World Pool Masters

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

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

Records
  • 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
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
Thomas Engert  Germany
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
  • Active participants are shown in bold.
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.

References
  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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