2026 WPA Predator Men's World 10 Ball Saigon

[sjm]

It’s a shame (for us) that Siming Chen has turned her focus to Heyball and Golden 9b. The rare times she’s played our type of pool recently she wasn’t at her previous level.

I would really like to see a long race between a prime Chen and Centeno.

The women's world 8 ball has existed for just two years. It's borderline meaningless. Even the Women's World 10ball is pretty new. I hope, and believe, that these events will build a great tradition over time.

It's funny how Han Yu is always omitted from GOAT discussions. If you look at the years in which she and Siming Chen were both active (basically the 2010s.), Han Yu won more of the top majors than Siming. There is no question that the three most important titles in women's pool in the 2010s were, in order, the World 9ball, the China Open, and the All-Japan.

World 9ball Titles: Han Yu 3, Siming Chen 1
China Open titles: Han Yu 3, Siming Chen 3 (Han Yu has since added a fourth)
All-Japan titles: Siming Chen 2, Han Yu 1

Hence, Han Yu won seven super-majors to Siming Chen's 6 in the years in which they both played. More importantly, Han Yu won three World 9ball titles to Siming's 1. It was a great rivalry, second only to Karen Corr vs Allison Fisher in the lore of women's pool, but the uninformed think that Siming had the better of the rivalry. It just isn't true. Han Yu found the finish line at least as often, actually slightly more often.

Like Chezka, Siming was the most talented player of her day, but talent and performance are two different matters.

As for the match I'd like to see, I'd rather see a long race between 2019 Siming Chen and 2019 Han Yu, neither of whom ever ran the table as well as Centeno.

Centeno is, by far, the most talented pool player today. She is almost certainly the best runout player the woman's game has ever seen, but she is tactically very limited and it's why she doesn't win as often as she might. Still, there are three times as many world championships today as in the days of Jean Balukas, Allison Fisher, and prime Siming Chen and prime Han Yu. All of them had a higher win rate at the game's most prestigious events than Chezka.

Chezka's talent is way above her title count, and true greatness is measured in titles, not by the eye test. If she played tactically like a Karen Corr, Chezka would be producing a title count that would eventually exceed both Allison Fisher and Jean Balukas, but she's 27, and hasn't progressed in this area in recent years.

 

[nmh2008]

c) Women's 9ball had Savannah Easton beating the re-emergent former superstar Xiaofang Fu in winner's qualification, and that is a great win. Loser's qualification matches feature a lot of the game's best and we'll see some of the superstars miss Stage 2.

Let's see how things devlop.

Savannah has improved dramatically I feel in the last 12 months. She shoots real straight and is capable of beating any of the ladies on tour. Her safety & tactical play is pretty average - feels like she executes basic safeties very well, but she doesn't see/play shots she will in a few years. I also think she can lose focus at times too, she lost a set to 4 against Amy Beauchamp the other night - she won the 1st set easily and basically handed the 2nd set to Amy - not sure Amy ever made more than 3 balls in a row. Savannah re-focused for set #3 and Amy didn't have a chance

I enjoyed watching her play with Shane, even if they didn't play real well this tournament. I'm not sure it rises to the level of "mansplaining", but I do think there was too much of Shane telling her the shot to play. There were multiple times on a 30-second shot clock where it felt more like Shane's shot, where he'd take 20 seconds, even getting down on the ball, and tell Savannah with 10 seconds left what shot to take.

I understand the idea - Shane is incredibly strong and creative tactically, but handing over a tough shot to your teammate with 10 seconds on the clock just isn't going to consistently yield good results. Beyond that, I think it impacts the rest of the partners game-play...you start to feel like you're playing FOR your partner, not WITH your partner. When you play not to miss/make a mistake, you're gonna make more mistakes

 

[Gum9Ball]

So what happens in a shootout if you make the object ball but scratch, does the ball count or is it considered a miss due to the scratch??

Considered a scratch thus a miss.

 

[sjm]

Savannah has improved dramatically I feel in the last 12 months. She shoots real straight and is capable of beating any of the ladies on tour. Her safety & tactical play is pretty average - feels like she executes basic safeties very well, but she doesn't see/play shots she will in a few years. I also think she can lose focus at times too, she lost a set to 4 against Amy Beauchamp the other night - she won the 1st set easily and basically handed the 2nd set to Amy - not sure Amy ever made more than 3 balls in a row. Savannah re-focused for set #3 and Amy didn't have a chance

I enjoyed watching her play with Shane, even if they didn't play real well this tournament. I'm not sure it rises to the level of "mansplaining", but I do think there was too much of Shane telling her the shot to play. There were multiple times on a 30-second shot clock where it felt more like Shane's shot, where he'd take 20 seconds, even getting down on the ball, and tell Savannah with 10 seconds left what shot to take.

I understand the idea - Shane is incredibly strong and creative tactically, but handing over a tough shot to your teammate with 10 seconds on the clock just isn't going to consistently yield good results. Beyond that, I think it impacts the rest of the partners game-play...you start to feel like you're playing FOR your partner, not WITH your partner. When you play not to miss/make a mistake, you're gonna make more mistakes

Good post. I took note in February, after having watched her play live at the Las Vegas Open, that I was seeing the first signs of tactical development in her game. I think that this development continues, but I feel her progress has been very slow. Her ball pocketing and pattern play are already respectable, but without the tacitcal side, she won't beat the top women often enough to win any major championships.

 

[Gum9Ball]

The Mixed Doubles is over. Wu Kun and Han Yu win it.

Actually Jay, Sha Sha Liu and Chia Chen Hsieh won over Silviana Lu and Aloysius Yapp. Hope you are doing well Jay!!

 

[nmh2008]

The women's world 8 ball has existed for just two years. It's borderline meaningless. Even the Women's World 10ball is pretty new. I hope, and believe, that these events will build a great tradition over time.

It's funny how Han Yu is always omitted from GOAT discussions. If you look at the years in which she and Siming Chen were both active (basically the 2010s.), Han Yu won more of the top majors than Siming. There is no question that the three most important titles in women's pool in the 2010s were, in order, the World 9ball, the China Open, and the All-Japan.

World 9ball Titles: Han Yu 3, Siming Chen 1
China Open titles: Han Yu 3, Siming Chen 3 (Han Yu has since added a fourth)
All-Japan titles: Siming Chen 2, Han Yu 1

Hence, Han Yu won seven super-majors to Siming Chen's 6 in the years in which they both played. More importantly, Han Yu won three World 9ball titles to Siming's 1. It was a great rivalry, second only to Karen Corr vs Allison Fisher in the lore of women's pool, but the uninformed think that Siming had the better of the rivalry. It just isn't true. Han Yu found the finish line at least as often, actually slightly more often.

Like Chezka, Siming was the most talented player of her day, but talent and performance are two different matters.

As for the match I'd like to see, I'd rather see a long race between 2019 Siming Chen and 2019 Han Yu, neither of whom ever ran the table as well as Centeno.

Centeno is, by far, the most talented pool player today. She is almost certainly the best runout player the woman's game has ever seen, but she is tactically very limited and it's why she doesn't win as often as she might. Still, there are three times as many world championships today as in the days of Jean Balukas, Allison Fisher, and prime Siming Chen and prime Han Yu. All of them had a higher win rate at the game's most prestigious events than Chezka.

Chezka's talent is way above her title count, and true greatness is measured in titles, not by the eye test. If she played tactically like a Karen Corr, Chezka would be producing a title count that would eventually exceed both Allison Fisher and Jean Balukas, but she's 27, and hasn't progressed in this area in recent years.

Chezka just likes to bang balls and she's damn good at it. It's hard for me to imagine her ever practicing any tactical/safety play, when she's in the pool room she's there to run out. It's fun to watch, but I think it does limit her upside a bit.

Seo has the best combination of offense & tactical play today for me. She seems to always play the right shot and has perfect fundamentals. Her limitation is that she's like 85 pounds and lacks power of the other top female players, she breaks ok but don't think she's one of the better breakers and there are certain shots that just aren't available to her. She works around it with her pattern play and cue ball control, but sometimes you need to have the power, and she just doesn't.

For me they're the top 2 female players right now. They're both really fun to watch, and they both go about it completely differently

 

[sjm]

In peak form, I'd take Centeno every time. But she is notoriously inconsistent. Seo is probably the most consistent in the last three years.

A quick recap: The women's tour took more organized form in 2022 after Predator began the Pro Billiard Series six months earlier.

The Women’s World 10 Ball Championship was revived by Predator in 2022 after a nearly decade-long hiatus.

The Women’s World 9 Ball Championship was revived by Predator in 2023 after a three-year hiatus (2020-2022).

The WPA on its own started the Women’s World 8-ball Championship in 2025.

Along with these three events, Predator holds several other big women’s opens each year. The only other major women’s event is the China Open.

Here are the biggest winners of the biggest women's events since 2022.

Seo Seoa - 4 (World 9-ball)
Chezka Centeno - 4 (World 10-ball twice, World 8-ball)
Wei Tzu-Chien - 2
Chou Chieh-Yu - 2 (World 10-ball, World 9-ball)
Amit Rubilen - 2 (World 9-ball)
Kelly Fisher - 2
Jasmine Ouschan - 2 (World 8-ball)
Han Yu - 2 (China Open twice)
Kristina Tkach (World 10-ball)
Margarita Fefilova (World 10-ball)
Shasha Liu (China Open)
Chihiro Kawahara (China Open)

I totally snoozed Jasmin Ouschan. Obviously, she is one of the super-elite.

 

[Rocket354]

The women's world 8 ball has existed for just two years. It's borderline meaningless. Even the Women's World 10ball is pretty new. I hope, and believe, that these events will build a great tradition over time.

It's funny how Han Yu is always omitted from GOAT discussions. If you look at the years in which she and Siming Chen were both active (basically the 2010s.), Han Yu won more of the top majors than Siming. There is no question that the three most important titles in women's pool in the 2010s were, in order, the World 9ball, the China Open, and the All-Japan.

World 9ball Titles: Han Yu 3, Siming Chen 1
China Open titles: Han Yu 3, Siming Chen 3 (Han Yu has since added a fourth)
All-Japan titles: Siming Chen 2, Han Yu 1

Hence, Han Yu won seven super-majors to Siming Chen's 6 in the years in which they both played. More importantly, Han Yu won three World 9ball titles to Siming's 1. It was a great rivalry, second only to Karen Corr vs Allison Fisher in the lore of women's pool, but the uninformed think that Siming had the better of the rivalry. It just isn't true. Han Yu found the finish line at least as often, actually slightly more often.

Like Chezka, Siming was the most talented player of her day, but talent and performance are two different matters.

As for the match I'd like to see, I'd rather see a long race between 2019 Siming Chen and 2019 Han Yu, neither of whom ever ran the table as well as Centeno.

Centeno is, by far, the most talented pool player today. She is almost certainly the best runout player the woman's game has ever seen, but she is tactically very limited and it's why she doesn't win as often as she might. Still, there are three times as many world championships today as in the days of Jean Balukas, Allison Fisher, and prime Siming Chen and prime Han Yu. All of them had a higher win rate at the game's most prestigious events than Chezka.

Chezka's talent is way above her title count, and true greatness is measured in titles, not by the eye test. If she played tactically like a Karen Corr, Chezka would be producing a title count that would eventually exceed both Allison Fisher and Jean Balukas, but she's 27, and hasn't progressed in this area in recent years.

The talent in women's pool is deeper than ever now, much better than even 10 years ago. Chezka as she is would rack up titles without breaking a sweat during Allison's or Jean's primes.

Title count is a poor metric if strength of competition is as starkly different as it is comparing 2026 women's pool to 1976, '86, '96, even 2006. It's like comparing college baseball to the major leagues.

 

[sjm]

Seo has the best combination of offense & tactical play today for me. She seems to always play the right shot and has perfect fundamentals. Her limitation is that she's like 85 pounds and lacks power of the other top female players, she breaks ok but don't think she's one of the better breakers and there are certain shots that just aren't available to her. She works around it with her pattern play and cue ball control, but sometimes you need to have the power, and she just doesn't.

I think Rubilen Amit has an even better combination of offense and tactical play than Seo, but both have the whole package. That "total package" allowed Amit to win the World 9ball in her mid-40s. Very few women have won a major title beyond the age of 40.

 

[nmh2008]

Good post. I took note in February, after having watched her play live at the Las Vegas Open, that I was seeing the first signs of tactical development in her game. I think that this development continues, but I feel her progress has been very slow. Her ball pocketing and pattern play are already respectable, but without the tacitcal side, she won't beat the top women often enough to win any major championships.

Do you think she's capable of getting to that level?

A year ago, I felt like she was more of a social media darling that could really play pool. Today I feel like she's a fantastic young pool player with a massive (relative to other pool players anyway) following

 

[Rocket354]

Good post. I took note in February, after having watched her play live at the Las Vegas Open, that I was seeing the first signs of tactical development in her game. I think that this development continues, but I feel her progress has been very slow. Her ball pocketing and pattern play are already respectable, but without the tacitcal side, she won't beat the top women often enough to win any major championships.

I still don't get how someone can be the best American women's player at 16 and be considered to be developing slowly.

She has been a night-and-day better player every six months for 3-4 years now.

 

[sjm]

The talent in women's pool is deeper than ever now, much better than even 10 years ago. Chezka as she is would rack up titles without breaking a sweat during Allison's or Jean's primes.

Yes, I've always said the same. In both men's pool and women's pool, the level today exceeds anything we've ever seen. I've also said that comparison across generations is borderline impossible, and that the only meaningful measure of a player is how they performed against their contemporaries. The best measure of that is major titles won.

Title count is a poor metric if strength of competition is as starkly different as it is comparing 2026 women's pool to 1976, '86, '96, even 2006. It's like comparing college baseball to the major leagues.

Do you think it's any easier to win a women's major today than it was 30 years ago?

In the late 1990s, every women's major had each of these in the field: a) Allison Fisher, b) Loree Jon Jones, c) Ewa Laurance, d) Jeanette Lee, e) Robin Dodson, f) Belinda Bearden Calhoun, and g) Gerda Hostatter. That's seven BCA Hall of Famers in every field. Add to that near hall of fame level players like Vivian Villareal, Monica Webb, Jennifer Chen and Helena Thornfeldt and others and winning a women's major was awfully difficult. There were extremely few Cindrella stories in women's pool back then because, just like today, things were awfully tough at the top of the game.

Just like today, just a few shared nearly all of the major titles. It was very hard for anybody to break through to that top tier.

 

[sjm]

I still don't get how someone can be the best American women's player at 16 and be considered to be developing slowly.

She has been a night-and-day better player every six months for 3-4 years now.

For the record, I have been around women's pro pool for 50 years. I remember when the WPBA formed, and I have probably seen over 95% of the great women players that ever played. I'm basing my comments on what I've seen over the years from other teens.

In my experience, the young would-be champions usually show it early. Jean Balukas won the US Open 14.1 at the age of 13. Loree Jon Jones was a World 14.1 champion at age 15. Siming Chen won the China Open at 16. Ewa Mataya Laurance was European 14.1 champion at 17. Jasmin Ouschan won the gold medal at the World Games at 19. Ga Young Kim was a world 9ball champion by the age of 21. Han Yu was World 9ball champion at 21.

It is my considered opinion that Savannah has not progressed at the rate I saw from these others, nearly all of whom I saw live as teenagers. I'm rooting hard for Savannah. It will be a great story if she becomes one of the superstars of women's pool. To be honest, though, Top 25 based on Fargo would be more than enough to impress the hell out of me.

 

[Rocket354]

Yes, I've always said the same. In both men's pool and women's pool, the level today exceeds anything we've ever seen. I've also said that comparison across generations is borderline impossible, and that the only meaningful measure of a player is how they performed against their contemporaries. The best measure of that is major titles won.

Do you think it's any easier to win a women's major today than it was 30 years ago?

In the late 1990s, every women's major had each of these in the field: a) Allison Fisher, b) Loree Jon Jones, c) Ewa Laurance, d) Jeanette Lee, e) Robin Dodson, f) Belinda Bearden Calhoun, and g) Gerda Hostatter. That's seven BCA Hall of Famers in every field. Add to that near hall of fame level players like Vivian Villareal, Monica Webb, Jennifer Chen and Helena Thornfeldt and others and winning a women's major was awfully difficult. There were extremely few Cindrella stories in women's pool back then because, just like today, things were awfully tough at the top of the game.

Just like today, just a few shared nearly all of the major titles. It was very hard for anybody to break through to that top tier.

The inter-generational comparisons in the women's game is, I think, significantly more pronounced than that in the men's game. The women's game that Jean dominated was like a high school baseball team. The 90's names that you listed, only Fisher was comparable to today's players. The rest, solid players, wouldn't sniff a title today. I'd take 20 or more of today's women's players over any of them. They are hall of famers because they were the best of the time.

As games evolve and mature, it gets harder and harder for any single person to dominate. That is true across all sports. It does not in any way make today's players worse. Chezka is, by a nose, the best women's player today. And if you extend that timeline out, she is probably playing the best pool any woman has ever played, despite her laissez-faire attitude towards defense.

 

[penguin]

I still don't get how someone can be the best American women's player at 16 and be considered to be developing slowly.

She has been a night-and-day better player every six months for 3-4 years now.

The talent pool at the women's professional level in the USA is very shallow.

 

[nmh2008]

For the record, I have been around women's pro pool for 50 years. I remember when the WPBA formed, and I have probably seen over 95% of the great women players that ever played. I'm basing my comments on what I've seen over the years from other teens.

In my experience, the young would-be champions usually show it early. Jean Balukas won the US Open 14.1 at the age of 13. Loree Jon Jones was a World 14.1 champion at age 15. Siming Chen won the China Open at 16. Ewa Mataya Laurance was European 14.1 champion at 17. Jasmin Ouschan won the gold medal at the World Games at 19. Ga Young Kim was a world 9ball champion by the age of 21. Han Yu was World 9ball champion at 21.

It is my considered opinion that Savannah has not progressed at the rate I saw from these others, all of whom I saw live as teenagers. I'm rooting hard for Savannah. It will be a great story if she becomes one of the superstars of women's pool. To be honest, though, Top 25 based on Fargo would be more than enough to impress the hell out of me.

Fargo rating aside, I think she's a borderline top 25 player right now. Pia Filler is a nice player, there's no universe that she's 50 fargo points better than Savannah

 

[Rocket354]

For the record, I have been around women's pro pool for 50 years. I remember when the WPBA formed, and I have probably seen over 95% of the great women players that ever played. I'm basing my comments on what I've seen over the years from other teens.

In my experience, the young would-be champions usually show it early. Jean Balukas won the US Open 14.1 at the age of 13. Loree Jon Jones was a World 14.1 champion at age 15. Siming Chen won the China Open at 16. Ewa Mataya Laurance was European 14.1 champion at 17. Jasmin Ouschan won the gold medal at the World Games at 19. Ga Young Kim was a world 9ball champion by the age of 21. Han Yu was World 9ball champion at 21.

It is my considered opinion that Savannah has not progressed at the rate I saw from these others, all of whom I saw live as teenagers. I'm rooting hard for Savannah. It will be a great story if she becomes one of the superstars of women's pool. To be honest, though, Top 25 based on Fargo would be more than enough to impress the hell out of me.

Yes, we've had this discussion before. If you have to compare Savannah to the most prodigious prodigies the sport has ever seen in order to call her development "slow," then that is, in fact, evidence that she is progressing quite rapidly.

It's also worth noting she is competitive against a much deeper talent pool than the others. Notice how as you go through time with your players listed, the age of their big first achievement increases. That is because it's been getting harder to dominate (a la our concurrent discussion.) Savannah still has years to go before being the ages of half your list. Will she ever be a world champion? Who knows. But she is definitely a rapidly developing and focused player.

 

[Rocket354]

Fargo rating aside, I think she's a borderline top 25 player right now. Pia Filler is a nice player, there's no universe that she's 50 fargo points better than Savannah

Agreed. They might be close to even at this point. Fargo is sticky (for good reasons, usually) and with the volume Savannah plays it's hard to move the needle rapidly on many thousands of games played when she really was a 670 (and 620, and 570...).

 

[sjm]

The inter-generational comparisons in the women's game is, I think, significantly more pronounced than that in the men's game. The women's game that Jean dominated was like a high school baseball team. The 90's names that you listed, only Fisher was comparable to today's players. The rest, solid players, wouldn't sniff a title today. I'd take 20 or more of today's women's players over any of them. They are hall of famers because they were the best of the time.

As games evolve and mature, it gets harder and harder for any single person to dominate. That is true across all sports. It does not in any way make today's players worse. Chezka is, by a nose, the best women's player today. And if you extend that timeline out, she is probably playing the best pool any woman has ever played, despite her laissez-faire attitude towards defense.

I know we're approaching this debate differently, but I think we agree on most of these points. Again, though, one can only be measured by results against their own contemporaries. Cross-generational comparisons are fun, but ultimately borderline impossible. Yes, Filler plays 9ball at a level neither Earl nor Sigel could have ever imagined possible, but whether he is better than them is certainly open for debate.

 

[Lowell]

Yes, we've had this discussion before. If you have to compare Savannah to the most prodigious prodigies the sport has ever seen in order to call her development "slow," then that is, in fact, evidence that she is progressing quite rapidly.

It's also worth noting she is competitive against a much deeper talent pool than the others. Notice how as you go through time with your players listed, the age of their big first achievement increases. That is because it's been getting harder to dominate (a la our concurrent discussion.) Savannah still has years to go before being the ages of half your list. Will she ever be a world champion? Who knows. But she is definitely a rapidly developing and focused player.

The fact that Savannah keeps getting this deep in these tournaments, on the winner's side, shows that a big win is not out of reach. I don't think she has beat Chezka or Seoa yet, but I believe she was wins against numerous of the next tier of players.