The World Pool Championship returns to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from July 21-26 as 128 of the world’s elite compete in the crown jewel of nineball pool, with a $1million prize purse up for grabs.
Having seen each-way selection Jonas Souto Comino (100/1) reach the UK Open Championship final in May, pool writer Ben Hudd returns with his best bets and analysis for pool’s showpiece staging.
World Pool Championship 2025 betting tips
- Aloysius Yapp to win the World Pool Championship – 33/1 E/W Bet365 1/2
- Wojciech Szewczyk to win the World Pool Championship – 66/1 E/W Bet365 1/2
- Jonas Souto Comino to win the World Pool Championship – 66/1 E/W Bet365 1/2
- Ameer Ali to win the World Pool Championship – 200/1 E/W Bet365 1/2
Heading into the World Championship as the reigning world champion and US Open champion, world number one Fedor Gorst sets his sights on further history. No one has successfully defended this prestigious accolade since Earl Strickland in 1991. Gorst could emulate Strickland in that respect, as well as becoming a three-time champion.
Defending world titles is something almost unheard of in professional pool and another factor going against Gorst is his lack of match practice this year. Perhaps being forced to skip both the European Open and the UK Open could lead to him being slightly off the pace this week.
Gorst and European Open champion Joshua Filler (both 17/2) are the undoubtable favourites to become world champion nonetheless, although there’s more value available further down the listings.
Albin Ouschan (25/1) has one of the greatest World Championship records ever witnessed, having clinched the title twice and reached an additional two finals. The Austrian is another who could match Strickland’s record haul of three championships. He is someone ultimately decided against though, in favour of the formidable Aloysius Yapp.
Singapore’s Yapp (33/1) has been playing some spectacular pool for many months now, ever since defending his International Open crown in November. He was only stopped by an impressive Pijus Labutis in Bosnia and Herzegovina in March, before sealing UK Open success two months ago.
Having initially struggled to acquire the technique of the new breaking format, Singapore’s Yapp (33/1) learned from the best breakers and his improvement in that department was evident at the UK Open. His rout of Jonas Souto Comino was simply astonishing, and displays of that quality will lead to him becoming world champion.
Despite being in tremendous form, Yapp has been gifted a particularly tricky double elimination draw. He faces UK Open quarter-finalist Phuong Nam Pham in his opener, before either AJ Manas or Alexis Ferrer, the latter being a recent ranking event winner, so bear that in mind.
Souto Comino (66/1) was imperious at the UK Open, notably compiling six break and runs in the last 16, and that form was no surprise as he been playing extremely well in smaller ranking events beforehand. Having been selected on these pages at 100/1 each-way for that event, Souto Comino is hitting the balls too well to pass over here too despite his tricky opener against Finland’s Casper Matikainen.
The Spanish sensation was pictured sitting on the edge of the arena with his head in his hands following a hill-hill defeat to Jeffrey Ignacio in the last 64 last year, consoled by amigo David Alcaide. It would be an incredible redemption arc if he picked up the trophy a year later.
Another knocking on the door for a Matchroom major accolade is Poland’s Wojciech Szewczyk (66/1) – a semi-finalist last summer in Saudi Arabia. He was only stopped by eventual winner Gorst on that occasion, and it was a similar scenario at the European Open when Filler scuppered his hopes in the quarter-finals.
It’s indisputably a matter of time before Poland has a world nineball champion and Szewczyk is quite conceivably their most probable champion. The former world 10-ball champion has the ability to put together racks but his safety game makes him an almost complete player.
Meanwhile, unheralded players from the Middle East have sprung surprises at this tournament in recent years, with Omar Al-Shaheen being a runner-up in 2021, Abdullah Al-Youssef having made the semi-finals in 2022 and Mohammad Soufi reaching the final in 2023. It was these players opportunity to showcase their talents, and that could be the case for Iraq’s Ameer Ali (200/1) this year.
Iraqi number one Ali is commonly regarded as the most proficient player in the Middle East and he’s currently the FargoRate world number two, behind only Joshua Filler with an 852 rating, albeit that rating being somewhat fragmented due to him not playing as many tournaments.
Ali received a taster of the prestigious arena last June, notably defeating both Alex Pagulayan and Max Lechner before being on the received end of an epic Gorst comeback from 7-1 down. He had the eventual champion on the ropes last year, his compact stroke and powerful break are dependable, and he could be worth a low stake, high reward chance.
World Pool Championship 2025 selected odds
Fedor Gorst 17/2
Joshua Filler 17/2
Shane Van Boening 11/1
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 12/1
Ko Pin Yi 16/1
Johann Chua 20/1
Jayson Shaw 20/1
Robbie Capito 20/1
David Alcaide 25/1
Albin Ouschan 25/1
Aloysius Yapp 33/1
Eklent Kaci 33/1
Carlo Biado 33/1
Anton Raga 33/1
Mieszko Fortunski 33/1
Jefrey Roda 40/1
Mario He 40/1
James Aranas 40/1
Alexis Ferrer 40/1
Max Lechner 40/1
Mickey Krause 50/1
Pijus Labutis 50/1
Wiktor Zielinski 50/1
Jonas Souto Comino 66/1
Moritz Neuhausen 66/1
Naoyuki Oi 66/1
Wojciech Szewczyk 66/1
Duong Quoc Hoang 66/1
Marc Bijsterbosch 66/1
Kledio Kaci 66/1
Jeffrey Ignacio 66/1
Alexander Kazakis 66/1
Daniel Maciol 66/1
Chris Melling 66/1
Michael Angelo Feliciano 80/1
Sanjin Pehlivanovic 80/1
Wu Kun Lin 80/1
Alex Pagulayan 80/1
Ko Ping Han 80/1
Lee Vann Corteza 80/1
Niels Feijen 100/1
Tyler Styer 100/1
Mohammad Soufi 100/1
Aleksa Pecelj 100/1
Georgi Georgiev 100/1
Chang Yu-Lung 100/1
Denis Grabe 100/1
Oliver Szolnoki 100/1
Kuo Po-cheng 100/1
Pham Phuong Nam 100/1
Lo Ho Sum 100/1
Nguyen Anh Tuan 100/1
Konrad Juszczyszyn 100/1
Stefan Kasper 100/1
John Morra 125/1
Oscar Dominguez 125/1
Ralf Souquet 125/1
Petri Makkonen 125/1
Thorsten Hohmann 125/1
Joao Grillo 125/1
Jani Uski 125/1
Tobias Bongers 125/1
Emil-Andre Gangflot 125/1
Bader Alawadhi 125/1
Max Eberle 125/1
Gerson Martinez 125/1
Francesco Candela 150/1
Riku Romppanen 150/1
Roman Hybler 150/1
Ameer Ali 200/1
Felix Vogel 200/1
Riku Romppanen 200/1
Sam Henderson 200/1
Fraser Patrick 200/1
Seo Seoa 500/1
Odds via Bet365 and are correct at time of publishing
