Arizona Open 2026, Yuma, August 13-16

If there's anyone out there that, before the event began, predicted Pecelj vs Grabe in the final, would you like to be my stockbroker?

Based on Saturday's play, I sure expected SVB vs Roda, but the game isn't played on paper, is it?

Not an easy final to handicap. Grabe has a bit more experience in big spots, even beating Filler in the final at the 2025 Las Vegas Open 10ball, but this match seems a coin toss.
 
sjm said:
If there's anyone out there that, before the event began, predicted Pecelj vs Grabe in the final, would you like to be my stockbroker?

Based on Saturday's play, I sure expected SVB vs Roda, but the game isn't played on paper, is it?

Not an easy final to handicap. Grabe has a bit more experience in big spots, even beating Filler in the final at the 2025 Las Vegas Open 10ball, but this match seems a coin toss.
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For the fun of it, I did an NCAA style bracket. I had Grabe and Pecelj going out in the round of 32. I only had five of the final 16 and none of the final eight. Pro pool is very unpredictable given the closeness of talent.

Pecelj had the luckiest two days of his career. Doubt that will ever happen again.
 
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Bob Jewett said:
Are pool players subject to the California jock tax? I see that most states have a jock tax and even some cities, but California leads the way at 13%.

If a player plays for a league team (baseball, football), the calculation seems more straight forward than for an independent operator, like a pool player. Also, football players are taxed whether or not their team wins the game in the taxing state. I doubt that California is going to tax every player in the pool tournament for having spent three days in the state. But they might.
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Pretty sure the PGA Tour golfers have paid millions over the years and they often referred to themselves as independent contractors. Financially the Florida and Texas events work out better for them.
 
jbart65 said:
For the fun of it, I did an NCAA style bracket. I had Grabe and Pecelj going out in the round of 32. I only had five of the final 16 and none of the final eight. Pro pool is very unpredictable given the closeness of talent.

Pecelj had the luckiest two days of his career. Doubt that will ever happen again.
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Yup, handicapping pool is no easy task.

Especially at 800+ Fargo, everyone can beat everyone. It's why we enjoy watching so much. It's also why, in our sport, a year in which a player wins three majors (let's say that means $25,000 first prize or better) is a truly phenomenal year.

When Pecelj scratched on the break at 10-9 ahead, I thought SVB would get over the finish line, but he lost the match-deciding safety battle and it just didn't happen.
 
sjm said:
Yup, handicapping pool is no easy task.

Especially at 800+ Fargo, everyone can beat everyone. It's why we enjoy watching so much. It's also why, in our sport, a year in which a player wins three majors (let's say that means $25,000 first prize or better) is a truly phenomenal year.

When Pecelj scratched on the break at 10-9 ahead, I thought SVB would get over the finish line, but he lost the match-deciding safety battle and it just didn't happen.
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To me the key was when Shane had BIH to get to 10-7 or 10-8 and dogged the out. A sharp Shane gets out there 99 times out of 100.
 
GideonF said:
To me the key was when Shane had BIH to get to 10-7 or 10-8 and dogged the out. A sharp Shane gets out there 99 times out of 100.
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There were a couple of focus misses.
It was a dense weekend and he's had 2 tournaments in a row with INSANE draws.
Get the man some rest, mix in a lake day or 2 and he'll be good.
 
something_pool said:
I don't think it's arguable that Efren's prime was after he turned 44 years old. Yes, Efren won lots of events in 2003-10, but many of those events didn't exist or didn't have strong international fields before that time period. So all this shows is that the opportunities for titles increased as Efren got older, and that he had extremely good longevity, not that he was in his prime in his late 40s and 50s.

It's true that Efren learned 1p and banks later in life, but that's also because these were more niche games, played mostly by Americans, when Efren was younger. If Efren had learned these games when he was younger, he would have dominated then too.

This is why I don't think it makes much sense to compare Efren's greatness as an all-around player to today's players by looking at DCC MOT awards: players like Fedor, today, grew up in an era where all the top players were playing every game, and had tournaments like the DCC to compete at for their whole careers. Efren grew up in an era where top international players didn't compete in 1p or banks, and the DCC didn't even exist. If it had existed when Efren was 20, and there was prize money to be won, can anyone really imagine he wouldn't have at least a few more MOT titles?
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I'd say that if you don't think Gorst is already on the short list of the best ever all-around players like Lassiter, Varner, Reyes, SVB or Pagulayan, you overlook just how special Gorst is. I have been around pro pool long enough to have watched all of them, and Fedor is already deserving of inclusion in serious all-around GOAT conversations.

Much in the way that Ronnie Allen did in the 1970s, Fedor has helped bring one pocket to a level previously unseen. He is also already among the best that ever played bank pool and his rotation pool skills are, undeniably, super-elite.

Right now, we are watching the best cueists that ever screwed a cue together. It is not sacrilegious to suggest that, even as all-an around player, Fedor has a chance to be remembered as having surpassed Efren as an all-around player. Of course, he hasn't done it yet, and maybe he never will, but keep an eye out.

However it plays out it should be enjoyable to see how it develops.
 
sudocrushms said:
There were a couple of focus misses.
It was a dense weekend and he's had 2 tournaments in a row with INSANE draws.
Get the man some rest, mix in a lake day or 2 and he'll be good.
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Yeah unfortunately he don't get a few days of rest. Players meeting for the Phoenix open is tomorrow night and play begins Tuesday...
 
Jaden said:
It was a mixture of both.
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Yes, but, after breaking wet, SVB failed on two different safeties in the double hill rack and Pecelj, consequently, beat him to the next shot. When that chance came, Pecelj made no mistake about the runout and closed it out.
 
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I expect Grabe to win, 13-6 or so. He’s been almost as good as SVB until Shane lost. He is playing the best pool of his life and looks ready to get over the top.

Pecelj has surprised me. He hasn’t done much since a semifinal run at the U.S. Open in 2023. Seemed like he plateaud, or even regressed a bit. He hasn’t played great in Arizona, but he’s been steady. Lucky, sure, but you don’t get to a final entirely on luck.
 
Wnt has to do a better job of scheduling next year and I know they work with predator now to not overlap but these 3 tournaments in a row is kinda dumb
 
sjm said:
The evidence suggests otherwise. SVB skipped each of the first two WNT events of 2026, (European Open, UK Open) but he won the third (Florida Open) and has every chance to win the fourth (Arizona Open) later today.

Last month, SVB played a long race against Fedor and was beaten convincingly. Despite a slow start at the majors this year, there's little evidence that Fedor has slipped much at all. Fedor may work as hard at his craft as anyone we've ever seen, and you can be sure he's not letting a brief hiatus in competition interrupt his always ambitious practice routine.

Emily knows that for the Mosconi to be competitive at all, Fedor must be on Team USA. I'm sure Fedor realizes it, too.
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One small difference. Shane skipped the much longer trip overseas. Fedor missed two domestic events. That said, you made your point.
 
sjm said:
I'd say that if you don't think Gorst is already on the short list of the best ever all-around players like Lassiter, Varner, Reyes, SVB or Pagulayan, you overlook just how special Gorst is. I have been around pro pool long enough to have watched all of them, and Fedor is already deserving of inclusion in serious all-around GOAT conversations.

Much in the way that Ronnie Allen did in the 1970s, Fedor has helped bring one pocket to a level previously unseen. He is also already among the best that ever played bank pool and his rotation pool skills are, undeniably, super-elite.

Right now, we are watching the best cueists that ever screwed a cue together. It is not sacrilegious to suggest that, even as all-an around player, Fedor has a chance to be remembered as having surpassed Efren as an all-around player. Of course, he hasn't done it yet, and maybe he never will, but keep an eye out.

However it plays out it should be enjoyable to see how it develops.
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I never said Gorst wasn't a great player. I said that MOT titles don't determine that. You can't just look at Reyes' 5 MOT titles and say that that's the benchmark for equaling his greatness as a player. It would be like saying Buddy Hall wasn't one of the all time greats because he doesn't have a world championship -- that misses that there was no world championship until he was already well past his prime.

"Best" is not the same as "greatest." Fedor is probably already a "better" player than Efren was -- that's the nature of progress in every sport; the younger players learn from the older ones and stand on the shoulders of giants. But that's not the same thing as being a "greater" player: context matters, and access to information also matters. Inventing new knowledge is harder than learning that same knowledge.

I personally don't think that Fedor (or anyone) has revolutionized the game in the way that Efren has, but that's not to say that it's impossible.
 
something_pool said:
I don't think it's arguable that Efren's prime was after he turned 44 years old. Yes, Efren won lots of events in 2003-10, but many of those events didn't exist or didn't have strong international fields before that time period. So all this shows is that the opportunities for titles increased as Efren got older, and that he had extremely good longevity, not that he was in his prime in his late 40s and 50s.

It's true that Efren learned 1p and banks later in life, but that's also because these were more niche games, played mostly by Americans, when Efren was younger. If Efren had learned these games when he was younger, he would have dominated then too.

This is why I don't think it makes much sense to compare Efren's greatness as an all-around player to today's players by looking at DCC MOT awards: players like Fedor, today, grew up in an era where all the top players were playing every game, and had tournaments like the DCC to compete at for their whole careers. Efren grew up in an era where top international players didn't compete in 1p or banks, and the DCC didn't even exist. If it had existed when Efren was 20, and there was prize money to be won, can anyone really imagine he wouldn't have at least a few more MOT titles?
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Efren was the dominent One Pocket player since the early 90's and playing his best 9-Ball then too. Not sure when he started competing at DCC but he certainly had the opportunity years earlier than 2003 or even 1999 for that matter.
 
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