Jae Hyung Cho Takes the College Billiards Open

Each year, College Billiards has an Open Tournament that attracts the best players in the United States as well as the Champions from South America and Mexico. In effect, it is very much like the Pan American Championship Tournament because of the high caliber of players. This year was no different.

Some of the best players did not make the semi-finals. Among them were Javier Teran from Ecuador, Jae Hyung Cho from Colorado who is the current United States Champion, Guillermo Sosa and Alain Hernandez from Mexico, Vicky Pineda and Salvador Diaz from Los Angeles and Michael Kang from New York. That’s how strong the field was.

Forty-one players participated in all. There were 4 groups with 8 players each and a fifth group that had 9 players. That’s all there was time for. Each night ended late, especially Saturday night which didn’t finish up until 2:00am. The top 2 finishers of each group (Groups A through E) in the Preliminary Rounds would advance to the semi-finals. Along with those 10 players advancing, there was one lottery and one auction spot. A local patron won the lottery and he proceeded to allow Guillermo Sosa into the finals. The auction was won by Jae Hyung Cho, who paid $1,100.00 for a spot in the finals. That turned out to be a great investment for him. All monies from the lottery and auction were put into the player’s prize fund. The preliminary rounds were 25 point matches and the semi-final rounds were 30 point matches.

Brief Overview and Highlights of Preliminary Rounds:
(Click on the name of the flight to view PDF Charts)

Flight A: Hugo Patino, the 2003 and 2009 US Champion, went 7-0. Peter Banyai from California went 6-1. Guillermo Sosa, a Mexican and PanAmerican Champion and Vicky Pineda from Los Angeles each went 4-3, just missing the cut. Guillermo Sosa opened up the tournament with a bang. He ran an 18 off the break and finished in just 6 innings for a 4.167 average!!!

Flight B: This group was incredibly strong and only 2 players could advance. The group consisted of Michael Kang who is the owner of Carom Café Billiards in New York, Ramon Rodriguez, a Peruvian and PanAmerican Champion, Rodolfo Covarrubias, a Mexican and Pan American Champion, Salvador Diaz from Los Angeles, Javier Teran, an Ecuadorian Champion and Team Pan American Champion, Carlos Elias, Salvador Carranza and Don Schall. Rodolfo Covarrubias finished 7-0 and Ramon Rodriguez finished 5-2 to advance. Javier Teran just missed the cut by 4 points.

Flight C: Roberto Rojas, a World Artistic Billiards Champion and Team Pan American Champion finished first and Carlos Palafox finished 2nd. Both players were 6-1. Jae Hyung Cho finished 5-2, just missing the cut. He had an unexpected loss to Jim Shovak, 25-23. A great game was Roberto Rojas against Jae Hyung Cho. Rojas ran a 13 but Cho won 25-23.

Flight D: Luis Aveiga, many time Ecuadorian Champion and Pan American Champion finished 7-0 and Sonny Cho, 2005 US Champion finished 6-1. Alain Hernandez from Mexico finished 5-2, just missing the cut.

Flight E: There were 9 players in this flight. Pedro Piedrabuena, College Billiards owner, 3-time US Champion and the current Pan American Champion finished 8-0. Luis Avila, a Mexican and PanAmerican Champion finished 6-2, just narrowly edging Ricardo Carranco from Los Angeles who defeated Avila 25-16 and also finished 6-2.

The players were ranked 1-12 based on their performance in the Preliminary Rounds. The order was determined by 1) Wins/Losses, 2) Total Points Scored, 3) Head-to-Head and 4) Points-Against. The order was as follows:

Rankings After Preliminaries

The players were then divided into 2 groups to balance the power of each group as evenly as possible.

Flight F: Pedro Piedrabuena, Hugo Patino, Roberto Rojas, Sonny Cho, Luis Miguel Avila and Guillermo Sosa.

Flight G: Luis Aveiga, Rodolfo Covarrubias, Peter Banyai, Carlos Francisco Palafox, Ramon Rodriguez and Jae Hyung Cho.

The players placement was determined by:

1) Wins/Losses

2) Grand Average

3) Total Points

4) Head-to-Head

5) Points-Against

Brief Overview and Highlights of Semi-Final Rounds:
(Click on the name of the flight to view PDF Charts)

Flight F: Luis Miguel Avila wins the flight going 5-0 with a high run of 12 and a 2.000 average game. Guillermo Sosa finishes 2nd going 4-1. Pedro Piedrabuena finished 3-2 which was tough luck because he played unbelievably. He had one game where he defeated Hugo Patino 30-1. The game was over in just 6 innings for an astounding 5.000 average!! The very next game he went out in just 9 innings!! He scored 60 points in just 15 innings for the two games. He also had a high run of 12 and finished the semi-finals with an unbelievable average of 2.154!!! That may very well be a record for a United States player. The average of the ENTIRE GROUP was 1.279, which may also be a record for a Pan American event.

Flight G: Jae Hyung Cho wins the group going 4-1 and averaging 1.621, a personal-best average. Ramon Rodriguez also goes 4-1 to finish 2nd and averaged 1.571. Carlos Palafox finshed 4th but had a personal-best average of 1.244. The average of the ENTIRE GROUP was 1.224, again a very high group average.

Final Matches:

The winner of Flight F played one 35 point match against the winner of Flight G to determine 1st and 2nd place overall for the tournament. The two 2nd place finishers of each group played each other for 3rd and 4th, etc, etc.

Peter Banyai (11th place) defeated Sonny Cho (12th place) 35-30.
Roberto Rojas (9th place) defeated Luis Aveiga (10th place) 35-29.
Hugo Patino (7th place) defeated Carlos Palafox (8th place) 35-34.
Pedro Piedrabuena (5th place) defeated Rodlofo Covarrubias (6th place) 35-26.
Ramon Rodriguez (3rd place) defeated Guillermo Sosa (4th place) 35-17.
Jae Hyung Cho (1st place) defeated Luis Avila (2nd place) 35-27.

Avila had a run of 12 but Jae Hyung Cho went out in just 15 innings for a game average of 2.333!!

Final Matches PDF

Final Rankings and Prizes PDF

We would like to thank the following:

-Pedro Piedrabuena and Timoteo Moreno, owner of College Billiards for their warm hospitality and contributions to the tournament

-Luis Castro for working day and night in running the event with very little sleep

-All those that helped out in little ways such as scorekeeping or cleaning a table or two

Two donated Genesis cues and one $875 Schuler Cue by Noel Mendoza were raffled off at the end of the event. Also, Roberto Rojas gave an hour-long Artistic Billiards Exhibition that made everyone’s eyes bug out.

If you weren’t there, it was an absolutely incredible tournament that you shouldn’t have missed. Lots and lots of billiards, late nights, little sleep, lots of high runs, high averages, occasional upsets, lots of fun and laughter, good food and always an audience. I can hardly wait until next year!

Sponsors:

-Iwan Simonis
-Aramith
-Schuler Cues by Noel Mendoza

2010 USBA Tour Financial Sponsors:

David Levine, Jim Shovak, Bob Jewett, Professor-Q-Ball (Paul Frankel), Creative Billiard Shirts, Marty Isserlis, Bruce Warner, Pedro Piedrabuena, Tommy Thomsen, Mike Walo, Bob Watson, Tom Resk, Mark Van Liere, Alan Dukar, Tim King, George Allee, Ron Sakahara, Howard Kennedy, Julian Levy, Richard Lewis, Steve Andersen.

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College Billiards and Café
5303 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
619-582-4550
Contact: Pedro Piedrabuena or Timoteo Moreno

Player’s Meeting: Thursday, June 3rd at 8:00pm
Entry Fee: $ 255.00
Estimated Prize Fund: At least $ 15,000.00
Estimated First Place Prize: At least $ 3,600.00
Estimated Number of Payouts: 12
Maximum number of players: 40
Prelims: 5 groups of 8 players each: round robin (25 point matches)
Top 5 USBA Ranked “A” Players will be seeded into Prelim flights
Top 2 from each flight advance to semi-finals = 10 players
One lottery and one auction = 12 players in semi-finals
Semi-Finals: 2 groups of 6 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, etc.
Rules: All official USBA tournament rules will apply.
Other Requirements: Full tournament attire: tie, vest, black pants, black shoes. This is a USBA event. Must be or become a USBA Member. $ 5.00 sanction fee per player already included in entry fee.

Hotel and Rental Car Discounts:

Local Motel within walking distance: No USBA discount
Travel Time Motel
5447 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
619-583-5447
Mention College Billiards Tournament
Ssingle $58 plus tax, double 63 plus tax.
Contact is Susan.
Not the best quality, but very convenient.

Travelodge - El Cajon, CA
425 W. Main St
El Cajon, CA 92020
619-441-8250
8.5 miles East of Freeway 8.
Rates are as follows:
King Bed - $54.99 + tax
2 Queen Beds - $59.99 +tax

Econo Lodge
7458 Broadway
Lemon Grove, CA
619-462-7022
About 3 1/2 miles from the room
USBA Member Discounted Rate: from $ 59.49 - $ 72.24 per night
To receive discounted rate, see your membership package or login to "Member's Area" on the top of the www.USBA.net home page, go to the Forum and see "Member Benefits" section.

Quality Inn
5399 Adobe Falls Rd
San Diego, CA
619-287-8730
About 4 miles from the room
USBA Member Discounted Rate: from $ 67.99 - $ 93.49 per night
To receive discounted rate, see your membership package or login to "Member's Area" on the top of the www.USBA.net home page, go to the Forum and see "Member Benefits" section.

Rodeway Inn
4210 Spring St
La Mesa, CA 619-589-7288
About 5 miles from the room
USBA Member Discounted Rate: from $ 76.49 - $ 84.99 per night
To receive discounted rate, see your membership package or login to "Member's Area" on the top of the www.USBA.net home page, go to the Forum and see "Member Benefits" section.

Hotel and Rental Car Discounts:

The USBA has a contract with Choice Hotels International. If you would like to receive at least a 15% discount at Choice Hotel locations, please refer to your Membership Package for details or you can access the USBA Forum "Members Only" area. To become a USBA Member, click "Join" at the top or the upper left side of this page and follow the instructions to pay by credit/debit card through PayPal. You do NOT need a PayPal account to use PayPal. You can also mail in membership dues by check.

USBA Members also receive between 5-10% discount from the following car rental companies, if they service the area: