It was playwright David Mamet who made the observation that “old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.” It’s hard to designate the two matches of the double elimination final on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour this past weekend (Dec. 3) as a victory of ‘old age’ and ‘treachery’ over ‘youth’ and ‘exuberance,’ because while it’s true that the winner, Mac Harrell, is older than the runner-up, Graham Swinson, Harrell could not reasonably be considered to be in the realm of ‘old age’ or to have applied ‘treachery’ in double-dipping Swinson in the two matches that they played against each other. Hard to argue with Swinson’s youthful exuberance though.
Swinson is 22 now, but he and Harrell have known each other for a number of years, dating back to a time when Swinson was attending Riverside High School in Williamstown, North Carolina and Mac Harrell was his math teacher. Q City 9-Ball Tour Director, Herman Parker, recalled that the two have played against each other over the past few years or so, but never, to his recollection, in the finals of an event before. They have both won stops on the tour, almost exactly a year apart, at the same location; Harrell four months ago and Swinson, a year and four months ago. The meeting led to some boisterous commentary on both sides in the $250-added event that drew 18 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
“The teacher taught the student a lesson,” said Parker, “and the teacher had to beat the student twice in the (straight-up race to 8), double-elimination final.”
“There was definitely some good-natured trash talk going on,” he added with a laugh.
Swinson caught Harrell at the tail end of what has been his best (recorded) earnings year since he started showing up on payout lists back in 2008, when Swinson was in grammar school. Swinson, on the other hand, with his runner-up finish in this event, came within about $60 of matching his best recorded earnings year – 2021.
They both advanced through the field to a winners’ side semifinal. Swinson faced Delton Howard, while Harrell squared off against Jeff Underwood.
Swinson advanced to the hot seat match 8-5 over Howard, but Harrell got shuttled off to the loss side by Underwood 7-6 (Harrell racing to 8). With Underwood racing to 7, Swinson claimed the hot seat, double hill, 8-6 and waited for ‘teach’ to return, which he did.
On the loss side, Harrell picked up Jerry Canon, who’d defeated Ron Ford and Jacob Stein, both 6-1, to reach him. Howard drew Michael Yamuni, who’d recently won two straight double hill battles versus Jack Whitfield and Chris Gehrki.
With Howard racing to 8, Yamuni defeated him 5-3. Harrell, in the meantime, advanced to the quarterfinals 8-2 over Cannon and followed that up with another 8-2 victory over Yamuni in those quarterfinals.
Jeff Underwood managed to get one more rack against Harrell than either of his (Harrell’s) last two opponents, but still fell short in the semifinals. Harrell won 8-3 and entered the ‘double-elimination final’ classroom, prepared to teach.
He gave up only a single rack to his former student in the opening set, winning it 8-1. The student rallied in the second set and came within a game of forcing a double-hill final match. Harrell stayed ahead of him though and took the second set 8-6 to claim the event title, his second on the tour, to date.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, Dec. 10-11, will be hosted by the Gate City Billiards Club in Greensboro, NC.
Mac Harrell’s been competing since (as far as we know) 2008, when he finished 7th at a stop on the former Jacoby Custom Cues Carolina Tour. He went on to record (on average) one payout finish per year, early on the Carolina Tour, later until recently on the Action Pool Tour and once, in 2013, at the Super Billiards Expo’s Amateur Championships (33rd). On the weekend of August 6-7, Harrell went undefeated to claim his first (recorded) regional tour victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. The $250-added event drew 41 entrants to Mickey Milligan’s in New Bern, NC.
Harrell and Delton Howard battled twice to claim the title; once in a winners’ side semifinal and again in the finals. As Harrell and Howard fought in their first meeting, Gregory Speight and Jorge Ramos faced each other in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Harrell advanced to the hot seat match with an 8-3 win over Howard and was joined by Speight, who’d sent Ramos over 7-4. Harrell claimed the hot seat 8-3 over Speight and waited on Howard’s return.
Howard and Ramos moved over, coming back on Sunday to compete in the first of the money rounds. Howard drew Greg Smith, who’d recently eliminated Eddie Almonte 8-5 and Jerry Cannon 8-3. Ramos picked up DJ Brads, who’d defeated Jack Whitfield 6-3 and Bill Chase, double hill, to reach him.
Howard and Ramos got right back into gear. Howard, downing Smith 8-3 and Ramos, eliminating Brads 7-4. In the quarterfinals that followed, Howard limited Ramos’ loss-side run to a single match, defeating him, 8-4.
In the semifinals that featured two opponents anxious for a second shot at the hot seat occupant, it was Howard who prevailed. He eliminated Speight 8-4. Momentum may have been in the wind, as Howard chalked up three more racks against Harrell in the finals than he had in their winners’ side semifinal matchup. Not enough. Harrell claimed what is believed to be his first regional tour title with an 8-6 victory in those finals.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Mickey Milligan’s for their hospitality, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Breaktime Billiards (Winston-Salem, NC), BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Ridge Back Rails, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, Aug. 13-14, will be a $250-added event, hosted by a new venue for the tour – Action Billiards in Inman, SC.
There were times, as the 2022 VA State 10-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour, were playing out, that one might have thought they’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up at an event on the Junior International Championships (JIC). In both the concurrently-run Open and Ladies tournament, held this past weekend (April 9-10), there was strong representation from the up-and-coming crowd of junior competitors.
Precilia Kinsley (15) won the Ladies event and though the Open event was won by BJ Ussery, Jr., it was a different kind of junior (Nathan Childress) who sent him to the loss side. Three of the five matches he played after that to get to the finals put him up against Childress a second time and two other prominent male juniors on the JIC roster, Joey Tate and Landon Hollingsworth. All four and Brent Worth, another player on the JIC, competed in the Open event. Kinsley went two-and-out, while Worth went three-and-out in that division. The event drew 46 Open competitors and 20 Ladies to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
Ussery’s path to the Open finals was rolling along smoothly through his first three matches, in which he’d given up only one rack, against Luther Pickeral (0), Shane Buchanan (1) and Larry Kressel (0). Then, he ran into Childress, who defeated him 8-5. Childress advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Manny Chau. Hollingsworth became the second junior competitor in the winners’ side semifinals, having, on his way, given up only three racks, once, and two racks twice before facing Danny Mastermaker, who’d given up that many racks in his previous winners’ side quarterfinal win over Mac Harrell.
Mastermaker advanced to the hot seat match, sending Hollingsworth to the loss side 8-6. Chau joined him after downing Childress 8-4. Chau claimed the hot seat 8-1 over Mastermaker and waited on what he, with good reason, might have assumed was one of the three junior competitors still at work on the loss side.
On that loss side of the bracket, Childress drew Scott Roberts, who’d lost his opening match to Larry Kressel and was working on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to come to an end. He’d recently survived two straight double-hill matches against Mac Harrell and Chris Bruner. Hollingsworth drew Ussery, who was working on his own loss-side streak and had recently defeated Reggie Jackson 7-1 and JIC competitor Joey Tate 7-3.
Ussery defeated Hollingsworth 7-3 and advanced to his quarterfinal rematch against Childress, who joined him after putting a stop to Roberts’ loss-side streak 7-1. A little older by a matter of hours and presumably a little wiser, Ussery, Jr. stepped to the proverbial ‘plate’ and battled Childress to a deciding 13th game, his only double hill match of the tournament, before eliminating him.
Ussery then defeated Mastermaker 7-3 in the semifinals and claimed the VA State 10-Ball Championship title with a 9-6 victory Chau in the finals.
Precilia Kinsley and Liz Taylor
Six from JIC (30% of the field) compete, Kinsley comes from the loss side to take the title
Like Ussery, Precilia Kinsley had to come from the loss side to win the Ladies division of the VA State 10-Ball Championships. The winners’ side semifinals in the Ladies tournament featured two juniors against each other in one and two veterans in the other.
Kinsley was one of the juniors. She’d gotten by Cheryl Pritchard and Buffy Jolie to face fellow junior competitor, Bethany Tate in their winners’ side semifinal. Liz Taylor, who, at the same venue, won last October’s VA State Ladies 9-Ball Championship, ran a sort of JIC young ladies’ gauntlet. Four of her five total opponents in the event were JIC competitors. She opened with a victory over Courtney Hairfield (who’d finished 5th/6th in the last JIC 18U Girls division event, two weeks ago) and Hayleigh Marion (double hill) before stepping into her winners’ side semifinal against someone much closer to her in age, Lisa Cossette.
Tate downed Kinsley 6-4, as Taylor was working on a 6-2 win over Cossette. Taylor claimed the hot seat 6-2 over Tate and waited on the return of her last junior competitor.
On the loss side, that competitor, Kinsley, drew fellow JIC competitor Hayleigh Marion, who’d recently eliminated Britt Faries 5-2 and yet another JIC competitor, Savanna Wolford, double hill. Cossette picked up Buffy Jolie, who’d survived a double hill fight versus Courtney Hairfield and defeated Bethany Sykes 5-2 to reach her.
Cossette downed Jolie 5-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced Kinsley, who’d survived a double hill match against Marion. Kinsley defeated Cossette 5-3 and in their semifinal rematch, eliminated Tate 5-3, as well. Kinsley and Taylor came within a game of double hill, but in the end, the youngster edged out in front of the woman who owns a number of VA State titles. Kinsley downed Taylor 7-5 to claim her first.
A five-entrant Second Chance tournament was won by Chris Bruner, who took home $80 for the effort. Brian Sewell ($20) was runner-up
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Diamond Billiards, as well as sponsors George Hammerbacher and Haselman & Hunt, D.D.S., P.C. Family Dentistry (Haselman & Hunt.com). As the Action Pool Tour works on adding two more events to their 2022 calendar, the next scheduled event, to be held on the weekend of November 19-20, will bring the tour back to Diamond Billiards for the VA State 8-Ball Championships.
“Guess who just got back today? Them wild-eyed boys that’d been away Haven’t changed, had much to say But man, I still think them cats are crazy” – Thin Lizzy “The Boys are Back in Town”
They were joined, it should be noted immediately, by a crew of “wild-eyed girls” who’d been away, too. Dorothy Strater, Cheryl Pritchard, Tina Malm, Bethany Sykes, Reene Driskill, Soo Emmett and Sheri Bruner (mother of the tour’s 2019 Champion, Chris Bruner), who, along with 46 other entrants, signed on to last weekend’s (July 17-18) stop on the Action Pool Tour, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA. It was the first stop on the 2021 tour since the VA State 10-Ball Championships in February, and according to co-tour director Kris Wylie, it will be the last until sometime in September. A previously scheduled event, slated for August 14-15 at Wolf’s Den in Roanoke, VA had to be changed to accommodate amateur league events, scheduled for Las Vegas at the same time. Wylie and room owners, the Wolfords, are still working on details that will determine when, in September, the tour will visit the room.
“We were a little concerned,” noted Wiley of the tour’s return to activity, “what with falling out of the public eye, but we were very happy with the turnout and now, it’s just a matter of sorting out the rest of this year’s schedule.”
Visitors to the Action Pool Tour Web site will note that there’s no tour rankings list as there has been in previous years. That list, normally used to determine who earns entry into a year-end event for the tour, was deemed impractical, given the unexpected cancellation of stops and the ongoing plans for future events.
“We determined that there was no real value to have ‘points leaders’ at this point,” Wylie explained, adding that there will be a year-end event for the tour, but that a means of determining some way to get participants invited is still in the planning stages. “We just couldn’t come up with a way of having a tour leader right now.”
BJ Ussery would likely have been a candidate for top spot on this year’s tour rankings list on the basis of his undefeated run at this past weekend’s event. He came out of the gate real fast, giving up only four racks through his first 36 games to Jamie Bess (0), Graham Swinson (2), Kelly Farrar (0) and James Coleman (2). He drew Collin Hall in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Ussery’s eventual hot seat opponent, Mac Harrell, had a little different experience with his trip to a winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Scott Roberts. Harrell chalked up the same 32 games-won as Ussery, but he gave up 16 racks to Enrique Barrios (4), Jason Trigo (3), David Parker (4) and David Hunt (5).
Ussery and Harrell downed Hall and Roberts, both 8-5. Ussery claimed the hot seat 8-3 over Harrell, though over his last two matches, he’d dropped his game-winning average from 88% down to 80%.
On the loss side, Scott Roberts drew Graham Swinson, who followed his 2nd round loss to Ussery with a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had begun when he eliminated Sheri Bruner, thereby eliminating any hope of a mother-son matchup somewhere down the loss-side line. He had most recently eliminated Thomas Dorsey 7-5 and shut out James Coleman. Collin Hall picked up Chris Bruner, who’d lost a double hill fight to Scott Roberts in one of the winners’ side quarterfinals and realizing that he was not going to have to face his mother in a loss-side match, went on to defeat Shane Buchanan and David Hunt, both 7-4.
Bruner advanced to the quarterfinals 7-3 over Hall. Roberts joined him for their rematch after ending Swinson’s loss-side streak 7-4. As had happened on the winners’ side, Bruner and Roberts locked up in a double hill fight. The ending was different, with Bruner advancing to face and defeat Mac Harrell 7-5 in the semifinals.
Two very familiar faces in the mid-Atlantic pool scene and to each other squared off in the finals; one, thus far undefeated and the other, having won five on the loss side for the right to play the final match. Ussery prevailed 9-6 to claim his first event title of 2021.
As for the aforementioned ladies who signed on to compete (Sheri Bruner, Dorothy Strater, Cheryl Pritchard, Bethany Sykes, Reene Driskill, Soo Emmet & Tina Malm), Tina Malm advanced the furthest, finishing in the money in the four-way tie for 9th place.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Diamond Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Haselman & Hunt Family Dentistry, George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor) and CSI. As noted, the August 14-15 stop on the Action Pool Tour has been postponed to a date-to-be-determined in September. Visit the tour’s Web site, www.actionpooltour.com, for a future announcement.
It marked the second year in a row that Reymart Lim had won the Action Pool Tour’s (APT) season opener at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. Last year at this time, he went undefeated through a field of 49 to win his first of two APT events; the second came in March. This year, there was just a little hitch in his get-along, as he succumbed to Nathan Childress in the battle for the hot seat and had to come back from a semifinal versus 2019’s Tour Champion, Chris Bruner, for a second shot at Childress. He took that second shot and won the match to claim his first 2020 title. In the past four years, Lim has finished, in order, 29th, 13th, 5th and 4th in the APT’s final tour standings. If he’s looking to improve (and why wouldn’t he be?), this could be the year he secures that APT Tour Champion title. Winning this event that drew 53 entrants to Q Master Billiards on the weekend of January 18-19 was a good start.
Lim got a bye out of a preliminary round and started his march to the winners’ circle with an 8-1 victory over Graham Swinson. He then defeated Bill Duggan 8-4 and Johnathan Syphanthavong 8-3 to draw a winners’ side semifinal match against Scott Roberts, who finished two spots below him on last year’s tour standings list. Childress, in the meantime, who was the Billiards Education Foundation’s 14-and-under Junior National Champion two years in a row (’15 & ’16) and was looking to secure what would be (according to our records) his first major regional tour title, opened with an 8-5 victory over RJ Carmona, who finished one step above Lim last year. After Carmona, Childress sent Jason Trigo (double hill), Reggie Jackson (8-4) and another junior player, Shane Wolford (8-4) to the loss side to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Bruner.
Childress sent Bruner west 8-6 and in the hot seat match, faced Lim, who’d defeated Roberts, double hill. Childress claimed the hot seat 8-4 and waited in it for Lim to get back from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Bruner picked up Nilbert Lim (no relation to Reymart, although a close friend), who’d lost a double hill match to Scott Roberts in the second winners’ side round and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had most recently included two victories in which he’d allowed his opponents only a single rack, combined; none to Syphanthavong and one to Mac Harrell. Roberts drew David Hunt (5th in the 2019 standings), who’d lost a winners’ side quarterfinal match to Bruner and gone on to defeat David Givens, double hill and Shane Wolford 7-4.
Roberts moved on to the quarterfinals with a 7-2 win over Hunt. Bruner, flexing his muscles a bit, shut Nilbert Lim out to join him. Bruner then defeated Roberts 7-5 in those quarterfinals.
Reymart Lim stepped into the semifinal ‘frame,’ flexing a few muscles of his own. He gave up only a single rack to Bruner, to earn himself a second shot at Childress.
Childress didn’t give up his shot at his first major ‘pro’ title easily. He fought tooth and nail to double hill before Lim sealed his first 2020 victory 10-9.
A Second Chance event drew eight entrants. It was won by Graham Swinson, who came back from a 5-2 hot seat loss to shut Johnathan Syphanthavong out 6-0.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth. Viking Cues, 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 2020 APT, scheduled for February 15-16, will be the VA State 10-Ball Championships, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
The opening rounds of the Action Pool Tour’s (APT) 2019 season opener on the weekend of January 19-20 featured a match between the winner of the 2018 APT Season Finale a little over a month ago (JT Ringgold) and the eventual winner of the opener, Reymart Lim. Between the preliminary round, and the second winners’ side round, seven of the APT’s top 2018 players participated, including the 2018 Tour Champion, Steve Fleming, runner-up Jason Trigo, and Reymart Lim, who finished 2018 in fifth place on the tour rankings. Lim went undefeated through the field, downing separate opponents in the hot seat (Kenny Miller) and finals (Ty Laha). The $200-added event drew 49 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
When enough women had signed on to the opening event, APT’s tour directors opted to hold a Ladies’ season opener, as well. Seven women signed on to compete in the $150-added ladies event, including the 2018 VA State 8-Ball Ladies Champion, Bethany Sykes. Sykes went undefeated through the short field, playing two of her three matches against Liz Taylor, whom she faced in the hot seat match and finals (6-2, 7-1). Both Sykes and Taylor competed in the Open event, with Taylor cashing in both.
As noted above, the season opener’s main event began with a match between Reymart Lim and JT Ringgold. The two battled to double hill before Lim prevailed 7-6. Ringgold moved to the loss side and began a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the matches to determine the tie for 5th place. Lim, in the meantime, moved on to continue his seven-match, winner’s side streak that would eventually earn him the event title. Four matches in, he met his eventual opponent in the finals, Ty Laha, in a winners’ side semifinal. Kenny Miller, in the meantime, squared off against Bill Duggan in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Lim sent Laha to the loss side 7-3, where he ran in to an immediate match against Ringgold. Miller downed Duggan 7-2 and met up with Lim in the hot seat match. Lim won 7-2 and waited on the return of Laha.
On the loss side, Laha drew Ringgold, who’d recently chalked up loss-side wins #5 and #6, defeating Danny Bell 6-3 and Dave Hunt 6-2. Duggan picked up Mac Harrell, who’d just eliminated RJ Carmona 6-3 and Coen Bell 6-2.
Laha ended Ringgold’s run 6-4 and in the quarterfinals, faced Harrell, who’d defeated Duggan 6-1. Laha and Harrell fought back and forth to double hill in those quarterfinals before Laha prevailed 6-5. Laha’s subsequent match, the semifinals against Miller, wasn’t as obviously difficult. Laha defeated Miller 6-1 to earn a rematch against Lim in the finals.
Lim was on the verge of starting 2019 the same way he’d started 2018, as the winner of the APT season opener. He won two on the APT last year, won the NC State 9-Ball Championships in March and was runner-up in the state’s 10-Ball Open. He completed his 2019 season-opening run with a 9-2 victory over Ty Laha in the finals.
Eight players signed on to a second chance event. It was won by Derek Davis, who the APT’s 2018 Player Champion Steve Fleming in the finals.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator, Tiger, Kamui Tips, Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the 2019 Action Pool Tour, scheduled for February 16-17, will be hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
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.
Malm and Townsend finish 1st & 2nd for third straight time in Women’s event
It’s been a good year for Reymart Lim; his best recorded earnings year since he started showing up on the AZBilliards’ database, four years ago. He began the year in February by finishing fourth in the 2017 VA State 10-Ball Championships, behind Dennis Orcollo, Shaun Wilkie and Larry Kressel. Since that time, he’s cashed in nine other events, including victories on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, and the North Carolina State 10-Ball Open. Only once, all year, has he been outside of an event’s top 10 finishers. The exception was the 42nd Annual US Open 9-Ball Championships, at which he finished in the tie for 25th. There were only seven US players among the Open’s top 25 finishers – Lim, Earl Strickland (also in the tie for 25th), Skyler Woodward, Justin Bergman, Shane Van Boening (all 13th), Billy Thorpe (9th), and Corey Deuel (7th).
Good company, to say the least. On the weekend of December 9-10, Lim added a victory on the Action Pool Tour to his resumé and had to win seven on the loss side to do it. He challenged and defeated hot seat occupant, Eric Moore in the finals. It was the APT’s season finale and it drew 35 entrants to Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. A concurrently-run Women’s event drew a very short field of six entrants and saw Tina Malm and Gwen Townsend finish 1st & 2nd, respectively, for the third straight time on the tour.
In the women’s event, a preliminary, two-match round of play advanced Malm and Meredith Lynch to the winners’ side semifinals. Malm had defeated Soo Emmett 7-2 to draw Townsend. Lynch had sent Donisha Riddick to the loss side 7-1 and picked up Cheryl Pritchard. Malm and Townsend battled to double hill, before Townsend finished it to advance to the hot seat match. She was joined by Pritchard, who’d defeated Lynch 7-5. Townsend successfully fought a second double hill match and sat in the hot seat, awaiting Malm’s return from a three-match trip on the loss side.
On the loss side, Malm downed Riddick 7-2, advancing to meet Lynch, who’d defeated Emmett 7-1. Malm and Lynch came within a game of double hill, before Malm advanced to the semifinals 7-5. Malm then downed Pritchard 7-1 for a second shot at Townsend in the hot seat. The race was extended to 9, and Malm needed 16 of the match’s potential 17 games to close it out. She did so, 9-7, to chalk up her third straight victory on the tour (7th overall). It was also Townsend’s third straight finish as runner-up (to go along with a victory in May). The two finished 1st and 2nd in the tour’s rankings for the year.
In the Open event (in which Malm participated, as well, going two-and-out), Lim won his opening-round match against Brad Hedges 9-3, and was then sent to the loss side by Tuan Chau 9-6. Chau advanced to meet Eric Moore, who defeated him, double hill, and then advanced to a winners’ side semifinal against Kenny Miller. JT Ringgold, having defeated Mac Harrell, Michael Hughes, and Greg Sabins, advanced to meet Chris Wilburn, who entered (and finished) the tournament as the tour’s #2-ranked player (Shaun Wilkie, who did not compete, remained in the #1 slot).
Moore downed Miller 9-6, as Ringgold defeated Wilburn 9-3. Moore and Ringgold locked up in a double hill fight for possession of the hot seat and Moore claimed it.
On the loss side, Lim opened his trek back to the finals with victories over Jose Vega-Hernandez (7-1), Joshua Padron (7-2), Greg Sabins (7-2), and Mac Harrell (7-4), to draw Miller. Wilburn picked up the man who’d sent Lim to the loss side, Tuan Chau, who’d recently defeated Michael Hughes 7-2 and Nilbert Lim (no relation, though a friend, to Reymart) 7-4.
Chau defeated Wilburn, as Reymart Lim was busy eliminating Harrell, both 7-4. Lim wreaked his vengeance on Chau 7-2 in the quarterfinals, and went on to down Ringgold 7-5 in the semifinals. Lim took command of the finals, and finished it at 11-5 to claim the event title.
Tour director Ozzy Reynolds thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards for their hospitality and sponsorship, along with Cue Sports International, Predator, Ozone Billiards and George Hammerbach. The event, as the season finale, also ended the mega-battle for tour rankings in the male and Open divisions. Leading the way in the Open Division was Shaun Wilkie, who earned airfare, hotel and entry fee to the 2018 US Open 10-Ball Championships. Chris Wilburn, who finished second, earned hotel and entry fee to the same event.
Tina Malm, who finished at the top of the women’s rankings, received hotel accommodations and entry fee to the 2018 BCAPL World Championships in July. Unless a female finishes at the top of the tour’s Open rankings, Malm became the APT’s last separate female tour champion, because the APT will no longer offer separate tournaments for a female division of the tour.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Association of College Unions International (ACUI) announces its list of contestants invited to the 73rd collegiate pocket billiards national championships, which will take place at Arizona State University’s “Sparky’s Den” on June 28-29, 2013. ACUI is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to enhancing campus life. With 41 men and 23 women registered for 9-ball, 2012 was the largest field in the 75-year history of the ACUI Pocket Billiards program. With the list of 77 men and 38 women below invited for 2013, the path is paved for a new record to be set.
Scholarship money and trophies are awarded to the top 3 men and top 3 women. ACUI additionally awards medals for sportsmanship (by peer vote) and Best Break (by contest).
For additional information about the ACUI 9-ball Championships, visit www.acui.org/billiards or the Facebook groups “ACUI 9-ball” and “2013 ACUI 9-ball Championships.”
