Archive Page

Reyes and Murphy Highlight Derby City Classic Days 7 & 8

Efren Reyes

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 deemed 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 Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET Championship: Semis and Finals

Due to Diamond’s dedication to accommodating the incredible surge in entries –1569 in all – the ONE POCKET Semis and Finals will be completed, and streamed from the Accu-Stats TV Arena,

TODAY Saturday, Jan 28.

Let’s catch up: Highlights from Thursday

Pagulayan vs Schmidt

Alex ran 8-and-out to open his encounter with John Schmidt. It was do-or-die as each contender was down to one bullet.

After the second rack Alex was leading 2-0. Schmidt mustered his gumption to take it to 2-1

Alex, after leaving his 5th ball hanging near his pocket, allowed John an opening.

John, masterfully, manufactured a six ball run until the nudge to open a three ball cluster didn’t cooperate.

He made his 7th ball anyway knowing full well that shape on his game-ball wasn’t very possible.

Needing only one ball to tie the match, necessitated that John went full blooded, He sliced the paint off of it. And, lost the cue ball.

Alex calmly ran his last 4 balls.

Woodward vs Filler

Surely, the comeback of the One-Pocket Championship was when Skyler Woodward, who just joined Shane Van Boening and Fedor Gorst at team Cuetec, faced Joshua Filler.

Woodward fell afoul of his super aggressive play which left Filler opportunities to pull ahead.

Sure, had Skyler made the ball, chances are he was out. When the ball didn’t fall, Filler filled in the gaps.

So, now, they were tied at 2. With only one life left each: Someone’s gotta go.

Joshua, energized, jumped to a 5-2 lead.

Sky, disciplined now, had safety in mind. No more firing at fantasies. No silly sell-outs.

All the balls were soon driven upstream, not quite “the wedge” as they weren’t confined to a corner. 

But, for sure, there was no way to win in one inning. 

Either player must earn it – with pure banking skills. One rail, two railers at a time is how Sky reversed the seemingly insurmountable lead.

You have to see for yourself. The match is available OnDemand at Accu-Stats.com.

It’s must see TV!

Friday, JAN 27

Johnathon Pinegar vs Tony Chohan

Johnathon Pinegar is no stranger to Derby City, yet it might be this year’s superb performance by administering losses to Shane Van Boening, Tyler Styer, Anton Raga, Billy Thorpe, and the first loss to Tony Chohan that will be remembered best.

Thanks to the luck of the algorithm, Johnathon and Tony were chosen to meet again immediately, only this time, in the Accu-Stats Arena.

Here, Tony had home court advantage: He had a few matches “in the can.” He had experienced that the table played slower and banked a little shorter. Plus, he was familiar with the intensity of the 60-second shot clock.

Johnathon found this out the hard way; Mainly as his cue ball didn’t travel as far and interrupted the kind of run-outs he had completed earlier in the outer Diamond Arena.

Tony retuned the compliment and, in under hour, FedExed Pinegar to the buy-back booth.

Pinegar vs Reyes

No rest for Pinegar: He was immediately redrawn to face Efren…in the Accu-Stats arena.

The good news is that as we’re down to four players, he had opportunity to become acclimatized to it. It’s Semis and Finals time: There is nowhere to play but the Accu-Stats TV table.

After Efren defeated Alex, Skyler finished off Filler only to lose to Reyes who’s relentless will to win is truly inspiring.

He still has two lives and he’s been competing for six hours in Pool’s most cerebral discipline. Where is this stamina, both mental and physical, coming from?

Pinegar, too. He’d just succumbed to Chohan, the 2022 One-Pocket runner-up. Now he has to face the man the with more DCC wins than anyone.

And, his confidence is lagging as is the speed of his cue ball. It’s time to adjust.

His relaxed, yet focused, demeanor and superb defensive skills didn’t allow Reyes much of a look at anything, makeable, anyway.

Efren was definitely tiring. Then, he erred. John stole a ball. A few innings later Efren erred again. John ran 7-and-out.

At 1-0, it’s Reyes’ ball that isn’t reaching the pocket. John in two innings, by running four balls in each, surged ahead, 2-0.

Not to worry. How many times, this week, has Efren been down 0-2 and won the match?

In game 3, Pinegar erred. Reyes ran five, didn’t get the desired spread from the stack and, frustrated now, attempted a very low percentage combo. 

Luckily, he left little.

Yet, it was enough. Pinegar fired in a short rail bank and drew his cue ball to land perfectly on the next indicated sphere. He then ran out the necessary 8-balls to ensure his seat at tomorrow’s table. 

Efren visited the buy-back booth.

And then there were three: Chohan, Pinegar and Reyes – who was soon snoring like a baby.

At around noon on Saturday, he’ll be fresh as a daisy, ready for the redraw.

Someone is going to get a bye – straight into the hot seat.

Would you want it to be you, or would you prefer to win the opening match and be all warmed up for the finals?

Diamond Derby City Classic 9-BALL Championship: LAST DAY – Sat. 28.

Accu-Rack, 9 on the spot, winner breaks.

Since Matchroom deemed the Derby’s 9-Ball Championship a Mosconi Cup point garnering tournament, 9-Ball has become most populated DCC event.

527 entries smashed the previous attendance statistic!

Another record broken is the number of ladies competing this year: Margarita Fefilova, Sakura Muramatsu, Melissa “Sure Shot” Smith sponsored by Brutal Gear, Emily Sumrall, the up-and-coming Catherine Cool, and the ubiquitous Angela Mears, just to name a few of the approximately 20. Diamond thanks you all!

Efren Reyes suffered a first round loss to Robbie Capito and Roland Garcia got Dan Louie. 

Mezz-sponsored Mika Immonen opened the proceedings in the Accu-Stats Arena first thing Friday facing Derby City Classic stalwart Dee Adkins.

Mika was on fire. His early .980+ TPA seemed to intimidate Adkins who wasn’t getting out when he had the opportunity. The more he faltered, the more Mika gained confidence, and the more Dee’s TPA dropped. 

The Mezz player-rep of 21 years closed it out 9-0 with a stellar .958.

Thanks to fan demand, Pat Fleming was asked to explain how the Accu-Stats’ Total Performance Average(TPA) is calculated. During the Mieszko Fortunski vs. Brendan Shuff match, he tells all.

Undefeated are Mosconi Cup team player Oscar Dominguez, Fedor Gorst, Johnathon Pinegar, Skyler Woodward, Josh Roberts, Jesus Atencio, Jayson Shaw, SVB, Tony Chohan, Billy Thorpe, Ike Runnels, Joshua Filler, Mike Dechaine, Marc Vidal, John Morra, Margarita Fervilova, Tyler Styer, Konrad Juszczyszyn, Scott Frost, Donny Mills, Max Eberle, Brandon Shuff plus, the Filipino contingent; Alex, Gomez, Corteza, DeLuna, Garcia, and Raga,

DCC’s Friday Night Ring Game:

Culminating at $1,200 a ball, Shannon Murphy robbed them all banking $5,000. Billy fought gallantly to secure 2nd and $3000. Skyler Woodward claimed a distant 3rd. Shane Wolford began well. Justin Hall fell fast as did Jonathan Demet.

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, until February 28, 2023.

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

Go to discussion...

2023 Derby City Classic 9-Ball Division – Shane Van Boening vs Max Eberle

2023 Derby City Classic Bigfoot Challenge – Max Eberle vs Shane Van Boening

World Pool Championship 2023 Draw | Van Boening Starts Defense Against Yoshioka

Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)

Shane Van Boening will begin the defense of his World Pool Championship title against Japan’s Masato Yoshioka in Kielce, Poland from February 1-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltics, DAZN in the USA as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.

FORMAT

TICKETS

WATCH DRAW

The American will look to become only the second player in history to defend the title following in the footsteps of Earl Strickland in a packed arena at Targi Kielce. 46 countries will be represented in the 128-player field as it is whittled down to the Last 64 over the first two days of action before it’s straight knockout to the end where one will claim the $60,000 first-place prize and the world crown.

The draw was completed with the top 64 players from the Nineball World Rankings against an unseeded player from the other 64 in the hat. Standout first-round ties include 2015 world champion Ko Pin Yi facing James Aranas of the Philippines whilst 2022 semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef faces the tricky prospect of Johann Chua. 2004 world champion Alex Pagulayan was unseeded and will meet Michael Schneider.

World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide takes on Billy Thorpe and Shane Wolford‘s mission for a spot on Team USA at the 2023 Mosconi Cup takes on Pia Filler. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz had a year to remember last year and will begin his Nineball campaign against So Shaw of Iran.

Double elimination matches are all race to 9, with all matches from the Last 64 a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 13.

SEED Name Name
1 Shane Van Boening (USA) VS Masato Yoshioka (JPN)
2 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) VS  So Shaw (IRI)
3 Joshua Filler (GER) VS James Georgiadis (AUS)
4 Albin Ouschan (AUT) VS Juan Carlos Exposito (ESP)
5 Mario He (AUT) VS Sebastian Batkowski (POL)
6 Jayson Shaw (GBR) VS Francesco Candela (ITA)
7 Wiktor Zielinski (POL) VS Aziz Moussati (MAR)
8 Alexander Kazakis (GRE) VS Erik Hjorleifson (CAN)
9 Max Lechner (AUT) VS Max Eberle (USA)
10 Ko Pin Yi (TPE) VS James Aranas (PHI)
11 Eklent Kaçi (ALB) VS Dimitris Loukatos (GRE)
12 Abdullah Alyousef (KUW) VS Johann Chua (PHI)
13 Oliver Szolnoki (HUN) VS Marcel Price (GBR)
14 Niels Feijen (NED) VS Muhummed Daydat (RSA)
15 Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) VS Daniel Guttenberger (AUT)
16 Mieszko Fortunski (POL) VS Emil-Andre Gangflot (NOR)
17 David Alcaide (ESP) VS Billy Thorpe (USA)
18 Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) VS Nguyễn Anh Tuấn (VIE)
19 Sanjin Pehlivanović (BOS) VS Joseph Spence (CAN)
20 Jonas Souto Comino (ESP) VS Karl Gnadeberg (EST)
21 Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) VS Bashar Hussain Abdul Majeed (QAT)
22 Ko Ping Chung (TPE) VS Michal Gavenčiak (CZE)
23 Chang Jung-Lin (TPE) VS Jonas-Kvalsund Hansen (NOR)
24 Ronald Regli (SUI) VS Iker Andoni Echeverría (ESP)
25 Naoyuki Oi (JPN) VS Mickey Krause (DEN)
26 Jose Alberto Delgado (ESP) VS Joey Tate (USA)
27 John Morra (CAN) VS Tayfun Taber (GER)
28 Denis Grabe (EST) VS  Ali Nasser Al Obaidli (QAT)
29 Ralf Souquet (GER) VS Sullivan Clark (NZL)
30 Dimitri Jungo (SUI) VS Hunter Lombardo (USA)
31 Thorsten Hohmann (GER) VS Tanes Tansomboon (THA)
32 Aloysius Yapp (SGP) VS Sharik Sayed (SGP)
33 Tomasz Kaplan (POL) VS Ko Ping Han (TPE)
34 Moritz Neuhausen (GER) VS Lường Đức Thiện (VIE)
35 Aleksa Pecelj (SRB) VS Marco Dorenburg (GER)
36 Daniel Maciol (POL) VS  Sina Valizadeh (IRI)
37 Oscar Dominguez (USA) VS Stephen Holem (CAN)
38 Omar Al Shaheen (KUW) VS Joao Grilo (POR)
39 Skyler Woodward (USA) VS Chris Alexander (GBR)
40 Besar Spahiu (ALB) VS Ramazan Akdag
41 Hseih Chia Chen (TPE) VS Nick Van Den Berg (NED)
42 Chris Melling (GBR) VS Duong Quoc Hoang (VIE)
43 Petri Makkonen (FIN) VS Elliott Sanderson (GBR)
44 Imran Majid (GBR) VS Marco Teutscher (NED)
45 Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) VS Mohammad Soufi (SYR)
46 Radoslaw Babica (POL) VS Jan Van Lierop (NED)
47 Robbie Capito (HKG) VS Toh Lian Han (SGP)
48 Jani Uski (FIN) VS Chetan Chhabra (IND)
49 Lo Ho Sum (HKG) VS Lars Kuckherm (GER)
50 Bader Alawadhi (KUW) VS Richard Halliday (RSA)
51 Pijus Labutis (LTU) VS Ajdin Piknjac (BOS)
52 Mika Immonen (FIN) VS  Gerson Martinez (PER)
53 Greg Hogue (USA) VS Mariusz Skoneczny (POL)
54 Shane Wolford (USA) VS  Pia Filler (GER)
55 Karol Skowerski (POL) VS Abdullah Al-Anzi (KUW)
56 Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) VS Ruben Bautista (MEX)
57 Tyler Styer (USA) VS Mason Koch (USA)
58 Roman Hybler (CZE) VS Matt Edwards (NZL)
59 Tobias Bongers (GER) VS Davy Piergiovanni (ITA)
60 Mustafa Alnar VS  Szymona Kural (POL)
61 Daniele Corrieri (ITA) VS Khalid Alghamdi (KSA)
62 Michael Schneider (SUI) VS Alex Pagulayan (CAN)
63 Wu Kun Lin (TPE) VS Fabio Petroni (ITA)
64 Mats Schjetne (NOR) VS Jakub Koniar (SVK)

WHERE TO WATCH

Table 1 will be live on broadcasters worldwide including Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA, Canada, and Italy, as well as on Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide. See where to watch here.

Table 2 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.

Table 3 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.

Go to discussion...

Reyes Still Going Strong at Derby City Classic Day Six

Efren Reyes (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 Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET Championship: Sun Jan. 22 -Wed. Jan. 25.

Semis and Finals are rescheduled in the Accu-Stats TV Arena before the Friday Night Ring Game, Jan 27.

In the Accu-Stats Arena, Efren was pitted against sharpshooting Lithuanian Pijus Labutis.

Reyes realized he had to change strategy when Pijus, comfortable with his latest Mezz cue, had streaked to a 2-1 lead. It was then his masterful “moving” game began. 

Labutis, now dumbfounded, spent the remainder of the match, immobilized…and in awe.

Soon, tied at 2-2, Efren showed his ability to run 8  to find himself stuck on the remaining cluster. He still need one ball as he was  -1 when he begun the run.

While Efren was considering his next move, the referee approached the table and told him he had won.

Efren, confused, questioned, “But I need one more ball?”

The ref had forgotten that Efren owed one.

Pijus, respectfully, in a kind of, “Oh, whatever,” moment, honored the ref’s decision and offered Efren his hand.

Pijus, showing true sportsmanship, had observed the current pattern of Efren’s of play, probably  concluded that there was no way he was getting a look at another ball.

Meanwhile, in the outer arena, Fedor, fired up from his Bank Pool accomplishment, had his 2022 One-Pocket title to defend against 2009 DCC One-Pocket winner John Schmidt.

Fedor, a few rounds back, collided with the skillset of 2022 Texas Open One-Pocket runner-up Yerry Calderon and was, unceremoniously, sent to the buy-back booth.

Now he faced John, a household name as the first player to out-run Willie Mosconi’s 526 14.1 record – coincidently, by the number on every serious straight-pool player’s bucket list, 100!

Knowledge of pattern-play in 14.1 is a renowned asset in One-Pocket.

More drama; John had already gone to the buy-back booth because of his prior encounter with the robust Roberto Gomez.

In the opening game, Schmidt rallied from a minus two ball deficit to 7-7 only to have Fedor, unflinchingly, deliver the 8th to his hole. 1-0.

Fast-forward to tied at 2 games: John, 5 balls ahead, adopted the strategy of forming the “wedge.” The method here is to move all the balls up-table into a corner making it near impossible to for Gorst to run the remaining balls.

The strategy worked: John soon had his remaining 3 balls.

Fedor is now in left to his fate in the 9-Ball division.

The outer-arena crowd gathered as Filler faced Efren. Both being undefeated, one was heading to the buy-back hell.

Efren removed Naojuki Oi. Filler, ditto with Robert Frost.

Filler will be the first to admit that his strength in one-hole is applying the aforementioned Straight-Pool methodology and just running-out. In fact, he’s quite brilliant at it.

Forget all this “moving” altho, as you can imagine, his safety-play is formidable, too.

Efren, struggling a little, yet always respectful, awarded Joshua game-ball to go ahead 2-1.

Now, down 1-2, we know never to count Reyes out.

He put the tiller to Filler to hoe two superlative 8-and-outs. Josh was left no alternative but to humbly buy-back.

We also know never to count Joshua out: Heaven help his next opponent.

At day’s end Wednesday, Efren Reyes, Tony Chohan, Corey Deuel, John Morra, Sky Woodward, Johnathon Pinegar, and Peruvian Gerson Martinez were all undefeated.

Johnathon Pinegar is no stranger to Derby City, yet it might be this year’s performance by administering losses to Shane Van Boening and Tyler Styer that will be remembered best.

Justin Hall froze out both Scott Frost and Jerry Matchin. He also allowed Billy Thorpe the buy-back experience.

Lunda, while his very proud father Elliot sat ringside, moved out David Matlock.

Roland Garcia over eliminated Lee Vann Corteza who had, unfortunately, run into Mieszko Fortunski,

Shane and Gerson Martinez.

Styer had eliminated Jeffrey DeLuna, Roland Garcia handed Shane Wolford his visit the booth.

The night closed as Tony Chohan expelled Ellerman.

Diamond Derby City Classic 9-BALL Championship: continues TODAY thru Sat. 28.

Mosconi Cup teammate Oscar Dominguez, Max Eberle, Hunter Lombardo, and Brandon Shuff are still undefeated

The action-packed week continues with a little levity and a lot of moolah:

DCC’s 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...

Gorst Remains in Big Foot Form at Derby City Day One

Fedor Gorst (David Thomson – Medium Pool)

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

Caesars Southern Indiana, Elizabeth, IN

Are you ready? it looks like we’re in for a raucous week.

To Diamond’s delight, the Derby’s demand has surpassed recent records as 497 Bank Pool competitors have deposited their entry fees.

If that isn’t enough, Wednesday’s 9-Ball has a waiting list as the 500 maximum was met…by Friday!

Logistics personnel Bonnie and Julie are in search of a solution.

We can bet that former World Champion Dynamite Darren Appleton, a huge fan of DCC, would have attended.

Daz you are conspicuous by your absence. We all wish you the speediest of recoveries. See ya next year!

Speaking of surgery, America’s #1 Shane Van Boening’s Cuetec was swinging confidently after a troublesome lump was removed from his bicep without incident.

He and Max Eberle were the opening act of the 2023

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 win.

Mosconi Cup captains Jeremy Jones and Mark Wilson are in the Accu-Stats’ commentary booth. Who better to impart the nuances of our sublime sport?

One more thing; BIGFoot’s tight, pro-cut pockets are now tighter – 4 1/8” tight! Do not try this at home!

OK, back to the opening round action.

Still swinging, Shane strode into a comfortable lead.

Max, soon swooning, struggled to get going. Sadly, he never quite caught the gear that led him toward the hill against Mika last year.

 At 11-4, Shane is now in the quarterfinals.

The second pairing was pitted Jayson Shaw and Skyler Woodward.

Woodward hasn’t tasted much success against Jayson in recent BIG Foot encounters.

Unfortunately, today was no exception. Sky seemed unfocused; he missed makable balls. Maybe, the 4 1/8” pockets were the distraction.

Accu-Stats Total performance Averages(TPA)s of .910 and .768 told all.

Now it’s Shaw vs. Shane in the quarters: Not to be missed.

What about the Filipino contingent? 6 of the 16 BIGFoot competitors are represented. 

There probably would have been more but, sadly, Bustamante, Aranas, and Orcollo all have US immigration issues.

Alex Pagulayan and Roberto Gomez led the fray.

Until 6-6, Pagulayan was pulling his weight. But not the weight that had held every discipline at the Derby. Alex is the only player to have won every title

Gomez, also an entertainer, always likes to please the crowd with his power draws and superlative shotmaking.

The jaws of these diminishing pockets started spiting balls back onto the tabletop. When have you seen Alex’s TPA under 800? Gomez’s respectable .853 certainly won him the match.

One bonus was their multi-series exchange demonstrating their expertise of getting out of a snooker by laying a snooker – The Filipino kick-safe technique. Check it out.

Now to the last match for today.

The Billion-buck question on most minds was whether Fedor Gorst could replicate the 900+ TPA consistency that he dominated BigFoot with last year.

Alex DeLuna is no slouch. He’s also got a sledgehammer break.

The Break Demon speed tester software was capturing the action all day. FYI: No one got to 23 miles per hour.

Sure the break is important but not so much against Gorst. His cueball-on-a-string theory is truly mesmerizing. The beauty of his speed control as his orb spins 3 rails…to land perfectly on the necessary position to complete the rack.

De Luna couldn’t compete. Nor could his .694 with Gorst’s .939.

At 11-1, the question of the day was answered.

 

Shane Van Boening vs Max Eberle; 11-4

Jayson Shaw vs Skyler woodward; 11-4

Alex Pagulayan vs Roberto Gomez; 11-8

Fedor Gorst vs Jeffrey De Luna; 11-1

BIG Foot Schedule for Saturday, Jan 21: 1, 3, 5, & 7PM

Mika Immonen vs Mieszko Fortunski; 11-5

Roland Garcia vs Lee Van Corteza; 11-5

John Morra vs  Konrad Juszcyszyn; 11-5

Joshua Filler vs Jesus Atencio; 11-5

The Accu-Stats PPV OnDemand service has all of the above entertainment available for your viewing pleasure. 

Diamond BANK POOL CHAMPIONSHIP

Short Rack. Race to 3.

497 entrants stormed the Derby City battlements. In this territory, Bank Pool’s popularity knows no bounds.

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.

How about this for first-round Karma: Joshua Filler over John Morra, Gomez got Juszczyszyn: Welcome to the buy-back Booth.

Big name, Day One winners: Tony Chohan, Alex Pagulayan, Scott Frost, Tyler Styer, Ike Runnels, Shane Wolford, Billy Thorpe, Shannon Daulton, Justin Hall, Mika Immonen, Skyler Woodward, the mighty David Matlock, and, of course, the even mightier, EFREN!

Yes, EFREN REYES, The 5-time DCC All-Around Champion and 6-time One-Pocket Champion refuses to retire: He has one accomplishment missing from his DCC career resumé; The elusive Bank Pool title.

Here’s how the action-packed week will continue.

DIAMOND BIG FOOT 10-BALL CHALLENGE: Fri. Jan. 20 – Sun. Jan 22. 2023.

Diamond Derby City Classic BANK POOL Championship: Fri. Jan. 20 – Sun. Jan. 22. 2023. 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 is 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...

Eberle Goes Undefeated, Chalks Up First Recorded Win In Three Years At Bankshots 10-Ball Open

Scott Tollefson, Tommy Kennedy and Max Eberle

The last time Max Eberle recorded a victory at a major tournament, it was in his home town of Las Vegas, NV, almost exactly three years ago at the 24th Annual “Swanee” Memorial. He came from the loss side to defeat at-the-time ‘young gun,’ 23-year-old Chris Robinson-Reinhold, now better known as Mosconi Cup veteran, Chris Reinhold. Though he hasn’t been idle since that time, Eberle does appear to have taken some time off in 2021 and came back last year to cash in seven events; three of them associated with the Derby City Classic (Banks, One Pocket and 9-Ball), three memorial tournaments – The “Swanee” Memorial (3rd), the Brendan Crockett Memorial (5th), and the Andy Mercer Memorial (7th) – and he finished 17th at the American 14:1 Straight Pool Championships in late October.

This past weekend (Jan. 14-15), Eberle and former US Open 9-Ball Champion Tommy Kennedy squared off in the hot seat match of the Bankshots 10-Ball Open, a $140-added 10-ball event that drew 32 entrants to Bankshots in Dunedin, FL. They might have eventually met again in the finals, but before that happened, they, along with Scott Tollefson, agreed to a three-way split that left Eberle, the hot seat occupant at the time, as the official winner, Kennedy as the runner-up and Tollefson in third place.

Eberle’s path to what amounted to the title-defining hot seat match went through Trenton White, Jason Schlauch and Dave Stem to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal versus Florida veteran Anthony Meglino. Kennedy, in the meantime, had to contend with two double hill matches against his first two opponents, Jarred Schlauch and Lee Heuwagen. Kennedy survived them both, and downed Penera Mota to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against Tollefson.

Eberle sent Meglino loss-side packing 7-5 and was joined in the hot seat match by Kennedy, who’d defeated Tollefson 7-1. Three times proved not to be the charm for Kennedy, as he and Eberle battled back and forth to double hill in that hot seat match. Eberle dropped the last 10-ball and in effect, became the event winner when he claimed the hot seat.

On the loss side, Tollefson picked up Stem, who’d followed his loss to Eberle with victories over Jamison Daniels 5-1 and Heuwagen 5-2. Meglino drew a rematch against Chris Daly, whom he’d defeated in the second winners’ side round. Daly moved west to begin a four-match loss-side streak that had included the recent elimination of Mota 5-3 and Jason Schlauch 5-2.

Meglino ended Daly’s modest loss-side streak with a punctuation mark, shutting him out and advancing to the quarterfinals. Tollefson joined him after defeating Stem 5-2.

In what proved to be the last match of the event, upon which rode $140 in cash (the difference between 3rd and 4th place money), Tollefson defeated Meglino 5-2. Negotiations for the three-way split of the top three prizes got underway and Eberle earned his first (recorded) event win in three years.

Go to discussion...

24th Derby City Classic Coming Up

The 24th Derby City Classic is right around the corner, and once again, Pat Fleming and Accu-Stats Video Productions will be providing fans with online video coverage of the best players in the sport today. 

The coverage kicks off on January 20th, with the Diamond Big Foot 10-Ball Challenge, where sixteen top players will compete on the 5’ by 10’ Diamond Big Foot table for $32,000 in prize money. Joshua Filler will be attempting to defend his title from last year, but he will have his hands full with a field of top challengers. The field of players signed up this year is:

Joshua Filler
Fedor Gorst
Jayson Shaw
Shane Van Boening
Skyler Woodward
Roberto Gomez
Alex Pagulayan
Mika Immonen
Lee Vann Corteza
Roland Garcia
John Morra
Jeffrey De Luna
Omar Al-Shaheen (Replaced by Mieszko Fortunski)
Konrad Juszczyszyn
Jesus Atencio
Max Eberle

After three days of 10-Ball on the 10’ table, play on January 23rd will see the conclusion of the 10-ball event, as well as action from the 9-ball banks event. 

The 9-ball banks event will conclude on January 24th and the coverage will then move to the one pocket division, with one pocket action on 24th – 26th. 

The one pocket event is scheduled to finish on January 26th, leave the open 9-ball event and the fight for the Master of the Table title as the event finishes on January 27th and 28th. 

While the video coverage will focus on the 9-ball in the last days, the crowd favorite Banks Ring Game is scheduled for the evening of January 27th. This event will see a field of six players playing for $8000 in prize money. The tentative field for this years Banks Ring Game is Justin Hall, Billy Thorpe, Skyler Woodward, Shane Wolford, Shannon Murphy and Jonathan Demet. 

Fans can watch all of the PPV coverage with either daily passes or an event pass. Daily passes are available for $12.95 a day, or an entire event pass is available for $59.95 if paid for before the event kicks off on the 20th. The cost for the event pass will go up to $79.95 after January 20th. Purchase of the event pass also gives fans the ability to watch any matches from the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Derby City events. 

Fans can sign up for passes at www.accu-stats.com/watch

Go to discussion...

Gorst chalks up his 10th victory, 13th first- or second-place finish and 18th cash payout in 2022

John Morra and Fedor Gorst

Brendan Crockett Memorial draws 182 entrants to Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento.

Russia’s Fedor Gorst is about as close to a ‘sure bet’ at the tables that one has or is ever likely to see. This year alone, he has won or placed second in almost 75% (.7368) of the events in which he has cashed (19). It puts him at the top of the AZB Money Leaderboard, which would certainly make him the current ‘best bet’ of the year and while, as with all players, he doesn’t win them all, the chances of him finishing, as an example, 17th in an event are somewhere between remote/slim and none. That said, 17th is exactly how he finished at the Derby City’s 9-Ball tournament in January, so caveat emptor, as they say, when you consider a bet.

His 10th 2022 victory came at the $10,000-added, 4th Annual Brendan Crockett Memorial 10-Ball Open tournament this past weekend (July 30-31), where he and 181 of his fellow competitors gathered at Hard Times Billiards in Sacramento, CA to do battle. Gorst had to come from the loss side of the bracket, though not very far, to dislodge Canadian John Morra from the hot seat. Gorst, with a Fargo Rate of 827, faced nine opponents in 10 matches (Morra twice) with a combined Fargo Rate average of 690. Translated, in the winners’ side races to 9, his opponents had an average 2.5% chance of defeating him, although individually, the one opponent who did – Morra, with a 778 Fargo Rate – had a slightly higher than a one-in-four chance of doing so.

Gorst made it to his first matchup against Morra in one of the winners’ side semifinals, with an aggregate score of 35-5. The opponent he met in the hot seat, Oscar Dominguez, arrived at his winners’ side semifinal against Margaret Fefilova Styer with a 35-12 aggregate score.

Morra sent Gorst to the loss side 7-1. Dominguez sent Styer over 7-2. Morra played what would prove to be his last winning match, sending Dominguez to the semifinals 7-5 and claimed the hot seat.

On the loss side, Gorst picked up Max Eberle, who was working on a four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated Jeremy Sossei in a shutout and Skip Nikakis, double hill. Styer drew Nick DeLeon, who had chalked up five on the loss side, including recent wins over Chris Gentile 7-3 and Spencer Ladin, double hill.

Gorst ended Eberle’s streak 7-3 and in the quarterfinals, faced DeLeon, who’d defeated Styer 7-4. Gorst ended DeLeon’s run 7-4 in those quarterfinals and then, in a manner of speaking, brushed aside Oscar Dominguez with a shutout in the semifinals.

Gorst/Morra parte deux did not begin or end well for Morra. Gorst jumped out to a 5-0 lead, at which Morra began to chip away (as generally recommended), one rack at a time. Morra got on the board with one, but Gorst re-established his five-rack lead with a win in game #7. Morra then took the next three, narrowing Gorst’s lead to two at 6-4. Gorst took games #11 and #12 to reach the hill first at 8-4. Morra took one more swing, winning rack #13, but Gorst walked it off with his ninth rack to claim the 4th Annual Brendan Crockett Memorial title. 

Event representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Hard Times, as well as all 181 competitors, who, through their participation, paid homage to the memory of Brendan Crockett and his brother, Jeff, who, travelling together, were killed in an automobile accident in 2016. An annual scholarship fund was created a year later to benefit a junior player who excelled in academics. 

Go to discussion...

Accu-Stats Announces June Premier Schedule

Accu-Stats Video Productions has announced their YouTube premiere schedule for June, and they are premiering matches from the 2022 Derby City Classic and 2015 Derby City Classic. Matches for June feature some of the best players in the world, including Efren Reyes, Shane Van Boening, Joshua Filler, Fedor Gorst, Alex Pagulayan, Jayson Shaw and many more. 

Accu-Stats premieres a new match from their immense archive of New and Historic content three times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights at 8pm EST. There is a lively chat during each premiere. Pat Fleming will host most nights in June. Viewers can find the Accu-Stats YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/AccuStatsVideoProductionsTV

June Premiere Schedule

June 2nd – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Max Eberle vs Mika Immonen
June 5th – 2022 Derby City Classic 9-Ball – Darren Appleton vs Corey Deuel
June 7th – 2015 Derby City Classic Straight Pool Challenge – Ruslan Chinakhov vs Jayson Shaw
June 9th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – David Alcaide vs Alex Pagulayan
June 12th – 2022 Derby City Classic 9-Ball – Joshua Filler vs Mieszko Fortunski
June 14th – 2015 Derby City Classic One Pocket – Double Header
Alex Pagulayan vs Efren Reyes
Mike Dechaine vs Alex Pagulayan
June 16th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Darren Appleton vs Fedor Gorst
June 19th – 2022 Derby City Classic 9-Ball – Fedor Gorst vs Shane Van Boening
June 21st – 2015 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Alex Pagulayan vs Shane Van Boening
June 26th – 2022 Derby City Classic 9-Ball – Roland Garcia Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
June 28th – 2015 Derby City Classic One Pocket – Double Header
Shannon Daulton vs Shane Van Boening
Justin Hall vs Alex Pagulayan
June 30th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Jayson Shaw vs Shane Van Boening

For over 30 years, Accu-Stats has been the leader in Professional Tournament Match Videos. The entire collection is available on DVD at http://www.accu-stats.com.

You can also watch more than 400 Accu-Stats matches from the 2018 and 2019 INTL 9-BALL OPEN; 2016-2022 Derby City Classic; 2015-2017 US Open 9-Ball Championships, as well as the Accu-Stats “Make It Happen” Invitationals via the Accu-Stats’ Vimeo Subscription service: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/asvod/

Website: http://www.accu-stats.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/accustats/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/accustatspool
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accu_stats_pool
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/asvod/
International Open Website: https://www.intlopen.com

Go to discussion...