Derby City Roundup: Kiamco Wins 9 Ball, Pagulayan Wins All Around.

By: Markus Noé

Yesterday was the conclusion of the 9 day Derby City Classic marathon, where players participated in 3 tournaments and played an average of 10 hour days not including the evening gambling sessions. The games played this week were 1 Pocket, 9 Ball Banks, and 9 Ball. There were two other tournaments as well that did not add points to the "Master of the Table" title which was the 16 player Bigfoot Challenge and the George Fels Memorial Straight Pool Challenge.

This week truly belonged to Canadian Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan who took home the "Master of the Table" title which goes to the player who has the best performances throughout the 3 divisions. It started off with a top 10 finish in the 9 Ball Banks, then he followed that up with an impressive win in the 1 Pocket Division. In his last three matches he beat Efren Reyes 3-0, then Justin Hall 3-0 and in the final beat Mike Dechaine twice 3-0 and 3-1.

As is tradition for the Derby City Classic, 9 Ball was the last tournament of the week. Here Pagulayan continued his impressive play making it into the finals of this 300 plus player field. Notable matches for him in this tournament was 9-1 over 3 time reigning U.S. Open Champion and after being down 8-6 to Dennis Orcollo he came back to win 9-8.

In the final of the 9 Ball, Pagulayan faced Warren Kiamco who went undefeated meaning he had a buy-in left. In the first match of the final Pagulayan beat Kiamco 9-4. After returning from the front desk where he bought back in, Kiamco took a big 7-2 lead in the final set. At 8-3 Pagulyan looked to be making a comeback however it was thwarted at 9-7 with Kiamco winning the $16,000 first place prize.

Once again congratulations to Alex Pagulayan who also become the first player to win the "Triple Crown" at the Derby City Classic. Which means at one point in his career he has claimed a title in each of the 3 divisions. This week with his cash in the Bigfoot Challenge and three divisions, I estimate his winnings this week at around $45,000. A big thank to the Accu-Stats team who put on a world class production this week and gave us everything we needed to properly cover this event. Make sure to check back on Cue Sport Nation if you missed out on anything this week, as the entire weeks articles are archived on the website.