The Preliminaries

During most of the first two days of the three-day event, the players played a six flight round robin preliminary, with 25 point matches. The players were placed in three flights of nine and three flights of eight, with the top two players from each flight advancing to the semi-final round. The top four third place finishers from the remainder of the field also advanced. In addition to these16 players two more spaces in the semi-finals were filled by an auction (winning bid was $1200 by Michael Kang) and a raffle (tickets at $20 a piece raised another $2100, won by Alain Hernandez), the proceeds of which were all added to the prize fund. This semi-final field of 18 was divided into two flights of nine players, each of which played another round robin, with 30 point matches. The order of finish in the semi-finals was determined by the win-loss record, then average, then points for, then points against. The first place finishers of each flight played one match with each other in order to determine first and second place for the tournament, the second place finishers of each flight played for third and fourth place, etc. Finals matches were played to 35 points.

There was excellent play throughout the preliminaries, with one of the most watched matches being the hill-hill nail-biter between Pedro Piedrabuena and Alain Hernández, a top young player from Mexico. In a match filled with excellent and creative shot making throughout, each player missed the match point by a hair 5 or 6 times until Pedro finally converted for the win. With this victory Pedro remained the only undefeated player in his flight. At the end of the preliminaries, Pedro, Luis Avila and Miguel Almaraz were the only undefeated players.

Click on Flight Name to view PDF Chart:

Semi-Finals-Flight A
Semi-Finals-Flight B

The Finals Championship Match

The exciting match between Pedro and Javier to determine the tournament champion got off to a quick start. Pedro scored 1 in the first inning, 9 in the second inning, 2 in the third and 1 in the fourth. Javier’s scores in those innings were 4, 0, 2 and 3. So at the end of four innings Pedro was in front 13 to 9. But then things changed. Javier left Pedro several difficult positions and Pedro went scoreless for the next four innings, but then scored 4 in the ninth inning. In those same innings, Javier scored 10 points, including a run of 5 in the ninth inning. At the end of nine innings, Javier led 19 to 17. The players both went scoreless in the tenth inning. But in the next five innings Javier scored 14 points, while Pedro scored only 8. At the end of the fifteenth inning, Javier led 33 to 25. The sixteenth inning proved to be the last, with Pedro scoring 1 point and Javier scoring the last 2 to close out the match. Pedro had achieved a remarkable average for the match of 1.625, but against Javier’s consistent play and his game average of 2.188, it just was not good enough. At the conclusion of this refereed match the large crowd showed the players their enthusiastic appreciation for their outstanding play with loud and lasting applause.

The first place prize of $5,000 went to Javier Terán, second place prize of $3,000 to Pedro Piedrabuena, third place prize of $2,000 to Luis Avila, and $1,700 for fourth place to Miguel Almaraz. 18 places were paid in all.

Javier Terán and Guillermo Sosa each averaged 2.188 in their finals match and split the $100 prize for best game. Pedro Piedrabuena and Mazin Shooni each had a high run in their finals match of 9 and split $100.

After the money, prizes and trophies were awarded, a crowd of approximately 200 spectators and tournament players was treated to an exhibition of fantasy billiards by world famous champion Roberto Rojas. Maestro Rojas mixed expert skill with raw power, finesse and comedy to entertain the crowd for approximately 45 minutes.

The USBA and the Tournament Directors Michael Walo and Bruce Warner would like to extend special thanks to Hector Ocampo, owner of 8-Ball Billiards for generously permitting the tournament to take place in his room (and for the mariachis).

Luis Castro, who, as always, did an excellent job facilitating table assignments, rounding up scorekeepers, and myriad other things that made the tournament possible, Ernesto Zaldivar who kept the tables clean and playing beautifully throughout the entire tournament, and all those who volunteered as scorekeepers during the semi-final and final matches.