Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan Remains the Master of the Table.

9 Ball Champion Shane VanBoening, 1 Pocket Champion Alex Pagulayan, Banks Champion John Bumback. 

By: Markus Noé

This past Saturday at the Horseshoe Casino in Southern Indiana the Derby City Classic (D.C.C) came to an end. This event is definitively a marathon and not a sprint as it is 10 days of non stop tournament and gambling action. The three main tournaments which account for the Master of the Table points are the 1 Pocket, Banks, and 9 Ball which featured over 400 players in each field. The player who finishes the best in each event and accumulates the most points wins this coveted title which pays an additional $20,000.

Going into the final day Alex Pagulayan who already won the 1 Pocket title, needed a top three position to win his second all around title in row.  In the end Pagulayan had to get past a fellow Canadian Jason Klatt in the 4th place match to secure another title. He did so with ease winning 9-5 and drew into Shane VanBoening next. With SVB being perhaps a top 3 player in the World he has done this to a lot of nations, however I  have dubbed him the "Canadian Killer". He has a very impressive record against our best players John Morra and Alex Pagulayan, and earlier in the tournament he beat Hjorliefson 9-0 in 25 minutes.

That being said after a very competitive match, Pagulayan came out ahead 9-8. After this match there were three players left and all had one loss so they did a draw with one player getting a bye into the final. The always crowd favorite Pagulayan was the one who got the bye into the final. As soon as it was announced he let out a Lion like roar and celebrated to the delight of the crowd. In the semi-final we got to see another chapter in the rivalry between Dennis Orcullo and Shane VanBoening play out. Once equalizing the match at 7-7 SVB broke and ran the set out to win 9-7 and earned a rematch with Pagulayan. The final was a completely different story as SVB came out to a 8-0 lead in the race to 9. Pagulayan managed to secure 4 racks and lost 9-4 as SVB secured another D.C.C 9 Ball title.

Earlier in the week Pagulayan beat Niels Feijen in the final of the 1 Pocket. Jayson Shaw made his first appearance in the Banks final losing to the seasoned veteran John Brumback 3-2. Shaw was impressive all week wining the 10 Ball Bigfoot Challenge and taking home $16,000. In doing so he became the first player to beat SVB in this event in 3 years, winning 11-5 in the final. It was not experience but pure talent that got him to the final of the Banks division, I had the pleasure to watch a few matches and Shaw plays banks like he plays 9 ball, fast and loose. The scary part is he fires all these banks and makes them at a high percentage. However in the final the savvy of Bumback who is among the best bank players ever, was too much to deal with.  

The other "side" tournament was the 14.1 George Fels Memorial. Through qualifying Lee Van Corteza had the highest run of balls at 225. It was John Shmidt and Dennis Orcullo who met in the final with Orcullo coming out the winner. In the end it was once again Paguluyan's week at the Derby and for those who may have doubted it he has now proven himself to be one of the best all around players of all time.  There is not one cue-sport that he has not played and been successful at. He has multiple 1 Pocket titles at the D.C.C and as won the 9 Ball and the Banks at least one time. Also some might not be aware he is also a decorated Snooker player, winning the Canadian Championship several times. Last year he was agonizingly close to earning his "tour card" which no player who began by playing pool has ever come close to.  Congratulations to Pagulayan and all the winners this week and thank you to Accu-Stats.com for the great stream.