Justin Duncan, who’d defeated Robert Ingold 6-2 and, in the first money round, Eric Roberts 6-7 (Roberts racing to 10). Autry drew Dalton Messer, who’d recently eliminated Jose Irizarry and Jeff Elder, both 6-3.

Duncan shut Marrisette out 6-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was met by Autry, who’d defeated Messer 6-3. Duncan and Autry battled to double hill before Duncan prevailed (6-5) for a shot at Brazell in the semifinals.

After advancing to his first hot seat match and being defeated by South, Brazell wanted a second chance at chalking up his first event title. And he got that chance by defeating Duncan 7-5 in those semifinals. South, though, was just as anxious to chalk up his second event title and did so with a 7-4 win over Brazell in the finals.

Angela Parker (and in absentia, Herman) thanked the ownership and staff at their new venue, JAC’s Billiards, officially known as JAC’s All-American Billiards, Brews & More, for their hospitality. She also thanked title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards, Tickler Pool Ball Washing Machine, Skyline Construction, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and Dirty South Grind Apparel Co. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (July 18-19), will be hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.

Frank and McGrady split top prizes on Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop in Tennessee

Trey Frank

Scheduling tournaments can be tricky at times, because while most tour directors (TDs) look into whether there are going to be conflicting tournaments near a potential venue at a given point in time and attempt to schedule accordingly, they can’t predict what they don’t see at the time they solidify their own schedule. What can and often does happen is that after a schedule has been set and confirmed, sometimes months later, someone organizes a nearby conflicting tournament, or the TD who made the initial schedule realizes that there’s a tournament nearby that he/she didn’t know about when preparing their own schedule.
 
So it was that tour directors Herman and Angela Parker reckoned without an American Poolplayers Association regional league tournament that did, on the weekend of May 18-19, conflict with their made-months-ago-plans for a Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop at Janet Atwell’s room, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN. The event drew a relatively small field of 25, who completed their competition at the conclusion of the first day when the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, Trey Frank, and his potential opponent in the finals, Sean McGrady, agreed to a split of the top two prizes.
 
They met first in the hot seat match after Frank had shut out Robert Ingold in one of the winners’ side semifinals and McGrady had sent Brian James to the loss side 5-5 (James racing to 7) in the other one. In what proved to be the deciding match, Frank claimed the hot seat 6-2.
 
On the loss side, James and Ingold were able to get right back on track. James drew Jackson Hurst, a junior player, who’d defeated 15-year Pro competitor and room owner, Janet Atwell 4-1 and Scott Howard 4-4 (Howard racing to 7). Ingold picked up Brady Brazell, who’d eliminated Dalton Messer 7-3 and Brian Francis 7-4.
 
James and Ingold advanced to the quarterfinals; James, 7-3 over Hurst and Ingold 5-5 over Brazell, who was racing to 7. James then ended up handing Ingold his second defeat by shutout in those quarterfinals.
 
The last match of the day went double hill, as James and McGrady battled to see who’d be splitting the top two prizes with Frank in the hot seat. McGrady prevailed 5-6, he and Frank opted out of the final, and everybody went home.
 
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 Memorial Day weekend (May 25-26) will be the $1,000-added, 5th Annual North Carolina State 9-Ball Open at Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC, where defending champion Reymart Lim is expected to compete.

Moore double dips Hurst to take first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball title

Daniel Moore

Event Directors note growing field for Beasley Custom Cues 9-Ball Open in June
 
In his first appearance and win on the Viking Cues’ Q-City 9-Ball Tour, Daniel Moore came back from a winners’ side quarterfinal loss against Mark Hurst to meet and defeat him twice in a double elimination final during the May 5-6 stop on the tour. The event drew 53 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
 
Once Hurst downed Moore 6-5 in their first of three matches (Moore racing to 7), he advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Ryan Fossum. Steve Dye, in the meantime, squared off against Brady Brazell. Hurst got into the hot seat match with a 6-3 win over Fossum. Dye joined him after downing Brazell 5-4 (Brazell racing to 7). Hurst claimed the hot seat 6-3 over Dye and waited in it for the return of Moore.
 
Moore opened his loss side trip with a 7-1 victory over Justin Clark, and followed it with a double hill win (7-5) over Brandon Stiltner. This set him up to face Brazell. Fossum drew John Hoge, who’d defeated Shawn Martin, double hill (5-5), and shut out Mike Skeens to reach him.
 
Both matches for advancement to the quarterfinals went double hill; Fossum over Hoge and Moore over Brazell. Moore took the next two, 7-3, downing Fossum in the quarterfinals and Dye in the semifinals.
 
Moore also took the opening set of the true double elimination final against Hurst 7-3. Hurst got an extra rack in during the second set, but Moore claimed his first Q-City 9-Ball title with a 7-4 win in that second set.
 
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her staff at Borderline Billiards (which will host the Tour Championships later this year), 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 the weekend of May 12-13 will be hosted by Corner Pockets in Fayetteville, NC.
 
$10,000-added Beasley Custom Cues 9-Ball Open, set for June, is filling up
 
With a little over a month to go, the Beasley Custom Cues 9-Ball Open (formerly, the Don Coates Memorial) has already attracted some of the sport’s top names. Scheduled for the weekend of June 13-17 (commencing on a Wednesday) at Brass Tap & Billiards in Raleigh, NC, the $10,000-added (guaranteed) event has already signed up Johnny Archer, Sky Woodward, Rodney Morris, Brandon Shuff, and from the Philippines, Zoren James Aranas (Warren Kiamco is expected to join, but hasn’t done so, as yet). Also competing will be young, Albanian sensation Eklent (“Klenti”) Kaci, who finished as runner-up to Jayson Shaw in last October’s US Open 9-Ball Championships and chalked up two wins on the 2017 Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour.
 
Event directors Herman and Angela Parker are advising those who want to compete in this event to get in touch as soon as possible, as the event will be capped at 128 entrants. Anyone interested should call them at 336-686-5360.