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2023 Derby City Classic Banks – Finals Set #2 – Banks – Evan Lunda vs Fedor Gorst

2023 Derby City Classic Banks – Finals Set #1 – Evan Lunda vs Fedor Gorst

2023 Derby City Classic Banks Division – Evan Lunda vs Raed Shabib

2023 Derby City Classic One Pocket Division – Sky Woodward vs Evan Lunda

Fedor Gorst Wins Derby City Banks Title at Derby City Day Five

Fedor Gorst (David Thomson – Medium Pool)

Diamond Derby City Classic XXIV, January 20-28, 2023

Caesars Southern Indiana, Elizabeth, IN

Master of the Table points are accredited to the Banks, One Pocket, and 9-Ball divisions.

The player who accrues the most points from their highest finishes in the 3 disciplines is Master of the Table or as it

is also known, All-Around-Champion.

Diamond generously delivers an additional $20,000 for first, plus, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively for 2nd and 3rd.

More on that later after the One Pocket final.

The Accu-Stats PPV OnDemand service has all of the above entertainment available for your viewing pleasure until Feb.28, 2023.

Diamond BANK POOL CHAMPIONSHIP

Short Rack. Race to 3.

There were a record 497, now there is one!

Fedor Gorst and Evan Lunda owned the Accu-Stats Arena. Actually, Fedor owned 2/3s of it: Being unbeaten, he had the luxury of a buyback.

And he was going to need it. 

It didn’t look that way when he and Evan were taking turns in the pre-match warming up. Fed couldn’t miss. What about these Diamond Superpro cut, 4 1/4” pockets? He was banking into basketball hoops.

The “book” would suggest that, as he had been-here-done-that and, as he had 2 bullets to Lunda’s one, the money was on him.

Lunda had the advantage of today’s TV Arena experience in the first semifinal with Raed Shabib. The 40-years-young Middle Easterner, now residing in Texas, had creamed thru the crop of DCC’s finest: Roland Garcia, Billy Thorpe, Scott Frost, just to name a few.

Lunda had just eliminated Lima, Peru’s Gerson Martinez, immobilized Mika Immonen, and, oh yeah, this kid from Germany named Joshua Filler.

Shabib was brimming with confidence. Evan won the all-important lag only to break dry. Shabib ran 4. Evan, feeling out the rails, missed a few. Raed soon rolled into a one-nil lead.

Then, skillset seemed to have abandoned him; the transition to the subtleties of the arena’s atmosphere eluded him. “This table plays so different from out there. I should have practiced more on it.”

From there, it was all Lunda. Shabib was allowed only 2 more balls. Yet, he was inspired and hungry for more of the Derby adventure. “I’m going to win this,” were his parting words as he floated from the arena.

Lunda, relieved, was as ready as he’ll ever be. He felt that he’d found his footing under the lights, cameras, and action of the Accu-Stats Arena experience. He’d better be. 

Gorst, the 2022 DCC Bank Pool Champion had just plowed through a field including Gerson Martinez, Roberto Gomez, and Alex Pagulayan. He was ready to repeat.

Striding along the wall of pool’s prestigious sponsors’ ad panels, you could see Fedor felt that he owned this arena. Or, as mentioned, at least 2/3s of it.

He was full of friendly fun as he joked with Evan about his draw having been,” Cupcake.”

That camaraderie was swiftly about to switch to killer mode.

Lunda won the lag and, after a nervous start from both players, brilliantly closed the first game, 5-1. Winner breaks, and another one for Lunda at 5-1. In the 3rd game, he nailed the first set with 5-zero! What? Gorst only 2 balls…in 3 games?

Time out!

And, of course, back to the buy-back booth.

Gorst’s transition was astonishing. It was as if the first set was completely wiped clean from his memory.

Closing with three identical scores of 5-2 culminated in a 3-zero win and most importantly, a repeating his title of Derby City Bank Pool Champion.

“Winning the lag is so important in this game. In the first set, when Evan got off to such a good start and I was missing, my confidence left me,” he confessed.

“I have been in that position many times. And experience has remind me that I have to let that go.”

Maybe, that’s the ultimate ability of a true champion, to be able to let the losses go – get back to a blank slate.

Fedor continued, “I have to run. I have a One Pocket match.”

Derby’s brutal schedule shows no mercy.

Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET 

With the DCC one-time Buy-Back formula, after every round, entrant’s names are reshuffled then redrawn. As DCC events are not seeded means that you could run into anyone.

Round 4

429 one-hole aficionados formed another attendance record.

Appropriately, the opening match was last year’s runner-up, Josh Roberts, pitted against last night’s 10-Ball runner-up Konrad Juszczyszyn.

Arguably Josh is supposed to win. Juszczyszyn applied patience rather than aggression. His 14.1 Championship expertise kept pace with his One-Pocket expert opponent.

Roberts got the opportunity to close it out only to let a 6-ball slip past the net.

Konrad applied his 14.1 patterns and ran out the deciding rack.

Tyler Styer then entered the arena with the maturing David Matlock who, in his prime, dominated.

Today’s One-Pocket is a different ball game. It has evolved to a much more aggressive and less “moving” discipline.

Styer’s totally confident, committed shot-making and superb position play sealed the deal.

Now to the undefeated household names with 2 lives:

Oh, Oh! Gorst has a new row to hoe; Roberto Gomez delivered him to the buy-back booth.

Billy Thorpe, Jayson Shaw, Roland Garcia, Louis DeMarco, Alex Pagulayan, Ike Runnels, Tony Chohan, Shane Van Boening, Shane Wolford,  Skyler Woodward,  John Morra, Corey Deuel, Mitch Ellerman, Billy Thorpe, Roland Garcia and Roberto Gomez.…the list goes on. 

Meanwhile, Mika Immonen was eliminated by Jason “Jay Bird” Brown, as was Raed Shabib by Alex.

Visit results.derbycityclassic.com for more updates.

The action-packed week continues:

Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET Championship: Sun Jan. 22 -Wed. Jan. 25. Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena, Thursday evening, Jan 26.

Diamond Derby City Classic 9-BALL Championship: Begins TODAY Wed. Jan 25 – Sat. 28.

Friday Night Ring Game: Jan 27.

The captured match-ups are available via the Accu-Stats Pay-Per-View OnDemand, 4-camera HD production. Approximately, 60 action-packed hours of pro-pool are projected, PLUS reruns. After each match concludes, it is uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. With PPV OnDemand, you choose when you watch, no matter what you’re timezone.

Don’t miss a stroke: Visit accu-stats.com. Enjoy.

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SVB Wins Derby City Big Foot 10-Ball Challenge

Shane Van Boening (David Thomson – Medium Pool)

Diamond Derby City Classic XXIV, January 20-28, 2023

Caesars Southern Indiana, Elizabeth, IN

By David Thomson

Diamond BIG Foot Challenge

LIVE from the Accu-Stats TV Arena.

Format: Race to 11, single elimination, alternate break, foul on all balls, no jump cues. 10-Ball does not win on the break tho’ beware, caroms and combos do.

Mosconi Cup captains Jeremy Jones and Mark Wilson are mostly in the Accu-Stats’ commentary booth. Occasionally they have guests. 

Reminder: when you see the balls bobbling or bursting out of the jaws, remember that BIG Foot’s biting, pro-cut pockets are now tighter – 4 1/8” tight!

Semis #1: Shane Van Boening vs. Roberto Gomez.

Shane’s and Roberto’s Accu-Stats TPAs of .930 & .895 say a lot. You would say that both players pocketed well and didn’t make too many errors.

Then, when you see the final score of 11-3, you’d realize that Shane was doing all the shooting. And , that Roberto wasn’t making any errors because…Shane was doing all the shooting!

The world-class .933 TPA says it all – even on a 9 foot. But this was BIG Foot…about 50 square feet of Simonis with 2 1/4” Aramith Balls squeezing into Diamond, dare we say, “superpro-cut” 4 1/8” pocket openings.

Roberto wasn’t shot into submission. If he didn’t get a shot after the break that meant that Shane was in control of the table. And, when Shane is in control of the table, you don’t get to shoot at much.

And that’s all she wrote about semi-final #1.

Semis #1: Lee Vann Cortez vs. Konrad Juszczyszyn: 11-4

Konrad Juszczyszyn’s .943 says a lot more. It says that he shot lights out!

Now sadly, Lee Vann Corteza’s .698 says that he had opportunity and didn’t capitalize on it.

“I scratched two times on the break. With the balls wide open, it cost me 4 games right there.”

It’s true; With ball-in-hand, Konrad cleaned up Corteza’s open racks plus, his own break was working for him. With rolls like that, it’s easy to streak ahead.

Slumped a little in his seat, it was obvious that Lee Vann wasn’t feeling it today. He was playing from memory: not able to summon in the moment the passion required to truly get in stroke.

Compassion be-damned! Konrad was taking no prisoners. He was feeling it. And loving it!

Finals: Shane Vann Boening vs. Konrad Juszczyszyn: 11-7

It looked like he was off to a fearsome start when strategy won Shane the opening rack and followed that with a break-and-run.

The third rack should have been his too, only he took a straight-in 9 for granted that bobbled and was left sitting on the shallow shelf of the pocket. 

That focused him. He knew that he had to take Konrad seriously: Look at the damage he’d wreaked on his road to the final: Morra, Filler, Corteza – three DCC champions swept aside with the stroke of his cue. 

Juszczyszyn, the 2017 American Straight-Pool Champion, was hungry. And his appetite for victory was strong. He could taste it. He knew he should have been down 3-0. Revitalized, he took the 4th game and they were tied at 2.

He then committed the ultimate sin; He scratched on his break. Shane devoured that rack then broke-and-ran, again: 4-2.

In fact, Shane had averaged 4 break-and-runs in his last three matches.

The gap continued to widen: 6-2. It’s hard to make a 4-game comeback with an alternate break format, especially against the big break of SVB.

Konrad’s fate had turned…and he felt it. Shane was missing, too. When he did, he left nothing. When Konrad missed, he left the rack.

The articulate Grady Mathews used to say, “The balls know who’s winning.”

Konrad later confessed, “I played terrible. When I began to miss balls I was making earlier in the tournament, I lost confidence. Then, when I made that long combo on the 10, I got it back for a minute.”

But, it was only for a minute.

In the next rack, Van Boening, with one of those “anything-you-can-do” moments, slammed home a similar length-of-the-table, 10-ball combo.

He later stated that he hadn’t played so well either. Not only had he slept thru that aforementioned 9 in the 3rd game, he actually missed a 10-ball later in the match.

Their respective TPAs were .843 and .730: That said it all.

Now Shane has 3 BIG Foot titles; tied with Jayson.

Watch out for fireworks in 2024, not just with their rivalry, it’s DCC XXV.

Shane van Boening: $16,000

Konrad Juszczyszyn: $8,000

Roberto Gomez: $4,000

Lee Vann Cortez: $4,000

No Master of the Table points are accredited for the 10-Ball event.

Their accumulation is generated by the Banks, One Pocket, and 9-Ball divisions.

And Diamond generously delivers an additional $25,000 in prize money.

More on that later.

The Accu-Stats PPV OnDemand service has all of the above entertainment available for your viewing pleasure thru. Feb.28, 2023.

. 

Diamond BANK POOL CHAMPIONSHIP

Short Rack. Race to 3, Round 10

There were a record 497, now there are 14

Play begins at 11am. 

With the DCC one-time Buy-Back formula, after every round, entrant’s names are reshuffled then redrawn. As DCC events are not seeded means that you could run into anyone.

Three players are still blessed with buy-backs: Fedor Gorst, Evan Lunda, and Gerson Martinez

Billy Thorpe, Jayson Shaw, Mitch Ellerman, Joshua Filler, Alex Pagulayan, Mika Immonen, Roberto Gomez, Roland Garcia, Mickey Krause, Louis DeMarco, and Raed Shabib have one bullet.

Raed was the one who sent Jesus Atencio and Scott Frost home. 

But the most exciting encounter for him was his first time playing America’s number 1 player, Shane van Boening.

A crowd had gathered around the table. The word was out that Shabib was on the hill and Shane needed 2.

Now he felt he’d made it as a contender.

Of course, Shane won the 4th rack and they were all tied up…until Raed had 4 balls in the decider and, Shane only 2.

Then Shane got another, then another, then, they were both fighting over the last ball.

It took 20 minutes of serious safety strategy until Shane figured out Raed’s weak spot: Leave him long on the short rail.

Now all Raed has to do is figure out Shane’s.

Interestingly, Raed is still in and Shane isn’t. He’d dodged another bullet.

Meanwhile, Fedor got Shane, De Marco crimped Corey, Shane shot Justin Hall, Evan Lunda laid Josh Roberts to rest, Roland Garcia showed Tony Chohan the door, Pagulayan pickled Shannon Daulton, Fortunski had the misfortune of encountering Jayson, and Billy Thorpe get’s the credit for eliminating Efren.

Visit results.derbycityclassic.com for more updates.

Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET 

The event entries were increased to 429 entries. Stay tuned!

The action-packed week continues:

Diamond Derby City Classic BANK POOL Championship: Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena: Tuesday evening, Jan 25.

Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET Championship: Sun Jan. 22 -Wed. Jan. 25. Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena, Thursday evening, Jan 26.

Diamond Derby City Classic 9-BALL Championship: Wed. Jan 25 – Sat. 28.

Friday Night Ring Game: Jan 27.

The captured match-ups are available via the Accu-Stats Pay-Per-View OnDemand, 4-camera HD production. Approximately, 60 action-packed hours of pro-pool are projected, PLUS reruns. After each match concludes, it is uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. With PPV OnDemand, you choose when you watch, no matter what you’re timezone.

Don’t miss a stroke: Visit accu-stats.com. Enjoy.

Go to discussion...

Gomez On A Roll

Alex Pagulayan and Roberto Gomez

The Action Palace in Huber Heights, OH – a suburb of Dayton – hosted eight of the best one pocket players in the world to compete in the High Stakes One Pocket Championship.

Held this past weekend and presented by PoolActionTV.com and the Action Palace, owner Alex Olinger welcomed the red hot Roberto Gomez who is just coming off his Texas Open One Pocket title as well as the victor in the recent Champions One Pocket Challenge over Corey Deuel. Roberto is also the current International Open One Pocket champ. Alex Pagulayan, BCA and One Pocket Hall of Famer and the holder of many one pocket titles as well as the current Scotty Townsend Memorial One Pocket title, was looking to add another notch to his belt. 

Also in this star-studded field was Tony Chohan.He is a two-time US Open One Pocket champ and the winner of this year’s Southeastern Triple Crown One Pocket Championship, Buffalo’s Pro One Pocket Championship and the Midwest Open One Pocket title.

Looking for his first major one pocket title of the year and the winner of the 2021 Southeastern Triple Crown One Pocket Championship was John Morra as well as the 2013 Derby City Classic One Pocket champ and the 2019 Derby City Classic runner-up, Corey Deuel.

The winner of the 2021 Racks On The Rocks Classic One Pocket Championship in West Peoria, IL and this year’s Champions One Pocket Challenge over Josh Roberts, Evan Lunda, has consistently finished high in most of this year’s one pocket events. Earlier this year, Chip Compton was the winner over Justin Hall of the One Pocket Challenge Match at the Cajun Coast Classic in Morgan City, LA.

Rounding out the field was veteran Dee Adkins. Dee was the 2000 Derby City Classic Master of the Table – need I say more!

These players each paid a $5,000 entry fee to compete in this $10,000 added event. The format was double elimination – races to seven. After the players auction, the draw was completed and the brackets posted.

Both John Morra and Roberto Gomez won two matches to play for the hot seat. John edged out Chip in the opening round 7-6 and then defeated Corey 7-3. Roberto thumped both Dee and Alex – 7-2 and 7-1, respectively. Gomez had a bit of a tougher time with Morra but he locked up his seat in the finals 7-4.

Over on the B-side of the chart, Tony and Dee went two and out, Alex smoked Chip 7-1 and Evan handily defeated Corey 7-3. The following match saw Evan rocket ahead of Alex 5-2 and then the wheels came off. Missing several makeable balls let Pagulayan back into the match and he squeaked out a win 7-6. 

Patiently waiting for Alex was John. He, unfortunately, was no match for Alex as he was dusted 7-2. Morra’s consolation was third place prize and auction money while Pagulayan moved to the finals.

As this was true double elimination, Alex would have to defeat Roberto two sets to take top honors. The first set saw the two scratching and clawing their way to a 6-6 tie. With an opening shot and the remaining balls on the table, Roberto had his chance to end it right there but missed! Alex came to the table & methodically ran out the balls to force a second set.

The second set was the same as the first – neck and neck to five apiece. Gomez won the next game – on the hill – 6-5. Pagulayan battled but Roberto took the final game and the title! Congratulations, Roberto! Great effort, Alex!

PoolActionTV.com would again like to think Alex Olinger and his staff for rolling out the red carpet. We’d also like to thank our Tournament Director, Jason Hill, for a great job!

We’d also like to thank Jeremy Jones, Tony Chohan and Ray Hansen for their topnotch commentary.

In addition, we’d like to thank our viewers and sponsors. They include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Aramith, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Diveney Cues, Simonis Cloth, Durbin Custom Cues, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX and the Action Palace of Dayton, OH.

Our next event is the Seventh Annual $3,000 added Senior One Pocket Championship to be held at Bogies Billiards in Houston, TX. The dates are September 29th– October 2nd.  Hope to see you there!!!

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Gomez, Gorst, Tkach & Oi In The Texas Open Winner’s Circle

Roberto Gomez and Alex Calderon

Players from all over the planet hightailed it to Skinny Bob’s in Round Rock, TX for the 49th Annual Texas Open – all trying to get a piece of this $40,000 added event!

Owners Kim and Tracy Sanders and their local sponsors welcomed all the players and fans to one of the most beautiful rooms in the country. Sponsors included GAF, ABC Supply Co. Inc., Hanshew Custom Cues, Sanders Roofing & Exteriors, LLC, Aramith and Mints Amusements. 

The event featured four divisions – one pocket, scotch doubles, open nine ball and ladies nine ball as well as three minis – a banks ring game, a nine ball mini and a ladies ring game! Nonstop pool action!

The event began with the $2,000 added Scotch Doubles Championship. The team of Fedor Gorst and Kristina Tkach took top honors, Alex Pagulayan and April Larson took second place, Chris Reinhold and Emily Sumrall took third and Blaine Barcus and Sakura Muramatsu took fourth. Congratulations to all!

Waiting in the wings and featuring a stellar field of 26 players, the $13,000 added One Pocket division began on Monday evening. It had a $1,000 entry with races to 5/4 with alternate breaks – double elimination. 

Following a rousing player’s auction and the draw, play began.

Hot off his victory of Chip Compton earlier this month in the One Pocket Challenge, Fedor Gorst defeated veteran Scott Kitto and the always tough John Morra battled One Pocket Hall of Famer Jeremy Jones. Both matches had a 5-3 score.

Two-time Derby City One Pocket champ, Billy Thorpe, won his match over former Senior One Pocket champ James Davis Sr. 5-2 as did the current Iron City One Pocket Champ Josh Roberts over Filipino star Roland Garcia by the same score.

In a rerun of last month’s Big Dog one pocket final match, Sky Woodward got his revenge over Tony Chohan and the 2022 Scotty Townsend Memorial One Pocket champ Alex Pagulayan beat Evan Lunda – the victor in July’s One Pocket Champions Challenge with Josh Roberts. Morra also took down One Pocket Hall of Famer Scott Frost. The score in these matches was 5-2.

Scotch Doubles Champions Kristina Tkach and Fedor Gorst

Second round action also saw Alex Calderon and Tommy Tokoph duking it out. It went down to the wire but Alex edged out the win 5-4.

After drawing a first round bye, Roberto Gomez battled Josh Roberts and took the win 5-3 as did Billy Thorpe over young gun Lazaro Martinez III by the same score.

Third round pitted Woodward against Pagulayan. Sky took the win as did Calderon over Morra and Gomez over Thorpe. All scores 5-4!

After winning his first match, Gorst was quietly making his way through the field with victories over Jacob Pennison 5-1 and Nicholas De Leon 5-2. In dead punch, he smoked Woodward 5-2 and moved into the hot seat match. At the bottom of the bracket, Gomez made quick work of Calderon to lock up the other berth – also 5-2.

The hot seat match began and was close until Gomez pulled away to send Gorst west with a 5-3 score. 

Meanwhile, after having lost his first match, Garcia clawed and fought his way through the one loss side with wins over Pennison, Robert Frost, Morra, Chohan and Woodward until finally succumbing to Calderon 4-2. Roland finished in fourth place.

Cooling his heels and looking to get back into the finals against Gomez, Gorst had to get past Calderon. It wasn’t in the cards as Fedor was eliminated 4-2.

It was an all Houston final as Calderon took on Gomez for the title. Since it was true double elimination, Alex would have to defeat Roberto twice to take it down. Gomez wasn’t having any of that – he took the match 5-3! Congratulations, Roberto! Good tournament, Alex!

Naoyuki Oi and Skyler Woodward

The $500 added Nine Ball Mini took place after the one pocket finals. When the smoke cleared it was Japan’s Naoyuki Oi over Sky Woodward. Great shooting, guys!!!

PoolActionTV.com would again like to thank Kim and Tracy Sanders and their staff for taking great care of all the players and fans. 

Thanks to Tournament Director Jason Hill for doing a great job!

We’d also like to thank Scott Rabon, Jeremy Jones, Robert Frost and Alex Pagulayan for their topnotch commentary.

And, we’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors. They include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, EnviroAssessments, Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diveney Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX. 

Stay tuned for the rest of the results of the Texas Open – the $20,000 added Nine Ball Open, the $3,500 added Ladies Nine Ball, the $500 added Banks Ring Game and the $500 added Ladies Ring Game! 

And if you haven’t already, get your pass at PoolActionTV.com and come sweat it with us!!!

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Lunda Takes It Down

Evan Lunda

The world famous Buffalo’s Billiards in Jefferson, LA – a suburb of New Orleans – was the site of the latest Champions Challenge featuring Josh Roberts and Evan Lunda.

Starting this past Thursday evening, the game was one pocket – races to six, best out of seven sets with $20,000 in the middle. 

Josh has had a very solid year starting off with wins in both the Iron City Open One Ball One Pocket Championship and the Iron City Open One Pocket Championship in Birmingham, AL. He followed that with a runner-up finish to Fedor Gorst at the Derby City Classic One Pocket Championship , finishing second to Tony Chohan in the US Open One Pocket Championship in Las Vegas, NV and a third place finish among the best of the best in Buffalo’s Pro Classic One Pocket.

Anyone who has followed Evan for the last few years has seen a marked improvement in this young man’s game. In 2021, he claimed the title at the Racks On The Rocks Classic One Pocket Championship in West Peoria, IL, placed fourth at the US Open One Pocket Championship in Las Vegas and finished third  at the Diamond Open One Pocket Championship in Aiken, SC. This year, he notched a fourth place finish at the Derby City Classic One Pocket Championship and came in fifth in Buffalo’s Pro Classic One Pocket.

Going into the match, Roberts was a heavy favorite but Lunda started out strong winning the first set 6-2.  Down 5-2 in the second set, Josh fought back to tie it up at five apiece but Evan pulled it out with a 6-5 win.

Third set saw both players scratching and clawing with most games going down to the wire. At 5-5, the case game was no different but again, Lunda prevailed.

As with almost every game played in the previous sets, each game in this one went down to the last ball but this time, it was all Evan as he finished the set with a strong 6-1 result and claimed the cash.

Congratulations to Evan Lunda, Buffalo’s Billiards Action Palooza Champions Challenge winner! Tough loss for Josh Roberts as he gave it his all…

PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Buffalo’s owner, James Leone (“Buff”), his general manager Steve Tesvich (“Bullseye”) and their staff for hosting the event.

We’d like to thank Buffalo’s house pro, Tony Chohan, for his topnotch commentary as well as “Lil John” Macias, One Pocket Hall of Famer Jeremy Jones and our own Ray Hansen.

We’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors. They include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, EnviroAssessments, Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, Diveney Cues, Simonis, Durbin Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, CR’s Sports Bar of Minneapolis, MN and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.

And don’t go far!!! In a few days, Buffalo’s will again host another $20,000 One Pocket Champions Challenge featuring Corey Deuel and Roberto Gomez! Dates are August 5th-7th! Hope to see you there!

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Midwest Billiards & Cue Expo a Huge Success

Fedor Gorst

Big Dog Billiards in Des Moines, IA hosted their seventh annual extravaganza and, as usual, it was a huge success. In addition to the Cue Expo, there were four events – One Pocket, Nine Ball, a Banks Ring Game and Open Nine Ball.

Owners Jim Landrum and Randy welcomed hundreds of pool players, fans and cuemakers to their beautiful room.

Presented by Diveney Cues, Big Dog Billiards and PoolActionTV.com, the $18,000 added event featured a One Pocket Championship, a Nine Ball Championship (played on nine foot tables), a Bar Table Nine Ball Championship and a Banks Ring Game. Other sponsors included Jacoby Custom Cues, Anderson Animal Hospital, Kamui, Simonis, Aramith, Diamond Billiard Products, 1 of a Kind Billiard Supply and Pechauer Rogue.

As previously reported, this year’s event kicked off on Wednesday with the $5,000 added One Pocket Championship. Tony Chohan double-dipped Sky Woodward to take the title.

Friday night saw the $10,000 added Nine Ball event begin with a players auction followed by a players meeting and draw. The field of nineteen players paid a $500 entry fee to compete on the beautiful nine foot Diamonds. The format was old school nine ball – double elimination with races to eleven and winner breaks.

In the top portion of the bracket, Josh Roberts started out fast and loose as he defeated Kenny Nguyen 11-3, Roberto Gomez 11-9 and Shane Wolford 11-6. After drawing a first round bye, Corey Deuel had wins over Brandon VanOverbeke 11-9 and Marcus Genson 11-7 before running into Roberts. Before you knew it, Josh had smoked Corey 11-4 to arrive at the hot seat match.

In the lower part of the bracket, Sky Woodward also drew a first round bye and then beat Vitaliy Patsura 11-9 and Tony Chohan 11-7 to move to the hot seat match.

Also drawing a bye in the first round, Fedor Gorst defeated Jesus Atencio 11-9 and Mason Koch 11-7. 

The hot seat match was to be played the following day because Saturday night was for the bank fans! A field of eight competed in the $1,000 added Banks Ring Game. Eight men posted a $250 entry fee. After several hours, Roberto Gomez and Fedor Gorst were the last two standing. Fedor defeated Roberto for the winner-take-all cash! Congrats, Fedor! Good effort, Roberto!

The following day saw Woodward and Atencio as well as Chohan and Deuel struggling to survive. It was Woodward who emerged11-7 and Deuel eked out his win 11-10. 

Next round – the hot seat match! With both players in dead punch, it was no surprise that the match was close – until the end. Fedor pulled away to an 11-8 finish – locking up his seat in the finals. Josh had to cool his heels to await the results of the Deuel-Woodward match.

Fighting to stay alive, Sky put his pedal to the metal leaving Corey to play catch-up. Ahead 3-0, Deuel came back to 3-2 only to see Woodward pull away again to 5-3. Finally tying it up at five apiece, Corey would again fall behind as Sky took a two game lead. Jockeying back and forth, Deuel reached the hill first – his first lead in the match! 

Sky tied it up at 10-10 – the final game saw both players come to the table with shots and safeties. Corey had the first open table of the game and hung the six! Sky leaped out of his chair and ran the remaining balls leaving Deuel in fourth place. 

Duking it out for that open seat in the finals, Josh rocketed out to a 3-0 lead – and then miscued! Sky came to the table, won a couple and then the players went back and forth until mid-match. Woodward pulled away and never looked back as he defeated Roberts 11-6. Josh finished in third place.

As this was true double elimination, Sky would have to beat Fedor twice for the title. The match went neck and neck until Gorst pulled away at six apiece.  Final score – 11-6. 

Congratulations to Fedor for a well-played event!  Good job, Sky!

While the big table nine ball event was underway, the $2,000 Open Nine Ball began. 167 players ponied up their $25 to play in this double elimination, alternate break, race to seven event. When the smoke cleared, it was the undefeated George Walters and challenger Brandon Heldenbrand in the finals. 

Brandon won the first set 7-4 forcing a second set. George regrouped and took down the second set 7-2. Congratulations, George! Well played, Brandon!

Congratulations to Fedor Gorst, Tony Chohan and George Walters for becoming the 2022 Big Dog champions!!!

What a week!!!

Thanks again to Jim Landrum and Randy Hanson for hosting such a great event. They and their staff rolled out the red carpet for both players and fans. 

In addition, PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Tournament Director Ray Hansen and his assistant, Jason Hill, for keeping things going without a hitch. 

We’d also like to thank our commentators Larry Schwartz, Mary Kenniston, Josh Roberts and Ray Hansen for a great job.

Last, but not least, thanks to our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include JB Cases, CR’s Sports Bar, Hanshew Jump Cues, EnvironmentalAssessments.com, Lomax Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diveney Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore.

Our next event is the $20,000 One Pocket Champions Challenge featuring Evan Lunda and Josh Roberts. Held at the world famous Buffalo’s in Jefferson, the dates are July 28th-30th. Hope to see you there!!!

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