If it had been a horse race, the trio of Josh Brothers, Shayne Morrow and Russell Redhead would have yielded an outstanding trifecta payout. None favored, really, although Brothers, who won the Dynaspheres Cup 9-Ball Memorial Day Shootout this past weekend (May 28-29), was the third pick among those expressing an opinion. Ahead of him were Shaun Wilkie and Lucas Fracasso-Verner, who finished 24th and 17th, respectively, as Brothers came from the loss side to double dip Morrow, chalking up his first (recorded) event win in almost a decade; since he won a stop on the Mezz Pro Am Tour in February of 2013. The event, held under the auspices of and streamed by Billiard Sports Network (BSN Media), drew 55 entrants to Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD.
“That was the great thing about this tournament,” commented BSN Media owner and event tour director, Jake Lawson. “You had two guys who were not favored on paper (finishing) 2nd and 3rd. And Shayne (Morrow; 3rd) won the hot seat.”
“So, pretty crazy weekend,” he added. “It’s why I love doing this.”
Neither of the two competitors favored in the event faced the winner. Wilkie didn’t make it out of the second winners’ side round or the third loss-side round. Fracasso-Verner won two on the winners’ side but only one on the loss side.
After an opening round bye, Brothers’ path to the hot seat match went through John Moody, Sr., Vietnam’s Tuan Chau (who would later, on the loss side, eliminate Wilkie), and eventual third-place finisher, Russell Redhead, arriving at a winners’ side semifinal against Scott Haas. Morrow, in the meantime, defeated Donald Painter, Justin Mast, Jimmy Varias and Curtis Branker to arrive at his winners’ side versus Jeff Jones, Jr.
Morrow fought a double hill battle before advancing to the hot seat match, as Brothers sent Haas to the loss side 7-2 and joined him. In his second straight double hill battle, Morrow, at 6-6, took a chance on an extraordinary, not to mention low-percentage, three-rail bank shot at the 9-ball that travelled back from what looked to be an impossible angle off the second rail to hit the 3rd rail and travel cross-table to drop into a side pocket. He was in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Jones drew Redhead, who’d followed his loss to Brothers with victories over Fred Crislip, Jr. 6-3 and a double hill win over Thomas Haas. Scott Haas picked up Eric Yoo, who was working on a four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated Tuan Chau (fresh from his elimination of Wilkie) 6-4, John Newton 6-3 and Mike Miller (double hill).
Scott Haas put a stop to Yoo’s loss-side trip 6-4 and in the quarterfinals faced Redhead, who’d knocked Jones out 6-2. Redhead chalked up his last match victory eliminating Haas 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Brothers stopped Redhead’s streak at three in the semifinals to earn himself a rematch against Morrow, waiting for him in the hot seat. Brothers took the opening set of the true double elimination final 7-4. He and Morrow battled back and forth to 5-5 and a single game for all of the proverbial marbles. Brothers won it.
Tour director Jake Lawson thanked the ownership and staff at Bank Shot Bar and Grill, as well as sponsors Dynaspheres, Championship Billiard Fabric, Lucid Ballsports (Predator Arena Light), JB Cases, Gina Cunningham (Keller Williams Integrity), East Coast Prime Meats, Integrity Cues, Break Out Apparel Co., AZBilliards, Premier Billiards, Cue Score, The League Room, American Billiard Covering, B&R Productions (Rich France & Bruce Carder), DFE Billiards Service/XLR. For information on BSN Media productions, including upcoming Dynaspheres Cup 8-Ball, 9-Ball and Juniors 9-Ball competition, visit their Web site at http://www.thebilliardsportsnetwork.com/.
Loye Bolyard, Tuan Chau, Dave Nangle, Jordan Gray and Rick Scarlato, Jr.
It is arguably heartening to know that Pro Football’s“Any Given Sunday” rule is alive and well and living on pool tables from coast to coast. The unwritten rule dictates that on any given Sunday, a football team, no matter what its history or record going into the game, is capable of beating a team with a much better record and greater odds of winning. Translated to the fields of felt-covered slate, it means that in any given tournament, a player with limited history at the tables, with fewer earnings than any number of potential opponents can win a tournament, populated by players with much more robust track records. As in the way that the ‘rule’ is applied to football, it presupposes that the lesser-skilled team/individual player has some decent measure of experience on the playing field and that no one has to explain to a player how the game is played, or in the case of pool, which end of the cue stick to use when attempting to pocket a ball.
The 2021 Maryland State 8-Ball Championships, held this past weekend (July 24-25) drew 42 competitors to Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD. Many of those in attendance were seasoned veterans; known competitors, not only in the mid-Atlantic region, but at nationwide events dating back years. Brandon Shuff and Steve Fleming, for example, who are former Tour Champions of the Action Pool Tour; Fleming in 2018 and runner-up in 2019, Brandon Shuff in 2015. Or Joey Korsiak, who’s been in the AZBilliards database since before the turn of the century. Or Bethany Sykes, who’s won Ladies events on the Action Pool Tour, the National Pool Tour (NAPT) and was the VA Women’s 8-Ball Champion in 2018.
The winner (Jordan Gray) and runner-up (Tuan Chau) in this 2021 Maryland State 8-Ball Championship, combined, have recorded career earnings less than, as an example, Joey Korsiak earned winning this past May’s MD State 9-Ball Championships and this past June’s Dynaspheres Cup 8-Ball Championships. The winner, Jordan Gray, went undefeated through the field and it wasn’t entirely due to the luck of the bracket draws. He defeated the aforementioned Steve Fleming in the third round, and in his winners’ side semifinal, faced and defeated Bryan Jones, who’d sent Joey Korsiak to the loss side in the winners’ side quarterfinals.
It’s an “Any Given Sunday” reminder to veterans and a reminder to up-and-coming challengers, from wherever they may emerge, to “play the table, not the opponent.”
Gray’s path to the winners’ circle went through Randy Davis, Jeremy Mason and Fleming without giving up more than three racks in any of those first three matches, which put him into the winners’ side semifinal against Bryan Jones. In the meantime, Dylan Spohr, got by Randy Clepper, Leroy Taylor and the eventual runner-up, Tuan Chau, to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal matchup versus Brandon Shuff.
Spohr dispatched Shuff to the loss side 6-1. Gray joined him after surviving a double hill match against Jones. Gray survived a second straight double hill match in his battle for the hot seat and sat in it, waiting for Chau to complete his five-match, loss-side winning streak.
It was Jones who moved over and picked up Chau, who’d followed his shutout defeat at the hands of Spohr with loss-side victories over Joonick Jun 6-3 and Russell Obaker 6-2. Shuff drew Korsiak, who, after his defeat at the hands of Bryan Jones, had eliminated Clint Clayton 6-4 and just did survive a double hill battle against Steve Fleming.
In one of the more ‘classic’ matchups of the event, Shuff defeated Korsiak 6-4. Chau, in the meantime, had eliminated Jones by the same score to face Shuff in the quarterfinals.
Chau won two straight double hill matches to earn his spot in the finals. He downed Shuff in the quarterfinals and Spohr in the semifinals. Chau chalked up a third double hill win in the opening set of the finals. Gray, though, won the second set 6-4 to become the 2021 Maryland State 8-Ball Champion.
On the Hill Productions’ Loye Bolyard and Rick Scarlato, Jr. thanked the ownership and staff at Championship Billiards for their hospitality, as well as their “generous tournament and streaming sponsors” AZBilliards, Aramith Balls, Mezz Cues, Turtle Racks, Simonis Cloth, TAP Chesapeake Bay Region, Safe Harbor Investments, Poison Cues, Gina Cunningham of Keller Williams Integrity. They also gave a shout out to Josh Parks, for his photography work at the events.
Next up will be the MD State 10-Ball Championships, scheduled for August 28-29. For further information, follow On the Hill Productions on Facebook.
Though he’s in the midst of a fairly good year at the tables – runner-up in Maryland’s 9-Ball Bar Table and State 9-Ball Tournaments, 3rd in that state’s 8-Ball Championships and cash payouts in six other events, including Turning Stone XXXII (9th), the SBE Pro Players Championship (13th) and the US Open 9-Ball Championship (49th) – Shaun Wilkie had yet to record a 2019 win. Until this past weekend, when he went undefeated on the Action Pool Tour; according to our records, his first win on the tour in just over a year. Wilkie came back from a hot seat loss to RJ Carmona to meet and defeat him in the finals. The 10-ball event drew 44 entrants to Breakers Sky Lounge in Herndon, VA on the weekend of September 14-15.
It was Wilkie’s third appearance on APT’s 2019 tour; he finished third at a stop in August and just out of the money at a stop in June. On this weekend, he got by Jim Davis 7-2, shut out Carlton Pelzer, downed Scott Roberts 7-4 and defeated the tour’s #2-ranked competitor, Steve Fleming 7-1 to draw Scott Haas in one of the winners’ side semifinals. RJ Carmona, in the meantime, whose runner-up finish would propel him into third place among the tour’s players, defeated Reymart Lim 7-4, Alex Parker 7-2, Tuan Chau 7-1 and Dave Hunt 7-5 to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal match against Kenny Miller.
Carmona defeated Miller 7-2, while Wilkie was moving into the hot seat match with a shutout over Scott Haas. Carmona claimed the hot seat 7-4 over Wilkie and waited on his return.
Miller moved to the loss side and picked up Larry Kressel, who’d been defeated by Dave Hunt in the second round and was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that had included recent wins over the tour’s #1 and #5 competitors, Chris Bruner and Reymart Lim, both 6-3. Haas drew Nilbert Lim, in the midst of a five-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end.
Haas ended Lim’s streak 6-3, as Kressel extended his with a 6-2 win over Miller. In the quarterfinals that followed, Haas downed Kressel 6-2 for a second shot against Wilkie. It proved to be Kressel’s best finish on the 2019 APT. Wilkie ended Haas’ short loss-side trip 6-2 in the semifinals.
Wilkie completed his first 2019 win on the tour with a 9-7 victory over Carmona in the finals. The victory moved Wilkie up on the APT rankings ladder from outside the top 25 to #14. It elevated Carmona from just outside the top 10 to #3.
A Second Chance event drew 10 players and saw Steve Fleming down Greg Sabins twice 5-4, 6-2 (hot seat and finals) to claim the $100 first-place prize.
Tour directors Kris Wylie and Tiger Baker thanked the ownership and staff at Breakers Sky Lounge for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, 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 Action Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of October 12-13, will be the VA State 8-Ball Championships. A Double Point event, it will be hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
As he did last year, the Philippines’ Zoren “James” Aranas took advantage of some geography to compete in a pair of events that he’s won over the past couple of weeks. Last year, he followed up on his victory at the Super Billiards Expo’s ProAm Bar Box Championships to compete and win the 2nd Annual Barry Behrman Memorial, downing its inaugural champion Brandon Shuff twice. This year, Aranas won the Super Billiards Expos’ Diamond Open 10-Ball Pro Players’ Championship on the last weekend in March, and this past weekend (April 6-7), went undefeated to defend his Barry Behrman Memorial title, downing separate opponents in the hot seat and finals. Already over halfway to earning what he made in 2018, his best earnings year to date, he’s on track to make 2019 another good year.
Aranas’ opponent in the finals, Reymart Lim, stepped to the tables at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA for the $1,500-added 3rd Annual Barry Behrman Memorial having already won two of the three events on the 2019 Action Pool Tour (APT). Lim lost his opening match (to Shaun Wilkie 9-7) in a preliminary round, designed to put 32 of the 37 registered players into a double elimination bracket. He then won nine on the loss side to meet Aranas in the finals. He didn’t get to meet Wilkie a second time, because as he was facing Tuan Chau in the first money round (9th/12th), the Behrman Memorial’s inaugural champion, Brandon Shuff, was busy meeting and defeating Wilkie 9-7.
Aranas’ path went through Liz Taylor 9-3, Shuff 9-6 and Chris Futrell 9-3 to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against RJ Carmona. His future hot seat opponent, JT Ringgold, winner of the APT’s Season Finale, got by Gage Turner 9-4, Bruce Reed 9-3 and Wilkie 9-4 to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal matchup against Nilbert Lim (no relation, but a close friend of Reymart Lim).
Aranas downed Carmona 9-2, while Ringgold and Lim locked up in a double hill fight that eventually allowed Ringgold to join Aranas for the hot seat match. Aranas claimed the hot seat 9-3 over Ringgold and waited on what turned out to be the return of Reymart Lim.
Meanwhile, over on the loss side, Reymart Lim was hard at work, advancing to a meetup with Nilbert Lim. Reymart opened his loss-side campaign with a 9-3 win over Rob Wilkins and followed it with victories over Paul Swinson 9-4, Gary Ornoff 9-6, Dave White, 9-1, Tuan Chau 9-3 and Chris Futrell 9-5 to draw Nilbert Lim. Carmona, in the meantime, picked up Brandon Shuff, who, following his defeat at the hands of Aranas, had shut out Mark Lacson and eliminated Alvin Thomas 9-2, Wilkie 9-7 and Greg Sabins 9-3.
Shuff and Reymart Lim advanced to the quarterfinals; Shuff 9-7 over Carmona and Reymart Lim 9-3 over Nilbert Lim. Reymart ended Shuff’s loss-side winning streak at five with a 9-7 victory in the quarterfinals and then ended JT Ringgold’s bid for a second shot at Aranas with a 9-2 win in the semifinals.
As it turned out, Reymart Lim got as close (in game count) to defeating Aranas as any of his previous opponents. Lim and Brandon Shuff both got as close as three games. Aranas completed his undefeated run 11-8 against Lim to capture his second straight Barry Behrman Memorial title.
In a Second Chance Tournament that drew eight entrants, Bernard Andico downed Jared Pitts twice 5-4 (hot seat) and 6-3 (finals). Graham Swinson finished third.
Harshit Kedia with Christopher Wilburn (NVAT Director)
SPRINGFIELD VA – The inaugural event for the Northern Virginia Amateur Tour (NVAT) is in the books. 56 players from the Mid-Atlantic region competed in BCA regulation, true double-elimination 10 Ball. The event completed in two days (January 19-20) as planned.
Sweet 16 results (Day 2) were as follows: 13th-16th Place: Alex Espinal (Fargo500), Larry Peterman (Fargo530), Richard Thompson (Fargo530), Eric Townsend (Fargo515); 9th-12 Place: Bob Landsman (Fargo530), Zach Sykes (Fargo450), Jamie Brogdon (Fargo585), RJ Davis (Fargo275); 7th-8th Place: James Hendershot (Fargo550, $60 prize), Robert Nijkamp (Fargo575, $60 prize); 5th-6th Place: Giulietta Dahl (Fargo335, $95 prize), Dennis Ryan (Fargo530, $95 prize); 4th Place: Tuan Chau (Fargo639, $160 prize); 3rd Place: Chris Funk (Fargo588, $270 prize); 2nd Place: Andrew Tu (Fargo575, $445 prize); 1st Place: Harshit Kedia (Fargo 503, $740 prize).
All players were welcomed and competed in “weighted” races based on Fargo rating. If a player was unknown to Fargo, s/he was given a starter rating by the tournament organizers based on available data (BCA average, TAP or APA handicap, or historic tournament results).
Fargo’s app (fargorate.com) was then used to create “hot” races that aided the lower-rated player in a matchup. No race exceeded 10-2. The majority of races were even to 5. As expected, the results brought into question a few player ratings. These cases will be evaluated closely and adjusted as necessary.
NVAT results are converted to points. Players on the tour are ranked according to performance only, with no current reward for participation. Scores are reported to Fargo.
The event continuously streamed a match from the featured table via Twitch, a platform new to billiard tournament directors. The broadcast experienced minimal interruption.
Prior to the first breaks, NOVA BCA’s Donnie Rogan was honored for his efforts in promoting billiards in Northern Virginia. The calcutta (player auction) produced $990 for 1st Place, $420 for 2nd Place, $170 for 3rd Place, and $70 for 4th Place.
The next event will be held March 23-24 from Hard Times Café at 6362 Springfield Plaza in Springfield VA. Players will compete in BCA regulation, true double-elimination 8 Ball.
NOVA BCA Representatives: Brian Cheung, Eric Townsend
Sponsors: Baltimore City Cues, S & T Billiards, Ransome Cue Repair, Inky Shirts, Phoenix Chimney, House of Vape, Printing Productions, Hard Times Café.
For the Action Pool Tour, the 2018 season ended where it began, at Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA. For JT Ringgold, his aspirations as a competitive pool player had a new beginning, when the APT’s 2018 season finale came to an end, with him as the winner of the tour’s $3,750-added, Invitational season finale that drew 46 entrants on the weekend of December 15-16. It was Ringgold’s first victory in an Open event, and by the time he reached the finals, he was already further along in an Open field of competitors than he’d ever been. He was truly thrilled enough to be there to take the nerves out of actually getting on the table against Eric Moore and winning in those finals.
“It was strange for me,” he said of the ‘finals’ experience, “because I wasn’t nervous at all.”
“I didn’t want to give up and just be satisfied, either,” he added. “I did want to compete, and when I started coming back against him, I got confident, thinking – I can take control of this.”
And he did. And has, over the course of 2018; Ringgold’s strongest recorded earnings year to date, which has included three wins on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour. He was runner-up once, third three times (to include the tour’s annual Bar Box Tour Championships), fourth twice and 5th three times in 12 appearances on that tour this year. In his only money-earned appearance on the APT this year, he finished 7th.
That said, Ringgold ran a sort of gauntlet of the APT’s top competitors, which began with a victory over Jake Lawson (#4 on the tour’s Points List), and then went through Bill Duggan (#35) and Chris Bruner (#31), to draw a winners’ side semifinal match against Mike Davis, Jr. (#22). Meanwhile, Eric Moore (#7) squared off against RJ Carmona (#28, and the APT competitor who knocked Ringgold out, back in May).
Moore and Carmona locked up in a double hill fight that eventually, 9-8, sent Moore to the hot seat match. Ringgold joined him after a 9-6 win over Davis. Moore and Ringgold got into a double hill fight, as well, and contrary to how he’d feel in the later finals, Ringgold was a bundle of nerves in the battle for the hot seat.
“I never shook so hard in my life,” he recalled. “My hands and legs were just shaking during that hot seat match.”
He held on to win it though, using a bank to seal the deal.
As Carmona and Davis showed up for the first time on the loss side, they ran into Scott Haas (#20) and Shaun Wilkie (#3). Haas was in the midst of a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that had, moving into the money rounds, included victories over Tuan Chau and Steve Fleming (#1), both 7-5 and a double hill win over Bruner that set him up to face Carmona. Davis drew Wilkie in something of an APT marquee matchup.
Carmona stopped Haas’ loss side run and got into the quarterfinals with a 7-5 win. He was joined by Wilkie, who’d eliminated Davis 7-2. Wilkie, who’d been sent to the loss side by Carmona and was in the midst of his own seven-match, loss-side run, advanced another step when he successfully won his re-match against Carmona 7-5 in those quarterfinals.
Moore stopped Wilkie’s seven-match, loss-side run with a 7-5 victory in the semifinals. And then, in the finals against Ringgold, in a race to 11, Moore took an early 4-0 lead. It was, according to Ringgold, just the way he liked it.
“Whenever (I get ahead and) someone comes back at me,” he said, “is when I get worried.”
Ringgold chalked up the next three racks to draw within one. Moore, though, came right back to win three of his own to put him up 7-3. It was Ringgold’s turn (and preference, apparently) to come back. He would win eight of the next 10 games, and won it 11-7, with another bank shot at the end. The ‘nervous’ shoe was apparently on the other foot.
“Moore made a few more mistakes than I did, at the end,” said Ringgold, “including a couple of that (normally) he wouldn’t have made.”
Tour directors Tiger Baker and Kris Wylie thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards for their season-finale (and season-opening) hospitality, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, Viking Cues, Tiger, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, Diamond Billiard Products, Ozone Billiards, Kamui Tips and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor).
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.
(l to r): Roberto Gomez, Raymond Walters (TD) & Chris Bruner
As fellow Filipino pool players competed in tournaments from Raleigh, NC (at the Doug Beasley Custom Cues 9-Ball Open) and Dallas/Ft. Worth (at the DFW 9-Ball Tour), Roberto Gomez landed in Midlothian, VA for the sixth stop on the Action Pool Tour. Gomez went undefeated through a field of 38 at the June 16-17 event, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian.
Gomez is on track to have his best recorded earnings year, ever. To date, according to our records, his best earnings year was 11 years ago, in which, though he didn’t win an event, he did finish as runner-up in the WPA World Championships in the Philippines, sandwiched between winner Daryl Peach and third-place finisher, Vilmos Foldes. The runner-up finish earned him $40,000, $5,700 short of his total that year, and more than any single year’s earnings since he entered the AZBilliards database 13 years ago.
In addition to going undefeated, Gomez ended the weekend with a 73% winning game average, just shy of three out of every four games he played. The percentage was bolstered by a shutout against his hot seat opponent; a rarity at almost any level of the sport.
Gomez opened with what turned out to be one of his strongest challenges in the event; a 9-5 win over Soo Emmett. He followed that with a 9-2 win over Bethany Sykes, and a 9-4 win against Greg Sabins, which set him up to face Cameron Lawhorne in one of the winners’ side semifinals. In the meantime, Gomez’ separate opponents in the hot seat and finals – Scott Roberts and Chris Bruner – advanced to face each other in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Gomez sent Lawhorne to the loss side 9-3 and was joined in the hot seat match by Roberts, who’d defeated Bruner 9-5. Then came the hot seat shutout, which sent Roberts to the semifinals against Bruner and left Gomez in the hot seat.
On the loss side, Bruner started his brief trip to the finals against Sabins, who, following his defeat at the hands of Gomez, had downed Tuan Chau 9-7 and Cary Dunn 9-5. Lawhorne picked up Larry Kressel, who was in the midst of a six-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him as far as the quarterfinals. Kressel had, most recently, eliminated one of the APT’s strongest players, Shaun Wilkie 9-3, and Mat LeMire 9-2.
Bruner downed Sabins 9-6, as Kressel was eliminating Lawhorne 9-2. Bruner then ended Kressel’s loss-side run (and weekend) with a 9-3 victory in the quarterfinals. Bruner completed his loss-side run with a 9-4 victory over Roberts in the semifinals.
Though Bruner would chalk up seven racks in the race-to-11 finals, making him Gomez’ toughest challenge, Gomez prevailed 11-7 to claim the APT title.
Steve Fleming, the APT’s current points leader, won the Second Chance event, which drew a short field of eight entrants. Fleming lost his opening round, and then, four on the loss side to challenge hot seat occupant Cameron Lawhorne. He defeated Lawhorne 6-2 to claim the Second Chance title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, as well as sponsors Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth and George Hammerbacher Advanced Pool Instructor. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for July 14-15, will be hosted by Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD.
(l to r): Assistant TD Raymond Walters & Zoren James Aranas
On the weekend of April 7-8, the Philippines’ Zoren James Aranas went undefeated to become the 12th different champion of the annual Bob Stocks Memorial Tournament held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour. In the event’s 13-year history since 2006, only APT veteran Shaun Wilkie has won the event twice.
Wilkie was the only one of the event’s previous champions to compete in this year’s event, and though he was fresh from his win on the last APT stop (a “Bar Box Bash,” 8-Ball event in March), he would end up being sent to the loss side by the eventual runner-up (Dennis Orcollo) and be eliminated by the APT’s current #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming.
This 12th Annual Bob Stocks Memorial, the fourth stop on the APT, drew 49 entrants to First Break Café in Sterling, VA, and like some other Northeast tours that occurred on the same weekend (the Predator Pro Am Tour, as one example), it benefited from an influx of top players, warming up for the Super Billiards Expo, scheduled to begin on Thursday (April 12). Aranas and Orcollo, of course, were among them, and though they would advance to the hot seat match, and ultimately, the finals, their paths to those last two matches could not be characterized as the proverbial ‘walks in the park.’
Aranas opened what would prove to be his winning campaign with three straight 7-2 wins, against Tuan Chau, Mitch Deike and Bruce Choyce. Thomas Haas then chalked up four against him in a winners’ side quarterfinal that would advance Aranas to a winners’ side semifinal against the APT’s #1-ranked player, Steve Fleming. Nobody gave Orcollo a harder time than his first opponent, Coen Bell, who chalked up five against him in the opening round. That proved to be more racks than Orcollo’s next three opponents combined – Paul Helms (1), Shaun Wilkie (2), and Tom Zippler (1). This set Orcollo up in a winners’ side semifinal against Rick Glasscock.
Aranas and Orcollo defeated Fleming and Glasscock, both 7-3, to face each other in the hot seat match. Aranas won it 7-3 and waited on Orcollo’s return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Fleming picked up Tom Zippler, who, following his defeat at the hands of Orcollo in a winners’ side quarterfinal, shut out Jason Trigo, and eliminated Doug Whiting 6-3. Glasscock drew Wilkie, four matches into his loss-side streak that, like Zipple’s, had begun with a loss to Orcollo. Wilkie had moved into the money rounds, with a 6-4 win over Rob Cord, and a shutout over Thomas Haas.
With a 6-2 win by Wilkie over Glasscock and a 6-3 win by Fleming over Zippler, the top two-ranked players on the APT squared off in this event’s quarterfinals. The #1-player (Fleming) downed #2 (Wilkie) 6-2. Fleming then fell to Orcollo in the semifinals 6-4.
Aranas’ final match proved to be his easiest of the tournament. He punctuated his undefeated run with a shutout over Orcollo in the finals.
A Second Chance tournament drew 13 entrants, and saw Scott Haas come from the loss side to avenge an earlier loss to Paul Oh by defeating him, double hill, in the finals. Dan Maruschak finished third and John Cianflone finished in fourth place.
Tour director Ozzy Reynolds thanked the ownership and staff at First Break Café, as well as tour sponsors Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Viking Cues, Predator Cues, Tiger Products, Ozone Billiards, Aramith, and George Hammerbacher (Advanced Pool Instructor). Stop # 5 on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for the weekend of May 12-13, will be the Bash at the Beach, hosted by Q-Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
It was, by far, his most productive year at the pool tables. In the five years that Reymart Lim has been showing up on our tournament payout lists, his 2017 reported cash earnings in 11 tournaments were six times what he’d earned in any previous year. As we reported in December, he chalked up wins on the Viking Cues’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (two, including the NC State Open 10-Ball event) and finished the year by coming from the loss side to win the Action Pool Tour’s season finale on the weekend of December 9-10. A little over a month later, Lim was back on the Action Pool Tour, and once again, coming from the loss side, he completed a run through 41 entrants to defeat a hot seat occupant (R.J. Carmona, in this case) and win the APT’s season opener, held on the weekend of January 13-14, and hosted by Q Master Billiards in Virginia Beach, VA.
Lim was challenged early and often in this one. An opening 7-3 win over Dwight Cherry was followed by two matches that went double hill, against David Lassiter and Nilbert Lim (no relation, though close friends), before advancing him to a winners’ side semifinal against Eric Moore. Carmona, in the meantime, opened his bid for the season opening title with a 7-2, preliminary-round win over Chris Pyle, defeated Jeremy Wyatt 7-3, and then won two 7-4 victories over Steve Fleming and Tuan Chau to face Danny Bell in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Moore downed Lim 7-5, as Carmona chalked up his third straight 7-4 win and sent Bell to the loss side. Carmona claimed the hot seat 7-3 over Moore, and waited on Lim’s return.
On the loss side, Lim picked up Tim Colvin, who, after a winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Bell, had defeated Mark Lacson 7-2 and survived a double hill battle versus Tuan Chau. Bell drew Nilbert Lim, who, after defeat by his friend, Reymart, went on to defeat Greg Sabins, double hill and Jason Trigo 7-3. The two Lims advanced to the quarterfinals for their second match; Reymart eliminating Colvin 7-5 and Nilbert, with a 7-5 win over Bell.
Though their first match had been a double hill fight, their second proved to be a little easier for Reymart. He gave up only two racks to his friend and advanced to a semifinal re-match against Moore. Reymart gave up three to Moore and advanced to the finals against Carmona. A 9-6 win in those finals allowed Lim to chalk up his first (and presumably not his last) 2018 tour victory.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Q Master Billiards, as well as sponsors Kamui, Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis Cloth, Aramith, Tiger, Predator, Viking, Ozone Billiards, Cue Sports International (CSI) and George Hammerbacher Instruction. The next stop on the Action Pool Tour, scheduled for February 10-11, will be the VA State 10-Ball Championships, hosted by Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA.
The APT also announced some major changes for 2018. In recognition of the fact that in previous years, the ‘points race’ for the title of Tour Champion (and runner-up), in competition for free entry, hotel and airfare to a major event the following year, had, by mid-season, become irrelevant to most players, the APT announced the creation of a “$10,000 Top 64 Shootout” event. Players with an active one-year membership on the tour will be competing throughout the year to be among the top 64 players in tour rankings. At the end of the tour season (on a date to-be-determined), those 64 will be invited to the “Shootout,” which will feature a total prize fund of $10,000. Those who finish among the top 16 in that “Shootout” will be guaranteed $500, with the winner guaranteed $2,500.
“We are confident,” notes the tour’s Web site announcement of this event, “that this will keep the points race interesting for more players.”
The tour also announced that the VA State 10-Ball and VA State 8-Ball Championships will be restricted to the first 64 paid entries. The women’s events in both will be restricted to the first 16 paid entries. As noted in the 2017 Season Finale report, separate women’s events will not be held in 2018, although the APT has reinstituted the Top Female Bonus, which will grant the top-finishing female in each event a bonus cash award, based on the number of women in the field. This will range from $100 (with 3-5 women in the field) to $600 (with 18-20 women in the field).
For further information on the Action Pool Tour, including its plans to begin streaming its events on an APT YouTube Channel, on which all events will be stored for later viewing, visit the tour Web site at http://www.actionpooltour.com.
