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Souquet Wins 9-Ball Division at the DCC; Reyes is Master of Table By InsidePOOL Staff  Ten players returned to the Sixth Annual Derby City Classic on Saturday to vie for first place in the 9-ball division. only two - Efren Reyes and Ralf Souquet - were undefeated. After the first two rounds of the day, the field was narrowed to three players.
Jimmy "The Kid" Wetch met a determined Reyes in the semifinals. Reyes won the lag, and after allowing Wetch to shoot a kick shot in the first game, which went to Reyes, he broke and ran the next 5 games in a row to reach the hill. Wetch had only gotten out of his chair once, but sat quietly and did not move. When Reyes came up dry on his last break, the crowd screamed Wetch's name. The Minnesota room owner opted to play safe, and after trading safeties, Wetch was forced to kick at the object ball and left Reyes a shot. Reyes ran out the balls to win the match 7-0.
 The two remaining players still had no defeats, so that meant a minimum of a two-match finals, as the first one to lose would undoubtedly use his buy-back option. Souquet won the lag and broke and ran out the first two racks. He allowed Reyes to the table in the third game after playing safe, but Reyes left his opponent a shot, and Souquet won that rack. He broke and ran the next rack to take a 4-0 lead. When he came up dry on his next break, Reyes took advantage of the opportunity to put a game under his belt, but Souquet played sheerly excellent pool to win the next two to reach the hill 6-1. Again a dry break gave Reyes a game, but an unforced error by Reyes in the final rack saw Souquet the 7-2 winner of the first set of the finals.
Souquet again won the lag in the second match and broke and ran the first two games. A dry break saw Reyes run out to an 8-9 carom, which he hit perfectly to win his first game of the second match. "The Magician" then broke and ran to knot at 2. From there it was all Souquet, who was clearly playing superior pool at this point. Reyes had chances but never got the rolls he needed to capitalize, and Souquet contained his opponent at 2 games while he won the next 5 to win the second match 7-2, effectively winning the 9-ball division at the DCC. Reyes was crowned the Master of the Table, as he had accumulated more points than any other player in the three divisions of bank pool, one-pocket, and 9-ball. Because Souquet won the 9-ball event, he came in second in the all-around, and Jason Miller followed in third. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest in the sport of billiards and pool.
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