Three-cushion billiards , also called three-cushion carom , is a form of carom billiards . The object of the game is to carom the cue ball off both object balls while contacting the rail cushions at least three times before contacting the second object ball. A point is scored for each successful carom. In most shots the cue ball hits the object balls one time each, although hitting them any number of times is allowed as long as both are hit. The cue ball may contact the cushions before or after hitting the first object ball. It does not have to contact three different cushions as long as it has been in contact with any cushion at least three times in total.
25-759: The Verhoeven Open is a three-cushion billiards tournament held in Flushing, Queens in the US state of New York. The event is sanctioned by the Union Mondiale de Billard and the United States Billiard Association . The event was known as Sang Lee International Open between 2005 and 2008. It was founded in 2005 as the Sang Lee International Open, named after Sang Lee , a Korean American player whose goal
50-544: A pool hall , snooker hall , pool room or pool parlour , is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool , snooker or carom billiards . Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often have arcade games , slot machines , card games , darts , foosball and other games. Some billiard halls may be combined or integrated with a bowling alley . Pool and billiards developed as an indoor option to substitute for games such as croquet that were played on lawns. Dedicated venues began to appear in
75-475: A passion), and Ralph Greenleaf , the world's straight pool title holder, played a well advertised, multi-day match to 600 points . Hoppe was the eventual winner with a final score of 600–527. The game's decline in the United States began in 1952 when Hoppe, then 51-time billiards champion, announced his retirement. Over time, three-cushion completely supplanted balkline billiards, once
100-455: A record average of 2.666 (200 caramboles in 75 innings) at a four-match national tournament in Veldhoven in 2005. Raymond Ceulemans from Belgium has won 21 UMB World Three-cushion Championships . The principal governing body of the sport is the Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). It had been staging world three-cushion championships since the late 1920s. It is a member organization of
125-528: Is 5.625 (45 in eight innings over three games; i.e. only five misses), scored by Dick Jaspers in the above-mentioned European Cup finals in Florange , France, in 2008. His opponent Blomdahl averaged 3.0 in his losing effort. The highest average at an international tournament is 2.537 (345 caramboles in 136 innings) by Dick Jaspers in 2002 at a seven-match Crystal Kelly tournament in Monaco , while Jaspers reached
150-526: Is not related to Sang) and his friend Michael Kang , who was also one of the best players in the United States at that time. Contrary to most other tournaments it was not played in the set system, but to a predetermined score. The structure of the tournament has been changed several times since 2005. The inaugural event (2005) was won by Sweden's Torbjörn Blomdahl . The 2006 and 2007 editions were both dominated by Frédéric Caudron of Belgium. Roland Forthomme, also from Belgium, won it in 2008. The 2008 edition
175-582: Is six innings (8.333 average) by Eddy Merckx ( count :4-9-26-7-0-4) in the German Bundesliga in 2011. The best such game in a tournament is nine innings (5.555 average) by Torbjörn Blomdahl in 2000, while South Korean and later U.S. national champion Sang Lee scored 50 points in four innings ( count : 19-11-9-11, a 12.5 average) in a handicapped game at Sang Lee Billiards in Queens, New York . The best tournament match average
200-626: The diamond system , which uses the diamond markings on the rails as a guide for calculating where the cue ball will strike based on player aim and cueing technique . The game also features prominently in the 2007 Goya Award -winning Spanish film Seven Billiard Tables ( Siete mesas de billar francés ), about a woman who inherits a troubled billiard hall and is searching for her missing husband. An opening theme for an anime of Lupin III shows Lupin and Jigen playing three-cushion billiards. Billiard hall A billiard hall , also known as
225-715: The World Confederation of Billiard Sports . From 1985 to 1999, the Billiards World Cup Association (BWA) organized the Three-Cushion World Cup with UMB, but later shut down due to financial problems, with UMB assuming full responsibility for the tournament. The game was featured in the 1959 animated Disney short film Donald in Mathmagic Land , in which Donald Duck attempts to learn the game by mastering
250-439: The 1957 hit musical The Music Man lampooned this prejudice (even contrasting carom billiards , requiring "judgement, brains, and maturity", versus pool, said to be a gateway to laziness, gambling, smoking and philandering). Public perception had become less critical by the 1990s. By the 2010s, with competition from a growing number of competing entertainment venues, as well as the availability of online gambling, revenue from
275-459: The 19th century, and by the early 20th century, billiard and pool halls were common in many countries; in 1915 there were 830 in Chicago. In North America in the 1950s and 1960s especially, pool halls in particular were perceived as a social ill by many, and laws were passed in many jurisdictions to set age limits at pool halls and restrict gambling and the sale of alcohol. The song "Trouble" in
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#1732787156100300-453: The United States, such as Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine . Three-cushion billiards is a difficult game. Averaging one point per inning is usually national-level play, and averaging 1.5 or more is world-class play. An average of 1 means that for every turn at the table, a player point success rate is 50%. An average of 2 means a success rate of roughly 67%. The high run at three-cushion billiards for many years
325-551: The current record high run is 34 by the Dutchman Dick Jaspers : in his 2008 European Championship Final match against the Swede Torbjörn Blomdahl , played in three games of 15 points each, he ended Game One by going 13 and out, ran 15 and out in the only inning of Game Two (started by Blomdahl), and ran six in his first inning of Game Three. The best game at the standard 50 points in a league
350-514: The era voicing their dislike of it. However, after the introduction of the Lambert Trophy in 1907, the game became increasingly popular both in the United States and internationally. By 1924, three-cushion had become so popular that two giants in other cue sport disciplines agreed to take up the game especially for a challenge match. On September 22, 1924 Willie Hoppe , the world's balkline champion (who later took up three-cushion with
375-403: The final. After a long pause of playing tournaments, the 75-year-old Belgian "Mr. 100 " Raymond Ceulemans was honors player of the tournament and could, after all, still occupy the seventh rank. The following table shows prize money and ranking points (only for USBA -players). The GA shows the g eneral a verage (all points ÷ all innings). In 2013 for the first time a competition for women
400-509: The game. At least one publication categorically states he invented the game as well. The first three-cushion billiards tournament took place January 14–31, 1878 in C. E. Mussey's billiard room in St. Louis, with McCreery a participant. The tournament was won by New Yorker Leon Magnus. The high run for the tournament was just 6 points, and the high average a .75. The game was infrequently played prior to 1907, with top carom players of
425-409: The operation of billiard halls in the United States had declined significantly. In Korea, on the other hand, the pool halls are becoming more popular after years of decline. Pool halls feature prominently in the novel and film The Hustler , and their sequel book and movie, The Color of Money , as well as other pool films such as Poolhall Junkies and Shooting Gallery . The historic depth of
450-640: The record in Zundert. In the 2013 European Championships in Brandenburg, Germany, Frederic Caudron became the fourth member of the "28" club. Ceulemans reputedly had a high run of 32 in a non-tournament, non-exhibition match. The highest run so far in a World Cup match is 26, set by Torbjorn Blomdahl on 26 May 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City , Vietnam . (see result sheet on the right). When allowing for interruptions by opponents starting new games,
475-585: The same reason that balkline also arose from straight rail. Such new developments made the game more challenging, less repetitive, and more interesting for spectators as well as players, by thwarting the ability of highly skilled players to rack up point after point at will by relying on nurse shots . Wayman Crow McCreery , the Internal Revenue Collector of the Port of St. Louis, Missouri , born June 14, 1851, in St. Louis, popularized
500-665: The world championship carom game. Three-cushion retains popularity in parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and is the most popular carom billiards game played in the United States today, where pool is far more widespread. The game's slow resurgence in United States popularity is due in part to the introduction of the Sang Lee International Open tournament in Flushing, New York , in 2005, with first-place prize money up to US$ 25,000. The game has also seen increased coverage in cue sports publications based in
525-619: Was 25, set over two games (fourteen and out and starting with eleven in the next game) by the American Willie Hoppe in 1918 during an exhibition in San Francisco. In 1968 Raymond Ceulemans improved the record to 26 in a match in the Simonis Cup tournament. In 1993 Junichi Komori set the record to 28 in a Dutch league match, a feat repeated by Ceulemans in 1998 in the same league. In 2012 Roland Forthomme tied
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#1732787156100550-469: Was called Jennifer Shim International. The tournament was named in memory of the American elite player Jennifer Shim, who was shot on March 6, 2015, by her ex-boyfriend at the age of 41. Three-cushion billiards Three-cushion dates to the 1870s, and while the origin of the game is not entirely known, it evolved from one-cushion billiards , which in turn developed from straight rail billiards for
575-461: Was held. It took place from July 14 to 16, right before the men's competition. Winner was world number one Therese Klompenhouwer from the Netherlands. She beat the four-time world champion Orie Hida from Japan 25:16 in 17 innings in the final. However Hida played the best individual average with 1,562. Klompenhouwer succeeded with 9 points in the best high run. In 2015 the women's tournament
600-427: Was the last time the event was named as Sang Lee International Open. After a four-year break, the tournament was relaunched in 2012 under the name Verhoeven Open Tournament (or short Verhoeven Open) by Cindy Lee, CEO of billiards-event organizer Dragon Promotions . In 2012, 20 players participated at the tournament. Winner was the local hero Pedro Piedrabuena , who beat Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden with 40:37 in
625-490: Was to spread his principles as a player and restore the popularity of carom billiards in the United States. One year after his death in 2004, his friend Ira Lee initiated the tournament in tribute to him. It was organized by the United States Billiard Association (USBA) as a member of the world federation Union Mondiale de Billard . The venue for the tournament is the Carom Café, which was founded by Sang Lee (not Ira Lee who
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