Larry McGee and Chris Cricket, according to information available to us, went looking for their first regional tour victory at last weekend’s one-day tournament on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (Saturday, Jan. 22). McGee found it and Chris Cricket, who won seven matches on the loss side for the ‘finals’ chance to find it, finished as runner-up. The $500-added event drew 41 entrants to Overtime Billiards in Columbia, SC.
They met twice in this event. The first time was in the third round of play, when they battled to double hill before McGee prevailed, eventually advancing to a winners’ side semifinal against Larry David. Robbie Shelley and Eddie Wahdan faced off in the other one.
McGee downed David 6-1 and was joined in the hot seat match by Shelley, who’d sent Wahdan to the loss side 8-4. David, Wahdan and eventually, McGee would all face Cricket before it was over. McGee claimed the hot seat, double hill, over Shelley and waited for Cricket to complete his loss-side run.
Cricket was four matches into that run when he drew David in the first money round. Cricket had most recently eliminated Chris McCutcheon, double hill, and Anthony Rock 7-3. Wahdan picked up Marty Free, who’d defeated Joe Kelly 8-1 and Benny Walters 8-4 to reach him.
Wahdan and Free battled to double hill before Whadan prevailed. Cricket defeated David 7-3 to join Wahdan in the quarterfinals.
Cricket and Wahdan, in a straight-up race to 7 in those quarterfinals, battled to double hill, as well, with Cricket advancing to the semifinals, his seventh loss-side match. He won it over Shelley 7-5 to earn his shot against McGee in the finals. Early on Sunday morning, around 3 a.m., according to tour director Herman Parker, McGee completed the undefeated run to his first regional tour victory with a 6-3 win over Cricket in those finals.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Overtime Billiards, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, and Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Jan. 29-30), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Sonny’s Billiards in Princeton, WV.
Josh Roberts was among a fairly sizeable contingent of pool players who managed to stay active during the forced 2020 break, initiated by the pandemic. He cashed in 13 events last year, including an undefeated victory on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, in the 1st Annual Carolina Cup in October. He finished as runner-up at another stop on the Q City tour and the 2020 Scotty Townsend Memorial, and made appearances, as well, at the Music City Classic, Derby City, the 10th Texas Open 10-Ball Championship and the 47th Texas Open 9-Ball Championship.
He’s cashed in four events so far in 2021 (two of them, One Pocket tournaments) and has been in good company. He finished fourth behind Fedor Gorst, Jesus Atencio and Jeffrey De Luna at the Rack ‘N Grill 9-Ball Shootout in Augusta, GA in February, and fourth behind Dennis Orcollo, Warren Kiamco and Scott Frost at the Iron City Open’s One Pocket Division in Birmingham, AL a month later. The latest entry on his AZBilliards’ resume, which dates back to 2007, came this past weekend (May 15-16) when he joined 31 competitors who signed on for the Q City 9-Ball’s $3,000-added Stroker’s Classic at Stroker’s Billiards in Sumter, SC. Roberts went undefeated through the Open field to claim his first 2021 title.
Roberts would face separate challenges in the hot seat and finals of this Stroker’s Classic; Robbie Shelley in the former and Wendell Thompkins in the latter. Thompkins, sent to the loss side by Shelley in the second round, would win six on the loss side to earn a rematch against Shelley in the semifinals and then, challenge Roberts in the finals.
After sending Thompkins to the loss side, Shelley advanced to face Allen Mixon in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Josh Roberts met up with Josh Heeter in the other one. Shelley downed Mixon 11-8, as Roberts advanced to join him in the hot seat match, with an 11-6 win over Heeter. Roberts claimed the hot seat 11-9.
On the loss side, Thompkins was four matches into his loss-side winning streak, when he picked up Mixon. Thompkins had most recently chalked up wins #3 & #4 against Russell Scott 9-5 and junior competitor Landon Hollingsworth 9-4. Heeter drew Eddie Wahdan, who’d eliminated Shane Wilson 9-6 and PJ Stabler 9-4 to reach him.
Thompkins and Wahdan handed Mixon and Heeter their second straight loss; Thompkins, 9-6 over Mixon and Wahdan, 9-3 over Heeter. Loss-side opponents were starting to gain a little on Thompkins, though not quite enough. Wahdan continued the trend into the quarterfinals, chalking up seven against him, before Thompkins won his 6th loss-side match.
Shelley, in the semifinals rematch that followed, fought him to double hill before Thompkins prevailed. Roberts, in the true double elimination finals, kept it going, by winning the first and only set 11-6 to claim the event title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Strokers, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., AZBilliards, Federal Savings Bank mortgage division and Diamond Brat. The next stop on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this coming weekend (May 22-23), will be a $500-added event ($1,000, with 64+ entrants), hosted by Payton’s Place in Knoxville, TN.
Larry McGee and Chris Cricket, according to information available to us, went looking for their first regional tour victory at last weekend’s one-day tournament on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (Saturday, Jan. 22). McGee found it and Chris Cricket, who won seven matches on the loss side for the ‘finals’ chance to find it, finished as runner-up. The $500-added event drew 41 entrants to Overtime Billiards in Columbia, SC.