Liz Taylor goes undefeated through Ladies field

 

Chris Bruner came into the October 12-13 VA State 8-Ball Championships as the Action Pool Tour’s top player. He went undefeated through a field of 37 at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA to claim the event title and maintain his position as #1 on the tour’s player standings list. Eight of the players on the tour’s Top Ten list competed in this year’s event, but so did, among others, Shaun Wilkie (#14) and last year’s runner-up, Mike Davis (#30). Defending champion, Warren Kiamco, did not compete this year. Bruner sent #2, Steve Fleming, to the loss side, and faced #3, RJ Carmona, twice to claim the title.

 

The Ladies event drew a short field of 13 and was won by Liz Taylor, who, along with Jacki Duggan, who finished in 4th place, are the only women among the tour’s Top 20 in player standings. Like Bruner, Taylor went undefeated through the field and had to face the same opponent (Cheryl Pritchard) in both the hot seat and finals.

 

Bruner’s seven-match march to the finish line went through Jose Vega-Hernandez, Travis Southard, Jamie Bess and Fleming to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Eric Moore, who would normally be among the tour’s top players, but was making here only his second appearance on the 2019 tour. Bruner arrived at the winners’ side semifinal, having given up only five total racks (two to Southard and three to Fleming).

 

Carmona got by Kenny Miller (#11), Jason Trigo (#17) and survived a double hill bout versus JT Ringgold (#21) to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal match against Reymart Lim (#5). Three of the four competitors in the winners’ side semifinals had won previous stops on the 2019 tour; Bruner and Lim with two each and Carmona with one.

 

Moore chalked up more racks against Bruner than all of his previous opponents combined. They fought to double hill before Bruner prevailed and advanced to the hot seat match. He was joined by Carmona, who’d sent Lim west 7-3. In their first of two, Bruner claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Carmona.

 

On the loss side, Lim picked up Scott Haas, who’d been defeated by Eric Moore 7-5 in a winners’ side quarterfinal match and gone on to defeat Shaun Wilkie 6-4 and Steve Fleming 6-2. Moore drew Ringgold, who, following his double hill loss to Bruner in a winners’ side quarterfinal, had defeated Tony Montalvo 6-2 and Kenny Miller 6-1.

 

Ringgold downed Moore 6-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Lim, who’d defeated Haas 6-2. Lim took the quarterfinal match 6-3 over Ringgold.

 

In the semifinals that followed, Carmona gave up only a single rack to Lim and earned himself a second shot against Bruner. In their second meeting, the Bruner and Carmona battled to double hill before Bruner prevailed to deny Carmona his second 2019 tour victory and chalk up his own third win.

 

Taylor downs Pritchard twice to capture Ladies 8-Ball Title

 

Last year’s Ladies’ winner – Bethany Sykes – was ‘in the house’ for this event, though she was sent to the loss side 6-4 in the second round by the eventual winner, Liz Taylor. Sykes then won four on the loss side, before falling to the event’s runner-up, Cheryl Pritchard, in the semifinals.

 

It took Liz Taylor five matches to claim the title. She got by Maria Beckner 6-1 before sending the event’s defending champion, Bethany Sykes to the loss side 6-4. This set Taylor up in a winners’ side semifinal versus Kim Whitman. Awarded a preliminary round bye, Pritchard defeated Kelly Cox 6-3 to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Lisa Uilani Vita.

 

Taylor and Whitman fought to double hill before Taylor prevailed 6-5 and sent Whitman west. Pritchard gave up only a single rack to Vita and joined Taylor in what would be their first of two, battling for the hot seat. Taylor took that first of two 6-3 and waited in the hot seat for Pritchard’s return.

 

On the loss side, Whitman drew Jacki Duggan, who’d lost an earlier battle to Vita and on the loss side, had eliminated Soo Emmett 5-1 and Maria Beckner 5-3. Vita picked up Sykes, who, following her defeat at the hands of Taylor, had defeated Kelly Wyatt 5-3 and Kim McKenna 5-1.

 

Duggan and Sykes advanced to the quarterfinals with 5-3 victories over Whitman and Vita. Sykes followed that with another 5-3 victory, over Duggan, in the quarterfinals.

 

Pritchard ended Sykes’ bid for a second year in the 8-Ball Championship finals with a 5-2 win in the semifinals. Taylor then ended Pritchard’s bid for the event title by shutting her out in the finals.

 

A Second Chance tournament drew 12 entrants and saw Steve Fleming come from the loss side to down hot seat occupant Justin Clark 6-1 in the finals. James Blackburn finished third, with Jimmy Bird in fourth place.

 

Tour directors Kim Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, 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 Action Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of November 16-17, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.

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.

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.

Atwell goes undefeated to reclaim Ladies title she won in 2016

 

Most players will spend a few hours, sometimes quite a few, practicing at their local pool room before venturing out to compete in a major tournament. Russia’s Ruslan Chinakhov spent two days on the West Coast in what’s been described as a “grueling” one-on-one 10-ball challenge (which he won) against Oscar Dominguez, before showing up 3,000 or so miles away, three days later, to compete in the 2018 VA State 10-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour on the weekend of February 10-11. Chinakhov went undefeated through the field of 64 entrants in the Open portion of the Championships, which were hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA. A concurrently-run Ladies tournament was won by Janet Atwell, who went undefeated through a field of 16 entrants to reclaim the title she’d last won in 2016.

 

Chinakhov faced separate opponents in the hot seat and finals of this event. He met the Action Pool Tour’s top-ranked player, Reymart Lim in the hot seat match, and in the finals, Warren Kiamco, whom he’d defeated earlier in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Following victories over Joseph Sellechia, Steve Fleming and Donnie Haynes, Chinakhov downed Kiamco 8-5 and moved on to a winners’ side semifinal against John Newton. Lim, in the meantime, who’d won the APT’s season opener, downed Matty Arcuri, Chris Pyle, David Stanley, and Mike Davis to draw Kirill Rutman in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Rutman battled Lim to double hill, but it was Lim who advanced to the hot seat match. Chinakhov joined him after sending Newton to the loss side 8-1. Chinakhov claimed the hot seat with an 8-3 win over Lim and waited on the return of Kiamco.

 

Though this year’s VA State 10-Ball Championships did not include last year’s winner, Dennis Orcollo, it did feature last year’s runner-up (Shaun Wilkie), third place (Larry Kressel), fourth place (Lim), and both 5th place finishers (Newton and Davis). Newton, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal this year drew Davis, who’d survived a double hill battle against Chris Bruner and defeated Kenny Miller 8-1 to reach him. Rutman picked up Kiamco, who, following his defeat at the hands of Chinakhov, stopped Shaun Wilkie’s four-match, loss-side winning streak 8-4, and then eliminated this event’s 2016 champion, Eric Moore 8-1.

 

Kiamco advanced to the quarterfinals 8-2 over Rutman, while Davis was downing Newton 8-2 to join him. Kiamco sent Davis home 8-4 in those quarterfinals; one spot higher than he’d reached last year. Kiamco then downed Lim 8-6 in the semifinals, sending him home one spot higher than he’d finished last year.

 

Chinakhov completed his undefeated run with a commanding 10-3 victory over Kiamco in the finals.

 

Atwell returns to chalk up her third VA State 10-Ball Ladies Championships

 

[photo id=48695|align=right]For two years in a row – 2015/2016 – Janet Atwell and Jacki Duggan were winner and runner-up, respectively, in the Ladies edition of the VA State 10-Ball Championships. Atwell did not compete in 2017, although Duggan did, finishing in the tie for 7th place. Duggan was on hand this year, as well, although she would be shut out by Atwell in the second round, and for the second year in a row, end up in the tie for 7th place. Last year’s champion, Meredith Lynch, showed up to defend her title and finished fourth, just behind Lisa Cossette, who would win three on the loss side before falling to the undefeated Atwell in the finals.

 

Atwell’s path to the winners’ circle proved a little shaky at the outset, as she survived an opening round, double hill match against Falon Newton. Atwell went on to shut out Duggan and then, faced Lynch in a winners’ side semfinal. Nicole King, in the meantime, got by Sierra Reams, and Soo Emmett to face Cossette in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Atwell sent last year’s winner to the loss side 6-1, and was joined in the hot seat match by King, who’d defeated Cossette 6-4. Atwell claimed the hot seat 6-2 over King and waited on Cossette’s return.

 

On the loss side, Cossette picked up Duggan, who’d defeated Judie Wilson and Bethany Sykes, both 6-3, to reach her. Lynch drew Buffy Jolie, who’d shut out two straight opponents – Eugenia Gyftopoulos and Falon Newton – to reach her.

 

The two battles for the right to advance to the quarterfinals went double hill; Cossette downing Duggan, and Lynch eliminating Jolie. So did the quarterfinals, with Cossette eventually moving on to face King. Cossette, who was likely a little tired of the double hill route, gave up only a single rack to King in the semifinals and turned to face Atwell in the finals. Atwell gave up only two to Cossette in the finals to claim her third VA State 10-Ball Ladies Championship.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Diamond BIlliards, as well as sponsors Kamui, Tiger Products, Predator, Viking Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Aramith, SImonis, Ozone Billiards and George Hammerbacher. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for March 17-18 will be a Bar Box Bash, hosted by Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.

 

Lim, North Carolina’s current 10-ball Open champion, competed in both of the hot seat matches and both of the finals. On Saturday, in the handicapped event, the two winners’ side semifinal matches went double hill, with Lim defeating Carmona, and Moore, downing Jacki Duggan, double hill, 11-4 (Duggan racing to 5). Lim went on to claim the hot seat 11-7 over Moore, and waited on his return.

 

On the loss side, a husband and wife quarterfinal match was looming. The wife, Jacki Duggan, came over from the winners’ side semifinal to face Nilbert Lim (no relation, but close friend to Reymart Lim). Nilbert had defeated Daniel Adams 9-2 and Jacob Cantu 9-3 to draw Jacki Duggan. Her husband, Bill Duggan, who’d recently defeated Jody Frye 8-2 and Ken Daughtrey 8-1 squared off against Carmona. Bill did his part, defeating Carmona 8-8 (Carmona racing to 11), while Jacki ran into something of a buzzsaw in Nilbert Lim, who shut her out.

 

Bill Duggan, no doubt seeking retribution for his wife’s unfortunate elimination, eliminated Nilbert Lim 8-3 in the quarterfinals, only to have Eric Moore down him in the semifinals 11-4. Reymart Lim completed his undefeated run in the handicapped event with an 11-7 victory over Moore in the finals.

 

On Sunday, Reymart Lim and Eric Moore met two more times in the Open event. They met first in a winners’ side semifinal, as RJ Carmona and Greg Sabins faced off in the other one. Lim downed Moore a third time 7-1 and advanced to the hot seat match against Carmona, who’d defeated Sabins by the same 7-1 score. Carmona and Lim locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Lim to the semifinals.

 

On the loss side, Moore picked up Steve Page, who’d defeated Nilbert Lim (still no relation to Reymart) and Graham Swinson, both 6-2 (six of the loss side’s final 10 matches were decided by that score). Sabins drew Mike Davis, Jr., North Carolina’s current 8-ball and 9-ball champion, who’d been sent to the loss side by Moore in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Jose Hernandez 6-1 and Marc Lacson 6-2.

 

Moore and Davis advanced to a re-match in the quarterfinals, downing Page and Sabins with 6-2 victories. Moore then defeated Davis a second time, 6-4, in those quarterfinals and advanced to his fourth weekend match against Reymart Lim.

 

Reymart Lim defeated Moore a fourth time, this time 6-3, to chalk up an aggregate score of 35-18 against him, over their four meetings. Lim moved on to a re-match against Carmona in the finals, where the two battled for a second time, to double hill, before Carmona, a second time, defeated him to claim the Open event title.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker noted that this past weekend’s double tournaments are the first of many to come in the year ahead. They thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards for their hospitality, as well 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 (November 25-26), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Cue Time Billiards in Spartanburg, SC.