U.S. OPEN 2026, Frisco, Texas, August 25-30

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jbart65 said:
The World Nine Ball Tour was publicly announced in April 2023, but unofficially the tour was created in 2022 with the launch of the U.K. and European opens.

Since 2022, WNT has held 26 events it describes as majors. Fourteen of the events had repeat winners. Twelve players have won a single major in that span.

So 46% of the time a big event had a new winner, but more than half the matches are repeat winners.

There are six repeat winners. They are Joshua Filler (3), Aloysius Yapp (3), Fedor Gorst (2), SVB (2), Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (2) and … Davide Alcaide (2).

Single event winners are (chronologically):

Dennis Grabe (Arizona 2026)
Moritz Neuhausen (European 2026)
Pijus Labutis (Hanoi 2025)
Carlo Biado (WPC 2025)
Johann Chua (Hanoi 2024)
Mickey Krause (European 2024)
Robbie Capito (UK 2024)
Jayson Shaw (Hanoi 2023)
Ko Ping Chung (US Open 2023)
Dang Jin Hu (Spanish Open 2023)
Eklent Kaci (UK Open 2023)
Alban Ouschan (European 2022)
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Didn’t Biado also win the US Open 9ball? I think he beat Yapp in the final that year. It was the year that Emily Frazier renamed the US open 9ball Trophy, now called the “Barry Behrman Trophy.” Carlo cried when Emily presented the trophy.
 
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sjm said:
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Didn’t Biado also win the US Open 9ball? I think he beat Yapp in the final that year. It was the year that Emily Frazier renamed the US open 9ball Trophy, now called the “Barry Behrman Trophy.” Carlo cried when Emily presented the trophy.
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yes, could it been 2021? i rooted for yapp, he really shined that year
 
sneakynito said:
In no universe is 1p a toss-up between Alex in his prime vs Dennis in his prime.
Tony and Dennis were back and forth playing even when they both were at their best, and Alex was giving weight to Tony and anyone else whenever he could get a game.
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I agree. Alex, at least until Fedor came along, was the second best ever at one pocket. Dennis was, however, a slightly better bank pool player than Alex.

I have always marveled at how the Filipino players seemed to pick up the fringe disciplines so easily.
 
I have two friends playing in the Open. Chris Sharier drew Fedor in the first round and Jude Rosenstock drew Pijus Labutis. I wish them well, they will need it.
 
sjm said:
D

Didn’t Biado also win the US Open 9ball? I think he beat Yapp in the final that year. It was the year that Emily Frazier renamed the US open 9ball Trophy, now called the “Barry Behrman Trophy.” Carlo cried when Emily presented the trophy.
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Biado won the U.S. Open in 2021, beating Yapp 13-8.

As I noted, though, the WNT as it now exists unofficially started in 2022 and officially began in 2023. I used 2022 as my starting point.
 
sjm said:
Not the best player, but he was, at times, along with Alex, the guy to beat for the DCC all-around, so I can see where you are coming from. His skills were legendary, and nobody questions that.

Of course, that was not the contention of the poster that raised this topic, who claimed that Dennis was clearly the best player in the world for years., neither suggesting nor meaning that all-around play was to be the measure, nor suggesting that those years were non-consecutive.

I was a big fan of Dennis, but his resume of major titles is very light compared to some of his greatest contemporaries, especially Shane, Darren and Alex. The others were winning US Open 9ball events and World championships with Dennis found in virtually every field over which each prevailed. Dennis never won these.

Darren Appleton, one of Dennis' greatest rivals, won the World Championship at 9ball, 10ball, English 8ball and Heyball. Add that to his WPA World Team Championship and two US Open 9ball titles and you've got a mind-blowing all-around player, one whose resume tops that of Dennis even in all-around play.

Dennis was also never Billiards Digest Player of the Year, so at no point was he considered the best player in the world by the most important voice in the Billiards media.

I was one of Dennis' biggest fans, but if he was intermittently the best all-around player, he was certainly not worthy of being called the world's best pool player at any point of his career. Nonetheless, his legacy as a superstar of the highest order is safe.
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sjm said:
Not the best player, but he was, at times, along with Alex, the guy to beat for the DCC all-around, so I can see where you are coming from. His skills were legendary, and nobody questions that.

Of course, that was not the contention of the poster that raised this topic, who claimed that Dennis was clearly the best player in the world for years., neither suggesting nor meaning that all-around play was to be the measure, nor suggesting that those years were non-consecutive.

I was a big fan of Dennis, but his resume of major titles is very light compared to some of his greatest contemporaries, especially Shane, Darren and Alex. The others were winning US Open 9ball events and World championships with Dennis found in virtually every field over which each prevailed. Dennis never won these.

Darren Appleton, one of Dennis' greatest rivals, won the World Championship at 9ball, 10ball, English 8ball and Heyball. Add that to his WPA World Team Championship and two US Open 9ball titles and you've got a mind-blowing all-around player, one whose resume tops that of Dennis even in all-around play.

Dennis was also never Billiards Digest Player of the Year, so at no point was he considered the best player in the world by the most important voice in the Billiards media.

I was one of Dennis' biggest fans, but if he was intermittently the best all-around player, he was certainly not worthy of being called the world's best pool player at any point of his career. Nonetheless, his legacy as a superstar of the highest order is safe.
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Meanwhile Dennis spotted Darren the eight ball in Ten Ball and robbed him. All the other players were hesitant to gamble with him and basixally he was spottiing the world with only one or two exceptions. He and Alex were friends and didn't gamble. Even Shane was very careful making games with Dennis!

Sfu, you're a great pool fan but not a player. You want to know who the best player is ask the players. Back then they all said Dennis. Same as the Parica era. Everyone knew he was the bedt player.
 
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jay helfert said:
Meanwhile Dennis spotted Darren the eight ball in Ten Ball and robbed him. All the other players were hesitant to gamble with him and basixally he was spottiing the world with only one or two exceptions. He and Alex were friends and didn't gamble. Even Shane was very careful making games with Dennis!

Sfu, you're a great pool fan but not a player. You want to know who the best player is ask the players. Back then they all said Dennis. Same as the Parica era. Everyone knew he was the bedt player.
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I don't understand this take at all.
The best "player" of any era would also have been the one winning the most.
Dennis is an all time great and no one's saying otherwise, but was never the best. Darren was also great, but hardly a litmus test for "who's best pool player". Don't understand the Parica era comparison, either.
Because his most prolific timeframe was also Efren's during most prolific, and if you don't think Efren was the best, well, then there's nothing really to talk about.
 
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