While the annual Super Billiards Expo (SBE) appeared to have drawn a large majority of the pool playing public to the Philadelphia area on the last weekend in March (nearly 3,000 attended), it didn’t draw everybody. It did, though, have a way of dampening attendance at relatively nearby tournaments scheduled on the same weekend, like the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. On Saturday, March 30, Buck’s Billiards in Raleigh played host to a tournament that drew 21 entrants, and saw Daniel Mobley go undefeated through that field to win his first stop on the tour.

 

According to our records, Mobley had cashed in an event only once before and it was on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour four years ago at a stop hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN. Mobley finished fifth in the event that was won by Jonathan Pinegar, who, while Mobley was working on his first major victory this past Saturday, was in the midst of the SBE’s Pro Am Bar Box Championship that he would go on to win.

 

In the meantime, Mobley and Zac Leonard were working their way through the field at Buck’s Billiards where they’d meet twice to determine the event winner. They met first in the hot seat match, once Mobley had sent Matt Clifton to the loss side 5-2 in one of the winners’ side semifinals, and Leonard had downed Matt Raden 7-2 in the other one. Mobley claimed the hot seat over Leonard 5-4 (Leonard racing to 7).

 

On the loss side, Clifton and Raden ran right into their second straight loss. Clifton drew Ricky Dickson, who’d defeated Dave Brown 5-4 (Brown racing to 8) and Greg Speight 5-3. Raden drew a re-match against JT Ringgold, the tour’s most prolific winner, who, after his defeat at Raden’s hands, launched a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. Ringgold had most recently survived a double hill fight against Robbie House (11-6) and eliminated Elton Howard by the same score.

 

Ringgold won the re-match against Raden 11-3 and moved into the first-money-round quarterfinals against Dickson, who’d survived a straight-up race to 5, double hill match against Clifton. Ringgold won his last match in those quarterfinals, 11-3 over Dickson.

 

The Ringgold-Leonard matchup in the semifinals was predictably tight. Leonard, with the lower handicap started the match with four on the wire in a race to 11. Ringgold made it to 9, one game away from a double hill, deciding match, but Leonard chalked up his seventh rack to end it.

 

In the finals, it was Leonard playing with the higher handicap, looking to unseat Mobley, who started the match with two on the wire in a race to 7. To his credit, Mobley improved on his 5-4 victory in the hot seat match by giving up only a single rack to Leonard and claiming the event title 5-1.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Buck’s 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 (April 6-7), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Speakeazy Billiards in Sanford, NC.

Adam Bryan chalked up back-to-back 6-3 wins in the hot seat match and finals, against different opponents, to complete an undefeated run on the season opener of the 2018 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $250-added event, held on the weekend of January 6-7, drew 37 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.

 

Bryan advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Dave Brown, as Richard Limo squared off against Brian Lane in the other one. Bryan defeated Brown 7-5, and in the hot seat match, faced Limo, who’d sent Lane to the loss side 5-3. Bryan claimed the hot seat over Limo in the first of his two straight 6-3 wins, and waited on what turned out to be the return of Lane.

 

On the loss side, Lane picked up Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball veteran J.T. Ringgold, who’d defeated Chris Hiatt 10-3 and Zach Leonard 10-1 to reach him. Brown drew Jason Rogers, who’d eliminated Cody Murphy 8-2 and Kenny Daughtrey 8-6.

 

Brown and Lane got right back to work, eliminating Rogers and Ringgold; Brown, 7-5 over Rogers and Lane, 5-6 over Ringgold (Ringgold racing to 10). With Brown racing to 7, Lane won the quarterfinal match 5-5.

 

Lane won his semifinal re-match against Limo 5-2. Bryan completed his undefeated run with a second 6-3 win, this time over Lane, in the finals.

 

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.

 

More often than not, by the time a player manages to chalk up a win in a money tournament, he or she has 'cashed' in previous attempts. Oftentimes, you'll discover that a given player has been on a tour for quite a while, collecting the lower amounts of cash available in a given tournament, slowly working his or her way up an earnings ladder, progressing from a payout for the tie at 9th through 12th, or 7th and 8th, on up to 4th, etc. On the weekend of June 11-12, at a stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour that drew 42 entrants to Brass Tap Billiards in Raleigh, the undefeated winner (Randy Hodges) and runner-up (Chris Petoletti) both earned their first-ever chunk of change on the tour.

 

They met twice in this 10-Ball event; once in the battle for the hot seat and again, in the finals. Hodges had sent Brandon Walton to the loss side 5-4 in one winners' side semifinal, while Petoletti was busy sending Frank Owens over 6-4. Just being a part of the winners' side semifinals guaranteed them their first look at prize money, since a loss would have put them into the first money round (the tie for 5th/6th) on the loss side. The two victories guaranteed the two of them a finish among the top three. Hodges made that a guarantee of first place or runner-up with a 5-2 win over Petoletti, who moved to the loss side with all three of the possibilities still in play.

 

On the loss side, Walton ran into Buddy Fisher, who'd gotten by Josh Williams 6-4 and Brian Floyd 6-5. Owens drew Steve Page, recent winner over Dave Brown 10-6, and Justin Martin 10-7.  Owens and Walton got right back to work, defeating Page (5-7; Page, racing to 10), and Fisher (6-1), respectively, and advancing to face each other in the quarterfinals.

 

Owens left Walton in fourth place with a 5-4 win, and had his short, loss-side run ended by Petoletti in the semifinals 6-2. Petoletti and Hodges squared off in the finals to compete for a $250 differential in their first Q City 9-Ball payday, along with, for the winner, free entry into a North Carolina State Championship in November. Hodges completed his undefeated run with a 5-4 win (Petoletti racing to 6) to claim his first Q City 9-Ball title, along with $600 in cash.

 

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brass Tap Billiards in Raleigh, along with sponsors Viking Cues and Delta-13 racks. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for June 18-19, will be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Cary, NC.

Handicaps, as they apply to the varied billiard sports, are often debated, though few would argue that they are a reasonable means for leveling the playing field between two players with a discernible gap in their skills.  On the Great Southern Billiard Tour, players race to their ranking, giving, as a relevant example, Tyler Hess, racing to 4, an advantage over a veteran like Phillip Britt who has to win nine games, before Hess wins his four. Hess took advantage of that handicap to down Britt in the finals of the June 13-14 stop on the GSBT and chalk up his first win on the tour. The $750-added event drew 38 entrants to Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.

 

Advancing to a winners' side semifinal, Hess faced another GSBT veteran racing to 9 – Greg Dix – as Britt squared off against Matt Hall, racing to 4, in the other. It was Hall and Hess advancing to the hot seat match; Hall 4-6 over Britt and Hess 4-7 over Dix. In a straight-up race to 4, Hess took the hot seat 4-1 and waited on Britt's return from a three-match run on the loss side.

 

In the first of his three, Britt faced Robert Otto, who'd defeated Andy Bowden 5-4, and Eric Norton 5-2 to reach Britt. Dix drew Dave Brown, 7-4 winner over Scott Crane and 7-3 winner over Tony DeGuzman. Britt  eliminated Otto 9-3, as Dix was busy winning a double hill match over Brown. In the quarterfinal, straight-up race to 9 between the two GSBT vets, Britt prevailed 9-7. for a shot at the man who'd sent him to the loss side, Matt Hall.

 

Once again, Hall's handicap advantage proved to be important, as he defeated Britt a second time, by the same score he'd defeated him in the winners' side semifinal, 4-6. So it was the 4-rated players squaring off in the finals. The fought to double hill before Hess finished things up to claim his first GSBT title. 

 

Shannon Daulton thanked the ownership and staff at Shore Thing Billiards, as well as sponsors Nick Varner Cues and Cases, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Lomax Custom Cues, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards, Delta-13 and AZBilliards. The next stop on the GSBT, scheduled for June 27-28, will be hosted by the Coliseum in Greenville, SC. With 40 entrants, $1,000 will be added to this event. With 64 entrants, that amount will be increased to $2,000.

 

The hot seat and finals of the Great Southern Billiard Tour (GSBT) stop on the weekend of January 14-15 was a familiar scene for Michael Fuller and B.J. Ussery. In 2011, the two met in the finals of the Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour six times, with Fuller winning all six of those final matchups. On the GSBT this past weekend, they were at it again, only this time, it was Ussery who survived their hot seat and final match to go undefeated. The $1,500 event drew 42 entrants to Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC.

Their first matchup in this event occurred in the battle for the hot seat. They’d sent their winners’ side final four opponents west by identical 11-5 scores; Ussery over Younger Chapman and Fuller over Brad Shearer. They then battled to double hill, before Ussery prevailed to sit in the hot seat, waiting for Fuller’s return.

Fuller’s trip back was almost derailed by Brian White, who’d been sent to the loss side by Ussery in a winners’ side final eight contest. White then went on to chalk up four straight before falling to Fuller in the semifinals. White got by Johnny Griffin 11-7 and Larry Kressel 11-9 to pick up Shearer. Chapman drew James Blackburn, who’d defeated Dave Brown, double hill, and Vernon Rogers 7-5.  White moved into the quarterfinals with an 11-6 victory over Shearer, and was met by Blackburn, who’d survived a double hill struggle over Chapman. 

White advanced to the semifinals with an 11-6 victory over Blackburn, but had his four-match winning streak snapped by Fuller. Fuller dropped him into third place 11-9 and turned back for yet another finals match against Ussery. In the opening set of a potential true double elimination final, Ussery prevailed 11-9 to complete his undefeated weekend on the GSBT.

Tour director Shannon Daulton extended thanks to owners Dave and Inky Huffman and the staff of Brown’s Billiards, as well as sponsors Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Nick Varner Cues and Cases, Mike Davis Exterminating, Tiger Products and Delta-13 racks.

Later this month, Daulton will travel to Elizabeth, IN to “do some playing of (his) own” at the Derby City Classic, scheduled for January 20-28. Next stop on the GSBT will be February 11-12 at QMaster Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.