2026 U.S. Open: Best pool match ever?

J

jbart65

Well-known member
No, it wasn’t. I am doubtful there is such a thing. There’s been too many great pool matches over time. Sometimes in just one tournament.

I do think it’s on the shortlist for greatest matches ever, however. How so? I’ll list some criteria.


1) Importance of the event. It’s the U.S. Open. The biggest event in pool, with the biggest history, even bigger than the World Pool Championship.

2) Quality of the players. FSR is arguably HOF material. We don’t know what Capito will do with the rest of his career, but he’s clearly a top player now. This was not Gorst-Filler or Earl-Efren, though, and that has to be taken into account.

3) Quality of play. Both FSR and Capito played at a high level. Not the highest I’ve ever seen but high.

4) Clutch performances - and big mistakes. Capito came from behind to go up 10-8 and 12-10, only for FSR to win the last three racks in dramatic fashion. Robbie’s failed carom with the 6 turned out to be a decisive moment that won’t be forgotten.

5) High drama. Big and boisterous crowd. First time the event is on ESPN. Hill-hill final. Can’t get any better than that.

My pool watching career in real time is relatively at young six years. I’ve seen a lot of great matches in that time. Others would include:

  • Biado beating Gorst 15-13 in the 2025 WPC.
  • Fedor Gorst beating Eklent Kaci 15-14 in the 2024 WPC.
  • Fedor Gorst beating Joshua Filler 13-12 in the 2024 World Pool Masters final.
  • Jayson Shaw beating Albin Ouschan 13-12 in the 2024 Hanoi Open.
  • David Alcaide beating Anton Raga in the 2023 European Open.
  • Dang Jin Hu beating Marc Bijsterbosch 13–12 in the 2023 Spanish Open.

Of course, one has to mention Reyes’ 1995 victory over Earl Strickland, 13-12, in the Sands Regency 9 ball open, a big event in its day. The famous Z-shot took place in the last rack.


I’m sure there’s plenty of others that other longtime fans can remember. List them here and what made them special, if you’d like.
 
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I know the US Open is so important, but I wouldn't dismiss the World Championship.

It has a bigger grand prize and longer races in the later rounds, so to me it seems even more epic. Last year's final was great, as you mentioned.


Last night's match was great too, and I'm glad it was close and showed off high level pool while showing some human mistakes that changed momentum.

It would not have been a great introduction to outsiders if it were something like the 2026 UK Open with Josh Filler completely dominating.
 
Omitting the straight pool era from consideration, this one is on the short list of the greatest matches ever contested. The two best WNT matches, in my view, were the 2024 WPC final between Gorst and Kaci and this one.

I think this was the best of the two, with a slightly higher level of play, so I'm calling it the best WNT match ever played.

Was this match better than Wu Jiaqing vs Po Cheng Kuo (WPC final), Sigel vs Varner (US Open 9ball final), SVB vs Dennis Orcullo (US Open 9ball final), Earl Strickland vs Efren Reyes (Sands Regency final) or some other legendary matches? Tough to say, but the 2026 US Open final should always remain in the conversation for best match ever played.

I know I'll never forget it!
 
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Best match ever? Easy.

Lil Ko stomping Yapp 11-0.

Most replayed match for me. Pure perfection.

As for back and forth competitive contest, this doesn't even make the top 5 for me. Capito plays way too slow for it to be fully enjoyable, and FSR was not FSR-ing the entire match, but he still won. I'd be curious to know what both of their TPA or Fargorate for that match was.
 
Kris_b1104 said:
Best match ever? Easy.

Lil Ko stomping Yapp 11-0.

Most replayed match for me. Pure perfection.

As for back and forth competitive contest, this doesn't even make the top 5 for me. Capito plays way too slow for it to be fully enjoyable, and FSR was not FSR-ing the entire match, but he still won. I'd be curious to know what both of their TPA or Fargorate for that match was.
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While a one-sided blowout doesn't fit the category for me, I know where you are coming from. I definitely agree that the best match need not be double hill. It's why I included SVB 13 Dennis Orcullo 10 in 2014 in the US Open 9ball final. Dennis played to a TPA 1.000 for almost the first half of the match and SVB had to summon a gear rarely ever seen, even from Shane. It's a match that will always belong in the greatest match conversation.

I also agree that slow play can take the shine off a match, but I was there yesterday and didn't feel that the pace was particularly slow.
 
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Kris_b1104 said:
Best match ever? Easy.

Lil Ko stomping Yapp 11-0.

Most replayed match for me. Pure perfection.

As for back and forth competitive contest, this doesn't even make the top 5 for me. Capito plays way too slow for it to be fully enjoyable, and FSR was not FSR-ing the entire match, but he still won. I'd be curious to know what both of their TPA or Fargorate for that match was.
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I honestly don’t remember being as tense as a fan through a whole match as this one. Especially toward the end.

The shot clock kept Robbie’s slow pace from being an issue for me. In the end it was part of the problem for him. The beeps were constantly going off when he went down to shoot. And he made some critical mental errors. I hardly recall hearing beeps with FSR, even in the last three racks.

In any case, I agree that it wasn’t the best back and forth competitive match I’ve ever seen. But it was the fist hill-hill U.S. Open in some 30-plus years, great crowd, on ESPN.

I’d be curious to know a few of your favorite matches. One of mine was Alcaide-Raga. Raga missed the 6 in the side on a dramatic shot, up 12-11, to swing the momentum to Alcaide. Capito’s carom-miss on the … the 6 ball again, I’ll always remember.
 
It wasn’t actually on ESPN, it was kinda on ESPN. I put it on the TV, first time my wife has ever watched. I explained what was going on, she was enjoying it. Poof, gone. It wasn’t a thing, all potential benefits were lost
 
Lowell said:
I know the US Open is so important, but I wouldn't dismiss the World Championship.
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Not dismissing it. I just think it’s the second biggest event in pool. Just a hair behind the U.S Open. I think it is imperative Matchroom try to hold the event this year.
Lowell said:
It has a bigger grand prize and longer races in the later rounds, so to me it seems even more epic. Last year's final was great, as you mentioned.
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The prize fund was similar to the U.S. Open until 2024, when it moved to Saudi Arabia, briefly as it turned out.
Lowell said:
Last night's match was great too, and I'm glad it was close and showed off high level pool while showing some human mistakes that changed momentum.
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The mistakes are what make sports great. We are all human, after all.
 
Maniac said:
How about 2001 when Corey Deuel shutout Mika Immonen 11-0 in the U.S. Open final? I've never seen an opponent as frustrated as Mika was during that match.
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I've heard that one called the worst match ever played. It was just before the soft break was banned, and the repetitiveness of the play in this match was almost painful to watch, as Deuel always had at least a safety after almost every break. It was the same year that Mika Immonen won the World 9ball, and he felt he'd been a denied even a chance to accomplish the rare double.

The general feeling shortly thereafter is that this was the match that, more than any other, led to the banning of the soft break.
 
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The Strickland and Bustamante finals in the world championship back in 2002 gets my vote.

Mostly because of the human interest story behind it all.

Assume you posters remember what I am referring to?
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
The Strickland and Bustamante finals in the world championship back in 2002 gets my vote.

Mostly because of the human interest story behind it all.

Assume you posters remember what I am referring to?
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Yes, I think I did poorly to overlook that one, a 17-15 classic in which Earl won his final World 9ball title. Absolutely belongs on the short list of the greatest matches ever played. I have always rated it over the somewhat more talked about Wu vs Kuo final that came a few years later.

Definitely remember the human-interest story surrounding Francisco, too. The level of play in this match was sensational.
 
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jbart65 said:
Not dismissing it. I just think it’s the second biggest event in pool. Just a hair behind the U.S Open. I think it is imperative Matchroom try to hold the event this year.

The prize fund was similar to the U.S. Open until 2024, when it moved to Saudi Arabia, briefly as it turned out.


The mistakes are what make sports great. We are all human, after all.
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The US Open might be more important historically, but I think the stakes are higher with the World Championship and there are some elements of it that I think are a genuine advantage for both fans and players.

The fact that it's not an open means we avoid an uncompetitive first round or two, plus the prize being 50% higher means there's more on the line and with more grueling races towards the end. I'm happy to have both though, and hope that Matchroom gets their shit together and find somewhere to hold a world championship.
 
nicksaint26 said:
Best match I’ve seen live was when Filler beat Wu 13-10 in the 2019 US Open at Mandalay Bay in Vegas. High level play and some drama at the end when Wu fouls due to his bridge hand slipping.
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Yeah, that was a good one for which I sat ringside. I'm not sure I fully appreciated it at the time .... but Wu remains one of the best that ever picked up a cue, so that was something of a defining moment in pool. We didn't know it at the time, but Filler would use that match as a springboard for sustained excellence at the majors.
 
Lowell said:
The US Open might be more important historically, but I think the stakes are higher with the World Championship and there are some elements of it that I think are a genuine advantage for both fans and players.

The fact that it's not an open means we avoid an uncompetitive first round or two, plus the prize being 50% higher means there's more on the line and with more grueling races towards the end. I'm happy to have both though, and hope that Matchroom gets their shit together and find somewhere to hold a world championship.
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Inclined to disagree. I think the WPC was historically more important because the US Open 9ball didn't really feature a field that included all the stars of the world until Matchroom picked it up in 2019. Even the China Open usually featured a stronger field than the US Open 9ball until then. I think that 2019 is when the US Open caught up with both the China Open and the WPC as an event, and I feel strongly that it has passed both of them at this point.

Stil, you make important and valid points about the World 9ball and I agree that it's huge.
 
Probably missed by the younger generation Kind of like Jordan ....but...IMHO.....I doubt anything will ever beat the Color of Money match between Earl and Efren......(Google it)....Sorry guys and girls.....The US Open match this year was a good match...but didn't even come close to the COM match.

Nevermind.....here........Color of Money
 
jbart65 said:
No, it wasn’t. I am doubtful there is such a thing. There’s been too many great pool matches over time. Sometimes in just one tournament.

I do think it’s on the shortlist for greatest matches ever, however. How so? I’ll list some criteria.


1) Importance of the event. It’s the U.S. Open. The biggest event in pool, with the biggest history, even bigger than the World Pool Championship.

2) Quality of the players. FSR is arguably HOF material. We don’t know what Capito will do with the rest of his career, but he’s clearly a top player now. This was not Gorst-Filler or Earl-Efren, though, and that has to be taken into account.

3) Quality of play. Both FSR and Capito played at a high level. Not the highest I’ve ever seen but high.

4) Clutch performances - and big mistakes. Capito came from behind to go up 10-8 and 12-10, only for FSR to win the last three racks in dramatic fashion. Robbie’s failed carom with the 6 turned out to be a decisive moment that won’t be forgotten.

5) High drama. Big and boisterous crowd. First time the event is on ESPN. Hill-hill final. Can’t get any better than that.

My pool watching career in real time is relatively at young six years. I’ve seen a lot of great matches in that time. Others would include:

  • Biado beating Gorst 15-13 in the 2025 WPC.
  • Fedor Gorst beating Eklent Kaci 15-14 in the 2024 WPC.
  • Fedor Gorst beating Joshua Filler 13-12 in the 2024 World Pool Masters final.
  • Jayson Shaw beating Albin Ouschan 13-12 in the 2024 Hanoi Open.
  • David Alcaide beating Anton Raga in the 2023 European Open.
  • Dang Jin Hu beating Marc Bijsterbosch 13–12 in the 2023 Spanish Open.

Of course, one has to mention Reyes’ 1995 victory over Earl Strickland, 13-12, in the Sands Regency 9 ball open, a big event in its day. The famous Z-shot took place in the last rack.


I’m sure there’s plenty of others that other longtime fans can remember. List them here and what made them special, if you’d like.
Click to expand...
The best matches I can remember were both U.S. Open Finals, Shane vs. Dennis. Mid 2000's. They both played great and fought their hearts out. I got lucky sitting ringside. I was the ref.
 
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