Here comes a lengthy post. It’s not too late to turn back if you are not in the mood for one.
Got home Sunday from the Derby after nine glorious days and I’ll share my experiences in this post. I write all of this from memory so I’ll likely get a few things wrong along the way. Corrections offered will be appreciated. I don't watch the action matches, so my post will be restricted to the Bigfoot 10-ball, DCC bank pool, DCC one pocket, DCC 14.1 challenge and DCC 9-ball.
Friday, 1/22
I made it out just ahead of the blizzard in New York, arriving in the afternoon at the Horseshoe.
I had already missed Lee Vann Cortezza’s remarkable comeback from 7-1 behind in the Big Foot vs. Ruslan Chinakhov. I also missed Orcullo’s narrow double hill win coming from behind against Biado.
Went to the window to get my seat credentials and the darndest thing happened --- I was required to sign a form in which I agreed not to side bet matches while in the tournament venue. I have rarely side bet matches at the Derby, but my track record is pretty poor and this probably saved me some money. Nonetheless, I was fairly shocked when asked to sign this form.
The first pool I saw was a Bigfoot match between Pagulayan and US Open champion Kevin Cheng and it was a dandy. Cheng was impressive, not at all overmatched by the big table, and found himself 10-8 ahead with ball in hand on the three but a mistake proved fatal and Alex escaped with an 11-10 win.
Saturday, 1/23
It was my first full day of sweating matches and my focus was the Bigfoot 10-ball. Shane trounced a way off form Feijen. Skyler beat Bergman in a match in which neither played well. Bustamante shot the lights out to advance to the quarterfinal. Shaw advanced with very solid play.
Skyler had a tough go of it in the bank pool event and was, very surprisingly, eliminated. Perhaps he’d redeem himself in the ring game, I was thinking. Defending champion Shannon Daulton took a loss, too.
Sunday, 1/24
In the Bigfoot quarterfinals, Shane won easily and Shaw crushed Skyler. The surprise was when Efren knocked Bustamante out. Orcullo was solid to reach the semis.
Most of the favorites in the banks event had a good day. Strickland was playing especially well and looked poised for a high finish.
Monday, 1/25
On Monday, many of the contenders for the banks title ran into unexpected hardship but there were several good matches to sweat. Defending banks champion Shannon Daulton and defending Master of the Table Alex Pagulayan both fell. Billy Thorp was the guy blazing the hottest trail, with a double hill win over Darren Appleton and a great win over Justin Hall, in which the match came down to the final ball of the double hill rack. Strickland’s run came to an end just one match short of the championship round, with Earl settling for fourth place. The guy who made a name for himself in the banks was Alex Olinger, whose victims include Thorp and Orcullo. Jayson Shaw was cruising along undefeated, too, until Jeremy Jones beat him convincingly.
It was payday at the Bigfoot. The four remaining contenders would all cash for at least $4,000, but each was looking for more, Shaw cruised after trailing early against Reyes, and to be fair, Efren just didn’t create much on his break on the ten foot table. Orcullo vs. SVB was a dandy. SVB led 5-0 but Orcullo rallied for 9-9 and seemed headed for the hill when he had a very bad miss on a seven ball that led to defeat.
The final between Shane and Jayson Shaw seemed like it would surely deliver the goods going in, but it was a whitewash of the highest order, with Shaw shooting over .950 in the first 11 racks for an 8-3 lead on the way to a blowout win. Shane never really had a shot in this one, and Shaw cashed the first big paycheck at the Derby in the amount of $16,000. Congrats and thanks to Jay Helfert for another great Bigfoot Challenge. In my opinion, the Bigfoot never produced a higher standard of play than this year, and Shaw was the best of the best.
Tuesday, 1/26
The main fare of the day was the banks finals. Shaw got a bye with three left, which became a bye into the final after Brumback beat Olinger with relative ease. Shaw, with a chance to win the first two disciplines at the Derby, fought the good fight in the banks final but, at double hill, missed a relatively routine bank of the six cross side that would likely have forced a second set. Brumback was the deserving champion. Well played by the master Brumback, who picked up his third banks title at the Derby.
Finally, I saw Archer run 179 to take the lead for the high run bonus in the 14.1 event.
Wednesday, 1/27
It was seal your fate day in the 14.1 event. Lee Vann Cortezza ran 225 to beat Archer out of the high run prize in the 14.1 event. The qualifiers for the 14.1 tournament were Lee Vann Cortezza, Jonny Archer, Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann, John Schmidt, Konstantin Stepanov, Mike Davis and Dennis Orcullo. Surprisingly, Vandenberg, Shaw and Appleton also fell short of qualifying.
Brumback’s early exit from one pocket probably put an end to his Master of the Table hopes, but Shaw was blazing a hot trail and Orcullo, Pagulayan, Reyes, SVB and Feijen were also heading for high finishes and they all began to position themselves for a run at the top prize.
Thursday, 1/28
Many of the usual suspects continued to advance in the one pocket but the final round had just three players. Niels Feijen and Shannon Murphy squared off in the semifinal hoping to reach the final against the defending champion . At double hill, Murphy appeared to be running out when he, unluckily in my opinion, got jacked up two balls from the finish line. His miss cost him the match. Feijen, the first European ever to reach the Derby City one-pocket final, was no match at all for Pagulayan in the somewhat uninspiring contest, leaving Alex the deserving champion.
In the 14.1 challenge, the quarterfinals took place. Mike Davis, John Schmidt, Konstantin Stepanov, and Dennis Orcullo all secure their spots in the semis.
Nine ball was now the focus, and I looked ahead to Friday and Saturday with enthusiasm and excitement.
Friday, 1/29
It was payday in the 14.1 event and it was Orcullo and Schmidt that scored victories to earn a spot in the finals. In the evening, Orcullo ran 104 to best Schmidt in the final to secure the $5,000 first prize. Well played, Dennis.
AZB posters Bob Jewett, Marop, DMGWalsh, and Elvicash worked tirelessly to make the 14.1 challenge run smoothly and deserve commendation.
The Derby was now just nine-ball and I saw quite a few matches. The Mosconi boys were struggling, with Deuel, Dechaine, Bergman, and Woodward all failing to reach the late stages. Dechaine lost a heartbreaker to Ko Ping Chung in a seesaw battle. Bergman was bested by Reyes. Of course, Van Boening was blazing a hot trail and remained undefeated at day’s end.
Frost had a nice double hill win over Reyes after trailing 4-0. Also playing well was the guy who may be the most underrated American player, Shawn Wilkie. Wilkie was fifth at Turning Stone and would back it up with a pretty high finish in the nine-ball. Most of the favorites looked comfortable, with Fiejen, SVB, Orcullo, Pagulayan, Bustamante, and Van Cortezza all playing well. Jason Klatt was putting on quite a show, too, and would enter Saturday’s play undefeated.
Perhaps the biggest story of the day was the elimination of Jayson Shaw, who entered the nine-ball leading the Master of the Table race. Back to back losses to John Morra and Tony Chohan took Jayson out of Master of the Table contention and it appeared that only Pagulayan, Orcullo and Feijen would remain in contention for the top prize at the Derby.
On a side note, a few young unknown Europeans were playing well, chiefly from Germany and Russia. One of them, Fedor Gorst of Russia, was just fifteen years old, but he was turning some heads.
Friday night brought the banks ring game, always fun. John Morra, Skyler Woodward and Gabe Owen all fell early. Daulton dominated most of the way, with Thorp and Bustamante just hanging on, but Bustamante ultimately outlasted Thorp to earn his head-to-head shot to catch Daulton. Bustamante put on a show to catch Shannon an took down the first prize. Very enjoyable ring game. Thanks to Truman Hogue for making it happen.
Saturday, 1/30
The curtain rose on the final act of the Derby. In the lead up to the final rounds, the matches were very competitive.
Klatt jumped out to 4-0 against Ko Pin Yi, but Ko fought back bravely and eventually found himself breaing the balls at double hill. His dry break sealed his fate and Klatt was a 9-8 winner. Van Cortezza’s 9-8 victory over Stepanov was also a thriller Lee Van took on a tough bank of the seven ball at double hill and came with it to gain the victory. Jeff Ignacio turned a few heads with his 9-2 thrashing of Niels Feijen.
The most memorable match, though, was 15-year old Russian Fedor Gorst vs. Alex Pagulayan. Surely the kid couldn’t stay with Alex, or maybe he could. It stayed tight up to 4-4 but then came the unexpected, as Gorst jumped out to a 7-4 lead, and all heads in the room turned to this great match. Pagulayan dug deep and eked out a 9-8 victory, but Gorst had made him work his tail off. We should all keep an eye on this young phenom.
The last four standing would be Ignacio, Orcullo, Pagulayan and Van Boening. What a final four! Ignacio fell, and the evening began with Shane still undefeated, and Orcullo and Alex carrying loss. Orcullo got the first bye and Alex beat Shane, so all three remained with a loss. The next bye would be into the finals, and this bye went to Alex. Against Orcullo, Shane rallied impressively from 7-6 behind, running out the set to reach the finals.
The final match was a massacre of the highest order. Shane won the first eight racks for an 8-0 lead. Alex got a few back but Shane was the 9-4 victor and the Derby City nine-ball champion. Well played, Shane.
Oh my lord, the Derby was now in the rear view mirror.
Who Was the Real Master of the Table?
Alex Pagulayan was brilliant at the Derby, defending both his one pocket title and his Master of the Table. Well played, Alex. A recent AZB thread, interestingly, asked who the better all-around player was between Orcullo and Pagulayan. I’m not sure the Derby really answered the question in full. A thought that I had was that Orcullo, though not Master of the Table, had shown every bit as much all-around skill at the Derby as Pagulayan.
Dennis:
Bigfoot ten-ball: 3rd place
Bank pool: 4th place
One Pocket: 6th place
Straight Pool: 1st place
Nine ball: 3rd place
Alex:
Ten Ball: 5th place
Bank Pool: 12th place
One Pocket: 1st place
Straight pool: Failed to qualify
Nine ball: 2nd place
I’m still struggling with the question of who’s the better all-around player. Most of all, I’m just glad to have the privilege of watching them play.
John French
My report would be incomplete without a mention of John French. For starters, I didn’t realize that I had already met him at Steinway during the Orcullo/Ko match. John was always looking for action with his contingent of players (don’t know which ones they are), played lots of poker in the casino, and also was a pool fan of the highest order, watching many matches on the stream table and usually taking the trouble to congratulate the winners, whether they were his players or not. John’s super-high energy can occasionally be overwhelming, but he seems like a good guy who is really enjoying himself as he gives some deserving players some opportunities and support.
Mosconi Implications
Outside of SVB, who won the nine-ball event, none of the hopefuls made too big a statement in January. Top ten finishers at Turning Stone included Oscar Dominguez (3rd), Rodney Morris (4th), Shawn Wilkie (5th), Hunter Lombardo (7th) , Dennis Hatch (9th) and Mike Dechaine (9th), so they were the early leaders. Of these, only Shawn Wilkie had a high finish in the Derby City nine-ball. The other player who made a statement was Scott Frost, with a 7th place finish at the Derby, highest among Americans not named Shane.
Socially
Caught up with far too many to name, but I was pleased to meet fellow AZB poster Ktown D for the first time. If I saw you, it was a pleasure.
I was pleased to have two guests with me. Mike Dearing was there for the banks and the one-pocket and Todd Nevins was there for the nine-ball. Both of them had a grand old time, and that’s as it should be.
In Conclusion
Well, another Derby City is in the books and it was a glorious festival of pool. Thanks to Greg Sullivan and his team for a great show. Time to catch up on my sleep!
Got home Sunday from the Derby after nine glorious days and I’ll share my experiences in this post. I write all of this from memory so I’ll likely get a few things wrong along the way. Corrections offered will be appreciated. I don't watch the action matches, so my post will be restricted to the Bigfoot 10-ball, DCC bank pool, DCC one pocket, DCC 14.1 challenge and DCC 9-ball.
Friday, 1/22
I made it out just ahead of the blizzard in New York, arriving in the afternoon at the Horseshoe.
I had already missed Lee Vann Cortezza’s remarkable comeback from 7-1 behind in the Big Foot vs. Ruslan Chinakhov. I also missed Orcullo’s narrow double hill win coming from behind against Biado.
Went to the window to get my seat credentials and the darndest thing happened --- I was required to sign a form in which I agreed not to side bet matches while in the tournament venue. I have rarely side bet matches at the Derby, but my track record is pretty poor and this probably saved me some money. Nonetheless, I was fairly shocked when asked to sign this form.
The first pool I saw was a Bigfoot match between Pagulayan and US Open champion Kevin Cheng and it was a dandy. Cheng was impressive, not at all overmatched by the big table, and found himself 10-8 ahead with ball in hand on the three but a mistake proved fatal and Alex escaped with an 11-10 win.
Saturday, 1/23
It was my first full day of sweating matches and my focus was the Bigfoot 10-ball. Shane trounced a way off form Feijen. Skyler beat Bergman in a match in which neither played well. Bustamante shot the lights out to advance to the quarterfinal. Shaw advanced with very solid play.
Skyler had a tough go of it in the bank pool event and was, very surprisingly, eliminated. Perhaps he’d redeem himself in the ring game, I was thinking. Defending champion Shannon Daulton took a loss, too.
Sunday, 1/24
In the Bigfoot quarterfinals, Shane won easily and Shaw crushed Skyler. The surprise was when Efren knocked Bustamante out. Orcullo was solid to reach the semis.
Most of the favorites in the banks event had a good day. Strickland was playing especially well and looked poised for a high finish.
Monday, 1/25
On Monday, many of the contenders for the banks title ran into unexpected hardship but there were several good matches to sweat. Defending banks champion Shannon Daulton and defending Master of the Table Alex Pagulayan both fell. Billy Thorp was the guy blazing the hottest trail, with a double hill win over Darren Appleton and a great win over Justin Hall, in which the match came down to the final ball of the double hill rack. Strickland’s run came to an end just one match short of the championship round, with Earl settling for fourth place. The guy who made a name for himself in the banks was Alex Olinger, whose victims include Thorp and Orcullo. Jayson Shaw was cruising along undefeated, too, until Jeremy Jones beat him convincingly.
It was payday at the Bigfoot. The four remaining contenders would all cash for at least $4,000, but each was looking for more, Shaw cruised after trailing early against Reyes, and to be fair, Efren just didn’t create much on his break on the ten foot table. Orcullo vs. SVB was a dandy. SVB led 5-0 but Orcullo rallied for 9-9 and seemed headed for the hill when he had a very bad miss on a seven ball that led to defeat.
The final between Shane and Jayson Shaw seemed like it would surely deliver the goods going in, but it was a whitewash of the highest order, with Shaw shooting over .950 in the first 11 racks for an 8-3 lead on the way to a blowout win. Shane never really had a shot in this one, and Shaw cashed the first big paycheck at the Derby in the amount of $16,000. Congrats and thanks to Jay Helfert for another great Bigfoot Challenge. In my opinion, the Bigfoot never produced a higher standard of play than this year, and Shaw was the best of the best.
Tuesday, 1/26
The main fare of the day was the banks finals. Shaw got a bye with three left, which became a bye into the final after Brumback beat Olinger with relative ease. Shaw, with a chance to win the first two disciplines at the Derby, fought the good fight in the banks final but, at double hill, missed a relatively routine bank of the six cross side that would likely have forced a second set. Brumback was the deserving champion. Well played by the master Brumback, who picked up his third banks title at the Derby.
Finally, I saw Archer run 179 to take the lead for the high run bonus in the 14.1 event.
Wednesday, 1/27
It was seal your fate day in the 14.1 event. Lee Vann Cortezza ran 225 to beat Archer out of the high run prize in the 14.1 event. The qualifiers for the 14.1 tournament were Lee Vann Cortezza, Jonny Archer, Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann, John Schmidt, Konstantin Stepanov, Mike Davis and Dennis Orcullo. Surprisingly, Vandenberg, Shaw and Appleton also fell short of qualifying.
Brumback’s early exit from one pocket probably put an end to his Master of the Table hopes, but Shaw was blazing a hot trail and Orcullo, Pagulayan, Reyes, SVB and Feijen were also heading for high finishes and they all began to position themselves for a run at the top prize.
Thursday, 1/28
Many of the usual suspects continued to advance in the one pocket but the final round had just three players. Niels Feijen and Shannon Murphy squared off in the semifinal hoping to reach the final against the defending champion . At double hill, Murphy appeared to be running out when he, unluckily in my opinion, got jacked up two balls from the finish line. His miss cost him the match. Feijen, the first European ever to reach the Derby City one-pocket final, was no match at all for Pagulayan in the somewhat uninspiring contest, leaving Alex the deserving champion.
In the 14.1 challenge, the quarterfinals took place. Mike Davis, John Schmidt, Konstantin Stepanov, and Dennis Orcullo all secure their spots in the semis.
Nine ball was now the focus, and I looked ahead to Friday and Saturday with enthusiasm and excitement.
Friday, 1/29
It was payday in the 14.1 event and it was Orcullo and Schmidt that scored victories to earn a spot in the finals. In the evening, Orcullo ran 104 to best Schmidt in the final to secure the $5,000 first prize. Well played, Dennis.
AZB posters Bob Jewett, Marop, DMGWalsh, and Elvicash worked tirelessly to make the 14.1 challenge run smoothly and deserve commendation.
The Derby was now just nine-ball and I saw quite a few matches. The Mosconi boys were struggling, with Deuel, Dechaine, Bergman, and Woodward all failing to reach the late stages. Dechaine lost a heartbreaker to Ko Ping Chung in a seesaw battle. Bergman was bested by Reyes. Of course, Van Boening was blazing a hot trail and remained undefeated at day’s end.
Frost had a nice double hill win over Reyes after trailing 4-0. Also playing well was the guy who may be the most underrated American player, Shawn Wilkie. Wilkie was fifth at Turning Stone and would back it up with a pretty high finish in the nine-ball. Most of the favorites looked comfortable, with Fiejen, SVB, Orcullo, Pagulayan, Bustamante, and Van Cortezza all playing well. Jason Klatt was putting on quite a show, too, and would enter Saturday’s play undefeated.
Perhaps the biggest story of the day was the elimination of Jayson Shaw, who entered the nine-ball leading the Master of the Table race. Back to back losses to John Morra and Tony Chohan took Jayson out of Master of the Table contention and it appeared that only Pagulayan, Orcullo and Feijen would remain in contention for the top prize at the Derby.
On a side note, a few young unknown Europeans were playing well, chiefly from Germany and Russia. One of them, Fedor Gorst of Russia, was just fifteen years old, but he was turning some heads.
Friday night brought the banks ring game, always fun. John Morra, Skyler Woodward and Gabe Owen all fell early. Daulton dominated most of the way, with Thorp and Bustamante just hanging on, but Bustamante ultimately outlasted Thorp to earn his head-to-head shot to catch Daulton. Bustamante put on a show to catch Shannon an took down the first prize. Very enjoyable ring game. Thanks to Truman Hogue for making it happen.
Saturday, 1/30
The curtain rose on the final act of the Derby. In the lead up to the final rounds, the matches were very competitive.
Klatt jumped out to 4-0 against Ko Pin Yi, but Ko fought back bravely and eventually found himself breaing the balls at double hill. His dry break sealed his fate and Klatt was a 9-8 winner. Van Cortezza’s 9-8 victory over Stepanov was also a thriller Lee Van took on a tough bank of the seven ball at double hill and came with it to gain the victory. Jeff Ignacio turned a few heads with his 9-2 thrashing of Niels Feijen.
The most memorable match, though, was 15-year old Russian Fedor Gorst vs. Alex Pagulayan. Surely the kid couldn’t stay with Alex, or maybe he could. It stayed tight up to 4-4 but then came the unexpected, as Gorst jumped out to a 7-4 lead, and all heads in the room turned to this great match. Pagulayan dug deep and eked out a 9-8 victory, but Gorst had made him work his tail off. We should all keep an eye on this young phenom.
The last four standing would be Ignacio, Orcullo, Pagulayan and Van Boening. What a final four! Ignacio fell, and the evening began with Shane still undefeated, and Orcullo and Alex carrying loss. Orcullo got the first bye and Alex beat Shane, so all three remained with a loss. The next bye would be into the finals, and this bye went to Alex. Against Orcullo, Shane rallied impressively from 7-6 behind, running out the set to reach the finals.
The final match was a massacre of the highest order. Shane won the first eight racks for an 8-0 lead. Alex got a few back but Shane was the 9-4 victor and the Derby City nine-ball champion. Well played, Shane.
Oh my lord, the Derby was now in the rear view mirror.
Who Was the Real Master of the Table?
Alex Pagulayan was brilliant at the Derby, defending both his one pocket title and his Master of the Table. Well played, Alex. A recent AZB thread, interestingly, asked who the better all-around player was between Orcullo and Pagulayan. I’m not sure the Derby really answered the question in full. A thought that I had was that Orcullo, though not Master of the Table, had shown every bit as much all-around skill at the Derby as Pagulayan.
Dennis:
Bigfoot ten-ball: 3rd place
Bank pool: 4th place
One Pocket: 6th place
Straight Pool: 1st place
Nine ball: 3rd place
Alex:
Ten Ball: 5th place
Bank Pool: 12th place
One Pocket: 1st place
Straight pool: Failed to qualify
Nine ball: 2nd place
I’m still struggling with the question of who’s the better all-around player. Most of all, I’m just glad to have the privilege of watching them play.
John French
My report would be incomplete without a mention of John French. For starters, I didn’t realize that I had already met him at Steinway during the Orcullo/Ko match. John was always looking for action with his contingent of players (don’t know which ones they are), played lots of poker in the casino, and also was a pool fan of the highest order, watching many matches on the stream table and usually taking the trouble to congratulate the winners, whether they were his players or not. John’s super-high energy can occasionally be overwhelming, but he seems like a good guy who is really enjoying himself as he gives some deserving players some opportunities and support.
Mosconi Implications
Outside of SVB, who won the nine-ball event, none of the hopefuls made too big a statement in January. Top ten finishers at Turning Stone included Oscar Dominguez (3rd), Rodney Morris (4th), Shawn Wilkie (5th), Hunter Lombardo (7th) , Dennis Hatch (9th) and Mike Dechaine (9th), so they were the early leaders. Of these, only Shawn Wilkie had a high finish in the Derby City nine-ball. The other player who made a statement was Scott Frost, with a 7th place finish at the Derby, highest among Americans not named Shane.
Socially
Caught up with far too many to name, but I was pleased to meet fellow AZB poster Ktown D for the first time. If I saw you, it was a pleasure.
I was pleased to have two guests with me. Mike Dearing was there for the banks and the one-pocket and Todd Nevins was there for the nine-ball. Both of them had a grand old time, and that’s as it should be.
In Conclusion
Well, another Derby City is in the books and it was a glorious festival of pool. Thanks to Greg Sullivan and his team for a great show. Time to catch up on my sleep!
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