Each player put up $1,000 with $16,000 added. The winner got $16,000 and 2nd place $8,000. I did not get to watch all these matches, but I did watch online via Accu-Stats live stream Sunday night and Monday night (Semi-finals and Finals).
Neils Feijen is a beast. He handily sent Corey Deuel packing with an opening round defeat 11-2. He then took down Efren Reyes by a score of 11-8. In his 3rd round match, he trounced his Mosconi Cup teammate, Ralph Souquet 11-4 to face Shane Van Boening in the Finals.
Shane Van Boening had an opening round match against Dennis Orcollo and beat him 11-8. He then faced John Morra in a close, hill-hill match that I watched on Sunday night. It looked like Shane would easily take him down, but with a large lead (6-1, I believe), John Morra came fighting back to eventually make it hill-hill. Shane managed to get the win. I also watched the Earl Strickland vs. Francisco Bustamante match. I really had no favorite between these two, but I figured Earl would have the advantage since he likes these big 10 foot tables with tight pockets and he practices on a 10 foot table. It wasn't meant to be for Earl. He was playing good, but Bustamante got a few rolls and defeated him 11-7. Surprisingly, Earl didn't have a meltdown, although he had the crowd laughing about the bad rolls he was getting.
Shane then faced Bustamante Monday night, which again looked like it was going to be all Shane as he got ahead early 7-3. Bustamante got the score to 10-8 after Shane missed the 10-ball for the match. Shane got the win in the next rack. Final score was 11-8.
The Final was Neils Feijen vs. Shane Van Boening. Yet again it looked like SVB was going to dominate the match. Neils won the first 2 games, but SVB took over from there. Shane won the next 6 games, breaking and running 2, 2 packs and took a comfortable lead 6-2. Neils capitalized on a Shane miss, but in rack 10, Neils rattled the 10 leaving a tough, table-length bank for Shane. Shane thought about playing safe, but fired the bank 10 feet down into the corner. SVB took a 7-3 lead. The next rack showed just how tough this Diamond 10 foot table was. Shane got on the 10, but rattled it in the corner pocket. He left Neils a long, but makeable shot on the 10. Neils also rattled it, leaving a straight in shot to give Shane an 8-3 lead.
Shane got on the hill with the score 10-3, but Neils wasn't going to go down without a fight. Shane broke dry in rack 14 and Neils ran out to make it 10-4. Neils eventually fought to 10-7, but in rack 18 and the final rack of the match, Neils accidentally went off the 8-ball and scratched in the side pocket. It was over then. Shane ran out the rest of the rack to take the win 11-7.
I love watching these top players play on this big 10 foot table. As the commentators said at one point, it really separates the men from the boys. Banks, One Pocket, and 9-ball is still to be determined at the 2014 Derby City Classic, but after it was all said and done on the "Big Foot", Shane Van Boening is your winner.
Here is the final bracket if you would like to see how your favorite player fared.
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