Player: Scott Frost
Event: Derby City Classic One-Pocket Division
Location: Elizabeth, Indiana
Date: January 27, 2016



With all its touch shots and subtle position plays, one-pocket tends to tighten up the elbows of its participants. Racks are won by massaging the table into a shape that will let you open up your stroke and pocket balls — and this nudge-nudge-nudge-Go! nature to the discipline is another aspect which has its proponents arguing that it is the ultimate test of skill.

At the 2016 Derby City Classic, any fan of one-pocket would’ve been drooling over a mid-round matchup between six-time champ Efren Reyes and 2010 winner Scott Frost. The race-to-three opened with the Filipino legend taking the first two racks, before a back-and-forth struggle in Game 3 set up our Stroke of Genius.

Frost came to the table with a 7-6 lead in balls, with the 11 ball being spotted and the 9 ball a foot from his lower left pocket. The cue ball was buried in the jaws of the upper left corner, so the sturdy Arizona native didn’t have much of an angle on anything.

But Frost loosened up his elbow and pulled off an incredible two-way shot. He double-banked the 11 — off the foot rail and then the head rail — on its way to the bottom of his pocket to take the rack. This attempt is hardly a high-percentage shot for anyone. What’s so remarkable is Frost’s plan for things if they didn’t go as planned.

He played both cue and object balls with perfect speed to keep Reyes from having a way out if the 11 didn’t drop. The cue ball went five rails before stopping near the head rail. The 11, meanwhile, had barely more than pocket speed, meaning it would’ve stuck near his pocket had it not dropped in.

But Reyes responded by taking the case game, 3-2, for a hard-fought victory over a known rival.


(Video clip provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions.)

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