All Kentucky Final in the Banks Division

By: Markus Noé

Last night cue sport fans who bought the Accu-Stats stream were treated to two fantastic bank pool matches. The first was the semi-final between Bank Pool Hall of Fame member Shannon "The Cannon" Daulton up against the legendary Efren "Bata" Reyes. Rotation games like 9 and 10 ball are widely considered a young mans game, thus the 60 year old Reyes has perhaps lost a step or two and is not as big of a threat as he once was in these types of games. However in games like bank pool and one pocket which take a lot more knowledge and strategy, Reyes still brings shivers to his opponents.

In the semi-final match-up you could tell that the nerves for Daulton were at times getting the best of him, as several errors allowed Reyes to take an early 2-1 in the race to 3. Reyes built himself up a lead in the next frame as well going up 4-1 and missing several banks to close the match. Perhaps the thought of becoming the first ever player to win all the divisions began to weigh on him. These few misses was all Daulton needed to regain his form and he quickly began his comeback and won the match 3-2 after some incredible banking. In 2012 Shane Van Boening had an opportunity to be the first to win all the divisions and to do it in one year, however Canadian John Morra ended those hopes for him by beating him in the banks final that year.

The final was an emotional match-up between two friends of 35 years Shannon Daulton and John Brumback. Both of these Bank Pool and 1 Pocket legends have participated in each of the 17 Derby City Classics and both cruised through this 411 person field to make it to the final. For these two life long friends from Kentucky it was all but fitting to see them battle it out in the final.

Brumback won the lag which is a huge advantage in these races to 3. However he broke dry and Daulton ran out this rack in less then 2 minutes to take the early 1-0 leads. Daulton also took the next game to go up 2-0 before Brumback who was waiting for the semi-final to complete, began to find his rhythm when he won the third frame. Unfortunately for his championship hopes it was too little to late as after a brief players break Daulton came back and finished up this match to win 3-1 and win his second Derby City Banks crown.

The 1 Pocket division continues today, as I am writing this update Shane Van Boening and Efren Reyes are doing battle on the stream. Make sure to purchase your Accu-Stats stream to keep up with all the action today.