2026 Predator Bali Aramith Mens Open

Mi Le has won it with a clutch shot to end the shootout. He is a talented player, whose angles are so clean that one must suspect at least some background in three cushion.

Mi Le will meet Filler for the title tomorrow. They met at the World 10ball last week and Mi Le gave Josh all he could handle in a close loss.

I don't terribly care for a shootout deciding a semifinal. Then again, he who lives by the sword dies by the sword. Capito beat Aranas in the Round of 16 by shootout. In the end, shootouts are best avoided.
 
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Surely, Mi Le has the shortest name in pool history. Makes me think of his countrywoman and tennis great Li Na. Seriously, though, the very likeable Mi Le can shoot up a storm. Well played!
 
AJ Manas just gave Carlo a horrendous leave in the doubles event. It seemed like he just blindly wanted to use a draw stroke instead of taking some time to think about what shot is smartest
 
sjm said:
Surely, Mi Le has the shortest name in pool history. Makes me think of his countrywoman and tennis great Li Na. Seriously, though, the very likeable Mi Le can shoot up a storm. Well played!
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now that's the sort of stats i like. the women have han yu of course, five letters, but the mi le record will likely stand.
 
In retrospect, the semi that I thought would be great was not and the semi I thought would not be great was.

In the Filler/FSR match, a tussle between two close friends, Filler was the better man, especially tactically, but FSR was quite unlucky, as it seemed that he had to push out after each Filler dry break. At world championship level, it's not easy to fade that. I think we're seeing the 2022 FSR again, and it's nice to behold. With first at the US Open 9ball, second at the World 8ball, and third at Predator Bali, we are, once again, seeing sustained excellence from him. Wishing him continued success, including in the men's doubles final later today.

The Capito vs Mi Le match, on the other hand, was a grind of the highest order and, quite clearly, could have gone either way. Both players were efficient at the table. Robbie often gained with defense well played. There has been clear progress in this portion of Robbie's game, and it bodes well. He's a more complete player now, and as long as this trend continues, he will find his way to the late rounds at the majors more than occasionally and might well win a world title at some point. Mi Le is a player we are still learning about, but he can really play.

The final looks tasty. Filler deserves to be viewed as the favorite, but I suspect he'll have to work hard for the title against a very capable, if somewhat inexperienced, cueist. While it is possible that the moment will be too big for Mi Le, I'm guessing he will play well and display the kind of pool that enabled him to reach the final.

Good luck to our two finalists. May the best man hoist the trophy.
 
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It's showtime.

I love watching Josh play. He seems like a good guy. But he's the best player in the world. So I'm rooting for the Cinderella.
 
Monti said:
2 out of 3 sets is too short. Semi and final should be 5 sets.
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They are best of five sets in a World Championship, as we saw a week ago at the WPA World 10ball and also in this week's WPA Women's World 9ball. In each case, I thought the match was two long, but to each his own. Still, I can just about accept a longer match when a world championship is one the line. As we know, pro tennis plays three sets out of five at its four biggest events each year, but just three sets in all other tournaments. Pool, it seems, has copied pro tennis.

That said, the Bali 10ball was not a world championship and best two out of three sets was definitely enough for this fan.
 
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Congrats to Team Spain on winning the Men's Teams, essentially a reimagination of the World Cup of Pool, which most of us loved. Same scotch doubles format, exact same prize money, great event.

As FSR and Alcaide managed gold and bronze respectively at the US Open 9ball in August, this result should have surprised nobody.

Having Biado as his partner surely helped Manas, who is prone to mistakes in the moves game. Carlo kept him on track. In set three, at double hill, AJ played a superb safety with a jacked-up cue and it proved to be the set winner when FSR whiffed on the very difficult kick he faced. The time stamp is 2:05:10 in case anyone wants to check out this masterful shot.


Again, thanks to Predator for a nice event.
 
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sjm said:
Congrats to Team Spain on winning the Men's Teams, essentially a reimagination of the World Cup of Pool, which most of us loved. Same scotch doubles format, exact same prize money, great event.

As FSR and Alcaide managed gold and bronze respectively at the US Open 9ball in august, this result should have surprised nobody.

Having Biado as his partner surely helped Manas, who is prone to mistakes in the moves game. Carlo kept him on track. In set three, at double hill, AJ played a superb safety with a jacked-up cue and it proved to be the set winner when FSR whiffed on the very difficult kick he faced. The time stamp is 2:05:10 in case anyone wants to check out this masterful shot.


Again, thanks to Predator for a nice event.
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did jonas get to play at all or did they just donate 20k to him
 
skogstokig said:
did jonas get to play at all or did they just donate 20k to him
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Can't say, but I am impressed by his inclusion. It was a tribute from his countrymen. Something similar happened in February at the WPA World Teams Championship, meant to consist of teams of three, two men and a woman. Team Philippines was represented well by Biado and Roda, but they had to choose between two very elite Filipino women (Chezka Centeno and Rubilen Amit) to complete the team. The one they picked was .... both. Each of these ladies played well and helped Team Philippines to the title. The kind of unity they showed as the most elite pool nation was duplicated this week by Team Spain.
 
The final match had great shots and surprising blunders. At 2-2 in the 5th set AJ scratched getting to the 8 or 9b and then Spain broke and ran for the match.

I’m sure AJ feels horrible, but he only made the last mistake - there were mistakes by everyone at some point.
 
Monti said:
2 out of 3 sets is too short. Semi and final should be 5 sets.
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sjm said:
They are best of five sets in a World Championship, as we saw a week ago at the WPA World 10ball and also in this week's WPA Women's World 9ball. In each case, I thought the match was two long, but to each his own.
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You are both right. Two of three sets is too short, and 3 of 5 is too long. It's the fatal flaw of the Predator format.

In a 2 of 3 match, one dominant player could win a title in as few as eight games overall.

In a 3 of 5 match, a winning player might have to win as many 17 or 18 games.

Ideally, most matches should take no more than two hours. Championship matches should take no more than three hours.

Lots of long matches simply aren't conducive to pro pool broadening its audience beyond merely diehards.
 
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