Featured on 3-Cushion Billiards

Pedro Piedrabuena defeated long-time rival and former champion Miguel Torres to win his 11th USBA 3-Cushion National Championship title.

His play throughout the event was nearly perfect and included an incredible come-from-behind victory against Kang Lee in the penultimate Semi-final round.

At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (the 2021 Olympics, in reality), several new sports were added to the line-up for the Games. It’s always the case with each new Olympic Games that some sports will be removed from the roster, with new additions added to take their place. The process is complicated, involving input from the host city, lobbying from different sports bodies and the whims of the big-wigs on the IOC. Among those to be added to the Tokyo Olympics was skateboarding. And the question begs: if skateboarding can be an Olympic sport, why not 3-cushion billiards?

If you talk to the majority of professional billiards players about earnings, they will promptly inform you that it’s tough to earn a living. Generally speaking, prize money has risen significantly in recent years, thanks in part to the rise of the PBA, but it is still something of a slog when you are not at the very top of the sport. Dick Jaspers might make a comfortable living from 3-cushion billiards, but many others do not.

Five-time National Three-Cushion Champion Allen Gilbert was a colorful character, and a good friend and mentor as I learned the game. He told me dozens of anecdotes from his billiard travels around the world, but this one is my favorite.

Five-time National Three-Cushion Champion Allen Gilbert was a colorful character, and a good friend and mentor as I learned the game. He told me dozens of anecdotes from his billiard travels around the world, but this one is my favorite.

According to financial experts, there are only two ways a person can get rich quickly. One of these ways is through inheritance and the other one happens when you win a huge bet. While we cannot all have the luxury of rich parents, everybody can place a bet and get lucky.

According to financial experts, there are only two ways a person can get rich quickly. One of these ways is through inheritance and the other one happens when you win a huge bet. While we cannot all have the luxury of rich parents, everybody can place a bet and get lucky.

The world billiard star from Cambodia Sruong Pheavy decided to continue her career in PBA competition. The world number two will start playing in the women’s league of the Korean professional association, the LPBA next week.

Felipe Razon Leon, a mainstay of the Chicago 3-C scene, died suddenly on December 3, 2020, a month short of his 56th birthday.

Jim Watson, a long-time American player of both pocket and carom games, died in the first week of September, 2020. Details are still emerging, but it appears he died of a heart attack. Jim had had heart problems for a number of years and had open heart surgery two years ago.

In a gritty, consistent and still a stunner of a performance, local player Tae Kyu Lee wins the 2020 USBA 3-Cushion National Championship. Playing in his home 3-cushion room, Carom Cafe Billiards in Flushing, New York Lee wowed the fans with his beautiful style. Pictured above is Lee (l) and room owner Michael Kang (r) presenting the award for 1st place.

If you’re travelling to the United Kingdom, whether it’s London, Edinburgh, Coventry, or Llanelli, you’ll notice many things. They drive on the other side of the road, the Queen’s head is on all the money, and most sinks have separate taps. Another thing you’ll notice is that sport is everywhere. And if you know where to look you can even find 3-cushion billiards to play.

Cue sports, such as billiards, snooker and pool are traditionally seen as single player sports. One against one across the baize; just you and your cue against the world. But it isn’t always that way. In recent years, cue sports have developed team competitions that bring the best of countries and continents up against each other.

Cross-Over Billiard Players Through the Years

If you are a carom billiards player, you cherish a five-minute scene in the middle of the 1961 movie, The Hustler. Fast Eddie Felson’s manager, Bert Gordon, has set up a high stakes game at a Louisville mansion owned by Findley. Anxious to start the match, Fast Eddie removes the table cover and is confused by the absence of pockets. “Thought we came here to play pool?” Felson says. "I don’t play pool, Mr. Felson,” Findley says. He sips from his drink, a cigarette wedged between his middle and ring fingers. “I play billiards. My house, my game. You don’t have to play if you don’t want to.”

Cross-Over Billiard Players Through the Years

If you are a carom billiards player, you cherish a five-minute scene in the middle of the 1961 movie, The Hustler. Fast Eddie Felson’s manager, Bert Gordon, has set up a high stakes game at a Louisville mansion owned by Findley. Anxious to start the match, Fast Eddie removes the table cover and is confused by the absence of pockets. “Thought we came here to play pool?” Felson says. "I don’t play pool, Mr. Felson,” Findley says. He sips from his drink, a cigarette wedged between his middle and ring fingers. “I play billiards. My house, my game. You don’t have to play if you don’t want to.”

Every room has this guy, the player who habitually scores the inadvertent shot. Usually a banger, sometimes a beginner, this guy specializes in the kiss, the double kiss, the long back up, the wrong rail that somehow turns out right. He plays a shot one way that misses and scores coming back. He plays a two-way shot that misses both ways and someway scores a third way. At West End Arcade and Billiards in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a room that is now closed, that guy was Mike D’Martino. And after years of torment, the 3-C players named a lucky shot after him, a “Mikey D.,” they would say. As in, “We were hill-hill, and then he made a Mikey D.”

Every room has this guy, the player who habitually scores the inadvertent shot. Usually a banger, sometimes a beginner, this guy specializes in the kiss, the double kiss, the long back up, the wrong rail that somehow turns out right. He plays a shot one way that misses and scores coming back. He plays a two-way shot that misses both ways and someway scores a third way. At West End Arcade and Billiards in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a room that is now closed, that guy was Mike D’Martino. And after years of torment, the 3-C players named a lucky shot after him, a “Mikey D.,” they would say. As in, “We were hill-hill, and then he made a Mikey D.”

Taking Trickshots to the Extreme!

Martin van Rhee is a talented master of Artistic Billiards from the Netherlands. His use of extreme force follow, draw and masse make his cue ball spin and fly wildly around the table - and he still makes the billiard! Here is a compilation by Martin of some of his most amazing shots.