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
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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.
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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.
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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. ...
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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?
 
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