In his first win on the Action Pool Tour (APT) since the season opener in January, Reymart Lim went undefeated on his home turf again (Q-Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA) to take his second APT title. Lim got by Scott Roberts twice to claim the event title that drew 42 entrants to Q-Master Billiards.

 

Getting by Kenny Miller, Rob Gager, Bruce Reed, and Kenny Daughtrey, Lim gave up a total of only six racks over 42 games to reach a winners’ side semifinal against Mac Harrell. Roberts, in the meantime, who was awarded an opening round bye, gave up 13 racks through 40 games to reach his winners’ side semifinal against Troy Miller.

 

Harrell chalked up one rack less (5) than all four of Lim’s previous opponents, but it was Lim who moved on to the hot seat match. He was joined by Roberts, who’d sent Miller to the loss side 9-3. Lim claimed the hot seat 9-5 and waited for Roberts’ return from the semifinals.

 

On the loss side, Harrell picked up the APT’s #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming, who’d been sent to the loss side by Bill Duggan in the third round and was working on a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the semifinals. He’d most recently eliminated Dave White 7-2 and Graham Swinson 7-1 to reach Harrell. Miller drew Nilbert Lim (no relation but a close friend of Reymart), who was working on his own six-match, loss-side streak that included recent wins over Daughtrey and Duggan, both 7-5.

 

Fleming and Lim handed Harrell and Miller their second straight loss; Fleming 7-5 over Harrell and Lim, 7-4 over Miller. Fleming and Lim fought to double hill in the quarterfinals that followed, with Fleming advancing to the semifinals against Roberts. The oft-sited intangible of momentum did not appear to work in Fleming’s favor in his matchup against Roberts. Roberts shut him out and earned his rematch against Lim in the hot seat.

 

The race was extended to 11 for the finals, though Roberts chalked up only as many racks as he’d won in the hot seat match. Lim won 11-5 to claim his second 2018 APT title.

 

Bill Duggan, who just did make it to the money rounds in the main event (tie for 7th, $100) went on to win a 13-entrant Second Chance tournament. Duggan lost a 2nd round match to Kenny Daughtrey, who tied for 9th in the main event, and came back to best Daughtrey 6-1 in the finals.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Q-Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Kamui Tips, Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Billiard Balls, Ozone Billiards, and Tiger. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for September 8-9, will be hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.

 

Over the years, the Virginia-based Action Pool Tour (APT) has seen its share of top-notch professionals show up to compete on the tour. Dennis Orcollo, as just one example, who won last year’s VA State 10-Ball Championships, and just last month finished as runner-up at the 12th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial, behind Zoren James Aranas (both happened to be in the neighborhood, preparing to compete in the Super Billiards Expo). On the weekend of May 12-13, the APT drew two more, both for the first time – Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer and Ronnie "Volcano" Alcano – who not so surprisingly battled in the finals, with Archer winning to finish undefeated. In the three matches that each of them played, prior to the finals, they faced the same three opponents in slightly different order. In a strange sort of coincidence, two of the three they faced in that situation were players that Orcollo had to defeat to claim last year’s VA State 10-Ball title. The 10-Ball event, stop #5 on the 2018 APT, drew 45 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.

 

Eight of the APT’s top-10-ranked players at this stage of the season were on-hand to compete in this event (Shaun Wilkie, #3 and Kenny Miller, #9 did not). Neither Archer nor Alcano had to face any of those top eight players, which is about as straightforward a definition of ‘luck of the draw’ that you’re likely to find. Archer got by Jacki Duggan (#42 on the tour), Lea Owens, and Kenny Daughtrey (#14), before downing RJ Carmona (the first of his last three, prior to the finals against Alcano; #13) and drawing Reymart Lim (#10) in a winners’ side semifinal. By this time, Alcano was already at work on the loss side, having been defeated by Mike Davis (#22) in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Davis advanced to face Dave White in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Archer sent Lim to the loss side 7-5, and in the hot seat match, faced Davis, who’d defeated White 7-1. Archer claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Davis and waited for Alcano to face the same three opponents he’d just faced (Carmona, Lim and Davis) and challenge him in the finals.

 

On the loss side, Alcano opened his five-match, loss-side trip to the finals with a shutout over Daughtrey, and downed James Blackburn 7-5, to draw Lim. White   drew Carmona, who, following his defeat at the hands of Archer, had eliminated Bill Duggan 7-3 and JT Ringgold, double hill. Alcano started his duplication of Archer’s last three, out of order, first downing Lim 7-5, as Carmona was busy defeating White 7-2. Carmona put up a fight in the quarterfinals that followed, but Alcano prevailed to earn himself a re-match against Davis in the semifinals.

 

Alcano took care of Davis 7-2, and turned to face Archer in a race to 9. Archer completed his undefeated run with a 9-6 win that earned him his first APT title.

 

A Second Chance event, which drew 14 entrants, saw Jake Lawson, owner of Lights Out Billiards Apparel, come back from a 4-1 defeat in the hot seat match to down the tour’s #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming, in the finals. Lawson moved to the loss side to defeat Rob Gager 4-1 in the semifinals, and then battled to double hill against Fleming in the finals before closing it out to claim the Second Chance title.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Tiger Cues, Ozone Billiards, Aramith Billiard Balls, Diamond Billiard Products, Kamui Tips, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of June 16-17, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.

One of the more intriguing additions to the 2018 Action Pool Tour (APT) is its emphasis on an end-of-year, $10,000 prize fund event for the tour’s top 64 members in the points race. In previous years, the top players on the tour’s ranking list at the end of a given year would receive some combination of entry fees, flight and hotel accommodations to a major event in the following year. This had a way of discouraging members, who, by mid-season, found themselves so far removed from the tour’s top-ranked players, that there was virtually no incentive to compete for those top, prize-winning spots. The new feature, relevant to members only (one year membership), gives them an opportunity to participate in an end-of-year event even if, mid-season, they’re below the entry threshold in points for the “$10,000 Top 64 Invitational.” Successful outcomes in just a couple of the tour’s events (or multiple modest outcomes over more events) could elevate them to invitation status, and eligible for the guaranteed $500 payout for anyone finishing among the top 16 in the year-end event, and the top $2,500 prize for the event’s winner.

 

It’s early in the 2018 APT season, but Shaun Wilkie joined the ranks of the tour’s top contenders for position among the top 64 at the end of the year, with an undefeated run on the weekend of March 10-11. At a “Bar Box Bash,” 8-ball event, offering double points, and hosted by Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA, Wilkie, who was the tour’s 2017 champion, moved up to #6 in the tour rankings, behind Eric Moore, Kenny Miller, Reymart Lim, Steve Fleming and Jason Trigo. His run through the field of 44 was accomplished by allowing only one opponent to chalk up more than three racks against him in races to 6.

 

Following victories over Paul Swinson (3), Charles Rankin (2) and Kenny Daughtrey (1), Scott Roberts gave Wilkie a double-hill run for his money. Wilkie prevailed and moved into a winners’ side semifinal against Steve Fleming. James Blackburn, in the meantime, who’d started his campaign off with a 6-4 victory over rankings leader, Eric Moore, squared off against Scott Haas in the other one. Wilkie defeated Fleming 6-2, as Blackburn sent Haas (Wilkie’s eventual opponent in the finals) to the loss side 6-3. Wilkie downed Blackburn in the hot seat match, and waited on the return of Haas.

 

On the loss side, Fleming and Haas walked right into double hill challenges. Fleming drew Dave White, who, defeated in his opening round, double hill by Scott Haas, was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals (against Scott Haas, as it turned out). He’d most recently defeated Thomas Haas 5-3 and Jim Montgue 5-2 to reach Fleming. Scott Haas drew Rick Scarleto, who’d defeated Tim Collins 5-2 and Kenny Miller 5-1.

 

Scott Haas and White advanced to their rematch in the quarterfinals with their double hill wins over Scarleto and Fleming, respectively. Haas then downed White a second time, this time 5-3, and gave up only a single rack to Blackburn in the semifinals. Wilkie completed his undefeated run with an 8-4 victory over Haas in the finals and claimed his first 2018 APT title.

 

A Second Chance Tournament drew 11 entrants. Randy Davis chalked up double hill wins in the hot seat match and finals (over Lee O’Neal and Clint Clayton, respectively) to claim the Second Chance title.

 

Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Peninsula Billiards, as well as sponsors Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards, Simonis, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for April 7-8, will be the Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament, hosted by First Break Café in Sterling, VA.

Adam Bryan chalked up back-to-back 6-3 wins in the hot seat match and finals, against different opponents, to complete an undefeated run on the season opener of the 2018 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $250-added event, held on the weekend of January 6-7, drew 37 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.

 

Bryan advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Dave Brown, as Richard Limo squared off against Brian Lane in the other one. Bryan defeated Brown 7-5, and in the hot seat match, faced Limo, who’d sent Lane to the loss side 5-3. Bryan claimed the hot seat over Limo in the first of his two straight 6-3 wins, and waited on what turned out to be the return of Lane.

 

On the loss side, Lane picked up Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball veteran J.T. Ringgold, who’d defeated Chris Hiatt 10-3 and Zach Leonard 10-1 to reach him. Brown drew Jason Rogers, who’d eliminated Cody Murphy 8-2 and Kenny Daughtrey 8-6.

 

Brown and Lane got right back to work, eliminating Rogers and Ringgold; Brown, 7-5 over Rogers and Lane, 5-6 over Ringgold (Ringgold racing to 10). With Brown racing to 7, Lane won the quarterfinal match 5-5.

 

Lane won his semifinal re-match against Limo 5-2. Bryan completed his undefeated run with a second 6-3 win, this time over Lane, in the finals.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball.

 

If state pool championships are the measurement device, then Mike Davis is the best pool player in North Carolina. He owns back-to-back titles in the state’s 9-Ball Championships and on the weekend of November 4-5, he chalked up his third straight NC State 8-Ball title.

 

Say what you will about competing in a small field, Davis locked up his third 8-Ball title by defeating one of the game’s better known veterans, Mark Tademy, cited by The Hyper Texts (http://www.thehypertexts.com) as one of a list of “unknown monster players who could play with anyone on a given day.” A little over 10 years ago (2006), Davis and Tademy were among a  world-wide cast of the best in the International Pool Tour’s (IPT) North American Open Championship in Las Vegas. Finishing in the tie for 61st, and pocketing $5K, Tademy was in tied company with (among others) Keith McCready, Mike Sigel, George “Ginky” Sansouci, Shannon Daulton, Allison Fisher, Loree Jon Hasson, Jeremy Jones, Allen Hopkins and Gerda Hofstatter. Davis, who finished 121st, and pocketed $2K, was in tied company with (among others) Grady Mathews, Jose Parica, Mike Massey, Tommy Kennedy, Warren Kiamco, Ewa Mataya Laurance, Tony Robles, Shane Van Boening, Karen Corr, and Billy Incardona.

 

And so, the hot seat and finals of the 2017 NC State 8-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, featured two of the sport’s more prominent competitors; one (Tademy), a little more old-school than the other (Davis). The $300-added event drew 23 entrants to Brown’s Billiards in Raleigh, NC. It should be noted that the weekend of November 4-5 played host to at least two other major 8-Ball Tournaments, which are about as rare as teenagers who don’t play video games – NYC’s BCA-sanctioned 8-Ball Championships, which drew 241 entrants (with some duplication over six separate events) and Maryland State’s 8-Ball Championships, which drew a full field of 128 entrants. North Carolina appeared to have drawn the ‘short straw’ on available 8-ball competitors.

 

The tournament did, however, draw two marquee players into its final two matches. Davis and Tademy met first in the hot seat match, once Davis had sent Jim Lewis to the loss side 7-3 in one winners’ side semifinal and Tademy had dispatched former NC State 9-Ball Champion Jeff Abernathy 7-4 in the other one. Davis claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Tademy and waited for round two.

 

On the loss side, Abernathy picked up Eddie Little, who’d gotten by Kenny Daughtrey 7-3 and Steve Page 7-4. Lewis drew Joshua Padron (winner of the 2016 Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour Championships this past January), who’d defeated Brown’s Billiards’ owner Dave Huffman 7-2 and Tyler Chappell 7-5.

 

Little and Padron eliminated winners’ side semifinalists Abernathy and Lewis, respectively; Little, 7-4 over Abernathy and Padron, 7-3 over Lewis. Little dropped Padron 7-5 in the quarterfinals that followed, before having his two-match, loss-side run ended by Tademy 7-3 in the semifinals.

The two veterans, Davis and Tademy, fought back and forth in the early going of the finals to a 5-5 tie. Davis, though, took command at that point and chalked up the next four in a row to win it and claim his third straight NC State 8-Ball title.

 

Tour directors Herman and Angela Parker thanked Brown’s Billiards’ owner Dave Huffman and his 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, scheduled for November 11-12, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, GA.

In his first-ever appearance on the Action Pool Tour (APT), Zoren James Aranas from the Philippines went undefeated through a strong field of 48 entrants, beginning what proved to be a six-match march to the winners' circle with an opening round shutout, and finishing with victories over the APT's top-ranked player, Shaun Wilkie in the hot seat match, and Reymart Lim in the finals. The Aug. 5-6 event, Stop # 8 on the APT, was hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.

 

In a concurrently-run Ladies event that drew 10 entrants, USA Atlantic Cup Challenge team member Sierra Reams avenged an opening round loss to Gwen Townsend to defeat her in the finals and capture the Ladies' title. Reams also competed in the Open event.

 

In the Open event, after shutting out Leo Taborn, Aranas defeated Chad Pike and Greg Sabins, both 9-2, to arrive at a winners' side semifinal with an aggregate score of 27-4. Aranas faced Bill Duggan. Wilkie, in the meantime, who'd played an extra preliminary round, had defeated Roy Taylor, Jim Bilderback, Nilbert Lim and Dwight Cherry to arrive at his winners' side semifinal with an aggregate score of 36-13, and faced Reymart Lim. Aranas sent Duggan to the loss side 9-4, and faced Wilkie, who'd sent Lim over 9-7. Aranas claimed the hot seat 9-6 over Wilkie and waited on what turned out to be Reymart Lim's return.

 

Lim moved over to pick up RJ Carmona, who'd been defeated by Duggan in a winners' side quarterfinal, and then, on the loss side, defeated Scott Haas 7-4 and  survived a double hill match against Eric Moore to reach him. Duggan, in the meantime, picked up Dwight Cherry, who'd  navigated his way through two straight double hill matches, against Dave Hunt and Brian Dietzenbach.

 

Carmona ended up on the wrong end of his second straight double hill fight, which advanced Lim to the quarterfinals against Duggan, who'd eliminated Cherry 7-4. Lim, picking up speed, downed Duggan in the quarterfinals 7-3, and then allowed Wilkie just a single rack in the semifinals. In a single race to 11, Aranas stopped Lim's run 11-7 to claim his first APT title.

 

In the Ladies event, Gwen Townsend's defeat of the eventual winner, Sierra Reams, 6-1 in the opening round, set her (Townsend) up for a winners' side semifinal against Barbara Yeager. Daisy Lim, who'd defeated Jackie Duggan 6-3 in her opening round, faced Soo Emmitt in the other winners' side semifinal.

 

Townsend shut Yeager out and in the hot seat match faced Lim, who'd defeated Emmitt 6-3. Townsend claimed the hot seat 6-4 over Lim, and waited on Reams.

 

On the loss side, Reams got by Melissa Mason and Jen Giampa, both 6-2 to draw Emmitt. Yeager drew Duggan, who'd picked up an opening round, loss-side bye and defeated Kitty Nguyen 6-2. Reams and Yeager advanced to the quarterfinals; Reams 6-1 over Emmitt, and Yeager 6-4 over Duggan. Reams survived a double hill quarterfinal against Yeager, and then, in the semifinals, defeated Daisy Lim 6-2.  Reams completed her run, avenging her opening round loss, with an 8-6 win over Townsend in the finals.

 

A 13-entrant, Second Chance Tournament saw Nilbert Lim go undefeated through the field, downing Kenny Daughtrey in the hot seat match 4-2 and Scott Haas in the finals 6-3.

 

Christy Norris and Kenny Daughtrey split the top two prizes on the August 6-7 stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour by opting out of a final match. As the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, Norris claimed the official event title. The event drew 43 entrants to Brown's Billiards in Raleigh, NC.

 

With Daughtrey at work on the loss side, after a third round defeat at the hands of Randy Hodges, Norris advanced to a winners' side semifinal versus Joe Cosky. Jerry Cannon, in the meantime, squared off against Lauren Kauffman. Norris did her part to arrange for an all-female hot seat match by defeating Cosky 6-2. Cannon, though, downed Kauffman 5-2. Norris claimed the hot seat 6-2 over Cannon, in what proved to be her last match of the weekend.

 

On the loss side, Daughtrey was at work on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the finals. He chalked up wins #3 and #4 against Chad Weachter (6-1) and DJ Outlaw (6-3) to draw Kauffman. Cosky picked up the man who'd sent Daughtrey to the loss side, Randy Hodges, who'd gotten by Bobby Clinton 5-5 (Clinton racing to 7), and J.T. Ringgold, by the same score (Ringgold racing to 9). 

 

A Daughtrey/Hodges re-match was avoided when Cosky downed Hodges 6-3. Daughtrey finished Kauffman's weekend with the first of three straight 6-2 wins. He repeated that score in the quarterfinals against Cosky, and again, in the semifinals versus Cannon. It was at this point that the two tired finalists decided against playing a final match, and chose to split the top two cash prizes.

 

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff of Brown's Billiards for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, and Delta-13 racks. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for August 13-14, will be hosted by Gate City Billiards in Greensboro, NC.

Overall, Kenny Daughtrey won 17 of the 11 games he played against Frank Owens during the July 23 stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour. Five of the 17 came in a double hill, 5-5 loss (Daughtrey racing to 6) in the opening set of the true double elimination final. Dead even on games at that point, Daughtrey lost, one game shy of his handicapped goal, forcing a second set. As he'd done before, Daughtrey kept Owen one game 'off the hill' in that second set, and claimed the title. The event drew 20 entrants to Brian's Billiards in Roanoke Rapids, NC.

 

Daughtrey won three out of his final four matches 6-3. He sent Chad Weachter to the loss side by that score to get into the hot seat match. Owens, in the meantime, was busy surviving a double hill fight against Randy Hodges. Daughtrey claimed the hot seat 6-3 and sent Owens to the semifinals.

 

On the loss side, Daughtrey's father, Ken, Sr., was on site, rooting for his namesake, and competing in the tournament, with at least one eye on a potential father/son final. Thomas Williams, in the midst of a five-game, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the semifinals, ended that potential party 5-1, and then defeated Justin Blackman by the same score to draw Weachter, who'd sent him to the loss side in the first place. Hodges picked up the tail end of another father/son saga – Terry Ringgold – who'd defeated his son, J.T., 4-5 (J.T. racing to 9) and then eliminated Junior Avery, double hill. 

 

Hodges thwarted the elder Ringgold's plans with a 5-2 victory, as Williams was chalking up his fourth loss-side win 5-3 over Weachter. Williams' final victory was a shutout over Hodges in the quarterfinals.

 

In the semifinals, fired-up-with-a-shutout-win Williams faced itching-for-another-shot-at-Daughtrey Owens. Owens took the straight-up, race to 5, semifinal match 5-2, and got his shot. In the opening set, he battled to double hill and won it. In the second set, Daughtrey opted for a repeat of the hot seat win and won the set 6-3 to claim the event title.

 

Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brian's Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, and Delta-13 Racks. The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for the weekend of July 30-31, will be hosted by Breaktime Billiards in Wilmington, NC.