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Bruner still on top of Action Pool Tour standings, claims VA State 8-Ball Championships

(l to r): Chris Bruner & RJ Carmona

Liz Taylor goes undefeated through Ladies field
 
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.

Tkach downs defending champ Corr, wins SBE Women’s 9-Ball Pro Players Championship

Kristina Tkach (Photo courtesy of Erwin Dionisio)

The first time that Russia’s Kristina Tkach showed up on the AZBilliards’ database radar was almost exactly five years ago (April 12, 2014) when she finished as runner-up to Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan at a stop on the EuroTour; the Dynamic Billiard North Cyprus Open. Ouschan played the proverbial ‘lights out’ at that tournament, giving up only seven racks over six matches and none at all to Tkach in the finals. At the time, Tkach was 15 years old. Later that same year, Tkach won the European Girls Championship in 8-ball. Two years later, she came back to that North Cyprus Open and came from the loss side to win it. She also went on that year to win all three disciplines of the European Girls Championships (10-ball, 9-ball & 8-ball), all on the same weekend. In her best recorded earnings year, to date (2018), she chalked up three wins on the EuroTour.

This year, she showed up on US payout lists, with an appearance at the Derby City Classic, at which she cashed in the 9-Ball Division (47th) and 9-Ball Banks (91st). In February, she finished 7th at the WPBA Masters at which she ended up as one of the loss-side competitors to fall victim to Kelly Fisher, who, at the time, was working on a nine-match, loss-side winning streak that would eventually put her into the finals for an unsuccessful rematch against Siming Chen.

In the ‘what have you done for me lately’ department of the pool world, Tkach came to the 2019 Super Billiards Expo (March 28-31) at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and went undefeated through a field of 47, on-hand for the Expo’s Diamond Women’s 9-Ball Pro Players Championship. Along the way, in the event semifinals, she eliminated the event’s defending champion, Karen Corr, who ended up winning more racks against her (6) than any of Tkach’s previous opponents, or her finals opponent, Sarah Rousey.

The Diamond Women’s Pro Players Championships were, of course, only one of 11 events at the SBE, including the 27th Annual Allen Hopkins’ Super Billiards Expo’s Diamond Open 10-Ball Pro Players Championships, the results of which have been posted in a separate article. Details about the ProAm Bar Box Championships and highlights of the varied Amateur events will be posted here in a third report.

Starting at the end, so to speak, it should be noted that while Tkach pocketed (pursed?) $5,000 and, like James Aranas in the 10-Ball Pro Players event, a Waterford crystal trophy, valued somewhere in the vicinity of $500, the trophy never made it to Tkach’s transportation out of the Expo Center. According to reports, the trophy came in two pieces; a base and its crystal bowl. As it was being carried out to a vehicle in preparation for Tkach’s exit from the Expo Center, the box it was in, was dropped, shattering the bowl into the proverbial ‘million pieces.’ The box was being carried by a member of Ms. Tkach’s entourage, who, according to varied reports initiated immediate plans to have the bowl replaced.

Tkach’s trip to the winners’ circle was handled with much more dexterity. As with the 10-Ball Pro Players, the 47 women were organized into an original, double elimination bracket, out of which emerged a final group of 16 (8 from the winners’ side and 8 from the loss side). The final 16 moved into two winners’ and losers’ side, single elimination brackets.

Tkach was not afforded the luxury of ‘easy going’ in her opening rounds. She first drew J. Pechauer Northeast Womens Tour director and always-dangerous Linda Shea. A 9-4 win in that opening round led to a match against Dawn Fox, who’d been awarded a bye in the opening round. Tkach downed Fox by the same 9-4 score, and then defeated Stacie Bourbeau 9-3 to become one of the eight winners’ side’s Final 8. Also advancing to the Final 16 from the winners’ side were Karen Corr, Kim Shaw, Kelly Wyatt, April Larson, Dawn Hopkins, Briana Miller and Kelly Isaac.

Meanwhile, on the loss side, Tkach’s eventual opponent in the finals, Sarah Rousey, earned her spot on the losers’ side’s final 8, when she defeated Kim Whitman 9-4. Rousey, who fell ill, temporarily, before her final winners’ side match against Kelly Wyatt, was forced to forfeit that winners’ side match. Joining Rousey from the losers’ side were Dawn Fox, Veronique Menard, Lai Li, Stacie Bourbeau, Tara Williams, Nathalie Chabot and Kaylin Wikoff.

The winners’ side single elimination bracket set Tkach and Corr onto a collision course that would end in the winners’ side final. Tkach downed Kelly Isaac 11-4 and Briana Miller 11-3 to draw Corr in those semifinals. Corr eliminated Kim Shaw 11-7 and April Larson 11-8 to face Tkach.

In the winners’ side finals that followed, Tkach chalked up more racks against Corr than all of Corr’s first three opponents combined; Tkach 11, Corr’s first three 8. Corr had won just over 77% of the games she played in three double elimination matches, (27-8), but entering the finals, only 59% of the two games she’d played in the single elimination phase. Tkach, by comparison, had a lower winning percentage than Corr in her double elimination matches (71%; 27-11), but in her two single-elimination matches, prior to meeting Corr, she’d won just under 76% of the  games (22-7). When the winners’ side final (event semifinal) was over, won by Tkach 11-6, Tkach advanced to the finals with a 71% game-winning percentage. Corr was eliminated, having won 62% of her games.

On to Sarah Rousey, who, on the loss side, had defeated Dawn Fox, Veronique Menard and in the loss-side bracket final, Tara Williams 11-5. She came into the finals having won 65% of her games, overall (60-32). That percentage was 71% through the first two matches (she’d forfeited the third match) and 61% in the three loss-side matches.

As happened in the 10-Ball Pro Players event, the SBE’s Web site failed to record the fact that a match between Kristina Tkach and Sarah Rousey happened at all. As noted in the earlier 10-Ball Pro Player report, a final did, in fact occur. Tkach gave up only four games in the race-to-11 finals to claim the event title, which, according to our records is her first major event victory here in the US.

Whitman comes back from the semifinals to win JPNEWT season opener

(l to r): Lai Li, Ada Lio, Lisa Cossette, Nicole Christ, Cheryl Sporleder & Kim Whitman

Of the 22 women who competed on the March 2-3 season opener of the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour, three of them had just returned from Phoenix, Arizona where they, and five others from the tour, had competed in the North American Pool Tour’s 3rd Annual Division II Championships, held from February 21-24. Two of the eight, having advanced out of an initial round robin phase of the event, came home with cash in their pockets. Judie Wilson had been among the eight competitors who finished in the tie for 17th place. The other JPNEWT competitor, Bethany Sykes, won 12 matches and lost two (six each, in the round robin and double elimination phases of the event) to capture her first major tournament win.
 
Unfortunately, or fortunately, dependent on your viewpoint, pool careers tend to follow a twisted path that features a relentless series of hills and valleys. From the hill and confidence glow of her first major tournament win, Sykes hit an immediate valley in the JPNEWT’s season opener, drawing tour director, and Division I NAPT competitor, Linda Shea, in the opening round of play. Sykes moved to the loss side, where after two wins, including a double hill victory over fellow NAPT Div. II competitor Judie Wilson, she was eliminated by JPNEWT veteran, Sharon O’Hanlon.
 
The season opening event of the 2019 JPNEWT season saw Kim Whitman and Lisa Cossette battle twice to claim the title. They battled to double hill in the hot seat match before Cossette won it Whitman came back from the semifinals to down Cossette in the finals and claim the season-opening title. The $500-added event drew its 22 entrants to Triple Nines in Elkridge, MD.
 
Whitman’s path to the winners’ circle went through Linda Tunmatip, Judie Wilson, and Kathleen Lawless before arriving at a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Lai Li. Cossette, in the meantime, got by Melissas Mason and Jenkins, and survived a double hill meetup with Linda Shea, to face Nicole Christ in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Whitman and Li locked up in a double hill fight for advancement to the hot seat match, eventually won by Whitman. Cossette downed Christ 7-3 to join her. Whitman, in her second straight double hill match, watched Cossette down the last 9-Ball and claim the hot seat.
 
On the loss side, Christ picked up Ada Lio, one of the participants in the Div. II Championships, who was on a six-match, loss-side winning streak and had most recently defeated Leslie Furr 7-3 and Lawless 7-4 to reach her. Li drew Cheryl Sporleder, who was on her own six-match, loss-side winning streak, had just eliminated Shea and O’Hanlon, both 7-1.
 
Lio and Christ locked up in a double hill fight that eventually sent Lio to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Sporleder, who’d defeated Li 7-4. Sporleder stopped Lio’s loss-side streak 7-4 in those quarterfinals. Whitman then ended Sporleder’s loss-side streak 7-5 in the semifinals.
 
Whitman got her second shot at Cossette in the hot seat, and took advantage. She downed Cossette 9-7 to claim the JPNEWT’s 2019 season opener. As a qualifier for the upcoming Super Billiards Expo, Whitman received a paid entry to the Ladies Pro event.
 
Tour director Linda Shea thanked the ownership and staff at Triple Nines for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Coins of the Realm, Livestream sponsor Britanya E. Rapp (angle aim Art), Turtle Rack and Baltimore City Cues. The next stop on the JPNEWT, scheduled for the weekend of April 27-28, will be hosted by Markley Billiards in Norristown, PA. 

Sporleder comes from the loss side to win JPNEWT season finale

(l to r): Judie Wilson, Cheryl Sporleder, Pete Boyer (owner-Coins of the Realm) & Linda Shea

Looking for her first win on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) on the weekend of December 1-2, Cheryl Sporleder might have expected the result of her winners’ side semifinal match against the tour’s director and #1-ranked player, Linda Shea. She lost. She might not have expected what happened next; a three-match, loss-side winning streak that set her up for a re-match against Shea in the finals, which she won to claim her first-ever win on the tour. The $500-added (by Coins of the Realm) season finale drew 20 entrants to Triple Nines Bar & Billiards in Elkridge, MD.
 
In only her second appearance on the 2018 tour (she was 5th in the season opener in March) Sporleder opened her six-match trek to the winners’ circle with a 7-4 victory over Carol Clark and ran immediately into a double hill fight against Kim Whitman. Sporleder advanced to face Nicole Christ in a winners’ side quarterfinal, which she won 7-5 to draw her first match against Shea in a winners’ side semifinal. Judie Wilson in the meantime, squared off against Bethany Sykes in the other one.
 
Shea moved into the hot seat match with a 7-3 victory over Sporleder. Wilson joined her after sending Sykes to the loss side 7-5. Shea claimed the hot seat 7-1 over Wilson and waited on Sporleder’s return.
 
On the loss side, Sporleder ran into an immediate rematch against Whitman, who following her earlier defeat, was on a four-match winning streak that had included wins over the tour’s #3-ranked player, Kia Sidbury, Britt Rapp, Ada Lio, and a double hill win over the tour’s #2-ranked player, Nicole King. Sykes drew Sharon O’Hanlon, who was on a four-match winning streak of her own that had included most-recent victories over Christ 7-1 and Elaine Wilson 7-4.
 
Whitman’s loss-side journey came to an end with Sporleder’s 7-5 win. O’Hanlon’s went a step further, as she defeated Sykes, double hill and joined Sporleder in the quarterfinals. Sporleder ended O’Hanlon’s loss-side streak at five games, with a 7-2 win in the quarterfinals.
 
Sporleder gave up only a single rack to Wilson in the semifinals to enter her first-ever final against the tour’s #1-ranked player, Shea. Sporleder’s first task was to reach seven racks first, to extend the race to nine games. She did this, and then added the two more she needed to win her first JPNEWT stop 9-6.
 
Tour director Linda Shea thanked the ownership and staff at Triple Nines, as well as title sponsor J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Coins of the Realm, Britanya E Rapp (angle aim Art), The Turtle Rack, Baltimore City Cues, and Billy Ray Bunn Cue Repair.
 

Kiamco battles Davis twice to claim VA State 8-Ball Championship Open title

(l to r): Tiger Baker, Warren Kiamco, Mike Davis, Jr. & Kris Wylie

Sykes downs Sidbury in finals of Ladies event
 
The Action Pool Tour has a way of attracting top-notch talent from both the amateur and professional levels of the sport to their regularly-scheduled events throughout the year. Its no-handicap policy is attractive to players from the semi-professional to professional end of the spectrum. Its consequent tournament entrant list proves to be attractive to amateur players, looking to challenge themselves against the best, while, depending on the draw, not running into a constant stream of pros.
 
The 2018 list of winners on the APT includes Johnny Archer (May), Ruslan Chinakhov (February, with Warren Kiamco as runner-up), Zoren James Aranas (April, with Dennis Orcollo as runner-up), Shaun Wilkie (three times, with Karen Corr as runner-up in July) and Reymart Lim (twice). On the weekend of November 10-11, at the 2018 VA State 8-Ball Championships, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, Warren Kiamco added his name to the list of 2018 winners with an undefeated run through a field of 37 entrants, that included two victories over Mike Davis, Jr. As these more recognizable names battle it out for the top spots, Steve Fleming maintains his spot at the top of the APT rankings, while other players like Jason Trigo (#2), and Eric Moore (#8), all on the basis of repeated appearances on the tour, maintain their slots, as well.
 
A concurrently-run Ladies VA State 8-Ball Championships, impacted by a local VNEA league event on the same weekend (with a trip to Las Vegas on the line), saw only five entrants compete. Bethany Sykes earned the 2018 Ladies Championship title with a 7-4 victory over runner-up Kia Sidbury in the finals. Also competing were Gwen Townsend, Kim Whitman and Melissa Mason.
 
Kiamco and Davis met in both the hot seat and finals of Open event. Kiamco opened his campaign against Reymart Lim, sending him to the loss side 7-3, and then, downing Christopher Wilburn 7-1 and Eric Moore 7-3 to draw Cary Dunn in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Davis, in the meantime, worked his way through Sean Millican 7-1, Larry Kressel 7-2, and Elias Nassif 7-3 to pick up Jason Trigo in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Kiamco moved on to the hot seat match with a 7-1 victory over Dunn. Davis joined him after sending Trigo over 7-2. In their first of two, Kiamco and Davis battled to double hill before Davis prevailed to sit in the hot seat.
 
On the loss side, Trigo picked up Reymart Lim, who’d come all the way back from his earlier loss against Kiamco; five loss-side wins that included recent victories over Rodney McLamb 7-3 (in the first money round) and Eric Moore 6-2. Dunn drew Chris Bruner, who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal against Trigo and then defeated John Newton 6-2 and Elias Nassif 6-1 to reach Dunn.
 
Lim extended his loss-side streak to six with a 6-1 victory over Trigo. Bruner extended his loss-side streak to three with a 6-4 victory over Dunn. Lim ended Bruner’s streak with a 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals.
 
By the same 6-3 score, Davis ended Lim’s streak in the semimfinals for a second shot at Kiamco. In a race to 9, Davis chalked up as many racks as he had against Kiamco in the hot seat match. Kiamco added two to his hot seat number and took the 2018 VA State 8-Ball Championship title 9-6.
 
Tour directors Tiger Baker and Kris Wylie thanked the ownership and staff at Diamond Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Tiger, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Kamui Tips and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). The Action Pool Tour will conclude its 2018 season with a $10,000 Top 64 Invitational Tournament, scheduled for the weekend of December 15-16 at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA (NOTE: The date was changed from its original, Dec. 8-9).

Corr returns to the JPNEWT and goes undefeated to claim event title

Kim Whitman, Christina Madrigale and Karen Corr

While a number of her contemporaries were ‘down on the Bayou,’ competing in the WPBA’s Signature Tour Stop, Karen Corr was in Frederick, MD, competing in her first 2018 stop on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour. She joined a field of 23 entrants at the $500-added (by Coins of the Realm) event, hosted by Champion Billiards in Frederick and went undefeated to claim her first event title of the tour’s 2018 season.
 
It was Kim Whitman, playing in only her second stop on the tour (of four, to date) who ended up challenging Corr twice; once in the hot seat and again, in the finals. Corr, after victories over Cecilia Strain 7-2, Christie Hurdel 7-1, and eventual third-place finisher Christina Madrigale 7-2, drew Char Dzambo in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Whitman, who’d been awarded an opening round bye, got by Melissa Jenkins, double hill, and Judie Wilson 7-5, to draw Bethany Sykes in the other winners’ side semifinal.
 
Corr shut out Dzambo, while Whitman was sending Sykes to the loss side 7-2. Battling for the hot seat, Whitman scored one less rack against Corr than all of her (Corr’s) previous opponents combined. The 7-4 score, in favor of Corr, sent Whitman off to the semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Sykes picked up Madrigale, who, following her defeat at the hands of Corr, had eliminated Elaine Wilson, double hill (Wilson had previously eliminated tour director and top player in the point standings, Linda Shea), and Teri Thomas 7-5. Dzambo drew Nicole King, who’d been defeated by Sykes and subsequently eliminated Lynn Richard 7-5 and Val Nolan 7-2.
 
King downed Dzambo, double hill, and in the quarterfinals, faced Madrigale, who’d defeated Sykes 7-4. They’d both survived a loss-side double hill match to get to the quarterfinals, so it was only fitting that King and Madrigale’s quarterfinal match was a double hill affair, as well. Madrigale won it to challenge Whitman in the semifinals, but in her third loss-side double hill match (of five loss-side matches played), Madrigale fell to Whitman.
 
Whitman turned to challenge Corr a second time. The wait apparently had no effect on Corr, who gave up only a single rack to Whitman in the final that earned her the event title. It was Whitman who won the qualifying spot (sponsored by Baltimore City Cues) to the NAPT Desert Challenge in Las Vegas this fall.
 
Peggy Wilkinson won the tour’s amateur event, held for female competitors of a ‘4’ rank or below. Played out in a round robin format, the winner – Wilkinson at this event – was awarded free entry into the next local JPNEWT event.
 
The next stop on the JPNEWT, scheduled for August 18-19, will be hosted by Triple Nines Bar & Billiards in Elkridge, MD.

Corr recaptures SBE Diamond Women’s Open 9-Ball Pro Championship title

Karen Corr – Photo courtesy of Erwin Dionisio

Ireland’s Karen Corr went undefeated through a field of 56 women who competed in the $8,350-added Diamond Women’s Open 9-Ball Pro Championships, held as part of the Super Billiards Expo on the long weekend of April 12-15, and sanctioned by the North American Pool Tour. It was her third SBE Women’s Pro Championship title, which she won, as well, in 2016, and 2014. It was her first win in 2018.
 
In the field that was vying for $26K in prize money and included anyone’s list of the top women in the sport, the top 16 were seeded at the beginning of the initial, double elimination bracket. When that bracket came down to the final eight on each side, those 16 women entered a single elimination phase that was not seeded. Corr, after defeating Sonya Chbeeb, Rachel Lang and Veronique Menard to secure her spot on the winners’ side Final Eight bracket, got by Janet Atwell 11-8, and Vivian Villareal 11-9 to face Allison Fisher in the semifinals of that winners’ side Final Eight.
 
Brittany Bryant, in the meantime, who’d lost an opening round match to Kim Whitman, won four on the loss side, against Krista Walsh, Ada Lio, Stephanie Goens, and Dawn Hopkins to claim a spot on the losers’ side Final Eight. In the single elimination phase, Bryant downed Bernie Store 11-7, and April Larson 11-9 to face Jia Li in the semifinals of the losers’ side Final Eight.
 
Long-time adversaries at the table (and friends, off the table), Corr and Fisher battled in what arguably should have been the event final (a seeded single elimination phase might have kept them apart until the finals). Corr won it, 11-8, and advanced to the finals. Byrant joined her, after downing Li 11-9. Corr took the final 11-6 to chalk up her third SBE title.

Sidbury comes back from semifinals to down Testa and win JPNEWT season opener

(l to r): Erica Testa, Linda Shea, Judie Wilson, Kia Sidbury, Cheryl Sporleder & Heather Platter

Kia Sidbury claimed the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour’s season opener on the weekend of March 3-4 by coming back from a hot seat loss to down hot seat occupant, Erica Testa in the finals. Sidbury, who finished sixth overall in the tour’s 2017 standings, claimed the event title, and for the time being, top spot on the 2018 rankings. The $500-added (by Coins of the Realm) event drew 20 entrants to Triples Nines Bar & Billiards in Elkridge, MD.
 
Sidbury faced Testa twice, winning the all-important second matchup, in the finals, but she also had to get by Heather Platter twice; once in a winners’ side semifinal, and again, in the event semifinals. Following victories over Elaine Wilson and Kathy Friend, Sidbury came out on top in two straight double hill matches, against Tour Director Linda Shea in a winners’ side quarterfinal and Platter in the winners’ side semifinal, which put her (Sidbury) in the hot seat match. Testa’s path to the hot seat match went through Nicole Fleming, Lynn Richards (who would go on to win a concurrently-run, 9-entrant Amateur event), Gwen Townsend, and in the other winners’ side semifinal, Judie Wilson 7-2. Testa claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Sidbury and waited on her return from a re-match versus Platter in the semifinals.
 
On the loss side, Platter and Wilson met up with Cheryl Sporleder and Shea, respectively. Sporleder had eliminated Gwen Townsend, double hill, and Teri Thomas 7-2 to reach Sporleder. Shea got by Sharon O’Hanlon and Kim Whitman, both 7-4 to draw Wilson. Platter and Wilson advanced to the quarterfinals; Platter, 7-5 over Sporleder and Wilson, 7-2 over Shea.
 
Platter and Wilson locked up in a quarterfinal, double hill fight, that eventually sent Platter to a rematch against Sidbury in the semifinals. That semifinal match came within a game of going double hill, but in the end, Sidbury pulled ahead to win it by two 7-5.
 
In what was, essentially, an early season, first-stop battle for first place on the tour, Sidbury and Testa fought for a second time, looking to claim the event title. Sidbury got out in front, and stayed there, winning it 9-3 for her first tour win. 
 
A concurrently-run Amateur event drew nine entrants and was won by Lynn Richards. The next stop on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour, scheduled for April 28-29, will be hosted by Markley Billiards in Norristown, PA.

Moore comes back from semifinals to win VA State 8-Ball Championships

Reams comes from loss side to win short-field Women's event

Eric Moore solidified his hold on the top position in the Action Pool Tour rankings with a come-from-the-loss-side victory at the VA State 8-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour on the weekend of November 12-13. Sierra Reams, after a loss in one of the winners' side semifinals, came back to claim the VA Women's 8-Ball Championship title. The Open event drew 56 entrants to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA. The women drew an extraordinarily short field of six to the same location.

 
 
Female competitors living in the vicinity of the Northeast Corridor, extending along a two and half hour section of Route 95 from Midlothian, VA to Elkridge, MD (along with others who may have traveled from other areas), had two choices over the weekend. They could attend the VA State Women's 8-Ball Championships in Midlothian, or the season finale of the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour in Elkridge. Combined, the two events drew 26 women, six of whom opted for the APT event in Midlothian. 
 
 
Sierra Reams' trek to the victory in the VA State 8-ball event was extended by two matches, when she was defeated, double hill, in a winners' side semifinal by Kim Whitman. Jacki Duggan joined Whitman in the hot seat match, following a 6-4 victory over Terri Stovall. Duggan claimed the hot seat 6-4 over Whitman.
 
 
On the loss side, Reams downed Vivian Nguyen 5-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. Bethany Sykes downed Stovall, double hill, to join her. Reams took the quarterfinal match over Sykes 5-2, and then locked up in a double hill fight against Whitman in their semifinals re-match. Reams won it for a shot at Duggan in the finals. Reams defeated Duggan 8-6 to claim the title.
 
 
In the Open event, All 10 of the Action Pool Tour's top 10 competitors were on hand to battle for the 8-ball title, all vying (with one event to go) for the top two slots on the season-end ranking list, which will earn those top two players free entry into all three divisions of the 2017 US Bar Table Championships in Las Vegas, and a shared free hotel room during the event. The #1-ranked player, which, with only the one event to go, would appear to be Moore, will earn plane fare to the event, as well.
 
 
Moore's primary nemesis in this event proved to be Max Schlothauer, making a rare appearance on the tour; his first this year (he defeated TD Ozzy Reynolds in the finals of an event a few years ago). Moore and Schlothauer came to the first of their two meetings, in the hot seat match, on the heels of two distinctly different paths. Moore faced four opponents before Schlothauer and gave up an average of 3.5 racks to each of them; overall, 28-14. Schlothauer faced just as many and gave up an average of only one rack to each of his opponents; overall, 28-4.
 
Following victories over Yuta Morooka, Chris Pyle, Chris Bruner, and Danny Mastermaker, Moore squared off against Jamey Mellott in one of the winners' side semifinals. Schlothauer got by Luther Pickeral, Ernie Allen, Alan Duty, and Reggie Jackson to draw Kenny Miller in the other winners' side semifinal. Between them, Moore and Schlothauer gave up only a single rack in the two winner's side semifinals. Moore allowed Mellott one, while Schlothauer advanced to the hot seat match after a shutout over Miller. Moore chalked up as many racks against Schlothauer in the hot seat match, as all five of Schlothauer's previous opponents combined. Schlothauer claimed the hot seat 7-4 and waited on Moore's return.
 
 
On the loss side, Mellott picked up Bruner, who, following his loss to Moore on the winners' side, got by Wai Cho Yee, Bobby Stovall, Reggie Jackson and Yuta Morooka. Miller drew Mastermaker, who'd gotten by Duty, double hill, and Rick Glasscock 6-4 (Glasscock had previously eliminated the tour's #3-player, Shaun Wilkie). Mastermaker downed Miller 6-1, advancing to the quarterfinals against Bruner, who'd eliminated Mellott 6-4.
 
 
It was Bruner who advanced to meet Moore in the semifinals, following a 6-3 win over Mastermaker in the quarterfinals. Moore ended Bruner's six-match, loss-side streak with a 6-4 win in the semifinals. In a reversal of fortunes, Moore was able to chalk up as many racks against Schlothauer in the finals as had been chalked up against him to that point (8). Schlothauer managed only three in those finals. Moore was able to record his third APT victory on the year, and claim the VA State 8-Ball Championship title, to go along with his previous VA State 10-Ball Championship title that he earned back in February.

Jia Li takes a long, loss-side trip to win her second stop on the JPNEWT

Jia Li

On the weekend of September 17-18, at the ninth stop on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women's Tour, Jia Li lost her opening match and embarked on a seven-match, loss-side run that put her in the finals against the tour's #1-ranked player; its tour director, Linda Shea. Li defeated Shea twice to claim the event title and chalk up her second victory on the tour. The $1,000-added event ($500 from Coins of the Realm) drew 22 entrants to the Top Hat Cue Club in Parkville, MD.
 
It was Kim Whitman, who came into the tournament with only three tour stops to her credit and ranked at #17 on the tour, who downed Jia Li in the opening round 7-5. Whitman would advance to a winners' side semifinal against Shea, while Sharon O'Hanlon and Tina Malm would face off in the other one. Shea and Whitman battled to double hill before Shea advanced to the hot seat match. She was met by Malm, who'd allowed O'Hanlon only a single rack. Shea claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Malm and waited for Li to finish her loss-side run.
 
On the loss side, Whitman drew Jenn Keeney, who, like Li, had lost in the opening round (to Kathy Friend), and was in the midst of a four-match, loss-side streak that was about to end. She'd shut out Karen Myers and eliminated Judie Wilson 7-2 to reach Whitman. O'Hanlon picked up Li, four matches into her loss-side streak, the most recent of which had eliminated Tina Marinelli 7-1 and Heather Platter 7-4.
 
Whitman squeaked by Keeney, double hill, and in the quarterfinals, matched up against Li, who'd downed O'Hanlon 7-2. Li won the re-match against Whitman and the semifinals versus Malm by the same 7-2 score and moved into the double elimination final against Shea.
 
She took the opening set 9-5. She won the second set by the same score to claim the event title.
In so doing, Li climbed a few rungs on the tour ladder, ending up in fifth place behind Shea, Karen Corr, Kia Sidbury (who finished in the tie for 13th) and Sharon O'Hanlon (5th). The next stop on the JPNEWT, scheduled for the weekend of October 1-2, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA.