Diamond Billiard Products Derby City Classic (2020)
InsidePool Exclusive Coverage
Dennis Orcollo VS Raed Shabib

Thursday, February 13th, 2020 — The Diamond Billiard Products, Derby City Classic is eight days long and offers various disciplines of pocket billiards competitions. In this premier article from InsidePoolMag.com, we would like to highlight a match we just recently covered at Caesars Casino, and describe the type of programming we would like to bring to billiards, as well as the type of informative news pieces, interviews, and entertaining (and hopefully enjoyable), easily read in a few minutes. Nothing complicated. Just straight forward, billiards news. Quotes? We get them right. Pool Stories? We tell it from the players perspective, what the game is really about.

My name is Patrick Sampey, contributing writer for InsidePoolMag.com. I’m on assignment remotely from sunny Florida, getting phone interviews with some known pros in the game, industry leaders, characters in the game, and the like. My assignment here, the task set out before me, is to introduce InsidePool back to the world of billiards in a big way. I hope I’m up to the task. This article is intended to highlight various aspects of this individual match at Derby City, talk a bit about the two players involved, Orcollo and Shabib, and introduce some of the role players involved with InsidePool, tie it all in together, wrap it up for you with a bow on top, and start dishing out these billiards news blurbs, as we enter a new age of pool, 2020.

This match we are highlighting, is a nail biting, all-around, grind-it-out, throw-down between Dennis Orcollo and Raed Shabib, and I talked to Shabib today, and he has a lot of good things to say about the game. In the match, Shabib pushes “Robo Cop” (Orcullo) to 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, then 7-7 before faltering only slightly in perhaps one missed shot that swung the match in favor of Orcollo, winning it 9-7. Shabib is a heavyweight, in only his fifth showing at the Classic.
Below is a description of the event location, and description for anyone interested in attending the event.

“Caesars Casino and Hotel Southern Indiana, voted one of the Best Casino Hotels by CitySearch.com and MSN, rivals the best in the industry! Boasting 503 luxurious rooms and suites, this legendary hotel is accented with a fitness center, Aroma Café & Bar, and an indoor pool.” — https://derbycityclassic.com/event-info/
Caesars Casino is located at 11999 Casino Center Drive, Elizabeth, IN 47117, telephone # 866-676-7463.

Below Is an excerpt from approximately 23:31 in the match, as commentated on by InsidePool’s Alvin Nelson:

“You definitely need to come as a spectator, if not a player, just to experience the Derby City Classic. It is probably the craziest event…It has to be the craziest event of the year. I can’t think of anything more crazy than this. In so many ways. It’s just non-stop for two weeks, 24 hours a day, nothing but billiards everywhere. Plan it out as your next vacation. Also, look into these Diamond pool tables. They have a ‘no excuses’ program, where you can get an easy monthly payment on a pool table. Also, the poolrooms can get a really good deal if they buy a bunch of tables…This is a challenging event.
It’s hard to tell if he has a shot in the side…really nice shot, nice and easy, center ball, boom! Nice solid, wide stance. 4-3 in favor of Raed Shabib…This guy shoots good.

You’re watching the billiard channel my friend. InsidePool.tv, InsidePoolMag.com We got Patrick Sampey on board, and he’s one of the writers. We’re working on getting Max Eberle, Charlie Bryant, Luke Sutliffe, and then we got Stacey Tonkin the National Event Director for InsidePool Magzine out there, she’s working on running the juniors event, over at the Louisville Player’s Club. We got all the kids playing, shooting over there. I plan on going over there in a little while and filming some matches for them with the remote camera, trying to do two matches at one time. The kids are getting really nice, Pete Tonkin custom cues. Really, really nice custom cues. He gave three really nice custom cues away for the winners of the juniors event. What a great guy. Man! You should see these cues. They are gorgeous. Wow! Pete Tonkin Custom cues…please give him some thanks for that. Find him on Facebook. He probably worked half a year on these three cues. He did that to support InsidePool and what we’re doing, and the juniors. We appreciate Pete very much.

Raed, see he changes his stance up. I feel that certain shots require different stances, but all must be stable, and you should definitely know…like Dennis is looking around the table on the difficult shots, take your time, but don’t go too slow, don’t go too fast, just watch his speed. He’s not wasting any energy, but he’s moving at a nice pace. Confident. Down on the shot. He knows what he’s going to do…he should be able to nail this ball.
Four to four, we’re racing to 9. Don’t forget to go to poolaholic.com, check out all those awesome shirts. Steve Ditmar. You can check him out on Facebook as well. Pool Holic Apparel…” — Nelson.

At about 53:00 in the match, with Orcollo up 7-6, Alvin continues, “You see how he (Orcollo) stayed down. That’s nice…I don’t know anybody that I’d bet against him. I couldn’t bet against Dennis…you see his speed? When he gets going? But it’s not too fast. And it’s not jerky either. It’s a smooth acceleration…Dennis knows he better not give Raed a chance at the table, because that guy can run out…you see Dennis’s gear go up? That’s what these pros can do, they just turn it up man. They turn the fire on. They know this is a battle. Dennis has that killer instinct, he knows this is a controlled war. That’s what’s beautiful about this game, it’s so…it’s like golf. It’s very aggressive, but very non-aggressive at the same time. And I think the future looks really good for pool in many ways.
We just got to keep filming them…we need to grow the game.Thanks for watching our videos.” — Alvin Nelson.

The match then went on 8-7 Orcollo, then 9-7, with “Robo Cop” closing out the match.

After having reviewed the match, I just interviewed Raed Shabib, and the article on that interview will soon be out as well, as InsidePoolMag.com continues it’s coverage of this game we all love.

Check back soon with all of us here at InsidePool as we continue to cover these players in the game, tournaments, products, and pool matches. This closes our introduction back to covering billiards news, and opens yet a new chapter in the history of the game eternal.