The World Pool League (WPL) was a nine ball pool tournament promoted by Matchroom Sport and PartyGaming,[1] and sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). All of the events were held in Warsaw, Poland, annually from 1999 to 2006.[1] Six notable players were selected to participate in each event, which lasted for three days.[1] Despite its name, the events were invitational tournaments, not a league in the usual sporting senses. The victor in the final event was Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines, 8–5 over Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, for a US$20,000 first-place prize.[1]
Format edit
Round robin stage edit
The players were arranged such that each on the others once, in round-robin fashion. Unlike most matches in the sport where a player has to score a required number of racks to win, players in this round play in an assigned number of racks (for example: 10 racks or 12 racks). If a player won more racks than those remaining in the match, 2 points were earned. If the match ended with two players in the same score, then both settled for a point each. The leading 4 players in the field proceeded to the semi-finals.
Semi-finals and final edit
The semi-finals were single-elimination (knock-out). The final was played as a race (such as race-to-nine or race-to-eight).
Winners edit
| Year | Location | Winner | runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Warsaw, Poland |
 Jim Rempe[1]
|
 Fabio Petroni
|
| 1999 | Jim Rempe (2)
|
 Efren Reyes
| |
| 2000 |  Steve Knight
|
Francisco Bustamante
| |
| 2001 | Efren Reyes[1]
|
Steve Davis
| |
| 2002 | Efren Reyes (2)
|
Earl Strickland
| |
| 2003 | Rodney Morris[1]
|
 Thorsten Hohmann
| |
| 2004 | Francisco Bustamante[1]
|
Alex Pagulayan
| |
| 2005 | Thorsten Hohmann[1]
|
Francisco Bustamante
| |
| 2006 | Dennis Orcollo[1]
|
 Niels Feijen[1]
|
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "World Pool League: Orcollo Takes The Glory". MatchroomSport.com. Essex, England: Matchroom Sport. 2 October 2006. pp. "Pool" section. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-08.