Five-time champion Earl Strickland opened his 2026 US Open Pool Championship campaign with a dramatic 9–8 victory over Albania’s Eklent Kaci the main table.
Whenever the great Strickland is back in action, theatre inevitably follows.
Tension surfaced as early as rack one. After Strickland executed a tactical safety, Kaci countered with a jump shot to escape.
The outspoken, longtime critic of modern jump cues immediately engaged the crowd about the layout and the fact that he did not even carry a jump cue in his case.
The early exchange seemed to momentarily unsettle Kaci, as he made uncharacteristic misses, including a hanging nine-ball, allowing Strickland to go 5-1 up.
The flashpoint of the match arrived shortly after, when Strickland confronted the Albanian cueist over movement in the player box while he was down over a shot.
“I was getting ready to shoot, and you grabbed the water bottle,” Strickland said.
Kaci offered a quick-witted rebuttal: “Here, I’ll give you my extension.”
Strickland followed with an errant safety, enabling Kaci to clear the table. As the rack concluded, the American added: “Don’t act smart. You’re a shark.”
Kaci remained composed through the verbal sparring. After trading frames, he shifted gears, winning four racks on the spin to reach the hill first at 8–7. However, a costly scratch on the break in rack 16 halted Kaci’s momentum.
The Pearl quickly capitalised on the mistake to level the contest 8-8, before executing a clinical final rack and potting the winning nine to defeat one of the tournament’s favourites.
Despite the on-table friction, the competitors shared a handshake at the conclusion of the decider, and Kaci was sporting about his opponent in his post-match interview.
“I gave him a couple of easy racks, nine-ball in the pockets. The guy showed up playing pretty well and made some good shots,” Kaci said. “It’s fun playing Earl and watching him still competing. I know what to expect from him, so I just try to go back and forth with him and have a little bit of fun.”
Strickland, who famously downplayed Kaci’s pedigree in a widely-shared 2019 World Pool Masters interview, showed clear respect for his opponent’s standing in the modern game.
“He’s one of the top players in the world. It feels good to beat a guy like that,” Strickland said. “I was fortunate that he hit the last rack poorly, but I made a great out with ball-in-hand.”
The 65-year-old also highlighted his traditional approach to the opening shot: “I’m breaking the balls head-on like the old days. I’m actually breaking the way you should be breaking. You shouldn’t be letting these guys cut the balls. I showed you that you can win matches breaking head-on and not manipulating the break.”
In typical Kaci fashion, he later took to social media with a tongue-in-cheek post reflecting on the theatrical nature of the match.
“I did everything I could to get The Pearl out of his game, talked trash, moved while he was shooting, drank water while he was thinking of finding the right shot, stopped him from shooting the wrong ball just to make him look bad, and took two time-outs to ruin his rhythm.
“And I still couldn’t get the win, how strong is that for a 65-year-old that celebrates Kung Fu and jumps with a full cue?”
With the results, Eklent Kaci will have to fight through the one-loss side against Kristian Dimitrov, while Earl Strickland can continue his dream of a sixth title on the winners’ side against Chang Tzu-Chien.
