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EUROPEAN OPEN 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 10-15

J
New format this year for all the 256-player WNT Open events (European, UK, U.S., Florida and Hanoi opens).

Single-elimination round begins at 128 instead of 64 as in the past.

A Matchroom event manager said the Philippines Open taught them that earlier single elimination got rid of some "dead" matches under the prior format. Matches will count a lot more, starting earlier in the tourney.

At the same time, the top-seed players all got a first-round bye - that's pretty much any player you ever heard of. I counted 53 players as getting a first-round bye. Nathan Childress of the US (Fargo 744) even got a bye.

The unseeded players will have to play more matches against each other for a chance to go up against a top pro.

All the top players with first-round byes, however, will play their first matches today. Some already are playing.
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EUROPEAN OPEN 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 10-15

sjm
jbart65 said:
We don’t call every WNT event a major. Neither does Matchroom.

Matchroom has lots of events. Some it calls majors, or Gold events. Others are deemed ranking or Silver or Bronze events. The Pattaya Open fit into that category. So did the Caraboa in February, or the upcoming Diamond Expo event in Philadelphia.

***

I generally consider the UK Open, European Open, WPC, US Open, Florida Open and Hanoi Open as Matchroom majors.

The WPC has the biggest prize fund, toughest field and a history. The U.S. Open is next for similar reasons.

The UK, European, Florida and Hanoi opens are newer, but all have the same fairly large prize funds and 256-player fields that usually attract most of the best players.

Matchroom is calling the Philippines and Arizona opens Majors, but I don’t think they are. Smaller prize funds, 128 players and single elimination.

By the definitions I use, Qatar would qualify as a major pool tournament.
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Well said. Agree with pretty much all of this. The no-longer played Spanish Open was a major, too.

Another factor in whether an event is considered a major by Matchroom is the producer. Other than the invitationals, the events produced by Matchroom themselves are the ones they view as majors. Such events are never played in poolrooms and have large production budgets.
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EUROPEAN OPEN 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 10-15

J
jay helfert said:
In case you haven't noticed it's not life as normal on this planet anymore. We are in chaos mode! Far better to stay close to home until we get through this. That's my advice.
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Come now, Jay, life is never normal. You've been around long enough to know that!

We had a brief "holiday from history" after the USSR imploded, to use the words of a famous political pundit. But the world is always chaotic.

I think of my father when I hear people complain about the state of the world. He grew up in the Great Depression. One of his parents died young as was common. He fought in WW2 against the Nazi and Japanese menace. Lived through the Korean War, Vietnam, the Cold War, political assassinations, the end of the Bretton Woods global financial system, Watergate and a world of mutually assured destruction.

Tumult indeed!

***
As for the European Open, I don't think it was realistic to cancel. Weaker field than usual, but life has to go on, especially outside any immediate war zone.
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Unaware of mismatched ball sets in upcoming tournament.

G
Mensabum said:
If you had signed up and payed your entry and on game day find the balls they're using are actually mismatched sets with slight discrepancies in size and weight, what would you do??
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I drove over 2 hours and had paid my entry prior to book a spot and ended up with some light crappy balls. It got to me and I played pretty bad. I looked and there were a couple sets of those balls and I just won't go back there
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Double Hit or Not? You Make the Call.

dr_dave
maha said:
and the if in doubt it goes to the shooter. who is in doubt. the opponent says its not a good hit. so the shooter says it is.
so is that the doubt. if so the shooter determines all close calls. is that fair when no ref..
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If no ref or neutral party is watching the shot live, a slo-mo video is very helpful. The call is usually obvious in the video. If not, a neutral party or ref can be asked to make a call from the video, but this is usually unnecessary.
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Favorite/easiest diamond banking systems.

J
iusedtoberich said:
I disagree. I tried learning some of the math based systems and they were a pain in the butt to remember. On the other hand, visually seeing where the balls will go is as natural as looking straight ahead. Zero numbers to add, zero "is this system thru the diamond or across from it?",etc etc.
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If your approach works for you, great. Different folks ...

For my part, I benefited from learning the principles of banking and learning a numbering system. It was pretty easy. Now I am at the point where I instinctively know by feel how the numbers add up.

The real question is what approach would benefit most people more. The answer to me is obvious.
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D/FW Metroplex Pool Halls

S
In 1989 I joined the Army but had a delayed entry of almost 6 months. I was in OKC with nothing going on so I went to Dallas to stay with a friend until my enlistment date came. We spent our time in Dallas pool halls getting hustled and trying to win a game here and there. I don't remember the names of the places but there was one in Lower Greenville that had a Snooker table they taught us to play golf on. I loved that place. There were some good players in there.
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Got some spark!

B
George the Greek said:
It started last Friday with a jump shot on the 2-ball then banked the 3-4 and 5 and ran out the 7,8,9. The next rack i changed my break to the side rail ( never broke from there) and made 3 balls. I've been making 1-3 balls on every break since,running more racks and finally got some confidence back. Now I need to play like this on Saturday in an event.
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Great shooting
I need a bigger spot !!! 🤓
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