More news and photos in from Tony Fox at the DCC:

As the 2012 Derby City  Classic  One Pocket leg entered the final rounds, Brandon Shuff handed defending champion Shane Van Boening (pictured right) a 3-0 defeat. But, in the re-draw for the final six players, Shuff/Van Boening met again. This time Van Boening was the victorious one, heading to a semi final showdown against the legendary one pocket player, Efren Reyes. Unfortunately for Efren, the five time DCC one pocket champion could not win a single game in the race to the championship round. 

Then there was the relatively unknown Joseph Gray (pictured left), twenty five years old, from Oklahoma City, OK, who made it to the championship in his first trip to the Derby City.  Gray won the lag and broke. Van Boening came to the table, made a mistake on his first shot, and Gray ran out.

Around the TV table heads nodded. The "new kid" was clearly legitimate. Stellar safety play by both players dominated the remaining three games. However, Gray could not hold off VanBoening's powerful shot making skills. VanBoening 3, Gray 1.

 Although he lost in the championship round, Gray's stellar play clearly announced he is a one pocket force. He came to the tournament with a goal to win eight matches.  "I exceeded my goal. Second place among these championship legendary players is a good accomplishment. I am happy with my results.  Shane is tough. You can't give a player like him chances."

Van Boening noted that Gray, "belonged in the final."  It was their first meeting in competition, however Shane said, "I've been watching him for the past couple years."

Victory in One Pocket and a second place in the Banks division to John Morra make Shane difficult to beat for the all around title.  "I have been practicing,  I came here to defend my title!" 

By Luke Riches

(Las Vegas)--TEAM EUROPE is now one match away from retaining the PartyPoker.net Mosconi Cup after a one-sided blitz on the American team in front of a standing room only crowd at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. 

After getting the better of things yesterday, the Americans entered the day with high hopes but were battered from start to finish with only Shane Van Boening contributing some red to the score board.

Needing a great start to the day, the USA lost an exciting opener as Appleton and Feijen got the better of Dechaine and Putnam by 6-3. That restored the Europeans three point lead that they held at the start of day one, but the final rack of the match was one of the best safety battles in Mosconi history as all four players took turns to leave the cue ball tucked up.

It was Feijen who broke the deadlock as he made a table length bank on the blue 2 and from there the Europeans ran out to take the match.

“Yesterday we lost the first doubles match 6-5 but Niels and Nick had played well. You need a bit of luck at the right time and we had a couple of rolls there,” said Appleton. "But we played well at the end and had a lot of fire inside us - Niels is a fantastic player to play with," he added.

There was more misery for Putnam in the next as he was easily beaten by a fired-up Darren Appleton as Europe moved into an 8-4 lead. The tone was set in the opening rack as Putnam looked to be heading for a run out but missed a howler of a 9 ball to hand the rack to Europe. The big man never really recovered from that and further errors sealed his fate.

The third match featured Johnny Archer and Rodney Morris against Niels Feijen and Ralf Souquet and for the American side it was desperate stuff. 8-4 soon became 9-4 as the lacklustre American pair failed to make any sort of dent in the confident Europeans’ armour.  "When we had a training camp we played with each other and figured out what teams were working out and Johan then picked the pairings,” said Souquet.
"It's not over until the fat lady sings and we want to win the next two and finish it off. We have quite a comfortable lead but it's still a long road."

Feijen added "When everyone is scoring points in front of you it takes the pressure off. We've clicked really well and have a great team spirit and a great team.”

It was Shane Van Boening who finally stopped the rot and ensured a final day of play as he endured a torrid match against Nick Van den Berg that went all the way to a decider. Van Boening had led 5-2 at one stage but the plucky Dutchman fought back to level it at 5-5 and breaking in the final rack he found himself favourite.

A dry break got the American back to the table and he played a superb slow roll on the 1 ball to set up a difficult run out which Van Boening completed to keep his side in the competition.

Finally it was left to Chris Melling to turn the screw and put his side on the hill as he beat Mike Dechaine 6-2 in a clash of the rookies.  Melling looked as confident as ever and his win leaves him in the running for MVP honors.  "It was unbelievable. There's a lot of pressure and people back home don't realise how much pressure you're under as you have the whole continent and your friends to play for."

Appleton / Feijen 6-3 Putnam / Dechaine
Darren Appleton 6-2 Shawn Putnam
Feijen / Souquet 6-2 Archer / Morris
Nick Van den Berg 5-6 Shane Van Boening
Chris Melling 6-2 Mike Dechaine

Notes: Matchroom Sport are one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and are responsible for over 1,100 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, the Mosconi Cup is one of a stable of pool events that include the World Cup of Pool and the World Pool Masters.

Iwan Simonis has signed on as the new title sponsor
of the former Viking Cue 9-Ball Tour. “The basic operations, format and added monies of the tour events will remain the same for the players. However our room owners and sponsors will see added benefits as a result of this change,” stated Mike Janis, the tour's founder.

Janis added, “The change in the title sponsorship will now allow us to give our sponsors increased advertising and sales opportunities along with allowing us to be more flexible in the sponsors we accept as we can now offer sponsorship to additional products and cue brands. The room owners will see reduced rates in tournament fees along with additional benefits related to Simonis cloth when hosting events as a result of their sponsorship.”

Ivan Lee, President of Simonis Cloth USA stated, “I am happy to be working with Mike on the tour and I have every reason to believe that it will be a successful partnership for both of us. The tireless energy that Mike puts into what he does is an inspiration to players and poolroom owners alike.”

Visit www.simonistour.com for more info!

About Iwan Simonis Cloth:
Founded in Verviers, Belgium in 1680, Simonis is the oldest name in the billiard industry and the only textile mill in the world dedicated to the production of cloth for cue-sports. Visit the Iwan Simonis Cloth website at:
www.simoniscloth.com

Executive Billiards, manufacturer of the Delta-13 billiard ball rack, announced today that they are hosting a pool trick shots contest for novice and amateur players on YouTube.
“The Delta-13 International Amateur Trick Shot Contest” will give away over $20,000 in quality billiard accessories, including a 7' Diamond Sport pool table. Four winners will also receive airfare plus three nights stay in Las Vegas from May 11-12, 2012.

Pool Tricks Add Excitement to Home Recreation
“We are promoting artistic pool and trick shots during the four month contest to expose the home recreation market to this exciting sport. Young and old alike, who have access to a pool table, will find trick shots are a terrific activity to entertain family and friends,” says Terry Taggart, President of Executive Billiards.

The process for competing in the contest requires 4 easy steps:
1. Read the complete contest rules at www.delta-13.com.
2. Record a video of your trick shot.
3. Upload the video to YouTube.
4. Register your video on the delta-13 web site.

Trick videos will be judged and graded with a maximum point potential of 10 for each of five categories; Degree of difficulty, creativity and originality, execution, presentation, and video quality. World renowned professional trick shot artists will perform the judging. Florian “Venom” Kohler – France, Stefano “ Mr. Trick Shots” Pelinga – Italy, Paul “Professor-Q-Ball” Frankel – USA, and Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman – USA, will be using their many talents to grade the registered videos.

According to ESPN & World Masters Trick Shot Champion Tom “Dr. Cue” Rossman, “The Delta-13 International Amateur Trick Shot Contest should become a landmark competition for the sport of artistic pool. Players from around the world may showcase their artistic skills in 2 presentation categories, which will surely take trick shots to a new level in billiard excellence and magnetic fan appeal.”

All qualifying trick shot videos must include a Delta-13 regular or elite ball rack. The entire “Rules of Eligibility” can be found at www.delta-13.com. Winners will be announced on February 13, 2012.

Gold Sponsors who made this contest possible include :
Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, www.playbca.com, Poison Billiards, Diamond Billiards, Dr. Cue Promotions, Kamui Tips, Poolprodigystore.com, www.generationpool.com, and Tag Team Design.

Three time World 14.1 Champion Ray "Cool Cat" Martin and 14.1 Continuous inventor Jerome Keogh (left) will be the very first inductees into the Straight Pool Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place August 31, 2011 at 5 p.m. at a dinner banquet at the Hyatt Regency Hotel during the 71st World Tournament of 14.1. Keogh will be inducted posthumously while Martin will be there live to accept his award and speak. Even better, Martin will participate in the World Tournament as a competitor at age 76.

"Its a great honor to be inducted. It’s nice that people still alive will be inducted as well in the future. That's really the way it should be. Get them in before they die! Let them enjoy it!" said Martin (right). Ray won the World Tournament in 1971, 1974, and 1978. Martin also won numerous 9-Ball titles, is a BCA Hall of Fame inductee and the author of the famed 99 Critical Shots instructional pool book.

"There were many factors on why we decided to start this inaugural Straight Pool Hall of Fame. We wanted to honor not only obvious choices, but to remember great players that are still alive and remind them that they are not forgotten,” said Charlie Williams, Founder of Dragon Promotions. “They are living treasures of the sport. Also, we wanted to recognize those who may not receive recognition elsewhere, but were huge parts of 14.1 history."

Jerome Keogh invented 14.1 in 1910. Previous to that, players would break the balls open but sometimes nothing went in, which many felt was too big a luck factor. Keogh decided the game should be played with the final ball remaining out. Thus 14 balls plus 1, which became known as 14.1. The very first World 14.1 Tournament was held in 1911 and won by Alfredo DeOro. Keogh had prior to that won multiple World Championships, but despite inventing the game that changed the sport, he would never win the World 14.1 title. Today, a hundred years later, the Straight Pool Hall of Fame honors him fittingly as the founder of the game.

"Over the last six years, the fans, players, and sponsors have really made us feel like the caretakers of straight pool. I'm not a pool player, but I've learned to really come to enjoy and respect this elegant game. We want to continue keeping this game alive and make it prosper. Honoring the people who did it before us is a big part of that," explains Cindy Lee, CEO of Dragon Promotions.

Guest speakers at the dinner banquet on August 31 will include former World Champions and veteran peers of Ray's; Allen Hopkins, Mike Sigel, and Earl Herring. The 14.1 Hall of Fame events will also include video presentations by NYCGrind.com's Jerry Tarantola and funded by Dr. Louis Pannullo. Charlie Williams will MC the evening's festivities.

The 2011 World Tournament is proudly co-sponsored by Olhausen Tables, Amsterdam Billiards, Inside Pool Magazine, Andy Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Sandcastle Billiards and straight pool aficionados Bill Austin of UT, Dr.Louis Pannullo of NY, Ralph Rubin of MD. Co-contributors include Dennis Walsh, Dr.James Heller, Charles Eames, Mark Snodgrass, and Bill Marapolous. For more information on player registration, sponsorship, or if you would like to submit a comment, please email worldstraightpoolchampionships@gmail.com or contact Dragon Promotions at 1-407-782-4978.

The junior field, over 100 strong!

Over 100 students have traveled from 26 states, all eyeing the title that will stay with the winner for a lifetime. Many participants are familiar with the venue since this is the second year in a row the Junior Nationals are being held at Northern Illinois University’s Huskies Den.
Players began by enjoying an evening of entertainment by the World famous Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee.  Ms. Lee took on challengers and spent most of the evening signing Black Widow cue balls and posters that she generously donated to every player in the event.  To top off the evening, an adult/child tournament run by volunteers Tammy and Mel Leonard far exceeded the team participation from last year, and jumped from 32 teams to 63 teams!

Tournament play suspended at 6pm for the banquet. Over 240 guests enjoyed an evening of good food and entertainment.  BEF Executive Director Laura Smith opened by recognizing special guests in the audience that included sponsor Ivan Lee of Simonis Cloth, Christian Riddle of NIU, Tom ”Dr. Cue” & Marty Rossman and BEF board member Roy Pastor.  A full course meal was followed by speaker “The Black Widow” sharing her personal struggles with scoliosis throughout her life and career, to teach the kids the importance of perseverance in gaining what you want in life. Next up was the wonderful performance of a local youth theater group, “The Dreamers.” Following this, the “Academic All American” awards were presented to an impressive 39 Junior National participants who were honored for achieving at least a 3.5 grade point average in the previous school year.  Random prizes were given throughout the evening and the banquet came to an end with the viewing of a video presentation.  Several top WPBA pros sent encouraging messages to the participants and photos from the previous year played to music. Thanks go out to Kyle Smith for putting this video together.

Following the banquet, players watched Dr. Cue dazzle the onlookers in a trick shot show that repeat viewers are never tired of watching. Dr. Cue’s Trick Shot event will allow players to try their hand at winning the title of “Junior National Artistic Pool Champion.” 

Play continues through Sunday... stay tuned for results!

Clawson Custom Cues, dba Predator Group, announced that it will open a satellite office in Hong Kong by the end of this year.  All corporate functions, including research and development, as well as the company’s headquarters, will remain in Jacksonville, FL.
 
Predator Group is adding this international office for several reasons.  According to Karim Belhaj, Chief Executive Officer, “We have successfully marketed our products all over the world but, more recently, we have experienced enormous growth in China and other Asian markets.  Not only are these markets expanding but interest in billiards is on the rise as well. We want to capitalize on the many opportunities offered by this vibrant region and believe establishing a presence in the region represents a good first step.”
 
Since 2009, the company has been working to diversify its manufacturing base with the threefold goals of accelerating product development, ensuring a steady and more timely flow of product to its customers and increasing the value offered to players who choose Predator and Poison products.  A greater presence in Asia will allow Predator Group to work more closely with both customers and suppliers in the region, and thus enhance critical business relationships. Outside of the U.S., the company currently sources materials, products and accessories from Canada, China, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan.
 
Predator has also seen an increase in the amount of fake Predator and Poison products in the global marketplace.  “We’ve worked hard to build our brands around the world and therefore become a target for counterfeiters, most of whom set up shop in Asia,” said Belhaj.  “We may not solve the problem on our own but having our people on the ground in the region will give us greater knowledge and help us better protect our intellectual property.”
 
John Forrester, Chairman of Predator Group, stated “The company has reached a tipping point and it is time to formally open for business in Asia.”  He continued, “this is a strategic move for the company and, to ensure its success, our board of directors has asked Karim Belhaj to spend the next few months in Asia surveying the competitive landscape, securing facilities and recruiting the necessary personnel.  He will maintain his Jacksonville residence.”
 
ABOUT PREDATOR GROUP
Predator Group, an international billiards industry leader, is focused on bringing constant innovation and game-improving equipment to billiards players worldwide. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, Predator Group’s core brands include Predator Cues – high-end (professional level) cues with revolutionary technology to enhance performance, Poison by Predator – recreational cues with cutting-edge designs and Predator engineering for best-in-class playability, and Uni-Loc® – precision billiards equipment manufacturer. For more information regarding Predator Group’s products, visit www.predatorgroup.com or look for Predator Cues and Poison by Predator on Facebook and Twitter

Mitch and Ewa Laurance

ESPN's "Voice of Pool" -- actor and commentator Mitch Laurance, will be honored Tuesday night, May 24, 2011 at the International Network of Golf Spring Conference. Mitch will be presented the Chi Chi Rodriquez Humanitarian Award, for the work on the "Know Your Score" prostate golf event in Myrtle Beach over the last several years.

Said Mitch, "My hope is, and has always been, to get more men tested and aware of the early benefits of checking on the disease. Maybe we can put the news out in the pool universe as well as the golf one, and make some guys think about doing something about it."

Mitch Laurance, married to BCA and WPBA Hall of Fame player Ewa Laurance, has been speaking on behalf of prostate cancer prevention both through Know Your Score (knowyourscoremb.com) and through ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer (zerocancer.org). Mitch's connection to ZERO came about after his own successful battle against cancer. He hosted the last two ZERO Summits on Capitol Hill. "The name conveys what we stand for," said Laurance, "zero tolerance for prostate cancer."

Our sincere congratulations to Mitch Laurance on this much deserved honor, and our thanks for your work educating the men of golf AND pool about better health!

The World Pool Association (WPA) has provided $10,000 in funding this week for the GAP event being held this week at Star Billiards in Manila that may be viewed at: www.ustream.tv/channel/starbilliards-tv

This event came about when the WPA realized that with only a week between the Beijing Open and the World Ten Ball Championship, there would be no proper time for players to return home. $10,000 was then provided to Ralf Souquet (who graciously volunteered his time and efforts to run the event) so that the players could have an informal "fun" event during that gap period.

This is a casual tournament, run by the players and for the players in order that they might have some relaxing time together to play and socialize with the opportunity to win some money to help defray their travel costs to play in these WPA events.

Should the players report that this was something they enjoyed then the WPA looks forward to doing this same sort of event in the future.  And it is the hope of the WPA that this event is fun for all who have the opportunity to participate. Way to go, WPA!

The American Poolplayers Association (APA) has made a $5,000 donation to the Red Cross to aid in relief efforts following the earthquake in Japan in early March.
 
APA has been conducting leagues in Japan since 2007 as the Japanese Poolplayers Association (JPA).  There are nearly 1,300 players currently participating in the JPA...

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