The rematch everyone circled turned into a route. Fedor Gorst beat Shane Van Boening 50-30 in their King of the Hill 9-ball challenge at Hilltop Promotions Studio in Anderson, South Carolina, avenging the 120-116 loss Van Boening handed him in their first marathon meeting in 2024. The race to 50 played out over two days, July 11-12, in front of about 40 spectators in the room and a free audience watching on the Railbirds TV YouTube stream, with Karl Boyes and Scott Frost on the call.

The numbers tell you how one-sided it got. Gorst broke 50 times across the match and came up dry exactly twice. He strung together 21 break-and-run games, including two three-packs, and committed a foul roughly once every 12 trips to the table, while Van Boening fouled once every five. Van Boening arrived days removed from winning the USA National 9-Ball title in Dubuque and briefly made it competitive early, but there were no lead changes at all on day two. Eight and a quarter hours of pool, and the world number one spent most of them in complete control.

The match was billed as the first in a series of King of the Hill challenges from Hilltop Promotions, with the winner staying on to face the next challenger. That makes Gorst the man holding the hill, six weeks before he walks into the US Open in Frisco as one of the favorites. For Van Boening, a national champion one weekend and on the wrong end of a 20-game margin the next, the message is the one American pool has been grappling with for three years: the standard is Gorst, and everyone else is chasing it.

🔗 Recap. 🔗 Watch it all.

The 2026 USA National Pool Championships wrapped their full week at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa on Sunday, closing out the biggest edition yet of American pool's revived national title event. The week carried more than $45,000 in added money, over double last year's figure, across more than 15 divisions in four disciplines, with champions earning invitations to represent the United States at World Championship competition.

Shane Van Boening's 9-ball title from the opening days set the tone, and the rest of the week filled out the podiums. April Larson claimed the Women's 9-Ball national championship, then took silver in the Women's 10-Ball behind the week's most remarkable champion: 15-year-old Savannah Easton of Las Vegas, who won the senior USA Women's 10-Ball national title on July 10 while also competing in the junior divisions. In the Men's 10-Ball, Justin Bergman took the title.

The junior story ran right alongside, and kept crossing over. At the 39th Annual BEF Junior National Pool Championships, Hayden Ernst and Savannah Easton combined for six gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. Ernst, the young Missourian who goes by "Maverick," went undefeated in the Boys 13-and-under division and claimed his eighth national junior title in under-19 eight-ball with a 6-3 win over Brendan Greene, then entered the men's pro 10-ball division and beat Damian Pongpanik 8-4 and BCA Hall of Famer Rodney Morris 8-3. Easton's junior silver came against 17-year-old Sofia "The Pink Dagger" Mast in the Girls 18-and-under final, a match between two players who will headline American women's pool for the next decade.

The junior champions now feed into the Team USA training camp at Felt Billiards in Englewood, Colorado starting July 27 ahead of the World Junior Championships. A national championship week where a 15-year-old won a senior women's title and a junior boy beat a Hall of Famer in the pro division is a week American pool should feel good about.

🔗 SVB’s Win. 🔗 Junior Winners.

Asia crowns its champions, and the host nation takes the big one. The 2026 Asian Pool Championships closed today in Ho Chi Minh City with the home crowd getting the finish it wanted. Vietnam's Luong Duc Thien won the A+Plus Men's 9-Ball title, beating Wu Kun Lin of Chinese Taipei 11-7 in the final to claim the continental crown on home soil. It caps a rough summer of finals for Wu, who also finished runner-up to Felix Vogel at the PBS Men's Open in Austria last month.

Earlier in the week, Chinese Taipei's Ko Pin Chung won the ANDY Men's 10-Ball with a commanding 11-5 win over Syria's Mohammad Soufi, ending Carlo Biado's title defense along the way. China's Huang Qingning lifted the HOW Women's 9-Ball trophy, and Chinese Taipei's Lin Chang Yen took the junior title. Four champions, three flags, and a $107,200 total purse across the week at the Ho Xuan Huong Gymnasium.

Zieliński takes Prague. Wiktor Zieliński won the 2AM Prague Open, the $35,000 WNT ranking event at 2AM Billiards, defeating Dominik Jastrząb in Saturday's final. Matchroom confirmed the result Sunday. It closed out the European leg of the summer ranking calendar; the tour now crosses the Atlantic for the McDermott Open in Connecticut this week, then Florida, then Frisco.

🔗 Asia Pool Championships. 🔗 Prague Open.

Money matches and the gambling side of pool

Ten days of American action. The action calendar is suddenly stacked. It starts this Friday and Saturday, July 17-18, when BCA Hall of Famer Johnny "The Scorpion" Archer takes on young gun Gabe “The Ninja” Martinez in a 9-ball race to 50 played under old school rules for a winner-take-all purse of $20,000-plus. The format is a true two-day grind: they play to 25 on Friday and finish the race Saturday. Old school against new school, with the Scorpion putting his legacy game up against a hungry young player who has been taking on any and all action the last few months.

Then Wednesday, July 22, Blue Springs Side Pockets in Missouri hosts a money match doubleheader. Rodney Morris meets Shane Thompson in 8-ball, a race to 25 with $25,000 minimum in the middle, opening the day at 1PM. The main event follows: Tom Cousins vs. Justin Bergman, race to 30 in 8-ball, $100K minimum in the middle, live on CueXTV pay-per-view for $19.99. Bergman comes in fresh off winning the Men's 10-Ball national title in Dubuque, which adds a layer: the newly crowned national champion putting six figures on the line nine days later.

And there's more behind it: James Cabal vs. Oscar Dominguez, a 10-ball race to 30 with Cabal getting the 8, 9, and 10 plus five games on the wire for $10,000, is set for next week, date to be announced. Oscar is also preparing to head to South Florida to take on Anthony Meglino in a 2day 9ball race to 60 for north of $120k next month.

Stay tuned to our socials (listed at end of issue) for by the day updates and links to watch live.

Matchroom Pool has been rolling out high-production "Rewind" matches leading up to major August tournaments. Fedor Gorst is widely considered one of the absolute best players on Earth right now. This match pits him against Jesus Atencio playing on his home turf at the 2025 Florida Open. It is a grueling, absolute nail-biter of a battle with high-risk safeties and incredible shot-making. Worth a full watch as we get close to the 2026 Florida Open next month!

The most interesting thing in pool right now might be the ages. Savannah Easton won a senior national title at 15. Hayden Ernst beat a Hall of Famer in a pro bracket before he can drive. Felix Vogel won a PBS Men's Open at 18 last month, and Kledio Kaçi defended a WNT title at 19 the week after. The generation that grew up on streamed pool, Fargo ratings, and structured junior programs is arriving all at once, and they are not waiting their turn.

Meanwhile the established order has its own referendum coming. Gorst just reminded everyone who the standard is, Van Boening answered a national title with a 20-game loss, and Frisco in August puts all of it, the teenagers, the veterans, and the world number one, into one 256-player bracket on ESPN+. Somewhere in that field is a first-time major winner nobody is pricing in yet. The last month suggests they might be young.

McDermott Open | Yale Billiards, Wallingford, CT | July 16-19 | $29,300 WNT Ranking

Archer vs. Martinez Money Match | July 17-18 | 9-ball race to 50, old school rules, $20,000+ winner-take-all | streamed

NWPA Tour Stop 4 | Players Sports Bar, Kennewick, WA | July 18-19 | Women's 10-Ball

Blue Springs Money Match Doubleheader | July 22 | Blue Springs Side Pockets, Blue Springs, MO | Morris vs. Thompson 1PM, Cousins vs. Bergman main event | CueXTV PPV

WPBA Oneida WPA Women's World 8-Ball Championship | Oneida Casino Hotel, Green Bay, WI | July 22-26

Empire State Classic | Raxx Pool Room, West Hempstead, NY | July 23-26

Cabal vs. Dominguez Money Match | date TBA next week | 10-ball race to 30, Cabal gets 8/9/10 plus 5 games, $10,000

Vice City Classic | Classic Billiards, Lauderhill, FL | July 29-August 2 | $71,200 WNT Ranking

WPA Women's World 10-Ball Championship | Rome, Italy | July 31-August 6

Matchroom Schedule. WPBA Schedule. AZB Calendar.

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