Though warm weather and a host of competing events diminished the numbers, the North Carolina State 9-Ball Championships were held at Brass Tap and Billiards in Raleigh, NC, on the weekend of February 18-19. Held under the auspices of the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, the $400-added event saw 32 entrants compete, and for the second year in a row, saw Mike Davis, Jr. go undefeated to claim the title.
In 2016, Davis faced separate opponents in the hot seat match and finals; Daniel Gambill and Stevie Moore, respectively. This year, he faced the same opponent, Jeff Abernathy, twice. Abernathy made it to the quarterfinals in 2016, before being defeated by Moore. This year, Abernathy found himself in a winners' side semifinal match against Corey Sykes, as Davis was squaring off against Delton Howard. Abernathy put up a double hill fight, but it was Sykes who advanced to the hot seat match against Davis, who'd sent Delton Howard to what proved to be a single, loss-side trip 9-4. Davis claimed the hot seat 9-5 and waited for Abernathy to get back.
Martin shut Kenny Miller out and advanced to the quarterfinals. Griffin was battling against Abernathy and came within a rack of forcing a single deciding game, but Abernathy pulled ahead late to win it 7-5. Abernathy then gave up only a single rack to Martin in those quarterfinals, and then eliminated Sykes 7-4 in the semifinals.
In somewhat predictable fashion, Davis and Abernathy went at each other tooth and nail to claim the NC State title. they battled to double hill before Davis closed it out to claim the NC State 9-Ball Championship title.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at Brass Tap, as well as title sponsor Viking Cues, Delta 13 Racks, AZBilliards and Professor Q Ball. The next stop on the Viking Cues' Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (February 25-26), will be hosted by Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN.
In one of the most star-studded events of the year, "Rocket" Rodney Morris came from the loss side to meet and defeat Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan in the finals of the 1st Don Coates Memorial, held on the weekend of April 8-10 in Raleigh, NC. Held in conjunction with a $2,000-added One Pocket event, which finished up on Friday, April 8 (see separate story), the Mosconi Cup-qualifying, $8,000-added 9-Ball event drew 128 of the country's top competitors to Brass Tap Billiards in Raleigh.
By the time Morris and Pagulayan met in the finals, somewhere in the vicinity of 4 a.m, on Monday, April 11, a lot of names that one might have considered to be favorites in the field had already been eliminated, including three former US Open 9-Ball Champions. Gone were Shane Van Boening, Johnny Archer, Stevie Moore, and Mike Delawder, all finishing in the tie for the 17th place. Joining them were Taylor Anderson, Brad Shearer, Keith Bennett, and cue-maker Daniel Heidrich. The tie for 13th place was shared by Tommy Kennedy, Josh Roberts, Jason Brown and Shannon Fitch. Another measure of the event's field strength could be found in the players who failed to 'cash' in the event, including, though not necessarily limited to, Jeremy Sossei, Brandon Shuff, Shaun Wilkie, Hunter Lombardo, Tony Chohan and Robb Saez.
Meanwhile, Pagulayan advanced to a winners' side semifinal against Mike Dechaine. In the other winners' side semifinal, Shane McMinn faced Justin Bergman, who had just sent Morris on his loss-side journey. Pagulayan sent Dechaine over 9-3, while McMinn was busy sending Bergman to the left bracket 9-4, no doubt prompting fans of players in the Midwest to cheer for one of their own. Pagulayan silenced that crowd with a 9-3 victory over McMinn that left Pagulayan in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Dechaine picked up Morris, two matches into his loss-side journey, that saw him defeat Jason Klatt 9-6 and Mike Davis 9-5. Bergman drew Corey Deuel, who'd sent Norris Brady (9-5) and John Morra (9-4) home. It could be argued that any of the matches played at this juncture and beyond featured potential finalists in the event. As it turned out, Morris downed Dechaine 9-6 to earn a quarterfinal matchup versus Deuel, who'd eliminated Bergman 9-3.
Morris downed Deuel 9-5 in those quarterfinals and finished up his loss-side campaign with a commanding 9-2 win over McMinn in the semifinals. The race-to-13 final match was a predictable close battle that came within a game of double hill. Morris closed it out at 13-11 to claim the Don Coates Memorial title.
The event's tour director, David Brown, thanked Brass Tap and Billiards' owner, Tony Coates (son to Don Coates, who passed away last fall and in whose name the event was held). Brown also acknowledged sponsor Beasley Custom Cues, Ray Hansen's PoolActionTV crew for their live-streaming efforts, and Joe Blackburn, for his on-site cue repair work.
As with the previous report on the One Pocket event, this report was compiled thanks to the assistance of Herman Parker, tour director of the Q City 9-Ball Tour, and his wife, Angela, both of whom competed in the event; Angela was the One Pocket tournament's only female.
Mike Davis is the current North Carolina State 10-Ball and 8-Ball Open Champion. He chalked up the 10-Ball title last July and the 8-Ball title this past November. On the weekend of February 13-14, he added the North Carolina State Open 9-Ball title to his resume. Davis went undefeated through a field of 52, on-hand for the $750-added event, held under the auspices of the Q City 9-Ball Tour, and hosted by Brass Tap & Billiards in Raleigh, NC.
There was a chance, going into the final rounds, that the opponents from last July's 10-Ball finals (Davis and Steve Page) would face each other again in this 9-Ball event. As they moved into the winners' side semifinals, though, Davis and Page were matched up against each other, preventing a repeat of last July's hot seat match, which went double hill with Davis prevailing. Davis sent Page to the loss side in this one 9-4, and in the hot seat match, faced Daniel Gambill, who'd just sent Randy Hatten over 9-2. Davis gave up only a single rack to Gambill and claimed the hot seat for the second year in a row.
On the loss side, Page, anxious for a rematch against Davis with three matches between him and that possibility, had the misfortune of running immediately into Stevie Moore. Moore, who'd lost his opening match to Mackey Lowery and was in the midst of a 10-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the finals, had defeated Josh Padron 9-5 and long-time adversary Keith Bennett 9-2 to reach Page. Hatten drew Jeff Abernathy, who'd gotten by A.J. Hertzog 9-5 and just did survive a double hill battle against Justin Martin.
Moore and Abernathy advanced to the quarterfinals; Moore 9-7 over Page and Abernathy 9-5 over Hatten. Moore then chalked up his 9th and 10th straight with 9-5 wins over Abernathy in those quarterfinals and Gambill in the semifinals. Davis completed his undefeated run at the NC State Open 9-Ball event with an 11-7 victory over Moore in the finals.
Having won the North Carolina State 10-Ball Championship back in July, Mike Davis returned to the Tar Heel State and chalked up an undefeated run to claim the NC State 8-Ball Championship on the weekend of November 7-8. The $1,000-added event drew 46 entrants to Chandley's Chalk and Cue, in Statesville, NC.
Davis was joined by a few familiar foes, a couple of whom – Stevie Moore and Justin Hall – he faced among the winners' side final four. As Davis was busy defeating Stevie Moore 9-4, Justin Hall was caught up in a double hill battle that he eventually won against Shannon Fitch. In the hot seat match that followed, Hall took an early and commanding lead that put him on the hill, ahead by six, at 8-2. Davis came back to claim the hot seat, where he waited for Hall's return.
On the loss side, Moore picked up Jundel Mazon, who'd been sent to the loss side by Hall in a winners' side final eight battle, and then defeated Jason "Jaybird" Brown, double hill, and Scott Lewis 9-4 (races shifted to 9 in the first, loss-side money rounds). Fitch drew Clint Clark, who'd defeated Andy Twichen 7-2 and survived a double hill battle against Dan Heidrich.
Clark and Mazon advanced to the quarterfinals; Clark with a 9-7 win over Fitch, and Mazon, eliminating Moore 9-3. Mazon downed Clark 9-7, before having his four-match, loss-side streak ended by Hall 9-6, in the semifinals. Davis completed his undefeated run with an 11-6 second victory over Hall in the finals.
Powerful matches lie ahead. Jayson Shaw will take on Carlo Biado, Oliver Ortmann faces Albin Ouschan, Warren Kiamco will stare across the table at Ralf Souquet, and Rodney Morris will do battle with Ruslan Chinakov.
For the rest of the week the matches will just get tougher and tougher. Which means it is a good time to slide over to Accu-Stats.com and purchase the remaining pay-per-view. The sound problems noticed earlier in the week have been solved and the broadcast is now pristine with nothing but world-class matches in every round.
A number of competitors currently at work looking to capture the US Open 9-Ball Championship warmed up from October 22-25, about two hours north, at the $20,000-added, 11th Annual American 14:1 Straight Pool Championships. The event's last two champions – Darren Appleton (2014) and Thorsten Hohmann (2013) – were among them, and no one was surprised when they turned out to be the 2015 finalists. Appleton completed an undefeated run through the field of 40, with a victory over Hohmann in those finals, to successfully defend the title that he'd claimed last year. Also competing in this event, and presently, at the US Open, were (among others) former 14:1 champions Johnny Archer (2011) and Mika Immonen (2007).
Hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, and sponsored by Diamond Billiards and Simonis Cloth, the event featured eight 'flights' of round robin play; five players per 'flight.' Eight winners emerged from the initial round robin battles, while 16 players in either second or third place were seeded in an elimination round.
Going undefeated in their round robin play were Appleton, Thorsten Hohmann, Mika Immonen, and Nick Van Den Berg. Joining them among the eight round robin winners were Dennis Orcollo, Ralph Eckert, Johnny Archer and Jason Klatt.
With victories in races to 125 by Appleton (over Hunter, 51), Orcollo (over Davis, 62), Immonen (over Peach, 96), Aarts (over Eckert, 78), Kiamco (over Van Den Berg, 71), Clark (over Archer, 76), Hohmann (over Morris, 66), and Barouty (over Klatt, 88), the field was down to eight. It went down to four following Appleton's 150-100 victory over Orcollo, Immonen's defeat of Aarts 150-89, Kiamco's win over Clark 150-26, and Hohmann's elimination of Barouty 150-58
Three of the four left were former champions of the event. Appleton defeated the Iceman 150-113, as Hohmann eliminated the only player who wasn't a former champion, Warren Kiamco, 150-65. In the finals, Hohmann was ahead when the scores were still in double digits, 94-83. Appleton, though, gobbled up that 11-point differential, and went on to win it 150-94.
Hopkins wins Women's Open 9-Ball, Brown takes One-Pocket Title
Dennis Orcollo went undefeated through a field of 64 entrants, on-hand for the 23rd Annual Super Billiards Expo's $9,000-added Open 10-Ball Professional Players Championship, held on the weekend of April 16-19 at the Greater Philadelphia Center in Oaks, PA. Over the past three years, Shane Van Boening had defeated Stevie Moore (2012), Thorsten Hohmann (2013) and Tommy Kennedy (2014) in the finals of this event. This year, however, Orcollo defeated him in the hot seat match, and Jayson Shaw foiled his attempt at a rematch against Orcollo by defeating him in the semifinals.
Orcollo's path to the hot seat went through Patrick Carosi, Danny Olson, Rodney Morris, Johnny Archer, and, in the winners' side semifinal, Hohmann, before he handed Van Boening his first of two straight losses. Van Boening had gone through Francis Crevier, Beppu Kenji, Corey Deuel, Mika Immonen and, in the other winners' side semifinal, Warren Kiamco, before he ran into Orcollo, never to return.
The other two runner-ups from the last three years were on-hand, as well. Tommy Kennedy, last year's runner-up went two and out, falling to Scott Frost in the opening round, and Yu-Huan Kevin Chang in the first loss-side round. Moore, 2012's runner-up, was defeated in the opening round by Kevin Clark, and then, defeated Raj Vannala, Michael Yednak and Dan Cintron, before falling to Corey Deuel in the fourth loss-side round. Hohmann defeated, in order, Tim Murray, Justin Bergman, Mike Dechaine and Darren Appleton to earn himself a winners' side final four matchup against Orcollo. Orcollo sent him west where he picked up his second straight loss versus Mike Dechaine.
Shaw, who faced Orcollo in the finals, defeated Alan Rolon, and Lee Kang on the winners' side before Warren Kiamco sent him to the loss side. Shaw then ran the gauntlet through a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that was arguably as tough as any set of opponents faced by any of the event's competitors. He got by Jeremy Sossei, Hunter Lombardo, Darren Appleton, and Johnny Archer, before successfully navigating his re-match against Kiamco. He then defeated Dechaine and Van Boening to earn his spot in the finals.
The Open 10-Ball Professional Players Championship was the marquee event of four held over the weekend. Dawn Hopkins came from the loss side and defeated Caroline Pao in the finals of the $2,800-added Women's Open 9-Ball Players Championship that drew 28 entrants, and Jason Brown took the $2,200-added One Pocket event that was expanded to include 48 entrants.
The weekend also featured four Amateur events; an Open event, won by Alex Olinger, that drew a record-breaking 960 entrants, a Senior Division (age 50+), won by Dennis Spears, that drew 384, a Super Seniors Division (age 65+), won by Warner Burton, that drew 128, and a Women's Division, won by Brianna Miller, that drew 160.
Further detailed reports on the Super Billiards Expo, to include more complete reports about the Women's, One-Pocket and Amateur events will follow, soon.
Day one is in the books at the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour's Turning Stone Classic XXIII, and we already have two surprising upsets.
All 128 players were in action on Thursday, but it was Erik Hjorleifson and Joey Dupuis who turned in the upsets of the night. Canadian sensation Erik Hjorleifson took command of his match with tournament favorite Mike Dechaine and never looked back, on his way to a 9-5 victory. Hjorleifson will face fellow Canadian John Morra on the winners side today.
Joey Dupuis, whose "fast and loose" style at the table can stymie any opponent, had his way with Stevie Moore in their match late Thursday night. Dupuis controlled the match from the get-go and cruised to a relatively easy 9-3 win. The road doesn't get any easier for Dupuis, as he faces Rodney Morris on Friday.
An early match between Clyda Matta and Mika Immonen looked like it might be heading to an upset, as Matta gave Immonen all that he could handle early on. The players were tied at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Immonen took command and won four straight for the 9-5 win.
Play continues today with seven rounds of play on both the winners and one loss side. Follow the event with our live scoring, real time brackets and streaming coverage here.
