All Around the Derby, Players Tested by Array of Challenges

All Around the Derby, Players Tested by Array of ChallengesExecutive West cleaning fiasco deepens; billiards seeps into every cornerBy Paul Berg, Inside POOL MagazineWhile the dust of banks play settles off the beleaguered cushions of the main tournament room, one-pocket players add fresh fingerprints to the attached rails. They lean up against the Diamond pool tables, pondering moves of the world’s greatest ball stack arrangers, dragging greasy coins across towards their pocket, and generally try to figure out what the move is when the guy in the chair already knows the one you can’t come up with. With 470 in the field, there are obviously a lot of merry maids and jovial janitors supporting these pool hall junkies. Every donation made in Louisville puts more shine on the games of those on the way up to challenge the legends on one-hole.Derby City Classic image galleryDiscuss the Derby City Classic
From back-to-back reigning Derby City Classic one-pocket champion Efren “The Magician” Reyes to last year’s St. Louis Louie Roberts Action/Entertainment winner Cliff Joyner, the greats are all in action today. A third round of play is underway to trim the field again and begin to make the table demands of the coming 9-ball event look realistic. Some draws have been exceptionally cold to some top contenders, as Charles “Hillbilly” Bryant is on deck to play Gabe “Who Chopped off My Locks?” Owen. In the second round, Bryant took a brutal double-hill loss to Joyner after firing in an amazing bank combination out of the case break only to scratch and give control to another master. It breaks a streak of success for the teacher of the game and all-around monster against Joyner in this event.Meanwhile, in the far flung rooms scattered about the Executive West Hotel, two other great contests of billiards skill are underway. The first is actually a non-pool event. In a slate of three qualifiers to the USBA Three-Cushion U.S. Open, Buffalo, NY’s Daniel Kolascz prevailed, coming out of an initial round robin group anchored by savvy gentlemen Robert Byrne and Paul Frankel. The second is in progress now, and the location of the event near the Tea Room restaurant has drawn consistent stops from hackers ranging from advanced to neophyte level. Perhaps even more have stopped because they haven’t seen pocketless wonders like these Gabriels tables before and have earned a treat for their wandering eyes near the feedbag.The sequel to last year’s popular $10,000-added straight pool challenge has moved from that location to the front of The Chapel, and today is the third day of competition. The challenge circumvents the moves at the beginning of a game of standard 14.1 continuous, allowing entrants to place the opening break ball however they would like to crack open the rack. Players pony up $100 for twelve tries over the course of four days, aiming for a high-run payout each day and a finish in the accumulated list of top scores that gets them a shot at the final. Additional incentives include a $1,000 bonus for the overall high run and an immediate grand payday for a run of 200 balls or better.The first day found last year’s winner Danny Harriman four balls behind John “Mr. 400” Schmidt’s best effort, with runs of 85 and 89 for the pair of heavy contenders, respectively. On the second day, the century mark was broken three times, first, not surprisingly, by a German. Reigning DCC 9-ball champ Ralf Souquet is no stranger to straight pool, as he and countryman Thorsten Hohmann are considered two of the best in the world right now. Two other Americans would try to eclipse Souquet, and out of fresh arrival Johnny Archer and Day One 14-ball high runner Mike Davis, you wouldn’t guess that “The Scorpion" posted the 107, while Davis ripped off a currently leading run of 151.If all this wasn’t enough, there’s all those other players willing to take a chance on romance and find their own partner for the dance. When they weren’t busy arguing about what song to play or who was leading, the boys in the back room managed to tango famously during Monday night and on into today. South Dakota’s Shane Van Boening has steadily become some kind of mythological figure amongst certain circles of sponsors, a man who can get the cash in tough spots against mighty challengers. England's Darren Appleton booked a second high-profile loss in action facing Van Boening, as the hearing-impaired victor turned up his secret weapon (he can turn the hearing aids off at will, too, so goodbye to talking him out of a shot) to make sure the bet was right when they jacked it up after a twelve-ahead 8-ball set proved too long. Van Boening reached the hill at one point and broke empty, and Appleton broke and ran six racks in the midst of getting ahead briefly. This display didn’t slow Van Boening, who is almost guaranteed to be in action getting the 8-ball from a champion while you’re reading this, no matter if you’ve found it in our archives.Another historical inquiry will uncover that last year’s biggest reported action came during the wild match-ups and committee-style posting up on the light for sets involving Atlanta’s “Little T” and Alabama’s “Tater-Tot.” The amazing “Scooter” has joined the mix as Tater’s partner, and the three are sure to be mixing it up again all week. After watching T’s friend Steve Moore take off the 9-ball banks last night with Moore’s pal T, Tater left his seat next to his eventual opponent and crossed the building to the Derbyshire Dining Room to get it all set up. They’re still in battle and hopefully will finish in time for a seat at tonight’s open 10-ball ring game, which features a more complete field of established monsters of rotation-style billiards than the first two. Corey Deuel and Dennis Orcollo were the big winners in those earlier efforts to get some stakehorses out of locksmith mode and some top players on display. They’re scheduled to be joined by two more Filipino participants from the initial group, Jose Parica and Francisco Bustamante, and Archer is the fifth and final ringer.It could all change before post in the chaotic snowy swirl that suddenly surrounds Louisville. Old-time greats and hardened road veterans are already murmuring about experiences of being snowed in, penned up with a bunch of bored action animals. Not many seem to make it out of the hotel much without the snow, but there’s a feeling in the air that it’s time to ship it. Stay tuned to insidepoolmag.com for updates as the boys and girls send it in at Derby.

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