The first ever Arizona Open Pool Championship takes place from August 13-16 at the Quechan Casino Resort in Yuma, the second of three World Nineball Tour majors set to be held this month in the USA.
The tournament will follow October’s Philippines Open Championship in being a shortened four-day single elimination event, with 128 players competing for the $25,000 top prize in the Grand Canyon State.
Arizona Open Pool Championship 2026 betting tips
- Kledio Kaci to win the Arizona Open Championship – 40/1 E/W Ladbrokes 1/2
- Georgi Georgiev to win the Arizona Open Championship – 150/1 E/W Ladbrokes 1/2
18+ | begambleaware.org
In a tournament packed with established stars, it is tempting to concentrate on the obvious names at the head of the market, although single elimination changes that equation considerably. There is no luxury of a second life, no opportunity to recover from an early slip and therefore no reason why a player priced at a triple-figure price cannot string together four or five outstanding performances and suddenly find themself in the latter stages.
We witnessed exactly that at last year’s Philippines Open, another single elimination tournament. Finland’s Arseni Sevastyanov arrived as a relative unknown but produced a remarkable run to the final, beating Jayson Shaw in a dramatic hill-hill semi-final after recovering from 8-5 behind. He eventually lost to David Alcaide in the final, but the run served as a perfect reminder of how quickly the complexion of a knockout tournament can change.
Incidentally, Bulgaria’s Georgi Georgiev (150/1) could encounter Sevastyanov in the second round in Arizona. Unlike his Finnish counterpart in the Philippines, Georgiev does have some form of pedigree on the World Nineball Tour as a Seattle Open champion, although he remains yet to find his brilliant best in a major tournament.
Somewhere in which Georgiev did shoot lights out and enjoyed perhaps the greatest achievement of his career so far was two months ago at the Predator Pro Billiard Series stop in Austria. He stunned Joshua Filler, Robbie Capito, Moritz Neuhausen and oddly enough Sevastyanov on his way to the semi-finals of the 10-ball event.
Georgiev, who delivered a 10-1 demolition of major champion Mickey Krause on his way to the Florida Open last 16 last week, is certainly not expected to cruise through the field, although he is the type of player who can make life uncomfortable for more highly-fancied opponents. A potential third round victory over Francisco Sanchez Ruiz could spur him all the way to the final.
With Georgiev being a real shot in the dark and probably a random choice to some, Albanian prodigy Kledio Kaci (40/1) is on the opposite end of the spectrum as a major champion-in-waiting. It is a forgone conclusion that Kaci will follow in his older brother’s footsteps, just managing to guess when is the more difficult predicament.
Kaci has emerged as one of the most exciting young players in the sport, possessing composure and maturity around the table that belie his age. His style is relatively methodical and he is exceptionally comfortable controlling the pace of a match, making good decisions under pressure.
The youngster was backed on these pages for the recent Florida Open, where he endured a disappointing 10-4 loss to Chang Yu-Lung in the last 32. That provides little cause for concern nonetheless, with the Taiwanese veteran being an extremely dangerous operator and still capable of leaving any player seated on his day.
It was simply too hard to ignore Kaci once more predominantly due to his seemingly favourable route to the quarter-finals. His potential path could see him face Ralf Souquet, Tyler Styer and David Alcaide, and despite those all being household names, there are certainly more strenuous routes to the business end of the tournament.
Meanwhile, following his generational run to Florida Open success, which included overcoming six major champions and four nineball world champions, Shane van Boening (7/1, joint-favourite) has been tasked with another star-studded pathway. His potential path to the last eight includes Albin Ouschan, Eklent Kaci and reigning two-time world champion Carlo Biado.
Oliver Szolnoki (66/1) and Marco Teutscher (150/1) were tipped on these pages for Orlando and both were relatively impressive in reaching the final 32. However, they have to be avoided in Arizona having been placed in a brutal section of the draw involving the likes of Joshua Filler, Jefrey Roda, Gerson Martinez and Konrad Juszczyszyn.
Arizona Open Pool Championship 2026 selected odds
Joshua Filler 7/1
Shane Van Boening 7/1
Aloysius Yapp 10/1
Carlo Biado 10/1
Francisco Sánchez Ruiz 10/1
Eklent Kaci 12/1
Robbie Capito 14/1
Jayson Shaw 16/1
Jefrey Roda 20/1
AJ Manas 22/1
David Alcaide 22/1
Mario He 22/1
Moritz Neuhausen 22/1
Alexander Kazakis 25/1
Bernie Regalario 25/1
Harry Vergara 25/1
Albert Januarta 33/1
Albin Ouschan 33/1
Jesús Atencio 33/1
Marvin Asis 33/1
Michael Baoanan 33/1
Jonas Souto Comino 40/1
Kledio Kaci 40/1
Konrad Juszczyszyn 40/1
Mickey Krause 40/1
Naoyuki Oi 40/1
Skyler Woodward 40/1
Wiktor Zielinski 40/1
Duong Quoc Hoang 50/1
Jeffrey De Luna 50/1
Marc Bijsterbosch 50/1
Max Lechner 50/1
Mustafa Alnar 50/1
Pijus Labutis 50/1
Roberto Gomez 50/1
Sanjin Pehlivanovic 50/1
Tyler Styer 50/1
Chang Yu Lung 66/1
Denis Grabe 66/1
Lo Ho Sum 66/1
Oliver Szolnoki 66/1
Petri Makkonen 66/1
Aleksa Pecelj 80/1
Andri Januarta 80/1
Cristopher Tevez 80/1
Francesco Candela 80/1
Roland Garcia 80/1
Walter Laikre 80/1
Arseni Sevastyanov 100/1
Casper Matikainen 100/1
Elliott Sanderson 100/1
Gerson Martinez Boza 100/1
John Morra 100/1
Thorsten Hohmann 100/1
Vitaliy Patsura 100/1
Yannick Pongers 100/1
Chang Tzu Chien 125/1
Ralf Souquet 125/1
Corey Deuel 150/1
Dean Shields 150/1
Dimitris Loukatos 150/1
Felix Vogel 150/1
Georgi Georgiev 150/1
Marco Teutscher 150/1
Omar Al Shaheen 150/1
Boris Ivanovski 200/1
Justin Bergman 200/1
Johnny Archer 250/1
Fraser Patrick 300/1
Odds via Ladbrokes and correct at time of publishing
