WNT PREMIER LEAGUE OF POOL 2026, Miami, Fla, Feb. 18-22

J

jbart65

Well-known member
PRIZE FUND: $100,000.

Top prize is $25,000. Runner up wins $12,250. Semifinalists receive $10,000.

Schedule: Daily session 1 - noon ET to 4:30 pm. Daily session 2 - 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm.

Four tables in play at the same time. Two air on WNT.TV, two tables air on Matchroom Youtube and TalkSPORT YouTube

The 16 players. Listed in order of Fargo rating.

1) FRANCISCO SÁNCHEZ RUIZ - Spain. Past champion. FARGO: 846 (No 6. worldwide). WNT RANKING: No 6.

2) ALOYSIUS YAPP - Singapore. FARGO: 839 (No 9. worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 3.

3) EKLENT KACI - Albania. FARGO: 831 (No. 16 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 5.

4) DUONG QUOC HOANG - Vietnam. FARGO: 823 (No. 22. worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 24.

5) MORITZ NEUHAUSEN - Germany. Defending champion. FARGO: 819 (No. 26 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 11.

6) ROBBIE CAPITO - Hong Kong. FARGO: 818 (No. 27 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 20.

7) PIJUS LABUTIS - Lithuania. FARGO: 812 (No. 43 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 10.

8) KLEDIO KACI - Albania. FARGO: 810 (No. 47 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 17.

9) AJ MANAS - Philippines. FARGO: 800 (No. 68 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 70.

10) CHRIS MELLING - United Kingdom. FARGO: 799 (No 69. worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 79.

11) JONÁS SOUTO - Spain. FARGO: 798 (No. 71 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 13.

12) JESÚS ATENCIO - Venezuela. FARGO: 796 (No 76. worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 46.
.
13) ALBERT JANUARTA - Indonesia. FARGO: 796 (No. 78 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 75.

14) JOHN MORRA - Canada. FARGO: 795 (No. 83 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 30.

15) THORSTEN HOHMANN - United States. FARGO: 793 (No. 88 worldwide). WNT RANKING: No. 40.

16) JUSTIN BERGMAN - United States. FARGO: 791 (Tied No. 101 worldwide). WNT RANKING: None.
 
WNT thankfully changed the prior PLP format. Too long and confusing. But maddingly, the organization has not spelled out exactly what is different.

In the past few years, the PLP took place over eight days. The 16 players played a round robin, races to 5, over five days. The bottom six players were then cut from the competition. The remaining 10 players than played another round robin over two days, and four more players were cut.

On the final day, the remaining six played another round robin in the early session, with two more being eliminated. Then the final four players played an evening session with semifinals and finals. The semis and finals were races to 7.

The final day was too long and too rushed, and the races to 7 were too short. Weirdly, WNT went to winner break in the semis and finals after alternative break during the round robins. I thought it was wrong and unfair given the short races to 7.
 
Last edited:
The Miami version of the event has been shortened to five days. To speed up the event, WNT will now use four tables at once, instead of two as in the past. The players will all play each other at least once, WNT has said.

Last year, each player played three games a day over the first five days in the first stage of the round robin. This year, each player is going to play five times a day, based on the Day 1 PLP schedule now posted.

That means the first round robin will finish in three days. We don't know how many players get eliminated heading into Day 4.

It's no use speculating, but I would hope the semis and finals on Day 5 are not rushed like they were in the past. I'd prefer races to 9 for the semis and 11 for the final.

But if WNT sticks to races to seven for these matches, as was the case the past few years, I do hope they go back to alternate break.
 
Table 3 free on Matchroom Pool youtube page.

Duong vs. Atencio live now:


Table 4 free on talksport youtube page.
AJ Manas vs. Thorsten:

 
Last edited:
jbart65 said:
He is playing now vs Souto. He'll play five times today.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm not paying to watch an invitational that's race to 5 unless it's the Mosconi Cup. There are no stakes. 1st prize is also a joke. But hey, more pool is good. I'll stick to the free matches on Youtube.
 
The PLP field is not as strong as it could be due to the conflict with Predator/Vegas, but it might be the most solid field from top to bottom since I first started watching the PLP in 2022. Every other event had two or three players who did not belong.

Obviously, Yapp and Neuhausen have to be among the favorites due to their stellar form of play. FSR can never be counted out, either. He got to the finals last year and has won the event before.

Eklent Kaci is back, to my surprise, but I think he wants to prove something. He was not good at the last two PLPs he played in.

Labutis and Duong both had disappointing PLP performances last year. Both started out very slow before coming on. Still, Labutis got eliminated after the first stage to finish 11 of 16. Duong ended 10th. Both seem bent on doing better.

Atencio and Bergman are the players I most want to see. Atencio is knocking on the door of elite, and we all know Bergman's story.

Januarta is a young guy with tons of talent who reminds me of Yapp when he was younger, but young players tend to struggle in this event.

AJ Manas struggled last year. I expect to see better.

Bottom dwellers? The lowest Fargo players would appear to be the most likely, but some always surprise. This year Bergman, Hohmann and Morra have the lowest Fargos of the group.
 
trokiki said:
Watching table 1 now on WNT: quality is really bad. Bad sound and only one camera.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm watching Table 3 on Matchroom's youtube page and even though it says 1080p, the quality is horrible, balls are all grainy and not as sharp. Looks like they are in some dark dungeon.

I am enjoying Predator's PBS matches, quality is amazing and they have multiple camera angles, and the room/table is nice and bright. Easy on the eyes.
 
Kris_b1104 said:
Yeah I'm watching Table 3 on Matchroom's youtube page and even though it says 1080p, the quality is horrible, balls are all grainy and not as sharp. Looks like they are in some dark dungeon.

I am enjoying Predator's PBS matches, quality is amazing and they have multiple camera angles, and the room/table is nice and bright. Easy on the eyes.
Click to expand...
I also moved to PBS. Except for sound it’s great.
 
Bergman looked very good. Was dry on his first two breaks, then pocketed the one.

He was up 3-2, but lost a long safety battle with Souto.

Knotted at 3-3, Souto scored an early nine after a missed Bergman pot. Score 4-3.

Bergman tied it up at 4-4 and Souto broke dry.

Bergman seemed ready to run out, but he messed up position on the 4. A very thin cut shot left the 4 hanging in the upper right pocket.

Souto was blocked directly and kicked at the 4. He missed but got lucky. The cue ball hung in the jaws of the upper right corner and the 4 ball went all the way down to the lower left corner. Bergman tried to pot the 4 and the CB jumped off the table.

Ball in hand for Souto. Game over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top