(Photo of Sarah Rousey and Randy Goettlicher courtesy of CSI)
Las Vegas, NV. -  May 19, 2012 ““ On Tuesday, May 15th from 7-9 pm, the annual CueSports International Challenge the Pros Fundraiser and Raffle in support of junior players took place as part of the 11 day BCAPL National Championships.
(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 “œThe Greatest Pool Tournament in the World.”
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(Photo of Mitch Ellerman courtesy of Fred Stoll of Filmless Art)
BEF “œExcellence 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).
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.
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Check out what it takes to set up 8 Billiard tables. These tables are a brand New Model called Elements.
They are 8Â 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.
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 Â – Â 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.
 Shooters, a major pool room just outside of Kansas City, was host to 3-cushion billiards star Mazin Shooni on May 20. Mazin conducted a clinic for four local players””Travis Gallup, Stan Lombardo, Bob Mansky, and Dennis Reinecker””in the afternoon, and that evening he put on an exhibition before an attentive and appreciative audience. Both events were on Shooter’s newly recovered Gabriels Imperator table.
Tribute to Grady ‘The Professor’ Mathews
January 3, 1943 – April 18, 2012
They called him ‘The Professor’, but they could just as aptly have called him Mr. One Pocket. It is hard to imagine a model for contributing more to the game of One Pocket than exhibited over the career of Grady Mathews; he has truly been an ambassador to the game.
Born January 3, 1943 in San Antonio, Texas, when Grady was a teenager his family moved to San Mateo, California, just about 25 miles outside of the pool Mecca of San Francisco. Grady was a good natural athlete, but once he got started with pool, that is where he turned his attention. He proved to be an adept student of pool, especially the game of One Pocket, honing his skills at fabled Cochran’s in San Francisco in the early 1960’s before he took to the road.
