The U.S. Open Championships (often shortened in clear contexts to simply U.S. Open, and sometimes spelled with "US", "9-ball", "Nine-ball", etc.) is an annual professional pool (pocket billiards) tournament that began in 1976 at Q-Master Billiards in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

. Today, it is held in the Chesapeake Conference Center, Chesapeake

Chesapeake, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 199,184 people, 69,900 households, and 54,172 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.6 people per square mile . There were 72,672 housing units at an average density of 213.3 per square mile...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. Though it is staged in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and is labeled the "U.S. Open", male professional pool players from around the world are eligible to compete in this event in the Men's Division. Females must qualify for the Women's Division (held in various locations) under the Women's Professional Billiard Association

Women's Professional Billiard Association

The WPBA is a professional women's billiards tour based in the United States. It was originally founded in 1976 as the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance by players Madelyn Whitlow and Palmer Byrd, as well as Larry Miller ....

 (WPBA) tour. The U.S. Open Championships is one of the most sought-after titles in nine-ball and in pool generally.

Darren Appleton

Darren Appleton

Darren Appleton is a British pool player, nicknamed "Dynamite". He won the first WPA World Ten-ball Championship in 2008 against Wu Chia-ching, the former world champion in both nine-ball and eight-ball from Taiwan...

 of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 is the current (2011) Men's Division title-holder. Mika Immonen

Mika Immonen

Mika Immonen is a Finnish professional pool player, nicknamed "the Ice Man."He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball ChampionshipHe has represented Team Europe on thirteen occasions in the...

 of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 is the 2009 Men's Division title-holder. Mika is also the 2008 Men's Division title-holder of the US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

250,000 33rd Annual U.S. Open Championships, where 237 billiards players competed. Immonen claimed the 13–7 victory, and pocketed the first-place prize of $40,000 on October 26, 2008 against Filipino

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 runner-up Ronato Alcano

Ronato Alcano

Ronato Alcano , is a Filipino professional pool player, nicknamed "Ronnie Calamba" and "the Volcano".-Career history:...

 (2006 World Nine-ball Champion

WPA World Nine-ball Championship

The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual, international, professional nine-ball pool tournament, founded in 1990, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association , and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport...

), who settled for $20,000. It marked Immonen's second consecutive U.S. Open Champion title, making him the most-winning non-U.S. competitor.

Featured matches are recorded and broadcast by Billiard Club Network and Accu-Stats Video Productions on a designated table at the Chesapeake Conference Center with commentary provided by various pool veterans and industry members.

Traditionally, winners of the U.S. Open are given a green blazer in recognition for this championship title and are awarded free entry fees to all future U.S. Open tournaments.

History

In its first edition back in 1976, the US Open began with just 16 players. Over the years, the number of participants became as many as 256.

Today the larger Men's Division is a restrictive male-only event, though it is otherwise a true "open" tournament, in that the only requirement is the payment of the entry fee, which was $600 in 2008. The total purse for the tournament at that time was $200,000, where the winner was awarded $40,000.

Barry Behrman is the tournament promoter of the Men's Division, and has been since its inception.

The tournament's original venue was Q-Master Billiards pool room, located in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, which hosted the event, other than one year, until 1988. Since 1997, the U.S. Open Men's Division is held at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, Virginia

Chesapeake, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 199,184 people, 69,900 households, and 54,172 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.6 people per square mile . There were 72,672 housing units at an average density of 213.3 per square mile...

.

• Shane Van Boening is the winner of the largest first-place prize ever offered at the event, $50,000, on October 20, 2007. Van Boening remained undefeated in the field of 233 players, beating Ronato Alcano 13–10 in the final.
• The oldest pool player to ever win the Men's Division to date is Mike Lebrón
  Mike Lebron
  Miguel Benjamin Lebrón-Laboy , best known as Mike Lebrón is a Puerto Rican professional pool player nicknamed "Spanish Mike"....
  
   of Puerto Rico
  Puerto Rico
  Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
  
  , 54 years old at the time of his victory. The youngest is Mike Sigel
  Mike Sigel
  Mike Sigel is an American professional pool player.Sigel has won over 102 major pool tournaments, including 3 US Open Nine-ball Championship tournaments and 5 world pocket billiard championship titles...
  
   of the US, at 21.

Women's Division

Year	Winner
1989	Ewa Laurance Ewa Mataya Laurance Ewa Laurance is a Swedish–American professional pool player, most notably on the Women's Professional Billiard Association nine-ball tour, a sports writer, and more recently a sports commentator for ESPN...
1994	Jeanette Lee
2003	Karen Corr Karen Corr Karen Corr is a professional pool player. Her nickname is the "Irish Invader"....
2004	Ga-young Kim Ga-Young Kim Kim Ga-young is a South Korean female professional pocket billiards player who plays on the Women's Professional Billiard Association tour...
2007	Allison Fisher Allison Fisher Allison Fisher is an English professional pool player.-Biography:Fisher grew up in Hadlow, Kent. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 11 world titles in total. She even entered the men's snooker rankings, but never progressed into the...
2008	Kelly Fisher Kelly Fisher Kelly Fisher is an English professional pool and snooker player.-Career:Fisher grew up in South Elmsall, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire. She learned to play pool in her parent's pub and took up snooker when she was 13...
2009	Ga-young Kim Ga-Young Kim Kim Ga-young is a South Korean female professional pocket billiards player who plays on the Women's Professional Billiard Association tour...
2010	Ga-young Kim Ga-Young Kim Kim Ga-young is a South Korean female professional pocket billiards player who plays on the Women's Professional Billiard Association tour...

External links

• US Open official website
• Video of a 2005 US Open match between Ismael Paez and Mika Immonen
  Mika Immonen
  Mika Immonen is a Finnish professional pool player, nicknamed "the Ice Man."He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball ChampionshipHe has represented Team Europe on thirteen occasions in the...
  
  .
• 2008 US Open tournament bracket
• 2008 US Open image gallery