Efren Manalang Reyes, popularly known by the nickname "Bata", is a Filipino professional pool player. Reyes is widely considered the greatest pool player of all time. A winner of over 100 international titles, Reyes was the first player to win the WPA World Championships in two different pool disciplines. Among his numerous titles, Reyes is a WPA World Nine-ball champion and WPA World Eight-ball Champion, a U.S. Open winner, a two-time World Pool League winner, and a thirteen-time Derby City Classic winner. Reyes also represented the Philippines at the World Cup of Pool, winning the event with his partner Francisco Bustamante in 2006 and 2009. By defeating American player Earl Strickland in the inaugural Color of Money event in 1996, Reyes took home the largest single match purse in pool history of $100,000.
Alejandro Salvador "Alex" Pagulayan is a Filipino Canadian professional pool and snooker player. His nickname is "the Lion", given to him by the great Cliff Thorburn, former World and Canadian Snooker champion. Alex was born in Cabagan, Isabela, Philippines and was raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2012, Pagulayan became a citizen of Canada and now resides in Toronto.
Dennis Orcollo, sometimes called Dennis Orcullo, is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "Surigao" and "RoboCop". He has been called "The Money-Game King".
The U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship is an annual professional men's nine-ball pool tournament that began in its current form in 1976. The U.S. Open is one of the most sought-after titles in nine-ball and in pool generally. Traditionally, winners of the U.S. Open are given a green blazer and are awarded free entry fees to all future U.S. Open tournaments.
Shane Van Boening is an American professional pool player from Rapid City, South Dakota. As of 2022, Van Boening is the number 1 ranked player in the "World Rankings" published by the Matchroom Pool and the "WPA Rankings" published by the World Pool-Billiard Association. Van Boening is a winner of over 100 professional titles.
Daryl Peach is an English professional pool player, from Lancashire, who resides in Blackpool, England. He won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, where he defeated the Philippines' Roberto Gomez 17–15 in the final to become the first British player to win the WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
The 2011 WPA World Eight-ball Championship was an eight-ball world championship, organized by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), and held 19–26 February 2011 at the Fujairah Exhibition Centre of the Al Diar Siji Hotel in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. A total of 116 players from all of the WPA's six regions participated.
The 2011 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was a professional nine-ball pool tournament held from June 25 to July 1, 2011 at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar. A series of qualifying tournaments were held from June 21 to 23. The competition was the 2011 edition of the WPA World Nine-ball Championship, which was first held in 1990. The event was organized by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).
The 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was a 9-Ball pool world Championships. The event took place between December 10 to 20, 2018 in the al-Attiya Sports Arena of the Al-Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar. The Qatari capital held the event for the eighth time in a row.
The 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship was a professional pool tournament for the discipline of ten-ball organised by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and CueSports International. It was the fifth WPA World Ten-ball Championship; the previous championship was held in 2015. After plans for an event in both 2016 and 2018 to be held in Manila fell through, a 2019 event at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as part of a three-year deal for the event to be played in the United States was agreed. The event was held concurrently with the Billiard Congress of America's National Ten-ball event from July 22 to 26. The event was sponsored by cue manufacturer Predator Group.
Ko Ping-chung is a Taiwanese 9-ball pool player. Ko is the younger brother of Ko Pin-yi.
The WPA 10-Ball World Championship 2008 was a ten-ball pool tournament held from September 29 to October 5, 2008, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. The first edition of the WPA World Ten-ball Championship, it featured a field of 128 players competing in a double-elimination and then single-elimination tournament. The total prize fund for the event was $400,000 with $100,000 being awarded to the winner.
The 2018 Dynamic Billiard Leende Open, was the fourth Euro Tour 9-Ball pool event in 2018. The event was won by America's Shane Van Boening who defeated Albania's Eklent Kaçi 9–8 in the final. Unlike other Euro Tour events, the field was open to other nations outside of Europe. Van Boening became the only American after Johnny Archer in 2000 to win a Euro Tour event. In making the final, Eklent had been in the semi-final or better of the last 5 Euro Tour events.
Wiktor Zieliński is a Polish professional pool player. He is the youngest player to ever win a Euro Tour event, winning the 2017 Treviso Open at the age of 16.
Cheng Yu-hsuan, also sometimes known as Kevin Cheng is a Taiwanese professional pool player, representing Chinese Taipei. Yu-Hsuan reached world number 1 in 9-Ball in 2016, following winning U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships in 2015. He also reached the semi-finals of the 2016 WPA World Nine-ball Championship; where he would lose to Shane Van Boening 11–9.
The Dynamic Billard Leende Open 2019 was a nine-ball pool tournament, and the first Euro Tour event of 2019. The event was held between 7–10 February 2019, at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst hotel in Leende, Netherlands. The event was won by Germany's Joshua Filler, who defeated Ruslan Chinakhov 9–7 in the final. This was Filler's first Euro Tour win, having previously been a runner-up at three previous events.
Naoyuki Ōi is a Japanese pool player. Ōi is best known for reaching the semi-final of the 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, and represented Japan at the World Cup of Pool on six occasions.
The 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championship 2015 was the 40th U.S. Open 9-ball Championship event in the discipline of 9-Ball. The event was played between 25–30 October 2015 in the Marriott Chesapeake in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. Kevin Cheng won the event, winning the final 13–6 against Englishman Karl Boyes and became the third Asian player after Efren Reyes (1994) and Alex Pagulayan (2005) to win the US Open.
The 2019 US Open 9-Ball Championship was an international pool tournament in the discipline 9-Ball, held from 21–26 April 2019 in Las Vegas, United States. It was the 43rd entry of the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships. Germany's Joshua Filler won the event with a 13–10 final victory against Wu Jiaqing to win his first US Open championship.
The 2021 U.S. Open Pool Championship was an international nine-ball pool tournament held from 13 to 18 September 2021 in Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was the 44th entry of the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, first held in 1976. Joshua Filler was the defending champion, having won the 2019 U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship. However, Filler lost 4–11 to Aloysius Yapp and 3–11 to Mieszko Fortuński, eliminating him from the tournament. Carlo Biado defeated Yapp 13–8 in the final to become of the few Filipino players to win the tournament along with Alex Pagulayan in 2005 and Efren Reyes in 1994.
Shane Van Boening 
Chang Jung-Lin 
