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

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Throughout 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

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Date Location Winner Runner-up Final score
1993 Plymouth, England   Werner Duregger   Ralf Souquet 2–1 (sets)
1994 Doncaster, England   Ralf Souquet   Jimmy White 2–1 (sets)
1995 Blackpool, England   Daryl Peach   Lee Kendall 2–0 (sets)
1996 Blackpool, England   Ralf Souquet (2)   Vincent Facquet 2–1 (sets)
1997 Thurrock, England   Earl Strickland   Tommy Donlon 2–1 (sets)
1998 Thurrock, England   Francisco Bustamante   Ralf Souquet 11–9
1999 Thurrock, England   Alex Lely   Efren Reyes 7–5
2000 Thurrock, England   Ralf Souquet (3)   Alex Lely 7–3
2001 Thurrock, England   Francisco Bustamante (2)   Earl Strickland 7–6
2002 Milton Keynes, England   Ralf Souquet (4)   Efren Reyes 9–4
2003 Egmond, Netherlands   Tony Drago   Hsia Hui-kai 8–6
2004 Egmond, Netherlands   Thomas Engert   Oliver Ortmann 8–6
2005 Doncaster, England   Raj Hundal   Rodney Morris 8–7
2006 Egmond, Netherlands   Ralf Souquet (5)   Alex Pagulayan 8–4
2007 Egmond, Netherlands   Thomas Engert (2)   David Alcaide 8–5
2008 Las Vegas, United States   Alex Pagulayan   Mika Immonen 8–6
2009 Las Vegas, United States   Darren Appleton   Nick van den Berg 8–4
2010 Las Vegas, United States   Dennis Orcollo   Toru Kuribayashi 8–3
2011 Quezon City, Philippines   Ralf Souquet (6)   Dennis Orcollo 8–5
2012 Kielce, Poland   Karol Skowerski   Mateusz Śniegocki 8–6
2013 Barnsley, England   Niels Feijen   Darren Appleton 8–6
2014 Nottingham, England   Shane Van Boening   Nikos Ekonomopoulos 8–2
2015 Manchester, England   Shane Van Boening (2)   Darren Appleton 8–2
2017 Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar   David Alcaide   Jayson Shaw 8–7
2018 Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar   Niels Feijen (2)   Shane Van Boening 8–4
2019 Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar   David Alcaide (2)   Alexander Kazakis 9–8
2020 Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Europa Sports Park, Gibraltar   Alexander Kazakis   Shane Van Boening 9–0
2022 Europa Sports Park, Gibraltar   Joshua Filler   Lo Ho Sum 9–6
2023 Brentwood, England   Ko Pin-yi   Eklent Kaçi 13–5
2024 Hildesheim, Germany   Fedor Gorst   Joshua Filler 13–12

Records

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  • 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

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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

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  1. ^ Matchroom Sport (January 28, 2010). "Masters Invites Announced". AzBilliards.com. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
  2. ^ Matchroom Sport (September 5, 2011). "Souquet wins Masters for the sixth time". MatchroomPool.com. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  3. ^ "Expanded World Pool Masters Returns To Gibraltar, March 29–31 – Matchroom Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
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