February 1st, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
John Schmidt went through the DCC One-Pocket event undefeated beating Scott ‘The Freezer’ Frost 2-1 in the final. John, who unfortunately arrived too late to play in the banks event would have threatened for the all around title had he played all 3 events.
Interviews with John and Scott Frost before the final below.
Read more…
January 31st, 2009 / by admin
Mr. 400 John Schmidt took out the Accu-Stats Gameshow, a single frame elimination 9-ball challenge where a push out after the break is mandatory. This game reduces the break advantage that many see as a problem with 9-ball. This interview is with Vanessa de la Cuetara of Inside Pool Magazine.
Video from www.insidepoolmag.com
January 31st, 2009 / by admin
Lee Van Corteza discussing the Derby City Classic and his success in the Fatboy 10-Ball Challenge.
Video by www.insidepoolmag.com
January 28th, 2009 / by jay helfert
My assessment of the finals. Ralf scratched on the break four times in the first half of the match. Then he missed four or five makeable balls in the second half of the match. He still had a chance to win. Lee Van got a couple of fortuitous rolls as well. He was blessed in this match and also his semi with Mika. Ralf played his only bad match of the tournament in the finals.
Lee Van is a great player, and deserves the win. He’s a humble guy and a great money player. Ralf will continue to do what he does best, win tournaments.
I look for Shane to play Francisco next. That’s the buzz around here. Big matches last night included T-Rex playing Rafael even up One Pocket for ten large. Cardone was playing Monster John for some serious cheese as well. I didn’t hang, I was too tired. Ron Wiseman beat Gabe the night before for 10K, getting 9-7.
On to the One Pocket Challenge today. P.S. Johnny is here, he’ll be playing in the 9-Ball.
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Ralf scratched four times on his break in the first half of the match. In the second half of the match, he missed four or five very makeable shots. Yet, he was in the match and had a chance, until his miss at 12-9. If he gets out there it’s 12-10 and he’s breaking.
Ralf almost always made a ball on the break, and Lee Van almost never made a ball on his break. Lee Van also got some friendly rolls near the end. We paid him $10,000 in cash right at the final table. And Ralf got his $5,000 right then also. No checks in the mail at my events, or bullsh-t stories either.
January 28th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
A nice interview with Philippine pool star Francisco Bustamante. This was recorded before Ralf Souquet beat Busti in the Fatboy 10-Ball Challenge Semi-Final.
Video by www.insidepoolmag.com
January 28th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Marcue Chamat gets his gear out of his cue case during an interview with Inside Pool’s Samm Diep at the Derby City Classic.
Video by www.insidepoolmag.com
January 28th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
John Brumback has taken out the 2009 Derby City Classic 9-Ball Banks division from a field of (I heard) 395 entrants. Surprisingly about 50 down on last year’s entries.
Interview with John by Inside Pool Mag after his Banks victory.
John had to beat the Filipino pool player Rudolpho Luat twice in the final as Luat had not used up his buyback.
Below are the results of the last 32, as well as I could decifer them from the problematic results on the official Derby City Classic website.
Round 9 – Last 32
Brian Gregg d Glenn Atwell
Johnathan Pinegar d Chris Bartrum
John Brumback d Shawn Putnam
Thorsten Hohmann d Francisco Bustamante
Rodolfo Luat d Jeff Carter
Shannon Daulton d Michael Eck
Brian Gregg d Glenn Atwell
Thorsten Hohmann d Francisco Bustamante
Mika Immonen d Michael Surber
Rodolfo Luat d Jeff Carter
Larry Nevel d Efren Reyes
Johnathan Pinegar d Chris Bartrum
John Brumback d Shawn Putnam
Mika Immonen d Michael Surber
Round 10 – Last 16
John Brumback d Larry Nevel
Shannon Daulton d Mika Immonen
Brian Gregg d Shawn Putnam
Rodolfo Luat d Thorsten Hohmann
Shannon Daulton d Mika Immonen
Larry Nevel d John Brumback
Johnathan Pinegar d Johnathan Pinegar <–(wish I could get a draw like that in the last 16)
Brian Gregg d Shawn Putnam
Last 3
John Brumback, Rodolfo Luat and Jonathan Hennessee. (Luat has a buy back)
See AZB report HERE.
9-Ball Banks Final
John Brumback beat Rodolpho Luat in the final.
John had to win twice due to the buyback format.
January 28th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Gabe Owen chats with Vanessa de la Cuetara of Inside Pool Magazing about 1 pocket, Efren and his new range of pool cues.
Video by www.Insidepoolmag.com
January 28th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Below are the ongoing updates from Sunnyday. Thanks so much to Sunnyday!!!
-It’s rack your own.
Game 1: Souquet breaks clean with controlled cue ball and pockets 2 balls. Table is clean and open but he bumped the 2 while pocketing one and plays saftey with cue ball behind 6.
Corteza pulls “cue behind your back, leaning backward with one foot balance” kick but table is relatively open… Souquet lets Corteza back to the table failing to pocket the 2. Corteza makes it look easy and is first on the board.
1-0 Corteza
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Game 2: Souquet and Corteza are exchanging safety battles and couple of missed opportunities. Both players seem a little nervous… Souquet over draws to get a shape on 4 ball which is on foot rail and sinks cue ball into the corner pocket. Ball in hand for Corteza and he should be fine from 7-10.
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Keep reading the reports by clicking the ‘more’ link below………
Read more…
January 27th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
After Efren kept his head slightly in front for most of the match, Shane Van Boening flew home to win this marathon 10-Ball challenge match 23-19.
Image courteousy of Marcus Hoffstaeter
The players were playing for 10k a corner and it is rumoured another 50k was being wagered amongst the onlookers. Shane’s reputation as the current leading US player is further strengthened after beating one of pool’s greatest legends in a high pressure arena.
More of Marcus’ photos of the match at the bottom of THIS PAGE.
TAR will have this classic match on DVD in coming months.
From Sunnyday at AZB:
…even better, Shannon Dalton and Billy Incardonas were in the commentator’s booth and they were cracking up the whole room that was listening. Some of us who were wearing head phones to check the sound quality had to take the head phones off sometimes to stop from laughing uncontrollably!
Yes, room was packed from wall to wall, people standing over chairs… and heads bobbing up and down from the hall way trying to catch a glimpse of the action…
As the game got toward the end, I looked around the TARPIT and could see Marcus Chamat, Scott Frost, Busty, Danver Barger, Brian Gross, Lee Van Corteza… ( there could have been more but room was dark, except the table) all top name pros were sweating the action among-st the normal fans.
Yes, when Shane was running out to win the set, lights did go out for few seconds. Someone leaned on the light switch and the whole back role yelled, “Busty leaned on the wall! Come on Busty”. No one really know who leaned on the switch, but it was an affectionate poke made at the Champion
After the game broke, there was no immediate woofing of any rematch, but I am sure, they (team Filipino) are back to their drawing board trying to neutralize this loss.
Get a feel of the progress of this game by reading the ongoing coverage on this AZB thread.
January 27th, 2009 / by sjm
Souquet beat Bustamante with sparkling play. I think it was 15-7. As we all know, nobody has had greater success in rotation games against the Filipinos in big spots than Ralf. He’s dismissed Reyes and Bustamante, and if he can dispose of Van Corteza, he’ll have completed the Filipino sweep and will have won the inaugural FATBOY Challenge, no small feat.
I enjoyed sweating the Souquet-Bustamante match with JoeyA and Lou Figeroa.
A dazzling shot played by Souquet against Bustamante was this one. Note that the four ball is frozen to the bottom rail. The position paths available are scarce and are filled with possible obstructions if missed even barely. The gist of the position was this, though I certainly don’t remember all the details. Finally, the speed control that was needed was particularly challenging:
Photos from the Fatboy 10-Ball 20k Challenge HERE.
January 27th, 2009 / by jay helfert
Busti overslept! They woke him at Midnite and hustled him down to play. He got here about 12:20 and was still groggy. He was definitely not ready for Ralf, and it showed. Many missed balls. At 9-4, Busti looked at me and said, “My blood is still sleeping.” He lost 15-7.
Mika lost 15-10. Lee Van got ALL the rolls. Ralf and Lee Van tomorrow night at 9 PM in the Accu-Stats arena. If they have a live internet feed, you can watch it. I’m going to bed. I feel like I’ve been here a week already.
January 26th, 2009 / by sjm
Fatboy wrote:
Efren made the best shot so far a 2 rail kick out of a dead hook, and Left Ralf in jail as he thinned the OB and the CB only rolled 3″ after the hit the CB rolled about 11′ before the hit, talk about touch.
Yeah, this shot was pretty special. Souquet played a masterful safety to send the two ball two rails under a cluster near the bottom right corner. While I don’t remember the exact position, the gist of it was this. Before Efren’s shot, the balls looked like this, and I’ve showed Efren’s kicking line:
The remarkable result after Efren’s slow speed two rail kick was this:
Read more…
January 26th, 2009 / by jay helfert
Great match-ups tomorrow. Perfect, two filipinos vs. two “others”. Any of the four could win, they have all been impressive. If you watch Ralf play, you appreciate what a fantastic player he is. Describing his run-outs does not do him justice. There are no flaws in his game. He IS the complete player.
Mika is super solid as well, and plays with total confidence. He just overwhelms the balls and makes them do his bidding. He is in control of the table at all times. Francisco is the money man. You can sense his hunger to win. He just wants to mop you up if you’re his opponent. He pounces on every opportunity and makes you pay.
Lee Van is simply one more in the long line of filipino champions. He has a shot for every situation, and executes it to perfection. The filipino background in rotation equips them to handle anything that comes up on the table. They are not fazed by having to shoot an awkward combination or tricky billiard.
All are in the money now, guaranteed $2,500 each. Tomorrow the matches are worth another $2,500 minimum.
I had a quick bite with Fatboy after the matches. I told him I was going online, and he said to tell everyone hi.
I lost my first One Pocket match 3-2. All three of my matches have been 3-2. I played Bob M??? from Conneticut, an old friend of Lisciotti’s. He plays pretty good, and my game is pretty ragged. I feel like I suck. I’m so unhappy with my game. I need to practice but I never do.
January 26th, 2009 / by sjm
Semifinal matchups will be Immonen vs Van Corteza and Bustamante vs Souquet.
I just got back to my room after watching the end of Souquet’s win over Reyes. Here’s a shot by Souquet that I found particularly impressive. It occurred while Souquet trailed early in the match and needed to make something happen. To clarify, the cut on the one was so thin that the scratch back across the table was an issue. Souquet cut it thin and played remakable three rail shape with inside english into a small position zone to get to the two, setting up a critical runout. I’m guessing at where most of the balls were, but the ones that mattered in this position were the one, the two and the three obstructing balls that made the position path so difficult to accomplish. Three different scratches had to be avoided on this shot, and if Souquet missed his position line long, he would have probably hooked himself.
Morra’s match with Van Corteza was an interesting one. This was a somewhat choppy match, and the Van Corteza that dismissed Van Boening easily on Saturday night wasn’t the one that showed up for thi match. When Van Corteza missed a relatively simple ten ball that would have made it 3-3, Morra hit him with three racks for a 6-2 lead. At 7-3, Van Corteza crapped in the ten ball to pull within 7-4, but at 7-5, Van Corteza made two errors, one of which left Morra a relatively easy carom chance to make the ten ball. When Morra hit it very poorly, the momentum of the match shifted dramatically, with Van Corteza grabbing a seemingly safe 12-8 lead. Surpirsing many onlookers, Morra fought the good fight to pull within 13-12, and he had an opportunity to tie it at 13-13 if he could execute a fairly tricky carom on the six ball, but he wasn’t up to it, and the miss sealed his fate, with Van Corteza advancing.
January 26th, 2009 / by admin
2008 Derby City Classic 9-ball winner and 3rd place in last year’s Overall Title, Ralf Souquet talks with Inside Pool.
Video from www.insidepoolmag.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Daz chats with Sam Diep about his progress toward becoming a World Top 16 pool player.
Video from www.insidepoolmag.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Shane Van Boening, SVB, 2007 US Open 9-Ball Champion at the Derby City Classic 2009 with Inside Pool’s Cristina De La Garza.
Video by www.insidepoolmag.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
John Pinegar / Hennessy, recent winner at Music City, discusses his chances in this year’s Derby City Classic with Inside Pool’s Samm Diep.
Video by www.insidepool.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Silver Ochoa, banker extraordinaire, talks with Inside Pool.
Video from www.insidepool.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
The Black Widow, Jeanetter Lee discusses playing all the pool events with the men and the unique and exciting nature of the Derby City Classic.
Video from www.insidepoolmag.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Stevie Moore discusses some of the work he has been doing on his game with Stan Shuffet and some ambitions to run coaching clinics (I assume for Pro One) next year.
His website is www.stevemoore.com
Video from www.insidepoolmag.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Video from www.insidepoolmag.com
January 26th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
2nd Round
Stevie Moore 6 v Mika Immonen 15
Busta 15 v Appleton 3
Efren 9 v Souquet 15
Corteza 15 v Morra 12
From Sunnyday: Souquet makes 4 balls off the break including the 10 ball, per rule 10spots back up and he runs our effortlessly. Final 4 tomorrow are Mika, Corteza, Busty and Souquet.Good nite everyone. My phone is out of juice.
Morra led 6-1 early on, later trailed 7-12.
$10,000 first. $5,000 second. $2,500 for 3rd & 4th.
That’s all for now…. will update more later.
January 26th, 2009 / by admin
With the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s BCA and Carolina Classic 9-Ball tournaments now gone, only 5 events remain for the 2009 season. Not good news for the stadout success story in US pool tours.
More information on the Pool Cue News website.
January 26th, 2009 / by admin
Chicago, IL – Poison Cues Challenge Match Series will tour at two locations in the Chicago area featuring Francisco Bustamante (PHI), Charlie Williams(USA), and 2008 Player of the Year Mika Immonen(FIN). The first event on February 4,2009 at Pressure Billiards in Chicago and then on February 7 at Palace Billiards in Villa Park. The three champions will entertain fans with trickshots, pool tips, challenges, and finale with pro round robin matches. Dragon Promotions will be producing these series of showdown matches sponsored by Poison Billiards.
January 25th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
These just up from Markus Hofstatter.
Click on image below or follow this link:
www.markus-hofstaetter.at/dcc2009/index.html
Visit Makus’ DCC Blog HERE , or check our DCC coverage page which includes a Blidget feed of Markus’ blog posts live HERE .
January 25th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Picking up some feedback from Darren Appleton’s facebook page, he’s just won 3-0 in round 6 of the banks, he’s through to the second round in the one pocket and also plays the second round of the Fat Boy 10-ball Challenge tonight.
Could be one to watch for the overall!
January 25th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
First Round Results:
Darren Appleton over Rafael Martinez 15-11
Efren Reyes over Parica 15-11
Ralf Souquet over Marcus Chamat 15-12
Lee Van Corteza over Shane Van Boening 15-9
Francisco Bustamante over Hennesse 15-7
Mika Immonen over Hillbilly Charlie Bryant 15-11
Stevie Moore over Corey Duel 15-7
Morra over Dechaine 15-11
The eight winners play again tonite at Midnite. The brackets look just like what you see above. Ralf vs. Efren etc. Winners tonite are guaranteed $2,500.
Highlights last night – Francisco played a fantastic match, nearly flawless. Lee Van may have been the second most impressive (he’s got Shane’s number). Mika and Charley had a real battle, so did Darren and Rafael (who still makes the most spectacular shots of anyone). Jose and Efren match was also hard fought (still battling for supremacy after three decades+). Matches all lasted two and half hours or more. Ralf vs. Marcus the longest, over three and a half hours. Corey may have played the worst match, totally out of synch, miss miss miss.
Interesting, not one hill-hill match. 15-12 was the closest. They’ll be closer tonite, my prediction.
One final comment – Maybe the best display of pool talent in one room, all playing at the same time, ever assembled! The place was packed and they were hanging off the walls trying to see. I had trouble finding a seat.
~ Jay Helfert
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Email me at info@ this domain with any details or post it to that AZB forum thread.
January 25th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Semi-Finals begin in 30 minutes.
Streaming, Vision, Audio (not english) is GOOD.
January 23rd, 2009 / by admin
CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STREAM of TAR’s coverage of The Derby City Classic 2009.
January 23rd, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
The founder of the International Pool Tour, Kevin Trudeau, has been found guilty and fined over 37 million dollars after charges were brought forth by the FTC. 
Article HERE.
While I’m no fan of the FTC or the FDA for that matter, it seems karma might have found its gloves in this case.
And for those that are wondering, the debt hasn’t been paid in my mind. Not only were the participants not given the 4 tournaments & 2nd year possibility they were guaranteed, but more importantly many qualifiers paid thousands to try to get into something that didn’t happen. i.e. The 2nd HUGE season.
There is a critical difference between ambitions and promises. Men with itegrity know it.
Discussion HERE.
January 22nd, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
How cool is this? And they actually play on it!
January 22nd, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
Rod Stewart’s Pool Hall Richard
Click on more to see lyrics below!
Read more…
January 22nd, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
A great pool introduction video by Mike Page, who is currently building what will become one of the premium pool venues ‘Fargo Billiards’ in the USA.
This will be a great video to send someone who has just discovered pool.
Check out or subscribe to Mike Page’s Youtube Channel…
January 20th, 2009 / by admin
Elgin, IL – Francisco Bustamante (PHI), Charlie Williams(USA), and 2008 Player of the Year Mika Immonen(FIN) will challenge each other during the Predator Challenge Match at Hennessy’s Steak & Seafood & Boogie Nights Retro Discotheque on February 5, 2009. Dragon Promotions will be producing this event along with other exhibitions in a series of showdown matches sponsored by The Predator Group’s Predator Cues and Poison Billiards divisions.
January 16th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
This is really quite amazing. I never thought I’d see pro-level trick shots performed on such a tiny table with tiny cue and balls. The exponent is one Rick McAvay, a competing trick shot player who goes by the moniker Prayingmantis.
This video is worth a watch if only for the cool (women can say cute 
) props. Check that tiny shoe! 
January 16th, 2009 / by admin
Predator Pro Pool School with Immonen, Bustamante & Williams
February 7-8,2009
Chicago, IL at Palace Billiards
[Ed. There aren't many sports in the world where you can get a chance to have professional one-on-one instruction from players at the peak of their sport. Well done to Dragon Promotions for making such opportunities available for the serious pool aficionado.]
For the first time ever in Chicago and the midwest, Dragon Promotions brings you 2008 Player of the Year Mika Immonen of Finland , Former #1 Francisco Bustamante of Philippines, and Top 5 USA ranked Charlie Williams to the Chicago Predator Pro Pool School. These world class professional players will reveal in depth training methods and secrets of professional pool. Students will get insight on their style and knowledge of play which has inspired countless players hroughout Europe, Asia, the USA and the world of pool! This rare experience will be hosted by Palace Billiards and brought to you by Predator Cues, Simonis Cloth, Brunswick Centennial Balls, and Master Chalk.
The instructors will cover a myriad of hot topics relevant to professional cue sports today. The pro champions also have had prior experience in teaching players of all levels from beginner to highly advanced levels. Mika Immonen instructed at past Pro Pool Schools in Roanoke VA, Korea, and Norfolk VA. Bustamante made his teaching debut in 2008 in Jacksonville FL, while Williams has taught in VA, Boston, Korea, India, and Florida.
Read more…
January 12th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
O’Sullivan yesterday claimed the sport is “on a downward spiral”, aimed scathing criticism at its administrators, and insisted only someone with the business vision of ‘X Factor’ supremo Simon Cowell or Hearn could rescue it.
Hearn, who has revitalised darts and introduced the exciting, Twenty20 cricket-style Prizefighter tournament to boxing, insists the sport is not dead but admits there is a dearth of characters at the moment.
Complete Article HERE.
In other snooker news, long time snooker commentator David Vines died, aged 73.
January 8th, 2009 / by Colin Colenso
A 3 Cushion Billiards educational clip from Disney’s Acadamy Award nominated featurette, Donald in Mathmagic Land, released in 1959. A wonderful display of the use of the diamond system.
This was one of the most popular educational films Disney ever produced and was shown widely in elementary schools.
According to macguy, the man playing several shots in the clip is Romey Yance (sp?) from the San Francisco area.
The Packers aggregrate, collate and discuss the best of what's going on in pool. If you'd like to contribute pool related information to this blog, please email info@ this domain name.
