The 2nd stop of the 2007 USBA 3-Cushion Billiards Tour was held at Master Billiards in Sunnyside, New York, April 20-22, 2007. Master Billiards owner, Mr. Min, generously added $ 1,500.00 to the prize fund and another $ 1,800.00 was added by the USBA.

The “split” tournament format consisted of 16 “B” players and 8 “A” players. The “A” group, which had many top USA players, consisted of Mazin Shooni, Sonny Cho, Miguel Torres, Francisco Parra, Sang Ho Kim, Young Gull Lee, Su Yee Kim and Jim Shovak.

The “B” group had some familiar faces from the First Stop of the USBA Tour at Royal Billiards, including Andrew Janquitto and Eric Hughes from the Maryland/DC area, Charles Brown and Nguyen Ducmanh. The fresh local faces included Jose Restrepo, Dan Klein, Armando Rodriguez, Dan Silver, Laureano Gomez, Vass Tsonev, Lew Hutter and Fikret Gezmez. Even some players from out-of-town decided to participate: Joe DeAmato and Bob Page from the Boston area, George Theobald from Chicago, and Jake Zymeck from Florida.

The “B” Group was divided into two flights of 8 players each (flights B and C) with the top 3 players from each flight advancing to a 6-man round robin Finals. The preliminaries were played to 20 points with all averages kept. The finals were played to 25 points. The “A” group (Flight A) was an 8-man round robin played to 35 points with all averages kept.

Click on the Flight names to see tournament charts:

Flight B was won by Fikret Gezmez (6-1) with Vass Tsonev (also 6-1) in a very close 2nd place. Third place was won by Laureano Gomez (5-2).

Fikret Gezmez

Vass Tsonev

Flight C was dominated by Jose Restrepo and Joe DeAmato, both with 6-1 records and both losing their only matches in the one-hole. Jose Restrapo won the flight because his opponents scored fewer points against him. Armando Rodriguez (4-3) edged 3rd place over Bob Page (also 4-3) by a mere 4 total points.

Jose Restrepo

Joe DeAmato

In the “B” Finals, it came down to Laureano Gomez and Joe DeAmato. Joe had a 3-1 record and Laureano was 4-0. If Joe could win the game, he would force a playoff game for the Championship. However, Laureano came through in the clutch and defeated Joe by a score of 25-22, becoming the Master Billiards USBA Tour “B” Champion.

In the “A” Group, it was a classic battle between Mazin Shooni, Miguel Torres, Sonny Cho and Francisco Parra. Su Yee Kim (Royal Billiards owner) upset Francisco Parra in a crucial match which Francisco needed if he wanted to win the tournament. This brought it down to two players: Miguel Torres (winner of the Royal Billiards First Tour Stop) and Mazin Shooni (2006 National Champion), both with 5-1 records.

With the score tied at 29 each in a race to 35, the crowd watched in anticipation as the two players carefully made calculated shots, being careful not to “sell-out” if they missed. In the end, Mazin Shooni ran out and won the game 35-30, claiming the title of Champion of the Tournament and a $ 1,700.00 first prize.

Miguel Torres

Francisco Parra

Sonny Cho

At the awards ceremony, Tournament Director Jim Shovak handed out Plaques to the top 3 finishers in each group as well as prize money to the top 4 “A” finishers and the top 6 “B” finishers. The prize money was as follows:

A Group :

1st Place : Mazin Shooni $ 1,700.00
2nd Place : Miguel Torres $ 1,300.00
3rd Place : Francisco Parra $ 1,000.00
4th Place : Sonny Cho $ 750.00

B Group :

1st Place : Laureano Gomez $ 1,000.00
2nd Place : Joe DeAmato $ 800.00
3rd Place : Jose Restrepo $ 600.00
4th Place : Vass Tsonev $ 400.00
5th Place : Armando Rodriguez $ 250.00
6th Place : Fikret Gezmez $ 150.00

After the awards ceremony, a $ 500.00 Schuler cue, generously donated by Schuler Cues, was raffled off. It was won by 2005 National Champion, Sonny Cho.

To conclude the festivities, the crowd was again treated to a trick-shot exhibition by Columbian Trick-Shot Champion, Miguel Torres.

Click the shot number to see video of trick shots. If you can't view them, then download Windows Media Player by clicking here. Download the latest version.

Shot # 1
Shot # 2
Shot # 3
Shot # 4
Shot # 5
Shot # 6
Shot # 7
Shot # 8
Shot # 9
Shot # 10

Special thanks to Charles Brown, who once again was there to save the day, organizing the schedule of games, entering the results in his computer, and was always available to keep score of a game if needed. Without Charles, it would have been a nightmare. Thanks again to all of the players who participated and for keeping score of all the games.

Good work everybody!