There was good news and bad news for tour directors Herman and Angela Parker last weekend. The scheduled stop on their Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (Feb. 9-10) drew a hefty 114 entrants to Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC, due, in part, to an ongoing four-day, $56K, 8-Ball battle between Justin Bergman and Corey Deuel at the same location. It was originally to have been a battle between Bergman and Jayson Shaw, but some (shall we say) differences of opinion emerged regarding the table particulars of that matchup and at the last minute, Deuel stepped in and agreed to play the match against Bergman; a best-of five sets, racing to 30, with Deuel getting three on the wire for each set. It’s not often that the Parkers get to play host to that many players, but when it became known that entrants to his tournament would be granted free admission to watch the challenge match, the numbers swelled. And predictably, with a lot of Pro types racing to 11, 12 and 13 games, their tournament went on a little longer than their normal weekend tournaments; like, 7 a.m. Monday morning longer.
Deuel won the challenge match 3-1, and it spilled over into Monday evening. A couple of the sets were close; close enough to question whether giving Deuel three on the wire in those circumstances was such a good idea for Bergman.
Brian White, who is the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour’s current Bar Box Champion (from an event held last September) and winner of another stop on the tour, two days before Christmas, was declared the official winner of the tour stop when, at 7 a.m. Monday morning, he and Steakhorse Restaurant and Billiards house pro, Roberto Gomez agreed to a split of the top two prizes. White was the hot seat occupant at the time. Gomez had spent a lot of time on the loss side, winning nine matches to get to the finals that didn’t happen.
There were several players of some renown who didn’t make it to the money rounds of the handicapped tournament. Francisco Bustamante and Tony Chohan were among them. White advanced through the field to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Keith Yates. Francisco Felicilda, in the meantime, squared off against teenager Landon Hollinsworth.
White got into the hot seat match with an 11-3 win over Yates. Felicilda, also racing to 11, gave up only a single rack to Hollinsworth and joined White. White claimed the hot seat 11-9, in what proved to be his last match.
Gomez, in the meantime, after an early-round loss to Josh Miller was at work on the loss side, racing to 13 through it all. He got into the money rounds with a 13-3 victory over Kevin Ping (racing to 6), chalked up his sixth loss-side win against Junior Gabriel 13-1 and picked up the youngster, Hollinsworth, coming over from the winners’ side semifinal. Yates drew Raymund Faraon, who’d eliminated two members of the Frank family, back to back; Trey Frank, double hill (12-5) in the first money round and then, Trey’s father Ron, double hill (12-7) to meet Yates.
Faraon went on to win his third straight double hill match (12-4) over Yates. He was joined in the quarterfinals by Gomez, who’d eliminated Hollinsworth 13-2. Playing with one on the wire at the start in a race to 13 in those quarterfinals, Faraon had chalked up only five, when Gomez won his 13th and advanced to the semifinals.
Felicilda started the semifinal match against Gomez with two on the wire in a race to 13. He managed to get to 8, before Gomez finished it, about 10 minutes after daylight started painting the Spartanburg sky and 15 minutes ahead of the official sunrise at 7:16 a.m.
The decision to split the top two prizes was made, everyone settled up and tour directors Herman and Angela Parker went back to their hotel to catch a few hours sleep before they had to check out shortly after noon.
The Parkers thanked Steakhorse Restaurant and Billiards’ owner, Dayne Miller for his hospitality (to include added money) and his entire staff for what had to have been a hectic weekend. They also thanked 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 (Feb. 16-17), will be hosted by Gate City Billiards in Greensboro, NC.
Brian White and Hunter White (no relation) battled twice in an annual Christmas event on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. Brian won the first match and they opted out of playing a second one, leaving Brian as the official winner of the $1,000-added event, which drew 52 entrants to The Steakhorse Restaurant & Billiards in Spartanburg, SC on Christmas weekend (December 22-23). It was for record-keeping and point purposes the first event on the 2019 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball schedule.
They met first in the hot seat match, after Brian White had sent Ricky Baughman to the loss side 10-5 and Hunter White had sent Keith Yates over 8-3. Brian claimed the hot seat over Hunter 10-3.
On the loss side, Yates picked up Junior Gabriel, a tour veteran, who, in spite of competing in numerous events on the tour over the past few years, had yet to finish in the money, and was about to. Gabriel had been sent to the loss side by Baughman in a winners’ side quarterfinal, and had defeated James Moore 5-4 (Moore, racing to 7), and, for the first time, into a money round, downed Rob Hart 5-3. Baughman drew Stevie McClinton, who’d eliminated Chuck Cuneo and Billy Fowler, both 7-3.
Baughman advanced to the quarterfinals 7-4, as Gabriel fought a double hill fight versus Yates that eventually moved him (Gabriel) another step on the money ladder, into the quarterfinals against Baughman.
With Baughman racing to 7 in those quarterfinals, Gabriel took yet another step forward, downing Baughman 5-4. Hunter White, though, playing in what was the final match of the weekend, stopped Gabriel’s run 8-2 in the semifinals, for a second shot against Brian White, which, of course, didn’t happen. The Whites split the top two prizes, with Brian earning the official event title.
The tour also awarded the event’s top female finisher a ‘free entry’ prize to an upcoming event. Jordyn Worley, finishing just out of the money in the tie for 9th place, took home that prize.
Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Dayne Miller and his Steakhorse staff for their hospitality (to include money-added to the event), as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Bar Pool Tables, Delta 13 Racks, AZ Billiards and Professor Q-Ball. With the 2019 tour officially underway, the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour will squeeze one more event into the 2018 calendar; a December 29-30 event, to be hosted by Randolph’s Billiards in Hickory, NC.
The Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour paid its first, though according to tour director Herman Parker, hopefully not its last visit to Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA on the weekend of February 11-12. The $1,000-added event drew a strong field of 64 entrants ("9s, 10s, and 11s everywhere," said Parker) that came from near and far to play. Georgia was represented, of course, as was Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, the Philippines, and Illinois. It was, in fact, Peoria, IL's veteran competitor Bobby McGrath, who went undefeated to claim the event title.
By the time the event had whittled down to its final 12 players, McGrath was the only '10' left standing. He got into the hot seat match by defeating B.R. Tatum 10-4 in a winners' side semifinal. McGrath was joined by Esteban Hernandez (a 9), who'd just eliminated the senior representative of the Davis family, Duane Davis 9-4 (his two sons – Sean and Wes – were still alive and well on the loss side). In their first of two, McGrath claimed the hot seat 10-6 over Hernandez and waited in the hot seat for his return from the semifinals.
Over on the loss side, Tatum ran into Sean Davis, who'd been sent over by McGrath, and was in the midst of a six-match winning streak that would carry him to the semifinals. He'd most recently eliminated Ryan Williamson 9-3, and Jeff Crawford 9-4. Dad Duane Davis drew Justin Duncan, who'd gotten by Keith Yates, double hill, and Derek Fowler 5-1 (Fowler had eliminated Wes Davis in the previous round). Father and son were each a single match away from facing each other. Sean Davis did his part, defeating Tatum 9-2, but Dad was shut out by Duncan.
Sean moved on to defeat Duncan 9-4 in the quarterfinals, but had his loss-side streak ended by Hernandez, who, after defeating Dad in a winners' side semifinal, downed his son, Sean 9-7 in the event semifinals. McGrath, though, gave up two less racks in the finals than he'd given up battling for the hot seat, to complete his undefeated run and claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Mr.Cues II owner, Rick Sweet, and his staff for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, GoPlayPool.com, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (February 18-19), will be the $1,000-added NC State 9-Ball Championships, whose current title holder is Mike Davis. The event will be hosted by Brass Tap in Raleigh, NC.
