Dinh Hoa
It might have had a different look from past events in Tucson Arizona, but it was another successful week of top 3-cushion action as Mazin Shooni brought a field of 73 players from all over North America, including players from Mexico and Columbia, back to Casino Del Sol in the beautiful Tucson desert from January 24th – 30th.
Things kicked off on Sunday the 24th with 38 players competing in the 3-Cushion USA “B” Championships. This event was limited to players with less than a .8 points per round average, with players broken up into five round robin groups. The top three from each bracket were joined by the top fourth place finisher to move into a single elimination sixteen player bracket.
The first round of the single elimination bracket shook things up, with four of the five group winners from the round robin stage losing in the first round. Paul Guernsey was the only group winner who advanced from the first elimination round. Guernsey scored a 25-18 win over Nghia Lam, and followed that up with a close 25-21 win over Jim Henrickson in the second round.
The elimination bracket was down to four players for the third round of play, where David Thai rode a high run of six to eliminate Guernsey. The other third round match saw Dinh Hoa eliminate Dung Truong 25-22 in a 65 inning marathon.
The final 30 point match was as close as expected, with Hoa defeating Thai 30-26. In the match win, Hoa had a high run of 7, tying Guernsey and Joe DeAmato for highest run of the elimination bracket. A number of players turned in high runs of 7 during the group brackets.
Hoa earned $2,000 for first place, while Thai settled for $1,500 in second place prize money.
Guillermo Sosa & Jesus Corona
While the B Championship (and the Handicap Championship that followed it) were being played during the day, a twelve team scotch doubles championship was played each night. Teams were separated into two groups of six, with the top two teams from each group advancing to a final four team round robin bracket.
The event was won by Guillermo Sosa & Jesus Corona, who were the top team out of their group and then won two of three matches in the final group. Sosa & Corona’s one final group loss was to the team of Richard Carranco Jr. & Jim Henrickson. Carranco Jr. & Henrickson also won two of three matches in the final group, but ended in second place due to the total point tie-breaker.
Sosa wasn’t done collecting prize money this week, as he added to his scotch doubles win with a win in the main event of the week, the Handicap Championship.
The Handicap Championship saw seven groups of seven players each, competing in 40 point matches, advancing to a final sixteen player bracket.
John Park and Guillermo Sosa
Sosa advanced from his group with a 5-1 record, only dropping a 40-33 match to the second place finisher in their group, Alfonso Torres. Torres’ 4-2 record in the group was enough to earn his place in the elimination bracket.
The first round of the elimination bracket turned out like the first round of the B Championship elimination bracket with five of the seven group winners being eliminated. The other group winner to advance out of the first round was Dat Nguyen, and he fell to Paul Feltman Jr. in the second round of the elimination bracket. Feltman would then lose to Sosa in the third round 40-32, second Sosa to the finals. His finals opponent, John Park, eliminated Jim Hendrickson by an identical 40-32 scoreline in the other third round match.
Sosa was victorious in the final 32 round match, with a score of 40-27. While Sosa did turn in an impressive run of four, it was his steady play the entire match that was the difference, as he had an average of 1.250 for the match.
Sosa pocketed another $3,400 for the event win, while Park took home $2,400 for second place.
Tournament organizer Mazin Shooni expressed his thanks to everyone who helped make the event a success. He thanked Casino Del Sol for being supportive and allowing him to hold events, as well as his sponsors Gabriels, Dynaspheres, McDermott, Royal Pro Cloth, Simonis Cloth and Million Dollar Products. Shooni also thanked Ben Sutherland with BBTV for the great job streaming matches all week, and “Professor Q-Ball” Paul Frankel for all of his help behind the scenes and for “Always helping even when he isn’t there”.
Shooni is scheduled to bring 3-cushion back to Casino Del Sol on June 20th – 26th for the 3 Cushion Summer Shootout.
Winners photos courtesy of Paul Frankel – http://professorqball.com/
