OK, this one is long. Turn back if you must.
I just flew home from my first ever Derby City Classic, and it was, well, classic. At the airport, I caught up with Jeremy Jones, Sylver Ochoa, and Billy Incardona, all of whom looked as tired as I felt, each having played a whole lot of pool at the Derby.
I was at the DCC for all nine days and most of them were memorable. I met many AZBers and really enjoyed their company, but the one I got the biggest kick out of was JoeyA, a delightful guy with a winning personality and a great sense of humor. Oh yeah, he shoots pretty straight, too. I recall one typical chat with him in which he'd just completed one of his matches. I asked him "Did you beat that guy?" When he answered "no," I offered my sympathies, but his next words were "he beat himself." You need to pay close attention when JoeyA talks to figure out what the bleep he's talking about! Finally, when I sidebet matches with him, he was unstoppable.
Here are a few of my recollections from my trip to the DCC. Please go easy on me, as it's 100% that not every detail will be accurate, but I'll do my best.
Day One (Friday Jan 23)
Flew in during the late afternoon, arrived at the Horseshoe Hotel at about 6:00. Watched a little bit of bank pool and then checked out the Bank Pool ring game. It was dull in the early going, and it took half an hour before anyone ran a three, but once he found his form, Brian Gregg was unbelievable, dominating a tough field that included Gabe, Shannon and Piggy. Checked out the AZB Room when the ring game ended and met a few fellow AZBers, but not many.
Day Two (Saturday Jan 24)
As a sweater of the matches, this was the day I got into stroke. Watched bank pool for most of the day, with some breaks for meals, trips to the AZB Room, and I even managed to sneak in a few miles on the treadmill in mid-afternoon. Probably saw more bank shots played that day than I'd see in a typical calendar year. Even for a bank pool ignoramus like me, it was patently obvious that Luat, Daulton, Hennessee, Brumback, Gregg and a few others were stronger than the rest.
Met Roy Steffensen later in the day, a good friend on the forum whom I often PM. He generously let me use his cue, and we shot a friendly set of nine ball, which I must report Roy won double hill. Then, Roy asked me if I'd help him out with his straight pool. You gotta love these Europeans, first they beat you and then they ask for a lesson! No wonder they've been winning so many titles of late. So we talked straight pool for half an hour, and Roy seemed to pick up some knowledge.
Late night fare was round one of the FATBOY Challenge, which was a standing room only affair. Whatever ten ball match you watched, you couldn't go too wrong, but I chose to sit where the two matches I'd see were Lee Van Corteza vs Shane Van Boening and Mika Immonen vs Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant. The filipino cruised, but Mika was tested by the big-breaking Hillbilly, until a bad miss by Charlie at 12-10 sealed the deal in the race to fifteen. Mika's last ball dropped at 3:15, and I just didn't have it in me to stay for the completion of the still-in-progress, hotly contested, match between Ralf Souquet and Marcus Chamat, so it was off to bed, and it was nearly 4:00 when my head hit the pillow. Little did I know that it was the beginning of a trend.
Day Three (Sunday Jan 25)
It looked like another grueling day of bank pool, but I tried to pace myself, as I knew I'd want to stay up for the FATBOY Challenge quarterfinals, scheduled for midnight. I caught my share of matches, socialized with friends, and even caught a brief, and marginally profitable, trip to the casino.
when I went to the gym in the afternoon, I ran into my close friends Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat, and this led to a challenging workout, as, like drill sergeants, they had me do some things that were pretty tough. I never gave up, though, and hung in there with them. They were very complimentary and offered a lot of encouragement. I lost some weight in 2008, and Mika made my day when he told me I looked younger than I did when he and I met in 1997.
The bank pool event was down to Luat, Brumback, and Hennessee by the day's end.
FATBOY Challenge tournament director Jay Helfert gave me some inside info so I knew which table Ralf Souquet would play Efren Reyes on at midnight, and I capitalized by grabbing a ringside seat for that one. Caught the whole match and enjoyed it. Introduced myself to FATBOY, and thanked him for his support of the event, but didn't get to chat. Sad to say that, though I said hello several other times, the opportunity to chat with FATBOY never came for me at Derby City, one of the week's few disappointments. Even from our brief encounters, though, I can confirm that FATBOY is a great guy who loves pool the way I do, and he cares deeply for and supports our sport.
Day Four (Monday Jan 26)
Close friend WillieBetmore arrived at the DCC. We'd catch several meals together over the next few days, and sweated a few matches together, too. He's the very definition of class, and his congenial ways and good humor always put me in a great mood.
I couldn't wait for the last bank pool matches, but the day began with the onset of the one pocket event. I watched some one pocket until the draw for bank pool was done. When undefeated Luat drew the bye, the bank pool semifinal would be between Brumback and Hennessee, each carrying a loss, so the loser would finish third The winner would have the task of beating Luat twice in a row. Brumback and Hennessee produced a fantastic match, with Brumback a deserving winner. Brumback then followed it up with two wins over Luat to snap off the bank pool title.
Then it was back to sweating some one pocket, and I must admit I enjoyed the one pocket matches far more than expected.
The Jewett-sponsored straight pool challenge was underway, and word spread quickly that Schmidt had run 154 and Deuel had narrowly missed beating that, running a 153, a run Corey noted, to the surprise of many, was his personal best.
Last on the day's menu was the semis of the FATBOY Challenge. With the matches on opposite sides of the room, I opted to watch Ralf Souquet vs Francisco Bustamante, a match filled with sparkling play, most of it from Souquet. I saw almost none of Van Corteza's win over Immonen.
Day Five (Tuesday Jan 27)
In the one pocket event, Efren unexpectedly bowed out early, but the 60 year old Jose Parica was making a run, winning match after match. Also somewhat unexpectedly, John Schmidt was doing the same, with an offense-oriented attack. Perhaps John didn't move as skillfully as Hennssee, Frost, Parica or Daulton, be he ran eight and out more often than the others with fine shotmaking and pinpoint position play. Brumback was also doing quite well, too, establishing himself as a serious contender for Master of the Table.
Day two of the straight pool challenge saw many top straight poolers struggling, with both Mika Immonen and Niels Feijen unable to put up a run good enough to qualify for the upcoming single elimination. Even Hohmann didn't manage a 100 ball run. Huidji See, Danny Harriman and Darren Appleton all posted runs of over 100.
The late night final of the FATBOY challenge was a bit of a dud, with Souquet way off form, making Van Corteza's job very easy. The 15-11 final score belied how uncompetitive the match was. It was nice to see Nick Varner sweating it.
Day Six (Wednesday Jan 28)
As the one pocket continued, all but the mighty fell, and while Scott Frost seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, the fact remained that Parica and Schmidt were the only two of the last six with a buyback left. By the time the smoke cleared, Frost had scored a fine victory over Parica and the day's play concluded with Schmidt undefeated, Parica, Frost and Jeremy Jones with a loss, amd all others eliminated.
Day three of the straight pool saw Thorsten Hohmann and a player unfamiliar to me named Beau Runningen grab two of the last three qualifying spots with 100 ball runs, and Charlie Williams' 85 was good enough to earn him the last spot in the finals.
In the AZB Room, the one pocket challenge was getting underway, and Mika Immonen made several attempts, some of them very successful. Darren Appleton was also impressive. The order of business in the one pocket challenge was to nominate a pocket, then break the balls and try to run as many as possible into the nominated pocket. The total score for five attempts were summed. There was much discussion about the best way to break the balls, and several different breaks were tried by the participants.
Day Seven (Thursday Jan 29)
The nine ball event got into full swing with a field of over 400. I think it took the whole day to get through round one and part of round two.
In the mid-afternoon, Parica played for a berth in the finals but it wasn't meant to be for him or for Jeremy Jones. Despite Schmidt's remaining buyback, many were picking Frost to win the final, but the potential epic lasted only forty minutes. After stumbling in rack one, Schmidt was brilliant. He ran a remarkable eight and out in the next rack when Frost gambled on a chancy four ball, and then ran out again when Frost scratched on the next break. Frost caught an unlucky scratch in the fourth rack after that, and Schmidt ran out for the win and the title.
The second and final day of the one pocket challenge ended with Immonen capturing the top prize, with Appleton and Reyes, who was backed by our own Roy Steffensen, also cashing.
The straight pool challenge entered single elimination. Schmidt disposed of Williams easily, and Hohmann ran 98 in beating Deuel. Harriman ran ninety-something in beating Hudji See, and Appleton became the last semifinalist by beating Runningen.
Day Eight (Friday Jan 30)
The nine ball continued, and it continued to develop slowly, with it taking about thirteen hours to get to the end of round six.
Form didn't hold in the straight pool semis. Most felt Schmidt would top Harriman and that Hohmann would top Appleton. Harriman beat John, and Hohmann missed at 84-40 ahead, followed by a solid 60 and out by Appleton. So it would be Harriman vs Appleton in the Saturday night final.
Day Nine (Saturday Jan 31)
Morning play in the nine ball event was tense. and big names were falling.
Between rounds, Jerry Briesath and I had lunch with Johnny Archer. The chat was warm and friendly, but what was very memorable was listening to Johnny talk about how this will be his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility and how much induction would mean to him.
By the early afternoon, the nine ball event was down to the last eight. John Morra and Jeremy Sossei had made deep runs but were eliminated, but a cinderella remained in Adam Smith. When Luat was eliminated by Souquet, the Master of the Table situation became clear. Brumback led, Luat would finish third, but Hennessee would need to beat Adam Smith to beat out Brumback, an he wasn't up to it, settling for a fifth place finish, to go with his fifth in the one pocket and his third in the bank pool. In my mind, Hennessee was the best player out there this week, but he very narrowly missed the Master of the Table $20,000 prize.
Van Corteza dodged a bullet when he scratched at 6-5 ahead against Appleton, giving Darren ball in hand on the four with a dead out for double hill. Darren's shocking miss on the five led to his elimination, when it had looked certain he'd be breaking at double hill. So Van Corteza joined Van Boening, Smith and Souquet in the final four, with all buybakcs used up.
History repeated itself for Van Corteza. Adam Smith fought valiantly and, trailing 6-5, he appeared to be running out, after which he'd break at double hill, but just like Appleton, he had a shocking miss late in the rack that ended his chances. As Shane had disposed of Ralf, it set up the final between Shane and Van Corteza.
In a close but unspectacular final, they went double hill. Shane took a chance on the two ball double hill, and missed, but left Van Corteza a horrible position, leading to the match-ending sellout. So the Derby City Classic was over. Three Americans (Brumback, Schmidt, Van Boening) had swept the events, which was fantastic! I immediately thought of how pleased JAM must be.
The last match to watch was the final of straight pool, won by Harriman at 1:30, leading to my going to bed earlier than on any other of the nine nights.
Conclusion
What an experience it was. Thanks to the many who made sure I had a grand old time at the DCC. Geez, I'm tired.
If you made it to the end of this post, I'm impressed.
I just flew home from my first ever Derby City Classic, and it was, well, classic. At the airport, I caught up with Jeremy Jones, Sylver Ochoa, and Billy Incardona, all of whom looked as tired as I felt, each having played a whole lot of pool at the Derby.
I was at the DCC for all nine days and most of them were memorable. I met many AZBers and really enjoyed their company, but the one I got the biggest kick out of was JoeyA, a delightful guy with a winning personality and a great sense of humor. Oh yeah, he shoots pretty straight, too. I recall one typical chat with him in which he'd just completed one of his matches. I asked him "Did you beat that guy?" When he answered "no," I offered my sympathies, but his next words were "he beat himself." You need to pay close attention when JoeyA talks to figure out what the bleep he's talking about! Finally, when I sidebet matches with him, he was unstoppable.
Here are a few of my recollections from my trip to the DCC. Please go easy on me, as it's 100% that not every detail will be accurate, but I'll do my best.
Day One (Friday Jan 23)
Flew in during the late afternoon, arrived at the Horseshoe Hotel at about 6:00. Watched a little bit of bank pool and then checked out the Bank Pool ring game. It was dull in the early going, and it took half an hour before anyone ran a three, but once he found his form, Brian Gregg was unbelievable, dominating a tough field that included Gabe, Shannon and Piggy. Checked out the AZB Room when the ring game ended and met a few fellow AZBers, but not many.
Day Two (Saturday Jan 24)
As a sweater of the matches, this was the day I got into stroke. Watched bank pool for most of the day, with some breaks for meals, trips to the AZB Room, and I even managed to sneak in a few miles on the treadmill in mid-afternoon. Probably saw more bank shots played that day than I'd see in a typical calendar year. Even for a bank pool ignoramus like me, it was patently obvious that Luat, Daulton, Hennessee, Brumback, Gregg and a few others were stronger than the rest.
Met Roy Steffensen later in the day, a good friend on the forum whom I often PM. He generously let me use his cue, and we shot a friendly set of nine ball, which I must report Roy won double hill. Then, Roy asked me if I'd help him out with his straight pool. You gotta love these Europeans, first they beat you and then they ask for a lesson! No wonder they've been winning so many titles of late. So we talked straight pool for half an hour, and Roy seemed to pick up some knowledge.
Late night fare was round one of the FATBOY Challenge, which was a standing room only affair. Whatever ten ball match you watched, you couldn't go too wrong, but I chose to sit where the two matches I'd see were Lee Van Corteza vs Shane Van Boening and Mika Immonen vs Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant. The filipino cruised, but Mika was tested by the big-breaking Hillbilly, until a bad miss by Charlie at 12-10 sealed the deal in the race to fifteen. Mika's last ball dropped at 3:15, and I just didn't have it in me to stay for the completion of the still-in-progress, hotly contested, match between Ralf Souquet and Marcus Chamat, so it was off to bed, and it was nearly 4:00 when my head hit the pillow. Little did I know that it was the beginning of a trend.
Day Three (Sunday Jan 25)
It looked like another grueling day of bank pool, but I tried to pace myself, as I knew I'd want to stay up for the FATBOY Challenge quarterfinals, scheduled for midnight. I caught my share of matches, socialized with friends, and even caught a brief, and marginally profitable, trip to the casino.
when I went to the gym in the afternoon, I ran into my close friends Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat, and this led to a challenging workout, as, like drill sergeants, they had me do some things that were pretty tough. I never gave up, though, and hung in there with them. They were very complimentary and offered a lot of encouragement. I lost some weight in 2008, and Mika made my day when he told me I looked younger than I did when he and I met in 1997.
The bank pool event was down to Luat, Brumback, and Hennessee by the day's end.
FATBOY Challenge tournament director Jay Helfert gave me some inside info so I knew which table Ralf Souquet would play Efren Reyes on at midnight, and I capitalized by grabbing a ringside seat for that one. Caught the whole match and enjoyed it. Introduced myself to FATBOY, and thanked him for his support of the event, but didn't get to chat. Sad to say that, though I said hello several other times, the opportunity to chat with FATBOY never came for me at Derby City, one of the week's few disappointments. Even from our brief encounters, though, I can confirm that FATBOY is a great guy who loves pool the way I do, and he cares deeply for and supports our sport.
Day Four (Monday Jan 26)
Close friend WillieBetmore arrived at the DCC. We'd catch several meals together over the next few days, and sweated a few matches together, too. He's the very definition of class, and his congenial ways and good humor always put me in a great mood.
I couldn't wait for the last bank pool matches, but the day began with the onset of the one pocket event. I watched some one pocket until the draw for bank pool was done. When undefeated Luat drew the bye, the bank pool semifinal would be between Brumback and Hennessee, each carrying a loss, so the loser would finish third The winner would have the task of beating Luat twice in a row. Brumback and Hennessee produced a fantastic match, with Brumback a deserving winner. Brumback then followed it up with two wins over Luat to snap off the bank pool title.
Then it was back to sweating some one pocket, and I must admit I enjoyed the one pocket matches far more than expected.
The Jewett-sponsored straight pool challenge was underway, and word spread quickly that Schmidt had run 154 and Deuel had narrowly missed beating that, running a 153, a run Corey noted, to the surprise of many, was his personal best.
Last on the day's menu was the semis of the FATBOY Challenge. With the matches on opposite sides of the room, I opted to watch Ralf Souquet vs Francisco Bustamante, a match filled with sparkling play, most of it from Souquet. I saw almost none of Van Corteza's win over Immonen.
Day Five (Tuesday Jan 27)
In the one pocket event, Efren unexpectedly bowed out early, but the 60 year old Jose Parica was making a run, winning match after match. Also somewhat unexpectedly, John Schmidt was doing the same, with an offense-oriented attack. Perhaps John didn't move as skillfully as Hennssee, Frost, Parica or Daulton, be he ran eight and out more often than the others with fine shotmaking and pinpoint position play. Brumback was also doing quite well, too, establishing himself as a serious contender for Master of the Table.
Day two of the straight pool challenge saw many top straight poolers struggling, with both Mika Immonen and Niels Feijen unable to put up a run good enough to qualify for the upcoming single elimination. Even Hohmann didn't manage a 100 ball run. Huidji See, Danny Harriman and Darren Appleton all posted runs of over 100.
The late night final of the FATBOY challenge was a bit of a dud, with Souquet way off form, making Van Corteza's job very easy. The 15-11 final score belied how uncompetitive the match was. It was nice to see Nick Varner sweating it.
Day Six (Wednesday Jan 28)
As the one pocket continued, all but the mighty fell, and while Scott Frost seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, the fact remained that Parica and Schmidt were the only two of the last six with a buyback left. By the time the smoke cleared, Frost had scored a fine victory over Parica and the day's play concluded with Schmidt undefeated, Parica, Frost and Jeremy Jones with a loss, amd all others eliminated.
Day three of the straight pool saw Thorsten Hohmann and a player unfamiliar to me named Beau Runningen grab two of the last three qualifying spots with 100 ball runs, and Charlie Williams' 85 was good enough to earn him the last spot in the finals.
In the AZB Room, the one pocket challenge was getting underway, and Mika Immonen made several attempts, some of them very successful. Darren Appleton was also impressive. The order of business in the one pocket challenge was to nominate a pocket, then break the balls and try to run as many as possible into the nominated pocket. The total score for five attempts were summed. There was much discussion about the best way to break the balls, and several different breaks were tried by the participants.
Day Seven (Thursday Jan 29)
The nine ball event got into full swing with a field of over 400. I think it took the whole day to get through round one and part of round two.
In the mid-afternoon, Parica played for a berth in the finals but it wasn't meant to be for him or for Jeremy Jones. Despite Schmidt's remaining buyback, many were picking Frost to win the final, but the potential epic lasted only forty minutes. After stumbling in rack one, Schmidt was brilliant. He ran a remarkable eight and out in the next rack when Frost gambled on a chancy four ball, and then ran out again when Frost scratched on the next break. Frost caught an unlucky scratch in the fourth rack after that, and Schmidt ran out for the win and the title.
The second and final day of the one pocket challenge ended with Immonen capturing the top prize, with Appleton and Reyes, who was backed by our own Roy Steffensen, also cashing.
The straight pool challenge entered single elimination. Schmidt disposed of Williams easily, and Hohmann ran 98 in beating Deuel. Harriman ran ninety-something in beating Hudji See, and Appleton became the last semifinalist by beating Runningen.
Day Eight (Friday Jan 30)
The nine ball continued, and it continued to develop slowly, with it taking about thirteen hours to get to the end of round six.
Form didn't hold in the straight pool semis. Most felt Schmidt would top Harriman and that Hohmann would top Appleton. Harriman beat John, and Hohmann missed at 84-40 ahead, followed by a solid 60 and out by Appleton. So it would be Harriman vs Appleton in the Saturday night final.
Day Nine (Saturday Jan 31)
Morning play in the nine ball event was tense. and big names were falling.
Between rounds, Jerry Briesath and I had lunch with Johnny Archer. The chat was warm and friendly, but what was very memorable was listening to Johnny talk about how this will be his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility and how much induction would mean to him.
By the early afternoon, the nine ball event was down to the last eight. John Morra and Jeremy Sossei had made deep runs but were eliminated, but a cinderella remained in Adam Smith. When Luat was eliminated by Souquet, the Master of the Table situation became clear. Brumback led, Luat would finish third, but Hennessee would need to beat Adam Smith to beat out Brumback, an he wasn't up to it, settling for a fifth place finish, to go with his fifth in the one pocket and his third in the bank pool. In my mind, Hennessee was the best player out there this week, but he very narrowly missed the Master of the Table $20,000 prize.
Van Corteza dodged a bullet when he scratched at 6-5 ahead against Appleton, giving Darren ball in hand on the four with a dead out for double hill. Darren's shocking miss on the five led to his elimination, when it had looked certain he'd be breaking at double hill. So Van Corteza joined Van Boening, Smith and Souquet in the final four, with all buybakcs used up.
History repeated itself for Van Corteza. Adam Smith fought valiantly and, trailing 6-5, he appeared to be running out, after which he'd break at double hill, but just like Appleton, he had a shocking miss late in the rack that ended his chances. As Shane had disposed of Ralf, it set up the final between Shane and Van Corteza.
In a close but unspectacular final, they went double hill. Shane took a chance on the two ball double hill, and missed, but left Van Corteza a horrible position, leading to the match-ending sellout. So the Derby City Classic was over. Three Americans (Brumback, Schmidt, Van Boening) had swept the events, which was fantastic! I immediately thought of how pleased JAM must be.
The last match to watch was the final of straight pool, won by Harriman at 1:30, leading to my going to bed earlier than on any other of the nine nights.
Conclusion
What an experience it was. Thanks to the many who made sure I had a grand old time at the DCC. Geez, I'm tired.
If you made it to the end of this post, I'm impressed.
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