DCC Day 7, Thursday, 1/27
The day began with a 9-ball nailbiter between Appleton and Filler. Josh wasn’t at his best and Darren seemed to have the upper hand most of the way. The defining moment came at 8-7, with Darren on the hill. Filler pushed into a super-tough one ball and Appleton opted to shoot a shot that he’d likely have given back to most players. His miss proved to be his last shot as Josh ran out the rack and followed with a break and run for the 9-8 victory.
Of course, the main fare of the day was one pocket, and Thursday brought the business end. In Round 9, the key match was Hall over Chohan, which eliminated Tony, and Filler also eliminated SVB. In Round 10, Appleton gave Gorst his first loss, Josh Roberts topped Filler, and Shaw beat Hall. In Round 11, Appleton stayed undefeated with a double hill thriller that eliminated Evan Lunda and Josh Roberts beat and eliminated Shaw with relative ease. Lunda, Shaw, and Grabe tied for fourth. Gorst drew the bye in Round 12 and Roberts topped Appleton. Roberts drew the bye in Round 13, so Gorst and Appleton were to face off on Friday for a shot at Josh Roberts in the final.
Nine ball remained in its early rounds, but some elite players that had already taken a loss by day’s end included Appleton, Alcaide and Eberle. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz narrowly escaped defeat, down 8-4 to Tommy Tokoph, when he ran five racks and out.
DCC Day 8, Friday, 1/28
Outside of two bank pool matches postponed from Thursday, nine ball had the stage to itself.
Early in the day, I had the unexpected pleasure of being tapped on the shoulder by Emily Frazer, who was in town for just a day. She and I had a nice chat and I was delighted to have an opportunity to offer a lot of positive feedback with respect to Matchroom’s recent unveiling of its vision and plan for pool.
The one pocket semifinal was a dud as Darren Appleton quickly fell behind 2-0, and after fighting back to win rack three, he misplayed the up-table game at 6-4 ahead in rack four to let Fedor Gorst close things out.
The final wasn’t much better, but Gorst played well enough to give Josh Roberts a lot of tough positions against which to defend and wore him down to win the one pocket title and, more orless, lock up Master of the Table. He had everyone wondering whether he could win the “Triple Crown” by winning the nine ball.
The nine-ball was electrifying, and among the noteworthy wins were Mario He over Gomez, Sanchez-Ruiz over SVB, Morra with a double hill win over Lechner, and Konrad J over Ouschan. Justin Martin, who took Albin Ouschan to the double hill at the International 9-ball, again showed strong form in his win over Kazakis. Saturday’s play was set to begin with Round 6 still in progress and the event seemed way behind schedule. There was every reason to fear that Saturday’s play might go deep into Sunday morning.
It was too early to sense who would contend for the nine ball title, but first tier players showing great form included Fedor Gorst, Josh Filler, Jayson Shaw, John Morra, Mario He, Carlo Biado and Wiktor Zielinski.
The evening brought the banks ring game, and for the third straight time, Billy Thorpe and Skyler Woodward were the last two standing. Billy was by far the best player in the ring game, and won with relative ease.
DCC Day 9, Saturday, 1/29
On the Derby’s final day, it was nine ball only. I was hoping, but hardly confident, that my seven and a half hours of sleep would be enough to get me to the finish line,
The best match of the day may well have been Jayson Shaw vs Omar Al-Shaheen, in which Shaw had a five pack and Omar a six pack in Shaw’s 9-7 victory. Another classic was Roland Garcia vs SVB, in which Garcia jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but SVB won the next seven racks to reach the hill, but Garcia scratched out the last four racks to win double hill. Shane Wolford won double hill over Bader Al Awadhi when Bader missed the eight ball at double hill. Shane, who is just 21, then gave Filler a fairly stiff test, but lost and finished tied for sixth place.
When the smoke settled, we got the match we all wanted to see, and it was Filler over Shaw, 9-6. Filler led 8-3 when he had a non-compliant break that led to Shaw rallying for 8-6, but the comeback fell short. Roland Garcia appeared in control of the semifinal, ahead of Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz by 6-4 and about to run out for 7-4, when a disastrous position error onto the seven-ball cost him the rack. Ruiz followed with a three pack and took control to reach the final against Filler. Sanchez Ruiz had lost in Round 3, so this was his tenth straight victory. In the final, he dominated the play and Filler was a little off, and it added up to a convincing 9-3 victory.
Tournament Summary
Filler won the ten ball, topping Gorst in the final, with Shaw and Immonen sharing third. Gorst won the bank pool, with Shaw second and Tony Chohan third. Gorst won the one pocket, with Josh Roberts second and Darren Appleton third. and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz won the nine ball, with Josh Filler second, Roland Garcia third, and Jayson Shaw and Mario He sharing fourth. Thorpe won the banks ring game, with Woodward second. Master of the Table was Fedor Gorst.
Socially
I caught up with more than a few at the Derby.
Major or Frequent Interaction
Jayson Shaw, Albin Ouschan, Mario He, Max Lechner, Mika Immonen, Darren Appleton, Alex Lely, Josh Filler, Pia Filler, and Demitrius “Tin Man” Jelatis.
Just Caught Up With
Omar Al-Shaheen, David Alcaide, Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, John Brumback, Max Eberle, Justin Hall, Naoyuki Oi, Alex Kazakis, Dennis Grabe, Chris Reinhold, Tyler Styer, Ralf Souquet, Mark Vidal. Jeremy Jones, Mark Wilson, Jay Helfert, Nick Varner, Jerry Briesath and Billy Incardona.
Non-Professional
I spoke often with Bobby Chamberlain, whose straight pool extravaganza in Virginia produced a world record days before Derby City. I also enjoyed my time chatting with Emily Frazer, pool’s great visionary.
I met up with a lot of friends and fellow railbirds and enjoyed their company. I met quite a few new fans, too.
The Hotel Itself
The Horseshoe Southern Indiana is now known as Caesars. There’s not much to do there, but the casino is nice. Smoking is permitted in the casino, making the air quality poor and that’s a small negative.
The rooms are OK, but there was no housekeeping, not even on request, although you could get clean towels. There isn’t much good food in the food court, and I’m rarely inclined to visit Binion’s steakhouse. This year, I didn’t go there even once, despite a generous invitation one night from Jayson Shaw to be his guest.
What I Will Remember Most About the 2022 Derby
European success in the fringe games certainly caught me off guard. Their success in bank pool was unexpected, given that bank pool is rarely, if ever, played in Europe. The Europeans also landed two of the top three in the one pocket in Gorst and Appleton, and Dennis Grabe tied for fourth.
In ten ball, there was an all-Eurpean final between Filler and Gorst. In nine ball, Europe again showed its stuff, as Sanchez Ruiz topped Filler in the final.
The continued maturation of Fedor Gorst, whom I’ve been calling the world’s straightest shooter for four years now, was remarkable to behold. He has made major progress in his tactical play, which was once a major weakness, and he may be on a trajectory to becoming an elite tactician down the road. I think he must be reckoned as. at very least. a top seven player in the world, along with SVB, Filler, Shaw, Orcullo, Ouschan and JL Chang. Fedor’s a major threat to win any event in which he plays, and it would be within reason to suggest he is the world’s best player. I'm not so sure, based on the results in rotation pool. After all, Filler was first in 10-ball and second in 9-ball while Fedor came second in 10-ball and 17th in 9-ball. No matter how you slice it, though, at twenty-one years of age Fedor is a superstar of the highest order.
The rivalry between Gorst and Shaw continues to blossom and it looks like it will provide years of entertainment. In January alone, a) Jayson topped Fedor in the Turning Stone final. b) Fedor beat Shaw in the Bigfoot semis, and c) Fedor beat Jayson in the bank pool final.
How good was Fedor’s January? He won $5,000 at Turning Stone, $25,000 at the CSI Arizona Open, and over $60,000 at the Derby. Yes, he won over $90,000 in prize money in January!
Finally. the absence of Orcullo, defending Master of the Table, was hard to overlook.
I did not watch even one action match over the nine days.
Conclusion
Another Derby is in the books, and it was a dandy. Thanks to Diamond Billiards for a grand old time. Hope to do it again next year!
If I caught up with you, it was great seeing you. If not, I hope to see you at an event down the road.
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