U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship Qualifier Winners Vegas Bound
Eight qualifiers were held for the 2010 U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. Produced by CueSports International (CSI), the main event is scheduled May 17-22, 2010 at the Riviera Hotel & Casino and attracted both men and women players from across the globe vying for the $89,000 purse.
The following eight qualifier winners will be among the 128 player field:
Jeremy Marcello 1st place $200 (Center)
Paul Dodge 2nd place $100 (Right)
Mat Martin 3rd Place $50 (Left)
The Rack in Memphis, Ten held there 2nd Shot Contest with 10 pool players that signed in and willing to test their skills at the game of 3-Cushion Billiards. As the event date was set for Sunday at 1:00pm, on April 25th 2010, players had a full month to practice the shots. Entry Fee was $15, plus Jerry Ramey owner of The Rack also included in a free lunch for the players that were sponsor by locals Chuck and Claude for the barbecue, and Old Timers Restaurant.
Paul Frankel tournament director went over all the rules before the start of the “œShot Contest” and thanked all contestants for accepting the CHALLENGE and then went on to explain to the players the format.
On the 19th of April, Andrews Air Force Base, located in Maryland, home of the Presidential plane “œAir Force One” hosted it’s 1st Pocket Billiards Instructional Workshop taught by Steven  Brown Sr.,  a Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Certified National Instructor.
The Base Community Airmen’s Center was the venue, which had a Ceremonial Grand Opening in February. The Community Airmen’s Center features Billiards, numerous flat screen TV’s, Wii consoles, Xbox consoles, PlayStation consoles, Pay-Per-View boxing, movie nights, Internet Café, multiple video games, a study area, a outside barbeque patio with awning, a DJ on weekend nights and the full service Sports Page restaurant.
On the B-side Scott Snyder (Vancouver, WA) and Bill Rosenberry (Portland, OR) tied for 7th place ““ victims of Bob Zack (Portland, OR) 9-6 and Eddie Mataya (Seattle, WA) 9-7 respectively. Both Mataya and Zack had their momentum upended in the next round, as both tied for 5th place at the hands of Pat Schumacher (Portland, OR) 9-7 and Bob Olsen 9-6 respectively. Schumacher then ended Olsen’s run at 4th place by a 9-2 margin. In the B-side finals, Jesse Allred eliminated Schumacher at 3rd place 9-7. The tourney final was one-race to 11, and Stan Tourangeau (holder of numerous North American amateur titles) kept control throughout to take the title over Jesse Allred by an 11-6 margin!
To participate in the BEF Junior Nationals, players must earn an entry through a BEF qualifier or must be appointed by their local junior league. The national event features 4 divisions: 19 & Under Boys, 19 & Under Girls, 14 & Under Boys, and 14 & Under Girls. Qualifiers will be held throughout the United States through the month of June. The BEF is accepting nominations and offering player invitations for the girls’ divisions. For more information about hosting a qualifier, league guidelines, or upcoming qualifier dates and locations, visit www.BilliardEducation.org.
Two Unknowns Battle Through To Vegas Showdown
Further Representation for USA and Spain
DAVE GRAU AND CARLOS CABELLO, relative unknowns outside their respective areas of the American North East and Spain, became the latest two qualifiers to make it through to Las Vegas and the starting line up of the 2010 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters.
After all the rest…..Why not try the best?”TAP LLC is looking for some hard working and honest people to bring the TAP pool league to your area. If you are tired of playing “slop”, non typical 9 ball rules, tired of constantly breaking your team up due to low team point handicaps and tired of trying to make it to nationals then it is time that you and your friends try TAP.
In a recent Inside Pool magazine article, one of the oldest billiard leagues reported they had less than 1% growth in 2009, adding less than 1,300 new members nationwide that year. TAP on the other hand is now the fastest growing league in the country with new members totaling 8,082 in 2009. There is no slow down in sight for the TAP sales office either.  For the first four months of 2010, TAP has recorded record breaking sales with new licensees being added areas such as Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey and Indiana just to name a few.
The World 8-Ball Championships final was a run-out fest between Niels Feijen and Karl Boyes. The First rack had a bit of back and forth action and was taken by Boyes. Then he broke and ran three consecutive racks to lead 4-0. When he came up dry on his next break Feijen ran the table and then broke and ran the next rack. 4-2. Then Feijen suffered a dry break and Boyes cleared that table and broke and ran the next. Another dry break brought Feijen back to the table to clean up. With the score at 6-3 Feijen broke but the table came up tough. He missed his second shot at the table and Boyes returned the favor by missing his second shot attempt as well. Again Feijen came to the table and again his second shot failed. The table simply was not being at all generous with opportunities. Boyes studied the table for a while and jacked up for a nifty little nip shot into the corner that gave him the chance to clear the table. When he succeeded the score became 7-3 in our race to 13 and Feijen was in trouble deep.
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Jerry Forsyth- WPA Press Officer
The great eight had their shot at the spotlight in Fujairah and three of them made the most of the early going. 45 minutes into the round Ruslan Chinakhov led Jeff de Luna 5-1, Karl Boyes enjoyed the same lead over Vicenancio Tanio and Darren Appleton had a 4-1 gap over Joven Alba. Neils Feijen and Andreas Roschkowsky were being a bit more dramatic as Feijen led their match 3-2 at that point.
None of our leaders would ever falter. Ruslan Chinakov and Karl Boyes both won their matches by score lines of 10-5, Darren Appleton squeked past Joven Alba 10-8 and Niels Feijen gradually widened the gap between he and Roschkowsky until he sank the final ten ball at 10-6.
Many if not most casual three-cushion players spend their lives without ever trying to leave themselves and easy shot. They think ahead in that they try not to leave the other guy anything.
“From Byrne’s Complete Book of Pool Shots, by Robert Byrne. Used with permission.”
The 9-ball is hanging on the lip. If you decide to try to make if off the 1-ball, the best bet is hit the rail first with left sidespin.
The same is true from the other cue ball if the 2-ball is the lowest ball on the table.
Day Four of the World 8-Ball Championships
-Jerry Forsyth-
WPA Press Officer
The World 8-Ball Championship in Fujairah, UAE, held the round of 32 first today. This is single-elimination so that any loss means the end for the losing player. It is a race to ten games with the winner breaking. Our first round featured half of the remaining field and there are very few players left who cannot be mentioned as possible candidates to take it all.
The first player eliminated today was Scott Higgins. He ran into an extremely sharp Ronnie Alcano and got buzz-sawed 10-3. Alcano simply gave him no air. It seemed that every time Alcano had a shot he ran out the table, including at least six break and run performances.
The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) was honored to be part of the grand opening of the Challenger Learning Center held at the Unser Discovery Campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 6, 2010.
The BEF made the 9-ball on the break when legendary race car driver Al Unser and his wife Susan invited billiards to be a part of their benefit celebration to launch their newest addition to the Unser Discovery Campus, the Challenger Learning Center. The billiard festivities included challenge matches with WPBA touring pros and BEF Executive Director Laura Smith and Director of Program Development Dawn Hopkins. BEF President Tom Riccobene, who was also recently named as a Top CEO in New Mexico for his business, was also in attendance for the gala.
-Jerry Forsyth-
WPA Press Officer
Our second day of competition at the Etisalat World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah, UAE, began with a round of winner’s side match-ups. The Russian powerhouse, Ruslan Chinakhov, got his day underway with a satisfying 8-6 victory over David Alcaide after Alcaide had led the match early at 3-0. Ronnie Alcano also trailed early in his match against Mohammed Hosani and at one point trailed 5-1 only to dig down deep and rally to an 8-6 win.
