Billy Walker and BJ Ussery met three times in last weekend’s (Feb. 8-9) Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop in Lynchburg, VA. According to FargoRate calculations, Walker, rated at 532, came into the match with a 10.2% chance of defeating the 732-rated Ussery in a match, with Ussery racing to 11 and Walker to 6. They met three times; once, in the hot seat match and twice in the finals. Walker took two out of three of those matches to claim the event title and presumably up his Fargo Rate in the process. He was looking for and eventually secured his first Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour title and, in fact, his first recorded title anywhere. The $1,000-added event drew 46 entrants to The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Ussery’s races to 11 can make his path to a winners’ circle tricky. Case in point: his winners’ side semifinal match against Billie Spadafora, who was racing to 5. They battled to double hill before Ussery won his 11th game and advanced to the hot seat match. Walker joined him after defeating Zach Hampton 6-4 in the other winners’ side semifinal. Walker then took the first of three against Ussery 6-8 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Hampton picked up Janet Atwell, who’d defeated Victor Williams 7-1 and Dylan Carr 7-2. Spadafora would have drawn Jordyn Worley, who’d shut out Jonathan Ailstock and downed Collin Hall 4-3 to reach him (Hall racing to 7), but Spadafora did not make it back to the event’s second day.
Worley leapfrogged into the quarterfinals, where she was joined by Hampton, who’d eliminated Atwell 9-4. Worley took another step, downing Hampton 4-3 (Hampton racing to 9) in those quarterfinals.
Ussery put a stop to Worley’s aspirations with an 11-2 win in the semifinals that followed and then, riding that intangible mount known as momentum, took the opening set of the final against Walker. But just barely, with Walker chalking up a 5th rack to force a deciding 16th game. Ussery won that game and the opening set. Walker, though, had plenty left in the ‘tank’ and took the second set 6-9 to claim his first event title on the tour.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at The Clubhouse, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. The next stop on the tour, scheduled for Feb. 15-16, will be a $1,000-added Scotch Double event (combined high handicap of 15), hosted by Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
Unlike the tournaments that they host, which generally produce only one winner (sometimes, they split the cash and go home), improvements to existing pool rooms are always something of a win-win situation. The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour arrived at its scheduled stop at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA on the weekend of March 2-3 to find that owner Chris England had doubled the number of tables in the room and was preparing to open an adjacent steakhouse within the next month or so. The improved room and especially tournament conditions attract more players. More players increase business at the improved location, to include, in this case, a new, attached restaurant and then, they tell their friends. Win-win.
It was win-loss for Hank Powell and Andy Bowden over the weekend; the former, winning and the latter, having to settle for runner-up. The event drew 31 entrants to The (newly-renovated) Clubhouse.
They played their first of three matches in a winners’ side semifinal, as Trey Frank and Scott Roberts squared off in the other one. Powell sent Bowden to the loss side, double hill (7-4; Bowden racing to 5), and in the hot seat match, faced Frank, who’d sent Roberts over 7-7 (Roberts racing to 9). Powell claimed the hot seat 7-5 and waited on the return of Bowden.
On the loss side, Bowden picked up Sean McGrady, who’d defeated Ron Frank (Trey’s father) 5-4 (Frank racing to 9), and junior competitor, Shane Wolford double hill 5-8 (Wolford racing to 9). Roberts drew female competitor Jordyn Worley, who, after being awarded a bye, lost her opening match to Michael Neal and embarked on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take her as far as the quarterfinals. She’d recently won two straight double hill matches against Daniel Adams and Collin Hall, both 4-6.
In a straight-up race to 5, Bowden downed McGrady 5-3. Worley joined him in the quarterfinals with a 4-5 victory over Roberts, who was racing to 9. Bowden ended Worley’s loss-side streak 5-1 in those quarterfinals and then, defeated Trey Frank 5-3 in the semifinals.
With the often-underestimated (and occasionally over-estimated) benefit of momentum, Bowden battled Powell to double hill in the opening set of the true double elimination and dropped the 9-ball to force a second set. Powell came back in the second set and won it 7-3 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Chris England and his staff at The Clubhouse for their hospitality, 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 (March 9-10) will feature two events; A Saturday, March 9 handicapped event, and a Sunday, March 10 Open event. Both will be hosted by a new venue on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour schedule – Wolf’s Den, owned by the Wolford family (parents to Shane Wolford, who will presumably be on-hand to compete) in Roanoke, VA.
Brian White and Hunter White (no relation) battled twice in an annual Christmas event on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Brian won the first match and they opted out of playing a second one, leaving Brian as the official winner of the $1,000-added event, which drew 52 entrants to The Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC on Christmas weekend (December 22-23). It was for record-keeping and point purposes the first event on the 2019 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball schedule.
They met first in the hot seat match, after Brian White had sent Ricky Baughman to the loss side 10-5 and Hunter White had sent Keith Yates over 8-3. Brian claimed the hot seat over Hunter 10-3.
On the loss side, Yates picked up Junior Gabriel, a tour veteran, who, in spite of competing in numerous events on the tour over the past few years, had yet to finish in the money, and was about to. Gabriel had been sent to the loss side by Baughman in a winners’ side quarterfinal, and had defeated James Moore 5-4 (Moore, racing to 7), and, for the first time, into a money round, downed Rob Hart 5-3. Baughman drew Stevie McClinton, who’d eliminated Chuck Cuneo and Billy Fowler, both 7-3.
Baughman advanced to the quarterfinals 7-4, as Gabriel fought a double hill fight versus Yates that eventually moved him (Gabriel) another step on the money ladder, into the quarterfinals against Baughman.
With Baughman racing to 7 in those quarterfinals, Gabriel took yet another step forward, downing Baughman 5-4. Hunter White, though, playing in what was the final match of the weekend, stopped Gabriel’s run 8-2 in the semifinals, for a second shot against Brian White, which, of course, didn’t happen. The Whites split the top two prizes, with Brian earning the official event title.
The tour also awarded the event’s top female finisher a ‘free entry’ prize to an upcoming event. Jordyn Worley, finishing just out of the money in the tie for 9th place, took home that prize.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Dayne Miller and his Steakhorse staff for their hospitality (to include money-added to the event), as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. With the 2019 tour officially underway, the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will squeeze one more event into the 2018 calendar; a December 29-30 event, to be hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
The quarterfinals of the Dec. 1-2 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour proved to be of particular significance, because it happened to be the last match of the event. There were, at the time, as there always are in the quarterfinals of any double elimination bracket, four competitors left; the two competing in those quarterfinals and the two who either had or were about to compete for the hot seat. Because, as it turned out, the last three players opted out of further competition, the two who squared off in the quarterfinals were battling for the right to share in a split of the event’s top three cash prizes.
Split evenly (and there’s no way to know if it was split evenly; the competitors’ negotiations are generally private), each of the event’s final three competitors was in line to collect $491.66. The prize for 4th place was $125. The difference between 3rd and 4th place was to have been $150 ($275 for 3rd, $125 for 4th), but with the final three splitting the top three prizes, the cash difference at stake in the quarterfinals more than doubled, from the original $150 to $366 (and change).
The two competitors who squared off in that quarterfinal match were BJ Ussery and Cameron Lawhorne. Sitting in the hot seat was Keith Bennett, while Ms. Jordyn Worley was waiting to compete in the semifinals against whoever won the quarterfinal match. It was Ussery who joined Bennett and Worley in the split disposition of the event’s top three prizes. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, Bennett claimed the official event title. The $500-added event drew 34 entrants to Speakeazy Billiards in Sanford, NC.
The four had met in the winners’ side semifinals; Bennett vs. Ussery and Worley vs. Lawhorne. Bennett defeated Ussery 11-6, while Worley was sending Lawhorne to the loss side 4-4 (Lawhorne racing to 6). Bennett and Worley locked up in a double hill fight for possession of the hot seat, with Bennett prevailing (11-3; Worley racing to 4) in what was the last match for both of them.
On the loss side, Ussery picked up Anthony Mabe, who’d defeated Brent Kyles 7-5 and Solomon Pope 7-3 to reach him. Lawhorne drew Robert Ash, who’d eliminated Billy Ethridge and Zac Leonard, both 5-3.
Ussery earned his slot in the last-match-of-the-night quarterfinals with an 11-4 victory over Mabe. Lawhorne earned the right to join him with a 6-0 shutout over Ash. Lawhorne then battled to within a game of double hill before Ussery edged out in front to win those quarterfinals 11-4. Lawhorne claimed his $125, as Ussery joined the negotiations with Bennett and Worley to split $1475.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Speakeazy 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 (Dec. 8-9), will be hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
