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This was a remark by sjm on the U.S. Open thread after I wrote a post on how thin the U.S. “bench” is for future Mosconi teams. I thought a discussion of the future of the Mosconi warranted a separate thread. So here we go. Here is the first in a series of posts. Warning. Each post is not so...

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...

If we group players into tiers, this is how they would look to me. SUPERSTARS (Always a threat to win a major) Joshua Filler Fedor Gorst Aloysius Yapp Shane Van Boening If they were still playing in the WNT, I’d put the Ko brothers and Johann Chua on this list. TOP VETERANS WHO WON WNT...

Embassy Suits, Frisco, Texas Total prize fund: $500,000. Winner: $100,000 Runner up: $50,000 Semifinalists: $25,000 Quarterfinalists: $15,000 9th-16th: $8,000 17th-32nd: $5,000 33rd-64th: $3,000 Who's in? Almost all the big names in pro pool. Veterans Earl Strickland, Alex Pagulayan, Darren...

I’ll be damned. https://multisport.matchroom.com/c/AQjEvRYQzbWwAhjk7OlwILztkRco1rneCQ_sXBxp9oInu-ljUqO_L2OIp7PW91rVMnEvEwrLwVIB

The Duya event creators in China just announced season 2 of the "King of Kings. The winner gets $300,000 and total prize fund is almost $1.5 million. Even the last-place finishers get a minimum of $7,000 plus. Enough to cover expenses. Twenty-two participants, among them ... Fedor Gorst, Johann...

Matchroom just released updated standings after the Arizona Open. https://worldnineballtour.com/rankings/ Turns out MR still has eligibility rules in place that require a minimum participation in big WNT events. Case in point: Johann Chua. He was dropped from the Reyes Cup and World Pool...

One of the biggest faults of WNT and Frazer, imo, is how little they communicate publicly. Case in point is the status of the now-delayed World Pool Championship. Well, Emily always drops nuggets of info on finals day of big events. She finally said something about the WPC in the prematch...

Eklent Kaci is very opinionated - god love him. He is not very happy about pool payouts, a point Darren Appleton also made in his new podcast. "Seems to have gotten worse and worse for some reason," Appleton said the other day. Kaci wrote on Facebook: Tournaments with 128-256 players and an...

As I said in another thread, a changing of the guard is under way in pro pool. But it seems like we are also in an interregnum. How so? Some great young players are bursting onto the scene, but it’s mostly established players winning the WNT titles and making deep runs. Take the last three...

I like the new platform much better than the original one. You can access matches immediately - start watching live or start from the beginning. No more waiting hours or days for matches to be uploaded after they finish. The FF and RW functions are much better. The video is better and more...

Matchroom put out its first list of rankings for the return of the World Pool Masters in 2027 in Taipei. Clearly MR is using the WPM to entice more top pros to play in its events and to continue to play in its events. Reaction to the WPA/Predator? Perhaps, but if so, good. Competition at work...

A few tidbits from Gorst on a recent webcast. *Says some kind of long race with Filler this year seems more likely than not. Filler has shown more interest after beating Fedor in Vegas. Doesn't think some players - like a Kaci - could drum up enough money and support to make a long race...

I don’t listen to DogginIt much anymore because Molina rubs me wrong. Spends too much time bashing Matchroom, especially the person he tends to refer to as “she.” Embarrassing, really. The industry needs a better independent podcast, but then, is there really any demand for it? Probably not. I...

I was not surprised to look at the WPA and WNT rankings and see a big disconnect. It simply reflects the competitive but disjointed nature of pro pool these days. WPA lists Albin Ouschan at No.1. It might have been true four years ago, but he’s not even in my top 10. WNT rankings have their...

Lot of speculation after this CPBA post on Facebook. Matchroom recently signed a deal making CPBA its official cloth supplier. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HrGWfTf5U/ The image says CPBA is the official sponsor of all Major Matchroom events. The events listed are the UK, European, US...

First major WNT ranking event of the year Total prize fund: $225,000. Increases from $200,000 in 2025. Winner: $40,000 Runner up: $16,000 Semifinalists: $10,000 Quaterfinalists: $7,000 Who's in? Filler, Gorst, Eklent, Kaci, FSR, Neuhausen, Labutis, Hoang, Ouschan, Alcaide, Feijin. Who's...

That's what Matchroom is calling it. Evidently WNT plans more events for juniors (16 and under)/ More prize money. More uniformity of rules/conditions. And a junior ranking system. Big deal? Who knows. I am surprised MR is spending any money on this...

Frazer said the WNT wanted to go bigger in the US. They just introduced a 128-player event in Yuma shortly before the U.S. Open in Frisco. Seems patterned after the Philippines Open. Sixty-four top ranked WNT pros and 64 others. Single elimination start to finish...

WNT ranking event. Total prize fund: $50,000 USD Winner: $22,500 Runner up: $12,500 Semifinalists: $7,500. This is a new tournament in Asia designated a WNT ranking event that mostly has implications for the Reyes Cup. What jumped out at me is the format. Rather unusual for a WNT-affiliated...