Luis Aveiga Outlasts The Field at Doral Billiards

It was a long tournament with a lot of matches. There were twenty players in all, with about half the field being very strong players. Doral Billiards in Doral, FL (Miami) hosted a 2010 USBA TOUR Open Tournament. Doral has 5 beautiful, heated Chevillotte tables. The owners and managers were extremely accommodating to all the players and were very happy to host the event.

With 20 players, the tournament directors decided on 2 flights with 10 players each in the preliminaries, round robin to 25 points. Each player would play a minimum of 9 games, which pleased the players very much. The top 4 players from each group would advance to the finals along with one lottery and one auction winner. The top 4 USBA-ranked players were seeded into the two groups. Pedro Piedrabuena and Jae Hyung Cho ended up in the “B” flight and Sonny Cho and Hugo Patino ended up in the “B” flight.

After 2 grueling days of preliminaries, the results were as follows:

(Click on the name of the Flight to view PDF Charts)

Flight A: Sonny Cho, Luis Aveiga, Hugo Patino and Jamil Isreal advance.

Flight B: Jae Hyung Cho, Pedro Piedrabuena, Miguel Torres and Carlos Hallon advance.

Sang Jin Lee won the lottery and Jim Shovak won the auction. The players were then divided into 2 groups with 5 players each, round robin to 30 points. The top 2 in each semi-final group would then advance to a 4-player single elimination round. The players were ranked 1 through 10 based on their preliminary round performances.

Ranking Based on Preliminaries

They were then placed into 2 groups for the semi-finals as follows:

Flight C: Jae Hyung Cho, Pedro Piedrabuena, Miguel Torres, Jamil Isreal, Sang Jin Lee.
Flight D: Sonny Cho, Luis Aveiga, Hugo Patino, Carlos Hallon, Jim Shovak.

Here’s how that worked out:

(Click on the name of the Flight to view PDF Charts)

Semi-Finals-Flight C: Pedro Piedrauena is 1st, Miguel Torres is 2nd, Jae Hyung Cho is 3rd, Jamil Isreal is 4th and Sang Jin Lee is 5th.

Semi-Finals-Flight D: Luis Aveiga from Ecuador finishes 1st, Hugo Patino is 2nd, Carlos Hallon is 3rd, Sonny Cho is 4th and Jim Shovak is 5th.

The top 2 in each group then advanced to a single elimination semi-finals. The 3rd place finishers in each group played one match to 35 points for 5th and 6th place in the tournament. The 4th place finishers in each group played one match to 35 points for 7th and 8th place in the tournament. The 5th place finishers in each group played one match to 35 points for 9th and 10th place in the tournament.

(Click on the links to view PDF Charts)

9th and 10th place: Jim Shovak (9th) defeated Sang Jin Lee (10th).

7th and 8th place: Sonny Cho (7th) defeated Jamil Isreal (8th).

5th and 6th: Jae Hyung Cho (5th) defeated Carlos Hallon (6th).

Single Elimination Semi-Finals:

Match 1: Hugo Patino defeated Pedro Piedrabuena.

Match 2: Luis Aveiga defeated Miguel Torres.

Single Elimination Finals:

Match 1: Miguel Torres (3rd place) defeated Pedro Piedrabuena (4th place).

Match 2: Luis Aveiga (1st) defeated Hugo Patino (2nd).

The high run of the tournament was a 10 by Ellis Lawrence in the prelims.
The best game was by Hugo Patino in the finals. 35 pts in 18 inns. (1.944 average)

FINAL RANKINGS AND PRIZES

Here's the link for some of the matches that were live-streamed and recorded:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/doral-billiards-open-2010

A special thank you to Mike Brodie, George Theobald, William Higgins (Wimpy) for being a tremendous help in the finals with scorekeeping and other things. There were others, too, but I don’t know all their names.

Another special thanks to Henry Ugartechea and Mercedes Gonzales for helping to keep things in order running the tournament. Robert Raiford provided the live-streaming, thanks Robert.

Thanks again to the fantastic owners and managers at Doral Billiards who were extremely gracious and helpful during this event.

Bill Smith donated his book and DVD , “The Concise Book of Position Play” and Roberto Arana donated an interactive Billiard Systems DVD. Both were won by Room Owner Juan Papadopoulas. Noel Mendoza donated a beautiful Schuler Cue which was won, ironically, by Schuler Cue advocate, Hugo Patino (Mr. 31).

Miguel Torres treated the crowd to an Artistic Billiards Exhibition and Luis Aveiga did the same type of thing, but with his fingers only. The crowd was in awe and was amazed at both players' talents.

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, John Constantine, Steve Andersen.

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Doral Billiards Presents:

The 2010 USBA Tour

USBA Open Tournament
Dates: November 12-14 2010

Doral Billiards & Sports Bar
7800 NW 25th St # 1
Doral FL, 33122

Entry Fee: $255

Players Meeting: November 11th, 8 pm (Thursday Night)

Estimated Prize Fund: $12,000+ based on 32 players

Estimated Prizes:

1st Place= $3,500
2nd Place= $2,500
3rd = $1,800
4th = $1,200
5th = $900
6th = $700
7th = $600
8th = $400
9th = $150
10th = $100

$75 for high run
$75 for best game

Preliminary Format:
4 Groups of 8 Players (Round Robin to 25 points)
Top 4 USBA-Ranked "A" Players will be seeded into flights
Top 2 From Each Flight Advance, Plus 1 Lotto + 1 Auction
(Places Based on W/L, Points and Head to Head)

Semi-Finals Format:
2 Groups of 5 Players (Round Robin to 30 points)
(Places Based on W/L then Average)
Players will be Ranked 1st through 5th in Each Group

Finals Format:
The Top 2 Finishers of each semi-finals flight will play Single-Elimination
(For 1st thru 4th places)
The Two 3rd Place Finishers will have one Play-Off Match
(For 5th and 6th place)
And so on and so on.

Please contact Tournament Director:
Henry Ugartechea 561-929-8100
henryugartechea@comcast.net

Rules: All official USBA rules will apply.
Other Requirements: Tournament attire: black pants, black shoes, collared shirt. No hats, no jeans, no t-shirts. Full tournament attire for the finals: dress shirt, bowtie, vest, black pants, black shoes. This is a USBA event. Must be or become a USBA Member or pay a $25 non-member tournament fee. $5.00 sanction fee per player already included in entry fee.

Local Hotels, Motels and Rental Car Discounts:

Extended Stay America
7750 NW 25 St
Miami, FL 33122
305-716-9005 - Press option 0 (zero) to reach someone.
Hotel is about 100 yards from Doral Billiards.
Queen & King Deluxe rooms for $69.99 per night + tax.
Double beds are $79.99 per night + tax.
Mention Doral Billiards Tournament.

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