(Photo of Mitch Ellerman courtesy of Fred Stoll of Filmless Art)
Vegas Heats Up as the 36th BCAPL National Championship Rolls into Town
Las Vegas, NV.  -   May 14, 2012 – The 36th BCAPL National Championships rolled into the Riviera Hotel and Casino Wednesday, May 10th. Approximately 7,000 players congregate each year in Las Vegas to compete in the event known as “The Greatest Pool Tournament in the World.”
Produced by CueSports International (CSI) and taking place over 11 days, the group of events include; 23 BCA Pool League (BCAPL) divisions, three USA Pool League (USAPL) divisions and two professional tournaments (the 13th US Open One Pocket Championship and the 4th US Open 10-Ball Championship).
The BCAPL competition began with three 9-Ball singles events: the Men’s Open 9-Ball Singles, the Women’s Open 9-Ball Singles and the 9-Ball Challenge.
The Men’s Open 9-Ball saw a full field of 256 players compete for over $15,000 in prize money. Daniel McKenney (league #1073) from Texas beat out Matt Beckwith (league #23) from Wisconsin for the $2,100 first place check

.(Photo of Mitch Ellerman courtesy of Fred Stoll of Filmless Art)

BEF “Excellence in Education” Scholarship($2,000 award)

Megan Ferry of Denver, NC

 The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) is pleased to announce the 2012 recipients of its annual scholarship program. The objective of the BEF Academic Scholarship Program is to grant scholarships to high school seniors who have benefited from the sport of billiards and are pursuing a college education.

The scholarships are divided into two categories: BEF Excellence in Education scholarship ($2,000 award) and BEF Aiming for Higher Education scholarships (3 x $1,000 award).

The prized students adhered to the following scholarship criteria:

1) maintained a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale);

2) received an ACT score of at least 23 or SAT combined score (critical reading + math) of 1050 or higher;

3) submitted a 500-1000 word essay on how billiards has been an integral part of their life;

4) submitted a letter outlining academic achievements, leadership and/or community service work and a description of the applicant’s background and career objectives;

5) must be accepted to an accredited undergraduate academic program by June 1;

6) must attend an accredited undergraduate institution and carry at least 12 hours per semester.

8 FINALIST

The 2012 USBA National Three-Cushion Championship Tournament, played for the second consecutive year at the Las Vegas Tropicana Hotel as part of the ACS national tournament week, ended in dramatic fashion as defending champion Pedro Piedrabuena overcame a twelve point deficit with a scorching finish to defeat Mazin Shooni 40 to 33 in 34 innings.  With the victory, Piedrabuena not only defended his crown but also notched his 5th national championship title.

Played in the Cohiba Room of the Tropicana on 8 fabulous Gabriels Elements tables with Simonis 300 Rapide cloth, the USBA national championship started on Sunday, May 6^th with 49 players from around the country.  The 49 players were randomly placed in flights of 7.  After a three-day round robin, where a player competed against each other player in a flight, 20 players advanced to the semi-finals.  The semi-finalists were placed in 4 flights of 5 players, where another round robin was played.  The top two players in each flight advanced to the finals, which was contested in a single-elimination bracket with consolation matches to determine all 8 places.

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The second day of the preliminaries concluded at the USBA Three Cushion National Championship in Las Vegas without any major surprises.

In flight A, Pedro Piedrabuena, appears to be in top form as he began the defense of his 2011 crown.  His hardest matches remain to be played on the last day of the opening round.  Both Gary Cohen and Kahlil Diab stand at 3 to 1 and hope to challenge Piedrabuena.  Gilbert Najm suffered a few tough losses early but rebounded with a strong victory over Cohen.  Playing well in the group is Paul Frankel, who has a victory over Najm and two close losses to Cohen and Diab.

Mazin Shooni and Gary Elias are both undefeated in Group B with two games to be played.  They’ll play each other in the last game of the third day.  A step behind at 3-1 is Victor Cuzzi.  All three should advance to the semi finals.

The top of the class in Group C is Miguel Torres, who sports a 4-0 record.  Peter Banyai and Lupe Cruz have one loss each and look to advance to the semi-finals, although Jamil Israel has an outside shot if he can knock out Cruz.

No player has emerged as the clear favorite in Group D.  Michael Kang, Dung Nguyen and Jim Hendrickson all have 3 wins and 1 loss.  Mark Hansen at 2-2 is a neck behind as the players hit the home stretch.  The spectators and rail birds have been impressed with the play of Nguyen, a young player from Houston who lost in the 2 hole to Kang.

Another young Vietnamese-American player from Houston has fought his way to the top of Group E.  Thanh Vu stands at 4 wins and no defeats entering the last day.  He dispatched the wily Frank Torres 25 to 22 in a great match.  Torres and Tom Rossman are both 3-1.  Rossman may have the tougher road as he has yet to face Torres.  Hoping to break into the semi-finals is Carlos Bazo, who has 2 wins and the same number of loses.

A couple of seasoned veterans from New York head the pack in Group F.  Hugo Patino and Sunny Cho are both 4 – 0.  They’ll play each other in the opening round on day three.  Third place is still up for grabs.  Jim Shovak, Robert Ferrara and Tony Ferrara are all in the running.  The game between Shovak and the younger Ferrara (Tony) will be critical.

Jae Cho looks like he has regained the form that earned him the 2010 national championship.  He has not been challenged.  None of his opponents has scored more than 11 points against him.  Fred Lamars likely secured a spot in the semi-finals with a tight 25 to 23 over Joe DeAmato.  DeAmato led the entire game but Lamars closed it out with a run of 3.

Played on 8 new Gabriels Elements tables set out in the Cohiba Room at the Tropicana Hotel on the Vegas Strip, the USBA nationals will continue with the semi-final rounds tomorrow.  Twenty players will advance to the semis, and 8 will then move to the finals, which will be played on Thursday.

Special Report from USBA Directors to Professor-Q-Ball.  More reports to follow.

Also check out some of the EVENT PHOTOS

Check out what it takes to set up 8 Billiard tables. These tables are a brand New Model called Elements.

They are 8  3-Cushion tables to be use for the USBA NATIONAL at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas..

The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Samm Diep-Vidal to the position of Executive Director.

Vidal joins the organization on May 1, 2012 to work alongside current Executive Director, Laura Smith. On August 1, Vidal will assume full executive director duties; Smith will continue on as a trustee of the organization.

Left most  2nd place Basdeo Sookhai; 1st place Andzrej Kaldan;  right, owner operator Kenin Buckley

Andrzej Kaldan goes undefeated  at A/D  9 Ball Tri-State Tournament held at Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn , N.Y. His tournament trail, included wins over Eddie Perez 6 -1; Inna Bediner 7 – 3; Jaydev Zaveri 6 – 5; Rick Shellhouse 6- 5; Randy Mackin 6 – 2 and, Basdeo Sookhai 7 – 6 to get into the Hot Seat. On the loss side, Basdeo defeated the ever tough Daniel Dagotdot 8 – 4 , to reach the Finals. Due to the late hour and the player’s fatigue, both players agreed to split the event with Andrzej taking top honors. Third place finisher Daniel Dagotdot and KIm Meyer-Gabia forth place, are to be complemented for their strong performance each with a 6 & 2 win/loss record.

In Memory of Steve Elzinga.

Steve passed away on April 13, 2012 at the age of 63 from Lung Cancer. Born on March 24,1949 and lived in Grand Rapid MI.

One of Steve interests was Ski Diving and had 720 jumps to his name during the years of 1985 to 1993.

He also liked to play billiards and had played it for 40 or so yrs. Steve helped to promote the game by filming and streaming live 3-cushion tournaments over the course of 4 yrs. His streaming partner Michael Christenson a very close friend of Steve’s worked together and both helped a lot of people on the forums and helped a lot of streamers get started and produce better streams.

His name here was sde and was Mi_Billiards and sde on the streams.

Steve was a proud Viet Nam vet and was buried with honors at the Ft. Custer memorial cemetery in Battle Creek Michigan.

Steve was a great friend and will be surely missed by!!

Keystone TAP, LLC  -  Established, Entertaining and Expanding

Halifax, PA, April 24th, 2012 -  TAP Players in the Heart of PA and Soul of MD know they got a good thing in their league.  And the word is spreading throughout its borders.

Keystone TAP started in May 2007 operating in 6 Counties in PA. In 2009, the purchase of another PA TAP operation took place which included two additional territories and the players from Hagerstown, MD and Frederick, MD wanted to join in too.  Creating a league extending over 13 counties in Pennsylvania and 2 in Maryland.

Pedro Piedrabuena played a great final in Maywood.

MAYWOOD – The 40-year-old Pedro Piedrabuena from San Diego in Calyfornia has won the Open USBA three cushion tournament in Maywood. In the finals he defeated Hugo Pattino, the number one on the ranking, in a magnificent match: 30 points in eight innings (30-16).

The tournament, with a total prize money of $ 17.000, was played in the Eight ball billiards center in Maywood and was part of the Open tournament series of the USBA.

Forty players were divided into 5 groups of 8 players, playing round robin. The top 2 finishers from each group advanced to the semifinals. The top USBA-ranked A-players were seeded into the qualification groups, one per group.