For the past five years or so, competitors from Poland had been going deep in large professional pocket billiards tournaments and challenging the world’s best.
Polish competitors like Mieszko Fortunski, Wiktor Zielinski and Konrad Juszczyszyn would routinely reach the final 16 or quarterfinals of a major tournament or world championship – like in 2021, when eight Poles qualified for the 64-player, single-elimination phase of a world championship.
“Everyone is chasing after each other here and working on their game and it makes it very difficult for anyone to stand out,” said Wojciech Szewczyk. “We have a lot of passion for the game and we take it very seriously.”
Wojciech Szewczyk｜©US Pro Billiard Series
Despite this passion, no one from the European nation had managed to earn a major victory –until last year, when Zielinski took home first place at Predator’s Pro Billiard Series Alfa Las Vegas Open and Szewczyk came from behind to win the Predator World 10-Ball Championship six days later. Both players along with women’s Alfa Las Vegas Open champion Kelly Fisher will be back to defend their titles beginning this week, with the Cue Sports International Expo kicking off this week. The 11-day event, which also includes the 3-Cushion World Cup, will begin Wednesday with the men’s Alfa Las Vegas Open and the women’s Open starting on Friday.
As Predator and CSI work to produce the toughest and fairest tests in professional pool, this year’s Pro Billiard Series events will see a format change. The single-elimination final stage of the Open tournaments will expand to three sets of a race-to-four from the two sets that it was previously. If the third set finishes in a 3-3 tie, a sudden-death shootout will occur. Competition in the double-elimination opening stage will remain a two-set race-to-four with ties decided by a shootout.
The format for the 128-player World 10-Ball Championship will remain unchanged, with players competing in race-to-eight double-elimination during the first half of the event before expanding to a race-to-10 during the single-elimination portion of the competition.
Zielinski survived a rollercoaster of a final day in last year’s Alfa Open, defeating Dimitri Jungo and Mika Immonen in shootouts to reach the finals where he took down Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp in straight sets. Six days later, Szewczyk trailed Edgie Geronimo 9-6 in the quarterfinals of the World 10-Ball Championships before taking advantage of a pair of open opportunities to come from behind and defeat his opponent. He then took down Albania’s Eklent Kaci and Christopher Tevez of Peru to earn Poland’s first world title. The weekend concluded with Fisher continuing a hot streak that would result in her earning a gold medal at the World Games later that summer and Player of the Year honors with Billiards Digest as AZBilliards, as the Hall of Famer posted an undefeated record and defeated Canada’s Britany Bryant in the finals of the women’s Alfa Las Vegas Open.
Professional events will be played on 18 nine-foot Predator Apex tables while over 6,000 competitors from the CSI Leagues will be competing on 276 of the seven-foot Apex table.
©US Pro Billiard Series
The prize fund for this year’s World 10-Ball Championship is also expanding to a total of $250,000 – up from $225,000 the previous year – with the winner’s share remaining $60,000. The two-week-long event kicks off third year of the Pro Billiard Series, which will include 21 total events this year that will pay out over $2 million in prize money.
Matches can be watched on Billiard.TV and on World Billiard TV, the official YouTube channel of CueSports International. A schedule of televised matches will be posted daily on the Pro Billiard Series and CSI Facebook and Instagram pages.
The Alfa Las Vegas Open starts at 9am local time tomorrow. Watch Live on World Billiard TV YouTube channel, Billiard TV and at tv.kozoom.com
Brackets and scores can be found at https://probilliardseries.com/2023-men/2023-alfa-las-vegas-open/
Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter.
The Ko brothers at PBS Ohio Open｜©Pro Billiard Series
台灣18選手遠征拉斯維加斯公開賽
2023 美洲豹美國職業系列賽 (Predator US Pro Billiard Series) 將迎來第一站 “拉斯維加斯公開賽” 與 “拉斯維加斯女子公開賽”，賽事將於拉斯維加斯的里約賭場飯店拉開序幕，男子組將於當地時間 2/22 早上9點 (台灣時間 23號 凌晨1點) 開打，女子組則於 2/24 下午2點 (台灣時間 25號 早上6點) 開賽。
參賽選手方面，男子將有柯秉逸、柯秉中、柯秉漢、吳坤霖、許睿安、唐境霆、張玉龍及張榮麟；女子選手則有周婕妤、陳佳樺、蘇憶雲、洪夢霞、魏子茜、王婉菱、呂翊瑄、李心語、范育瑄與江水淨。
美洲豹職業系列賽 (PBS) 也於日前發布了今年新規則並從拉斯維加斯站開始實行。新規則將更改為
第一階段 (雙敗淘汰): 2盤、搶4、勝衝，如 1-1 平手，則點球決勝。
第二階段 (單敗淘汰-重新抽籤): 2盤、搶4、勝衝，如 1-1 平手，則進行第3盤，如比分 3-3 則點求決勝。
Amber Chen defeated A. Fisher to won the Canada Women’s Open in 2022｜©Pro Billiard Series
籤表、賽果 & 即時比分 Brackets and Live scores
賽事直播可於 World Billiard TV YouTube頻道, Billiard TV 以及 tv.kozoom.com 觀看。(拉斯維加斯與台灣時差 -16 小時。)
一起為我們的選手加油!!!