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3-Cushion Nationals in Tacoma
Tacoma,
WA – Twenty Four of the top players in the USA
were shooting for the National 3-Cushion Billiard title on January
18th thru
23rd. There were three flights of eight with three advancing
to the finals plus one wild card. The top
players advanced as projected but there were some interesting matches;
Pedro Piedrabuena lost to Michael Kang in the preliminaries and Kang
went undefeated in the preliminaries. No innings were kept in the preliminaries.
Newcomer Dave Van Lokeren, out of Gross Point, MI, beat Shooni in
the preliminaries
and made
the finals. Also first time in the finals was Bill Johnson of Michigan
and he may have been the happiest player there. The wild card was
Joe DeAmato who had made the finals before. First time finalist
Felipe
Razon, Regional
Qualifier winner out of Chicago, made a good showing for himself
and gave Sonny Cho all he could stand in a finals match before
losing
50-47 in 58
innings. Pedro had the best overall inning average but Sonny Cho
played a very smooth and loose style that served him well in
the key finals
match
with Pedro. Norm Lofgren of the host room gave a good accounting
and except for five billiards, would have been in the finals.
Every
player had a good
time and
especially Don Shall as he celebrated
his birthday during the tournament.
The tournament was held at the Tacoma Elks Lodge in Tacoma, WA on five
newly recovered Verhoeven tables. There were bleachers that would accommodate
120 and the Lodge had 23 volunteers that made certain everything went smoothly.
The players all said that this was the best room that they had ever played.
The other amenities and the overall area were so appealing that two or
three of the players are talking about moving to Tacoma!
Northwest USBA Director, Ken Higgins, did a great job in putting the
tournament on here. President Jerry Karsh and some of the other directors
were here
and they had
meetings on how to improve billiards in the USA.
KC’s
Midway
Bar & Grill Offers
3 Person BCA
9-Ball League
Oregon City, OR – Starting March 10th, KC’s Bar & Grill
will start another session of its BCA 3 person 9-ball league. The league
format is round robin 3-person team playing another 3-person team in a race
to 18. The league session consists of an 8-week regular season with the top
3 teams receiving a payoff berth. There will be one wildcard team drawn at
random for the fourth playoff spot. At the end of the two week playoff, the
first place team wins $300, the second place team wins $150. Midway’s
BCA leagues pay back 100% of the nightly collected dues! The dues are returned
to the players through the first and second place team monies and MVP awards.
The remaining funds are paid back for each game won throughout the eight-week
session at the league party on May 26th.
There will also be an MVP points race for the regular season. MVP points
are scored for games won, break and runs,
9-ball breaks and participation. The top 2 places in both men’s and
women’s MVP will be paid $50 and $25.
A $30 deposit of the last 2 weeks nightly dues are required for new teams
to reserve a spot. If you’ve never played BCA and would like to get
started, it’s only $20 for annual dues and nightly league fees are
just $5. All matches will be played on Valley 7’ tables with Simonis
860 cloth and Aramith cue balls. The league is limited to 14 teams and spaces
are filling up fast, so sign up in person at KC’s Midway Bar & Grill
in Oregon City. And the tables are open!
7-Ball Tourney at KC’s Midway
Oregon City, OR – You shoot the 3-ball, a slight draw for leave on
the 4…perfect shape. You shoot the 4-ball…just a little follow
for the shape on the 5. Ooops! Too much shape, not enough shot. You just
missed. It’s okay though, the cue came up tight to the 6-ball and the
7 is blocking the lane for the kick shot. Wait a minute, your opponent just
picked up the cue ball. He has ball in hand. Now it’s an easy out for
him. 5…6…7…he’s out! Now it’s hill-hill…
Welcome to the unforgiving and fast paced play of 7-ball. Played with rules
similar to 9-ball and 8-ball, 7-ball leaves you with the pressure of knowing
that a missed shot gets your opponent ball in hand. So much for your ill-timed
miss with the unlucky leave to your opponent to bail you out. There are few
second chances in this game. If you’ve never played 7-ball before,
or seen it on ESPN, here’s a brief explanation of how it’s played.
The balls are racked with the 7-ball in the center. The 1-ball is at the
head of the rack and the rest of the balls are racked around the 7-ball.
Once the rack is broken the balls are shot in rotation down to the 7-ball.
Just like in 9-ball, you don’t have to call any shots until you are
on the 7-ball. The 7-ball can be pocketed at any time during the game, but
the pocket must be called. During the game you may call a safety,
but use it wisely. You are allowed only 1 safety per game. If you pocket
your ball on a safety you must continue to shoot.
If this sounds like something you might want to try, KC’s Bar & Grill
in Oregon City is offering a 7-ball tournament on Saturdays at 5pm. Entry
is $4 with open tables. 100% of the entry monies, plus a house add, are paid
out each night. The tournament is a qualifier with points awarded for participation
and finishing in the top six. The top 32 players in the 16 week qualifying
tournaments receive free entry to the $700 added tournament on March 19th.
This is a “B” tournament with no BCA “A” or APA skill
level 7 players allowed. There are still 6 weeks to qualify, so join the
excitement and start earning points and wining cash.
