Shane Van Boening Breaks Derby City Classic Records as Top Performer in Event History

By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

On the final day of the 2012 Derby City Classic, history was made when “The South Dakota Kid” Shane Van Boening became the second player in DCC history to win two of the three main events in the same year, the first being Efren Reyes in 2005, who also won both the 9-Ball and One Pocket divisions.  However, he now has the record as having the best overall performance in all events, having finished first in two and second in the third, the 9-Ball Banks division.

Following his win in the One Pocket event, Van Boening continued upward in the 9-Ball event. His route to the finals saw no losses in the first four rounds, but in the fifth round he fell to Stevie Moore.  From there he continued on with wins over John Morra, Johnathan Pinegar, Shawn Putnam, and Darren Appleton. Van Boening then went on to the quarterfinal to defeat Alex Pagulayan 7-3, followed by Mike Dechaine 7-0.

In the final match, which was held on the evening of Saturday, January 28, Shane Van Boening took on South Carolina native and former Steve Mizerak Champion Stevie Moore for the second time in the event.  While Moore took an early lead at 2-1, Van Boening took the next two games to go up 3-2… going on to break and run the following three racks to get to the hill at 6-2. Moore only managed to win one more rack before Van Boening closed out at 7-3 to claim his second Derby City 9-Ball title, with the first being in 2009.

Shane Van Boening’s stellar performances over the course of the eight-day Derby City Classic earned him the title of Master of the Table – All Around Champion, for the second consecutive year in a row.  This feat has only been achieved by one other person–”The Magician” Efren Reyes in 2004-2005.  Although he is not anywhere near the age of eligibility for Hall of Fame induction, which is 40, there has already been talk of Van Boening being destined for the BCA Hall of Fame.  Congratulations to Shane Van Boening on his numerous achievements over the course of the week, which brought him a total of $53,000 in prize money.

Stay on the NYC Grind for our upcoming DCC 2012 overview with more photos from Ricky Bryant…

The Striking Viking is Back! Ewa Mataya Laurance Wins the WPBA Masters

By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

After going fourteen years without winning an event on the WPBA Tour, Ewa Mataya Laurance was not a favorite to win the WPBA Masters at Soaring Eagle Casino. However, as fans, media, and commentators saw over the course of the event, the “Striking Viking” is alive and well and still has the heart of a champion.

In recent years, BCA Hall of Famer and former World 9-Ball Champion Ewa Laurance has more often been heard commentating for ESPN than seen competing in the final rounds of the WPBA events, but on Sunday, January 29, this was not the case.

After coming into the event as the #8 seed, Laurance defeated Jessica Barnes 9-5 and Joanne Ashton 9-8 to make it to the final eight in the winner’s bracket. It was in her next match against the tour’s #1-ranked player Ga Young Kim that she saw her only loss of the event, going hill-hill to lose 9-8.

Ewa Laurance next took on top-ranked Monica Webb, who had previously run through four one-loss side wins.  Laurance dominated the match against Webb, winning 9-3 and going on to defeat Eleanor Callado by the same score.  The challenges would only get tougher from here on out, but Laurance did not back down and finished Saturday night by defeating defending champion Jasmin Ouschan 9-6.

Continue reading “The Striking Viking is Back! Ewa Mataya Laurance Wins the WPBA Masters” »

WPBA Masters Final Four: Striking Viking Ewa Laurance Takes Down Defending Champ

The third day of competition at the WPBA Masters held some unpredictable twists and turns which have lead up to the final day, where only four players stand a chance at the title. The two players who made it through the one-loss bracket are facing off against the two undefeated players today: Ga Young Kim and Allison Fisher.  Read the full story below from the WPBA Women’s Pro Billiard Tour…

…

WPBA MASTERS: FINAL FOUR!   
“Striking Viking” Ewa Mataya Laurance Takes Down Defending Champ

MT. PLEASANT, MI – It’s been a brisk Saturday at the WPBA Masters at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, MI, with continued play on both sides of the double elimination chart. On the winner’s side, #1 ranked Ga Young Kim narrowly defeated Ewa Laurance 9-8, then took another 9-8 squeaker win over Helena Thornfeldt, who’d sent national junior champion Brittany Bryant to the one loss side, 9-6. That put Ga Young Kim as the first undefeated player into Sunday’s televised semi-final.

Defending champion Jasmin Ouschan of Austria defeated Great Britain’s Kelly Fisher 9-8, but then lost a tough 9-7 battle to BCA Hall of Famer and #2 ranked Allison Fisher, 9-7. Allison, after defeating Jeanette Lee 9-6 and her win over Ouschan, is the other undefeated player to reach Sunday’s televised semi-final round.

Meanwhile, further elimination rounds continued in the one-loss bracket.

Defeated players in the following matches finish 17-24:
Liz Ford d. Emilyn Callado 9-3
Karen Corr d. Susan Williams 9-6
Line Kjorsvik d. Joanne Ashton 9-7
Dawn Hopkins d. Teruko Cucculelli 9-8
Monica Webb d. Tamara Peeters 9-4
Jennifer Barretta d. Jennifer Chen 9-6
Eleanor Callado d. Jessica Barnes 9-6
Gerda Hofstatter d. Nicole Keeney 9-1

Defeated players in the following matches finish 13-16:
Liz Ford d. Karen Corr 9-7
Dawn Hopkins d. Line Kjorsvik 9-7
Monica Webb d. Jennifer Barretta 9-7
Eleanor Callado d. Gerda Hofstatter 9-4

Defeated players in the following matches finish 9-12:
Kelly Fisher d. Liz Ford 9-0
Jeanette Lee d. Dawn Hopkins 9-2
Ewa Laurance d. Monica Webb 9-3
Eleanor Callado d. Brittany Bryant 9-6

Kelly Fisher then handed Jeanette Lee a 9-4 loss, leaving Lee tied for 7th with Eleanor Callado, who was defeated by Ewa Laurance, 9-3.

In the final two crowd-pleasing matches of the evening, Ewa Laurance (pictured) faced off against defending champ Jasmin Ouschan, while Kelly Fisher took on Helena Thornfeldt.

Fisher and Thornfeldt were the first to complete their match; with the score knotted 5-5, Fisher pulled away for a 9-5 victory and an appearance in Sunday’s semis. Thornfeldt settled for fifth place.

In the Laurance v. Ouschan match, Ouschan took first blood to lead 2-2, then Laurance fought back to a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately a missed six by Laurance put Jasmin back at the table for a run-out, followed by a nine on the break and another break and run to tie it up 5-5. From there the score knotted again at 6-6 before Ewa pulled ahead and took down the defending champ 9-6!

To view the tournament chart and ongoing results, visit www.wpba.com and click on “2012 Soaring Eagle Tournament Board.” One-loss side matches begin at 11:00 a.m. Friday. The sixteen undefeated players compete at 3 and 6 p.m.

The tournament will conclude on Sunday, January 29 beginning at 1 p.m., when the final four players remaining will compete for the title of 2012 WPBA Masters Champion. Tickets are available via startickets.com. The three final-round one-hour matches will be taped by ESPN for broadcast on Sunday, March 18, from 1:30 – 4:30 pm EST.

Alongside the WPBA Masters is the Soaring Eagle Open III, featuring amateur singles 8-Ball and 9-Ball tournaments in men and women’s divisions, with $10,000 in added prize money. This event also begins Thursday, January 26 and continues through Sunday, January 29, 2012. Visit www.soaringeagleopen.com for more information.

About the Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA)
The WPBA was established in 1976 as the Women’s Professional Billiard Alliance, and will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2011 as the oldest pro player organization in the sport. The WPBA sanctions and produces the Women’s Pro Billiard Tour, which features ESPN-televised events with the world’s greatest women players. Visit www.wpba.com for more. The WPBA Classic Tour is sponsored by the American Poolplayers Association, Diamond Billiards, Iwan Simonis, Cuetec Cues, Delta 13, Pooldawg, Mueller Recreational Products and Aramith.

About the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
The Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort is the Midwest’s premier AAA Four Diamond gaming and hospitality destination offering top-name entertainment year-round, award-winning dining, high stakes bingo and a full-service spa. For more information, visit www.soaringeaglecasino.com.

The Field Narrows to Four Undefeated Players and Eight with One Loss at the WPBA Masters

Midway through the third day of the WPBA Masters, there are now only four undefeated players.  Each four of these players were seeded in the event, thus entering the event with a bye in the first round.

The four undefeated players facing off at 8:15pm are:
Ga Young Kim vs Helena Thornfeldt
Jasmin Ouschan vs Allison Fisher

The winner of these two matches will guarantee themselves a spot in the semifinal matches against the two players who make it through the loser’s bracket.

Here are the 6:30pm One-Loss Side Round Results:

Kelly Fisher def. Liz Ford 9-0
Jeanette Lee def. Dawn Hopkins 9-2
Ewa Laurance def. Monica Webb 9-3
Eleanor Callado def. Brittany Bryant 9-6

The 8:15pm One-Loss Side Match-Ups:

Kelly Fisher vs Jeanette Lee
Ewa Laurance vs Eleanor Callado

At the end of this evening’s matches, two players will remain from the loser’s bracket to take on the two undefeated players in the semifinals tomorrow, which will air on ESPN at a later date, on Sunday, March 18 from 1:30-4:30 EST.

Stay on the NYC Grind for more upcoming results… and check out www.wpba.com for the complete tournament bracket updates.

Five Remain in the Derby City Classic 9-Ball with Live Streaming of All Remaining Final Matches Today

The four-day long 9-Ball division, which marks the last remaining event to finish at the Derby City Classic, is now in it’s final day.

While the day started out with 21 players remaining, the field is now down to the final five after the completion of Round 10. Each of the players who were defeated in this round now have two losses and have been eliminated, and the winning five players have been re-drawn, with one player receiving a bye.

Round 10 Results:
Dennis Orcollo def. Chris Bartram
Mike Dechaine def. Shawn Putnam
Alex Pagulayan def. Ralf Souquet
Stevie Moore def. Robb Saez
Shane Van Boening – BYE

Round 11 Match-Ups:
5:30 Accu-Stats Feature Match: Shane Van Boening vs Alex Pagulayan
Stevie Moore vs Dennis Orcollo
Mike Dechaine – BYE

Streaming of feature matches on www.Accu-Stats.com will continue for the remainder of the day, which will include matches from the final 9-Ball rounds as well as the the final of the Fatboy 10-Ball Challenge between Francisco Bustamante vs Stevie Moore) and the finals of the 14.1 Challenge between Darren Appleton and Ralf Souquet.

Watch for updates on more streaming match announcements on our Facebook page and stay on the NYC Grind for more Derby City Classic coverage…

Shane Van Boening Wins His 2nd Straight Derby City One Pocket Title – Fatboy Challenge and 14.1 Move to Final Rounds

The One Pocket semifinal showdown at the Derby City Classic on Accu-Stats on the evening of Thursday, January 26 featured defending champion Shane Van Boening against five-time Derby City One Pocket Champion Efren Reyes.

Shane started out strong in the race to three by winning the first rack.  Efren looked in-form to win Game 2 after leading 7 balls to 0 in the second game… but left himself a tricky shot, and the ball skidded to miss and leave Shane the opportunity to run out and go up 2-0.

In game three, Shane had an opportunity to run out, leading 5-0… but played a risky break out shot that forced him to play safe. After exchanging safes, Shane left Efren an opportunity for a bank to get on the board, which he made, but was forced to play a safe afterward, pushing a ball into position for himself.

Shane again came out the wrong side of a safe battle and left Efren another bank, which allowed him to put two more points on his score before missing a back cut. Shane allowed Efren one more chance at the rack, but in a surprising turn of events, Efren’s attempted bank bounced off of the point of the side pocket and ended up hanging in Shane’s pocket, handing him a 3-0 in the match.

Meanwhile, the other semifinal match featured former World 10-Ball Champion & reigning US Open 9-Ball Champion Darren Appleton and a new face to the upper echelon of the game, 25-year-old Joey Gray of Oklahoma City, OK.  Although Appleton is not especially known for one pocket… most would not expect the turnout of Gray coming out the winner at 3-1, which set him up for the final match against Shane Van Boening.

Continue reading “Shane Van Boening Wins His 2nd Straight Derby City One Pocket Title – Fatboy Challenge and 14.1 Move to Final Rounds” »

Match Results from Day 1 of the WPBA Masters at Soaring Eagle Casino

The opening event of the WPBA’s 2012 Season has completed Day 1 at the Soaring Eagle Resort & Casino in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. In this event, many of the top regional players and breakthrough pros are fighting to make their mark against some of the top players in the world, such as the tour’s #1-ranked player Ga-Young Kim and defending champion Jasmin Ouschan.

On Day 1 of the event, the opening round featured all of the unseeded players, and the winners of that round moved on to the following round against the tour’s seeded top players. New York’s Jennifer Barretta, who has been amping up her game in competition in the men’s regional tours, making it through the first two rounds. Likewise, Barretta’s fellow Rack Starz member Liz Ford won her first two matches over Teruko Cucculelli and Monica Webb.

Read on for all of the match results from Day 1 in the press release from the WPBA and check out www.wpba.com for the complete bracket…

…

MT. PLEASANT, MI – The Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s (WPBA) WPBA Masters kicked off with 11 am matches. The day session featured 32 unseeded players matching up to determine who would first face the top 16 seeds.
In the evening session, the top 16 played their first round.

Upsets included Joanne Ashton over Cathy Metzinger; Dawn Hopkins over Gerda Hofstatter; Eleanor Callado over Line Kjorsvik; and Liz Ford over #5 ranked Monica Webb!

Continue reading “Match Results from Day 1 of the WPBA Masters at Soaring Eagle Casino” »

Derby City One Pocket Final to Feature Shane Van Boening vs Joey Gray

The fans at the 2012 Derby City Classic will be treated to an All-American finale to the One Pocket event… as defending champion Shane Van Boening will be taking on a newcomer to the finals of this event, Oklahoma player Joey Gray.

In the semifinal match on the live Accu-Stats stream, Van Boening dashed Efren Reyes’ hopes of a sixth Derby One Pocket title, winning authoritatively at 3-0. Meanwhile, the other semifinal match featured relative-unknown Joey Gray, who claimed a big upset over reigning US Open Champion Darren Appleton, defeating him 3-1.

The final match of this prestigious event is about to get underway at 9:30pm EST between Van Boening and Gray… and fans can catch the action live online via www.Accu-Stats.com.

Four Players Remain in the Derby City One Pocket while the First Rounds of Action in 9-Ball are Underway

Round by round, the field in the revered Derby City Classic One Pocket event has continued to narrow as the event has reached its final day. Only six players remained at the beginning of the 11th round of the event, which started with a total of 312 players… and only one was undefeated at that point: 25-year-old Joey Gray of Oklahoma City, OK.

Gray, who is becoming one of the top emerging young players in the US, took on one of the world’s best in Round 11, five-time Derby City One Pocket Champion Efren Reyes.  Reyes had previously lost to Richie Richeson in Round 4, but went on to win six more matches, followed by a win over Joey Gray.

Also matching up in Round 11, top East Coast player Brandon Shuff of Virginia took on reigning One Pocket Champion Shane Van Boening for the second time today. Shuff served Van Boening his first loss in the previous round, and after the re-draw for Round 11 they faced off again. As Shuff had previously lost to Efren Reyes in Round 8, both Shuff and Van Boening had one loss.  Van Boening would make a turnaround in this match, defeating Shuff at 3-2.

The other two remaining players in this round were reigning US Open 9-Ball Champion Darren Appleton and former DCC Bank Champion John Brumback. The match between the two champions would be a close battle, but Appleton came out ahead to stay alive and move onto the semifinal matches.

The match-ups for the Final Four of the One Pocket Division are:
Darren Appleton vs Joey Gray
Efren Reyes vs Shane Van Boening

Check out www.Accu-Stats.com for the feature streamed match of Efren Reyes vs Shane Van Boening at 7pm EST.  The One Pocket Finals will be held this evening at 9pm EST.

Competition in the 9-Ball Division has also begun today, which features an initial field of at least 286 of the top players from around the world.  Stay on the NYC Grind for more updates on the 9-Ball event, as well as the Fatboy 10-Ball Challenge.

Playing to Build Lives at the 3rd Western Women’s Charity 9-Ball Challenge

Tournaments dedicated to raising funds for a charity are common across a wide variety of sports, and billiards is no exception. Ranging from celebrity charity tournaments like Justin Tuck’s Celebrity Billiards Challenge to long-running memorial benefit tournaments like the Jay Swanson Memorial, which will hold its 16th annual tournament in 2012.

A relatively new charity event came onto the scene two years ago, which is taking place for it’s third year in Las Vegas… The 3rd Western Women’s Charity 9-Ball Challenge, which benefits the Shade Tree shelter for women & children. The tournament will implement a number of dimensions for fundraising, including joining up with the Rack Starz, who will be donating a portion of their calendar proceeds to Shade Tree as well.  For more info on the event and the charity cause, read on…

…

Playing to Build Lives at the 3rd Western Women’s Charity 9-Ball Challenge

The Annual Western Women’s Charity 9-Ball Challenge to benefit the Shade Tree is entering its third year! A celebration of pool, women players, and giving back to others, the event is hosted at Rum Runner on Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, also the home of the famous Doc Hill and Andy Mercer Memorial events.

The tournament is sponsored by Rum Runner, Davalyn Cues, The RackStarz, Graziers Food Marketplace, Southern Nevada 9-Ball Taverns Association Pool League, CueSports International, the USA Pool League, Las Vegas APA, Las Vegas TAP, Pool Sharks, Longhorn Casino, Mueller Recreational Products, SLMndInk.com, VegasBilliardsBuzz.com, The Break Magazine and AZBilliards.com.

EVENT DETAILS:

Date: March 31 – April 1, 2012
Player Meeting / Auction: Friday, March 30th at 8 pm.
Host Room: Rum Runner
1801 East Tropicana Ave
Las Vegas, Nevada
(Open 24 hours daily)

Continue reading “Playing to Build Lives at the 3rd Western Women’s Charity 9-Ball Challenge” »

Next Page »