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.
Malm and Townsend finish 1st & 2nd for third straight time in Women’s event
It’s been a good year for Reymart Lim; his best recorded earnings year since he started showing up on the AZBilliards’ database, four years ago. He began the year in February by finishing fourth in the 2017 VA State 10-Ball Championships, behind Dennis Orcollo, Shaun Wilkie and Larry Kressel. Since that time, he’s cashed in nine other events, including victories on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, and the North Carolina State 10-Ball Open. Only once, all year, has he been outside of an event’s top 10 finishers. The exception was the 42nd Annual US Open 9-Ball Championships, at which he finished in the tie for 25th. There were only seven US players among the Open’s top 25 finishers – Lim, Earl Strickland (also in the tie for 25th), Skyler Woodward, Justin Bergman, Shane Van Boening (all 13th), Billy Thorpe (9th), and Corey Deuel (7th).
Good company, to say the least. On the weekend of December 9-10, Lim added a victory on the Action Pool Tour to his resumé and had to win seven on the loss side to do it. He challenged and defeated hot seat occupant, Eric Moore in the finals. It was the APT’s season finale and it drew 35 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. A concurrently-run Women’s event drew a very short field of six entrants and saw Tina Malm and Gwen Townsend finish 1st & 2nd, respectively, for the third straight time on the tour.
In the women’s event, a preliminary, two-match round of play advanced Malm and Meredith Lynch to the winners’ side semifinals. Malm had defeated Soo Emmett 7-2 to draw Townsend. Lynch had sent Donisha Riddick to the loss side 7-1 and picked up Cheryl Pritchard. Malm and Townsend battled to double hill, before Townsend finished it to advance to the hot seat match. She was joined by Pritchard, who’d defeated Lynch 7-5. Townsend successfully fought a second double hill match and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Malm’s return from a three-match trip on the loss side.
On the loss side, Malm downed Riddick 7-2, advancing to meet Lynch, who’d defeated Emmett 7-1. Malm and Lynch came within a game of double hill, before Malm advanced to the semifinals 7-5. Malm then downed Pritchard 7-1 for a second shot at Townsend in the hot seat. The race was extended to 9, and Malm needed 16 of the match’s potential 17 games to close it out. She did so, 9-7, to chalk up her third straight victory on the tour (7th overall). It was also Townsend’s third straight finish as runner-up (to go along with a victory in May). The two finished 1st and 2nd in the tour’s rankings for the year.
In the Open event (in which Malm participated, as well, going two-and-out), Lim won his opening-round match against Brad Hedges 9-3, and was then sent to the loss side by Tuan Chau 9-6. Chau advanced to meet Eric Moore, who defeated him, double hill, and then advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Kenny Miller. JT Ringgold, having defeated Mac Harrell, Michael Hughes, and Greg Sabins, advanced to meet Chris Wilburn, who entered (and finished) the tournament as the tour’s #2-ranked player (Shaun Wilkie, who did not compete, remained in the #1 slot).
Moore downed Miller 9-6, as Ringgold defeated Wilburn 9-3. Moore and Ringgold locked up in a double hill fight for possession of the hot seat and Moore claimed it.
On the loss side, Lim opened his trek back to the finals with victories over Jose Vega-Hernandez (7-1), Joshua Padron (7-2), Greg Sabins (7-2), and Mac Harrell (7-4), to draw Miller. Wilburn picked up the man who’d sent Lim to the loss side, Tuan Chau, who’d recently defeated Michael Hughes 7-2 and Nilbert Lim (no relation, though a friend, to Reymart) 7-4.
Chau defeated Wilburn, as Reymart Lim was busy eliminating Harrell, both 7-4. Lim wreaked his vengeance on Chau 7-2 in the quarterfinals, and went on to down Ringgold 7-5 in the semifinals. Lim took command of the finals, and finished it at 11-5 to claim the event title.
Tour director Ozzy Reynolds thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards for their hospitality and sponsorship, along with Cue Sports International, Predator, Ozone Billiards and George Hammerbach. The event, as the season finale, also ended the mega-battle for tour rankings in the male and Open divisions. Leading the way in the Open Division was Shaun Wilkie, who earned airfare, hotel and entry fee to the 2018 US Open 10-Ball Championships. Chris Wilburn, who finished second, earned hotel and entry fee to the same event.
Tina Malm, who finished at the top of the women’s rankings, received hotel accommodations and entry fee to the 2018 BCAPL World Championships in July. Unless a female finishes at the top of the tour’s Open rankings, Malm became the APT’s last separate female tour champion, because the APT will no longer offer separate tournaments for a female division of the tour.
After being edged out by Dennis Orcollo in the 2017 VA State 10-Ball Championships last month (Feb.), Shaun Wilkie returned to the tables with a vengeance and went undefeated at the March 11-12 stop on the Action Pool Tour. On his trip to the hot seat (racing to 8), only one of his six opponents (Reymart Lim) got within two racks of him, giving him a win percentage to that point of 77% (48-14). Only his opponent in the finals (racing to 10), Chris Futrell, got as close as three racks, knocking his overall percentage down to 73% (58-21). The event drew 54 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
In a concurrently-run Ladies event, Nicole King came back from a double hill loss to Barbara Yeager in the battle for the hot seat to defeat her in the finals and claim the title. The ladies' event drew eight entrants to the same location.
In the main event, Wilkie faced four opponents to get into a winners' side semifinal against Reymart Lim. He shut out two of those four opponents (Jose Vega-Hernandez and Troy Simmons), after giving up two racks to Nilbert Lim (no relation to Reymart) and sandwiching an 8-3 win over Corey Bress into the middle. Futrell, in the meantime, found himself facing Bill Duggan in the other winners' side semifinal.
Reymart Lim chalked up more racks against Wilkie in their winners' side semifinal (six) than all of Wilkie's previous opponents combined, but it wasn't enough. By the same score, 8-6, Duggan sent Futrell to the loss side. Wilkie sent Duggan west 8-3 to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Futrell picked up Brian Dietzenbach, who, after being defeated by Reymart Lim in his first match, arrived at the 5/6 matches on the heels of a six-match, loss-side winning streak, including a shutout victory over Troy Simmons and a 7-2 win over Eric Moore. Reymart Lim drew RJ Carmona, who'd been sent west by Futrell in a winners' side quarterfinal. Carmona got by Corey Bress 7-4 and just did defeat Nilbert Lim 7-6.
Carmona completed back-to-back victories over the Lims with a 7-5 victory over Reymart. In the quarterfinals, he faced Futrell, who'd ended Dietzenbach's loss-side winning streak 7-1. Futrell then eliminated Carmona 7-5 to face Duggan a second time in the semifinals. Futrell gave up only two racks to earn a second shot against Wilkie. Wilkie completed his undefeated run with a 10-7 victory over Futrell in the finals.
In the Ladies' event, five of the 14 total matches played went to double hill. Three of those five were played by Nicole King, who won two of them. She played back-to-back double hill matches to get into the finals. Following a 6-4 victory over Cheryl Pritchard, King defeated Daisy Lim, double hill, in one winners' side semifinal, as Barbara Yeager was busy downing Gwen Townsend 6-4. Yeager claimed the hot seat, double hill over King and waited for her to return.
On the loss side, Lim picked up Meredith Lynch, who, following a defeat at the hands of Yeager in the opening round, had survived a double hill match against Jacki Duggan to draw Lim. Townsend drew Judie Wilson, who'd eliminated Pritchard, double hill.
Lim and Townsend advanced to the quarterfinals, having given up only a single rack between them against Lynch and Wilson (Wilson chalked up the solo rack, against Townsend). Townsend then defeated Lim 6-3 in the quarterfinals before being defeated in a double hill match by King in the semifinals. King came back and downed Yeager 8-4 in the finals to claim the event title.
