Derek Formby
Approaching 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, September 10, the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour and the two finalists at a $500-added event, which drew 33 entrants to a new tour venue, Orange Billiards in Knoxville, TN, were faced with a dilemma. A Knoxville ordinance dictated that patrons and employees of an establishment had to vacate the premises by no later than 3 a.m., or face hefty fines. In order to facilitate compliance, officials at Orange Billiards informed the tour that the event would need to conclude and its players be out of the building by 2:50 a.m. The potential double-elimination final would need to finish in under an hour and 20 minutes.
The hot seat occupant at the time was Denny Demetro, who would be racing to 6. His challenger was Derek Formby, the 2021 Tour Champion, racing to 7. In consultation with tour director Herman Parker, the two were apprised of their options; split the top two prizes and leave immediately, suspend the double-elimination format and play a single match for the title (which would have finished it anyway, had Demetro won it), or get their butts in gear and race to the 2:50 deadline.
Cue the time-for-a-decision, Deal or No Deal music, as Parker stood by, allowing the players to make the decision as he did his best impression of Howie Mandel. Demetro and Formby opted for Suitcase #3 and broke the first rack of the double-elimination final at 1:30.
Tick, tick, tick . . .
They had put themselves into their respective positions when Demetro downed Carey Stringfield 6-5 (Stringfield racing to 7) in one of the winners’ side semifinals, and Formby sent Timmy Dasey to the loss side 7-4. Demetro claimed the hot seat 6-3 over Formby.
Moving to the loss side, Stringfield picked up Zach Wilson, who’d lost his opening match, double hill, to Todd Kinley and began work on a seven-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated Malorie Zastrow 7-2 and in the first money round, Erik Winchenbach, double hill. Dasey drew Daniel Autry, who’d defeated Mike Gann 7-6 (Gann racing to 9) and Rick Rogers, double hill, to reach him.
Stringfield ended Wilson’s loss-side run 7-2. Autry and Dasey battled to double hill before Autry prevailed to join Stringfield in the quarterfinals. In two straight 7-4 matches, Stringfield defeated Autry in the quarterfinals and Formby, booking his double-elimination shots at Demetro, eliminated Stringfield in the semifinals. At which point, the event fell under the spell of the ticking clock.
Formby took the opening set 7-2, eating up almost precisely half the allotted time and finishing at 2:10 a.m; 40 minutes down, but given the necessity for getting out of the building, less than 40 to go. They finished ahead of the ticking clock by 12 minutes, finishing at 2:38. The cash was distributed quickly, belongings gathered and everyone left, forestalling any notification by local authorities about a fine for failing to do so.
Parker thanked Gary Biles and his Big Orange Billiards staff, including manager Kris Bacon, for their hospitality, along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, Bar PoolTables.net, Realty One Group Results, TKO Custom Cues (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel Company (Angela Harlan-Parker), Diamond Brat (Tonya Crosby), Federal Savings Bank/Mortgage division (Alex Narod) and AZBilliards.
The next stop on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend, Sept. 16-17, will be a $500-added event, hosted by The Clubhouse in Lynchburg, VA.
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