Derby City highlights -- Sweater's heaven!

[NH_Steve]

There were old players --
Marshall "Squirrel" Carpenter getting into a little partner's one pocket action with Wade Crane, Danny Diliberto, Bill Staton 'Weenie Beenie' (just watchin' & hanging out), Cornbread Red (also just hangin' out) -- and probably lot's of others I either missed or forgot.

There were young players --
Some 12 or 13 yo kid (not in the tourney, but reportedly in action -- though I did not see), Nick Vita (in the tourney), plus all kinds of young gunslingers. These young players were damn strong in both banks & one pocket, which bodes well for the future of the short table games, IMO. Amar Kang, Tony Chohan, Shannon Daulton, Alex Pagulyon (sp?), Scott Frost, Corey Duell, and on and on.

And Hall of Famers --
Buddy Hall, Nick Varner, Mike Sigel (not playing, but there promoting his cues), and maybe others...

And road players --
Like Tony Watson (losing a serious bundle giving *** Durban (?) the eight in 9-ball, in a race to 10 ahead that had the sweaters lined up about 10 deep, standing on chairs & anything to follow the action. (A couple days later Tony was seen trying to drum up a loan or get a backer -- he looked pretty busted).

And even a couple of Asian women in the tourney. Unfortunately one of them (who apparently did not speak English), who got her opponent and table assignment wrong, and only found out after going ahead one game to none, plus a ball or two over Raphael Martinez in Banks, only to find out she was supposed to be playing someone else, where she promptly lost her touch & got beat -- tough break!

More later...

[Scott Lee]

Steve...Thanks for the updates! Always nice to hear who's there, especially for those of us who, for whatever reason, couldn't make it to Louisville this year! Keep yer eyes n' ears open, and yer wallet close to ya! LOL

Scott

[NH_Steve]

I watched him in several tournament matches, and after hours one pocket, and he was a lot more soft-spoken & understated than I have heard him described in the past. Having never seen him before, I was expecting a lot more braggadocio, but for a pool player /ccboard/images/graemlins/smile.gif, he was damn near humble, IMO.

[snipershot]

That's an impressive list of names, although I didn't see any of the action in person (Kentucky is a long way from where I live) I'm looking forward to next year, hopefully there will be even more big names to look forward to.

[eg8r]

I am waiting patiently for the stories of the after hours games. Please don't mention actual dollar amounts (we can keep that quiet) but I love to hear the stories, people involved, and amount of weight given.

eg8r

[NH_Steve]

A lot of the side action was truly in the middle of the night -- as most of the tables were in tourney use until about 2 am. There was action on the 7-foot bar tables upstairs, but I stayed with the 9-footers, so someone else will have to help out there.

Cliff Joyner was giving Richie Richeson 9-7 in one pocket, however I crashed at 3 am and they were still going at it. Richie seemed to have a little edge with that much weight.

[NH_Steve]

Others in attendance (and doing pretty well, too), members of the international pool community:
Mika Imonen
Likely 'Player of the Year,' Ralf Soquet
Marcus Chamat
(all members of this year's winning Mosconi cup team)

Some guy from England
Paul Poitier from Canada
Several Asian players

Mika was shooting real well, including a late round victory in the one pocket tourney over Varner. He won the case game by making a real pretty free-hand masse cut to his pocket, following up with the run-out.