Efren Reyes wins 6th Derby City Classic One-Pocket crown

Pool fans from around the world have long admired Efren Reyes' brilliance, but mostly in the games of 9 Ball and 10 Ball. But the cognoscenti have always known that Reyes' best game always was the arcane discipline of One-Pocket.

On Thursday night the legend from Angeles, Pampanga, proved it in front of a packed Accu-Stats Arena in the Horseshoe Southern Indiana Hotel and Casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, USA. Using a vast arsenal of Pocket Billiards knowledge and skills, the 59-year-old Pinoy emerged a 3-1 winner in the Final Match of the 2014 Derby City Classic One Pocket Divison over veteran Shannon “The Cannon” Daulton from Kentucky.

You can see video of the last three shots here on the Facebook account of Pool writer Phil Capelle.

It's the record sixth time Reyes has won the DCC One-Hole event, one of the few major competitions of this unusual Pool game. The title is considered to be very prestigious in Pool circles, and Reyes last won it in 2010. Reyes also ruled the event for an astonishing four consecutive years from 2004 to 2007.

To reach the final, Reyes posted wins over Josh Roberts, Dee Adkins, 2013 DCC One-Pocket champ Corey Deuel, Rafael Martinez, Robb Saez, and countryman Dennis Orcollo, who he beat 3-2 in the semifinal. Reyes went undefeated in this event, which allowed players to “buy-back” into the single elimination tournament after losing a match. The lack of a buy-back saved Reyes US$75.

The triumph continues a fine week for Pinoy shooters in the Derby City Classic, a weeklong, multi-discipline tournament that regularly attracts the finest players in the world. Earlier in the week Orcollo came out on top in the Bank Pool division, defeating Francisco Bustamante in the final.

Orcollo's final four appearance in One-Pocket gives him a great shot at the US$25,000 Master of the Table bonus for the player who had the best overall finishes in the different disciplines being played. There is still an ongoing 9-Ball division.

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One-Pocket is an extremely tactical game using all fifteen numbered balls. As the name suggests, each player can only pocket balls into one of the corner pockets near the foot spot, with his opponent getting the other corner pocket. The player who sinks eight numbered balls wins a rack. Since safety exchanges can get rather lengthy, races are typically short, like the race-to-three in this year's tournament.

The burly Daulton, who had defeated Scott “The Freezer” Frost in his semifinal, took the first rack by making eight balls disappear into his pocket in a row.

Reyes prevailed in a long cat-and-mouse second rack to finally gain an opening and run seven balls to knot the match up at 1-1.

After Daulton, a former Mosconi Cupper, jawed a ball in the next rack, Reyes cleaned up eight balls on the trot to get to the hill at 2-1.

In the fourth rack Reyes was gifted a shot early in the rack and didn't disappoint, nailing in eight balls in a row for a 3-1 win and the title.

Reyes was already the all-time winningest player in DCC One-Pocket history, but he extends that record with this win. According to the NYC Grind Pool website, Reyes actually had a twice-to-beat advantage in the final since he was undefeated while Daulton had one loss going into the match. Reyes didn't need it.

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Reyes' title is worth US$12,000, more than the US$10,000 prize Orcollo got for his Banks division championship.

Other Filipinos in Indiana for the week's hostilities are Lee Vann Corteza, Orcollo, Bustamante, Carlo Biado, and Warren Kiamco. If a Filipino wins the ongoing 9 Ball division then it will be a clean sweep of the major competitions for the Philippines. The defending champ in 9 Ball is Filipino-Canadian Alex Pagulayan.

Taking the Diamond 10 Ball Bigfoot Challenge side event was America's Shane Van Boening. That event is played on an oversized 10-foot Diamond table.

For more information on the events do check on our friends at www.azbilliards.com or www.nycgrind.com . The Passionate Fan thanks their invaluable help in making our coverage of these events possible.

Follow Bob on Twitter @PassionateFanPH.