2025 Premier League Pool player list

Badpenguin

Badpenguin

Well-known member
I can't find the player list for the Premier League that starts in 4 days. Not on wnttv.com, matchroompool.com, or wntlivescores.com.

If someone sees the list, please post it here.
 
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Jayson Shaw
Shane Van Boening
Eklent Kaci
Aloysius Yapp
Johann Chua
Duong Quoc Hoang
An Nhiet
Robbie Capito
Moritz Neuhausen
Pijus Labutis
Edward Koyongian
Tyler Styer
Sanjin Pehlivanovic
Kledio Kaci
AJ Manas
 
jbart65 said:
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Jayson Shaw
Shane Van Boening
Eklent Kaci
Aloysius Yapp
Johann Chua
Duong Quoc Hoang
An Nhiet
Robbie Capito
Moritz Neuhausen
Pijus Labutis
Edward Koyongian
Tyler Styer
Sanjin Pehlivanovic
Kledio Kaci
AJ Manas
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Not a particularly strong field. The absence of Filler and Gorst is a shame, and these days, no event that doesn't feature at least one of them seems terribly important.

Based on Fargo, there are only four of the Top 10 (SVB, FSR, Chua, Kaci), and two others ranked between 11 and 20 (Shaw, Yapp) As nobody else rates in the Fargo Top 35, I'm guessing it should be easy work for these six, and I'd guess that four of them will reach the semis. The round robin format is pretty tough to fade for the less elite participants, but there are some other Fargo 800 players (Pehlivanovic, Manas, Labutis, Neuhausen, K Kaci, and Capito) capable of sneaking into the semis if they find their "A" game.

All that said, I applaud Matchroom for giving some non-elite players an opportunity in this spot, and it will be a memorable event if one of them writes a Cinderella story.

Tough to pick a winner as the semis and the final are usually races to seven in this event, leaving the door wide open for anyone who gets there to hoist the trophy.

The Matchroom Invitationals are always special, and until the recent inception of the Predator Challenge of Champions in Puerto Rico in November, Matchroom stood alone in providing the pro players with these "free roll" events, with no entry fees and prize money paying all the way down to last place. Matchroom remains the driving force in pool's invitational events, with well -established events at the PLP, WPM, WCOP, and the Mosconi. Nobody does it better.

Wishing all these fine players the best of luck.
 
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Here was the 2024 lineup.

Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Shane Van Boening
Fedor Gorst
Ko Ping Chung
Jayson Shaw
Joshua Filler
Albin Ouschan
Mario He
Ko Pin Yi
Skyler Woodward
Wiktor Zielinski
Dang Jin Hu
Michael Feliciano
David Alcaide
Bernie Regalario
Nguyen Anh Tuan

if you figured Hu, Feliciano, Regalario and Tuan were near the bottom you’d be right. Yet Alcaide was worst of all. Just one win. A Murphy’s Law week for him.

SVB beat Ko Pin Yi in the finals. Filler and Ko Ping Chung were the other semifinalists.

EDIT: Forgot Zielinski. Added his name.
 
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The 2023 PLP was quite weak.

Albin Ouschan
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Shane Van Boening
Khalid Alghamdi
Jayson Shaw
Konrad Juszczyszyn
Sanjin Pehlivanovic
Wu Kun Lin
Alex Pagulayan
Earl Strickland
Skyler Woodward
Seo Seoa
Chris Melling
Chou Chieh Yu
Luong Duc Thien
Naoyuki Oi


Earl, Seoa, Chou and Alghamdi finished at the bottom. Melling and Thien weren’t much better.

FSR, Shaw, Sanjin and Oi made it to the semis. Ruíz won it all.
 
2022

Joshua Filler
Shane Van Boening
David Alcaide
Naoyuki Oi
Alex Kazakis
Mieszko Fortuński
Eklent Kaçi
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Albin Ouschan
Max Lechner
Omar Al Shaheen
Olivér Szolnoki
Aloysius Yapp
Kelly Fisher
Skyler Woodward
Jayson Shaw



Ouschan beat Filler in the finals. Shaw and SVB were the other semifinalists.
 
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Thanks for the history.

As you can see, this is one of the easiest events to win for the elite. With an almost endless parade of races to five, the top few are always favored to find their way to the semis, where it takes just two races to seven to capture the trophy.

Opportunity knocks.
 
skogstokig said:
i say shane repeats. it's kind of a stamina contest, definitely not for everyone
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I would agree that Shane's the favorite to win it this year, but the last four single elimination stage is race to seven. It is quite the crapshoot, so everyone who gets to the semis has a very good chance to win the title.
 
The first event of the PLP was played in 2021. It was actually called ... Predator Championship Pool! (Would be nice to see a resumption of Predator-MR collab).

There were 19 players and the format was a bit different. Ouschan won the final, 5-1, over David Alcaide.

In 2022, the current format was largely put in place. That's when I started watching the event.

SVB got to the semis in 2022 and 2024, and won the event in 2024. He got off to a slow start in 2023 and was eliminated fairly early.

Ouschan won the event in 2021 and 2022, arguably when he was at his peak. He hasn't won a major since then. Ouschan was just middle of the pack in 2023 and 2024.

FSR won the event in 2023. He was in the midst of a huge winning streak. He was still in the top third of finishers of 2024, but not at his best.

Jayson Shaw got to the semis twice and lost in the finals to FSR in 2023. He wasn't very good in 2024, feeling the pressure of hosting the event at his hall in Connecticut. Shaw had also gained some weight and wasn't his usual self (he has since shed the extra weight and is playing better).

One conclusion? It's not really a crapshoot. Players in top form have generally gotten to the semis and/or won it.
 
jbart65 said:
My prediction: SVB, FSR, Shaw and ... Labutis in the semis.

Shaw takes it all.
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Love the prediction. That would be a nice final four. Labutis is very much on the rise, and it would be nice if his game has risen to the point that he can reach the semis here.
 
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jbart65 said:
One conclusion? It's not really a crapshoot. Players in top form have generally gotten to the semis and/or won it.
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It's only a crapshoot once you get to the semis, as anyone can win two races to seven.
 
Going with experience and who's in top form.

This event, though in its infancy, has not really produced any big surprises. Sanjin got off to a great start in 2023, and Wielinski in 2024, but both clearly faded down the homestretch.

I am guessing Eklent gets very motivated by the inclusion of his brother and finishes in the top third.

Duong is my darkhorse. His total game has gotten so much better.

Really interested to see how Manas does. Lot to learn, still, but he's just so casually good at such a young age.

Bottom dwellers? I'd expect Nhiet, Koyongian and Styer near the bottom.

Wild cards? Chua and Capito. Both momentum players and risk takers. But risk taking doesn't pay off in a tourney like this. Steadiness does.
 
jbart65 said:
I am guessing Eklent gets very motivated by the inclusion of his brother and finishes in the top third.
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Concern for me with Eklent Kaci would just be how many F’s is he going to give? Winning this event is a marathon and I don’t think a lot of short sets that, in a vacuum, don’t matter that much suit Kaci very well. Am excited to see the Kaci vs. Kaci match. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Kledio play, but he’s starting to consistently make deep runs and feel like he could break out soon.
 
nmh2008 said:
Concern for me with Eklent Kaci would just be how many F’s is he going to give? Winning this event is a marathon and I don’t think a lot of short sets that, in a vacuum, don’t matter that much suit Kaci very well. Am excited to see the Kaci vs. Kaci match. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Kledio play, but he’s starting to consistently make deep runs and feel like he could break out soon.
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Kledio is a careful player. Steady and somewhat cerebral. Seems to have all the tools.

Reminds me a bit of Labutis a few years ago, but Kledio is more advanced at a younger age.

Still not sure how much higher on the mountain he can go, however. The last stage of maturity is mental toughness and mindset. It's what separates the best from all the rest.
 
JAM said:
I don't know why, but I'm having trouble garnering any interest in this event.
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Any event not featuring Fedor and Josh is a letdown, but this is still a good event and I applaud Matchroom for producing it. I attended it for two days last year and really enjoyed it.

While the event features plenty of high-level pool, it is probably the most predictable event of the year, at least up to the semifinals, and nobody without a World 9ball title has won it.

As you can see from Jbart's posts, Cinderella stories are nearly never written in this event. The round robin format is just too tough if you are not one of the most elite players. Finally, by any reasonable measure, it probably shouldn't take a week to pare a field of sixteen down to four. While I appreciate the novelty that is the event's format, I'm glad this format is used just once a year.

This event, however, is an opportunity to see, up close, some of the game's rising stars, especially Labutis and Neuhausen, both of whom will likely, one day, become regulars at the Matchroom invitational events. I think this event will become more exciting if one of them has a big week.

Of course, this event will pale by comparison to the just completed European Open, but that's not something to be bothered about.

I am going to watch the event, and I think anyone who does will enjoy it.
 
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