Under The Big Top

Nothing in pool matches the smorgasbord of events, action and excitement that is the annual Derby City Classic.

By BD Staff
Photos by JP Parmentier

The Derby City Classic, the brainchild of Diamond Billiard Products founder and Johnston City Hustlers Jamboree fanatic Gregg Sullivan, is pool-induced sensory overload. The unprepared pool player or fan can easily be overwhelmed by the sea of tables, multitude of matches and head-spinning array of playing and viewing options. It is a tournament that keeps more plates spinning simultaneously than the most ambitious circus or carnival. It is almost perfect. At its core, the Derby City Classic is a nine-day pool tournament built around three main divisions — 9-Ball Banks, One-Pocket and Nine-Ball. But it is so much more. Throw in a straight pool division, a 10-foot-table 10-ball division, a 9-ball banks ring game and more high-stakes action than Johnston City ever dreamed of, and one begins to understand the breadth of pool under the big top. Not surprisingly, players who venture to the Horseshoe Casino & Hotel in Elizabeth, Ind., enter every event they can, often having to race from a banks match to a one-pocket match to a straight-pool match all in the same day. “The first few years, playing Derby City was a real challenge,” said Alex Pagulayan, whose One-Pocket and Master of the Table (a bonus for the player who accumulates the most points in the three divisions) titles in 2015 made him the first player in the 17-year history of the event to own titles in all three divisions and win a Master of the Table honor. “Changing games took me a while to get used to. It was a challenge. The toughest thing is switching strokes. In one-pocket you’re punching the cue ball, and in 9-ball and 10-ball you have to let your arm go.”
More than 500 players let their arms go in 2015. These are their stories.

BANKS
Cannon Is Money in the Banks
At 42, Shannon Daulton still finds his way to plenty of tournaments. In 2014, for instance, Daulton attended 35 events — but didn’t cash in a single one!
Daulton, you see, runs the Great Southern Billiard Tour from his home base in Greenville, S.C. The GSBT staged 35 tournaments in a half-dozen states last year, keeping the player-turned-promoter as busy as he’s ever been.
“I’ve been on the road since I was 15,” Daulton says, “and I might be travelling more now than when I was playing. In fact, the last pro tournament I played in was Derby City last January.”
Not that Daulton, one of the game’s best bank pool and one-pocket players for the past 20 years, has forgotten how to pocket balls. Flashing the form that earned him the Derby City Classic 9-Ball Banks title in 2000, Daulton out-banked two-time DCC banks champ John Brumback, 3-1, to earn the 2015 crown at the Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, Ind. It was Daulton’s fifth Derby City title (including his Master of the Table title in 2001).
“To be honest,” Daulton said after the final, “I don’t know how I did it against that big field. I’m just happy to have done what I’ve done.”
Derby City has become Mecca for pool’s bank pool aficionados, and an astonishing 413 players anteed up for the 2015 event. And despite the DCC’s unconventional format, which allows for losing players one chance to buy back into the field and features re-draws in the later rounds, the final dozen players featured the cream of the banking community. Joining Daulton and Brumback were young Midwest hotshots Justin Bergman and Justin Hall, one-pocket heavyweight Scott Frost, Brandon Shuff, 2013 winner Francisco Bustamante and his legendary countryman, Efren Reyes. The favorites weren’t alone, however, as 61-year-old former world straight pool champion-turned cuemaker Bobby Hunter made perhaps the week’s most improbable run. Hunter had forced Daulton to use his buy-back a round earlier with a 3-2 win.
Ageless and still magical, Reyes pulled an impressive rabbit out of his hat with a miraculous 3-2 win over Frost. Frost held a 2-0 lead in games, and a 4-0 lead in balls. Incredibly, Frost missed his out ball 11 times in the third game, setting the stage for Reyes’ epic comeback. Hunter, meanwhile, easily dispensed of Bustamante, 3-0. Daulton ousted Bergman, while Hall dispatched Shuff.
Hunter’s tournament ended in a drawn-out slugfest against Reyes, which went down to the final ball. Tied, 2-2, and each with four balls down in the case game, Reyes pounded home the final bank to reach the semifinals.
“One more ball and maybe I get a bye into the final,” lamented Hunter, noting the re-draw among the final three players. “That would have been something. My secret this week was playing safe and leaving my opponent on the end rail. Most of these players play wide open, and I don’t care how good you are, you’re going to miss in banks. I kept playing safe until I got an open shot. Then I’d make a ball and leave them on the end rail again.”
With Daulton posting a 3-1 win over Indiana veteran Brian Groce, and Brumback beating Hall, 3-0, the final three players re-drew. Brumback earned a bye into the title match, leaving Reyes and Daulton to battle for the other slot in the finale.
In a reversal of his match against Frost, Reyes broke out to a 2-0 lead over Daulton, and had three balls down in the third game, with Daulton owing a ball after a scratch. With a shot at a record eight DCC titles still within reach, Reyes failed on several opportunities to close out the match, hitting one rail point after another. Daulton clawed his way back to win the game and the next two to stun the suddenly out-of-gas Filipino.
“That was the toughest match of the tournament for me,” said Daulton. “John [Brumback] is the better banker, but to come from behind like that against a player like Efren really gave me a lot of momentum going into the final.”
The final pitted Kentucky natives Daulton and 51-year-old Brumback against each other, the duo having practiced together in the days leading up to the tournament. Daulton started quickly, running five-and-out to win the first game, and won the second game in three innings. Tactical play slowed down the third game, with both players pocketing four balls. Needing one more ball for the title, Daulton missed five makeable banks. Brumback ended the game to narrow the gap to 2-1, which only postponed Daulton’s ultimate triumph. The fiery lefthander rolled to a 5-1 advantage in the fourth game to earn his second DCC 9-Ball Banks crown.
“The key here was that I got a lot of rest,” Daulton said. “People were asking why I wasn’t hanging around the action rooms. There are only two ways to play the Derby City Classic. You either have to spend all your time in the action rooms, or, if you’re in the tournament, you have to get your butt back up to your room to rest after your matches. I was in bed every night at 10 o’clock. You need rest, especially for early matches. I’m not one of those guys who can roll out of bed and go right to a 10 a.m. match. I’ve got to get up by 7. I need to take my time and get ready.
“In the end, I’m really proud of what I’ve done here,” Daulton added. “This is not an easy event to win. It really means a lot to me.”
— Jay Helfert

BIG FOOT 10-BALL
CHALLENGE
Van Boening’s Big Foot Feat
Championship repeats are becoming the norm for Shane Van Boening. America’s top player rolled out yet another double at the Derby City Classic when he stomped Filipino Lee Vann Corteza, 11-2, in the final of the Big Foot 10-Ball Challenge.
The Big Foot, a single-elimination 16-player invitational played on a 10-foot Diamond table, is a recent addition to the 17-year-old pool festival. Filipino Dennis Orcollo won the first Big Foot Challenge in 2013, with Van Boening winning in ’14. The small-but-elite field assures world-class match-ups in each round…case in point being the opening-round tilts that pitted Alex Pagulayan against Scotland’s Jayson Shaw (won by Pagulayan, 11-7); Canadian John Morra against Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Francisco Bustamante (won by Morra, 11-10); Lee Vann Corteza of the Philippines against Rodney Morris (won by Corteza, 11-8); and Van Boening against another hall of famer, Johnny Archer (won by Van Boening, 11-8).
Since the first tournament in 1999, the DCC has been somewhat of a coming out party for up-and-coming players from the talent-rich Philippines. The 2015 event was no different, with 22-year-old Jeffrey Ignacio seemingly ready to add his name to the long list of world-beaters from the Pacific island country. Ignacio had teamed with countryman Jeffrey De Luna to win the Pacman Cup Doubles title in September.The 2015 DCC was his first foray onto American soil. He immediately made his presence felt by opening with convincing wins over Mike Dechaine, 11-6, and heralded countryman Orcollo, 11-8.
The second round also saw Van Boening pull away from Canadian Jason Klatt, 11-8, Pagulayan top Morra, 11-6, and Corteza squeak past Finland’s Mika Immonen, 11-10, in a match that left Immonen seething after Corteza benefitted from a fortunate roll off a kick shot.
Not surprisingly, the Big Foot semifinals featured three Filipino stars, albeit one (Pagulayan) who was born in the Philippines but raised in Canada. Van Boening put a quick end to thoughts of an all-Filipino finale by demolishing Pagulayan, 11-2. The match saw Van Boening register a .958 Accu Stats total performance average, impressive under any conditions, but even more astonishing on a 10-foot table. The railbirds buzzed at Van Boening’s dominance, many commenting that the “South Dakota Kid” looked as though he was playing on a bar table. Van Boening kept his cue extension attached throughout the match, stretching with ease to reach shots and run racks.
Meanwhile, Corteza controlled his match against Ignacio from the start, coasting to an 11-6 win.
Normally confident, Corteza arrived for the final looking like a reluctant prisoner being led to the gallows. His attempt at light-hearted pre-match banter with Van Boening only delayed the inevitable. Van Boening continued to play at an otherworldly level, running racks and dominating the table in a quick and easy 11-2 win. Corteza could do little to defend the onslaught, as Van Boening successfully defended his title to secure the $16,000 top prize.
“I wish we always played on this table,” Van Boening said later. “I love playing here, and I don’t think anyone can beat me on the Big Foot.”
Few would dare to argue his assessment.
— Jay Helfert

ONE-POCKET
Pagulayan Catches A Gear
The Derby City Classic’s Midwestern home and inviting single-elimination format (inexpensive entry fees and the option to buy back in once following elimination), makes it the perfect event for an area rich in one-pocket and bank pool tradition. True to form, the 9-Ball Banks division drew more than 400 contestants, and the One-Pocket division drew an equally impressive 352. But no matter how enticing the format, or how big the field, the cream tends to rise to the top in one-pocket action.
On few occasions, however, has that cream ever risen higher than it did in January, when Alex Pagulayan put on a one-pocket clinic for the ages. In his final four matches, which included a two-set win over Mike Dechaine in the final, Pagulayan won 15 of 16 games, including 13 in a row. During that stretch, the “Killer Pixie” also authored four consecutive eight-and-outs and a 10-and-out. Not only did the run elevate Pagulayan, who claims his best game is one-pocket, to the DCC title, it also made him the first player to claim a career win in all three of the DCC’s main divisions — one-pocket, 9-ball banks and 9-ball.
While most favorites played deep into the one-pocket division, the event was not without its surprises. The early rounds of the 2015 DCC One-Pocket event saw six-time DCC one-hole champion Efren Reyes quickly forced to utilize his buy-back after a second-round loss to unheralded New Yorker Jim Milazoo. Former champions Scott Frost and Cliff Joyner also ran into early-round losses, with Frost falling to French straight-pool expert Stephan Cohen and Joyner losing to Canada’s John Morra, 3-1. Morra commented on the dramatic shifts in pace inherent in one-pocket, particularly after playing in the Big Foot 10-Ball and 9-Ball Banks divisions.
“The first game took 90 minutes,” Morra joked, “and the last one took 90 seconds.”
Despite his early loss, the 60-year-old Reyes managed to grind his way through the field. He beat South Dakota youngster Danny Olsen, then ousted Joyner, 3-0, to finagle his way into the final five. Southern Illinois native Justin Hall reached the late stages with a win over Jeremy Jones, while Francisco Bustamante, who earlier posted a 3-1 win over Pagulayan, pushed his way into the final five as well.
The surprise, however, was Dechaine, a product of the Northeast, known more for its straight-pool history than one-pocket. Still, Dechaine proved to be a force, reaching the finale as the event’s only unbeaten player after wins over Brandon Shuff and Bustamante.
All of which set the stage for Pagulayan’s mind-bending run.
The 38-year-old launched his barrage with a 3-0 win over Josh Roberts, and followed with his three eight-and-out runs to blank Reyes, 3-0. In the semifinal, Pagulayan continued his run-out streak with an eight-and-out against Hall. After taking a pair of fouls in the second game, Pagulayan promptly ran 10-and-out to forge a 2-0 lead in an eventual 3-0 win.
That put the Filipino-born Canadian into the final, where he would need to win twice against Dechaine. Still in dead stroke, Pagulayan spotted Dechaine the first five balls before riding yet another eight-and-out to a 1-0 lead in what was a quick, 3-0 win.
While the deciding set didn’t produce the run-out one-pocket that had typified his previous matches, Pagulayan nonetheless remained in command throughout, eventually securing his first one-pocket crown with a 3-1 win.
“To be honest with you, the balls just kept going in,” Pagualyan said, somewhat incredulously. “It just happened. I played my best game against Josh Roberts, and that really gave me confidence in the next matches.
“One-pocket is my best game,” he continued, “and it has really improved in the past year.”
One would think so.
— Mike Panozzo

NINE-BALL
Warren Peace
Filipino Warren Kiamco has long been dwarfed by the shadow of his more celebrated countrymen. Lacking the pedigree of Reyes, Bustamante, Parica, Orcollo, Pagulayan, Corteza and the like, Kiamco is often overlooked in discussions of the great players to come out of the Philippines.
While the 45-year-old from Quezon City has won his share of mid-level titles, including a few U.S. Bar Table 9-Ball titles, the bigger stages have not been kind. He did post a fifth-place finish in the 2014 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships and fifth at the 2009 World 10-Ball Championship.
Still a ways from being mentioned in the same breath as the aforementioned greats, Kiamco nonetheless etched his name permanently into the list of Filipinos who have won division titles at the Derby City Classic when he outlasted Pagulayan, 9-7, in the final of the 9-Ball division. He became the fourth player from the Philippines to win the DCC 9-Ball crown, with Reyes, Pagulayan and Orcollo being the others.
Surprisingly, the 9-ball division at Derby City produced the smallest turnout, with 310 entrants. And, as the final division of the nine-day pool circus (which fills in “extra” hours with action matches, ring games and a straight pool tournament), the 9-ball division exposes players who are running on fumes as the final rounds tick away.
One such player was Justin Hall, whose high finishes in 9-Ball Banks and One-Pockets had him in contention for the coveted Master of the Table title, an all-around points race with a $20,000 bonus. Several rounds into the 9-ball competition, Hall slept through his early-morning match and continued to snooze through the time allotted for buy-backs. (While the inability to get up cost Hall a shot at both the 9-ball and overall titles, the extra rest aided him in nabbing the winner-takes-all $9,000 prize in the six-handed Banks Ring Game.)
Kiamco maintained a clean slate in rolling into the title match, but Pagulayan’s path was significantly more treacherous. Battling 9-Ball Banks winner Shannon Daulton and Reyes for the Master of the Table crown, Pagulayan found himself in the perilous position of having to use his buy-back after a first-round loss to Mika Immonen, 9-8. With the likes of Shane Van Boening, Mike Dechaine, Orcollo, Reyes and Immonen lurking, Pagulayan had a daunting task ahead of him. Pagulayan quickly served notice by handing Van Boening a humbling 9-1 thrashing.
The final days of the DCC marathon can also lead to frayed nerves and quick tempers, as was the case in the match between Van Boening and Orcollo. Leading, 8-7, Van Boening challenged Orcollo after the Filipino used a pocketed ball to measure the gap between an object ball and the pocket. After tournament officials penalized him for the infraction, Orcollo angrily conceded the game and match, and chided Van Boening before leaving the arena.
Undaunted, Orcollo plowed through a half dozen wins to reach the final five players, along with finalists Kiamco and Pagulayan, 35-year-old Jeremy Sossei of Connecticut and longtime Dutch star Alex Lely, who had ended Van Boening’s tournament, 9-5.
Orcollo pushed Pagulayan to the limit, and had a chance to run out in the case rack but jawed the 1 ball. With Kiamco having eliminated Reyes earlier in the day, Pagulayan’s win secured the Master of the Table bonus. Sossei, meanwhile, left Lely in fourth place.
With three players left, the re-draw gave Pagulayan a pass into the final match, despite the fact that Kiamco had yet to lose. Undeterred, Kiamco rolled to a 9-5 win over Sossei to set up an all-Filipino finale.
Riding a wave of confidence, Pagulayan raced to a 9-4 win in the opening set, forcing Kiamco to use his buy-back. Kiamco opened an early 3-0 lead and reached the hill at 8-4, but a scratch gave Pagulayan new life. He responded with a pair of run-outs and a 9 on the break to pull to within one game at 8-7.
The pair jockeyed through the next rack, with each having an opportunity to secure the game. Eventually, Kiamco found himself staring at a slightly off-angle 7-9 combination. After careful evaluation, he tapped home the match-winning 9 and dropped onto the table.
“Have you any idea how difficult Derby City is to win?” Kiamco told Medium Pool after the event. “Over 300 players, and never knowing exactly when or who you are going to play until you see the draw.
“I am so happy to have survived.”
— Mike Panozzo

On The Side
   So, if you are a player entered in the Derby City Classic’s three main divisions, as well as in the Big Foot Challenge, what do you do with all of your spare time? You enter any number of side events taking place at the Horseshoe Casino, of course.
Perhaps the most popular side event is the George Fels Memorial Derby City Straight Pool Challenge, named after the late author and Billiards Digest columnist. As their schedule permits, players post an entry fee to attempt a high run, starting with a standard break shot. The players with the eight highest runs of the week then battle in a single-elimination 125-point bracket.
A record 57 players entered the straight pool contest, which has been a DCC staple since 2007. Scotland’s Jayson Shaw posted the week’s high run, an astonishing 227. Finland’s Mika Immonen, winner of the first DCC straight pool title, ran 224. The top three runs on each of the four qualifying days earned bonus money. In addition to Shaw and Immonen, Filipinos Dennis Orcollo and Warren Kiamco, Russian players Konstantin Stepanov and Rusian Chinahov, Dutchman Nick van den Berg and American John Schmidt qualified for the eight-player playoff.
Shaw, Kiamco, Chinahov and Immonen advanced to the final four, where Chinahov routed Immonen, 125-5 and Shaw did the same to Kiamco, 125-15. Chinahov, a 23-year-old from Moscow, dominated the sharp-shooting-but-strategy-challenged Shaw in the finale, 125-50.
Meanwhile, Justin Hall outlasted Canadian John Morra to win the six-handed Banks Ring Game. Billy Thorpe, Shannon Daulton, Francisco Bustamante and Skylar Woodward also posted the $1,500 entry fee for the event.

2015 Derby City Classic
Horseshoe Casino, Elizabeth, Ind.

9-Ball Banks
Shannon Daulton     $10,000
John Brumback        $5,000
Efren Reyes             $2,300
Brian Groce              $1,300
Justin Hall                $1,300
Bobby Hunter          $1,300

One-Pocket
Alex Pagulayan        $12,000
Mike Dechaine         $6,000
Justin Hall                $4,000
Francisco
Bustamante       $2,600
Efren Reyes                         $2,600
Brandon Shuff         $1,450
Josh Roberts             $1,450
Cliff Joyner              $1,450
Jeremy Jones            $1,450

9-Ball
Warren Kiamco        $16,000
Alex Pagulayan        $8,000
Jeremy Sossei           $4,750
Alex Lely                 $3,150
Dennis Orcollo         $3,150
Skyler Woodward    $2,100
Imran Majid             $2,100
Jason Klatt               $2,100
Shane
Van Boening $1,250
Efren Reyes                         $1,250
Scott Frost               $1,250
John Brumback        $1,250
Marco Teutscher      $1,250

Master of the Table
Alex Pagulayan        $20,000
Efren Reyes                         $3,000
John Brumback        $2,000

Big Foot 10-Ball
Challenge
Shane
Van Boening $16,000
Lee Vann Corteza    $8,000
Jeffrey Ignacio         $4,000
Alex Pagulayan        $4,000

Straight Pool Challenge
Rusian Chinahov      $4,000
Jayson Shaw            $2,500
Warren Kiamco        $1,300
Mika Immonen         $1,300

[Captions:]

Pagulayan:
Two-fisted Alex Pagulayan snags Derby City Classic Master of the Table crown.

Daulton:
Daulton took time off from his duties running the Great Southern Billiards Tour to play in the DCC, and took 412 players to the bank.

Van Boening:
Van Boening was in a class by himself on the big table.

Dechaine:
East Coast hot shot Dechaine was a surprise finalist in one-pocket.

Kiamco:
Kiamco claimed his first big 9-ball title..

Sidebar:
With ample rest, Hall banked the ring game title.

Top