The 49th US Open Pool Championship is held from August 25-30 at the Embassy Suites in Frisco, Texas, as the sport’s most historic major takes place in the Lone Star State for the first time.
Newly-minted world number one Aloysius Yapp will act as the defending champion for the $500,000 tournament, while five-time winner Shane van Boening will renew his quest for an elusive sixth US Open title, a decade on from equalling Earl Strickland’s record.
Yapp and Van Boening will be accompanied by an additional 13 former champions in the 256-player field, with those past winners including the likes of Carlo Biado, Joshua Filler, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Jayson Shaw and Fedor Gorst, the latter having reached three consecutive US Open finals.
European Open champion Moritz Neuhausen, Philippines Open winner David Alcaide and Premier League champion Duong Quoc Hoang will also be amongst those competing in the World Nineball Tour’s second-richest tournament, as will recent Arizona Open winner Denis Grabe and Florida Open runner-up Alex Kazakis.
Two-time world champion Albin Ouschan, Pijus Labutis, Jonas Souto Comino and brothers Eklent and Kledio Kaci are also amongst the stars involved, as are Japan’s Naoyuki Oi, Wiktor Zielinski, Mickey Krause, Robbie Capito, Niels Feijen and Aleksa Pecelj.
The Philippines will be strongly represented by the likes of Jefrey Roda, Bernie Regalario, Harry Vergara, AJ Manas and Lee Van Corteza, while Poland’s top players return to the WNT scene and Wojciech Szewczyk, Daniel Maciol and Mieszko Fortunski are among them.
Other notable entrants include Venezuela’s finest Jesus Atencio, Cristopher Tevez and Gerson Martinez of Peru and Indonesian phenom Albert Januarta, as well as British stars Chris Melling and Darren Appleton – the 2011 and 2012 champion.
Five-time champion Strickland, Ralf Souquet, Alex Pagulayan, Jeremy Jones, Johnny Archer, Corey Deuel and Rodney Morris will return more than two decades on from their successes, with Morris marking 30 years since his famous 1996 win over the great Efren Reyes.
Aside from Gorst and Van Boening, Skyler Woodward, Tyler Styer and Thorsten Hohmann provide the biggest hopes of the American dream unfolding, with other USA players involving Justin Bergman, Billy Thorpe and Oscar Dominguez.
The double elimination phase will take place from August 25-27, with 64 players then progressing to the single elimination phase which begins on August 28.
It will be race-to-nine racks on the winners’ side and race-to-eight racks on the one-loss side during double elimination, before the format increases to race-to-10 racks for the last 64 through to the quarter-finals.
The semi-finals and final will take place on Sunday, August 30 across two sessions, with the format being race-to-11 racks for the semi-finals and race-to-13 racks for the championship match.
A major milestone for the prestigious tournament will witness coverage return to ESPN, with American viewers able to watch the action via ESPN+ and the ESPN app throughout the week.
Three tables will be broadcast via WNT TV for subscribers in most territories across the world, while TalkSPORT’s YouTube channel will show coverage of table one in the UK as well as table four globally.
US Open Pool Championship 2026
Draw Bracket
Click here for the full draw bracket via the WNT Live Scores website
Last 64
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Last 32
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Last 16
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Quarter-Finals
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Semi-Finals
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Final
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Prize Fund
Champion – $100,000
Runner-up – $50,000
Semi-finalists – $25,000
Quarter-finalists – $15,000
Last 16 – $8,000
Last 32 – $5,000
Last 64 – $3,000
Total – $500,000
Roll of Honour
1976 – Mike Sigel 11-1 Pete Margo
1978 – Allen Hopkins 15-11 Steve Mizerak
1979 – Louie Roberts 15-11 David Howard
1979 – Steve Mizerak 11-10 Jim Rempe
1980 – Mike Sigel 11-7 Ray Martin
1981 – Allen Hopkins 11-7 Mike Sigel
1982 – David Howard 10-4 Mike Zuglan
1983 – Mike Sigel 11-10 David Howard
1984 – Earl Strickland 11-10 Mike Sigel
1985 – Jimmy Reid 11-5 Mike Lebron
1986 – David Howard 11-9 Allen Hopkins
1987 – Earl Strickland 11-7 Jim Rempe
1988 – Mike Lebron 11-6 Nick Varner
1989 – Nick Varner 13-6 Kim Davenport
1990 – Nick Varner 11-10 Johnny Archer
1991 – Buddy Hall 9-8 Dennis Hatch
1992 – Tommy Kennedy 9-1 Johnny Archer
1993 – Earl Strickland 11-8 Tony Ellin
1994 – Efren Reyes 9-6 Nick Varner
1995 – Reed Pierce 11-6 Efren Reyes
1996 – Rodney Morris 11-6 Efren Reyes
1997 – Earl Strickland 11-3 Efren Reyes
1998 – Buddy Hall 11-5 Tang Hoa
1999 – Johnny Archer 11-7 Jeremy Jones
2000 – Earl Strickland 11-5 Takeshi Okumura
2001 – Corey Deuel 11-0 Mika Immonen
2002 – Ralf Souquet 13-11 Alex Pagulayan
2003 – Jeremy Jones 11-3 Jose Parica
2004 – Gabe Owen 11-3 Thorsten Hohmann
2005 – Alex Pagulayan 11-6 Jose Parica
2006 – John Schmidt 11-6 Rodolfo Luat
2007 – Shane van Boening 13-10 Ronnie Alcano
2008 – Mika Immonen 13-7 Ronnie Alcano
2009 – Mika Immonen 13-10 Ralf Souquet
2010 – Darren Appleton 15-13 Corey Deuel
2011 – Darren Appleton 13-6 Shawn Putnam
2012 – Shane van Boening 13-7 Dennis Orcollo
2013 – Shane van Boening 13-10 Lee Van Corteza
2014 – Shane van Boening 13-10 Dennis Orcollo
2015 – Cheng Yu-Hsuan 13-6 Karl Boyes
2016 – Shane van Boening 13-9 Chang Jung-Lin
2017 – Jayson Shaw 13-4 Eklent Kaci
2019 – Joshua Filler 13-10 Wu Jiaqing
2021 – Carlo Biado 13-8 Aloysius Yapp
2022 – Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 13-10 Max Lechner
2023 – Ko Ping-Chung 13-6 Fedor Gorst
2024 – Fedor Gorst 13-10 Shane van Boening
2025 – Aloysius Yapp 13-11 Fedor Gorst
