Derby City Classic 2010

February 5, 2010 by admin.

Wow what a trip, it was 10 days of intensity and fun all rolled into one!! Great pool, great people, a great drive and of course great fun!!

The trip up:

Mitch Noble and I left early on Thursday morning and headed to the Nashville area to visit some of his family to deliver a couple of rocking chairs with some other items, the drive was immediately intense with HEAVY rain. We made it safely though and in good time, had dinner with his some of his family at a great little neighborhood restaurant then I headed off to JOB’s in Madison. It wasn’t 30 seconds after arriving that I ran into Grace Nakamura and another friend which was nice, the pool world is so small but I didn’t plan on running into anyone I knew  so quickly.

We spent some time the next day around downtown Nashville and roamed around looking at the sights and eating great food at Jack’s Bar-B-Q which was a famous local favorite. It was nice and cool up there and little did I know it was going to get MUCH cooler shortly, we were on the road shortly after lunch and walking around downtown for a bit. It wasn’t a long drive to Elizabeth Indiana and the drive was easy and we even went to a little “welcome center” place near the Ohio River dam which showed a lot about this history from the prehistoric era to the present which was great. We were the only two people there which was nice and we even paid the $4 to watch the short video about the area, to my surprise there were snow flurries flying around when we went to leave.

The tournament:

Wow what an event!! So many great players and huge turnout to boot, it was great to be a part of the crowd of players and see so many familiar faces. Saw some friends from long ago and made many new friends in the process, it was a constant time of shaking hands, telling stories and hanging out watching matches. I’m not a very social person normally but it’s hard not to watch matches with friends and just have an all around good time………oh and shoot some pool too ha ha.

We didn’t plan on playing the banks so we arrived late in the day and signed up for the one pocket and 9-ball events, in hindsight it was dumb to not play all of the events. It was great to watch the banks event since I have never seen it played at such a high level or by so many people, they had over 350 players!! Efren ended up losing in the finals to John Brumback in an epic battle where Mr. Brumback fired the last long rail bank in at light speed. Between the two they have won the event more times than anyone else in the last few years and for good reason, it’s amazing to see the control and imagination they have when coming up with shots.

The one pocket had 250+ players and I actually won 3 matches before losing to “The Weatherman” from Atlanta and Charlie Williams. It’s the first tournament I have ever played so cashing in it was awesome and I learned quite a bit from the experience, the two latter matches I won were against one pocket players and the last guy was a really good player so I am very proud to have beat him. As usual I didn’t play very well against Charlie Williams and got exactly half the balls/games needed to win the match, it’s hard playing against a ball pocketing machine.

In the 9-ball I won 2 matches before losing to Alex Pagulayan 6-7, in the hill-hill game I made 3 balls on the break and played a great safety and got the first open shot. Then I ran to the 8-ball with no issues and proceeded to super dog it by rattling the pocket leaving him an open table for the win. In hindsight I really should have taken more time shooting it but I was confident and felt good but that ended very quickly when the ball popped out of the pocket and my mouth fell open. I really should be mad about dogging it but I thought about it and realized that I hadn’t been competing much or successfully in the past few months so I am happy with how I played overall, sure I would have loved to win but there is always another event.

After that match Chris Szuter put me away with a combination of great shooting and favorable rolls, he was embarassed by the luck he was having but backed it up by not missing anything really so he steamrolled me 7-1. The days were long and as I had no ride back to the hotel I was staying in I had to hang around the event for 10-13 hours a day with no chance to rest, it took me two days to really recover from the tournament and 13 1/2 hour drive back home. Next year I will definitely have a car so I can take naps throughout the day before the next round begins, saving $70/day is great but not when you are walking around like a zombie and trying to compete that way.

The ride home:

It snowed for the last half of the trip and that meant we had to drive home in some of it, it was the first time I had really seen snow and definitely the first time I got to drive in it. Roderic and I took turns driving but I was the one lucky enough to get all of the snow to plow through, it was nerve racking especially since we were driving his nice shiny Civic and the last thing I wanted to do is play bumper cars with it. We made it home without any incidents though and had a great time conversing the whole trip, when the passenger wasn’t passed out of course we were both really tired and took turns napping/ driving.

We stopped a couple of times for gas and food which was great when we went to a place called Fazioli’s, it’s like fast Italian food which was tasty and affordable plus they didn’t give you 4 pounds of food which was nice. Roderic and I ate together quite a bit over the trip and had a great time together, he is a super nice guy with a great sense of humor and I’m glad we had a chance to get to become better friends this way. We might even go to a tournament or two in Atlanta in the future and he is lending me some books that I really want to read, I am lucky to have good friends like him.

Summary:

Overall it was a great trip though super expensive, having a car while there is paramount if you aren’t staying at the venue but paying $119/night is a little steep for my measly pocketbook. Even with sponsors helping me with entry fees and expenses I barely made it home, I brought a cue to sell just in case but wasn’t able to move it unfortunately. Spoke with Charlie Williams while eating with Stevie Moore about playing in the All Japan Championship later this year which he said he might be able to secure a spot for me, that would be a dream come true and will try my best to make it happen. Stevie and I spent a decent amount of time together too since he was my ride to and from the motel a few times since he was staying across the street, he is another great guy and superb player whom I feel lucky to have gotten to know bettter also.

Next year I will try to play all of the events and be more prepared for the different games, this year I was kind of unprepared since I was coming out of a little bout of depression and not playing the best the last few weeks. It was a great experience though and wouldn’t change a thing, there were more players and money than you can shake a stick at. It is said to be the best tournament to attend for the action and I believe it, there were some huge late night sets being played but I won’t delve into that since the Indiana Gaming Commission is not very happy about some of the happenings in The Action Report room.

Please feel free to ask any questions about the trip as I am sure I left out a whole bunch of crap, if you have the chance it’s a great event to attend and think ANYONE would benefit from playing in it!! Ciao for now!!

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