By DAN ACKMAN
October 7, 2004; Page D12

If the the rat race has a starting line, it might well be Grand Central Terminal. There, 700,000 commuters scurry daily from the baronies of Westchester and Connecticut to their places of gainful employ. There are those who opt out. Danny Basavich, a professional pool player and unabashed hustler, is one. But last weekend he, too, was at Grand Central. And Mr. Basavich, aka Kid Delicious, stayed to work.

This year, with title sponsorship from Michelob and a telecast on ESPN, the two-year-old World Summit of Pool, part of the U.S. Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) tour, took place in the terminal's Vanderbilt Hall. (Last year it was held in a billiard room.) It attracted 68 of the world's top players, including Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer, the No. 1 player in the UPA; Charlie Williams, number three; and three former world champions, including six-time world champ Earl "The Pearl" Strickland.

Mr. Archer, 35, won the event last year, and was looking to reclaim the $12,000 top prize. But Mr. Strickland, 43, who has feuded with tour organizers, wasn't on hand last time. Mr. Archer would also face stiff challenges from Cory Deuel, another standout returning from a recent absence, and from Mika "The Iceman" Immonen, a former world champion from Finland who now lives in New York, not to mention Mr. Basovich.

Like all UPA events, the World Summit would be a contest of nine-ball, in which players must strike the cue ball into the lowest numbered ball on the table. The player who sinks the nine-ball wins the game; first player to win 11 games takes the match. Compared to straight pool, nine-ball is faster-paced, with a tad more luck involved. Even after a good break, it's easy to be snookered -- that is with the low (or target) ball impossibly blocked off from the cue. Since players alternate breaks, even the best man may be taken down by a few bad rolls or by a lesser player on a hot streak.

As it happened, Mr. Archer was defeated twice by Saturday afternoon. (Tournaments are double elimination; players who lose are then placed in a one-loss, or losers', bracket.) Mr. Deuel immediately became the favorite. But he lost, too, to Santos Sambajon, a Filipino now based in Seattle, and in the loser's bracket to Mr. Strickland.

Meanwhile Mr. Basavich, ranked No. 32, was still alive, on the strength of a victory over Mr. Williams. Unlike most players on the professional tour, who tend to act like, well, professionals, the portly Kid Delicious is a throwback. After dropping out of high school in Manalapan, N.J., Mr. Basavich, now 26, hit the road, hustling games all across the contiguous U.S. "In the last six years, I have not been beaten for $1 playing pool," he says. How much did he win in his best year? "I don't know -- $200,000," he surmises.

It's fair to say that no one makes that much money on the UPA tour and no more than a half-dozen players earn half that sum (excluding exhibitions and sponsorships). Most players eke out a living traveling event to event, perhaps gambling on the side.

Still, Kid Delicious is going straight, in part because he has become too well-known. His eyes are on prize events, sponsorships and instructional videos. This weekend, he was still playing late on Saturday, but beaten by Mike "Still Working on a Nickname" Davis, he didn't make it to the semifinals on Sunday and wound up tied for ninth.

Mr. Davis did make it, along with Mr. Sambajon in the winner's bracket semifinal, and Mr. Strickland in the loser's bracket. Mr. Strickland faced Danny Harriman in a classic match. Each man took turns running the table to the point where the "race to seven" match (last-day matches are shorter to accommodate TV) was tied 6-all. In the deciding game, Mr. Harriman played a "safety," putting the cue ball behind three balls, giving Mr. Strickland almost no conceivable shot at the two-ball. But Mr. Strickland banked to cue off two bumpers into the two. The cue then caromed into the nine-ball, which fell into the corner pocket, giving The Pearl a 7-6 win.

In the winner's bracket, Mr. Sambajon (putatively 95 pounds) beat Mr. Davis (6-foot-3, 220 pounds), also 7-6. That meant Mr. Davis would face Mr. Strickland for a place in the finals against the 44-year-old Filipino. With Mr. Strickland playing well, he seemed a sure bet for the title. But Mr. Davis beat him easily, 7-1.

The finals rematch was another nail-biter. Mr. Davis and Mr. Sambajon traded wins for a 5-5 tie. Mr. Sambajon took advantage of a Davis mistake for his first lead, 6-5. In the 12th game, Mr. Davis missed on the one-ball, and Mr. Sambajon made him pay by running the table for his first major title. The smallest man in the field was atop the world summit.