January 21-29, 2011 marks the 13th Annual Derby City Classic, held for the third consecutive year at the Horseshoe Casino in Southern Indiana. The festivities kick off with a full day of bank-pool. A passing storm delayed several and canceled several flights but it did not slow down the show. 384 players entered, up from last year. Among the contenders, former two-time champs John Brumback and Larry Price both advanced into the second round without a loss. No sign of former bank champs Nick Varner or Dave Matlock this year.
Some recent back pain has kept last year's All-Around Champ, “The Magician” Efren Reyes, in the Philippines for this event, but the rest of the Filipino contingency is here to represent, including Jose Parica, Dennis Orcollo, Roberto Gomez, and Lee Van Corteza. Recent BCA Hall of Fame inductee, Francisco Bustamante defeated countryman Warran Kiamco in the first round, and a late-coming “Lion” Alex Pagulayan's flight arrived with 40 minutes to spare to win his 11 p.m. match.
Derby would not be complete without Grady Mathews' Bank Pool Ring Game. The six players bought in for $1,500 each. Shannon Daulton was the only staple we saw this year. Joining him was Shannon Murphy, Jeremy Jones, Mike Hughes, Louis DeMarco, and Brumback. Played with 10 balls, players can also kick at least three rails to pocket a ball for the cash.
The first two games started at $50 per ball, gradually up to $700 per ball. Jones was the first to be eliminated after the second game. In game four, at $100/ball, with only one barrel left, Daulton fired in five in a row to stay alive. This streak continued as DeMarco and Hughes exited next. Murphy led the ring from the beginning until the stake was $250, then $400 per ball when Brumback and Daulton moved ahead. In the end Brumback wowed the fans with an impressive comeback to claim the $9,000 winner-take-all prize.
Tune in to Accu-stats.com for your live streaming action all week. The AzBilliards 2011 DCC Coverage page was made possible by CueBallTracker.com and PoolDawg.com.
