The post about Jayson Shaw getting into the HOF raises a few questions:
Who is the oldest winner of a major pool tourney in "modern" pool? And how are "major" and "modern" defined.
Tricky to define modern, but I'd say modernity started with the surge of talent outside the U.S. and much deeper playing fields. The era probably began around 2014-2015, as players such as Albin Ouschan and Ko Pin Yi ascended to the top ranks.
Looked at that way, Biado is the oldest winner in the past decade of what I would describe as a major title.
Carlo Biado won the WPA 10-ball title in 2024 at the age of 40.
SVB won the World Nine Ball title in 2022 at the age of 38. He also won the World Eight Ball title in 2023 at 40.
Is an 8-ball title a major? Was the field deep enough? The 8-ball field had 128 invitees.
Niels Feijin won the WPA World Nine Ball title in 2014 at 38. That was the cusp of the modern era.
Yet by and large, it's players under 30 who seem to be winning most of the majors these days.
***
Now what constitutes a major? Also hard to determine.
The pool industry is in flux. Matchroom is on the rise, but most if its big events are young. UK Open, European Open, Hanoi.
The rise of MR has also cause some havoc with the WPA, which has increasingly ceded control of its "major" events to Predator.
Let' start with MR. I'd consider the UK Open, European Open, US Open, World Pool Championship and Hanoi Open as majors.
The Spanish Open in 2023 would be another, and MR is bringing it back this year. The Spanish Open two years was every bit as big as the others I mentioned in the size (256 players) and quality of the field.
WPA events harder to figure. Predator invites 64 to 96 players for most events, and all of them I would consider non-majors.
The biggest Predator events so far have invited 128 players. These fields are arguably almost as deep as big MR majors since they don't include Open-type players with no chance of winning.
Problem is, only the Predator Las Vegas Open in 2025 and 2023, and the Puerto Rico Open in 2023, had 128 players.
I'd normally consider the World 10-ball Championship as a major given the large payout, but Predator has run it the past two years and only invited 64 players. This event has also been sporadic historically.
Aside from Predator-run events, the China 9-Ball Open has generally had fairly deep fields and good prize money. It's also been a regular event for 15 years.
The inaugural Ho Chi Minh Open had good prize money and a 128-player field. It could also become a major in time.
Put it all together, and there are somewhere between 5 to 9 events each year that could be considered MAJORS.
***
What about small but stacked invitationals?
SVB won the Premier League of Pool in 2024 in what was an incredibly grueling event. More grueling, I'd argue, than a 256-player field at a major Matchroom event.
Still, the fields are too small for events such as PLP or WPM to consider them major titles. Big titles, to be sure, but not among the very biggest.
Who is the oldest winner of a major pool tourney in "modern" pool? And how are "major" and "modern" defined.
Tricky to define modern, but I'd say modernity started with the surge of talent outside the U.S. and much deeper playing fields. The era probably began around 2014-2015, as players such as Albin Ouschan and Ko Pin Yi ascended to the top ranks.
Looked at that way, Biado is the oldest winner in the past decade of what I would describe as a major title.
Carlo Biado won the WPA 10-ball title in 2024 at the age of 40.
SVB won the World Nine Ball title in 2022 at the age of 38. He also won the World Eight Ball title in 2023 at 40.
Is an 8-ball title a major? Was the field deep enough? The 8-ball field had 128 invitees.
Niels Feijin won the WPA World Nine Ball title in 2014 at 38. That was the cusp of the modern era.
Yet by and large, it's players under 30 who seem to be winning most of the majors these days.
***
Now what constitutes a major? Also hard to determine.
The pool industry is in flux. Matchroom is on the rise, but most if its big events are young. UK Open, European Open, Hanoi.
The rise of MR has also cause some havoc with the WPA, which has increasingly ceded control of its "major" events to Predator.
Let' start with MR. I'd consider the UK Open, European Open, US Open, World Pool Championship and Hanoi Open as majors.
The Spanish Open in 2023 would be another, and MR is bringing it back this year. The Spanish Open two years was every bit as big as the others I mentioned in the size (256 players) and quality of the field.
WPA events harder to figure. Predator invites 64 to 96 players for most events, and all of them I would consider non-majors.
The biggest Predator events so far have invited 128 players. These fields are arguably almost as deep as big MR majors since they don't include Open-type players with no chance of winning.
Problem is, only the Predator Las Vegas Open in 2025 and 2023, and the Puerto Rico Open in 2023, had 128 players.
I'd normally consider the World 10-ball Championship as a major given the large payout, but Predator has run it the past two years and only invited 64 players. This event has also been sporadic historically.
Aside from Predator-run events, the China 9-Ball Open has generally had fairly deep fields and good prize money. It's also been a regular event for 15 years.
The inaugural Ho Chi Minh Open had good prize money and a 128-player field. It could also become a major in time.
Put it all together, and there are somewhere between 5 to 9 events each year that could be considered MAJORS.
***
What about small but stacked invitationals?
SVB won the Premier League of Pool in 2024 in what was an incredibly grueling event. More grueling, I'd argue, than a 256-player field at a major Matchroom event.
Still, the fields are too small for events such as PLP or WPM to consider them major titles. Big titles, to be sure, but not among the very biggest.
