Hank Powell
There are many reasons why the last two standing in a pool tournament decide not to compete in a final and as a rule, we don’t ask who suggested the split, the reason for it or specifics about how the top two prizes were actually divided, because they’re basically personal decisions. So we don’t know, for example, whether the winner of a semifinal decided that the undefeated occupant of the hot seat was ‘too hot to handle’ and figured that he (or she) would be better off financially if an agreement to split was reached. Or vice versa. The hot seat occupant watched a loss-side opponent compete in a few matches and figured that he (or she) would be better off with a split. It does, though, often make one wonder.
The last four times that Hank Powell has had the opportunity to compete in a final on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, dating back to September of 2021, negotiations have been initiated with his opponent to split the top two prizes. Three out of four of those times, Powell was the undefeated occupant of the hot seat when he and his opponent opted out of playing a final match, thus making Powell the event’s official winner. The streak included this past weekend’s (Sat., Aug 31), $250-added stop on the tour, with Mark Bolton, being his potential opponent in the final match that didn’t happen. The event drew a short field of 19 entrants to Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC.
The short field made the undefeated route to the hot seat a short one. Powell, after an opening-round bye, opened with an 8-4 victory over Tim Nelson and a double-hill win over Hunter White, to draw and defeat Travis Guerra 8-2 in one of the winners’ side semifinals. In the meantime, it was Randall Bowman who set out on the other winners’ side trip to the hot seat match. Randall started with a bye, as well, before winning three straight, double-hill battles versus eventual finalist, Mark Bolton, Julia Bright, and in the other winners’ side semifinal, Reid Vance.
Racing to 6, Bowman lost his fourth double-hill match. Racing to 8 in the handicapped match, Powell claimed the hot seat 8-5.
On the loss side, Bolton (racing to 7) ended up running through a gauntlet of Q City 9-Ball veterans, seven of them before it was over; Thomas Sansone (3), Kirk Overcash (2), Jacob Blake (4), and Hunter White (7, White racing to 10), for starters. He drew Reid Vance, coming off his loss to Bowman. Guerra picked up Tim Nelson, who’d followed his loss to Powell with three straight wins, two of them double hill, against Louis Mantone and Jordyn Worley, with a 6-4 win over Travis Summerlin in the middle.
Bolton and Nelson advanced to the quarterfinal; Bolton 7-5 over Vance, Nelson 6-2 over Guerra. Bolton then eliminated Nelson 7-4 in that quarterfinal match and gave up just a single rack to Bowman in the semifinal that followed. Negotiations got underway, etc., etc., etc.
Tour director Herman Parker thanked Sundeep Makhani and his Breaktime Billiards staff for their hospitality, along with title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net (Randy Tate), Breaktime Billiards in Winston-Salem, NC, TKO Custom Cues and Realty One Group results (Kirk Overcash), Dirty South Grind Apparel (Angela Harlan-Parker), Federal Savings Bank (Alex Narod), CHC Underground (Chris Clary), Run Racks Worldwide Apparel (Wanderer Kelly) and AZBilliards.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for this weekend (Aug. 7-8), will be a $500-added event, hosted by Dot’s Cue Club in Rocky Mount, NC.
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