The Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour returned to Breaktime Bar & Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC for the 4th of July weekend and attracted a field of 54 entrants to its $500-added event there. They brought back 12 competitors to the venue on Sunday, which normally would have closed for the 4th of July holiday. Those 12 battled down to the two competitors who squared off against each other in the finals, at which point, Matt Harrell and junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth agreed to a split of the top two prizes, so that one and all could proceed to area fireworks. As the occupant of the hot seat at the time of the agreement, Matt Harrell claimed the official event title.
Nearly half of the competitors who signed on for this event were either junior players or women. One of those junior players, Landon Hollingsworth, currently #4 in the Pro Am Rankings of the Junior International Championships being held at multiple venues nationwide, lost a match to the eventual winner in the third round of play and battled back through seven matches on the loss side for the right to face Harrell in the finals, which didn’t happen.
With Hollingsworth already at work on the loss side, Matt Harrell advanced to a winners’ side semifinal match against a former junior competitor Hunter White. Yet another junior competitor, Niko Konkel (14) squared off against Josh Williams in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Konkel downed Williams 5-4 (Williams racing to 6). Harrell joined Konkel in the hot seat match, following his 7-6 win over White, who was racing to 9. Harrell, in what would prove to be his last match, claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Konkel.
On the loss side, it was White who picked up Hollingsworth, four matches into his seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had recently shut out Dakota Ash in the first money round and then eliminated Josh Shultz 7-4. Williams drew Collin Hall, who had defeated Travis Guerra 6-4 and Jeff Pruitt, double hill.
Williams downed Hall 6-2. Hollingsworth joined him in the quarterfinals, after defeating White 7-1. Hollingsworth then eliminated Williams 7-4 in those quarterfinals. Hollingsworth completed his loss side run with a 7-2 victory over Konkel in the semifinals.
Hollingsworth and Harrell negotiated the split of the top two prizes. Harrell was awarded the official event title and Independence Day celebrations resumed all around.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Sundeep “Sunny” Makhni and his Breaktime staff for their hospitality, as well title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Diamond Brat, Federal Savings Bank’s Mortgage Division and AZBilliards. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, July 10-11, will be hosted by Sonny’s Bistro & Billiards in Princeton, WV.
He’s been competing more, and it shows. Dalton Messer closed out 2018 with a Saturday, Dec. 29 victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Messer, who, until 2018, had cashed in a total of only four of the tour’s events over the past two years, cashed in six events on this year’s tour, including two runner-up and two third-place finishes. He’s earned over five times as much this year as he earned in 2016 & 2017 combined. Messer went undefeated through a field of 41 entrants at the event hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
Messer had to get by different opponents in the hot seat match and finals. He’d worked his way through to a winners’ side semifinal against David Lear, while his eventual opponent in the finals, Matt Harrell, was squaring off against Brian Francis. Messer got into the hot seat match with a double hill win over Lear, as Francis sent Harrell to the loss side 6-2. Messer claimed the hot seat in a 5-2 win over Francis and waited on what turned out to be Harrell’s three-match, loss-side trip back to the finals.
Harrell gave up only a single rack to Newman, and advanced to the quarterfinals 6-1. Lear and Canipe locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Lear to join Harrell. Harrell downed Lear 6-5 (Lear racing to 7) and then, defeated Brian Francis 6-2 in the semifinals.
With Harrell, looking for his second win on the tour, racing to 6, Messer, looking for his first win on the tour, defeated him 5-4 in the only set necessary to secure the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Randolph’s, 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, the third of the tour’s ‘official’ 2019 calendar is scheduled for this weekend (Jan. 5-6) and will be hosted by Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
This was almost a story about two brothers, Randy and Jeff Jordan, winning the Pro and Amateur divisions of the season finale stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour on the weekend of December 16-17. Instead, thanks to Josh Roberts, it’s about two brothers finishing first (Jeff) and second (Randy) in the Amateur and Pro division tournaments, respectively. And then, there’s an asterisk next to Jeff Jordan’s victory in the Amateur event, because with the two brothers needing to drive back to Georgia on Sunday night, Jeff and Josh Williams mutually agreed to split the top two prizes and not play a final match, leaving Jeff, in the hot seat, as the event’s official winner.
The $2,000-added Pro event, held over the two days, drew 58 entrants, while the $340-added Amateur event, which began and ended on Sunday, December 17, drew 31 entrants. Both events were hosted by Park Avenue Billiards in Orange Park, FL.
The two Jordan brothers ended up in the hot seat in their respective tournaments. Josh Roberts came back from a loss in the Pro hot seat match to defeat the elder Jordan brother, Randy, in the finals of the Pro event, and as noted, Jeff was declared the official winner of the Amateur event when he and Williams opted out of a final match.
Randy Jordan had defeated Mike Delawder 7-5 in one of the Pro event’s winners’ side semifinals to get into the hot seat match. He was joined by Roberts, who’d sent Obbie Cirilo west 7-4. Randy claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Roberts and waited for him to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, competition was fierce, as five of the 10 matches between the 9/12 contests and the semifinals went double hill. Cirilo joined the loss-side crowd in the 5/6 matches and picked up the ever-dangerous Anthony Meglino. Delawder drew Bobby Garza. Meglino advanced to the quarterfinals 7-5 over Cirilo, while Delawder and Garza battled to double hill, before Delawder moved on.
Meglino then downed Delawder in a double hill quarterfinal, before himself falling victim to Josh Roberts in a double hill semifinal. Josh Roberts then spoiled the potential brother-party on the soon-to-be ride home to Georgia by defeating the elder Jordan 11-6 in the finals.
An award of $60 was earned by the event’s top-finishing Junior player. It was won by 17-year-old Jordan Burden.
[photo id=48397|align=right]Younger Jordan takes home the Amateur title
In the Amateur event, Jeff Jordan got himself into the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Trenton White in one winners’ side semifinal, while Josh Williams downed Ted Kershey 7-3 in the other one. Jeff Jordan claimed the hot seat, winning what proved to be his last match of the event, with a 7-2 win over Williams.
On the loss side, on arrival, Kershey and White walked into their second straight loss; Kershey falling to David Grossman 5-2 and White, to Peter Ghostine 5-1 (the 13-year-old White, as the Amateur event’s top-finishing junior, pocketed an extra $20, in addition to the $115 he earned for finishing in the tie for 5th place). Ghostine won the quarterfinal match that followed, double hill, and then fell victim to Williams 5-2 in the semifinals. Jordan and Williams then opted out of the final match, and the Jordan brothers went home with a good (just not as terrific as it might have been) story to tell.
Tour directors Janene Phillips and Bobby Garza thanked Carl Watt and his Park Avenue Billiards staff for their hospitality, as well as sponsors McDermott Cues, Kamui, AZBilliards, BilliardBuzz.com, Jacksonville Roofing USA, Inside Pool Magazine, and Seagram’s 7. The next stop on the Sunshine State Pro Am Tour will be the 2018 season opener. Scheduled for the weekend of January 13-14, 2018, the event will be hosted by Stroker’s in Palm Harbor, FL and feature a 10-ball invitational tournament, open to the winner and runner-up of each of the tour’s 2017 stops (10 of them), along with one junior competitor and two ladies. The 2018 tour has already scheduled 14 stops, from Miami to Jacksonville, FL.
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.
JT Ringgold chalked up his eighth win on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour on the weekend of December 2-3; the most of any competitor on the tour in the five years of its existence. He did so by defeating Zach Leonard two out of the three times they met at the event that drew 35 entrants to the Gate City Billiards Club in the tour’s backyard, Greensboro, NC.
They met first in the hot seat match. Ringgold had sent Mike McPherson to the loss side 10-5, as Leonard was defeating Jose Irizarry 7-5 in the two winners’ side semifinals. With Leonard racing to 7, Ringgold claimed the hot seat 10-3 and waited for Leonard to get back from the overall event semifinals.
On the loss side, McPherson picked up Jim Lewis, who’d downed Ken Mizelle 8-2 and Daniel Adams 8-4 to reach him. Irizarry drew Josh Williams, who, in his most recent two matches, had given up only two racks over 14 games (one each) to Cameron Lawhorne and Brandon Stiltner.
Williams gave up four racks to Irizarry, but not before he’d chalked up his requisite six to advance to the quarterfinals. McPherson joined him on the heels of a 7-5 win over Lewis. Williams stepped back into his established pattern, giving up only a single rack to McPherson in the quarterfinals.
Leonard ended Williams’ bid for a spot in the finals with a 7-4 win in the semifinals. He employed the momentum to win the first set of the finals 7-7 (Ringgold racing to 10). Ringgold was shy by three racks in that first set. Leonard came up three short in the second set, as Ringgold won it 10-4 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Gate City Billiards Club, 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 (December 9-10), will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
Michelle Jiang, 16, Harvard, Mass., winner of the Women’s 8-Ball Singles Platinum Division
The 8-Ball divisions at the 2017 BCAPL National Championships are wrapping up and more champions have been crowned! The 41st BCAPL National Championships started July 19 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. More than 5,000 players are participating in this year’s event, which has more than 40 divisions.
Here are the top finishers in the divisions that have concluded:
There were a number of factors which contributed to Alex Boles and Jonathan (Hennessee from Tennessee) Pinegar's decision to split the top two prizes on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour stop on Memorial Day weekend (May 27-28). One of them was dawn on Sunday, May 28. Another was a striking difference in skill levels, related to their ages (Boles is 15, Pinegar is. . . much older). Among the most significant, however, was the fact that they'd driven to the event together and when it came down to the finals, with the youngster Boles in the hot seat, and the veteran Pinegar having just completed a seven-match, loss-side run, well. . .there was, so to speak, no contest. The undefeated Boles became the event winner and Pinegar gladly settled for runner-up. The event drew 28 entrants to Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
With Pinegar already at work on the loss side, the teenager (Boles) advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Scott Howard. Randall Bowman, in the meantime, faced Josh Williams. Boles downed Howard 5-5 (Howard racing to 7), and in the hot seat match, faced Bowman, who'd sent Williams west 6-4. Boles claimed the hot seat 5-3 over Bowman.
Two matches in to his loss-side run, Pinegar defeated Brandon Kidwell 12-4 and Buffie Jolie 12-1, to pick up Williams. Howard drew Scott Roberts, who'd defeated Brandon Helton 7-2 (thus, denying Pinegar the pleasure of a re-match) and Jerry Ray 7-4 to reach him. Pinegar downed Williams 12-2, as one 'Scott' (Howard) downed the other 'Scott' (Roberts) 7-4.
Howard put up a bit of a fight against Pinegar in the quarterfinals, battling to double hill (11-6), before Pinegar finished it at 12-6. Pinegar then gave up only a single rack to Bowman in the semifinals, completing his loss-side run. The decision was made at dawn (more or less) to split the top two prizes, leaving the undefeated Boles in possession of 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, scheduled for June 3-4, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
Tyler Mayfield, whose last recorded tour win was his first on the Great Southern Billiard Tour, three years ago, chalked up his first win on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour on the weekend of May 20-21. On both occasions, he claimed the title by coming from the loss side to double dip the hot seat occupant. Three years ago, he won five on the loss side. In this most recent event, he won three to get himself into the finals against Bo Blakely. The event drew 49 entrants to the Gate City Billiard Club in Greensboro, NC.
Mayfield advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Travis Guerra. Blakely and Josh Padron (2016's Q City tour champion) squared off in the other one. Both matches went double hill, with Blakely and Guerra advancing to the hot seat match. In a straight-up race to 5, Blakely claimed the hot seat 5-3.
On the loss side, Mayfield began his trek back to the finals against James Blackburn, who'd defeated Cody Jones 9-2 and shut out Jeff Young to reach him. Padron drew a 'young gun,' 17-year-old Hunter White, who'd eliminated Jerry Varnado 8-4 and Josh Williams 8-3. White downed Padron 8-4, as Mayfield got by Blackburn 6-3.
Mayfield took the quarterfinal match against White 6-2, and then, locked up in a second double hill rematch fight against Guerra in the semifinals. Mayfield dropped the last ball in the 10th game to win it 6-4.
Mayfield took the first set of the double elimination final over Blakely 6-3. He completed his run with a 6-2 win in the second set to claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Gate City Billiards Club, 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 May 27-28, will be hosted by Janet Atwell's Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
They played against each other only once. Josh Williams was in the hot seat at the January 28 stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, and Rocky Hawks came from the three wins on the loss side to meet him in the finals. Hawks took the double elimination opening set before they both decided to call it a 'one-loss draw' and split the top two prizes. The event drew 31 entrants to Gate City Billiards in Greensboro, NC.
They missed an earlier meeting, when Travis Duncan defeated Hawks in a double hill (4-6, Hawks racing to 7), winners' side semifinal, moving Duncan into the hot seat match against Williams, who'd just defeated Morgan Sutherland 5-3. Williams claimed the hot seat (and what proved to be his last win) 5-1 over Duncan.
On the loss side, Hawkes began his trip back to the finals with a 7-1 victory over Tim Nelson, who'd previously shut out Michael Fogelman and survived a double hill battle against Tyler Mayfield to reach him. Sutherland drew Bo Blakely, who'd gotten by Travis Guerra, double hill, and Randall Bowman 5-3. Sutherland eliminated Blakely 5-3 to join Hawks in the quarterfinals.
Hawks then defeated Sutherland 7-3 to earn his re-match against Duncan in the semifinals. Hawks balanced the earlier, double hill defeat, with a sound 7-2 win over Duncan that gave him a shot against Williams.
Hawks took the opening set of the double elimination final 7-4, and that, as they say, was all she wrote. They opted out of a second, deciding match, choosing to lower the potential winners' prize ($550) by $100 and raising the potential losers' prize ($350) by the same amount; they split the $900.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership of Gate City Billiards and staff for their hospitality as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, Ruthless Billiards, GoPlayPool.com, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of February 4-5, will be hosted by Randolph's in Hickory, NC.
Clear dominance in the hot seat match for William Cloud turned into relative dominance for Josh Williams in a two-set final that earned him the event title. The occasion was the August 13-14 stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, which drew 36 entrants to the Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.
Cloud sent Mike McPherson to the loss side 8-4 in one winners' side semifinal, as Williams sent Jonathan Ailstock over 5-3 in the other one. In the hot seat match, Cloud gave up only two racks to Williams (racing to 5), which proved to be his last winning set.
On the loss side, McPherson picked up Brad Barton, who'd defeated Chad Weachter 6-3, and David Tickle, double hill, to reach him. Ailstock drew Gate City Billiards owner Don Liebes, who'd eliminated John Sanders 5-4 (Sanders racing to 8), and Anthony Mabe 5-5 (Mabe racing to 7).
McPherson gave up a single rack to Barton and advanced to the quarterfinals. Liebes joined him after defeating Ailstock 5-4 (Ailstock racing to 6). A second straight 7-1 set for McPherson put him a single match away from a re-match versus Cloud. Williams spoiled that party in the semifinals with a 5-3 win that gave him the re-match against Cloud.
The total game score over the two-set final was Williams 10, and Cloud 9. Williams took the opening set 5-4, and then, allowed Cloud one more rack, before chalking up the second set 5-5 and claiming the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Don Liebes and his staff at the Gateway Billiard Club, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta-13 racks, and Ruthless Billiards Apparel. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for August 20-21, will be a $500-added event, hosted by Cue Time in Spartanburg, SC.
