There’s a reason that you don’t find evidence of pool players opting to forfeit their opening match so they can spend all of their tournament time on the loss side of a double elimination bracket, waiting for a metaphoric ‘sword’ over their heads to descend and cut them out of the competition. Roanoke, VA’s Damien “DJ” Brads, former US Marine, seems to have developed an affinity for the loss-side experience.
Brads has only been competing on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour for about a year now, cashing in five events since last March. He’s won two of them (last March and this past weekend, Feb. 18-19). Both times, he lost his opening match and ended up winning the two sets of a double elimination final to claim the title. In March, 2022, at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA, he won eight on the loss side to finish with 10 straight wins, matching a tour record set by Larry Nevel in 2014. At a $250-added event which drew 39 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC this past weekend, he broke that record by winning 10 on the loss side and the two sets of the final.
Brads battled to double hill in his opening match before Brian Blankenship sent him off to chalk up his record-setting 10-match, loss-side winning streak. In the meantime, the tour event was playing host to the return of JT Ringgold. Though he’d made limited appearances on the tour in the past two years (three cash finishes since 2021, including two in which he finished as runner-up), he was a long way from the days of 2018/2019, when he cashed in a total of 27 events (nine in events other than the Q City 9-Ball Tour) and won five of them. He returned with his ranking unaffected, needing in this most recent event to win 10 games every time he stepped to the table.
The eventual runner-up, Ringgold advanced through the field, as did Justin Knuckles, who’d lost to DJ Brads in the semifinals of Brads’ win last March. Ringgold and Knuckles squared off in one of the winners’ side semifinals this past weekend, while Jack Whitfield and Eddie Williams met in the other one.
Ringgold advanced to the hot seat match with a 10-1 win over Knuckles. Whitfield and Williams battled to double hill before Whitfield prevailed. Ringgold and Whitfield battled to double hill as well, before Ringgold grabbed the hot seat 10-6 (Whitfield racing to 7).
On the loss side, Brads had won five when he eliminated Joshua Shultz, double hill and Michael Yamuni 6-2 to draw Eddie Williams. Knuckles picked up Tracy Hardie, who had her own loss-side story to tell. Racing to 4 throughout, she’d won two on the winners’ side before she ran into JT Ringgold, whom she battled to double hill before he prevailed, sending her west in the bracket toward a quarterfinal matchup against Brads. She’d eliminated Donna Sellman 4-2 and survived a double hill battle against Chris Gehrki to meet Knuckles.
With Knuckles racing to 7, Hardie advanced to the quarterfinals 4-3. Brads downed Williams 6-2 to join her. It was clear that both competitors had a lot at stake in the quarterfinals, which was reflected in the double hill match that ensued and eventually (6-3) sent Brads to the semifinals against Jack Whitfield.
By the same 6-3 score, Brads defeated Whitfield (racing to 7) and advanced to the double elimination finals against Ringgold. There was a lot at stake for both competitors in this pair of matches, too. And like the quarterfinals, it was reflected in the double-hill, first-set match score of 6-9 that forced a second set. The first set seemed to have a way of taking the wind out of Ringgold’s metaphoric sails. Brad won the second set 6-3 to set the tour’s longest-run-to-the-winner’-circle record.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s, as well as title sponsor PremierBillairds.com, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues.
This weekend, Feb. 25-26, Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC will play host to the 11th Annual NC State 9-Ball Open. The PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball weekend will feature a $1,000-added Open tournament and a $250-added 3rd Annual Ladies event.
Stay tuned, but like a lot of pool tours staring at the spectre of empty-by-government-order bars and/or pool rooms, last weekend’s (March 14) Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop may have been its last for a while. The industry, nation-wide, functions on its ability to gather players together for tournaments big and small and with the numbers of what are being called allowable safe groups declining and currently hovering in the 10 or less area, pool tournaments are in serious jeopardy.
At this most recent tournament, junior player Joey Tate (15) and veteran competitor, JT Ringgold battled only once, in a winners’ side semifinal. Tate won that match and though Ringgold won three on the loss side to earn the right to a rematch, they opted out of it. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, Tate claimed the event title. The event drew 23 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
As Ringgold and Tate battled what proved to be the title match in their winners’ side semifinals, Michael Thompson and Ron Sellers battled in the other one. Tate sent Ringgold to the loss side 7-8 (Ringgold racing to 11). Thompson joined Tate in the hot seat match after defeating Sellers 7-3. Tate claimed the hot seat and in effect, the event title 7-5 over Thompson.
Ringgold downed Acevedo 11-3 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Sellers, who’d defeated Farrar 5-4 (Farrar racing to 7). Ringgold, picking up some speed in this loss-side campaign shut Sellers out in those quarterfinals.
Thompson applied the brakes to Ringgold’s momentum with a double hill battle in the semifinals. Ringgold won it, though, 11-6 for a second shot against Tate in the hot seat; a shot he didn’t take. He and Tate opted out of the final, split the money and went home.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards, and Tickler Pool Ball Washing Machine. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour is, well . . . up in the air at this point. The Parkers maintain a presence on Facebook, which can be monitored for ongoing information.
Last year proved to be a bit of an off-year for JT Ringgold, who, though he cashed in 12 events, failed to chalk up more than a single victory; in June, on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour at Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC. He barely took home one-third of the cash he won in 2018, his best earnings year to date, when he won three stops on the tour (one of them at Mickey Milligan’s) and the Action Pool Tour’s season finale. Ringgold returned to Mickey Milligan’s on Saturday, January 18 and opened his 2020 campaign on a semi-positive note. Though he managed to earn a spot in the finals against Matt Raden, the two of them opted out of a final match, leaving Raden, the undefeated occupant of the hot seat as the winner. It was Raden’s first cash finish on the tour, on which he’s been competing since 2017. The $400-added event drew 24 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s.
They met once in this event, in a winners’ side quarterfinal, which went double hill, before Raden prevailed 7-10 (Ringgold to 11). Ringgold moved to the loss side, as Raden drew a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Montez Lloyd. Ron Ford, in the meantime, squared off against Jorge Ramos in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Two double hill matches sent Raden and Ford to the hot seat match. Raden downed Lloyd 7-5 and Ford defeatEd Ramos 5-6. Raden claimed his first-ever hot seat with a 7-3 victory over Ford in what proved to be Raden’s final match.
Over on the loss side, Ringgold began his five-match trek toward a rematch against Raden with an 11-1 victory over Jeff Matthews and then downed Joshua Shultz 11-4 to draw Ramos. Mike Powell, who’d defeated Mickey Milligan’s owner Gerry Sheperd 5-1 and survived a double hill fight against Ms. Sydney Cork (5-3), leapfrogged over Montez Lloyd, who forfeited his first loss-side match.
Ringgold joined Powell in the quarterfinals after defeating Ramos 11-6. In what proved to be Ringgold’s final match, he defeated Powell 11-3 in those quarterfinals.
Ringgold then did his own leapfrog number. Ford forfeited the semifinal match, which set Ringgold up to face Raden in the finals. The two agreed to the split, leaving Raden with his first regional tour win, albeit with the *, and the evening was done.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Gerry Sheperd and his Mickey Milligan’s staff, 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 January 25-26, will be a $500-added event ($1,000-added with 64+ players), hosted by Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
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.
Thomas Cooke dodged a few major ‘bullets’ and came back from a hot-seat loss to double dip a junior player in the finals of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop at Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC on the weekend of Sept. 28-29. It was, at least as far as our records indicate, not only Cooke’s first victory on the tour, but his first cash payout at any major event anywhere. The $500-added event drew 20 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s.
Among the ‘bullets’ he dodged (did not play) were tour regulars BJ Ussery, Barry Mashburn and Anthony Mabe. Junior competitor and runner-up Josh Shultz was unable to dodge two ‘bullets,’ but fired back and on the winners’ side of the bracket, defeated both Ussery and JT Ringgold (the tour’s most prolific event winner), who, together on the loss side of the bracket, advanced to a marquee matchup in the quarterfinals. Ringgold had his six-match, loss-side streak ended by Cooke in the semifinals.
With the tour’s ‘heavy hitters’ already at work on the loss side, Cooke and Shultz advanced to the winners’ side semifinals; Cooke facing Jack Whitfield and Shultz meeting David Givens. Cooke battled Whitfield to a deciding 11th game in their double hill match, before advancing to the hot seat match. Shultz downed Givens 6-2. Shultz took the first of his three versus Cooke 6-3 and waited in the hot seat for him to return.
Over on the loss side, Ussery and Ringgold were waiting for Whitfield and Givens, respectively. Ringgold had most recently defeated Reene Driskill and Barry Mashburn, both 11-3, to draw Givens. Ussery had shut out Anthony Mabe and defeated Gerry Shepherd 12-2 to face Whitfield.
Ussery and Ringgold advanced to the marquee quarterfinals; Ringgold 11-4 over Givens and Ussery, 12-4 over Whitfield. Ussery was a little ‘off,’ apparently, and when they returned the following day to play that quarterfinal match, Ringgold won it 11-4.
Ringgold was apparently not at the top of his game, either, as, racing to 11, he fell 5-5 to Cooke in the semifinals. With Shultz racing to 6 in the finals, Cooke took the opening set 5-4 and won the second set 5-3 to claim the event title.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’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, scheduled for this weekend (October 5-6), will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
The Tour is heading into a busy part of its schedule, with a number of high profile events between now and Christmas, beginning with its (9-ft table) Tour Championships on October 26 at Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC. The bar table Tour Championships will be held December 19 at Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC.
The month of November will be particularly busy with the tour’s first One Pocket invitational tournament, which has already been sold out. Scheduled for November 16-17, the event will be hosted by Speakeazy Billiards in Sandford, NC. A week later, at the same location, the tour will host the NC State 10-Ball Open, sponsored in part by Doug Beasley Custom Cues. A Scotch Doubles Tournament, scheduled for Thanksgiving Day weekend (Nov. 30-Dec.1) will be hosted by Break & Run Billiards in Chesnee, SC. Tour patrons should monitor the tour’s Facebook pages for further information about these and upcoming tournaments.
Until the weekend of September 7-8, Kelly Farrar had cashed in only three events on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, finishing 4th twice (both times in May, 2018 and 2019) and 5th once (this past April). In a relatively small field on hand for the tour stop at Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh (18 entrants) this past weekend, he went undefeated to claim his first tour title.
He defeated Scott Johnson, also looking for his first tour win, twice to do it. Johnson had only cashed twice previously on the tour, finishing 3rd a little over a month ago (July) and was runner-up to JT Ringgold at a stop in April, 2016.
They advanced through the short field to a winners’ side semifinal match. Farrar faced Travis Guerra, as Johnson met up with Gary South. Johnson sent South west 7-3. He was joined in the hot seat match by Farrar, who’d given up only a single rack to Geurra in a 6-1 victory. With Johnson racing to 7, Farrar defeated him double hill (6-6) and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
On the loss side, Guerra drew Josh Shultz, who’d defeated Brian Overman 6-4 and Steve Jenkins 6-2 to reach him. South picked up Tanya Parsley, who’d been defeated in the opening round of play by Ricky Dickson and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take her as far as the semifinals. She’d recently shut out Billie Spadafora and defeated David Strum 4-3 (Strum racing to 6).
Both matches for advancement to the quarterfinals went double hill, with Guerra downing Shultz 6-5 and Parsley knocking off South 4-6 (South racing to 7). With Guerra racing to 6, Parsley won the quarterfinal match 4-4.
Johnson was able to put an end to Parsley’s winning streak in the semifinals, but not before she’d brought him to the brink and forced a 10th and deciding game. Johnson’s 7-3 win gave him a second shot at Farrar in the hot seat. Farrar, though, improved on his hot seat performance with a 6-4 win over Johnson in the finals.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brown’s 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 (September 14-15), will be the $500-added North Carolina State 8-Ball Championships ($1,000-added with field of 64), hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
With a little less than half of the field still in play, the Saturday, August 3 stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour featured a large number of its better players, as defined by their tour ratings. Justin Martin, who races to 10 in his matches, was among the event’s final 12 and went on to win the event, undefeated*. Also present among the final 12 were BJ Ussery (racing to 12 in his matches) and JT Ringgold (racing to 11). The $250-added event drew 29 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s Billiards in New Bern, NC.
Martin was to have faced Jack Whitfield twice in this one, but did so only once. Martin got into the hot seat match following a 10-5 victory over Danny Farren in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Whitfield joined him after a 7-5 win over Junior Avery in the other one. In what proved to be the title match, battling for the hot seat, Martin gave up only a single rack, downing Whitfield 10-1.
Farren and Avery moved to the loss side of the bracket and faced Ringgold and Travis Guerra, respectively, for advancement to the first money round. Ringgold eliminated Farren 11-6, as Guerra downed Avery 6-4.
The first money round match, the quarterfinals, came within a game of going double hill. It was Ringgold who fell a rack short of forcing a deciding game, and Guerra advanced 6-9.
In what proved to be the event’s final match, Whitfield earned a second shot at Martin in the hot seat with a 7-4 victory over Guerra. The final match did not occur. It was 6 a.m. on Sunday morning and Martin and Whitfield opted out, leaving the undefeatEd Martin as the event’s official winner.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Micky Milligan’s 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 (August 10-11), will be hosted by a new venue for the tour, Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC.
Last March, Andy Bowden was runner-up at a Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour stop at the newly-renovated Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA. In that event, he was sent to the loss side when he dropped a set to the eventual winner (Hank Powell) in the winners’ side semifinal. He won three on the loss side and the opening set of a true double elimination final, double hill, against Powell, who won the second set and claimed the event title. On the weekend of July 27-28, in a reversal of fortune scene, Bowden was the winner at a Q City 9-Ball Tour stop in Lynchburg, VA, sent Amory Capers to the loss side in a winners’ side semifinal match, and lost the opening set of the true double elimination final to Capers. Bowden won the second set to claim the title. The event drew 25 entrants to The Clubhouse.
As Bowden and Capers played out their winners’ side semifinal match to its 6-3 Bowden conclusion, Dylan Carr was busy in the other winners’ side semifinal, taking out the tour’s most prolific winner, JT Ringgold, 5-2 (Ringgold racing to 11). Bowden gave up only a single rack to Carr in the match that followed and waited in the hot seat for the return of Capers.
On the loss side, Capers drew Trey Frank, who’d faced and been defeated by Bowden in the semifinals of the March event and had eliminated Jonathan Ailstock 7-4 and Jordan Worley 7-3 to reach Capers. Ringgold picked up Brian Bryant, who’d taken out Scott Roberts, double hill, and David Parker 9-3.
Bryant locked up in a double hill battle against Ringgold and prevailed 9-10 to give Ringgold a rare three-win, two back-to-back losses run in a tournament. Capers downed Frank 7-4 to join Bryant in the quarterfinals.
Bryant ended up on the wrong end of his second straight double hill match, falling to Capers 7-8. Capers then spoiled Carr’s hopes for a rematch by defeating him 7-2 in the semifinals.
Capers took the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-3. He and Bowden battled back and forth to a single deciding 12th game in the second set, but it was Bowden who dropped the last ball to claim the event title.
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 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (August 3-4) will be hosted by Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
Collin Hall’s 2019 year at the tables is playing out the way his 2018 year did. On Saturday, July 20 at the Gate City Billiard Club in Greensboro, NC, Hall chalked up his second victory of the year* on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. At this point last year, July 21 to be exact, he’d chalked up only his first 2018 victory. He’s already won twice in 2019 and has until October 13-14 to break a two-per-year threshold he’s faced on three separate occasions; 2016, 2018 and now, 2019. He’s defeated six different opponents in those six final matches, including Danny Jones and Jeff Young in 2016, Brent Hensley and Wes Campbell in 2018.
Hall beat Scott Roberts at The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA in April of this year. This most recent event drew 35 entrants to the Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC. Hall took the hot seat match over BJ Ussery, and then watched, as Scott Johnson, in the midst of an eight-match loss-side winning streak, got way out in front against Ussery in the semifinal. Johnson, at the start, was getting five beads on the wire in a race to 12, so at 6-6, Johnson was on the hill. He missed three opportunities shooting at the 9-ball that would have sent him to the finals against Hall. Ussery took advantage and defeated him 12-6 for a second shot at Hall which didn’t happen. A room curfew led Hall and Ussery to negotiate a prize settlement in lieu of a final match and as the undefeated hot seat occupant, Hall claimed the title.
Their first clash in the hot seat match came after two double hill matchups in the winners’ side semifinals. Hall downed Cartelli 6-4. Ussery sent Shaun Apple to the left bracket 12-4. Hall entered the hot seat match with six on the wire in a race to 12 against Ussery and chalked up the six he needed to win 6-9, in what was, in essence, the event’s title match.
On the loss side, it was Shaun Apple who picked up Johnson, six matches into his loss-side streak, who’d just eliminated Bradley Barker and James Blackburn, both 7-5. Cartelli drew Joe Woo, who’d eliminated Gary Campbell 6-2 and Alex Valencia 6-4.
Johnson got into the quarterfinals with a 7-3 win over Apple. He was joined by Cartelli, who’d ended Woo’s day 5-2. Johnson won what would prove to be his last match of the day, defeating Cartelli 7-3 in those quarterfinals.
Johnson, who’s not appeared on a payout list (to our knowledge) since 2016, when he was runner-up to the tour’s most prolific player, JT Ringgold, entered the semifinals looking for a chance to compete in his second final in three years. And almost pulled it off. As noted above, he was in the driver’s seat, on the hill, poised (thanks to the room curfew) to chalk up a second runner-up victory against one of the tour’s best. He stumbled going into what amounted to be the ‘final turn,’ and Ussery closed the gap to win the game, match and what was essentially, the battle for the runner-up slot.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Gate City 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 (July 27-28), will be hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
Last month (June 15-16), Chris Bruner won seven on the loss side of the Action Pool Tour’s Brown’s Mechanical 9-Ball Open (Stop #6 on the tour) to chalk up his first 2019 win. In so doing, he climbed two rungs on the tour’s ranking ladder (from 5th to 3rd). At the Action Pool Tour’s Bar Box 10-Ball Open (Stop #7), which drew 32 entrants to Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA this past weekend (July 13-14), Bruner won his second straight APT event, coming back from a defeat in the hot seat to claim the event title in a final match against JT Ringgold. This time, and once again, in the absence of some of the tour’s top-ranked competitors at this event (Steve Fleming, RJ Carmona and Reymart Lim, among others), Bruner took three steps up the ranking ladder to become the APT’s top-ranked competitor.
Bruner came into this most recent event, having already surpassed his reported 2018 earnings at the tables. When it was over, and he’d claimed the event title, he’d turned 2019 into his best earnings year, to date. Just a little over halfway through the year, he’d surpassed his best earnings year, to date (2014) by a couple of hundred dollars. Though Ringgold has already earned over twice what Bruner has earned in 2018/2019 (so far), he is a little behind schedule in his quest to match his best earnings year to date, which was 2018. At this time last year, Ringgold had earned about 39% of the total he’d earn by the end of the year. With his 2018 earnings as a hypothetical target, he’s at 32% now, and having now appeared in three of the APT’s 2019 events, he’s moved himself up in the tour’s rankings from #17 to approximately 7th or 8th, depending on how the math played out for some of the players above him who competed in this event. He and Bruner have each chalked up a victory in 2019; this most recent victory for Bruner and a stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour for Ringgold. The APT’s Bar Box 10-Ball Open drew 32 entrants to Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
Bruner’s path to the hot seat match went through Bethany Sykes 8-2, Bill Duggan in a double hill match and a shutout over Thomas Spivey to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Dave Hunt. Ringgold got by Donnie Huet 8-4, Johnny Syphanthavong 8-2, and Nilbert Lim 8-6 to pick up Mike Davis in his winners’ side semifinal. Bruner and Ringgold got into the hot seat match by chalking up identical 8-6 scores over Hunt and Davis. Somewhat predictably, the battle for the hot seat was decided by a single, 15th game in the match. Ringgold won that deciding game and waited in the hot seat for Bruner to come back from the semifinals.
Mike Davis showed up on the loss side and faced Christopher Wilburn, who’d lost an opening round, double hill match to Dave Hunt and set out on a five-match winning streak that almost, but not quite, earned him a rematch against Hunt. He’d most recently defeated Thomas Spivey and Scott Roberts, both 7-3, to draw Davis. Hunt, in the meantime, picked up Bill Duggan, who’d gone on from his early-round loss to Bruner, to win four on the loss side, including a 7-4 win over Coen Bell and a 7-3 victory over Nilbert Lim.
Hunt got by Duggan 7-2, while Davis and Wilburn locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Davis to the quarterfinals with Hunt. Davis took command of those quarterfinals quickly, downing Hunt 7-1 for a shot against Bruner in the semifinals.
It would prove to be Bruner’s second straight double hill match. The first had sent him to the semifinals. The second was the semifinals and the double hill win over Davis sent him on to a rematch against Ringgold in the hot seat. Bruner completed his second straight win on the APT with a 10-8 victory in the finals.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. Johnny Syphanthavong and Josh Harget battled twice in the hot seat and finals to win the top $115 first-place prize. Syphanthavong won them both, 6-2, 6-3.
Tour directors Kim Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Peninsula Billiards, as well as sponsors CSI, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Chix Cabinets, and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). The next stop on the Action Pool Tour (#8), scheduled for the weekend of August 17-18, will be hosted by Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD.
There’s a reason that you don’t find evidence of pool players opting to forfeit their opening match so they can spend all of their tournament time on the loss side of a double elimination bracket, waiting for a metaphoric ‘sword’ over their heads to descend and cut them out of the competition. Roanoke, VA’s Damien “DJ” Brads, former US Marine, seems to have developed an affinity for the loss-side experience.
