Francisco Bustamante
Horseshoe Southern Indiana
Elizabeth, Indiana.
Sponsored by Diamond SMART TABLE, True Blue Simonis 860 Cloth, and Cyclop Pool Balls.
Oscar Dominguez after defeating Hall of Famer Cliff Joyner commented, " The game's changed. You don't have to move as well as you had to in the past; Today, you have to be able to run out."
Well, the man who introduced run out one-pocket, even when spotting into double digits, was doing just that today. Efren Reyes, 5 time DCC All Around Champion, or Master of the Table, was running out…and moving.
Let's face it, "The Magician" is the complete package. One of the events more notable matches had him pitted against Rafael Martinez on the Accu-Stats' TV table.
Here, Efren had to "move." And, every move he made, Martinez had the remedy. The crowd loved the contest then, suddenly, tied at two, Rafael finally fell under the magician's spell.
Now, Efren, along with another one-pocket master on the table, Shannon Daulton, are the only two men left undefeated. The buy-back booth awaits.
More Accu-Stats' action had Bustey against Van Boening. Francisco was running balls like he did in the Banks finals and at 2-0, and needing one ball while Shane needed them all, made the definitive one pocket move: At every opportunity, he sent balls out of play into the kitchen. Any player who can run out from here isn't a magician, he's a trick shot artist.
At one point, all 8-balls were touching each other near the corner pocket opposite Shane's. They were now playing the "Wedge," a strategy attributed to another one-pocket virtuoso, Nick Varner.
Bustey would nudge one ball into play as that was all he needed to win the match. Every time he got the ball in play, Shane made it. And, then there were 7…and then there were six…
When there were four, Shane made a smidgen of a move to the "Wedge" and collapsed, head in his hands, on the table. He'd left a two railer. Instinct told him that it was over.
Francisco stroked it at such impeccable speed that, had it rolled off, it would be dangling in his hole. At perfect pace, it ran in perfect line off the second rail, and slowly trickled into his pocket.
He was in the last 7, as are the aforementioned Efren and Shannon, Orcollo, Justin Hall, Scott Frost and the one to watch, Josh Roberts. This young, salty pepper shaker ain't no slouch. He sent Corteza bye, bye.
On another note: Efren was observed breaking from the head spot, sending the cue ball off the side of the stack, two rails off the long rail, back into the stack. I'm getting dizzy just thinking about the spin he put on the ball. Please do not try it at home.
The Derby City Classic 9-Ball Championships
Sponsored by Lucasi Cues.
After round one, there were no memorable, or noteworthy, upsets. The usual suspects are still in play: Bergman, Biado, Van B, Breedlove, Brumback, Can, Corr (Yup, happy to say, that's Karen), Vann C, Dechaine, Hohmann, Hunter, Frost, Joyner, Kiamco, Saez, Schmidt, Strickland, and Woodward, just to name a few.
Visit accu-stats.com for Thursday's upcoming matches.
2104 George Fels Memorial Straight Pool Challenge: High runs, Wednesday, 29th.
Sposored by Aramith Balls and Simonis Cloth.
Ralf Souquet: 178
Niels Feijen: 161
Dennis Orcollo; 141
Konstantin Stepanov; 140
Darren Appleton: 122
Jayson Shaw: 112
Alex Lely: 112
Huidji See: 100
Kudos to Dennis Walsh for keeping this great DCC event alive.
The format allows any player with a C note, 3 sessions in four attempts, that's 12 in all, to run balls until they drop–pun intend. Each miss counts as an attempt.
What a deal: That's 12 attempts at a high run for a hundred dollars. There is no limit to the amount of times a player can ante up the entry money and enter.
The two tables, in a private room upstairs, that are dedicated to the event, are in constant action as competitor after competitor waits in line for their shot to string racks together.
Then, the format evolves as the top 8, point scoring players, are then drawn to a single elimination tournament.
Schmidt, Van Den Berg, Chinakov, and Hunter have one session left to beat those current top scores to qualify. As you can see by the results posted above, Souquet, Appleton, Feijen, Orcollo, Stepanov, Shaw, Lely, and See are the top 8, to date.
Watch their efforts LIVE at insidepoolmag.com
