It was, in a way, the final that might have happened at the 2017 VA State 10-Ball Championships in February, had it not been for Dennis Orcollo. At that event, the second stop on the 2017 Action Pool Tour (APT), Orcollo was sent to the loss side by Shaun Wilkie in a winners' side semifinal, and immediately picked up Mike Davis, who was in the middle of a six-match, loss-side winning streak. Orcollo shut Davis out, advanced to the finals and claimed the title with a victory over Wilkie.

 

On the weekend of April 15-16, at the fourth stop on the APT, Wilkie and Davis got the chance they never had to face each other in the earlier tournament. They met twice in this one; once in the hot seat and again, in the finals. Davis took the first one, but Wilkie came back to chalk up a 'deuces wild' victory in the finals. Wilkie claimed his second match against Davis (who was playing in his second APT event of the year), and, following his victory on the tour's second stop, picked up his second APT title of the year. The event drew 70 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA. 

 

In a concurrently-run Ladies event, which drew a short field of 11 entrants, Nicole King and Tina Malm played twice as well, each looking for their second title on the APT Tour. Malm had taken the season opener in February, and King claimed Stop #3 last month. Like Davis in the Open, Malm claimed the hot seat, but like Wilkie, King came back from the semifinals to defeat Malm in the finals and claim the title. It was the second time in a row on this young APT season that Wilkie and King had won the Open and Ladies titles.

 

Wilkie got off to a flying start in the Open. After an opening round bye, he played four matches to get into a winners' side semifinal match against Larry Kressel (runner-up to Chris Byers in the Amateur event of the Super Billiards Expo earlier in the month). He'd given up only five racks total in those opening four matches, which included a shutout over Jenny Acot, a single rack each to Steve Ball and Aldrin Manreal, and three against Greg Sabins in a winners' side quarterfinal. Davis, too, opened with a shutout (over Jon Crider) and gave up only six racks in his four-match run to a winners' side semifinal against Alex Parker. Davis gave up three to Jamey Mellott, two to Justin Powers and (obviously picking up some speed) one to Chris Funk.

 

Wilkie sent Kressel to the loss side 7-3, as Davis was sending Parker over 7-1. In what proved to be their only double hill match, individually or together, Davis claimed the hot seat, and waited for Wilkie to get back.

 

On the loss side, Kressel drew Matt Krah, who, following a defeat at the hands of Parker, downed Jamey Mellott 6-3, and Jimmy Varia 6-4. Parker picked up Brian Dietzenbach, who'd lost to Kressel, and then defeated Tom Zippler 6-3, before surviving a double hill battle versus Greg Sabins. Kressel eliminated Krah 6-2, and in the quarterfinals, met up with Dietzenbach, who'd ended Parker's weekend 6-4.

 

Kressel appeared to be a man on a mission in those quarterfinals, and shut Dietzenbach out for a crack at Shaun Wilkie in the semifinals. It turned out to be something of a 'mission impossible' as Wilkie allowed Dietzenbach only two racks in those semifinals for his own second shot against Davis in the hot seat. Now, it was Wilkie who was on a mission. Mission accomplished with a 9-3 win over Davis in the finals.

 

King wins her second Ladies APT event of the year

 

Nicole King's second straight Ladies APT victory took five matches to claim, two of them in matches against Tina Malm. King opened with a shutout over Giulletta Dahl, and a 5-2 win over Kristin Horgen, before coming up against Judie Wilson in a winners' side semifinal. Malm played only four matches total. An opening round bye was followed by a 5-1 victory over Deeqa Nur, which set Malm up in a winners' side semifinal against Sharita Green.

 

King downed Wilson 5-3, while Malm was chalking up a shutout over Green. Malm claimed the hot seat 5-3.

 

On the loss side, Wilson picked up Nur, who, following her defeat at the hands of Malm, had (after an opening round, loss-side bye) Lai Li 4-1. Green drew Sierra Reams, who'd defeated Tina Scott 4-1 and Melissa Mason, double hill, to reach her.

 

Nur survived a double hill fight against Wilson, and in the quarterfinals met up with Reams, who'd shut out Green. Nur took the quarterfinals 4-2 over Reams, but was shut out by King in the semifinals. King downed Malm 7-2 in the finals, denying Malm her second APT title to claim it for herself. 

While a list of the 'usual suspects' competed for the 9th Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament title on the weekend of October 10-11, the meta-game of tour rankings on the Action Pool Tour continued. Brandon Shuff went undefeated through a field of 52 , on-hand at the First Break Cafe in Sterling, VA to claim the 2015 title,  defeating defending champion Shaun Wilkie on the way. The tour rankings remained the same, with Wilkie on top and Shuff in second place. The Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament was instituted by First Break Cafe in 2006, and since 2011, has been held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour.

 

Following an opening round bye and victories over Steve Ball, Wilkie, and Rick Glasscock, Shuff moved into a winners' side semifinal versus another perennial Action Pool Tour competitor, Brian Deska, currently at #17 on the tour rankings. Dannys Green and Mastermaker competed in the other winners' side semifinal. Shuff and Mastermaker sent Deska and Green to the loss side, both by 8-4 scores, and met in the hot seat match, won by Shuff  8-5.

 

On the loss side, Wilkie loomed; loss-side campaigns not being unheard of in his itinerary. After a double hill win over Paul Oh, a 7-4 victory over Steve Fleming, another double hill win over Rafael Reyes, and another 7-4 win over Joey Mastermaker, Wilkie met up with Deska, coming over from the winners' side semifinal. Green, also coming over, met up with Jimmy Varias, who'd defeated Kenny Miller 7-3 and shut out Glasscock.

 

Green won a double hill battle versus Varias to advance to the quarterfinals. Deska joined him after completing a double hill win over Wilkie. Deska then downed Green 7-2, before being eliminated by Mastermaker in the semifinals 7-3.

 

While Wilkie's finish in the tie for 5th place assured him that his top spot in the rankings would remain, Shuff was looking to edge closer. He did so with a 10-5 victory in the finals over Mastermaker, securing the Bob Stocks Memorial title, and a firm grip on the tour's # 2 position.

 

For the second time in a row, Brandon Shuff met Shaun Wilkie in the finals of an Action Pool Tour event and won. In March, Wilkie was sent to the loss side in the opening round of play and worked his way back through nine matches on the loss side to face Shuff in the finals. Shuff's victory ended a six-event winning streak for Wilkie on the tour (four at the end of last season, two at the beginning of this current tour season). On the weekend of April 4-5, at an event hosted by Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA, which drew 61 entrants, Shuff once again took the undefeated route to the event title. Wilkie took the easier (shorter) undefeated route, as well this time, until the two met in the hot seat match and the finals.

 

Each of their winning percentages went down since the earlier meeting; Shuff winning 67% of his 97 games this time out (down from 72% of games won in March), Wilkie winning (just shy of) 60% of his 114 (down from 70% in March). Wilkie gave up over twice as many racks to opponents per match in this latest event – 2.5 per match to 5.75 – while Shuff's opponents improved from 2.8 racks per match to 4.57. 

 

Shuff's trail went through Pooky Rasmeloungon, R.J. Carmona, Alex Travino, and Dominic Noe, before coming up against Paul Helms in one of the winners' side semifinals. Wilkie got by Troy Miller, Will Moon, Paul Oh and Matt Krah before facing Mike Davis in the other winners' side semifinal. Shuff downed Helms 9-3, while Wilkie made short 9-1 work of Davis. In their first of two, Shuff gained the hot seat over Wilkie 9-7.

 

Helms moved to the loss side and met up with Jimmy Varias, who was in the midst of an eight-match, loss-side winning streak (including a bye) that began when he'd been sent west in the opening round of play. Varias survived a double hill match against Tom Zippler and eliminated Matt Krah 7-3 to pick up Helms. Davis drew Carmona, who'd gotten by Steve Ball 7-5 and Noe 7-4.

 

Helms ended the Varias loss side streak, and Davis knocked Carmona out of action, both 7-4.

Davis then eliminated Helms 7-1 in the quarterfinals and got a second shot at Wilkie. Though he'd do a lot better than the earlier 7-1 match and force a 13th and deciding game, Davis fell a second time to Wilkie. Wilkie then fell a second time to Shuff, who completed his second straight, undefeated weekend on the Action Pool Tour 11-9.

 

Shuff, who missed the first two stops on the tour, has a long way to go to catch Wilkie in his perch at the top of the current APT rankings; a trip made even more difficult by Wilkie's runner up finish in the last two events. The tour's next stop (May 9-10 at Clubhouse Billiards in Lynchburg, VA) will mark the midway point of the 10-event schedule.

The second stop on the 2013-2014 Pure X Cues All American Tour stop – presented by the American CueSports Alliance (ACS) – was hosted at Sandite Billiards in Sand Springs, OK – on Saturday, October 12.  The $500-added 8-ball tourney on 7-foot Valley bar boxes drew 28 players. 

 

The tourney finals featured undefeated Eric Pickar (Claremore, OK) versus once-defeated Steve Page (Cleveland, OK).  Earlier, Pickar dominated Vernon Armstrong 5-0, Bob Rutherford 5-0, Sonny Tiger 5-0 and J.R. Spaulding 5-3 to gain the hot seat. Page outpointed Steve Ballew 5-4, Corry Scoggins 5-0 and Keith Costigan 5-4, before falling short against J.R. Spaulding 4-5 in the A-side semifinals.  Page recovered on the B-side by eliminating Mike List 5-2, Sonny Tiger and J.R. Spaulding in the B-side finals.  In the tourney finals, Eric Pickar continued his domination to put off Steve Page in the first set for the title!

 

By virtue of Eric Pickar also being the highest-finishing ACS member in the event, he qualified for a free 9-Ball singles entry into the 2013 Pure X ACS Nationals at the Tropicana Las Vegas – courtesy of the ACS.  The ACS wishes to thank sponsors Pure X Cues, Championship Billiard Fabric and Nick Varner Signature Cases for their support in donating “Value-In-Kind” product for this and all stops on the Pure X All American Tour. Sponsorship opportunities and tour stop openings are still available for the 2013/2014 All American Tour by contacting the ACS.

 

The Tour moves to Davenport, IA on Saturday, November 2, with a $500 added 8-Ball Tourney at Sharky’s Billiards (contact Terry Stevens at 563-359-7225).  Further information, entry details and schedules for the 2013/2014 Pure X Cues All American Tour are available at www.americancuesports.org.