Bigfoot Challenge Evening Results

By: Markus Noé

The evening session started with with a battle of two of the greatest American players of all time, Shane Van Boening vs. Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer. The Scorpion was a slight underdog in this match against the world number one, who overall travels and plays a lot more at the moment.

This match was close early on then much like the Morra match from this afternoon one player began to pull away. It was Van Boening who pulled away in this one having multiple 3 and 4 game leads. Archer who was struggling with his position play early on this match, began to turn it around late and after being 8-4 down, pulled within two late in the set 9-7. However it was not to be as Van Boening was able to close out the match 11-8 in the end.

The next match was Canadian Jason Klatt up against Rubén Bautista of Mexico. Strong safety play and some big shots early by Bautista kept it close in the beginning. At 4-4 Klatt began to pull away with some strong play, this combined with some errors by Bautista allowed Klatt to run away with this match 11-5.

Tomorrows matches have not been giving time slots as of yet but they can be found at http://www.accu-stats.com/liveppv.html. There will be some interesting match-ups as two Canadians and friends Alex Pagulayan and John Morra will face off, Jason Klatt will be playing Shane Van Boening. Mika Immonen will face Dennis Orcollo, and the other two Filipinos in the Bigfoot Challenge Jefferey Ignacio and Lee Van Corteza will face off. If you are interested in purchasing a pass for tomorrow go to the Accu-Stats website for more information. Check back daily here at Cue Sport Nation for updates.

Derby City: Bigfoot Challenge Afternoon Update

By: Markus Noé

The Bigfoot 10 Ball Challenge continued this afternoon with some thrilling match-ups. First up was recent Turning Stone Champion Jayson Shaw against former World Champion Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan. With the way Shaw ran through opponents during the last few months and with Pagulayan playing more snooker than rotation as of late, the early betting odds most likely favoured Shaw.

It was a slow start for both players the first four racks as each made mistakes which allowed them to trade racks. From there Shaw began winning the safety exchanges and combined with a break and run came out to a 5-3 lead after 8 racks. From here Pagulayan became suffocating in his safety play and his overall style of play seemed to be a big advantage on these tough conditions. As Shaw is more of a gunslinger who relies on his shot-making abilities to get him through while Pagulayan plays near perfect position and very tight pattern plays. On this 10 foot Diamond with pro cut pockets, getting out of line at times cost Shaw as he rattled a few key shots he perhaps would not have on a 9 foot. In the end the "Lion" prevailed with  an 11-7 scoreline.

The next match of the afternoon session featured another Canadian John Morra against hall of fame member Francisco Bustamante. Morra got off to a very rough start missing a simple 10 ball early and made a few other uncharacteristic mistakes. Bustamante compounded this with some great safeties and a few clearances to push his lead to 6-1. Things did not look good for Morra as he was not only spotting 5 games on the wire to one of the best players ever, but this is a single elimination format meaning you lose and your out.

At 7-5 down, Morra kept exchanging racks with Bustamante until the scoreline was 10-8 for the Filipino. In this rack Bustamante made an error allowing Morra to run out and then he was able to break and run to force a double hill match. A dry break by Morra meant his opponent would get a chance to run out, however this was a tricky rack and a misplayed 4 ball by Bustamante forced him to tie up the 5 and the 9 ball giving Morra ball in hand. An elaborate and very educational safety battle for those lucky enough to witness this match ensued. After about 6 safety exchanges Morra had an opportunity to run out and he did not let it slip away, going on to get the impressive 11-10 win.

The evening matches start immediately with Johnny Archer taking on Shane Van Boening, after that Canadian Jason Klatt and Ruben Bautista square in the 9 p.m. time slot. Make sure to check out Accu-Stats to purchase your live stream pass to catch tonight's actions.

Derby City Bigfoot 10 Ball Challenge

By: Markus Noé

Yesterday the fan favourite Bigfoot 10 Ball Challenge event began. This $1000 entry 16 player max event is played on a Diamond 10 foot table with pro cut pockets. Even at the action pact Derby this event stands out because it is the best players in the world, playing on tougher than normal condition in this single elimination format. The winner takes home $16,000.

 The first of the three matches yesterday began with Mika Immonen against Nick Van Den Berg, this was a close match with Immonen coming out ahead 11-9. Lee Van Corteza ended Rodney Morris hopes 11-8 and Jeffery Ignacio defeated Mike Dechaine 11-6.

The first match of today began at noon eastern between Alex Pagulayan and recent Turning Stone Champion Jayson Shaw. At the time this update is being written Shaw is up 5-3 in a race to 11. The 3 pm match will feature Canadian John Morra vs Filipino legend Francisco Bustamante. Once this match is completed there will be a dinner break. The evening sessions will be Johnny Archer vs Shane Van Boening and Ruben Bautista vs Jason Klatt.

The 9 ball division and the Banks are underway. Canadians Jason Klatt and John Morra have both won their first matches in the banks. Stay tuned to Cue Sport Nation as we will be updating as the event goes on. Thank you to Accu-Stats for providing us with a great stream so we can properly cover the 10 Ball Challenge. To get access to the stream visit their website at http://www.accu-stats.com/liveppv.html.

Derby City Classic Gets Underway

By: Erik Hjorleifson

It's that time of year again as the Derby City Classic at the Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, Indiana is set to kick off today!The format for this years event will remain relatively unchanged, the first of the three main events will begin today with the 9 ball banks, on Sunday the one pocket division will get underway and on Wednesday the richest prize fund of the three tournaments; the 9 ball division will begin. Once again this year the tournament offers a $20 000 bonus to the player who has the highest total finish over the 3 main events.

There will be a few players absent this year as the $100 000 first prize Chinese 8 ball world championships has been scheduled at the same time, however given most players unfamiliarity with Chinese 8 ball the impact will not be to strongly felt. Of the notable American players Oscar Dominguez, Corey Deuel and Max Eberle have decided to make the trip over to China and to my knowledge the only European standouts that will be missing are Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Ralf Soquet and Thorsten Hohmann. Shane Van Boening will be at the Horseshoe along with one pocket legend Efren Reyes and most of the top Filipino players, who on paper will be the favourites to take home the coveted all-around title.

 Along with the 3 main events there will plenty more pool to be played. The biggest prize fund of the secondary events as well as possibly the most prestigious tournament of the week will be the 16 man invitational Big Foot Challenge, so named because it is played on 10 foot tables. The winner of this event will take home $16 000 and the top 4 spots will be paid. Canada will have 2 entrys in the bigfoot challenge with John Morra who is in good form coming off his second place finish at the Turning Stone and Jason Klatt who will be making his first appearance. This tournament will run from the 23rd to the 26th and will be available on stream, we will have the info for the stream as it becomes available.

There is also the Straight-Pool challenge open to anyone and nightly min tournaments that will be about $1000 first prize. Lets not forget of course the famous 2 player competitions that will be going on all week,  http://cuesportnation.com/  will be here all week with daily updates and results from all the action, stay tuned! brackets and info can be seen at http://dcctickets.com/

The Turning Stone Experience

By: Markus Noé

Living in Cornwall, Ontario a small border city in Eastern Ontario, the Turning Stone Classic is the closest tournament of this magnitude for me to attend. Friday morning after some discussion, a few friends and myself decided to jump in the car and head south. For those who have never been to this casino the entire experience is a bit surreal.

Once we cross the border at the Ivy Lea bridge near Gananoque it takes about another 2 hours to reach our destination. During this time driving through upper New York State there really is not much to see besides small towns, farms and at this time of the year massive snow squalls. Then all of a sudden the landscape of the Turning Stone Tower emerges seemingly out of nowhere. The sheer size of this Casino which boasts several of its own restaurants, bars and nightclubs is almost overwhelming after driving hours in farmland. The inside of this resort is beautiful and for pool players and fans, once you take the escalators upstairs you get to see one of the best venues to watch a pool tournament in North America.

Friday we spent most of the day settling in while watching a few matches. Saturday is when the real big matches started lining up and I spent the day railbirding our Canadian players. For the third event in a row the posse from Quebec was once again very impressive. Alain Parent, Sylvain Grenier, Danny Hewitt and Martin Daigle all made the money. Most notably Hewitt was able to knock off former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann late Saturday on the losers side of the bracket 9-5. Also players from the the East Coast such has Rob Sakell and Stephan Doiron were on the list of Canadians moving through the brackets.

Martin Daigle 

The professionals from Toronto did not fair quite as well as Erik Hjorleifson was eliminated in the 4th round after an impressive win over Mike Dechaine in the first round 9-5. This might have been the toughest bracket to get through early on, as the next match-up would be Hjorleifson vs John Morra. Morra won this match in a lopsided affair as it was evident he was breaking at a very high level, racking up 5 or 6 break and runs in this set alone. Multiple Women's Canadian Champion Brittanny Bryant ended up losing to the "grinder" Ron Casanzio one round before the money after some impressive wins, including one earlier that day against a very tough Houlden Chin.

Morra vs Hjorleifson

The excitement of Saturday concluded with a thrilling double hill match between Rodney Morris and John Morra. Morra who went undefeated until the final won this match, and midway through the set he made what I believe to be the shot of the tournament. In Canada we have seen a similar shot before, we all call it the "Martel Shot" which Alain Martel made against Jeremy Jones a few years back in the 9 Ball Border Battle Challenge, I recommend that everyone searches this shot on YouTube. This match was tightly contested making each rack was very important. In this particular scenario Morra was playing shape for the 6 ball however the 7 ball was on the end rail as well with the 6 presenting a bit of a problem. After making the 5 ball Morra sent the cue ball two rails and hooked himself on the 6 behind the 7. Without hesitation he jacked up over the 7 ball jumping the cue ball off the side rail over the 7, landing perfectly on the 6 ball making it in the corner and running out the rack while the crowd erupted.

Morra vs Morris 

As a Canadian I have been a fan of Morra since I began playing pool 7 years ago. However since starting Cue Sport Nation with one of his is closest friends Erik Hjorleifson and seeing him several times as of late I can call him a friend. Being a die hard pool junkie as I am, I can say it was a thrill coming back on Sunday to watch as Morra was still undefeated and in a great position to win this tournament. In the 11 a.m. time slot Morra had to play the defending champion Jayson Shaw. Once again this was a nail-biting affair with Morra edging him out 9-8.

Mika Immonen made quick work of Jeremy Sossei in the other winners side final four match-up, winning 9-1. In the hot-seat match Morra won the lag and came out firing stringing the first 3 racks together. His break was just too much for Immonen to overcome in this set as he also went down to Morra by a scoreline of 9-1.

Immonen vs Morra 

Despite his loss, Shaw was undeterred making quick work of Shawn Wilkie then he gave Immonen his second demoralizing loss of the day 9-1. Immomen was a victim of how cruel the game can be at times, as in his final two sets of the tournament he might have gotten to the table 6 times with very little to shoot at.

Shaw shooting the final 9 ball to win

The final was a thrilling match-up between the two best shooters of the tournament, Shaw and Morra. For me it was one of the best finals I have ever seen live or otherwise. Not only because I was cheering for Morra but because in this extended race to 13 each player took a 2-3 game lead at one point with the other responding in championship caliber style. In the end Shaw was able to repeat his performance in August and became the first back-to-back Turning Stone Champion in some time. Congratulations to both players who are under 30 and leave me excited for the future as their level of play will presumably continue to grow during the next 10-15 years.

For those who have never been to this event I strongly recommend it. Where else can you go to watch the best players in the world compete for free in such a fan friendly environment? Also for the 4 days you are there it is like being on an island as there is not much around to do besides gamble or play pool. This allows the fans to mingle with the players in between matches and get to approach them in ways that would be impossible at other events. I look forward to the next Turning Stone Classic and as Cue Sport Nation continues to grow I don't plan an missing any in the near future. If you are interested in seeing more pictures from this weekend I invite you to our Facebook page as I have posted them all there.
 

"Moving Day" at Turning Stone Classic

By: Markus Noé

Today is day 3 from the $25,000 added Turning Stone Classic in Verona N.Y. Yesterday was mostly loser side brackets as the players who lost in the first two rounds began inching their way towards the money rounds. Going into today Canadians such as John Morra, Erik Hjorleifson, Alain Parent, Danny Hewitt, Martin Daigle and Brittany Bryant are all still in the mix.

I was lucky enough to drive down yesterday to take part in my first Turning Stone event. The first round of matches that I saw included Erik Hjorleifson vs John Morra. It was unfortunate that to close friends and two of  Canada's best hopes to take down this event had to play so early on in the draw. In the end Morra moved on by a scoreline of 9-3 with the help of 6 break and runs.

Morra went on to win a his next match as well against well known Joss Tour competitor Ron Casanzio 9-5. Hjorleifson went on to win his 10 pm match and is currently playing against R. Staskwoski. Winner of that match goes on to play Corey Duel to get into the money rounds.
Also there is lesser known Canadian talent putting on strong performances as Steph Doiron and Sylvain Grenier are both final 16 on the winner side.

For the sake of getting the information out as fast as possible I will be updating through our Cue Sport Nation Facebook. Also Azbilliards courtesy of Upstate Al has been providing a fantastic free live stream.

Turning Stone Classic Begins Thursday!

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The 23rd edition of the Turning Stone Classic is set to get underway this Thursday in Verona, New York. The 128 player field was once again filled months in advance. Players in the North East and pros from around the U.S. have responded very well to this bi-annual tournament in recent years, it is always professionally run and is set in the spacious event center at the Turning Stone Casino. The space is equipped with permanent stadium seating which makes the spectator experience very enjoyable as well. The event will also have live stream coverage and live scoring courtesy of azbilliards.com the stream produced by Upstate Al can viewed here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/turning-stone.

Rounding up the notable names for the international and U.S. contingent are former world Champions Johnny Archer, Thorsten Hohmann and Mika Immonen, Steve Moore, Mike Dechaine and Rodney Morris are among the top contenders. It must be noted that although it is a full field the overall strength of the field  is a little weaker than we are used to at the Turning Stone. One of the main reasons is the coincidence of the Chinese 8 ball event that is currently going on in China, Dennis Hatch and Earl Strickland are among the American contingent in action over in China. 

The Canadians will be well represented in this edition of the tournament with myself, John Morra leading the list of hopefuls from Ontario and Martin Daigle, Dany Nguyen and Dany Hewitt leading the way for Quebec. From the east coast Rob Sakell an Stephane Doiron will be making there first appearance, Brittany Bryant, Randall Truscott, Randy Fawcett, Randy Whitehead and Eric Cloutier will also be in action.  Stay tuned to cuesportnation.com as I will be providing updates and insight for this years event.  Finally in a recent announcement Turning Stone has been added to the WPA ranking system. Meaning participants will be carrying a world ranking, this is great news for players who are unable to travel overseas.