Santos Sambajon Jr. made his way through a record field of 192 players to win the 8th Annual Jay Swanson Memorial in San Diego, California.
Sambajon bounced back from an early loss to make his way through the one-loss side and defeat Ian Costello 13-5 in the finals.
Sambojon scored $3000 for first place, with Costello settling for $1800. Marshall Jung and Aaron Aragon filled out the top four positions.
Ewa Laurance, 9-ball goddess and the public face of the billiard industry in the 1990s, and legendary cuemaker George Balabushka will be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame on April 1 during the BCA International Billiard & Home Recreation Expo in Las Vegas, Nev.
For the Hall of Fame’s 2004 class, BCA voters chose Laurance over fiery pool superstar Earl Strickland and longtime pro and promoter Allen Hopkins in the Greatest Player category. Balabushka, who died in 1975, won the nod in the Meritorious Service category over American Poolplayers Association founders Terry Bell and Larry Hubbart, and 19th century player-author Maurice Daley.
Laurance is a former world 9-ball champion and current president of the Women’s Professional Billiard Association. Her appearance on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 1992 triggered a media blitz for pool, and the native Swede then split her time between stumping for the sport and playing championship-level pool.
Balabushka was considered the Stradivarius of cuemakers – an innovator in cue construction, designs and finishes. Already a member of the American Cuemakers Association Hall of Fame, he also was credited with elevating widespread demand for custom cues.
No, Nick Varner did not have a heart attack in Louisville during the Derby City Open, and no, the 55-year-old Kentuckian is not on his death bed.
So says Varner’s brother, Steve. According to Steve Varner, Nick is scheduled to undergo surgery on Thursday, Jan. 29, at Caritas Surgical Center in Louisville. Varner was diagnosed with a pair of blood clots that have affected both legs, and, according to Steve, efforts to dissolve the clots and free up the affected arteries through angioplasty and blood thinners have not produced positive results.
“Right now, Nick is schedule to have surgery, during which doctors want to use synthetic materials to bypass the clotted areas,” said Steve Varner from Owensboro. “He’s also considering going to a doctor in Cincinnati who wants to take another try at clearing the arteries without surgery. Surgery would put Nick out of action for eight weeks, plus there are obvious risks involved.”
According to Steve, Nick experienced numbness in his legs during a match last Tuesday evening in Louisville. After failing to reach his hotel room without assistance, paramedics were called in. First indications were that Varner was dehydrated, but when it became apparent that his condition was deteriorating, he was rushed to a local hospital for tests.
“He’s fine right now,” said Steve. “His life isn’t in danger. We just need to get this taken care of.”
A 24-hour, 9-day pool orgy for both gamblers and serious tournament players, the Classic kicked off on Jan. 16 with a $30,000 ring game between Cory Deuel, Jimmy Wetch, Alex Pagulayan, Earl Strickland, Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams. Deuel eventually outlasted Pagulayan for the $30,000 prize in a match that went well past five hours. The event proved so popular that Derby City organizers hastily assembled a six-man cast for the next night for another $30,000. In that six-hour tilt, BD Player of the Year Johnny Archer bested Pagulayan, Reyes, Ralf Souquet, John Schmidt and Jose Parica.
More than 300 players entered each of the three main events at Derby City this year. Jason Miller of Dayton, Ohio, took the 9-ball bank pool crown and its $8,000 first prize after besting undefeated John Brumback twice in the true double-elimination final (Derby City players with one loss can buy back into the tournament once in each division). Reyes mopped up Chicagoan Marco Marquez in the one-pocket final, 3-0, after his foe failed to take advantage of a commanding lead in the first game.
Pocketing the $9,000 one-pocket prize, Reyes then plowed through the 9-ball field, only to meet the similarly undefeated Souquet in the final. Souquet took the first match, 7-2, and after Reyes bought back in, “The Kaiser” toppled Reyes again by an identical score. The win brought a $13,000 payday for the German, who entered all three events this year without ever having played bank pool or one-pocket in a serious tournament setting.