Jesus Atencio landed the cover of the April 2026 Billiards Digest under the headline “Star Power.” Six months ago most casual fans would have drawn a blank if you mentioned the name, but now the kid from Venezuela has become the first to win a World Nineball Tour ranking event, has taken down the world number one at a major, and got the pool forums going back and forth on whether he belongs on the Mosconi Cup team.

Here’s how fast it happened. Last November at the River City Open in Jacksonville (WNT ranking event, 49 players, $30,000 added) Atencio went undefeated. He sent Biado home double hill in the quarters, took the hot seat over Hohmann 11-8, then outlasted Tevez in a race to 13 final between two guys separated by a single Fargo point (786 to 785). Biggest check of his career. Two weeks later at the Florida Open he drew Gorst in the last 16 and beat him too.

By February he was in the Premier League Pool field (invitational) at Classic Billiards in Lauderhill. Cuetec signed him. And now he’s on the cover of Billiards Digest. That tells you where the sport sees him headed.

Still, the forum’s ranking chatter misses the bigger picture. Atencio is grinding the full tour, flying to events, stepping into the deepest fields on the planet, and going deep. As you know, pool is still a sport where the travel can eat your winnings before you get home, and the players who commit to the whole global schedule are a small crew. At 27, Venezuelan-born but based in North Carolina and playing under the American flag, he’s in it now. The Billiards Digest cover wasn’t for one win or one upset. It was for the whole trajectory.

🔗 BD Story. 🔗 Cuetec Signing

It took until the last day of a three-day grind in New York, but Lukas Fracasso-Verner walked out of Raxx Pool Room with his first WNT ranking title, beating Naoyuki Oi 13-10 in the final of the Inthebx Open.

The $32,400 added event ran March 27-29 at Raxx in West Hempstead. Stage 2 on the final day brought the last 16 survivors together, and the winners’ side had a few results worth noting.

Jayson Shaw was gone early, dropping a double hill match to Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn (Fargo 800) 10-11 in Winners’ Round 1. Shaw is one of the best in the world on any given weekend. Juszczyszyn made him work for every rack before edging him at the hill. Oi cruised his side more comfortably, 11-3 over Hunter Lombardo, 11-9 over Hohmann, then 11-7 over Juszczyszyn in the winners’ final.

Fracasso-Verner’s path was clean. He beat Nathan Childress 11-7 in Round 1, then Norway’s Emil Gangflot 11-8. In the winners’ semifinal he ran into Poland’s Szymon Kural (Fargo 784), who had already sent Casper Matikainen home double hill the day before, and rolled him 11-5. That set up the race to 13 final against Oi on Table 27.

Oi came in the higher ranked player by a mile (825 to 747) and had just made the European Open final two weeks earlier in Sarajevo plus gone deep at the Belgium Open the week after that. Three finals in four weeks across three countries. Fracasso-Verner, a McDermott ambassador out of Wallingford, Connecticut, had been quietly grinding the Joss Northeast Tour and the regional circuit. He looked ready for the moment. He won 13-10.

Both finalists are already entered in the Diamond Open at the Expo next week.

Raxx has now hosted the WPBA Invitational (Fefilova Styer took it in a hill hill final over Amit) and the Inthebx Open in the span of two weeks. Thirty tables, 12,000 square feet, and Long Island is quietly turning into the busiest competitive pool address on the East Coast. Putting this on my pool rooms to visit list.

🔗 InTheBX Results. 🔗 Raxx Pool Room

April 1 through 8 at the Hyatt Regency at The Arch, Predator brings four events running under one roof: the Bank Pool Masters invitational kicks things off April 1 and 2, the Yalin WPA Men's 8-Ball World Championship runs April 2 through 8, the Poison Mixed Doubles Open goes April 3 through 7, and the Seybert's Women's Open runs April 3 through 8. Total prize fund across all four events is $590,000. Free admission for spectators.

This is the first time PBS has brought a stop to the Midwest, and St. Louis has a deep enough local pool community to fill the room. All matches played on Predator Apex 9-foot tables with Arcadia Reserve cloth. Format is best of 5 sets, races to 4, with the PBS shootout protocol if it goes hill hill in the deciding set. The 8-Ball World Championship alone is worth paying attention to, that's a WPA title on the line. Coverage on Pro Billiard TV YouTube page and we’ll be covering it with updates on our socials throughout the week.

🔗 Pro Billiard Series stop in STL. 🔗 Pro Billiard TV - watch live!

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The 32nd annual Super Billiards Expo kicks off April 9-12 at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. This massive event is the largest consumer-oriented billiards trade show in the world spanning over 225,000 square feet and over 240 vendor booth.

The main event is the Diamond Open 9-Ball Pro Players Championship. It’s a WNT Bronze ranking event with a $100,000 prize fund, $16,000 to the winner. Matchroom started with 128 spots then expanded the field four separate times and it is now sold out at 176 players. The registered list reads like a major. Gorst, Neuhausen, Shaw, Alcaide, Feijen, Sanchez Ruiz, He, both Kaci brothers, Ouschan, Oi, Strickland, Souquet, Hohmann, Morra, Sevastyanov, Atencio, Fracasso-Verner, Woodward, Styer, Souto, Tevez. Races to 10, double elimination down to the Final 64, then single elimination the rest of the way. 9-foot Diamond Pro-Ams on Simonis 860, template racks, collared shirts required (which always catches somebody off guard).

This is the one weekend every year where the entire industry ends up in the same building, manufacturers, retailers, custom cue makers, a pro field that would be competitive at any WNT stop, and a vendor floor worth walking even if you’re not buying. It’s a must-attend for anyone passionate about pool.

🔗 Expo Details. 🔗 Diamond Open. 🔗 Expo Amateur Events.

•  April 9-12 | Super Billiards Expo, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, Oaks, PA. Diamond Open 9-Ball Pro Players Championship (WNT Bronze). $100,000 prize fund. 176 players. Sold out. Coverage on WNT TV.

•  April 9-12 | Expo amateur events running alongside the pros: Open Amateur, Seniors (50+), Super Seniors (65+), Women’s Amateur, Juniors, Pro-Am Barbox. Details at superbilliardsexpo.com.

•  April 15-19 | WPBA Island Casino Invitational, Harris, Michigan. 🔗 Info

•  April 23-26 | Bob Stocks Memorial, Virginia. WNT ranking event, $45,000 prize fund. 🔗 Matchroom schedule.

•  April 29-May 3 | Costa Rica Open, San Jose. WNT ranking event, $35,000 prize fund. First time on the WNT calendar. 🔗 Event Details

•  May 26-31 | UK Open Pool Championship, Brentwood, Essex. WNT Major, $225,000 prize fund. 🔗 Link

On The Hill is the weekly newsletter from Break Room Billiards. If you liked this issue, forward it to someone who plays. Subscribe at onthehill.news.

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