The World Pool Masters is an annual international nine-ball tournament. Formerly, it was called the European Pool Masters (until 1995) until players from other parts of the globe were invited.
History
editThroughout much of its history, the tournament has been featuring sixteen world-class pool players, competing in single-elimination format. In 2010, the number of players was doubled to 32. The first round of the event was played in double elimination with the second round in single-elimination.[1]
In 2011, the tournament reverted to the original 16-player single-elimination format, with each match a race-to-8, winner breaks. The 2011 edition was held in SM North EDSA Mall in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Ralf Souquet of Germany won the said tournament for the record-setting sixth time, beating defending champion Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines, 8–5.[2]
For the 2019 World Pool Masters, the field was changed to accompany 24 players, with seeded players being given a bye through the first round.[3] The 2022 World Pool Masters went back to its original format, inviting 16 players, with 8 seeded players meeting the other 8 in the first round of the single-elimination tournament.
Winners
edit
Records
edit- Ralf Souquet holds the record for winning the World Pool Masters the most times: six. (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2011).
- Shane Van Boening holds the record for the most consecutive wins: two. (2014, 2015).
- The oldest pool player to ever win the tournament to date is Ralf Souquet of Germany, at 42 years old at the time of his victory. The youngest is Daryl Peach of United Kingdom, aged 23 years old at the time of his victory.
Top Performers
edit| Name | Nationality | Winner | Runner-up | Finals | Semi-final or better |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ralf Souquet |  Germany
|
6 | 2 | 8 | 8 |
| Shane Van Boening |  United States
|
2 | 4 | 5 | |
| David Alcaide |  Spain
|
1 | 3 | 3 | |
| Francisco Bustamante |  Philippines
|
0 | 2 | ||
| Niels Feijen |  Netherlands
|
4 | |||
| Thomas Engert | Germany
|
3 | |||
| Darren Appleton |  England
|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Alex Pagulayan |  Canada
|
1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Earl Strickland | United States
|
4 | |||
| Alex Lely | Netherlands
|
3 | |||
| Dennis Orcollo | Philippines
| ||||
| Alexander Kazakis |  Greece
|
2 | |||
| Ko Pin-yi |  Chinese Taipei
|
1 | 3 | ||
| Fedor Gorst | United States
|
1 | 1 |
- Active participants are shown in bold.
- In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.
References
edit- ^ Matchroom Sport (January 28, 2010). "Masters Invites Announced". AzBilliards.com. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ Matchroom Sport (September 5, 2011). "Souquet wins Masters for the sixth time". MatchroomPool.com. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
- ^ "Expanded World Pool Masters Returns To Gibraltar, March 29–31 – Matchroom Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 31 December 2018.