Souquet Last Player Standing in 9 Ball and Bustamante Wins All-Around

Souquet Last Player Standing in 9 Ball and Bustamante Wins All-Around
Ralf Souquet is making a habit of winning the Derby City Classic 9-ball division. The 10th year winner also won in ’06 and ’04. He outlasted runner up Francisco Bustamante and third place finisher John Schmidt in a marathon circus fitting of the third and final event of the 2008 DCC. Around 8:00 pm at the conclusion of round 11, only three contestants remained and they all had their re-buy available.
John Schmidt, Francisco Bustamante, and Ralf Souquet all made it to round 12 without dropping a match. One player would get a bye and Souquet could take a break while Schmit and Bustamante played. After falling behind 4-0, Schmidt caught up and went on to make a one-nine carom to take the match 7-5.
Tournament director Scott “The Shot” Smith called for all three players to meet in the TV table area for a flipping of coins to determine the odd man to get the bye. Souquet, the last of the three to arrive under the hot lights, declined to flip coins and said, “Let the computer draw. It has been doing it all tournament.” Smith asked the staff at the desk to run the draw on the computer. Bustamante received the bye.
Souquet and Schmidt squared off as now the only two undefeated players. This close match began with Souquet winning the first three games but then tied at 4 games each and ended when Souquet made a terrific run from the two-ball to win the match 7-6. John Schmidt was asked if he’d like to exercise his re-buy to which he does.
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Once again the three players are asked to center court for the draw. This time the match announcement booms, “Ralf Souquet plays John Schmidt.” Immediately, Bustamante jumps out of the player chair and begins to bend his knees, clench his fists in front of him and hollers, “Ahhhh!” to the on-lookers. Even the stoic German smiled at the wild twist that allowed Bustamante to sit by the sidelines as Souquet and Schmidt played one more time.
The rematch went much like the first with Souquet edging Schmidt out 7-5 this time. John “Mr. 403” Schmidt finished third place grumbling about the luck of drawing Souquet twice in a row.
No draw was needed as only Bustamante and Souquet remained, Souquet having the advantage of having his re-buy, Bustamante the advantage of being Filipino and having locked up the Master of the Table award. The match started at 1:15 am thanks to a very effective cut break, Bustamante gave Souquet very few chances and ran four racks from the break and took the set 7-2 ending at 2:00 am sharp.
After Souquet used his re-buy, the players lagged for the right to break first in the second set at 2:20 am. As if to tease the players and spectators into thinking it would be an all night affair, Scott Smith could not determine the winner of the lag so he announced, “Tie! Re-lag.” This time Bustamante won the lag and the first game. The rest of the match was the opposite of the first with Souquet running five racks from the break. The final score of the last match was seven games to two with Souquet netting $17,500 for first.
Bustamante was also given an oversized check after the match, his for $20,000 as Master of the Table. Souquet finished third in all-around points and Gabe Owen the one-pocket champion finished second in the points race. Bustamante quipped to Souquet, “Ha, I lost the match and got a check bigger than yours!” Souquet replied, “That’s ‘cause my bank pool sucks!”

Owen Still Riding High

Owen Still Riding High
Mike Fieldhammer, InsidePOOL Staff
As the winner of last night’s one-pocket event, Gabe “The Babe” Owen leads the points race for the Master of the Table award and is still playing in the late rounds of the 9-ball event. Six players remain in round 11, and Owen is in control of his own fate. He will have to play Francisco Bustamante in one of the three matches just announced on the final night at the Tenth Annual Derby City Classic.
Bustamante is the only player with enough points accumulated to take the crown of all-around champion away from Owen. Owen has 141.3 points with approximately 50 points guaranteed should he drop the match to Bustamante, who has 116.7. He would need to oust Owen and finish first or second to leapfrog Owen for the most all-around points.
The six players remaining in the 9-ball event will play as follows: Bustamante vs. Owen on the TV table, John “Mr. 403” Schmidt vs. Michael Dechaine, and Ralf Souquet vs. Ryan Stone. Bustamante, Schmidt, and Souquet all have their re-buy option.
Round 10 match results were John Schmidt over Steve Moore 7-5, Gabe Owen bested Michael Fuller 7-1, and Francisco Bustamante topped Michael Dechaine who immediately went to the registration booth to re-buy. Crowd favorite Shane Van Boening went down to Ralf Souquet. “The South Dakota Kid” admitted to being very tired this evening after an all-night gambling session with Alex Pagulayan.
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The 9-ball tournament will be played Saturday evening until one man is left standing. Master of the Table and the 9-ball champion will be announced later this evening right here at InsidePOOL.

Gabe Owen Wins the Derby City Classic One-Pocket

Gabe Owen Wins the Derby City Classic One-Pocket
Mike Fieldhammer, InsidePOOL Staff
Gabe Owen won the Tenth Annual Derby City Classic one-pocket tournament over Larry Nevel this evening. Owen entered the thirteenth round when he drew the bye, and Nevel bested Francisco Bustamante 3-0 for the right to battle Owen once more. Owen drew the bye in the seventh round as well as the twelfth, but in response to questions that he was lucky to get two byes, Owen said, “Lucky? Have you seen the players I had to beat?”
Owen played a spectacular tournament by all counts. The final match was not his best performance, he admitted, but the grind of the tournament has taken its toll on many. Still, Owen found a way to do something that no player has ever done: won the DCC one-pocket tournament when Efren Reyes played in it. In fact, Owen is the only one who has knocked Reyes out of the tournament. Owen said after the win, “Sure, other players have won a match against Reyes, but he still won the tournament. I knocked him out!”
Reyes isn’t the only heavyweight Owen had to duke it out with. His road to victory was without a blemish. He never lost a match and his victories in order were against this formidable list of one-pocket competitors:
Jeremy Brown
Richard Harris
Huidji See
Robert McCormick
Jim Weast
Francisco Bustamante
Cliff Joyner
Scott Frost
Larry Nevel
Efren Reyes
Larry Nevel
The win netted Owen $12,000 and put him in contention for the Master of the Table prize. Nevel and Bustamante are also contenders for the because of their to high finishes in 9-ball banks.
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Saturday is all 9-ball! We will have tournament coverage as the 9-ball wraps up in the evening. Visit InsidePOOL for all the latest news on the Tenth Annual Derby City Classic.

No Repeat for Reyes

No Repeat for Reyes
By Mike Fieldhammer, InsidePOOL Staff
Efren “The Magician” Reyes was bested by former U.S. Open champ Gabe Owen in the eleventh round of the one-pocket competition at the Tenth Annual Derby City Classic. Reyes, the two-time defending DCC one-pocket champion, went down three games to one as crowds watched from any vantage point that they could. In the fourth game, with Owen leading two games to one and the ball count 6-3 in Owen’s favor, Reyes back-cut a ball poorly, allowing Owen a bank shot with position on the 1 ball for the match. Owen exclaimed, “Yes!” as the 1 hit the pocket and strode toward Reyes for a handshake. In typical Reyes fashion, he smiled and shrugged slightly as he exited toward the masses.
Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan met Francisco “Django” Bustamante for the right to move on to pick up some Master of the Table points. Both players were ousted from the bank pool tournament in the same round, finishing tied for seventh place. Bustamante took the match three games to one. Pagulayan said after the match, “I had a chance to tie it up. I missed an easy shot, pretty easy. I should have got it to two-two.”
Larry Nevel and Tony Mougey drew each other for the final pairing. Nevel, the All-Around champion in 2003, finished the bank pool in tenth place and could accumulate some more all-around points. Nevel struck swiftly and won three games in a row to end Mougey’s tournament run.
Three players remain: Nevel, Owen, and Bustamante. Owen seems to have luck running on his side. With his re-buy option still in his pocket, Owen drew the bye and awaits the winner of Nevel/Bustamante.
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A one-pocket champion will be crowned Friday. The champ and results of round five of the 9-ball tournament will be known Saturday. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news on the Tenth Annual Derby City Classic.

Louisville Billiards Action on Fires Up! Really!

Louisville Billiards Action on Fires Up! Really!
By Mike Fieldhammer, InsidePOOL Staff
Shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday, in the midst of the ninth round of the one-pocket event and the second round of the 9-ball event, a loud alarm bell was heard throughout the tournament room at the Executive West Hotel. Most of the matches continued to play on, while many spectators looked around for some indication of what they should do. Scott Smith made an announcement that everyone needed to evacuate the building.
Within minutes, the entire hotel was evacuated and two fire engines arrived. Some people waited in their cars for warmth, others just stood outside smoking and chatting, and many just drove away. Alarms were silenced around 9 p.m. and players and fans repopulated the hotel. Details on the cause of the fire are still unclear at this point, but it is suspected not to have been a false alarm. Hotel management said they were not in a position to make an official comment, but InsidePOOL will have word Friday.
Nine one-pocket contestants had to fade the alarm delay before the draw for the tenth round was announced. Defending one-pocket and all-around winner Efren “The Magician” Reyes drew the bye. Francisco Bustamante downed Shannon Daulton in three straight games, and Alex Pagulayan bested Darren Appleton 3-2. Both Daulton and Appleton have used their re-buy option and are out of the tournament.
In an all Ohio match-up, Tony Mougey topped Ryan Stone in a thriller. Mougey from Columbus won the match against the West Alexandrian sharp-shooter three games to one. In the final game with ball count 4-3 in Mougey’s favor, he banked the 7 ball out of the wedge up-table and ended up winning a couple of innings later.
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Gabe Owen and Larry Nevel played the most dramatic match of the evening. Nevel won the first two games and up two balls to nothing in the third game attempted an aggressive bank shot that left Owen a shot on the 6 ball. Owen plucked off six more and then scratched in the side pocket when the object ball skidded. Nevel ran a couple of balls before he had to play safe. Owen firmly banked a ball into his pocket and Nevel conceded the final ball. Owen took the last two games to survive round ten as the only player with his re-buy in tact.
The final rounds of the one-pocket event have been pushed to tomorrow because of the lengthy matches and the evacuation delay. Stay tuned to InsidePOOL for more results on the Tenth Annual Derby City Classic.

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