Taking a bit of a break from the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, BJ Ussery traveled to Georgia over the September 21-22 weekend to compete on the J. Pechauer SE Open 9-Ball Tour. Though he was not afforded the opportunity to compete against its tour director Tommy Kennedy (who normally participates, but did not on this stop), Ussery did go undefeated through a field of 43 entrants on-hand for the $1,000-added event, hosted by Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA.
Ussery missed competing against another renowned competitor, a West coast player who is reportedly now living in Georgia, Mary Rakin, who signed on to the event. She would end up in third place, missing the opportunity to face Ussery twice; both times, thwarted by the eventual event runner-up, Bernardo Esteban.
As Esteban was at work sending Rakin to the loss side 7-3 in one winners’ side semifinal, Ussery was busy with Kenny Nguyen in the other one, sending him over by the same 7-3 score. In their first of two, Ussery grabbed the hot seat 7-5 and then waited on Esteban’s return.
Rakin advanced to the quarterfinals 7-3 over Hooks. Jones joined her after a 7-2 victory over Nguyen. Rakin had one more step to take and Jones battled her for it to the very double-hill end. She advanced for a second shot against Esteban in the semifinals.
Esteban upped his game by a rack, downing Rakin 7-2 in those semifinals, for his own second shot against Ussery in the hot seat. Ussery, though, upped his game as well. Racing to 9 in the finals, he gave up only a single rack and claimed the event title.
Tour director Tommy Kennedy thanked the ownership and staff at Mr. Cues II, as well as title sponsor J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Simonis Cloth and Mueller Recreational Products. The next stop on the J. Pechauer Southeast Open 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for October 24-26, will be the 5th Annual Dismal Swamp Thing, to be hosted by Colonial Cues in Elizabeth City, NC.
Tim Orange has been at the tables for a baker’s-dozen years, commencing (as far as we know) in 2005, when he won the T-Town Billiards Classic in Tuscaloosa, AL, defeating Jonathan “Hennessee from Tennessee” Pinegar in the finals. He’s chalked up a few wins and cashed on a variety of tours and events in the years since, and on the weekend of November 11-12, he added his first win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour to his modest, but very much on-going list of accomplishments. The $500-added event drew 27 entrants to Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA.
Orange had to get by Jeff Crawford twice in this event, meeting him first in a winners’ side semifinal, as Jeff Hooks squared off against Derek Fountain. Orange sent Crawford to the loss side 9-6, and in the hot seat match, faced Hooks, who’d defeated Fountain 7-3. Orange gave up only a single rack to Hooks in the hot seat match, and waited for Crawford to return.
On the loss side, Crawford picked up Raed Shabib, who’d defeated Faith Thompson 8-3 and 75-year-old BR Tatum 8-6. Fountain drew Raoul Aviles, who’d eliminated Michael Fletcher 7-1 and Shane Bridges 7-3.
Crawford and Shabib locked up in a double hill battle that eventually sent Crawford to the quarterfinals. Aviles, in the meantime, finished Fountain’s weekend 7-5. Crawford won the ensuing quarterfinal match 9-5 over Aviles, and then spoiled Hooks’ re-match-against-Orange bid 9-6 in the semifinals.
Momentum and an eagerness to avenge the earlier loss may have been on Crawford’s mind entering the finals, but Orange’s desire to chalk up the event title proved stronger. Not, though, without a fight, as the two battled to a deciding game, before Orange complete his undefeated run.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mr. Cues II, 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 (November 18-19) will be a $1,000-added (total) event, featuring two separate tournaments; a $500-added handicapped event on Saturday, November 18 and a $500-added Open event, on Sunday, November 19. Both will be hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
While headlines have tended to focus on the state of Florida’s fortunes in the wake of Hurricane Irma, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Irma’s impact stretched further north, as far as Atlanta, GA, where as late as this past weekend (September 16-17), there were still thousands of people without power. Mr. Cues II in Atlanta had the power necessary to host a Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop over the weekend, though the continuing issues may well have contributed to a relatively low field of competitors. Raed Shabib navigated his way through a field of 28, on-hand for the $500-added event, and after dropping the opening set of a true double elimination final to Jeff Hooks, came back to win the second set and claim the event title.
Shabib advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Marvin Reed, as Jeff Crawford squared off against Mike Chapman. Shabib got into the hot seat match with an 8-4 win over Reed. He was joined by Crawford, who’d defeated Chapman 9-3. Shabib claimed the hot seat with an 8-7 win over Crawford, who was racing to 9, and waited on the return of what turned out to be Jeff Hooks, who, at the time of the hot seat match, was in the midst of a five-game, loss-side winning streak that began with a defeat at the hands of Reed, and would give him a shot against Shabib in the finals.
On the loss side, it was Chapman who drew Hooks, three matches into his streak, with recent wins over John Maikke 7-4 and Bernardo Hernandez, 7-8 (Hernandez racing to 10). Reed picked up Justin Duncan, who was on a win streak of his own, having been defeated in the event’s opening round, and winning six straight to advance as far as the quarterfinals.
Hooks downed Chapman 7-2 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Duncan, who defeated Reed 6-5 (Reed racing to 7). Hooks and Duncan locked up in a double hill fight that saw both of them miss a shot at the 9-ball, three times, in the deciding game. Hooks eventually advanced to the semifinals against Crawford, where a 7-6 win (Crawford racing to 9) gave him a shot against Shabib in the hot seat.
With Shabib racing to 8, Hooks took the true double elimination opener 7-6. With one loss for each of them going into the second set, they battled to double hill for the title. Shabib hung on to win it 8-6 and claim that title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mr. Cues II, 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 September 23-24, will be hosted by Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
Mr. Cues II in Atlanta played host to the Simonis Cloth's 4th Annual Richard Sweet Memorial over the July 4th weekend which is a memorial event and a celebration of his life and contributions to our sport, featuring four separate events; two, single-elimination, 'King of the Hill' format (one $500 1st prize) tournaments, a Thursday 8-Ball tournament and a Friday 9-ball tournament , a 1-day $1,000-guaranteed prize fund 9-Ball race to 4 double elimination tournament on Sunday, and a $3,000-guaranteed prize fund main event in 10-Ball which ran Saturday and Sunday. Jayson Shaw won two of them, and almost won a third. He opened the weekend's proceedings with a finals victory over John Maikke in the first of the single elimination tournaments(8-Ball) on Independence Day that drew 86 entrants. The following day, in the second of the single elimination tournaments (this one, with 79 players and 9-Ball), Shaw made it to the finals again, only to be denied his second win, by Michael Clay, who shut him out in the finals.
In the Saturday, main event, the 10-Ball Competition, Jayson Shaw squared off the event's defending champion, Phil Burford, twice; once in the hot seat match, and again, in the finals. Shaw had sent Jeff Hooks to the loss side 7-3 among the winners' side final four, as Burford was busy doing likewise to Randy Jordan 7-2. Shaw got into the hot seat with a 7-5 win over Burford and waited for him to get back. It wasn't long.
Jordan and Hooks moved to the loss side, where they were picked up by J. R. Rossman and Tim Orange. Rossman had gotten by Matt Bulfin 7-2 and John Maikke 7-4. Orange had defeated Dustin Byrd (The Parakeet) 7-5 and John Jones 7-3. Jordan advanced to the quarterfinals, double hill, over Rossman. Orange handed Hooks his second straight loss 7-5 to join him.
Jordan took the quarterfinal match over Orange 7-5 and earned himself a re-match against Burford, who'd sent him west among the winners' side final four. Burford, anxious for his own rematch against Shaw in the hot seat, downed Jordan 7-5. Shaw, though, hunkered down and gave up only a single rack in the opening set of the potential two-set final to claim the event title.
Events shifted to double elimination with commencement of the races-to-4 9-Ball Tournament on Sunday, which drew 59 entrants. Larry Nevel (who'd won both single elimination tournaments at last year's Sweet Memorial) started out by dropping his opening round match to Danny Cash, but rallied on the loss side to win nine straight, and then, two more in the finals against Bernardo Estevan.
Estevan had advanced to the hot seat with a winners' side final four victory over Tommy Najar 4-2, while the winner of the second single elimination 8-ball tournament, Michael Clay, advanced to meet him with a 4-1 victory over Pat Cooper. Estevan shut Clay out in the battle for the hot seat and waited on the return of Nevel.
Meanwhile, on the loss side, The Truth was mowin' 'em down, one by one. With four down and five to go, he defeated Tony Riley 4-1, and survived a double hill battle against Jason Lyons, to pick up Majar. Cooper drew Andy Stewart, who'd squeaked by Horace Goodwin 4-3 and defeated Dana Aft 4-1. Nevel and Stewart handed Najar and Cooper their second straight defeats; Stewart shutting out Cooper and Nevel advancing to the quarterfinals 4-2 over Najar.
Nevel gave up only two racks over his next 14 games. He shut out Stewart in the quarterfinals, and gave up a single rack to Clay in the semifinals. Moving into the opening set of the finals against Estevan, he gave up one that forced a second set. Estevan battled him to double hill in that second set, but Nevel prevailed to claim the title.
Full payouts for the main 10-Ball event are as follows:
Shannon Daulton, Duke Laha, Rod Rentz, & Melanie Archer (owner of Marietta Billiard Club)
The Great Southern Billiard Tour settled in to Johnny Archer‘s Marietta Billiards Club, in Marietta, GA on the weekend of August 11-12. The $1,500-added stop on the tour drew 64 entrants to the club, through which Duke Laha worked to attain the event title, defeating Rod Rentz two out of three times; once in the battle for the hot seat, and again, in the second set of a true double elimination final.
The two winners’ side semifinals featured three A-rated players, and Toppy Athakhanh, a B player. Laha faced Athakhanh, as Rentz squared off against Tommy Najar. Laha moved into the hot seat match with a 9-2 victory over Athakhanh, and faced Rentz, who’d sent Najar west 9-3. In their first of three, Laha prevailed 9-3 and sat in the hot seat, awaiting rounds two and three versus Rentz.
Athakhanh moved over and picked up double-A Josh Roberts, who’d defeated Jeff Hooks 11-5 and Dylan Letchworth 11-1 to reach him. Najar drew Clay Fisher, who’d gotten by Mark Rochester in a double hill match and Mike Langley 7-2. Najar got back to winning with a shutout over Fisher, as Roberts was busy ending Athakhanh’s day with an 11-5 victory.
In the quarterfinals that followed, Najar defeated Roberts 9-6, and moved into a semifinal rematch versus Rentz. Najar managed a single rack more than he’d chalked up in their first meeting among the winners’ side final four, but Rentz prevailed a second time for his own re-match against Laha. In the opening set of the true double elimination final, a straight-up race to 9, the two battled to double hill, before Rentz forced a second set with the final rack win. Laha roared back in the second set, taking nine out of the 13 games, to secure the event title.
Tour directors Shannon and Marge Daulton thanked Archer and his staff at Marietta Billiards for their 20,000 square foot hospitality and Scorpion room, details of which can be found at www.mariettabilliardsclub.com. The Daultons also thanked sponsors Nick Varner Cues and Cases, Andy Gilbert Custom Cues, Tiger Products and Delat-13 racks.
