Buffalo's Billiards in Jefferson, Louisiana hosted the 11th Annual Pro Classic from May 19-24, and when the lights came up Sunday night, Evan Lunda was holding the trophy for the second time. He took the title in 2023. He took it again over Fedor Gorst in a true double-elimination final that went the full distance.

Owner James "Buffalo" Leone and GM Steve "Bullseye" Tesvich put $31,000 added across three events, with the player auctions clearing over half a million dollars. The main event drew 33 players at $2,000 entry, races to 5, double-elimination on both sides. Conditions were the usual Buffalo's setup: Diamond 9-foot tables, 4 1/8" pockets, blue Simonis cloth, Aramith tournament balls.

Because the bracket sat 33 in a 64-man frame, almost everyone drew a first-round bye. Josh Roberts and Justin Hall were the only two who didn't, and Hall beat Roberts 5-3, then sent house pro Tony Chohan west by the same score. From there it was Mark Mägi who ended Hall's winners' side run, 5-3, after a bye and a 5-2 win over John Morra. Mägi kept rolling, taking Roberto Gomez 5-3 before Lunda stopped him 5-3 to take the winners' side final four.

Lunda's path was a clean sweep: bye, Redgie Cutler 5-3, Devin Poteet 5-0, Shane Wolford 5-4, then Mägi. The lower half of the bracket produced the night's best winners' side match. Bustamante and Gorst, the only HOFer left and the world No. 1, neck and neck through ten innings. With Gorst on the hill, Bustamante made a back cut on a spot shot to tie it 4-4. Gorst won the next rack. Bustamante out, Gorst into the winners' side final four. He beat Roland Garcia 5-4 to set up the hot seat match with Lunda, which Lunda took 5-2.

On the loss side, Chohan ran the table from his second-round defeat: Morra 5-2, Alex Lely 5-1, Corey Deuel 5-3, Wolford 5-2, Chip Compton 5-4, Garcia 5-1. Six straight. Hall came up the other way: DeLawder 5-0, Jeremy Jones 5-4, Ivan Belmonte 5-1, Sky Woodward 5-2, and a 5-3 win over Mägi to even that earlier loss. Hall and Chohan met for fourth place, and it was the match of the loss side. Hall pulled ahead 3-1, Chohan tied it, both reached the hill at 4-4. Hall sank the last bank to advance. Chohan out fourth, Hall to face Gorst for the finals slot. Gorst handled that one 5-1. Hall finished third.

The final ran the way only one-pocket finals run. Set one to Gorst 5-3, with Gorst stealing Game Five after Lunda had it in hand and closing the set in a long Game Eight that Lunda should have won. Set two opened with Gorst taking another long opener on a cross-table bank. They split through six. With Gorst on the hill at 4-3, Lunda dug in. He eked the next one out 4-4. In the deciding game, Gorst broke, Lunda made four to lead 4-0, Gorst banked one that died in his own pocket, tapped it to 4-1, and that was the opening Lunda needed. Cut, two more, then a bank on the winning ball.

Second Buffalo's Pro Classic title for Lunda. Three years after the first one.

Tournament money was $35,000 to Lunda for first and $18,000 to Gorst for second. The bigger half of the story at Buffalo's is always the auction. Owner James Leone noted that this year's Pro One Pocket Calcutta cleared about $320,600, down from last year's roughly $378,000 but still the biggest pot in one-pocket. Around $165,000 sat on the championship match alone. Lunda had kept half of himself in the auction and walked with about $100,000 of that on top of his check. Gorst had bought the other half of Lunda going in, so even with the loss he cleared $65,000 on the Calcutta side. That math has been the talk of the one-pocket groups all week.

A couple of things worth noting on the way out the door. Lunda ran four 8-and-outs across the streamed matches, more than any other player in the event. Average game score across the 97 streamed games came out to 8-2.5. Notable absences this year included Shane Van Boening, who has barely played Buffalo's in his career, with several other rotation regulars choosing to bank WNT points at the UK Open instead.

🔗 AZ Billiards Story 🔗 Full Bracket

The 5th UK Open Pool Championship ran May 26-31 at the Brentwood Centre in Essex, and Joshua Filler walked out as the first player ever to win it twice. The 2022 champ took the title again Sunday night, dismantling Wojciech Szewczyk of Poland 13-1 in the final.

The scoreline tells the story. Filler punished a missed two-ball from Szewczyk to push it to 10-1, then closed it with a clean 2-9 combination on the hill. Same 13-1 he hung at the 2025 European Open in Sarajevo, his last Matchroom Major. Same 13-1 Yapp hung on Souto in last year's UK Open final. Back-to-back UK Open finals at 13-1.

Getting to the final wasn't quiet. World No. 1 Fedor Gorst was out before the first weekend. Saudi Arabia's Khalid Alghamdi beat him in the opening round, then Robbie Capito sent him home for good in a Last 128 thriller, coming back from 9-4 down to win on the hill. That was the opening Filler needed to clear his side of the bracket. He took out Mario He on the way to the quarters, beat former world champion Niels Feijen 10-7 in the QF, then 11-2 over home favourite Jayson Shaw in the semis.

Defending champion Aloysius Yapp went out in the quarters to Jonas Souto, the man he'd beaten 13-1 in last year's final. Souto won the rematch 10-8. He then ran into Szewczyk in the semis and lost 11-3. Szewczyk had beaten 2023 champion Eklent Kaçi 10-4 and Naoyuki Oi back-to-back to get there. The other comeback of the week belonged to Britain's Dean Shields, who came from 6-1 down to take out former World No. 1 Francisco Sánchez Ruiz 10-9.

The American picture stayed thin. Shane Van Boening, Skyler Woodward, and Justin Bergman were all absent. Gorst was out by Day Three, surely the jetlag crossing the pond and beginning play the day after playing the one-pocket final at Buffalo’s played a roll. No American reached the Last 32.

The setup at Brentwood drew its share of complaints. The Brentwood Centre is a council-run sports hall, not a purpose-built pool venue, and the building lacks air conditioning. Outside temperatures sat close to 90°F during the event and players reported it felt well over 100°F on the floor. With 256 players in the draw and only two practice tables, warm-up allotments came down to a single rack at a time. Frankie Hernandez, who lost his opener 9-8 to Mohammed Baabad and went out 8-6 in his next match, posted a detailed account afterward and said he's pulling out of both the US Open and the Florida Open over it.

Next major is the Florida Open at Caribe Royale in Orlando, August 4-9.

🔗 Matchrool Results

Joshua Filler vs Wojciech Szewczyk — UK Open Final Highlights on Matchroom Pool's YouTube channel. The match itself was over quickly at 13-1, but Filler's 2-9 combination to close on the hill is worth slowing down for. If you've got more time after that, the Capito-Gorst hill-hill from the Last 128 and the Souto-Yapp quarter-final are both up on the channel and both worth a click.

Before the Buffalo's final on Sunday afternoon, Tony Chohan was inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame. Billy Incardona spoke, and called Chohan the greatest American player he's ever seen. Francisco Bustamante stepped up to add his congratulations. Chohan accepted quietly.

Three Buffalo's Pro Classic titles. The current Derby City One Pocket champion. The Buffalo's house pro. It's been a long time coming.

🔗 Story

The 1-Ball One Pocket Mini opened the week Tuesday night with 42 players, $200 entry, single elimination, races to 4. Bustamante took the title with a 4-0 shutout of Lunda in the final, after edging Alex Lely 4-3 in the semis. Lunda had beaten Buffalo's other house pro, Sergio Rivas, 4-2 to get there. $3,700 to Django, $2,100 to Lunda for second.

The $10,000-added Open 9-Ball drew 149 players at $100 entry on seven-foot Diamonds, races to 7/7 alternate break, double-elimination down to the final 16, then single-elimination races to 9 from there. Defending champion Chris Reinhold made the final 16 along with Morra, Jones, Poteet, Teutscher, Wiseley, Bustamante, Josh Roberts, Dallas Broussard, Bobby Emmons, Sergio Rivas, Shane McMinn, John Macias, Billy Thorpe, Brandon Shuff, and Sky Woodward. The final four came down to Bustamante against Jones and Reinhold against Rivas. Rivas won the title 9-4 over Bustamante after jumping to a 5-0 lead.

Between the matches, Gorst and Bustamante played a 125-point exhibition of K-Ball, the 15-ball rotation game invented by Danny Kuykendall and scored like straight pool. Gorst won 125-113 with Kuykendall on commentary. The game made its first appearance in January at the Derby City Classic with a 200-point match between Van Boening and Gomez. Worth watching whether it sticks.

🔗 Full Story 🔗 Watch K-Ball 🔗 Busty wins 1B1P

Mark Mägi's run at Buffalo's. Estonia's Mark Mägi sold for $4,500 in the Buffalo's Calcutta and made the winners' side final four, beating John Morra 5-2, Justin Hall 5-3, and Roberto Gomez 5-3 before Lunda stopped him. Hall returned the favor on the loss side. Best bargain of the auction by a wide margin and a name worth tracking.

Rivas vs Deuel at Bayou. Sergio Rivas backed up his Buffalo's 9-Ball title by taking on Corey Deuel in a $20,000 one-pocket challenge at Bayou Billiards in Baton Rouge, May 26-28. Race to 21, with Rivas getting 8/7 and 9/8 on the spot. He led 14-4 after two days and closed it on Day 3.

🔗 Mägi’s Story 🔗 Action Match recap

Before Buffalo's, the one-pocket calendar was running through Florida and Louisiana.

Beyond Billiards in Davie, Florida ran the fifth stop on the Making It In America Tour from April 29 through May 3, and Justin Hall walked out with both trophies.

The 1-Ball One Pocket Mini opened the week with twenty players, races to 3, $100 entry. Hall beat Billy Thorpe 3-1 in the final. The $6,000-added MIA One Pocket Championship drew thirty players Thursday night, with entry fees scaled by FargoRate. Hall's path on the winners' side: Paul Lordi 3-1, Mike DeLawder 3-1, Anthony Meglino 3-2 in a close one, Thorpe again 3-1 to take the hot seat against Bustamante. He punished Bustamante with a seven-and-out to go up 3-1 in that match and closed it out for the title and the sweep.

That run was what announced his form. Three weeks later, he walked into the Bayou State Classic and ran into a hot Fedor Gorst.

Emerald Billiards in New Iberia, Louisiana hosted the Fourth Annual Bayou State Classic from May 12 through 17, with $17,500 added across two divisions.

Gorst won the $12,500-added MIA Tour One Pocket title. He went through Cory Jaap 4-0, Stephan Cavanaugh 4-0, and Billy Thorpe 4-0 on the winners' side, then beat Hall 4-1 for the hot seat. John Morra took the Bar Table 9-Ball division.

Both winners drove from New Iberia to Jefferson the next morning. Gorst rolled into Buffalo's the same way he'd rolled into Bayou and still came up short to Lunda. That's the kind of week Lunda had.

🔗 JHall Story 🔗 Bayou State Classic

The Aramith Tournament Black is made of Belgian phenolic-resin, with the high-contrast cue ball treatment that holds up under broadcast lights. Same dense-resin construction as the standard Tournament line in Aramith's range, with the spec finish that's been the look at majors for the last several seasons. Cue ball runs true, colors stay bright. In stock at Break Room Billiards.

🗓️ Mezz Hill-Hill Estonia Open — June 5-7, Tallinn, Estonia. WNT ranking event, $25,000 prize fund.

🗓️ Universal Open — June 25-28, Mille Billiards, Jakarta, Indonesia. $63,000 prize fund.

🗓️ Florida Open Pool Championship — August 4-9, Caribe Royale Resort, Orlando. Next Matchroom Major. Aloysius Yapp will look to recover his form on home soil for the WNT crowd.

🗓️ Matchroom US Open 9-Ball Championship — August 25-30, Embassy Suites, Frisco TX.

Got a tournament tip, a story we missed, or a player you think we should be tracking? Hit reply. The best news comes from the people in the room.

On The Hill is the weekly newsletter from Break Room Billiards. If you liked this issue, forward it to someone who plays. Subscribe at onthehill.news.

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