"I came to defend my title" became an understatement as twenty-eight-year old Shane Van Boening (pictured) won his second Derby City Master of the Table crown. 

Van Boening's superior play took him to an unprecedented three championship rounds. In a hill/hill match, he succumbed to John Morra in the bank leg. However, Joseph Gray, in the one pocket division, and Stevie Moore in the nine ball division were not so lucky. 

Moore's luck ran out after winning his way to the championship round via a bye. After suffering his nine ball defeat, he lost in the Fat Boy 10-Ball Invitational championship round to Franciso Bustamante.

Van Boening's winning play earned him a $53,000 payday for the nine day event, on the heels of his December win at the Turning Stone Classic!

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!" 

This in from Tony Fox, in Derby City to cover and photograph the event for P&B:

Toronto Canada's 22-year-old John Morra has won the Bank Pool Leg of the 2012 Derby City Classic. Morra entered the championship round undefeated.

Morra believes a "pretty easy" draw helped him to the final round. Shane Van Boening, last year's One pocket Champion and Master of the Table entered the final round with one loss. Van Boening squeezed out a tough first set to force the championship to a second set. Morra won the first game of the final set.

Controversy marred the second set as Van Boening called a shot that he did not make. However, the ball fell in another pocket. Van Boening began racking the balls as persons from the stand noted Van Boening had not made the shot he called. Ken Shuman intervened. After discussion with both players, he deemed that Van Boening's gathering balls to rack warranted loss of the game.

But Morra's two game lead slowly vanished as VanBoening clawed his way to tie the match. The deciding game was filled with hanging pocket misses, safe play and scratches by both players. In the end, Morra pulled it out for the win.

After winning, Morra said, "Win or lose, I am glad it's over; it was a very stressful match".  Additionally, Morra said he is happy to win his first major tournament on a nine foot table, however he is surprised that the victory came at bank pool.  In preparing for the tournament, he practiced all the disciplines.

Finally, with the bank pool title under his belt, Morra warns, "I have my eye on the Master of the Table win."

GERMANY became the first ever European winners of the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool as they made light work of Thailand to record a superb 10-4 victory and claim the gold medals, trophy, $60,000 and more importantly the title at the SM Mall North in Manila, Philippines.

Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet put on a perfect performance to run away with the final match, in sharp contrast to their semi-final game earlier in the day when they laboured to a pedestrian win over Korea.
For Souquet it was a culmination of a magnificent seven days that saw him win the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters last Monday and his total haul for the two events has been $50,000.

“It’s still hard to believe and it hasn’t sunk in yet. We really worked hard for the title and held ourselves together,” said a jubilant Souquet.
“We had a really hard semi-final that could’ve gone wrong and I played awful against Korea but Thorsten carried me to the final. I always said you can only lose as a team and we certainly won as a team. Playing here in Manila in the Philippines is the best thing that has happened to pool.”

Thorsten had a great week too, nabbing the World Tournament of 14.1 in New Jersey before heading to Manila!

The Thailand pair of Kobkit Palajin and Nitiwat Kanjanasri can be justifiably proud of their efforts. Surrounded in South East Asia by powerhouse pool nations like Taiwan and the Philippines, the unheralded Thais played superbly throughout the tournament.
Their semi-final showing, defeating Taiwan 9-3, was one of the best performances of the event, but the Germans were unstoppable in the final.  The total prize-fund was $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.

The 2011 World Cup of Pool was sponsored by PartyPoker.net, the world’s leading online poker school. Cloth was supplied by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc, tables by Star Xing Pai and the Official Cue was Predator.

Last 16 Results
Taiwan 8 – 7 Italy; Philippine 8 – 6 Canada; Germany 8 – 3 Malaysia; Korea 8 – 6 Japan; Thailand 8 – 4 Estonia; Poland 8 – 3 Singapore; Sweden 8 – 6 Switzerland; Philippines B 8 – 5 India

GERMANY came from 3-2 down against Malaysia to win six racks in a row and secure a PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool quarter final spot where they will take on Philippines B – Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante in a replay of 2009’s epic final.
After the early stutter, Thorsten Hohmann (pictured shooting) and Ralf Souquet (looking on) continued in the same form that saw them whitewash Australia in the opening round. The veteran Malaysian pair of Ibrahim Bin Amir and Patrick Ooi looked confident in the early exchanges but was out the game once the Germans stepped up the pace.
“We made some slight positional errors at the beginning and there were some good rolls for them but you have to expect that in a game,” said Hohmann after the match.
“I think when it was 3-3 we just finished the set. We had some tough opening shots and just kept running out and running out.
“I’d rather be playing Philippines in the final but it will be a big revenge match and I think we’re playing better than two years ago.”
Souquet reminisced about the last time the two teams met: “Two years ago it was looking very good for us in the final. I wouldn’t say we blew it but we had them. As a team we made one mistake and we were 9-7 up and that would’ve taken us to the hill.
“Beating two legends in the World Cup of Pool final in the Philippines would’ve been amazing and unfortunately we play in the quarter-finals now -  a couple of rounds too early and one of the teams has to go out earlier than anticipated.
“The loss didn’t stay on my mind as if you let it stay with you then you could ruin your next four or five tournaments or maybe even your career. You have to try and get over it as soon as possible.
“The further you get in the tournaments the tougher the opponents get. No team that makes it that far into a tournament does so by luck. It seems certain brackets are tougher than others but at the end of the day all matches are tough.
“Playing two legends in front of their home crowd maybe makes it tougher but tougher for them. They have more to lose than we do and I’m really looking forward to it and have a good feeling about it.”
In the other opening session match, Korea overcame the odds to put in a good performance and defeat the Japanese pair of Yukio Akagariyama and Lo Liwen. The unknown Koreans are a blend of youth and experience and Lee Gun Jae (38) and Hwang Yong (27) will be tough to beat in their next match.
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams representing 31 nations – hosts Philippines have two sides. The total prize-fund is $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.
The other two matches in the earlier sessions saw wins for Thailand and Poland. Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Kobkit Palajin easily overcame the Estonian duo of Dennis Grabe and Erki Erm by 8-4.
The Estonians made too many errors in a lacklustre game and the Thai pair was solid enough for the win. They go on to play Poland in the quarter-finals, who made light work of an out of sorts Singapore duo of Bernard Tey and Chan Keng Kwan. The final score was 8-3 as Radoslaw Babica, who is now something of a veteran, and Karol Skowerski had too much in every department.
The 2011 World Cup of Pool is sponsored by PartyPoker.net, the world’s leading online poker school. Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc, tables by Star Xing Pai and the Official Cue is Predator.

2006 and 2009 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool Champions Philippines B,  Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante (shooting), made their way into the last 16 of this year’s event with an 8-4 victory over plucky debutants Kuwait at the SM Mall North in Manila.
 
Nobody gave the Kuwait pair of Khaled Al Mutaira and Omar Al Shaheen any kind of hope but they did themselves proud, sticking with the Filipino pair in the early stages before succumbing down the home stretch. Both sides wore snappy outfits based on their national flags, but it was the home side that the packed crowd had come to see. As predicted the Philippines started well and took the first two racks fairly quickly.
 
As huge underdogs, the Kuwaiti duo of Al Mutaira and Al Shaheen were under no pressure at all, and that showed as they won the next two to silence the crowd. The Philippines won the next two to restore their lead but the game Kuwaiti pair took the next to leave it poised at 4-3. A long shot in the next from Bustamante set the Philippines on their way to taking the rack as the score stood at 5-3.
 
Reyes, who looked shaky in front of a home crowd in his World Pool Masters match earlier in the week, was anything but this time as he pulled out a few stunners from his never ending arsenal of shots. One such reversed bank shot, set up a run out to move the score to 6-3. A miss from Bustamante on the 5 ball in the next gave the Kuwaitis a chance and they took it to cut the lead. That would be the last meaningful effort from Team Kuwait and when they conceded the 9 ball in what was the last rack of the match to hand Philippines B an 8-4 win.
 
“It was good win and we can be pleased with that,” said Bustamante. “The Kuwait team came to play and gave us a good match but we’re delighted to make it into the next round and hopefully we can go on from there.”
 
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool takes place at the Block Atrium at the SM Mall North in Quezon City, Manila. It features 32 two-player teams representing 31 nations – hosts Philippines have two sides. The total prize-fund is $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.
 
Earlier, India enjoyed a thrilling win at the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool as they almost threw away a glorious lead against Finland but came back at the death to clinch a memorable victory.
The scene was set when Team India strode into the arena, lead by a glamourous model scattering rose petals ahead of them. It was an audacious move, as the pairing of Raj Hundal and Amar Kang, with eye-catching national shirts, brought a touch of Bollywood to the SM Mall in Quezon City.
 
Their opponents were a blend of youth and experience as Mika Immonen, a finalist in this event in 2007, was accompanied by Petri Makkonen, a 23 year old making his World Cup debut. India moved ahead and at 5-1 up, the match looked to be as good as over. However, the nerves came in and the Finnish pair started to claw back the racks. India though, reached the hill at 7-3 and that’s when the drama started.
 
A ball-in-hand chance gave the Finns the next and then Kang missed the red 3 by some distance and the score soon became 7-5.
Makkonen played the four ball from a tough position, to give the Finns a chance in the 13th rack. He then enjoyed an outrageous piece of good fortune. Left with an angled table length shot on the 9 ball, the young Finn hit it hard and it stayed out. It hit the opposite rail and rolled ever so slowly up table, before falling into the pocket on its very last roll. That made it 7-6 to the Indians but that became 7-7 when the Finns nervously ran out the rack.

India had their chance in the final rack after a poor safety from Immonen and every shot was a tester. Kang played a good shot to draw back for the 7 and they completed the run out to move into the next round and record their first ever win in the World Cup of Pool. "I'm not sure that the wheels came off when we were leading but there's a lot of pressure out there. Petri missed a 9-ball by a country mile and fluked it but that's pool,” said Hundal.

Round 1 Results
India 8 – 7 Finland
Philippines B 8 – 4 Kuwait
Korea 8 – 5 Spain
Japan 8 – 3 Croatia
Switzerland 8 – 5 China
Sweden 8 – 7 Indonesia

The 2011 World Cup of Pool is sponsored by PartyPoker.net, the world’s leading online poker school. Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc, tables by Star Xing Pai and the Official Cue is Predator.

GERMANY’S RALF SOUQUET claimed his sixth PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters title when he defeated the Philippines’ Dennis Orcollo in front of a packed house at the SM Mall North in Quezon City, Manila. The jubilant ‘Kaiser’ screamed with joy as he downed the final 9 ball, banishing a succession of heart-breaking defeats in the Philippines capital city.
 
Ralf lost to Ronnie Alcano in the final of the 2006 World Pool Championship in this same city and then he and Thorsten Hohmann were narrowly beaten in the final of the 2009 World Cup of Pool at the hands of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante.
 
Souquet, 42, to be inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame this October, put in two stellar performances on the final day. First, he came from 7-4 down to beat Darren Appleton in the semi-final and followed that up by a solid performance to derail Dennis Orcollo who had looked so good over his previous three matches.
 
"It seems to be my tournament for whatever reason. I've made the final eight times and won six and lost twice. It's not only a dream come true but also the icing on the cake to win it here in the Philippines,” said a delighted Souquet. "It's the fifth final I've played in the Philippines but the first time I've won one, which makes it all the more satisfying!”

The match itself was tight is the early stages and at 3-3 it was all to play for. Neither player was making the most of the break before Orcollo nailed one in eighth game to set up a run out and establish a two rack lead at 5-3.
 
Souquet is one of pool’s premier fighters and he scrapped back into contention at 5-5 and then produced a superb break shot that saw four balls drop and leave him a shot on the lowest ball. From there he cleared to move into a 6-5 lead.
 
Sensing the momentum was swinging in his favour, Souquet broke and ran the next to reach the hill and put Orcollo under severe pressure. Ralf broke and ran the last rack for a famous victory.
 
"At the Masters you are playing 15 of the greatest players in the world and it's very tough from the first round on and you have to play at 100 per cent and if you can't do that then you won't win,” said.

"I could've lost all of my matches and the final was my biggest winning margin as I won 8-7, 8-6, 8-7 and then 8-5.

"The Philippines is the country of pool and it's where the sport is such a big thing. There are so many great players like Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Dennis Orcollo, Roberto Gomez and I could go on. It's just so tough to win a tournament here.

"But it's so great here as you have so many great fans that love the sport and the players are treated the way they should be."
 
The Final
Ralf Souquet (GER) 8 – 5 Dennis Orcollo (PHI)
Winner receives $20,000, runner-up receives $10,000
 
Semi Finals Results
Dennis Orcollo (PHI) 8 – 4 Fu Jianbo (CHN)
Ralf Souquet (GER) 8 – 7 Darren Appleton (ENG)
Losers receive $4,000
 
Quarter Finals Results
Ralf Souquet (GER) 8 – 6 Lee Van Corteza (PHI)
Darren Appleton (ENG) 8 – 4 Raj Hundal (IND)
Dennis Orcollo (PHI) 8 – 1 Chang Jung-lin (TPE)
Fu Jianbo (CHN) 8 – 5 Jason Klatt (CAN)
Losers receive $3,000
 
Round 1 Results
Ralf Souquet (GER) 8 – 7 Mika Immonen (FIN) ?Darren Appleton (ENG) 8 – 5 Efren Reyes (PHI)
Jason Klatt (CAN) 8 – 3 Francisco Bustamante (PHI)
Lee Van Corteza (PHI) 8 – 7 Huidji See (HOL)
Fu Jianbo (CHN) 8 – 4 Chris Melling (ENG)
Raj Hundal (IND) 8 – 3 Yukio Akagariyama (JAP)
Dennis Orcollo (PHI) 8 – 2 Tony Drago (MAL)
Chang Jung-lin (TPE) 8 – 3 Shane Van Boening (USA)
Losers receive $2,000
www.matchroompool.com

Dr. Louis Pannullo, Charlie Williams(Bronze), Mike Davis (Silver), Thorsten Hohmann (Gold), Alex Pagulayan (Bronze) & patron sponsor Dr. Michael Fedak during the closing ceremonies

Germany once again reigns supreme in straight pool as Thorsten Hohmann dominated the 71st World Tournament of 14.1.  USA's Mike Davis had no answer for Hohmann's precision game and knowledge of 14.1. Both players played their very first match of the event against each other, and met once again in the very end.
 
The matches went longer than expected, and lasted to 3:00 am (ouch) before finished. But a large number of die hard fans stayed till the very end including for the closing ceremonies.
 
"I really say thanks to the fans who stayed here to watch me play to the very end," said Hohmann in his appreciation for the fans.
 
USA's Mike Davis made a valiant effort. The 9-ball player who picked up the game just a few years ago made it through the round robin with 5 wins and 2 losses. Then he defeated Shaun Wilkie 200-133, Earl Herring 200-79, demolished legendary Mike Sigel 200-79, weathered a tough 200-166 match with Charlie Williams before facing Hohmann.
 
Thorsten went undefeated in the round robin stages with a perfect 7-0 record and then defeated Dan Mastermaker 200-25, Dennis Hatch 200- 83, Steve Lipsky 200-116, and came back from a huge deficit to win a thrilling match with Filipino Alex Pagulayan 200-172.
 
In the finals, Thorsten took a commanding lead right away which included a 100+ ball run. Mike was never able to recover from this hit. Fatigue also was a factor on both players as they had already endured tough semi-final matches. They had both pocketed 1500 balls each over the 5 days.  Towards the end Hohmann needed less than one rack to win the match but missed 2 times unbelievably to close it out. Davis was in no shape to put any significant numbers up anymore, and Hohmann pocketed the final balls to claim the championship once more. Hohmann won in 2006.

"This is definitely one of the most significant accomplishments for me," said Davis. "I've won a couple big 9-ball events, but this is major for me to make it to the finals of the World Tournament."
 
"I felt very good coming into the finals. I ran a hundred balls in each of my single elimination matches (5 in a row). But Mike made a very good effort, so he should be proud of himself. This title means alot to me," said Hohmann. With many 9-ball, 10-Ball, and 8-ball titles to his credit, he was asked was 14.1 his favorite game. His reply, "Oh yeahhhh!"
 
Checkout www.worldstraightpool.com for full group results and other 14.1 news from the event.

The 2011 World Tournament is proudly co-sponsored by Predator Cues, Olhausen Tables, Amsterdam Billiards, Andy Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Sandcastle Billiards and straight pool aficionados Bill Austin of UT, Dr.Louis Pannullo, Ralph Rubin of MD.  Co-contributors Dennis Walsh, Dr.James Heller, Charles Eames, Mark Snodgrass, and Bill Marapolous.

P&B instruction columnist and Dragon Promotions owner Charlie Williams narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of Johnny Archer. 200-187. The USA will make the finals of the World Tournament of 14.1 for the first time as Mike Davis and Charlie Williams battle it out for the chance to make history. Or change it, depending on how one views the dominance by the Europeans in modern times.
 
Williams took an early 60 point lead, but Archer fought back to regain the lead. Then Williams returned the favor and too the lead again 130-91. Archer again came back. The lead see-sawed several times in the course of the match. Finally Archer stood on the threshold of victory needing only 11 balls. He had a great break shot set up, but he missed the ball and Williams came to the table needing 2 racks to win.  Relying on his famous shotmaking, Williams' controversial patterns made for some exciting shots. At the end, Williams shot a off an angle side pocket combo to close out the match. "Willie Mosconi is turning in his grave. I know. I'm sorry!" joked Williams.
 
"The shot clock was little fast and I think modifying it to an extension per rack is a good way to go. But definitely you need a clock sometimes because some players are really, really slow," said John Schmidt.
 
Currently the favorite to win from here is Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. He faces 14.1 rookie but strong all-around pro Alex Pagulayan. The winner will wait for outcome of Davis and Williams.
 
Checkout www.worldstraightpool.com for full group results and other 14.1 news from the event. The 2011 World Tournament of 14.1 is proudly co-sponsored by Predator Cues, Olhausen Tables, Amsterdam Billiards, Andy Cloth, Aramith Balls, Kamui, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Sandcastle Billiards and straight pool aficionados Bill Austin of UT, Dr.Louis Pannullo, Ralph Rubin of MD.  Co-contributors Dennis Walsh, Dr.James Heller, Charles Eames, Mark Snodgrass, and Bill Marapolous.