Here are some statistics from the 2026 Derby City Classic's One-Pocket Tournament, played January 25 - February 1 at Caesars Southern Indiana Hotel & Casino in Elizabeth, Indiana with pay-per-view streaming by xpool. Shane Van Boening won the event, defeating Roland Garcia in the final match.
This event had 404 entrants but 32 forfeits in the first round. The event operated under the standard DCC format of redrawing match pairings for every round, with one buy-back permitted for each player. All races were to 3 except the Final to 4. The main commentators were Mark Wilson and John Schmidt. The main referee was Ed Liddawi.
Conditions -- The conditions for these matches included:
The 12 matches (49 games) streamed by xpool on the feature table were as follows (shown in the order in which they were played):
Tues. Jan. 27, 2026
Wed. Jan. 28
Thurs. Jan. 29
Fri. Jan. 30
Sat. Jan 31
Sun. Jan 26
■ Breaks by side of table -- 20% (10 of 49) from the breaker's left and 80% (39 of 49) from his right
■ Games won by breaker
■ Games won by player who scored the first point (or had it scored for him) -- 37 of 49 (76%)
■ Matches won by winner of lag -- 6 of 12 (50%)
■ Match lengths
■ Distribution of lengths of games:
■ Distribution of game scores:
■ Average match score (for the 11 races to 3)-- 3 - 0.9. Three matches ended at 3-0, 6 at 3-1, and 2 at 3-2.
■ Ball counts by length of run:
■ Distribution of run-outs to win the games:
■ High run-outs
This event had 404 entrants but 32 forfeits in the first round. The event operated under the standard DCC format of redrawing match pairings for every round, with one buy-back permitted for each player. All races were to 3 except the Final to 4. The main commentators were Mark Wilson and John Schmidt. The main referee was Ed Liddawi.
Conditions -- The conditions for these matches included:
• Diamond 9-foot table with 4½" corner pockets and blue Simonis 860 or 860 HR cloth;
• Aramith Tournament balls with an Aramith "Diamond" cue ball with blue spots;
• triangle rack;
• rack your own with alternating breaks;
• a ball made on the break in the breaker's pocket requires a re-break;
• a ball jumped off the table to prevent the opponent from scoring is counted for the opponent;
• game scores (ball counts) are raised by one point for each player when a player's score goes to (-1) and the other player is already negative;
• when a player reaches a game score (ball count) of negative five, he loses the game (did not happen);
• if a match reaches the 3-hour point, it ends, with the player ahead winning;
• no shot clock except for the Final (60 sec. + 60 sec. extension);
• 3 fouls in a row is loss of game (did not happen); and
• lag for opening break.
The 12 matches (49 games) streamed by xpool on the feature table were as follows (shown in the order in which they were played):
Tues. Jan. 27, 2026
1. Shannon Murphy defeated Eric Roberts 3-1
2. Hayden Ernst d. Justin Hall 3-1
Wed. Jan. 28
3. Fedor Gorst d. John Morra 3-1
4. Evan Lunda d. Oscar Dominguez 3-1
Thurs. Jan. 29
5. Shane Van Boening d. Murphy 3-0
6. Lunda d. Gorst 3-1
7. Van Boening d. Roberto Gomez 3-2
8. Lee Vann Corteza d. Louis Demarco 3-0
9. Skyler Woodward d. Anthony Meglino 3-2
Fri. Jan. 30
10. Woodward d. Lunda 3-0
Sat. Jan 31
11. Roland Garcia d. Meglino 3-1
Sun. Jan 26
12. Van Boening d. Garcia 4-2 (Final)
■ Breaks by side of table -- 20% (10 of 49) from the breaker's left and 80% (39 of 49) from his right
■ Games won by breaker
• When breaking from his left side of table -- 6 of 10 (60%)
• When breaking from his right side of table -- 25 of 39 (64%)
Total -- 31 of 49 (63%)
■ Games won by player who scored the first point (or had it scored for him) -- 37 of 49 (76%)
■ Matches won by winner of lag -- 6 of 12 (50%)
■ Match lengths
• Longest in total length (2 hrs. 39 min.) -- Gorst defeated Morra 3-1
• Highest in average minutes per game (39.6 min.) -- Gorst d. Morra 3-1
• Shortest in total length (41 min.) -- Van Boening d. Murphy 3-0
• Lowest in average minutes per game (10-5 min.) -- Murphy d. Roberts 3-1
• Average match length -- 77 minutes
• Average minutes per game -- 19 min.
■ Distribution of lengths of games:
Under 10 minutes -- 12 games
10-19 minutes -- 18
20-29 minutes -- 12
30-59 minutes -- 6
60+ minutes -- 1
Total -- 49
■ Distribution of game scores:
8-7 -- 4 times
8-6 -- 5
8-5 -- 4
8-4 -- 2
8-3 -- 2
8-2 -- 4
8-1 -- 10
8-0 -- 10
8-(-1) -- 7
8-(-2) -- 1
Total -- 49
Average game score -- 8 - 2.1
■ Average match score (for the 11 races to 3)-- 3 - 0.9. Three matches ended at 3-0, 6 at 3-1, and 2 at 3-2.
■ Ball counts by length of run:
The total ball counts resulted from the following runs and fouls.
1 ball -- 66 times
2 balls -- 23
3 balls -- 21
4 balls -- 9
5 balls -- 8
6 balls -- 13
7 balls -- 10
8 balls -- 11
9+ balls -- 2
Plus balls pocketed by opponents -- 30
Minus fouls -- 50
Plus DCC negative score adjustments -- 8
TOTAL ball count (49 games) -- 493
■ Distribution of run-outs to win the games:
1 ball -- 12 (24% of 49 games)
2 balls -- 7
3 balls -- 3
4 balls -- 2
5 balls -- 3
6 balls -- 3
7 balls -- 6
8 or 9 balls -- 13 (27%)
Average (mean) "out" run -- 4.6 balls
Average (median) "out" run -- 5 balls
■ High run-outs
• 9-and-out -- once each by Murphy (Match 1) and Van Boening (Match 5).
• 8-and-out -- 11 times: 2 by Van Boening (both in Match 7); 2 by Corteza (both in Match 8); 2 by Lunda (Matches 4 and 6); and 1 each by Ernst (Match 2), Gorst (Match 6), Gomez (Match 7), Meglino (Match 11), and Garcia (Match 12).