2026 Reyes Cup - October 15-18

jbart65 said:
If it's not Shaw, the obvious choice to me is either Moritz Neuhausen or Kledio Kaci. The team needs a little youth.

Neuhausen won the European Open this year, but Kaci has been more conistent throughout the season. Won some smaller ranking events and has had a lot of deep runs.
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Certainly reasonable, but right now, neither is playing as well as Alcaide. Once again looking at current form, I'd go with Big Kaci over his brother, after a third at the WNT Florida Open and a second at the World 10ball.

Give me players currently in form.

Finally, when it comes to selecting teams for an event in which beating the most elite is required, I don't place much meaning on who performed at the satellite events (even though a couple of them had superstrong fields). Performance at the majors is a much better indicator of who will perform in a match against the most elite. Hence, I'd take Moritz, European Open champion, over Kledio right now.

Still, Szewczyk, WPA #1 right now, won the World 10ball and was second at the UK Open, showing outrageously strong form at each. He'd make Team ROW much stronger.
 
sjm said:
Certainly reasonable, but right now, neither is playing as well as Alcaide. Once again looking at current form, I'd go with Big Kaci over his brother, after a third at the WNT Florida Open and a second at the World 10ball.
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Kledio has been much more consistent than Eklent. Eklent has been hot and cold, going deep in some tourney and getting eliminated very early in others.

That said, Alcaide has been better than both this year. Lots of high finishes in big events.


sjm said:
Still, Szewczyk, WPA #1 right now, won the World 10ball and was second at the UK Open, showing outrageously strong form at each. He'd make Team ROW much stronger.
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It would say something good about MR if it picked a player like Szewczyk, honoring his fine year overall in events outside the WNT.

Woj is not eligible under current rules, however. He has only played in two WNT events this year, the U.S. and UK opens.

I would pick Shaw, Neuhausen or ... Pecelj.
 
jbart65 said:
Kledio has been much more consistent than Eklent. Eklent has been hot and cold, going deep in some tourney and getting eliminated very early in others.

That said, Alcaide has been better than both this year. Lots of high finishes in big events.



It would say something good about MR if it picked a player like Szewczyk, honoring his fine year overall in events outside the WNT.

Woj is not eligible under current rules, however. He has only played in two WNT events this year, the U.S. and UK opens.

I would pick Shaw, Neuhausen or ... Pecelj.
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Yup, well said.

Pecelj's late season charge makes him an in-form player, too, but he is more likely a Team Europe pick for Mosconi than a Reyes Cup selection. Just like Big Kaci, he did his best work this year in the past two months.
 
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sjm said:
When Team "Rest of World" showed up without SVB and Filler, the 2025 Reyes Cup was already over. The event was completely unwatchable.

To be fair, Team Asia might smoke Team ROW again this year, but if they do, let's hope that politics won't have diluted Team ROW the way they did last year, when Matchroom shot itself in the foot and ruined the event.

As an event, the Reyes Cup has yet to deliver. With or without the Reyes Cup, we all know how great the Asian pool players are.

... and yet, for what it's worth, Asia hasn't looked better than Europe in the two events played in Asia over the past two weeks. At the World 10 ball in Vietnam last week, all four semifinalists were European. At this week's Bali 10ball, Mi Le, who will play in the final shortly, was the only Asian in the semis, joined by three Europeans. Let's add that not even one Asian has won a WNT major in 2026.
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This is good information, sjm.
 
AtLarge said:
Well, Kaçi played in just one of the two Reyes Cups and went 0-1 in singles and 0-2 in doubles. But in his 5 Mosconi Cups he is 5-2 in singles and 6-6 in doubles. That's rather decent.
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Yes, I would like to see Kaci get a chance, perhaps instead of Shaw. Shaw is good too though, and he understands the entertainment factor.
 
jay helfert said:
As much as I like the Pinoy/Asian players, I think they are underdogs this year against a stacked ROW team. Nothing like last year!

It's the real deal.this time around. Should be a lot more competitive than the MC. I'll be there sweating it.

Wonder what the prize money is?
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Hopefully something substantial. These guys should be getting paid.
 
jay helfert said:
As much as I like the Pinoy/Asian players, I think they are underdogs this year against a stacked ROW team. Nothing like last year!

It's the real deal.this time around. Should be a lot more competitive than the MC. I'll be there sweating it.

Wonder what the prize money is?
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In 2024, the payouts to the losing team and winning team were identical at $15,000 per player. It was a paid exhibition, not a competition. In 2025, I don't recall the payouts being published at all.
 
nicksaint26 said:
Aleksa Pecelj is the final pick for team ROW!
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Very solid pick.

Aleksa is probably playing a bit below Alcaide right now, but I always favor the inclusion of young rising stars of the game who are in form. We all remember how nicely both Neuhausen and Labutis played last December in their Mosconi Cup debuts. Perhaps Aleksa can find similar magic.

Team ROW looks much stronger than a year ago and this year's team match should be close. Filler and SVB are back, FSR appears to have rediscovered his form of 2022, Gorst just won the China Open 9ball, and an in-form Pecelj is joining them to complete the team. I also like having Souquet as captain.

After the politics-driven snoozefest of 2025, the Reyes Cup will likely find its footing in 2026. I sure hope so.
 
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Pecelj is a good pick. Great to get a young player on the team.

Definitely think Team World has the edge, assuming Yapp is the final pick for Team Asia. Not sure a single player on Asia is in better form than any of the ROW players.
 
Tight schedule the next few weeks.

The Reyes Cup finishes runs Oct. 15 to Oct 18. A day later, The 2026 Qatar 10-ball World Cup begins.

The Qatar event begins with a qualifying stage that runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23. The main event begins Oct. 24 and runs through Oct. 29.

The Philippines Open runs from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24. The final is the same day as the first day of the main Qatar event.

Gorst, Biado and FSR are all shown in the WNT promo for the Philippines Open. All three are also shown in the advertisement for the Qatar Open.

How can this be? Well, Qatar last year appeared to schedule first-round matches for players who played in the Philippines Open to be on the second day of the main 10 ball event.

If that's the case, FSR, Biado or Gorst could win the Philippines Open on Oct. 24, fly to Qatar and play on the 25th. The flight from Manilla to Doha takes 9 1/2 hours.

The Philippines Open promo also shows that SVB, Skyler and Justin Bergman are expected to play in the Philippines due to Mosconi qualification rules. That's why Gorst is playing in it. Among the four only Gorst is shown in the Qatar promo.
 
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jbart65 said:
Tight schedule the next few weeks.

The Reyes Cup finishes runs Oct. 15 to Oct 18. A day later, The 2026 Qatar 10-ball World Cup begins.

The Qatar event begins with a qualifying stage that runs from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23. The main event begins Oct. 24 and runs through Oct. 29.

The Philippines Open runs from Oct. 20 to Oct. 24. The final is the same day as the first day of the main Qatar event.

Gorst, Biado and FSR are all shown in the WNT promo for the Philippines Open. All three are also shown in the advertisement for the Qatar Open.

How can this be? Well, Qatar last year appeared to schedule first-round matches for players who played in the Philippines Open to be on the second day of the main 10 ball event.

If that's the case, FSR, Biado or Gorst could win the Philippines Open on Oct. 24, fly to Qatar and play on the 25th. The flight from Manilla to Doha takes 9 1/2 hours.

The Philippines Open promo also shows that SVB, Skyler and Justin Bergman are expected to play in the Philippines due to Mosconi qualification rules. That's why Gorst is playing in it. Among the four only Gorst is shown in the Qatar promo.
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Thanks for the info. It's a tight schedule but also a great schedule!

Especially in a year in which the World 9ball went up in smoke, it's nice to see all these good events in which pros can earn a better living.

The recent American swing (Vice City Classic, Florida Open, Arizona Open, Phoenix Open. US Open 9ball) was widely praised by the players for the opportunities it brought. The still in progress Asian swing has been another great success.

I've noted before that, as the world tournament calendar has become so busy, event producers must play a bigger and bigger role in managing it than in the past. To me, it looks like they are starting to make the grade, and it is a very positive development in pro pool.
 
Albert Januarta is the final pick for team Asia. I like team ROW in this one. Having Manas and Januarta makes team Asia very young and inexperienced. I think Yapp would have been the better pick personally.
 
nicksaint26 said:
Albert Januarta is the final pick for team Asia. I like team ROW in this one. Having Manas and Januarta makes team Asia very young and inexperienced. I think Yapp would have been the better pick personally.
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Agreed that Yapp is a stronger player than Januarta. That said, Yapp, WNT player of the year in 2025, has had a miserable year in the WNT majors, without even one single appearance on Matchroom Day 6. About 60% of his prize money earnings year to date came at the World 8ball.

I'm OK with this pick as, just like the Pecelj pick, it introduces a young rising player to the WNT elite team events. I also agree that it improves Team ROW chances.

I think this year's match will be very tight.
 
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