It would appear that Fargo Rates of 599 and lower, combined with the game of 8-ball, are a kind of ‘sweet spot’ for attracting competitors to a pool tournament. Those were the parameters of this past weekend’s (Feb. 18-19) MD State 8-Ball Championships, held under the auspices of On the Hill Productions, and a full field of 96 of them showed up.
Charlie Randall went undefeated through the field to win it. Chenxu “Frank” Wei, who lost his first match and won nine on the loss side to face Randall in the finals, battled to double hill in those finals before Randall claimed the title. Seth Harris went undefeated to the hot seat match and lost to Wei in the semifinals. Fairly impressive for a trio of competitors looking for their first regional tour title. The event drew its 96 entrants to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD.
Harris, though he had to battle to double hill twice on his way to the hot seat match, ended up with a better game-winning percentage when he got there than Randall did. Harris won twice as many games as he lost; 36-18, 66%. The two back-to-back double hill matches (versus Brad Kresge and Bill Bickford) were sandwiched between two matches in which Harris gave up only a single rack (to Robert Hess and William Bracey), his opening match in which he gave up two (to Kevin Ransel) and a winners’ side semifinal in which he gave up four racks to Alex Parker.
Randall, awarded a bye, played one less match and through his first four, had decided on a score of 6-4 to advance. He downed Rob Pistorio, Jeff Spelman, Edward Mejia and Kane Miller by that score and then, in the other winners’ side semifinal, ran into Moe Mozzannar, who battled him to double hill, before Randall prevailed. He arrived at the hot seat match with an aggregate score of 30-21 (58%). He only gave up two racks to Harris and claimed the hot seat.
On the loss side, “Frank” Wei was working on his nine-match, loss-side winning streak that could have been an 11-match streak had Raymond Walters and Andres Ruiz not forfeited out of Wei’s first and third loss-side match. Four of the eight that Wei did play went double hill, including the last two that put him in the finals. He’d recently eliminated Vince Biondo 6-1 and Bill Bickford 6-3 to draw Parker. Moe Mozzannar picked up Danny Hauser, who’d defeated Joseph Sennett 6-2 and Edward Mejia, double hill, to reach him.
Wei downed Parker and Hauser defeated Mozzannar, both 6-2. Wei went on a back-to-back double-hill run, defeating Hauser in the quarterfinals and Harris in the semifinals. He locked up in his third straight double hill battle in the finals against Randall, but Randall had the last word, dropping the final 8-ball and claiming the event title.
On the Hill Productions (Loye Bolyard) thanked the ownership and staff at Brews & Cues On the Boulevard for their hospitality, along with sponsors Alley Kat Cue Sports, AZBilliards.com, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth, TAP Chesapeake Bay Region, Safe Harbor Retirement Planners, along with Bull Carbon, Gina Cunningham, Keller Williams, Integrity and DigitalPool.com.
On The Hill Productions will return to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard on the weekend of March 11-12 for the MD State Women’s 8-Ball Championships.
Since it opened its 2018 season at Q Master Billiards in January, the Action Pool Tour has had six different players win its nine tour stops (Reymart Lim, Roberto Gomez, Johnny Archer, Zoren James Aranas, Ruslan Chinakhov, and Shaun Wilkie). It’s had nine different runner-ups, which is a list as impressive as the winners; Scott Roberts, Karen Corr, Chris Bruner, Ronnie Alcano, Dennis Orcollo, Scott Haas, Warren Kiamco, RJ Carmona and Chris Wilburn. On the weekend of September 8-9, Wilkie picked up his third win on the current tour, going undefeated to maintain the ‘different winner’ count at six, while Wilburn added to the ‘different runner-up’ count by finishing second. The 10-ball event drew 31 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
Wilkie had to get by Wilburn twice to complete his undefeated run. They met first in the hot seat match. Wilkie had chalked up an aggregate score of 21-6, while defeating his first opponent, Daniel Kerns 7-1, downing the tour’s #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming (7-5) and shutting out its #2-ranked player Jason Trigo. This set Wilkie up to face Tuan Chau, who came into the event as the tour’s #24 player, in a winners’ side semifinal. Wilburn, in the meantime, got by Cameron Lawhorne 7-3, Daniel Morrow 7-2 and Jimmy Coleman 7-3 to meet Will Moon in the other winners’ side semifinal.
By identical 7-2 scores, Wilkie and Wilburn advanced to the hot seat match over Chau and Moon. Wilkie dominated the hot seat battle, winning it 7-1 to wait on Wilburn’s return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Chau picked up Jimmy Coleman, who, following his defeat at the hands of Wilburn, had eliminated Kevin Irons 6-4, and survived a double hill fight against Paul Helms. Moon drew Thomas Haas, who’d been defeated in the event’s opening round by Fleming, and was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the semifinals. He’d most recently defeated Trigo 6-3 and his own father, Scott Haas 6-2.
Coleman advanced to the quarterfinal match with a 6-2 win over Chau. He was joined by Thomas Haas, who eliminated Moon 6-4.
Haas took one more step, downing Coleman in those quarterfinals 6-4, before having his loss-side streak ended by Wilburn 6-3 in the semifinals. Wilburn’s single-game, loss-side streak came to an end in the finals, when Wilkie defeated him 9-3 to capture his third APT title.
A 13-entrant Second Chance tournament saw Scott Haas lose the hot seat match to Orlin Brizuela and then return from a semifinal, double hill win over Chris Hansen to defeat Brizuela 6-3 in the finals.
Tour director Raymond Walters thanked the ownership and staff at Breakers Sky Lounge, as well as sponsors Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Tiger Products, Diamond Billiard Products, Inc., Ozone Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 13-14 will be a Bar Box Bash, hosted by Peninsula Billiards in Newport News, VA.
A tremendous amount of gratitude goes out to all involved in last weekends Barry Behrman memorial spring open 9-Ball Tournament. Thank you for the support, involvement and thanks to our sponsors, Samsara Cues and BilliardCue.com.
We are committed to growing the sport and again, thank you all for the support and for elevating the game, your game. Congratulations to Brandon Shuff for winning the Inaugural event. Dates for next years memorial event are April 21-22 and it will be bigger and better!
Also, special thanks to Raymond Walters for directing a flawless event and to 757 Pool Tour for streaming the event which put this event and players in front of 45,000 views and still rising.
We have an ask of you. An easy ask of you. We are working hard to elevate pool, promote pool as a lifelong game and we need your help, the sport needs your help. Introduce the game to your kids, your friends, your family, your church, your neighbors and those you can. The sport will grow and you are in the drivers seat. Will you take the wheel? Can the sport count on you to help? It takes us all to make it bigger and better. Start the movement.
We have large events planned every month at Q-Master with multiple tours and The U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships is October 22-28, 2017 at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk Va. look at our "events" tab for all the events happening in largest and best billiard room in the country. We hope for your support of upcoming events. Take the wheel!
Brandon Shuff won four of the Action Pool Tour's 10 stops in 2015, including the season finale on the weekend of December 12-13, in which he spent most of his time on the loss side of the bracket. His four victories secured his spot at the top of the APT rankings, earning him the 2015 APT Champion title, which awards him airfare to the 2016 US Bar Table Championships, free entry into all three divisions, and a free hotel room at the host venue (still to be determined).
Finishing second in the tour rankings, and not surprisingly, second in the tour finale was Shaun Wilkie, who competed in all 10 of the tour's events, won the first two, in January and February, and chalked up three second-place finishes. Finishing third in the tour rankings and first in 'participation points' on the tour, was Steve Fleming, who, like Wilkie competed in all 10 of the tour's events,, finishing as runner-up to Wilkie in the season opener, and adding two fifth and ninth place finishes, as well. Participation points are awarded based on actual participation in both main event and second chance tournaments, as well as referring new players to the tour. Fleming's Participation Points award affords him free entry to Action Pool Tour events for life.
The season finale drew 21 entrants to Clubhouse Billiards in Lynchburg, VA, and saw Shuff and Wilkie meet twice; once early and once, as late as it can get. Shuff picked up a bye in the opening round, as Wilkie was busy defeating Daniel Adams 9-4, in his first match. They met in the second round, and battled to double hill before Wilkie prevailed, and Shuff moved to the loss side.
Wilkie advanced though Shorty K, 9-4, and faced Darren Musser in a winners' side semifinal. Jonathan Ailstock, in the meantime, got by Raymond Walters 9-7, Josh Fleming 9-1, and Andy Good 9-6 to draw Shannon Fitch in the other winners' side semifinal. Wilkie downed Musser 9-3, as Ailstock got by Fitch 9-4. Wilkie claimed the hot seat 9-6 over Ailstock and waited for Shuff to complete his five-match, loss-side winning streak.
That streak began (after a bye) with a shutout over Alex Espinal, followed by victories over Andy Good 7-2, and Scott Roberts 7-5, which set Shuff up to face Musser. Fitch drew Steve Fleming, who was on his own five-match, loss-side winning streak, which included victories over Charlie Clark 7-2 and Shorty K 7-1, to draw Fitch.
Shuff and Fitch downed Musser and Fleming, both 7-3. Shuff then defeated Fitch in the quarterfinals, also 7-3, and then spoiled Ailstock's bid for a second shot at Wilkie with a 7-4 win in the semifinals.
Vengeance, they say, is a dish best served cold. Shuff and Wilkie locked up, for the second time, in a double hill match, but Shuff closed it out at 11-10 to claim the event and tour championship title.
In the absence of Shaun Wilkie, Brian Deska took command of the Action Pool Tour rankings with a third straight win on the tour. He became the first in the tour's history to accomplish the feat, during the 6th stop on the tour; June 7-8, in a field of 54, hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA.
Though he would go undefeated, Deska did not go unchallenged. He gave up an average of five racks per match; 30 over six matches and 48 games, prior to the finals. Kim Whitman challenged him with six in the opening round and Tuan Chau battled him to double hill in a winners' side semifinal. In the hot seat match, challenged by Troy Miller, who'd defeated Paul Oh 8-6, Deska gave up his match average, but there he sat, in the hot seat, on the brink of three straight.
Tuan Chau moved over and picked up Alan Duty, who'd gotten by Rocky Guell 7-4 and Jimmy Endara 7-5, to reach him. Oh drew Pooky Rasmeloungon, who'd shut out Jeremy Perkins and defeated Rich Glasscock 7-3. Chau defeated Duty 7-4, as Rasmeloungon eliminated Oh 7-3. Chau survived a double hill quarterfinal against Rasmeloungon, and then had his four-match, loss-side winning streak ended by Miller, 7-5, in the semifinals.
Deska brought his 61% winning average into the finals and completed his undefeated run by winning 71% (10) of the final 14 games. Runner-up Troy Miller, from Virginia Beach, finished with an overall winning average of 56% percent, winning 48 of the 86 games he played.
Shaun Wilkie (former #1), Larry Kressel (#9) and Raymond Walters (#10) were not on-hand for this event, while Alan Duty (#5) and Paul Oh (#7) finished in the tie for 5th place. Rick Glasscock (#8) finished in the tie for 7th place. Dan Madden (#3) and Steve Fleming (#4) finished out of the money, among the four tied for 13th place, while Pat Carosi (#6) also finished out of the money in the tie for 33rd place.
Stop #7 on the Action Pool Tour will again be hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA. The 10-ball event is scheduled for September 6-7.
Shaun Wilkie picked up his second straight 2014 win on the Action Pool Tour, with a come-from-the-loss side performance on the weekend of March 8-9. Sent to the losers' bracket in the second round of play by Mike Hagood, Wilkie won seven on the loss side and came back to defeat Hagood in the finals. The Bar Box Bash at Clubhouse Billiards in Lynchburg, VA drew 32 entrants.
With Wilkie out of the way, at least temporarily, Hagood moved on to survive a double hill match versus Doug Carter, and then, in a winners' side semifinal, shut out James Bilderback. In the hot seat match, Hagood faced Jeremy Perkins, who'd just sent Steve Fleming west 6-4. Hagood and Perkins battled to double hill, before Hagood prevailed to sit in the hot seat, waiting on the fateful return of Wilkie.
Through seven, race-to-5 matches and 43 games on the loss side, Wilkie gave up a total of only eight racks. He gave up one each to his first and second loss-side opponents (Neel Samanta and Jason Trigo) before allowing Collin Hall to chalk up three against him. He then shut out two in a row; Jason Clay and then, coming over from the winners' side semifinal, James Bilderback.
Steve Fleming, in the meantime, drew Matthew Siple, who'd gotten by Doug Carter 5-2 and Raymond Walters 5-4. Like Wilkie had done with Bilderback, Fleming shut out Siple. Wilkie then eliminated Fleming 5-2 in the quarterfinals, and gave up only one rack defeating Perkins in the semifinals. Wilkie had earned his re-match against Hagood in the finals.
When they'd met in the second round, Hagood had prevailed 6-4, thus chalking up more racks against Wilkie than any other single opponent all weekend and more than Wilkie's first five loss-side opponents combined. He wasn't as fortunate the second time around. Wilkie came out fast in the finals, chalking up the last of six matches in which he'd given up a rack or less, and claiming the event title 8-1.
