2025 Men's World 10-Ball Championship, Sept. 20-28 -- General Comments Thread

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I've seen quite a bit of talk about 5 big events coming up in October (Peri Open, Hanoi Open, World 8-Ball Championship, Reyes Cup, and Philippines Open), but another big event immediately precedes all of those -- the Predator WPA Men's 10-Ball World Championship.

• Sept. 20-28 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam​
• $250,000 purse, with $70,000 for first place​
• Format -- best of 3 races to 4 in double elimination, best of 5 races to 4 in single elimination (last 32), with a shootout to determine the match winner if the deciding set is tied 3-3.​
• The majority of the world's top players are entered, with Carlo Biado the defending champion.​

More info here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/vietnam-2025/men-world-10-ball-championship-2025/
 
lol I just love how Vietnam is the must go to place for all these big promoters now. Not going to blame them as it's always good to see a crowd of fans who actually pack the house and enjoy the product.

and as a side note, I'm really looking forward to this, mainly because I enjoy the predator format.
 
Don't forget the China Open, one of the crown jewels in our sport, which takes place this week. It's a nice lineup of great events coming up and some nice earnings opportunities for the players.

The World 10-ball looks like a super-elite event with a very strong field. There are some surprising absentees, especially Asia-based players Chua and Roda, but also FSR. Really nice to see Felix Vogel in the field. The more major events he plays in, the faster his pedigree will develop.

The Vietnamese pool fans are, unquestionably, the best in the world. The World 10ball will offer a stark contrast from the World 9ball, during which far too many matches were contested in front of relatively empty arenas in Jeddah.

Finally, this is a better format than that used at the last 10ball major, the Las Vegas Open 10ball in February. In that event, in stage 2, if sets were tied at 2-2, they went right to a shootout. In fact, the final was decided by shootout, as Grabe defeated Filler. At the World 10ball, a fifth set will be played, and a shootout will only occur if Set 5 goes double hill. Bravo!

Finally, the scheduling picture has improved. One player I know went from Jeddah for the World 9ball to the World Games in Chengdu to the US Open in Atlantic City to Shanghai for the China Open. That's a lot to ask of a player. Now, however, seven Asia-based events in a row on the pool calendar is a big step forward and should help players to manage their time and expenses.

Really looking forward to the World 10ball as well as the rest of this killer lineup.
 
The whole shootout idea just misses the mark. The shootout itself may be interesting and even exciting to a certain extent. It's what the shootout replaces -- a potential HILL - HILL rack that's nuts. If these types of racks aren't the most exciting spectacle in all of cue sports than what is?

Yes -- a cosmo break and run for a title may only be a 6 out of 10 on the excitement meter, while a competive drill may in some world peg a 7. The problem is, an epic final rack that ends in a clearance after a prolonged safety battle is a 10. Eliminating even the possibility of an epic hill-hill battle for a championship in favor of a drill is insane to me.
 
sjm said:
The World 10-ball looks like a super-elite event with a very strong field. There are some surprising absentees, especially Asia-based players Chua and Roda, but also FSR. Really nice to see Felix Vogel in the field. The more major events he plays in, the faster his pedigree
Click to expand...
It’s most likely because they were not invited. WPA rankings play a big role, as does active participation in WPA events. Predator also gets to pick players.

Chua and FSR have not been active on the WPA circuit the past year. Both are also Cuetec players. Alcaide and Wielinksi are other notables missing who’ve been mostly attending WNT events.

SVB has warmed up to the WPA again, and Gorst is high in the rankings due to the WPC. Plus, it’s … SVB and Gorst!

From WPA:

"The 80 players who received invitations for the $250,000 tournament are now known, with players getting spots from either the WPA rankings or tournament sponsors Predator."

Some players who were invited are lower in WPA rankings than some who were left out. So it did not go strictly by ranking.
 
jbart65 said:
It’s most likely because they were not invited. WPA rankings play a big role, as does active participation in WPA events. Predator also gets to pick players.

Chua and FSR have not been active on the WPA circuit the past year. Both are also Cuetec players. Alcaide and Wielinksi are other notables missing who’ve been mostly attending WNT events.

SVB has warmed up to the WPA again, and Gorst is high in the rankings due to the WPC. Plus, it’s … SVB and Gorst!

From WPA:

"The 80 players who received invitations for the $250,000 tournament are now known, with players getting spots from either the WPA rankings or tournament sponsors Predator."

Some players who were invited are lower in WPA rankings than some who were left out. So it did not go strictly by ranking.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. Seems the system isn't working. A sanctioned World Championship should not omit any of the most elite players, and Chua, FSR, and Roda are all very elite.

In fact, FSR won a WPA sanctioned world championship just two years ago. If he wasn't invited, something is very wrong. One can only wonder what the invitation criteria really are.
 
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jbart65 said:
... Some players who were invited are lower in WPA rankings than some who were left out. So it did not go strictly by ranking.
Click to expand...
That might be due to the general requirement to have players from all continental confederations.
 
sjm said:
Don't forget the China Open, one of the crown jewels in our sport, which takes place this week. It's a nice lineup of great events coming up and some nice earnings opportunities for the players. ...
Click to expand...
Yes! So 7 pro men's pool events of significance, all in Asia, in the next 7 weeks. I hope they have enough energy left to make it to Florida for the International starting on Nov. 14.
 
sjm said:
Don't forget the China Open, one of the crown jewels in our sport, which takes place this week. It's a nice lineup of great events coming up and some nice earnings opportunities for the players.
[...]
Click to expand...
Anybody have information on China Open? I believe qualifying events going on now and stage 2 Sept 10-14.

Any brackets for stage 1?
 
AtLarge said:
Yes! So 7 pro men's pool events of significance, all in Asia, in the next 7 weeks. I hope they have enough energy left to make it to Florida for the International starting on Nov. 14.
Click to expand...
Some will just stay for the All Japan going on at the same time as the International. Would ne nice to see some of the Taiwanese make the trip.
 
jbart65 said:
It’s most likely because they were not invited. WPA rankings play a big role, as does active participation in WPA events. Predator also gets to pick players.

Chua and FSR have not been active on the WPA circuit the past year. Both are also Cuetec players. Alcaide and Wielinksi are other notables missing who’ve been mostly attending WNT events.

SVB has warmed up to the WPA again, and Gorst is high in the rankings due to the WPC. Plus, it’s … SVB and Gorst!

From WPA:

"The 80 players who received invitations for the $250,000 tournament are now known, with players getting spots from either the WPA rankings or tournament sponsors Predator."

Some players who were invited are lower in WPA rankings than some who were left out. So it did not go strictly by ranking.
Click to expand...
The higher players that were left out could have had an invite but turned it down for whatever reason. In that instance, you go down the rankings to players that are able to make the event. If that is what happened.
 
briankenobi said:
The higher players that were left out could have had an invite but turned it down for whatever reason. In that instance, you go down the rankings to players that are able to make the event. If that is what happened.
Click to expand...
No. There's just too many high-level players not playing in the event to suggest they all turned down invites. Especially young guys who travel everywhere - Krause, Neuhausen, Wielinski.

All the top players who are absent, except for Niels Feijin, stuck with Matchroom/WNT during the standoff, therefore losing WPA points in the rankings. (Feijin simply doesn't go to most events anymore, whether WNT or WPA).

Mike Panazzo posted about it:

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙
Check out the list of contenders who won't be in the 64-player World 10-Ball Championship. The reason? It's all WNT players stripped of WPA points after participating in last year's Hanoi Open, thus not ranked high enough to earn spots, and not enough wild card invites to go around. After being told they could enter the Stage One qualifiers, these players opted to pass on the tournament altogether.
This has nothing to do with Mosconi or Reyes points. These players were simply frozen out of the field. Once again, everyone loses.. players, promoters, sponsors, WPA. And, so it goes.

www.facebook.com

Michael Panozzo

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 Check out the list of contenders who won't be in the 64-player World 10-Ball Championship. The reason? It's all WNT players stripped of WPA points after participating in last year's...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

Absolute Pool​


Big names missing from the 2025 World 10-Ball Championship field…

🇵🇭
Johann Chua
🇪🇸
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
🇪🇸
David Alcaide
🇳🇱
Niels Feijen
🇪🇸
Jonas Souto Comino
🇩🇰
Mickey Krause
🇩🇪
Moritz Neuhausen
🏳️
Wiktor Zielinski
🇵🇭
Bernie Regalario
🇵🇭
Jefrey Roda
🇺🇸
Skyler Woodward

***

Tyler Styer is also missing.

On the other hand, some WPA invitees include Hunter Lombardo and Lukas Fracasso-Verner from the US. And Juan Carlos Expósito and José Alberto Delgado from Spain. They are not the best those countries can offer, obviously.

PS: It appears Souto is taking part in the qualifiers.
 
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WNT has updated their Hanoi photo to exclude SVB and to include Carlo Biado.

Both men are playing in the WPA 10 ball championship. SVB is playing the WPA 8-ball tourney as well. So he will skip Hanoi as we already knew.

Biado played in the WPA 8-ball tournament last year. Looks like this year he is skipping it in favor of Hanoi. Not surprising since he will be on the Reyes Cup. He'll have a full sked anyway with WPA 10-ball, Peri, Hanoi, Philippines Open, Reyes.
 
How Hunter Lombardo (739) still manages to get any invites is curious. I imagine his pool playing is a net negative. I'm guessing he makes his money with instruction but I really don't have a clue. He's certainly had an interesting journey.
 
BasementDweller said:
How Hunter Lombardo (739) still manages to get any invites is curious. I imagine his pool playing is a net negative. I'm guessing he makes his money with instruction but I really don't have a clue. He's certainly had an interesting journey.
Click to expand...
In the past, the BCA offered either no travel expenses to the North American representatives or just a thousand or so. Few players were willing to spend thousands and a week and a half of their time to play in distant events where they likely would not get to the final 16. As a result, the BCA often could not fill the entry quota they were offered by the WPA.

Evidently, Hunter is willing to spend that money or has a sponsorship.
 
BasementDweller said:
How Hunter Lombardo (739) still manages to get any invites is curious. I imagine his pool playing is a net negative. I'm guessing he makes his money with instruction but I really don't have a clue. He's certainly had an interesting journey.
Click to expand...

probably has a good spot for high rate instructions, like toastie
 
jbart65 said:
No. There's just too many high-level players not playing in the event to suggest they all turned down invites. Especially young guys who travel everywhere - Krause, Neuhausen, Wielinski.

All the top players who are absent, except for Niels Feijin, stuck with Matchroom/WNT during the standoff, therefore losing WPA points in the rankings. (Feijin simply doesn't go to most events anymore, whether WNT or WPA).

Mike Panazzo posted about it:

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙
Check out the list of contenders who won't be in the 64-player World 10-Ball Championship. The reason? It's all WNT players stripped of WPA points after participating in last year's Hanoi Open, thus not ranked high enough to earn spots, and not enough wild card invites to go around. After being told they could enter the Stage One qualifiers, these players opted to pass on the tournament altogether.
This has nothing to do with Mosconi or Reyes points. These players were simply frozen out of the field. Once again, everyone loses.. players, promoters, sponsors, WPA. And, so it goes.

www.facebook.com

Michael Panozzo

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 Check out the list of contenders who won't be in the 64-player World 10-Ball Championship. The reason? It's all WNT players stripped of WPA points after participating in last year's...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

Absolute Pool​


Big names missing from the 2025 World 10-Ball Championship field…

🇵🇭
Johann Chua
🇪🇸
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
🇪🇸
David Alcaide
🇳🇱
Niels Feijen
🇪🇸
Jonas Souto Comino
🇩🇰
Mickey Krause
🇩🇪
Moritz Neuhausen
🏳️
Wiktor Zielinski
🇵🇭
Bernie Regalario
🇵🇭
Jefrey Roda
🇺🇸
Skyler Woodward

***

Tyler Styer is also missing.

On the other hand, some WPA invitees include Hunter Lombardo and Lukas Fracasso-Verner from the US. And Juan Carlos Expósito and José Alberto Delgado from Spain. They are not the best those countries can offer, obviously.

PS: It appears Souto is taking part in the qualifiers.
Click to expand...

that's a pity. especially wiktor, chua. but i'm thinking the 64 players will make a tough field anyway

didn't they use to have 96 player fields?
 
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