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Mike Davis, Jr. wins 5th NC State 9-Ball Championship on PremierBilliards TOP Tour

Mike Davis

After the 1st NC State 9-Ball Championships were won by Larry Nevel in 2013, Mike Davis, Jr. won the next three between 2014 and 2016 He skipped three years in which Shannon Fitch (’17), Reymart Lim (’18) and Keith Bennett (’19) won, before returning to the annual event in 2020, downing Justin Martin in the finals. BJ Ussery claimed the title in 2021 and Jesus Atencio won it last year. Mike Davis, Jr. chalked up his fifth NC State 9-Ball Championship title this past weekend (Feb. 25-26), going undefeated and downing Brian White twice; hot seat and finals. The $1,000-added event, held under the auspices of the PremierBilliards.com TOP (The Open Players) Tour, drew 38 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.

A previously-scheduled Ladies event did not occur when it drew only 5 women, including a pair of junior competitors, Hayleigh Marion and Skylar Hess. The women were offered the opportunity at a reduced entry to compete in the Open event and did so, comporting themselves quite well actually.

“Even when they lost,” said tour director, Herman Parker, “the fact that they’d won a few, collectively, against some strong (male) competition was pretty significant.”

Skylar Hess, a regular on the Junior International Championship circuit (JIC), defeated Jason Blackwell before losing to Barry Mashburn and Kirk Overcash. Hayleigh Marion won two on the winners’ side and one on the loss side before being knocked out by Q City 9-Ball veteran and multiple event winner, Reid Vance. Christy Norris, who plays on the tour regularly in mixed-gender events, came within of match of advancing to the first money round, before she forfeited a match against her significant other, Barry Mashburn (who promptly loss in the subsequent round, which led to some gentle ‘ribbing’ after the fact).

“I was super-impressed with the womens’ play this past weekend,” said Parker.

Davis and Brian White met first in the hot seat match after Davis had defeated Clint Clark 7-3 in one of the winners’ side semifinals and White had downed Don Lilly 7-1 in the other one. Davis claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited on White’s return.

On the loss side, Davis actually had two “White”s to watch, because Hunter White was working his way through the bracket on the loss side as well. Hunter had eliminated Mark Bolton 7-3 and in the first money round, Barry Mashburn 7-4 to draw Lilly. Clark picked up Josh Padron, who’d recently defeated Kelly Farrar 7-3 and to enter that first money round too, survived a double hill battle versus Scott Howard to reach him.

Hunter White defeated Lily 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, met up with Clint Clark, who’d eliminated Padron 7-4. Hunter White then downed Clark 7-2 in those quarterfinals, leaving Davis (waiting in the hot seat) in the position of wondering which “White” to watch as the two of them squared off in the semifinals.

One “White” won as the other went down. Brian defeated Hunter 7-3 for a second crack at Davis in the finals. Davis and Brian White mirrored their hot seat match score, which gave Davis his fifth NC State 9-Ball Championship title.

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Breaktime Billiards for their hospitality (and sponsorship of the tour), as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues. 

The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com TOP Tour, scheduled for the weekend of March 18-19 will be the 2023 West Virginia State 9-Ball Open, to be hosted by The League Room in Parkersburg, WV. The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this coming weekend (March 4-5), will be hosted by West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC.

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Efren Reyes, the “Magician” of billiards, to face off against Wilmington NC local billiard professional Justin Martin in 10-ball match

Efren Reyes

Wilmington, NC – Fans of billiards will not want to miss the upcoming match between Efren Reyes, widely considered one of the greatest billiard players of all time, and Justin Martin, a local billiard professional from Wilmington, NC. The match, which will take place on January 31st, 2023 at 6pm at Breaktime Billiards in Wilmington, will feature the two players facing off in a race to 15 10-ball match.

Efren Reyes, also known as “The Magician,” is a Filipino professional billiards player who has won numerous world championships and is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He has won multiple World Straight Pool, World Nine-ball, and World Eight-ball championships, among many other titles.
Justin Martin, a native of Wilmington, is a rising star in the billiards world. He has competed in several professional tournaments and has proven himself to be a fierce competitor. This match will be a great opportunity for Justin to showcase his skills against one of the best players in the world.

This match is sure to be a thrilling showcase of the talents and skills of these two great billiards players. Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased on the Breaktime Billiards website. Don’t miss this chance to see two of the best players in the world face off in a high-stakes game of 10-ball.

For more information, please see:

Efren Reyes vs Justin Martin Exhibition

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Gorst and Sanchez-Ruiz Top 2022 BCA Points List; Styer Top American Player

The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) has released their final points list for 2022, and while it is a familiar and expected name on top of the list, it’s a new group of American names making their presence known on the list. 

Russia’s Fedor Gorst sits at the top of the list, after wins in Arizona and Ohio, with Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz riding his wins at Derby and the US Open to second place on the list. Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski finished in 3rd place, while Mika Immonen and Jayson Shaw fill out the top five places on the list. 

As for the American players, it is Tyler Styer leading the pack in 19th place overall, with Hunter Lombardo, Kang Lee, Joven Bustamante and Shane Wolford filling out the top five American players. 

The Billiard Congress of America uses the BCA ranking system to rank players and to use a fair and transparent system for determining which American players get invited to WPA sanctioned international events such as: the World Pool Championship and other World Championship events. 

For players to get points in the BCA ranking system they must play in BCA ranking events. These events include: The Turning Stone Classic, Derby City Classic, US Open, US International Open, the Predator Pro Series events, and the American 14.1. Each event is then weighed and adjusted based on field size, purse total and how many top 20 players competed in the event.

The top fifteen World players on the list are as follows:

Current ranking Player Names Event
1
Event
2
Event
3
Event
4
Event
5
Event
6
Event
7
Event
8
Event
9
Event
10
Adj. Total
1 Fedor Gorst (RUS) 96 126 60 45 0 63 26 112 17 130 675
2 Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) 0 90 168 0 32.5 0 182 56 42.5 65 636
3 Wiktor Zielinski (POL) 0 0 72 0 182 0 26 20 102 156 558
4 Mika Immonen (FIN) 64 27 84 45 130 63 0 56 17 26 512
5 Jayson Shaw (SCO) 112 0 96 0 0 63 26 0 29.75 182 508.75
6 Roland Garcia 0 108 120 45 65 31.5 65 0 29.75 39 503.25
7 Aloysius Yapp (SNP) 0 0 0 90 156 126 26 40 0 65 503
8 Mario He (AUS) 0 27 96 22.5 32.5 0 65 56 85 91 475
9 Bader Al Awadi (KUW) 32 18 72 108 0 45 45.5 20 59.5 45.5 445.5
10 Alexandros Kazakis (GRE) 0 18 42 126 32.5 0 91 40 29.75 65 444.25
11 John Morra (CAN) 56 27 84 31.5 45.5 45 45.5 0 59.5 32.5 426.5
12 Denis Grabe (EST) 0 63 48 63 45.5 0 26 80 29.75 32.5 387.75
13 Carlo Biado (PHL) 0 31.5 72 0 45.5 31.5 130 0 42.5 32.5 385.5
14 Lee Van Corteza (PHI) 0 0 48 90 91 0 65 0 42.5 32.5 369
15 Joshua Filler (GER) 0 0 144 0 0 0 65 0 59.5 91 359.5

 

The top ten American players on the list are:

Current ranking Player Names Event
1
Event
2
Event
3
Event
4
Event
5
Event
6
Event
7
Event
8
Event
9
Event
10
Adj. Total
19 Tyler Styer 48 31.5 42 22.5 45.5 22.5 45.5 0 0 39 296.5
29 Hunter Lombardo 40 31.5 36 18 45.5 31.5 0 0 0 32.5 235
35 Kang Lee 0 63 0 31.5 32.5 45 0 40 0 0 212
38 Joven Bustamante 0 45 0 27 32.5 63 26 0 0 0 193.5
40 Shane Wolford 0 0 84 0 45.5 0 26 0 0 32.5 188
45 Danny Olson 0 18 60 45 45.5 0 0 0 0 0 168.5
46 Chris Reinhold 0 45 42 27 0 0 26 0 0 26 166
48 Justin Martin 0 0 36 22.5 32.5 31.5 0 40 0 0 162.5
50 Shane Van Boening 0 0 84 0 45.5 0 26 0 0 0 155.5
53 Nicholas De Leon 0 31.5 72 18 32.5 0 0 0 0 0 154

With the release of the final points list, the BCA has also announced the calendar of events that will be used in 2023. Those events are:

·  Turning Stone (9-Ball), NY, Jan. 2023
·  Derby City Classic (9-Ball), IN, Jan. 2023
·  PBS Las Vegas Open, (10-Ball), NV, Feb. 2023
·  PBS Wisconsin Open, (10-Ball), WI, May 2023
·  PBS Michigan Open, (10-Ball), MI, Sept 2023
·  Turning Stone (9-Ball), Sept 2023
·  US Open (9-Ball), NJ, Oct. 2023
·  American 14.1 (14.1), VA, Oct. 2023
·  US International Open (9-Ball), VA, 2023

 

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Round One of Pat Fleming’s International Open 9-Ball Tournament in the books

Some expected and not-so expected advances highlight Day One of the 128-entrant 9-ball event  

Surprises?

At the level of talent on display at this week’s (Oct. 28-Nov. 5) International Open in Norfolk, VA, it’s hard to single out any one match in the event’s opening round of play and call the result a surprise. One’s reaction to a given result will depend largely on an individual’s perception of the players involved and their own sense of how a match between them would play out. This, in turn, might reveal more about the person being surprised (or not) than it might about the match result.

As a random example from the International Open’s first event of the week, the $10,000-added One Pocket tournament won by T-Rex (Tony Chohan; see story elsewhere in our News). If you haven’t already seen the results, imagine the semifinal match between Sky Woodward and Fedor Gorst, won by Woodward. Surprised? 

Round one of the Open’s $50,000-added, 128-entrant 9-Ball tournament is over. We offer a short and not comprehensive list of matches from the round, and without looking it up through our links to the bracket, pick a winner, find the result and then determine whether it’s a surprise to you. An indication (J) identifies the player as a junior competitor. Results at the end of the report.

Tapei’s Hsieh Chia-Chen vs. Switzerland’s Dimitri Jungo (winner of last week’s American Straight Pool Championships in Virginia Beach)? Jesus Atencio vs. (J) Kashton Keeton? Earl Strickland vs. Taipei’s Hsuan Wei Kuo? Brandon Shuff vs. Russia’s Kristina Tkach, crowned as the Women’s 2022 Straight Pool Champion last week in Virginia Beach? Hunter Lombardo vs. Shane Wolford? BJ Ussery, Jr. vs. Chris Rienhold? Corey Deuel vs. Sharik Sayed? Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski (semifinalist at the Straight Pool Championships) vs. Matt Krah? Vietnam’s Brian Vu vs. (J) Payne McBride? Justin Martin vs. Lukas Fracasso-Verner (former J)? 

Among those whose victories in the opening round were not likely have been a surprise to anybody were: Jayson Shaw’s win over John Francisco, Spain’s David Alcaide (the last piece added to Europe’s Mosconi Cup team puzzle), who defeated USA’s Sullivan Clark 10-6, Sky Woodward’s victory (albeit, double-hill victory) over Italy’s Francesco Candela, Fedor Gorst’s win over Curucao’s Bryan Farah 10-7 and Joshua Filler’s shutout victory over USA’s Christopher Pyle. There are, of course, others who have advanced on the winners’ side, which, for purposes of brevity, we’ll restrict to those not listed above who are among the top 10 in our Money Leaderboard: Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Greece’s Alex Kazakis, Austria’s Albin Ouschan and the Philippines’ Roberto Gomez.

Among the key matchups highlighting Round Two today (Tuesday, Nov. 1) will be 6 p.m. battles between Alex Kazakis and veteran US competitor Raymond Linares, junior competitor Joey Tate’s matchup against Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef, Sanchez-Ruiz versus Justin Martin,  Roberto Gomez against Alex Pagulayan and junior competitor Payne McBride taking on Straight Pool Championship runner-up, Mieszko Fortunski. At 8 p.m., Albin Oushcan will take on Thorsten Hohmann, David Alcaide faces Josh Roberts, Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes will go up against Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi, and the winner of the Strickland/Hsuan Wei Kuo match (revealed below) versus Taipei’s Hsieh Chia-Chen (all 8 p.m.). At 10 p.m., Round Two’s winners’ bracket will continue with Tony Chohan against last week’s Straight Pool Championship runner-up Wiktor Zielinski, Jayson Shaw will meet the winner of the Shuff/Tkach match (revealed below), Ralf Souquet will go up against BJ Ussery, Alex Pagulayan will take on Roberto Gomez and Sanchez-Ruiz will battle Justin Martin. 

(‘Surprise?’ results from above: Junior competitor Kashton Keeton defeated Jesus Atencio 10-6,  Strickland got by Wei Kuo 10-5, Taipei’s Chia-Chen sent Dimitri Jungo to the loss side 10-7, Shuff beat Tkach 10-8, Lombardo over Wolford 10-6. Ussery over Reinhold 10-9, Sayed downs Deuel 10-6, Fortunski gets by Krah 10-7, Junior competitor Payne McBride defeats Brian Vu 10-2 and Justin Martin moves on with a double hill win over Lukas Fracasso-Verner.) 

Fans can watch not only the featured table with full commentary, but also any other table at the event with the Accu-Stats PPV coverage. They can also follow all of the action online with real-time scoring and online brackets all week long.

PPV Coverage
One Pocket Stage One Online Brackets
One Pocket Stage Two Online Brackets
Big Foot 10-Ball Brackets
9-Ball Brackets
Real Time Scoring

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Gorst, Grabe, Kaci & Gomez Are Fargorate Ohio Open Semi-Finalists

Fedor Gorst

Fedor Gorst won a dramatic shootout against Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz to reach the semi-finals of the FargoRate Ohio Open and will take on Denis Grabe for a place in the final, where either Eklent Kaci or Roberto Gomez will await.

Gorst beat Sanchez-Ruiz 9-8 on shootout, with the Spaniard’s miss in the ninth innings the only failed spot shot from either player. Estonia’s Grabe defeated defending champion Mario He to reach the last four, while Kaci advanced with a win over Mika Immonen and Gomez knocked out Dutchman Jan van Lierop.

Both semi-finals and the final take place on Saturday at the Roberts Center in Wilmington, Ohio, which is also staging the CSI Ohio State Championships. The FargoRate Ohio Open champion will win $25,000 and a guaranteed invite to the 2023 Predator World 10-Ball Championship, taking place in February in Las Vegas.

Spain’s Sanchez-Ruiz is enjoying what is now the best year of his career by some distance and hadn’t lost a set until he came up against Gorst in the last eight in Ohio.

After losing the first set 4-1, Sanchez-Ruiz was quick to build a 3-0 lead in the second. However, Gorst fought back all the way to hill-hill and looked set to complete the turnaround, and the match, until he lost position on the 7 and ended with the object tied to the cue. Sanchez-Ruiz got the next opportunity at an open ball and cleared what was left to force the shootout.

However it was Gorst, winner of the Apex Wisconsin Open in January, who came out on top in the shootout. Neither player had so much as rattled a jaw until Sanchez-Ruiz missed after nine shots each.

Grabe lies in wait for Gorst in the first semi-final of Saturday’s play after sending home defending champ – and travel partner – He with a 4-3, 4-1 victory. “It is always tough to play against a friend,” said Grabe. “Mario is a great player, it was a crazy match, back and forth, back and forth, but I managed to win the first set and that cooled me down a little bit, and from there on I played my game and that is a good win for me.”

Having won shootouts against Wojciech Szewczyk and Wu Kun Lin earlier in the day, Kaci made easier work for himself in his quarter-final against Immonen. The Albanian won 4-2, 4-1 for his fourth victory of the day. “It feels pretty good to be in the semi-finals of the FargoRate Ohio Open,” he said. “It was a long day and I had a few shootouts, but here we are.”

Standing between Kaci and the final is ‘Superman’ Roberto Gomez. The Filipino started the day by beating young Finnish sensation Riku Rompannen in a shootout to qualify for the last 16. He then crushed Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn 4-0, 4-1 to set up a quarter-final against the Netherland’s Jan van Lierop.

Van Lierop reached the last eight via an incredible shootout against America’s last-man-standing, Justin Martin. Martin had won the first set 4-1, but van Lierop forced the spot shots with a 4-2 second set. What followed was a masterclass in shootout pool. Neither player missed a shot until the 13th innings, at which point both then failed in succession. However, at 14-14 Martin missed – again from the left side – and van Lierop didn’t give up his second chance to win the match.

Given the length of the shootout, Van Lierop had little time to prepare for his quarter final and was soon 2-0 down to Gomez. The Dutchman pulled it back to 2-1 before eventually losing the set 4-2, and despite winning the first rack of the second set, went down 4-1 as Gomez advanced to the final day.

The FargoRate Ohio Open continues from 10am ET on Saturday with both semi finals and the final streamed free on Billiard TV,  the World Billiard TV YouTube channel and at Kozoom.com

Brackets and scores can be found at https://probilliardseries.com/2022-fargorate-ohio-open/

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter.

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Four Through In Ohio

Jung-Lin Chang

Alex Kazakis, Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Mario He and Seybert’s Michigan Open champion Aloysius Yapp are through to the last 16 of the FargoRate Ohio Open, but big names including all three Ko brothers are already heading home.

Fedor Gorst will face Mika Immonen in winners’ qualification on Friday morning but Albin Ouschan, Robbie Capito and Wiktor Zielinski have been eliminated from the event, which carries a $75,000 prize fund and is played alongside the CSI Ohio State Championships at the Roberts Center in Wilmington, Ohio.

Ouschan suffered a shootout defeat to Finnish youngster Riku Romppanen and was then eliminated 4-3, 4-0 by Eklent Kaci. Romppanen takes on Roberto Gomez tomorrow morning for a place in the last 16, while Kaci must beat Predator World 10-Ball Champion Wojciech Szewczyk to remain in the event.

Four winners’ qualification matches have already played, with the remaining four to take place at 10am on Friday. Kazakis defeated David Alcaide 4-1, 4-3 for his place in the last 16, leaving the Spaniard with one more chance to qualify.

“I am feeling really happy that I won that match,” said Kazakis. “First set everything went my way, and in the second set it went both ways. David had a chance to run out at hill-hill but he missed it and I took my chance.”

Sanchez-Ruiz won 4-3, 4-3 over America’s Justin Martin while Aloysius Yapp, a two-time winner on the Predator Pro Billiard Series, defeated Finland’s Jani Uski 4-2, 4-3. Last year’s Fargorate Ohio Open champion Mario He needed a shootout to advance at the expense of Michael Schneider. The four players already qualified for single elimination share four Pro Billiard Series titles, with only Sanchez-Ruiz yet to win a stop.

Brothers Ko Ping Han, Ko Pin-Yi and Ko Ping-Chung were all eliminated within hours of each other. Ping Han had suffered shootout defeat to Petri Makkonen on Wednesday and was again beaten from the spot on Thursday, this time by Badar Al Qrrayyan. Defeat yesterday to Jan van Lierop had left Pin-Yi on the losers’ side, where a 4-1, 4-1 win for Sharik Sayed meant that Ping-Chung was now the only member of the Ko family still in the event.

However, Ping-Chung was soon eliminated too. His tournament had opened with a shootout defeat to Robbie Capito on Wednesday. He responded with a 4-3, 4-1 win against Sanjin Pehlivanovic only to lose by shootout to New Zealand’s Sullivan Clark.

Zielinski’s tournament came to an end against Chang Jung-Lin, who won 4-2, 4-3 in the day’s final match on the TV table. Chang missed a 4 ball at 3-2 up in the second set, allowing his Polish opponent to level the match at 3-3, however when Zielinski missed the 5, Chang was back at the table and won the rack to avoid a shootout. Chang requires two more wins to reach the single elimination stage and faces Dimitri Jungo in his next match.

Among the other players coming back on the losers’ side is Konrad Juszczyszyn, who will face Aleksa Pecelj after beating Ernesto Dominguez in a lengthy shootout. Juszczyszyn took the first set 4-2 but a 4-0 shutout in the second took the match to a shootout. Neither player missed in their first four shots, before both missed their next two sudden death efforts. Another successful spot shot each took the shootout to 7-7, but Dominguez missed his next shot after Juszczyszyn had already sunk his.

The FargoRate Ohio Open continues from 10am ET on Friday with six matches streamed free on Billiard TV,  the World Billiard TVYouTube channel and at Kozoom.com

Brackets and scores can be found at https://probilliardseries.com/2022-fargorate-ohio-open/

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter.

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He Starts FargoRate Ohio Open Defense As Big Names Defeated On Day One

Mario He

Defending champion Mario He is through to the winners’ qualification round of this year’s FargoRate Ohio Open but some of pool’s biggest names crashed to the losers side on the opening day of play at the Roberts Center in Wilmington, Ohio.

Played alongside the CSI Ohio State Championships, the FargoRate Ohio Open has a $75,000 prize fund and is streamed live on the World Billiard TV YouTube channel and at Watchbilliard.tv.

He began his tournament with a 4-1, 4-3 win against Lian Han Toh. Germany Open winner Dimitris Loukatos was waiting in the next round. The Austrian took the first set 4-1 and was playing well to reach the hill 3-0 in the second set before he missed an easy 4. Loukatos cleared the table but his hopes of a comeback were ended by a dry break and He completed the set for a 4-1, 4-1 win.

He faces Michael Schneider next and said: “I got a little injured so I cannot walk fast but I am feeling good and playing good at the moment. I will try my best to get deep and maybe defend my title.”

Some big names have found themselves on the losers’ side early in the tournament, such is the quality of this week’s field. Ko Ping Han and Ko Pin Yi may have to face each other on Thursday after both lost shootouts in the opening round. Ping Han was beaten 2-4, 4-3, 4-2 by Petri Makkonen after missing the 9 at hill-hill in the second set, while Pin Yi was beaten 4-3, 3-4, 6-5 by Dutchman Jan van Lierop.

World 10-Ball Champion Wojiech Szewczyk was beaten by Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Darren Appleton lost a shootout to Kang Lee, and Wiktor Zielinski suffered defeat to Albin Ouschan.

Eklent Kaci was beaten 4-3, 4-1 by Chang Jung-Lin, who himself later lost to Justin Martin. The 23-year-old from North Carolina took the first set against Chang 4-1 and the second 4-2, and will face Sanchez-Ruiz in winners’ qualification tomorrow. “This is a huge win for me because I have an insane amount of respect for Chang,” said Martin. “I played solid throughout and was blessed to have enough chances to win the match.”

The players yet to suffer defeat now have two chances to qualify for the last 16. Alex Kazakis faces David Alcaide in the winners’ qualification round, Seybert’s Michigan Open winner Aloysius Yapp will take on Jani Uski while Fedor Gorst will face Mika Immonen on Friday.

The FargoRate Ohio Open continues from 10am ET on Thursday with six matches streamed free on Billiard TV,  the World Billiard TVYouTube channel and at Kozoom.com

Brackets and scores can be found at https://probilliardseries.com/2022-fargorate-ohio-open/

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter.

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Garcia wins double-hill exhibition match versus Justin Martin at Breaktime in Wilmington, NC

Roland Garcia

It was, in many ways, emblematic of the much larger pool community that has come so far while continuing to have a long way to go. Exhibition and/or Challenge matches happen all the time, but on Saturday, Sept. 10, two professionals squared off in a somewhat isolated venue in Wilmington, NC and played a double-hill exhibition match that was everything, as a spectator, one could hope for; ups and downs, lead changes and at the end of a race-to-17, a single game to determine the winner. 

The event was organized by pro-player Justin Martin, who grew up and currently lives in Wilmington and for the past 15 months, has run the JUMP Billiards Pro Shop at Breaktime Billiards in the city. In coordination with the room’s owners, Jim and Margaret Grago, they transformed a restaurant space within the facility into a 60-seat arena, dismantled and re-assembled one of the room’s nine, 9-ft. tables and invited world-class pro player, Roland Garcia from the Philippines to be Martin’s opponent in the Exhibition match. Garcia is currently the #1-ranked competitor in the Predator Pro Billiard series.

“We’re good friends,” Martin explained, as he worked with a cue on a lathe in the Pro shop a few hours before the match. “We see each other out and about at the tournaments a lot and he’s definitely one of the few guys that I like to hang out with, spend time with out at the events.”

Garcia, sitting a few feet away, is asked whether he intends to emerge victorious in the upcoming match. Having arrived only a few hours before and still dealing with a bit of travel fatigue, Garcia yawned. And then suggested that it would be Martin who would be doing the butt-kicking in the near future. As the lathe continued to turn and Martin kept his eyes focused on the task at hand, he’s asked what prompted the decision to organize the match.

“I don’t gamble,” he said, “and I’m always looking for new ways to compete, to find new ways to stay sharp, so I always felt like exhibition pool is a good answer.”

Justin Martin

In addition to the exhibition match itself, they arranged for a VIP after-party at which spectators who had paid to sit at four VIP high-top tables and chairs, positioned a few feet away from one of the pool table’s long rails, would hang out after the match, play some pool and socialize. All things considered, the match, the VIP Party, and expectations of attendance went smoothly and met expectations. The crowd hovered throughout the match between 40 and 45 attendees, most of them with some form of personal relationship with Martin. 

“I think you’d have been hard-pressed to find someone in the crowd who didn’t know me personally,” said Martin.

“Justin’s girlfriend (Katie Cool) is on our pool team here in Wilmington,” said Mike Tackett, seated at one of a number of folding tables and chairs on the opposite side of the table from the VIP area. “I take lessons from him, too; once a week for about the last month and a half.”

Grago and his wife, Margaret have owned Breaktime Billiards since November, 2015 and hosted their first exhibition match, fan-participation event about four months later, when Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris were the competitors. Though the room has since hosted tournaments at which personalities like Dr. Cue (Tom Rossman) and Venom (Florian Kohler) have been in attendance, this was the first such exhibition match since 2016. While personal-awareness-of- Justin-Martin was an important factor in drawing a crowd to Breaktime Billiards, Grago was also aware of the high-profile status of Garcia as a known, world-class competitor.

“So yeah, it was people coming because they know Justin and knowing that Roland was one of the top players in the world,” he said. “They saw our (FB) posts about the match, Garcia’s and Justin’s, too.”

Attendance got another boost because on the same day, the cities of Jacksonville, Morehead and Havelock, without a facility in their area to accommodate them, played their regional APA playoffs (known as the Tri-Cups) in the building; before, during and after the exhibition match. While at any given moment during the match, there were generally about 40-45 of the arena’s 60-seat capacity watching it, an estimated 10-15 of those were individuals who slipped into the room to watch briefly before heading out to compete in the area of the venue hosting the Tri-Cups. Had that transient part of the crowd all arrived at the same time, it would have exceeded the arena’s capacity, so in a word, sold-out.

Martin and the Gragos were happy with the result, Martin commenting the next day that they were “very happy” and that plans were moving forward “to do a lot more things, going into next year,” to include the creation of even more seating space and an upgraded streaming platform. Nothing, Martin added, really surprised him about the execution of this first-ever event at his hometown room and pointed to the involvement and engagement of the Gragos in the process to its overall success.

“They were integrally involved in being part of it,” he said. “They didn’t necessarily have tons of experience with this sort of thing, and neither did I, but everyone worked hard to make sure that everyone was satisfied, and we hope to be able to continue to do so in the future.”

And then, there was the 10-ball match. It got underway right at the time that Garcia had a meal delivered to the table where he sat with his manager during the match. His first few games were executed while he tended to be swallowing food. Garcia won the lag, broke dry, ran to the 3-ball and scratched. Martin executed a 9-ball combination shortly thereafter and took game one. 

Martin broke, sinking two, ran to the 4-ball and then he scratched, allowing Garcia to finish and tie the score. They went back and forth to a 4-4 tie before Martin began to edge out in front. By the time they moved into double digits, about midway through the race-to-17 match, Martin had established a four-rack lead. Garcia began chipping away at that lead, growing closer and closer until Martin reached the hill first at 16-15. Garcia tied it up and won the final game.

“Neither one of us quite played to our level,” noted Martin, “but it was good and everybody was happy.”

So like pool itself, Martin (and company) started out with very little experience, brought what they did know to the table and put on a good show. Moving forward, also like pool itself, they’re taking lessons from their experience and using those lessons to prepare for the next stage of growth and development. Martin will be back on the road in about a week to attend the Michigan Open (Sept. 21-24), travel to Atlantic City for the US Open (Oct. 10-16) and eventually end up in Norfolk, VA for the International Open (Oct. 28-Nov. 5). 

“There’s nothing set in stone right now,” said Martin of future plans for future events at Breaktime Billiards, “but going into next year, there are definitely plans.”

“We’ll be doing something that will serve the local community,” he added, “and get the local community involved.”

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Apex Wisconsin Open Down to Final 16

The 21-year-old Russian Fedor Gorst is certainly not a stranger to the U.S. Pro Billiard Series’ format, having won back-to-back Arcadia Arizona Opens.

Friday evening, Gorst saw plenty of the dramatic twists and turns that can occur in the short-race, shootout-deciding matches as he jumped out to big advantages in the first set only to lose the second and have to survive a shootout to advance.  It wasn’t easy, but he punched his ticket for the final day of play of this weekend’s Apex Wisconsin Open, defeating American Chris Reinhold and Canadian John Morra to advance at Ho-Chunk Resort and Casino to advance.

After a straight sets victory against Mason Koch to begin his day, Gorst was able to take advantage of two scratches and a missed shot by Reinhold to cruise to a 4-1 opening set victory. The script completely flipped in the following set, with Reinhold breaking and running the opening rack and winning the next game when Gorst missed a 2 ball in the side pocket. The Russian appeared to be positioned to climb onto the scoreboard after a Reinhold error but missed a 3 ball in the corner pocket in one trip to the table and scratched in the side pocket in the next, handing his opponent a 3-0 lead.

Gorst clawed out two victories thanks to a Reinhold scratch and a safety exchange in the fifth rack. He had a chance to tie the match in the next game but missed a combination shot on the 10 ball. He had another opportunity after Reinhold scratched during a safety battle but missed the 8 ball, allowing the American to close out the set, 4-2, and force a shootout. The two competitors were perfect through the first four innings of the spot shot contest, but when the format moved the cue ball back a diamond and switched to sudden death, Gorst pocketed his first shot while Reinhold missed.

A couple of hours later, Gorst was facing Morra for a chance to reach Saturday’s single-elimination phase. The first set was nearly a carbon copy of his opening round against Reinhold, with the Russian using two break and runs, a victorious safety exchange and a Morra miss to pitch a 4-0 shutout. After he used a risky bank shot on the 1 ball to run out the opening rack of the second set, it appeared Gorst could be making quick work of his Canadian counterpart. That was until Morra used a safety battle along with a break-and-run to take a 2-1 lead.
Gorst took advantage of a scratch on the break by his opponent to tie the score then used a successful table-length jump shot on the 1 ball to run the rack and take a 3-2 lead. As he cleared the balls in the sixth game, Gorst appeared to be closing out the set but drew the cue ball halfway down the table and into the corner pocket while trying to secure position on the 5 ball. Morra made him pay for the mistake, clearing the rack to tie the score and then using a carom shot on the 10 ball to steal the game, win the set, 4-3, and force a shootout.
Although he struggled with ball pocketing in the second set, Gorst was robotic in the spot shot contest, pocketing four straight balls while his opponent missed twice.

The Russian began the tournament with an opening round victory against Eklent Kaci, who also advanced to the final 16 with three consecutive straight sets victories over Justin Martin, Thorsten Hohmann and Kuwait’s Omar Al Shaheen.

Kaci was virtually perfect in his opening set against Al Shaheen, breaking and running three consecutive times and surviving a short safety exchange to pitch a 4-0 shutout. The Kuwaiti, who was a runner-up in last year’s World Pool Championships, used a break-and-run and a misplayed safety on the 8 ball by Kaci to win the first two matches of the second set. Kaci’s opportunity to mount a comeback arrived in the third rack when his opponent failed to pocket a ball on the break, as the Albanian cleared the table and then won the next two racks to take a 3-2 lead. Al Shaheen had an opportunity to tie the set but wasn’t able to secure position on the 9 ball, then misplayed a safety on the ball which allowed his opponent to close out the rack for a 4-2 win.

Meanwhile, Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Darren Appleton continues to play more and more like the competitor who won the World 9-Ball championship a decade earlier, defeating former U.S. Open 9-Ball champion Mika Immonen in straight sets, 4-1, 4-2. Immonen, who has been appearing at the top of leaderboards more frequently himself in recent months, rallied on the one-loss side by defeating Evan Lunda in straight sets to earn a spot of his own in Saturday’s final day of competition.

Qualifying for the single-elimination phase from the winner’s side are Appleton, Dimitris Loukatos, Filipino Lee Van Corteza, Michigan Open champion Aloysius Yapp, Robbie Capito, South Dakotan Danny Olson, Jesus Atencio and World Pool Masters champion Alex Kazakis. The remaining eight players on the one-loss side include Kaci, Gorst, Immonen, Denis Grabe, Roland Garcia, Jeremy Seaman, Mickey Krause of Demark and Kuwait’s Bader Alawadhi.

The seeding will be re-drawn and competition will begin Saturday morning.

The Apex Wisconsin Open is the second event of the year for the Predator U.S. Pro Billiard Series and the first ever to be staged at Ho-Chunk Resort, a sprawling facility north of Madison which offers a 302-room hotel as well as spacious gaming and convention space.
Follow the Apex Wisconsin Open draw on the Predator US Pro Billiard Series FargoRate’s dedicated page

The Apex Wisconsin Open is streamed for free all week on Billiard TV and the World Billiard TV YouTube channel.
Go to Billiard TV to watch 24/7 Billiard Videos on any device

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the event.

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Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour launches series of seasonal Open events

Lisa Cossette

Martin and Cossette take Open and Ladies events at inaugural Winter Classic

In the future, there’ll be a Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall Classic on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. They are a component of a larger plan that tour director Herman Parker is initiating to feature more Open (non-handicapped) events on the tour schedule. In the inaugural Winter Classic, held this past weekend (Feb. 5-6), Justin Martin and Lisa Cossette went undefeated through the Open and Ladies fields to claim the two titles. 

“I want to attract the culture of people who want to play in Open events, rather than handicapped events,” he said, following the completion of the Winter Classic. “I’m planning on 10-12 this year and my goal, down the road is to have it be 50-50; that’d be ideal.”

“I don’t know if it’ll get there,” he added, “but this year, I want to do, on average, about one (Open event) a month.”

The inaugural Winter Classic, featuring its Open tournament and a Ladies event, which, according to Parker, is a side of the tour that he is trying to grow. Three women who competed in the Ladies tournament, also competed in the Open event. The $1,500-added events ($1,000 in the Open and $500 in the Ladies) drew 52 and 18 entrants, respectively, to Break Time Billiards and Sports Bar in Winston-Salem, NC. The 18 women were the largest number of female entrants to ever compete in an Open event on the tour. One of them, 11-year-old Noelle Tate, who finished 4th, became the youngest competitor of either gender to cash in a Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball event in the nine years of its existence.

So, we’ll start there and focus on the 11-year-old for a moment. Noelle Tate is just one member of a family of competitors who are making a name for themselves at the pool tables. Noelle is a younger sister to Bethany and Joey Tate. They were all competitors during last year’s nation-wide series of events, known as the Junior International Championships (JIC), which began its second season just last month. JIC founder, tour director and something of a ‘parental unit’ at JIC events, Ra Hanna, had announced, prior to the start of the JIC’s second season, that part of the second-year plan was to move the junior competitors into the arena of regional tours and Open events. Noelle Tate and (in the Open event) Landon Hollingsworth are manifestations of that plan. Tate came into the event and lost her second-round match to Marianne Merrill. She went on to win four on the loss side, including a 5-2 win over the woman who was favored to win the tournament, Christy Norris. She was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Katie Bischoff 5-3.

The eventual winner, Lisa Cossette, advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal against Norris, as Shannon Johnson and Amanda Mann squared off in the other one. Cossette and Johnson, following victories over Norris (double hill) and Mann (7-4), advanced to the hot seat match, at which Cossette prevailed 7-3.

Norris moved to the loss side and ran into Tate, who’d recently eliminated Casey Cork, double hill and Beth Allen 5-2. Mann picked up Katie Bischoff, who’d downed Marianne Merrill and Allie Tilley, both 5-2, to reach her. Tate defeated Norris 5-2 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Bischoff, who’d shut Mann out.

Bischoff eliminated Tate in that quarterfinal (5-3), but not soon enough to keep the 11-year-old out of the money in what was the first money round. Bischoff moved on to defeat Johnson in the semifinals 5-3. An appropriate double hill fight ensued in the single-match finals with Cossette claiming the title over Bischoff 7-6.

Justin Martin

Martin and Ussery battle twice to claim first Winter Classic title

Nine times out of 10, the winner and runner-up of an event, if they’ve competed against each other twice, have done so in the hot seat match and finals. Not so, this time around. Justin Martin and BJ Ussery, both heavily favored as potential winners of the event, met first in the third round. Martin sent Ussery to the loss side 7-1, where he began a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would offer him a second shot against Martin in the finals.

Martin advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Graham Swinson, as Corey Sykes and Jeff Abernathy squared off in the other one. Martin shut out Swinson and was joined in the hot seat match by Sykes, who’d sent Abernathy west 7-1. Martin claimed the hot seat in a double hill fight over Sykes.

On the loss side, Swinson drew Ussery, three matches into his loss-side streak, which had recently eliminated Thomas Sansone 7-5 and Josh Padron 7-1. Abernathy picked up junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth, who’d defeated Niko Konkel and Barry Mashburn, both 7-1. Mashburn had been afforded the opportunity to face Hollingsworth when, in the previous round, Christy Norris, one of the three women who competed in the Open event, along with Allie Tilley and Beth Allen, forfeited her match to Mashburn.

Ussery downed Swinson 7-2 and was joined in the quarterfinals by Abernathy, who’d defeated Hollingsworth 7-3. Ussery then eliminated Abernathy 7-2 and in the semifinals, Sykes in a double hill match. Martin defeated Ussery a second time in the finals, this time 7-2 to claim the inaugural Winter Classic.

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Break Time Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Feb. 12-13) will be hosted by Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.

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