2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship
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The 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship was a professional
pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...
tournament for the discipline of
ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "". Although the game has existed since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s as a ...
organised by the
World Pool-Billiard Association The World Pool Association (WPA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body for Pool (cue sports), pool (pocket billiards). It was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of represent ...
(WPA) and
CueSports International The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory ...
. It was the fifth
WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball Pool (cue sports), pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and ...
; the previous championship was held in 2015. After plans for an event in both 2016 and 2018 to be held in
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
fell through, a 2019 event at the
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in
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as part of a three-year deal for the event to be played in the United States was agreed. The event was held concurrently with the
Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is ...
's National Ten-ball event from July 22 to 26. The event was sponsored by cue manufacturer Predator Group. The competition featured 64 participants, selected according to world and continental pool rankings as well as qualifying events. The tournament was played as a
double-elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimin ...
bracket until 16 players remained, at which point it changed to a single-elimination format.
Ko Ping-chung Ko Ping-chung (also Ko Pin-chung, born 18 September 1995) is a Taiwanese professional pool player. Ko is the younger brother of Ko Pin-yi. In 2023, Ko defeated Fedor Gorst 13–6 to win the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship. Career In November ...
, representing Chinese Taipei, won the event, defeating German player
Joshua Filler Joshua Filler (born 2 October 1997) is a German professional pool player from Bönen, Germany. In 2018 Filler defeated Carlo Biado 13–10 to win the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. In 2017 he was the youngest player to win the China Op ...
10–7 in the final. Ko's brother
Ko Pin-yi Ko Pin-yi (born 31 May 1989) is a Taiwanese professional pool player. He became multiple World Champion in the disciplines of Nine-ball and Ten-ball in 2015. Career Ko won the World Nine-ball Junior Championship twice in his junior career, in ...
, who was the defending champion, lost to Filler 10–8 in the semi-final. The event featured a prize fund of $132,000, the winner receiving $30,000.


Format

The
WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball Pool (cue sports), pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and ...
is a professional ten-ball pool tournament first held in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
in the
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. The 2019 event was the first official world ten-ball championship since the 2015 WPA World Ten-ball Championship after plans for events in both 2016 and 2018 held in
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
, Philippines fell through. In December 2018, event organisers
CueSports International The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory ...
partnered with the
World Pool-Billiard Association The World Pool Association (WPA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body for Pool (cue sports), pool (pocket billiards). It was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of represent ...
(WPA) to stage the event with sponsorship from cue manufacturers Predator Group. The event was held at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
,
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, which had also hosted the
2019 WPA Players Championship The 2019 WPA Players Championship was a 9-Ball pool international event held in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was organized jointly by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and CueSports International (CI). The event was played with rules, ...
earlier that year and had plans to host the ten-ball event for three years. The event was the first pool world championship held in the US since 1997, and the first ten-ball world championship held outside of the Philippines. The tournament was played alongside the
Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is ...
's National Ten-ball Championship. The event contributed points towards the WPA world rankings. The event featured 64 players, entries being selected from ranking lists for players tours, such as the
Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlanti ...
and the
Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...
, and 16 qualifiers who had won events held in Las Vegas from June and July 2019. The tournament was played with a
double-elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimin ...
knockout structure until 16 players remained, when it became a single-elimination format. Double-elimination matches were played as the first to eight , whilst the single-elimination matches were played as the first to ten racks. Matches were also played under the format, each player taking turns to at the start of every rack. The event was broadcast worldwide on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.


Participant summary

The tournament featured 64 players, the allocation for participants being awarded to the highest ranked players according to several organisations: *
World Pool-Billiard Association The World Pool Association (WPA) is the international Sport governing body, governing body for Pool (cue sports), pool (pocket billiards). It was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of represent ...
(16) * Asian Pocket Billiard Union (7) *
European Pocket Billiard Federation The European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) is the European governing body for pocket billiards. EPBF is the European regional affiliate member of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). Events The federation holds the European Championship ...
(7) *
Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is ...
(6) *
Confederación Panamericana de Billar The Confederación Panamericana de Billar (CPB) also known as the Pan-American Billiard Confederation, is the governing body of carom billiards in the Americas and is affiliated to the world federation Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). It has its ...
(3) *
All Africa Pool Association All or ALL may refer to: عرص Biology and medicine * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer * Anterolateral ligament, a ligament in the knee * ''All.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), Italian physician and profe ...
(2) * Oceania Pocket Billiard Association (2) Five other players were chosen as wildcard entries by the event organisers. After the 48 players were chosen, 16 places were awarded to players from local qualifying events held in the weeks leading up to the event.


Prize fund

The tournament's total prize fund was $132,000, $32,000 taken from players' entry fees and $100,000 added by the event organisers. Half of the 64 participants received prize money for their event placing.


Tournament summary


Double elimination stage

The event began on July 22, 2019, and double elimination rounds were played until July 24. The 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship winner
Joshua Filler Joshua Filler (born 2 October 1997) is a German professional pool player from Bönen, Germany. In 2018 Filler defeated Carlo Biado 13–10 to win the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. In 2017 he was the youngest player to win the China Op ...
defeated Fan Yang 8–5. Filler lost his second match 1–8 to
Johann Chua Johann Gonzales Chua is a Filipino professional pool player from Manila. His nickname is "Bad Koi". Chua is a 2023 World Cup of Pool champion alongside James Aranas. He is also a two-time All Japan Championship winner, winning the event in 2 ...
after losing the first seven racks. Filler reached the knockout round after defeating both Gerson Martinez Boza and
Alexander Kazakis Alexander Kazakis (Born July 16, 1991) is a Greek professional pool player. Kazakis is a former European 10-ball champion, and regular 9-ball player. In 2018, he was the number one ranked player by the World Pool-Billiard Association. Career In ...
8–2. Defending champion
Ko Pin-yi Ko Pin-yi (born 31 May 1989) is a Taiwanese professional pool player. He became multiple World Champion in the disciplines of Nine-ball and Ten-ball in 2015. Career Ko won the World Nine-ball Junior Championship twice in his junior career, in ...
won his opening round match against , but lost to
Alex Pagulayan Alejandro Salvador "Alex" Pagulayan (born June 25, 1978) is a Filipino-born Canadian professional pool player. His nickname is "the Lion", given to him by Paul Thornley, Canadian snooker player whom he credits as his mentor. Pagulayan is cons ...
8–6 in the second round. He won the next three matches, defeating Duong Quoc Hoang, Danny Olson, and
Chris Melling Chris Melling may refer to: * Chris Melling (rugby league) * Chris Melling (pool player) {{hndis, Melling, Chris ...
to reach the knockout rounds. His brother
Ko Ping-chung Ko Ping-chung (also Ko Pin-chung, born 18 September 1995) is a Taiwanese professional pool player. Ko is the younger brother of Ko Pin-yi. In 2023, Ko defeated Fedor Gorst 13–6 to win the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship. Career In November ...
won all three of his double-elimination matches to qualify, beating
Tomasz Kapłan Tomasz Kapłan (born 14 January 1984) is a Polish professional Pool (cue sports), pool player. He won the 2011 European Pool Championships in the discipline of Straight pool. He has played on the Euro Tour since 2009, reaching the semi-finals on ...
, Olsen and Pagulayan. American
Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the We ...
partners
Shane Van Boening Shane Van Boening (; born July 14, 1983) is an American professional pool player from Rapid City, South Dakota. Van Boening is considered one of the best players of all time. Van Boening has won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship and has won ...
and
Billy Thorpe William Richard Thorpe AM (29 March 1946 – 28 February 2007) was an English-born Australian singer-songwriter, and record producer. As lead singer of his band Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, he had success in the 1960s with "Blue Day", "Poison Iv ...
shared a hotel room for the event and were drawn to play each other in the opening round. In a match that had eight racks which were won without the opponent getting a shot (known as a ""), Thorpe defeated Van Boening 8–5. In their second matches, Van Boening defeated Hunter Lombardo 8–1, and Thorpe defeated
John Morra John Morra (born May 25, 1989) is a Canadian professional pool player. Morra has represented Canada at the World Cup of Pool on seven occasions, partnering Jason Klatt in 2011, 2012 and 2015, and Alex Pagulayan in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019. Morra ...
8–5. Thorpe reached the knockout round of the event by defeating Marc Bijsterbosch, while Van Boening was eliminated by Martinez Boza. Japanese regional qualifier Masato Yoshioka won all three of his double-elimination matches with wins over Wu Kin-lin,
Carlo Biado Carlo Biado (born October 31, 1983) is a Filipino professional pool player. His highest profile wins include the World Nine-ball Championship and the World Ten-ball Championship in 2017 and 2024 respectively. Early life Biado has roots in Ros ...
and Jeffrey Ignacio.
Niels Feijen Niels Feijen (born 3 February 1977, The Hague) is a Dutch professional pool player, from the Hague. His nickname is "the Terminator". In 2014 he won the WPA World 9-ball championship. Career In 2001, Feijen reached the finals of a nine-ball to ...
defeated
Vilmos Földes Vilmos Földes (sometimes transliterated as Foeldes or occasionally Foldes; born 16 December 1984) is a Hungarian professional pocket billiards (pool) player. Based in Pécs, Hungary's fifth-largest city, Földes competed in the 2006 WPA World ...
8–7 on a deciding rack in the first round. In his second match, Feijen faced three-time world champion
Earl Strickland Earl Strickland (born June 8, 1961) is an American professional pool player who is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time. He has won over 100 championship titles and three world titles. In 2006 he was inducted into the Billiard ...
; both players were
Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame This is the list of people inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's hall of fame to honor outstanding people who, through their competitive skills and dedication, have enriched the sport and industry. Two categories have been established in ...
inductees. Strickland took the lead at 2–0 before missing a table length , allowing Strickland to win the third rack. Strickland later took a lead of 6–4 before Feijen took the next four racks to win 8–6. Feijen's final break pocketed four balls, leading Strickland to comment "wow". After the match, Feijen stated "He probably played a little better throughout the whole match. You just have to wait for a mistake." Feijen defeated
Albin Ouschan Albin Alois Ouschan (born August 14, 1990, in Klagenfurt, Austria) is an Austrian professional pool player. Ouschan was the 2016 WPA World Nine-ball Championship winner, as well as the runner-up in 2014. He also won the 14.1 Continuous European ...
to reach the knockout rounds, while Strickland lost 5–8 to and was eliminated.


Knockout rounds

The round of 16 and quarter-finals were played on July 25. Ko Pin-yi defeated Johann Chua 10–2 in a one-sided match, then faced Chang Jung-Lin in the quarter-finals. Ko Pin-yi took an early lead of 4–1, which increased to 9–6 with errors from Chang. After Ko Pin-yi failed to pot the , Chang cleared the table and the next rack to trail 8–9, before Ko Pin-yi won the next rack to win the match. Joshua Filler defeated
Jayson Shaw Jayson Shaw (born 13 September 1988) is a Scottish professional pool player. In 2010, Shaw was a WPA World Blackball Champion. Shaw has won the Mosconi Cup seven times whilst representing Team Europe. Career In 2016, Shaw won the 25th Interna ...
and Niels Feijen, both of whom had been undefeated in the tournament to that point, to face Ko Pin-yi in the semi-final. Shaw took an early 4–2 lead in their round of 16 match, but Filler won 10–8. Feijen had previously defeated
Wojciech Szewczyk Wojciech Szewczyk (Born 1 September 1994) is a Polish professional pool player. Szewczyk is a two time junior European Pool Championship winner, winning the 8-ball event in 2010, defeating Finn Eschment in the final, and the 9-ball event in 20 ...
10–9, but Filler took an early lead at 5–2 in their quarter-final match, eventually winning 10–8. Ko Ping-chung qualified for the semi-final after defeating Marc Bijsterbosch 10–7 and Alex Pagulayan 10–4. Pagulayan, who had defeated
Ralf Souquet Ralf Souquet ( ; born 29 November 1968) is a German professional pool player. His nickname is "The Kaiser". Souquet is considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. Since 1988, he has won over 100 professional tournaments, including 2 ...
10–9 despite trailing 3–7, struggled to compete against Ko's play. Ko Ping-chung trailed in the first match 3–2, before winning eight of the next nine racks to win. The match was temporarily halted after the venue's fire alarm sounded, but both players opted to play on; after the match, Pagulayan commented "We don't care about that. At home, we play with chickens running around", Ko adding the "same thing appensin China". Masato Yoshioka defeated both
Denis Grabe Denis Grabe (born February 22, 1990, in Tallinn, Estonia), is an Estonian professional pool player. Grabe won the Las Vegas open in 2025 beating Joshua Filler in the finals. Sets 2-2 and in shootout 4-3, winning his biggest tournament of his c ...
and
Tyler Styer Tyler Styer (born 12 January 1995) is an American professional pool player from Vernon, Wisconsin. Styer represented the United States at the 2018 Mosconi Cup and the 2019 Mosconi Cup. Styer was the winner of the 2019 Kremlin World Cup, defeat ...
to play Ko Ping-chung in the second semi-final. At the time, Styer was the only remaining American player in the event, having defeated compatriot Billy Thorpe 10–7 in the first round. Yoshioka fell behind early in his semi-final match, trailing 0–4 after two unforced errors. He took six of the next seven racks to lead 6–5. In rack 12 Styer left himself behind the when trying to pocket the . Styer also missed a in rack 14, Yoshioka winning the match 10–7. The semi-finals and final were held on July 26. In the first semi-final, Joshua Filler defeated Ko Pin-yi 10–8. Filler took an early 3–0 lead, Ko Pin-yi being (known as a "dry break") on two occasions. Ko fought back and won five of the next six racks to lead the match 5–4. After errors from both players, Filler led 9–6 after two more dry breaks from Ko. Ko won racks 16 and 17, before Filler took the match in rack 18. After the match, Ko commented "I was criticizing and questioning myself, and that's why I didn't do well on the breaks ..I wasn't very lucky. Every time that Filler missed, I didn't have a good position to shoot." In the second semi-final, Ko Ping-chung reached the final with a 10–3 win over Masato Yoshioka. Yoshioka won the opening rack of the match, but after a series of errors, lost the next four racks to trail 4–1. He tried to recover, capitalizing on Ko to cut the deficit to 5–3, but Ko won the remaining five racks to win the match. As a relatively unknown player, Yoshioka commented "My main objective was to just get the experience internationally, but when I got to the semi-finals, I felt a lot of pressure. That's why I didn't play in a way that I want dto play." In the final Ko Ping-chung defeated Joshua Filler 10–7. Filler took an early 3–1 lead, at which point Ko took a comfort break. Ko later tied the match 5–5, and took the lead for the first time at 6–5. With Filler getting a dry break when trailing 8–7, Ko played the cue ball into the cushion to pot the and cleared the table to win the rack and lead 9–7. Ko the in rack 18 and potted the remaining balls to win the championship. Ko Ping-chung commented, "The last couple of years, Joshua has played really well and I just wanted to challenge him. I didn't know if I could beat him but I just wanted to try my best." The win was the first major championship win of Ko Ping-chung's career, his best previous major results having been semi-finals. The event mirrored the 2015 WPA World Ten-ball Championship, which was won by Ko Pin-yi while Ko Ping-chung had lost in the semi-final. When asked about the 2015 outcome, Ko Ping-chung answered "I was happy for my brother, but I think if I would have been the winner that may have been better".


Knockout draw

The following results only show the single-elimination stage comprising the final 16 players. All matches at this stage were played as race-to-ten racks. Players in bold represent match winners.


References


External links

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WPA World Nine-ball Championship The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organized by Matchroom Sport, who pro ...
WPA World Nine-ball Championship The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organized by Matchroom Sport, who pro ...
International sports competitions hosted by the United States Cue sports in the United States Sports competitions in the Las Vegas Valley
WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball Pool (cue sports), pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and ...
WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball Pool (cue sports), pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and ...
Events in Paradise, Nevada