Javier Terán Wins the USBA Tour
Tournament at 8-Ball Billiards

Javier Teran

From December 11 – 13, 2009, 51 billiard players from across the United States, Mexico, Turkey and South America converged on Eight Ball Billiards in Maywood, California for the 2009 USBA International Open Three-Cushion Tournament, the eighth USBA Tour tournament of the year. There was no shortage of firepower, with 17 “A” players and plenty of other strong talent. This was one of the strongest fields of players in any tournament in the United States this year. Top rated players included three-time United States National Champion and current Pan-American Champion Pedro Piedrabuena, United States National Champions Mazin Shooni and Sonny Cho, Ecuadorian Champion Javier Terán, Mexican and Pan-American Champion Luis Avila, and Mexican Champions Guillermo Sosa, Roberto Rojas and Miguel Almaraz. Players were vying for $20,500 in prize money, with first place paying $5,000.

Poster designed by Gilbert Najm

A players’ meeting was held the night before the tournament began, and on that night all players and spectators were treated to rousing live mariachi music. Hundreds of spectators attended the tournament. On the semi-final and finals days, two to three hundred spectators lined three and four deep, some standing on tables and chairs, filling every nook and cranny to catch a glimpse of their favorite players and the exciting matches.

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:

Flight A
Flight B
Flight C
Flight D
Flight E
Flight F

Finalists: Back Row: Erdem Kilicoglu, Carlos Palafox, Roberto Rojas, Alain Hernandez, Pedro Piedrabuena, Javier Teran, Peter Banyai, Miguel Almaraz, Guillermo Sosa, Mazin Shooni, Jamil Isreal. Front Row: Bong Kim, Luis Avila, Salvador Diaz, John Lee, Sonny Cho, Soon Hong, Michael Kang.

The Semi-Finals

The semi-finals began on Saturday afternoon with the following players qualifying:Miguel Almaraz, Pedro Piedrabuena, Luis Avila, Sonny Cho, Guillermo Sosa, Jamil Isreal, John Lee, Bong Kim, Erdem Kilicoglu, Mazin Shooni, Roberto Rojas, Javier Terán, Soon Hong, Peter Banyai, Salvador Diaz and Francisco Palafox. In addition, Michael Kang and Alain Hernández joined the field through the auction and raffle.

Sunday began right where Saturday left off with intense action in virtually every match. Throughout the day spectators saw Guillermo Sosa fire a 30 point game in 14 innings for a 2.143 average and Luis Avila and Alain Hernández each scored 30 points in 15 innings for a 2.000 average!! Sosa and Sonny Cho each had high runs of 12. But once again, it was Pedro Piedrabuena who was involved in a key match in his group to determine the match-ups for the finals. Going into the last round of the semi-finals Pedro and Luis Avila, who were both in flight B, were the only undefeated players in the tournament. In that last round, they played to see who would win their flight and play for 1st place against the winner of flight A of the semi-finals. In a very exciting match, Pedro out-pointed Luis 30 to 26 in 21 innings to keep the only perfect record for the tournament, a grand average of 1.355, and become the winner of his flight. Meanwhile, in flight A, Javier Terán could only sit and watch the key remaining match in his flight that would determine whether or not he would play for 1st place in the finals. With all of Javier’s semi-final games completed he sat at 7 and 1 with a 1.194 average. The key remaining match in his flight was between Miguel Almaraz and Sonny Cho. Miguel had a 6 and 1 record and needed to win in 29 innings or less to beat Javier’s average and win the flight. But it was not to be. Miguel won this match with Sonny 30 to 22, but in 38 innings, giving him a grand average of 1.146—Javier Teran was the winner of flight A.

The average for all players in the semi-finals for Group A was .985 and for Group B it was 1.038.

Click on the Name of the Flight to view PDF Charts:

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.

Pedro Piedrabuena (2nd), Javier Teran (1st), Luis Avila (3rd)

Trophies

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.

Roberto Rojas Trick Shot Exhibition

Tournament Directors Bruce Warner & Mike Walo

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).

Hector Ocampo

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.

Luis Castro & Ernesto Zaldivar

Gilbert Najm , Roberto Rojas and Hector Ocampo

Mazin Shooni, slightly out of dress code

8 Ball Billiards Exterior

Sponsors:
-Iwan Simonis
-Aramith (Saluc)
-Adam Cue Company

USBA Tour Sponsors:
David Levine, Jim Shovak, Bob Jewett, Professor-Q-Ball (Paul Frankel),
Creative Billiard Shirts, Marty Isserlis, Michael Kang, Andrew Janquitto,
Dean Harrell, Pedro Piedrabuena, Robert Byrne, Tom Resk, Sonny Cho,
Mazin Shooni, Dr.Cue Promotions (Tom Rossman), Bruce Warner, Bob Watson,
Mike Walo, Jim Watson, Tommy Thomsen, Tom Haskin, Jamil Isreal, Bob Roach, Mike Melloy, Don Sperber, Norm Brust, Ed Friedman and Pat Young.

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Make Checks out to: "Eight Ball Billiards" and mail to:
Eight Ball Billiards
5250 Atlantic Blvd
Maywood CA, 90270
Phone: 323-562-9092
Contact Hector Ocampo: 323-304-3156

Player’s Meeting: Thursday, December 10th at 8:00pm
Entry Fee: $ 255.00 for “A” Players (.800+ average)
                $ 155.00 for “B” Players and below.
                This is an “Open” Tournament with no handicap.
                The only difference is the entry fee based on player’s level. This is decided by                 the Tournament Director(s) and/or the USBA Secretary/Treasurer.
Estimated Prize Fund: $ 20,000.00
Estimated First Place Prize: $ 4,000.00
Estimated Number of Payouts: 16
Maximum number of players: 64

Prelims: 8 groups of 8 players each: round robin (25 point matches).
Top 8 USBA Ranked “A” Players will be seeded into Prelim flights.
Top 2 from each flight advance to semi-finals = 16 players

Semi-Finals: 2 groups of 8 players each: round robin (30 point matches)

Final Matches: (35 points)
1st place finishers of each semi-final group play for 1st and 2nd place.
2nd place finishers of each semi-final group play for 3rd and 4th place.
3rd place finishers of each semi-final group play for 5th and 6th place, etc.

Rules: USBA tournament rules will apply. This is a USBA event. Must be or become a USBA Member. $ 5.00 sanction fee per player already included in entry fee.

Dress Code: Prelims: Black pants, black shoes, collared shirt.

Full tournament attire for Semi-Finals/Finals: tie, vest, black pants, black shoes.

Estimated Prizes:

1) $5000
2) $3000
3) $2000
4) $1700
5) $1500
6) $1300
7) $1100
8) $ 900
9) $ 700
10) $500
11) $400
12) $400
13) $350
14) $350
15) $250
16) $250

Hi-Run in Finals = $100
Best Game in Finals = $100

Ramada Hotel
City of Commerce
7272 East Gage Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90040
562-806-4777
$79/night-Eight Ball Billiards Tournament Rate
If they book 10 rooms, then it is $69/night

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