After the 1st NC State 9-Ball Championships were won by Larry Nevel in 2013, Mike Davis, Jr. won the next three between 2014 and 2016 He skipped three years in which Shannon Fitch (’17), Reymart Lim (’18) and Keith Bennett (’19) won, before returning to the annual event in 2020, downing Justin Martin in the finals. BJ Ussery claimed the title in 2021 and Jesus Atencio won it last year. Mike Davis, Jr. chalked up his fifth NC State 9-Ball Championship title this past weekend (Feb. 25-26), going undefeated and downing Brian White twice; hot seat and finals. The $1,000-added event, held under the auspices of the PremierBilliards.com TOP (The Open Players) Tour, drew 38 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
A previously-scheduled Ladies event did not occur when it drew only 5 women, including a pair of junior competitors, Hayleigh Marion and Skylar Hess. The women were offered the opportunity at a reduced entry to compete in the Open event and did so, comporting themselves quite well actually.
“Even when they lost,” said tour director, Herman Parker, “the fact that they’d won a few, collectively, against some strong (male) competition was pretty significant.”
Skylar Hess, a regular on the Junior International Championship circuit (JIC), defeated Jason Blackwell before losing to Barry Mashburn and Kirk Overcash. Hayleigh Marion won two on the winners’ side and one on the loss side before being knocked out by Q City 9-Ball veteran and multiple event winner, Reid Vance. Christy Norris, who plays on the tour regularly in mixed-gender events, came within of match of advancing to the first money round, before she forfeited a match against her significant other, Barry Mashburn (who promptly loss in the subsequent round, which led to some gentle ‘ribbing’ after the fact).
“I was super-impressed with the womens’ play this past weekend,” said Parker.
Davis and Brian White met first in the hot seat match after Davis had defeated Clint Clark 7-3 in one of the winners’ side semifinals and White had downed Don Lilly 7-1 in the other one. Davis claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited on White’s return.
On the loss side, Davis actually had two “White”s to watch, because Hunter White was working his way through the bracket on the loss side as well. Hunter had eliminated Mark Bolton 7-3 and in the first money round, Barry Mashburn 7-4 to draw Lilly. Clark picked up Josh Padron, who’d recently defeated Kelly Farrar 7-3 and to enter that first money round too, survived a double hill battle versus Scott Howard to reach him.
Hunter White defeated Lily 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, met up with Clint Clark, who’d eliminated Padron 7-4. Hunter White then downed Clark 7-2 in those quarterfinals, leaving Davis (waiting in the hot seat) in the position of wondering which “White” to watch as the two of them squared off in the semifinals.
One “White” won as the other went down. Brian defeated Hunter 7-3 for a second crack at Davis in the finals. Davis and Brian White mirrored their hot seat match score, which gave Davis his fifth NC State 9-Ball Championship title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Breaktime Billiards for their hospitality (and sponsorship of the tour), as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com TOP Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 18-19 will be the 2023 West Virginia State 9-Ball Open, to be hosted by The League Room in Parkersburg, WV. The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this coming weekend (March 4-5), will be hosted by West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC.
Roland Garcia with Tommy Terrebonne and room owner Keith Hulin
It’s been several years since Keith Hulin hosted a major event at his room, Emerald Billiards, in New Iberia, LA. This year, he welcomed players back for the $16,000 added Bayou State Classic.
The star-studded field included two-time Derby City Classic Master of the Table Fedor Gorst, reigning Derby City Classic One Pocket champ Tony Chohan, 2020 Derby City Classic Nine Ball champ Lee Vann Corteza, current Music City Open champ Roberto Gomez, 2021 US Open One Pocket champ Justin Hall, BCA & One Pocket Hall of Famer Alex Pagulayan and the newly minted 2023 Cajun Coast Classic 9 Ball champ Roland Garcia. Others spotted around the room were two-time Derby City Classic One Pocket champ Billy Thorpe, current Space City Open X One Pocket champ John Gabriel, current US Open Bank Pool champ & One Pocket Hall of Famer Scott Frost, BCA Hall of Famer Rodney Morris, former ESPN World champ CJ Wiley, current Iron City Open One Pocket champ Josh Roberts and current Texas Open 9 Ball champ Vitaliy Patsura.
The event kicked off with the $1,000 added One Ball One Pocket Championship – $200 entry, single elimination and races to four. The eighteen player field was whittled down to two players. Fedor Gorst took it down 4-2 leavingRoberto Gomez in second place.
The main event – the $10,000 added One Pocket Championship – had 25 players who paid a $300 entry fee to compete in this double elimination, race to three alternate break format.
Notable first round matches saw Justin Hall defeat Jeff de Luna 3-1 and Roberto Gomez blitz Lee Vann Corteza 3-0 while John Gabriel edged out Mike DeLawder 3-2.
Next round had Alex Pagulayan squeak out a tough oneover Scott Frost as did John Gabriel against Hunter White – both matches 3-2 and in a repeat of the one ball one pocket finals, Gorst beat Gomez again 3-1.
In third round action, Gorst got past John Gabriel and Billy Thorpe succumbed to Justin Hall – both 3-1 while Tony Chohan went down to Roland Garcia in a close one 3-2.
Hall just got by Pagulayan 3-2 while the other winners side match saw Gorst smoke Garcia 3-0.
In dead punch, Gorst demolished Hall in hot seat action 3-0 and claimed a seat in the finals. Justin headed west only to be derailed by the Gomez freight train. After losing to Gorst, Roberto started mowing down his opponents – White 3-2 and then Drew Jordan, Thorpe, Garcia, Pagulayan and Hall – all 3-1.
Back in the finals again, the smoking hot Roberto got his revenge against Fedor and took the title down in an extended race to four – score 4-0.
The final event of this tournament was the $5,000 added Open 9 Ball Championship Playing on seven footers, a full field of 128 paid their $100 entries to compete in this double elimination, alternate break with races to 9/7.
Still red hot, Gomez plowed through Dallas Broussard 9-2, David Walker 9-3, Jeff de Luna 9-5, Derek Fontenet 9-6 and Scott Frost 9-7 to arrive as one of the final four on the winners side.
Making his way through the bracket, Roland had wins over Jeremy Howard and Rodney Morris – both 9-4, beat back a challenge from Jacob Pennison 9-8 and demolished Tookie Babineaux 9-0 and Hunter White 9-5. Finally arriving to play Gomez to get into the hot seat match, it was a hard fought battle but he survived 9-8 and Gomez headed west.
In the bottom half of the chart, Lee Vann Corteza was making his presence felt as his victims included Oscar Ruiz 9-3, Jason Procell 9-2, Chris Facundus 9-3, Fedor Gorst 9-7 and Sergio Rivas 9-4 making it to the final four on the winners side.
Meanwhile, Zach Marquardt was quietly working his way through the field as he notched victories over Brent Prade 9-5, Zack Louviere 9-4, Dillon Hayes 9-5, Steve Lenz 9-6 and Tony Chohan 9-1 to then face Lee Vann Corteza.
Lee Vann moved on to the hot seat match after handily defeating Zach 9-3. Hungry for a title, Roland dispatched Lee Vann 9-5 west and secured his berth in the finals.
Champions were falling right and left as they all battled for that other seat in the finals. When it was all over, Gomez had survived after eliminating Rivas 7-6, Gorst 7-5 and finally Corteza 7-6 to arrive at the finals battered and bruised.
As this was true double elimination, Roberto had to win two matches to claim the title. However, it was not to be! In a nailbiter of a match, Roland claimed the match and title 9-8 giving him back to back title wins!
Congratulations to the three Gs – Gomez, Garcia & Gorst – as the new Bayou State Classic champions!
Local sponsors for this event included APA Arcadiana, Oubre Memorial & Burial Vaults, LLC, Chops Meats, Arceneaux Ford, Global Vessel & Tank, FLOQUIP, Inc. and Emerald Billiards.
Sponsors for this event included Emerald Billiards and PoolActionTV.com as well as JB Cases, Durbin Custom Cues, Aramith and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Thanks go out to Keith Hulin and his staff for rolling out the red carpet for all the players and fans as well as Tournament Director Jimmy Rogers for doing a great job.
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Larry Schwartz, Josh Roberts, Scott Frost, Hunter White, Mike DeLawder and Ray Hansen for their topnotch commentary.
We’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Lomax Custom Cues, Savage Billiards, Durbin Custom Cues, Simonis, Aramis, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore in Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is the Inaugural $14,000 added Skinny Bob’s Nine Ball Classic in Round Rock, TX. Tournaments include a one pocket division, ladies nine ball and open nine ball. Dates are February 14th-20th – hope to see you there!
Hunter White hadn’t won a stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour since the last weekend in February, 2021. It was the weekend that North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, signed an executive order restoring indoor service to bars and increased seating capacity for indoor sporting events,after the height of the pandemic had passed. White continued to compete that year, cashing in nine events and in the end, making it his best earnings year since he recorded his first here at AZBilliards in 2014. His reported winnings in 2022, paled in comparison with only five cash finishes.
This past weekend (Sat., Jan. 28), White left little doubt that his head was ‘back in the game’ by opening his 2023 campaign with an undefeated run to the hot seat at a stop on the tour, winning, on average, four out of every five games he played (45-10; 82%). He and Jeff Abernathy, looking for his first victory on the tour since 2019, split the top two prizes when they opted out of playing a final match. The $500-added event drew 39 entrants to Randolph Billiards in Hickory, NC.
After an opening round bye, all 10 of the racks chalked up against White were recorded in his first three matches (3, 5, 2), which brought him to a winners’ side semifinal match against Matt Lumston, who’d just sent Abernathy to the loss side. Ian Watson and Marcus Pendley squared off in the other winners’ side semifinal.
White shut Lumston out. Watson joined him in the hot seat match after dispatching Pendley to the ‘west,’ 5-6 (Pendley racing to 8). White claimed the hot seat with his second shutout in a row.
On the loss side, Abernathy defeated Tim Williams 9-2 and Jason Blackwell 9-4, advancing to the first money round to face Pendley. Lumston drew Thomas Sansone, who’d defeated Joe Frasier 7-2 and Jerry Hilton 7-3, to reach him.
Abernathy and Sansone handed Pendley and Lumston their second straight loss; Abernathy downing Pendley 9-6, as Sansone eliminated Lumston 7-4. Abernathy then defeated Sansone 9-4 in the quarterfinals.
In what proved to be the final match of the event, Abernathy gave up only a single rack to Ian Watson and won their semifinal match. The split-cash accommodation, which had been reached prior to the semifinal match, left White, occupant of the hot seat, as the official winner of the event and Abernathy as its runner-up.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Randolph Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 4-5), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Action Billiards in Inman, SC.
One week ahead of the ongoing Derby City Classic at Caesars Southern Indiana Resort and Casino in Elizabeth, IN, Railyard Billiards & Sports Pub in Louisville, KY, about two hours away, held what is hoped to be an annual event, the 2023 Mini Derb Open. There were four tournaments at the January 12-18 event in Louisville; an $8,000-added One Pocket that drew 11 entrants, a $4,000-added 10-Ball that drew 20, a $3,000-added 9-Ball with 60 entrants and 12-entrant Bank Ring Game.
Looking to defend his three 2022 Derby City Classic titles (9-Ball Banks, One Pocket and Overall Championship), Russian ‘phenom,’ Fedor Gorst traveled to Louisville for a little pre-Derby practice and won all four of the Mini Derb Open events, pocketing enough money to more than pay for any and all incurred expenses as he made his way northwest to Elizabeth, IN. If he doesn’t retain any of his titles at the Derby City Classic (he has already finished in the four-way tie for fifth place in the 10-Ball Bigfoot Challenge), it won’t be for lack of practice that he logged at the Mini Derby Open.
Small in field size (11), but big on talent, the One Pocket event, which opened the 2023 Mini Derb Open, featured some of the nation’s top One Pocket competitors; Scott Frost (Derby City One Pocket champion, 2010), Tony Chohan, John Gabriel, Sky Woodward (Derby City’s 2019 9-Ball and Overall Champion) and Billy Thorpe (who’s won the Derby City’s One Pocket event twice, ’17 & ’20) among them. Fedor Gorst faced three of those five on his four-match march to the title. Following a bye, he downed Woodward, double hill, Hunter White 5-1 and fought Chohan to double hill before claiming the hot seat. Scott Frost, in the meantime, who lost his opening match to Woodward 5-3, won five on the loss side, including a quarterfinal victory over Thorpe and semifinal win over Chohan to face Gorst in the finals. Gorst downed Frost 5-2 to claim the One Pocket title.
In the 20-entrant 10-Ball Open, Gorst got by six opponents, including Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski and claimed the hot seat 9-7 over Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura. In the meantime, John Gabriel, sent to the loss side in a winners’ side semifinal by Patsura 9-7, got by Sky Woodward (double hill), Fortunski 7-5 in the quarterfinals and in a rematch, Patsura, double hill in the semifinals. Gorst defeated Gabriel 9-4 in the opening set of a true double elimination final.
In the largest event of the week (60 entrants), the Mini Derb 9-Ball Open, Gorst faced Poland’s Bart Czapla twice; hot seat and finals. Gorst faced a total of seven opponents and didn’t give up more than two racks until he’d faced his fourth, Scott Frost, whom he sent to the loss side 9-4. He followed that with a winners’ side semifinal win over Mieszko Fortunski 9-5 and in the battle for the hot seat, downed Czapla for the first time 9-3.
On the loss side, Louis DeMarco who’d lost his second-round match to John Farrar 9-7, was working on an eight-match, loss-side winning streak that had included victories over Vitaliy Patsura, Sky Woodard (double hill), Scott Frost and in the quarterfinals, Mieszko Fortunski 7-5. Czapla stopped DeMarco’s loss-side streak 7-2 in the semifinals, only to be defeated himself by Gorst in the finals 9-2.
Gorst wrapped up his weekend in style. He completed his four-title performance by winning the Mini Derb Banks Ring Game. He and Earl Age split the top two prizes; $5,500 total.
Event representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Railyard Billiards for their hospitality, as well as all of the players who competed in the inaugural Mini Derb Open. Thanks were also extended to event sponsors Diamond Billiard Products, Jam Up Apparel, Michelle Griffin (Realtor – Schuler Bauer Real Estate) and Pace-O-Matic.
The Brass Tap & Billiards of Raleigh, NC has a long history of hosting tournaments and this year was no exception. After a layoff since 2019 due to the pandemic, owner Richard Kuntz welcomed players and fans back to the $15,000 added Beasley Open.
Presented by Doug Beasley of Beasley Custom Cues and special sponsors PoolActionTV.com and Brass Tap & Billiards, this year’s tournament had two events – One Pocket and Open 9 Ball.
Posting their $200 entry fees, the $5,000 added double elimination One Pocket division drew 48 players. Played on Diamond tables and racing to three, the finals would be one extended race to four. After the players auction and draw, the matches began.
With twelve players receiving a first round bye, Josh Roberts and Can Salim were not so fortunate. Josh survived that match 3-1 and went on to defeat Asad Khan 3-0, Justin Hall 3-1 and Brandon Shuff 3-2. On a similar path, John Morra had wins over Francesco Candela 3-1, Larry Pierce 3-2, Hunter White 3-1 and Corey Sykes 3-0. Then, in a hard fought match to reach the hot seat, Morra prevailed over Roberts 3-2.
Meanwhile, in the other portion of the bracket, Alex Pagulayan and Tony Chohan were on the march to the hot seat. After drawing a first round bye, Alex defeated Carlo Biado 3-2, Tony Pete 3-0 and Shane Wolford 3-1. Tony was the victor over Jesse Gilbert 3-2 and then skunked Robbie House 3-0, Brady Norris 3-0 and Omar Al Shaheen 3-0. He then received his own 3-0 thumping by Alex!
The hot seat match was all Pagulayan as he beat back Morra – also 3-0. John headed west and Alex moved to the finals.
Morra watched as Chohan edged out Biado 3-2 only to be relegated to third place 3-0. Looking for revenge, Tony went to the finals.
Still on a tear, Tony sliced through Alex in under an hour winning four gamesstraight to claim the title. Congratulations, Tony! Good tournament, Alex!
Johann Chua and Bader Al Awadhi
The $10,000 added Nine Ball Open began on Friday night following the players auction and draw. Ninety six players posted their $150 entry fees to play. The format was alternate breaks, rack your own with the nine on the spot and the two in the back, no soft breaks and races to 9/7.
Racing across the top half of the bracket was Johann Chua and Chia-Chen Hsieh. Playing to get to the hot seat match, Chua spanked Hsieh 9-1. The bottom portion of the bracket saw Bader Alawadhi win over John Morra 9-5.
Hot seat action again was all Chua as he locked up his seat in the finals 9-1. Bader went to the one loss side to await an opponent. Morra defeated Roberts 7-5 and then was eliminated by the same score leaving John with another third place finish.
The finals were one extended race to thirteen. Chua rocketed out to a 7-1 lead until Alawadhi caught a gear and tied the match at eight games each! Johann finally won the next two games to reach 10-8. Bader fought back to win a couple more until his opponent pulled away to win the match 13-10. Congratulations, Johann! Good shooting, Bader!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Richard Kuntz and his staff for another fantastic event.
In addition, we’d like to thank our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Lomax Custom Cues, Simonis, Aramith, Durbin Custom Cues, Savage Billiard Apparel, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX and the Action Palace of Dayton, OH.
Our next event is the 4th Annual $7,500 added Big Boi Classic at Peyton’s Place in Knoxville, TN. The dates are November 18th-20th – hope to see you there!
As this appears on the page, Junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth is either on his way or at Pat Fleming’s International Open in Norfolk, VA to compete in the 18 & Under Boys’ championship event of the 2022 Junior International Championship (JIC) series. As a warm-up to the event this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 29), he travelled to Columbia, SC to compete in a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour at Overtime Billiards. He went undefeated through the $500-added event that drew 33 entrants and marked his sixth victory on the tour since 2020. It’s his second tour victory of this year (he won the last stop on the tour a month ago), to go along with finishing first in the JIC’s ProAm Division (which earned him a paid entry to Puerto Rico’s 10-Ball Open later this month), the Dynaspheres Cup’s Junior 9-Ball event (20 & Under) and a third place finish in Shane Van Boening’s Junior Open, held in conjunction with Matchroom Sport’s US Open last month.
The clearest sign of his progress since he first came on the scene is not just the visible improvement of his skills. On the Q City 9-Ball Tour (and elsewhere), his ranking, based on the number of games he has to win to complete a match has steadily increased.
“Four years ago,” noted Q City 9-Ball Tour director Herman Parker, “he came into our events as a ‘5.’ He’s a ‘10’ now.”
Hollingsworth and Hunter White (himself, a recently-former junior competitor, also a ‘10’ now) battled twice for this event title; hot seat and finals. Hollingsworth won them both.
They advanced through the field from opposite ends of the bracket with Hollingsworth facing Jason Blackwell in one winners’ side semifinal and White squaring off against Jesse Draper in the other. Hollingsworth fought a double hill battle before advancing to the hot seat match against Jason Blackwell. Hunter gave up only a single rack to Draper. Hollingsworth then gave White a taste of his own ‘winners’ side semifinal’ medicine, allowing him only a single rack to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, in the first money round, Blackwell picked up Calvin Lee, who’d recently defeated Will Hammer and Josh Miller, both 6-4, which, versus Miller, was double hill. Draper drew Phil Stalls, who’d eliminated Stevie McClinton and Matt Lucas, both 6-3.
Draper advanced with a double hill win over Stalls. Blackwell did not, falling to Lee 6-3. Lee then defeated Draper 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Lee almost made the semifinals ‘double hill’ interesting, but fell a game short, as Hunter White won 10-4 (Lee racing to 6). The likelihood of White falling to Hollingsworth a second time with only a single rack to show for it was slim. As had happened in the semifinals, the final match came within a game of double hill. Hollingsworth, though, completing what could only be described as good practice for this coming week on his schedule, completed his undefeated run through the field with a 10-8 victory for his sixth Q City 9-Ball Tour win.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Overtime Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, 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 (Nov. 5-6) will be hosted by Janet Atwell’s Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
All year long, one pocket aficionados look forward to the biggest tournament of the year!
Held in Jefferson, LA, a suburb of New Orleans, players and fans streamed into James Leone’s Buffalo’s on Bloomfield for the Seventh Annual Buffalo’s Pro Classic. Local sponsors for this year’s event – Buffalo’s, PoolActionTV, Lomax Custom Cues, Joseph P. Long, Aramith, ART CO, Diamond Billiards and Fort Worth Billiards – added a total of $26,000! $20,000 was added to the Pro One Pocket, $5,000 to the Open Nine Ball and $1,000 to the One Ball One Pocket.
Some of the best one pocket players came to play including Buffalo’s house pro, defending champ and current US Open One Pocket and Midwest Open One Pocket champ Tony Chohan.He was joined by current Scotty Townsend Memorial One Pocket champ Alex Pagulayan, current Iron City One Pocket champ Josh Roberts, this year’s Derby City One Pocket and Master of the Table Fedor Gorst, last week’s Big Tyme Classic One Pocket Champ Robert Frost and last year’s One Ball One Pocket king John Morra.
Billy Thorpe and Robbie Langford
Wednesday night kicked off with the 32 player One Ball One Pocket tournament. Posting a $200 entry fee, the format was single elimination with races to four. Including the players auction, there was a total purse of $21,430!
Two-time Derby City Classic One Pocket champion, Billy Thorpe, plowed through the field on his way to the finals leaving Shane Winters, Hunter White, Josh Roberts and John Morra in his wake. The always tough Robbie Langford beat Kenny Nguyen, Mike DeLawder, Ike Runnels and Evan Lunda to get there. The final match was all Billy as he smoked Robbie 4-0 to claim the title. Congratulations, Billy! Good tournament, Robbie!
The following evening, the $2,000 entry fee double elimination one pocket event began with a rousing player auction and was followed by the players meeting and draw. Twenty eight players racing to five and competing for a record $228,600 total purse! WOW!!!
Play began with Corey Deuel edging out Justin Hall 5-4 while Fedor Gorst skunked Sky Woodward 5-0. Ike Runnels had Danny Smith down 4-0 but ended up losing the match 5-4! Josh Roberts outmoved Roberto Gomez 5-1 and Billy Thorpe escaped with a 5-4 win over Robert Frost as did Scott Frost over Alex Calderon by the same score. Chip Compton got off to a great start as he defeated Warren Kiamco 5-1.
Gorst won over Deuel 5-4, Evan Lunda spanked Earl Strickland 5-0 and Chohan beat Smith 5-3. Jeremy Seaman skunked Omar Al Shaheen 5-0 and Thorpe dusted Compton 5-2. Frost had Alex Pagulayan 3-0 and watched his opponent win five in a row to claim the match.
Fedor and Evan went down to the wire with Gorst claiming the win while Tony breezed past Jeremy 5-0. Billy started out strong against the Lion but he went down 5-2.
Down to four on the winners side, Chohan battled Gorst to a 5-3 win while Roberts kept Pagulayan off the board with a 5-0 score. Tony and Josh moved to the hot seat match where Chohan sent Roberts west to await an opponent – score 5-1.
After losing to Gorst in the third round, Lunda defeated Mike DeLawder 5-1 and Compton 5-3. Moving into his match with Pagulayan, he hung tough but Alex pulled out the win 5-4.
Calderon had a tougher road. After losing his first match, he beat Deuel 5-1, Strickland 5-2, Hunter White 5-4 and Thorpe 5-3. He went down to the case game with Gorst but was eliminated 5-4.
This set up the match between Fedor and Alex Pagulayan. A man on a mission, he defeated Gorst 5-1 and then Josh Roberts 5-2. And to the finals he went!!!
Since this was true double elimination, Alex would have to beat Tony Chohan both sets to claim the title. With tens of thousands of dollars on the line, both players put their heads down and played their hearts out.
Alex won the first two games and then Tony won three in a row. Tied again at 4-4, you could’ve heard a pin drop in the arena. Nerves got them both as they both missed makeable balls but this one is finally in the books! Tony Chohan successfully defended his title!
Alex Pagulayan and Tony Chohan
Congratulations, Tony! Great tournament, Alex!
While the Pro One Pocket was in progress, 115 players filled the house on Saturday night to play in the Open Nine Ball event. Familiar faces such as defending champ Warren Kiamco, Sky Woodward, Roberto Gomez, Corey Deuel, Omar Al Shaheen, Justin Hall, Chip Compton, Charlie Bryant, Chris Reinhold, James Baraks, Richie Richeson, Robb Saez, Shane Winters, Jeremy Seaman, Sergio Rivas, Mike DeLawder, Justin Espinosa, Joey Aguzin, Derek Fontenet, Robert Frost and Kristina Tkach joined the fray.
Played on seven foot Diamonds, players paid $100 to play in this double elimination portion of the event. The format was rack your own, alternate breaks with races to seven until down to the final sixteen players. At that point, it was single elimination – races to nine.
Omar Al Shaheen and Jeremy Seaman tied for third place. James Baraks moved into the finals to face Sky Woodward.
The finals were neck and neck until the very end! Sky won the match 9-8!!! Congratulations, Sky!! Good tournament, James!
It was a helluva week! Great pool everywhere you looked! Once again, PoolActionTV would like to thank James Leone and his staff for going the extra mile as they took care of all the players and fans.
We’d like to thank Tournament Director Jason Hill for doing a great job running the show – always with a smile on his face!
Last but not least, we’d like to thank our fans and sponsors. They include ART CO, JB Cases, CR’s Sports Bar, Hanshew Jump Cues, EnviroAssessments, Lomax Custom Cues, StraightPoolEye, Durbin Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diamond Billiard Products and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore.
Our next stop is Leisure Time Billiards & Sports Bar in East Moline, IL for the $16,000 added Bar Box Classic featuring three divisions – Ten Ball, Eight Ball and One Pocket. Dates are June 1st-5th – hope to see you there!
Over the years, we’ve reported on any number of individuals who’ve won their first event on any given or multiple numbers of regional tours. We’ve also reported on competitors who’ve returned from long absences away from the tables and chalked up their first win since however long it may have been, most notably in these last two years. According to Herman Parker, tour director of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, Clay Davis’ official* (did not complete finals) win on last weekend’s (Feb. 26-27) tour stop marked his first win in almost eight years, predating the tour’s reporting to us about their events. He’d been competing all along, with his cash payouts on the tour being reported to us as far back as 2016. Ten of them altogether, but no tour wins.
“He’s the player who’s gone the longest time between wins on our tour,” said Parker.
Davis and Paul Johnson met only that once, in the first set of the tournament’s true double elimination finals. The $500-added event drew a hefty 62 entrants to Rock House Billiards in Gastonia, NC.
They were both a part of the two winners’ side semifinals. As Davis was battling Trent Talbert to double hill before prevailing, Johnson was being outdone by Rory Dover 6-3. Davis claimed the hot seat over Dover in a shutout.
On the loss side, Johnson picked up Runal Bhatt, who’d defeated Zach Martin 7-2 and Matt Lucas 7-4 to reach him. Talbert drew Cole Lewis, who’d recently eliminated Hunter White 8-5 (White racing to 10) and Andrew “Tiger” Carlisle 8-3.
Johnson downed Bhatt 6-5 (Bhatt racing to 7), as Lewis was busy shutting out Talbert. Johnson eliminated Lewis 6-4 in the quarterfinals that followed.
The semifinal between Dover and Johnson was a straight-up, race-to-6 rematch of their winners’ side semifinal. This time, they battled to double hill, before Johnson finished it, in what was probably an unwitting attempt to face and prevent Davis from chalking up that first tour win in eight years.
Johnson continued that attempt in the opening set of the true double elimination final. With one ‘bead on the wire’ in a race to 7, Johnson won that first set 6-2, at which point, the two of them negotiated a split. As the occupant of the hot seat at the time, Davis claimed the official event title, chalking up that first (albeit, with an asterisk) title in eight years.
Tour director Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Rock House Grill and Billiards, 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 (March 5-6), will be a $500-added event, hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Two months ago, in late July, Greenville, SC’s Landon Hollingsworth attained something of a short-term goal when, in his third attempt, he won the Billiards Education Foundation’s Junior National Championships in Las Vegas. For the first time in the history of that event, players were allowed to compete in more than one division of the three each available for male and female competitors. In his third attempt at these national championships, Hollingsworth (16) took advantage, signing on to the 18 & Under division and the 16 & Under division. He won them both to become the first junior player to win two divisions in the first year of eligibility to do so.
“What I’d accomplished,” he said, “didn’t really hit me that day. It did the day after, though.”
This past weekend (Saturday, Sept. 11), he claimed his fourth Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour title when he went undefeated through the $610-added event that drew 54 entrants to Rock House Tavern Sports in Gastonia, NC. The win made 2021 Hollingsworth’s best recorded earnings year to date since, in 2018 at the age of 13, he began appearing on the payout lists of the tour and other events, scattered from coast to coast. Look for a profile of this young competitor in the October issue of our monthly magazine, Billiard Buzz (BUZZ tab on our Web site’s front page).
The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour acknowledged the 20th anniversary of 9-11 with a brief message and a moment of silence before getting underway with the tournament. It didn’t finish until well into the early hours of Sunday, September 12.
In a sense, Hollingsworth defeated the Rock House Tavern Sports defending champion, Justin Duncan, in the finals. Duncan had won the previous Q City event at the venue last month (August 14). Defeated in a double hill battle by Hunter White in the fourth winners’ side round in this event, Duncan won five in a row on the loss side (two of them by forfeit) for the right to face Hollingsworth in the finals.
Hunter White, who split the top two prizes at last weekend’s Carolina Cup event with Brian White, advanced to face Brent Newman in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Hollingsworth, in the meantime, squared off against Q City 9-Ball Tour veteran Hank Powell. White got into the hot seat match with a 10-3 victory over Newman. Hollingsworth joined him after sending Powell to the loss side 8-4. An 8-3 win sent Powell off to the semifinals and left Hollingsworth in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Duncan began his trek back to the finals with a 6-1 victory over Brian Francis and then leapfrogged over a forfeit (by Hunter Zayas) in the first money round to draw Powell. Newman picked up Jason Blackwell, who’d eliminated Robert Perez 5-3 and Michael Robertson 5-2.
Duncan became the beneficiary of two straight forfeit wins, when Powell bowed out, advancing Duncan from the first money round (7/8) to the quarterfinals without having to lift his cue. Blackwell joined him after defeating Newman 5-3.
Duncan showed little signs of any ‘rest rust’ as he downed Blackwell 6-3 in those quarterfinals and then, in a rematch against Hunter White, earned the right to a shot at Hollingsworth, waiting for him in the hot seat. For the second time, Duncan and White fought back and forth to double hill, before Duncan dropped the last 9-ball.
Hollingsworth lost no time in claiming the event title. He gave up only a single rack in the finals to chalk up his fourth win on the Q City 9-Ball Tour.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Rock House Tavern Sports, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Diamond Brat, Federal Savings Bank’s Mortgage Division and AZBilliards. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Sept. 18-19, will be a $500-added event, to be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
Nikki Mancuso returns to the tables to go undefeated in short-field Ladies Cup
The Labor Day weekend and its multiplicity of places to go and things to do may have had an attendance impact on the 2nd Annual Carolina Cup, held under the auspices of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour at Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC over the past weekend (Sept. 3-5). While the 2020 inaugural event drew 77 entrants, the 2021 version hosted only 40 in the $1,000-added Open event and drew 13 for the $500-added Ladies Cup.
Brian and Hunter White (no relation) ended up splitting the top two prizes in the Open event. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat at the time of their decision, Brian White became the event’s official winner. For the second year in a row, Hunter White was the event’s runner-up, having finished behind Josh Roberts in the inaugural event. Hunter had won nine matches on the loss side to earn his spot in the finals that never happened.
Nikki Mancuso
In the Ladies Cup, Nikki Mancuso went undefeated through the field, returning once again to the tables after a protracted absence. Most likely best known for her presence among members of the WPBA back in the ‘00s, her best recorded earnings year, to date, was 2004, when she was cashing in on the Viking Tour, a pair of WPBA events (Delta & San Diego Classics) and the Atlanta Women’s Open. In 2008, she and Katie Cowan “shared top honors” on the Carolina Ladies J. Pechauer tour’s debut stop that year. Eight years later, she showed up in Georgia to win the WPBA’s Georgia State 9-Ball Championships. Fast forward four years (Sept. 17-18, 2020), when she finished as runner-up to Janet Atwell in the Cue Time Shootout 9-Ball Open Women’s division in Spartanburg, SC.
And on this past Labor Day weekend, she chalked up her first win since that “shared honor” victory with Katie Cowan, 13 years ago. She and Christy Norris battled twice for the Ladies Cup of this dual event; hot seat and finals. Mancuso won the first one 7-3 to claim the hot seat.
Norris moved over to battle the former APA National Women’s Amateur Champion (2018), Lisa Cossette. who had just eliminated Meagan McClain, double hill, in the quarterfinals. Norris downed Cossette 5-3 for a second shot at Mancuso, waiting for her in the hot seat.
Mancuso completed her run in the only set necessary in a true double elimination final. She gave up only a single rack to Norris and claimed her first (recorded) event title in five years.
Brian White
Hunter White wins nine on the loss side for rematch versus Brian White that doesn’t materialize
In the absence of a defending champion for this event (Josh Roberts), Hunter White had to be thinking that he could grab this title on his second try. For the second year in a row, he came within a single match, the finals, of doing so. He’d been sent to the loss side by Brian White and chalked up nine loss-side victories before earning a rematch and then, reaching an agreement not to play one and split the top two prizes.
With his eventual finals opponent already at work on the loss side, Brian White advanced to a winners’ side semifinal versus Ryan Hollingsworth. Billy Fowler, in the meantime, drew Rob Hart as his winners’ side semifinal challenger.
White advanced to the hot seat match with a 9-5 win over Hollingsworth and was joined by Fowler, who’d sent Hart west 9-7. White claimed the hot seat 9-5 over Fowler in what would prove to be his (White’s) last battle.
On the loss side, the other ‘White’ (Hunter) was working on loss-side win #7, having recently eliminated Zack Baker 7-5 and junior competitor, Landon Hollingsworth (no relation to Ryan) 7-1. White drew Hart. Ryan Hollingsworth drew Jacob Brooks, who’d defeated Josh Heeter, double hill and Clay Davis 7-1 to reach him.
White downed Hart 7-3, as Hollingsworth eliminated Brooks 7-2. White then defeated Hollingsworth in the quarterfinals 7-5. In what would turn out to be his final match, Hunter White downed Fowler 7-2 in the semifinals. The two ‘Whites’ opted out of the final, negotiated a split of the top two prizes, with Brian White as official winner and the 2nd Annual Carolina Cup was, as they say, in the books.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Break & Run Billiards’ owners, Kevin Lawter and Tammy Collins for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Diamond Brat, Federal Savings Bank’s Mortgage Division and AZBilliards. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for Sept. 11-12, will be a $250-added event, to be hosted by Rock House Billiards in Gastonia, NC.
