For years Professor-Q-Ball (Paul Frankel) has been a tireless promoter of all the cue sports. From his bi-monthly magazine, to his web site and the multiple events he promotes every year, he is one of the sport's true champions. Yet with all these great efforts the simplest of all - the shot contest - could prove to be the best attractor for new players to the game of 3-cushion. Paul has always said "The quickest way to get new players to play the game of 3-Cushion is to reach out to pool players."
On Noveber 4th, The Rack in Memphis, Tennessee held their 4th Shot Contest. Six pool players signed up, willing and ready to test their cue skills at the game of 3-Cushion Billiards. With the announcement of the event in October, and the date set for Sunday November 4th 2012, at 1:00PM, players had a full month to practice the shots. With an easy entry Fee of only $15, plus with Jerry Ramey owner of The Rack including a free lunch for the players, the six challengers knew they were in for a great time. Paul Frankel tournament director went over all the rules before the start of the Shot Contest and thanked all contestants for accepting the CHALLENGE.
Here is a short recap of how the 3-Cushion Billiard Shot Contest works.
FORMAT: Players shoot only 8 diagrammed shots. Each player shoots each of the 8 shots 3 times (24 shots total). Each shot is worth 2 points (48 pts max) and the total number of points wins. Three small round dots (stick-ons) are placed on the table, which represents the exact placement of the diagrammed shots. All players have the same shot and same placement of the 3 balls. Then the dots are removed and replaced for the next shot selection.
Special Note: After each shot a player has a straight rail carom shot (no rails required) as the balls come to rest. If they make it, it will be worth 1 point added to their previous scores. This means that the maximum possible score will be 72 points if they made every shot.
The participants included Don Cho, Josh Gilmore, Bob Hunt, Jerry Ramey, Jason Evans and Paul Dodge. At the end of the first round Jerry Ramey had a five point lead over Don Cho. With four shots remaining it was still anyone's contest. In spite of some great shooting in a comeback run by Don, Jerry held on to first place by just 2 points.
If you want to introduce new players to the game of 3-cushion, a shot contest for pool player's is both easy and a whole lot of fun.
