Fourteen years ago, Ricky Bingham finished in the tie for 33rd place at the 29th Annual US Open 9-Ball Championships, sharing the spot with (among others) Charlie Bryant, Mike Davis, Keith Bennett and Ryan McCreesh. A year later, he showed up on one payout list (Stop #4 on the Viking Tour; 13th) and then, for all intents and pool purposes, he dropped out of sight for a dozen years. Last year he joined a growing list of veteran players (like Davis, like Bennett, like BJ Ussery) who’ve been stepping back up to the tables and signing on to the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. He finished 5th at a 2017 Q City 9-Ball Tour stop at Janet Atwell’s place, Borderline Billiards, in Bristol, TN. In July of this year, back again at Borderline Billiards, he chalked up another 5th place finish on the tour. On the weekend of September 8-9, at (you guessed it) Borderline Billiards, Bingham joined the ranks of Q City 9-Ball winners, coming from the loss side and double dipping Reid Vance to capture the event title. The event drew 41 entrants to Borderline Billiards.
Bingham and Vance played three matches in this event. The first was a winners’ side semifinal, while Steve Dye and Zac Leonard faced off in the other one. Vance sent Bingham to the loss side 5-2 and in the hot seat match, faced Dye, who’d sent Leonard over in a double hill match. Vance claimed the hot seat 5-1 over Dye and waited for the veteran to get back from a three-match, loss-side run.
Bingham’s loss-side trip back began against Dustin Coe, who’d defeated Alex Boles 6-1 and Mike Staubes, double hill (7-8; Staubes to 9) to reach him. Leonard drew Ikey Maynard, who’d eliminated room owner and pool veteran Janet Atwell and (heeeere’s) Johnny Carson, both 7-2.
Leonard downed Maynard 7-3, while Bingham was busy eliminating Coe 5-3. Leonard and Bingham battled to double hill in the quarterfinals that followed, before Bingham advanced to down Dye, double hill as well, in the semifinals.
In straight-up races to 5, Bingham took the double elimination opening set over Vance 5-3. He got even stingier in the second set, allowing Vance only a single rack to claim the event title; his first on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 15-16), will be hosted by 21 Poolroom in Charleston, WV.
About five years ago, Joshua Terrence Hughes Ringgold, better known since early childhood by virtually everyone as JT Ringgold, started competing on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour as a ‘C’ player. On this past weekend, July 7-8, playing as an A++ player, he chalked up his 12th victory on the tour, double the number of wins of any other tour competitor. Ringgold went undefeated through a field of 60 entrants at the event, hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Ringgold advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal match against Gwen Sharpton, as Dalton Messer faced Stevie Thomas in the other one. Ringgold shut Sharpton out and advanced to the hot seat match. He was joined by Messer, who’d defeated Thomas 5-2. Ringgold claimed the hot seat 10-2 over Messer, and waited on his return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Sharpton picked up Ricky Bingham, who, moving into the event’s money rounds, had defeated Dustin Coe 5-3 and Ikey Maynard, double hill (5-6) to reach her. Thomas drew Trey Frank, recent winner over William Cloud 6-1 and Jose Irizarry 6-3. Sharpton advanced to the quarterfinals 4-2 over Bingham, and was joined by Frank, who’d eliminated Thomas 6-3.
Sharpton and Frank locked up in a double hill, quarterfinal battle. Sharpton won it 4-5 (Frank racing to 6) and turned to face Messer in the semifinals. Messer gave up only a single rack to Sharpton in those semifinals to earn a re-match against Ringgold.
Messer started the finals with ‘five on the wire’ in a race to 10 against Ringgold, needing to win twice to deny Ringgold his 12th tour title. Though he would chalk up four of the five racks he needed to win it, Ringgold prevailed to claim that 12th title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her staff at Borderline Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (July 14-15) will be the 4th Annual North Carolina State 10-Ball Championships. Defending champion Reymart Lim is expected to be ‘in the house’ for this event, to be hosted by Brass Tap Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
The volume of loss-side footsteps heard from the hot seat in a pool tournament is in direct proportion to the length of time those footsteps have been on the move. Everybody in the hot seat of a double elimination tournament has to face someone who’s been on the loss side, and a sizeable percentage of the time it’s the player defeated in the hot seat match, who’s taken a single step. A second sizeable percentage of the time, it’s someone defeated in a winners’ side semifinal, who’s taken three steps. When the loss-side victories get up above five, the footsteps get louder and louder with every step taken.
On the weekend of December 9-10, Ikey Maynard, looking for his first-ever victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour made it to the hot seat, and waited for Eric Chumbley to complete a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would put him into the finals. Chumbley took the loudest footstep of them all, winning the opening set of a true double elimination final, before Maynard rallied to win the second set and event title. The event drew 44 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
With Chumbley already at work on the loss side, having won his first-round match, and lost his second (to Josh Williams), Maynard advanced to a winners’ side semifinal versus Scott Howard. Jason Potts, in the meantime, squared off against Dustin Coe in the other one. Maynard downed Howard, double hill, and, in the hot seat match, faced Potts who’d sent Coe to the loss side 7-2. Maynard claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Potts and sat listening for the footsteps.
On the loss side, Chumbley wasn’t the only one making noisy footsteps. As the event edged toward its first money round (determining the tie for 7th place), Chumbley and Bobby Jack Connor (who’d lost his opening match and was working on a seven-match, loss-side streak) were competing against opponents, and each other, as they advanced to a meeting in the quarterfinals. Chumbley chalked up loss-side wins #5 & #6 against Jose Irizarry (5-2) and shut out Alex Boles to draw Howard. Connor won his 5th and 6th matches against Mike Kirby (9-1) and Sam Patel (9-4) to pick up Coe.
Chumbley downed Howard 8-5, and heard the loud thud of a single footstep by Connor, who shut Coe out to advance to the quarterfinals. Not surprisingly, Chumbley and Connor fought tooth and nail (aka double hill) for a slot in the semifinals, and it was Chumbley who advanced.
Chumbley spoiled Potts’ bid for a second shot at Maynard in the hot seat with an 8-3 semifinal win. He then fought Maynard to double hill in the first set of the true double elimination final, and sunk the final ball to square the losses at one apiece. With Chumbley racing to 8, Maynard took the second set 7-6 to secure the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her Borderline Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will be the season finale Tour Championships, a $1,500-added event open to the top 100 ranked players who’ve played on the tour this year. Scheduled for this weekend (December 16-17), the event will be hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
As is always true with point-ranking systems, players are rewarded not only for their performance at individual tour stops, but for the number of stops in which they’ve competed. A player, for example, who’s competed in all of the tour’s events, but not won any, would, at the end of the year, be likely to rank higher than a player who’s won the only three events in which he/she participated. The top five players on this year’s tour were Travis Guerra, Angela Parker, Scott Roberts, Daniel Adams and Steve Ellis.
Jeffrey De Luna has been a well-respected and successful competitor from the Philippines for a little over 10 years now. Exactly 10 years ago, he climbed to #37 on our Money Leaderboard, having chalked up victories in the Manny Pacquiao International 9-Ball Open (defeating Dennis Orcollo in the finals) and the World 9-Ball Challenge (a Philippines vs. The World team event, in which he and four others, including Ronnie Alcano, defeated a World team), both in the Philippines. On the weekend of February 25-26, he visited Janet Atwell's room, Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN, to join 65 other competitors on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour. Sporting a lofty handicap that required him to win 13 games before many of his opponents had to reach 9 games or less, De Luna went undefeated to claim the title.
De Luna's opponent in both the hot seat match and finals, Brandon Kidwell, was racing to 8 in games against him, and though he was soundly defeated in their first encounter, he forced a deciding game in the finals. Getting into the hot seat match, De Luna had shut out Brandon Helton, as Kidwell was busy sending Robbie West, west, 8-4. De Luna claimed the hot seat with a 13-3 victory over Kidwell.
On the loss side, with players racing to sometimes half (or less) the number of games De Luna had to win, Helton picked up Ikey Maynard, who'd defeated Randall Bowman and Bryan Pate, both 7-3, to reach him. West drew Doug Schulz, who'd eliminated Tim Krigler 8-2, and Shane Wolford 8-5. Maynard downed Helton, who was eliminated having chalked up only a single rack (to Maynard) in his last 21 games (giving up 13 to De Luna and 8 to Maynard). West, in the meantime, defeated Schulz 6-4.
West took the quarterfinal match 6-2 over Maynard, before being shut out 8-0 by Kidwell in the semifinals. That strong semifinal showing led Kidwell into the finals for a second shot against De Luna. The match went double hill (12-7) before De Luna completed his undefeated run to claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Janet Atwell and her staff at Borderline Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, a $500-added event, scheduled for this weekend (March 4-5), will play out on the Diamond 'bar box' tables of Cue Time in Spartanburg, SC.
