PBS Hits The ALPS With Three Massive Events – Alison Chang

Alpina Hotel, St Johann im Pongau, Austria

THE PREDATOR PRO BILLIARD SERIES comes to the beautiful Alpine town of St Johann im Pongau for another triple whammy of high-quality championships featuring men’s, women’s and mixed doubles competitions. A long-time home to the Predator Euro Tour, all the action takes place at the expansive Alpina Hotel, complete with sweeping views of the Alps.

Running from Tuesday 16^th June and culminating in the title-deciders of all three tournaments on Tuesday 23^rd, the Predator Pro Billiard Series is followed by men’s and women’s Predator Euro Tour events from 25^th to 28^th June.

The Billard Beckmann Open has a monster field with eight players from the top ten of the current WPA World Rankings vying this week for the US$125,000 prize pool . Joshua Filler, who has been enjoying a red hot 2026 so far, is contesting all three available events and is delighted that the PBS has come to what is his favourite location. It’s a venue that holds good memories for him over the years, having won here in 2021 and 2023.

He said, “It definitely is one of my favourite venues; I think it’s also the most beautiful place that we have at any tournament – you can ask any player. I still remember being here in my first Euro Tour final against Niels in 2015, now 11 years ago. My first time here was in 2014 but yeah, coming back every year is just phenomenal.

“When you’re at the hotel, you’re relaxed and the venue is beautiful too so you have everything in one place which is what you need as a player. Mentally for myself it helps me a lot as I feel super comfortable and it just helps me to find my game very quick. And now having the PBS makes it super special but this is something the place here deserves for sure and I just can’t wait to kick it off and do well.”

Filler is a big fan of the mixed doubles events, in which he competes with his wife, Pia, noting their rapid growth as well as popularity amongst the players. Previous 2026 winners have been Seo Seoa and Wiktor Zielinski in St Louis and earlier, Pia and Joshua Filler in Las Vegas. The Predator Mixed Doubles Open gets underway on Wednesday 17^th June, with the final slated for Tuesday 23^rd.

Filler continued; “I remember when Predator did their first mixed doubles and it was more of a showcase, with, I think, the best eight teams. From there they saw just how exciting it was for the fans and now with the big prize-money (US$100,000), it’s a super-serious tournament and when you look at the pairings now, like Fedor and Rita, Kelly and Alex – there’s so many good teams and it’s a super-strong event.

As ever, though, Filler is here to do what he does best and win, “When you look at the fields, it’s always tough to win. My main thing is that if I play my game, I know I can take any title but on the other side, luck is always a big factor in our sport. If it’s going to happen here it’s going to be great if not it’s disappointing but you just have to move ahead to the next big one,” he concluded.

The women are competing this week in the Carrinho Women’s Open which features a super-strong field including 16 players who have made the trip from Asia. To emphasise the quality, seven of the WPA top ten are competing including Seo Seoa of Korea who was a champion in Spain in November when the Predator Pro Billiards Series was last in Europe. Play gets underway on Wednesday 17^th and the total prize fund is set at an impressive US$90,000.

The men’s event has a field of 83 and features double elimination down to the last 32, while the women’s event has 41 runners and starts the single elimination at the round of 16. The mixed doubles, with 32 teams, commences straight knock-out at the quarter-final stage.

Play gets underway at 10.00 on Tuesday morning and streaming of Tables 1, 2 and 3 for all events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV

For all results, live scoring and draw visit the events’ homepage https://probilliardseries.com/event/2026-austria/

Predator Pro Billiard Series Equipment