Player: Carlo Biado
Event: U.S. Open Pool Championship
Location: Las Vegas, Nev
Date: Sept. 18, 2021



Whether or not you believe momentum is a tangible thing in a pool match, it's undeniable that world-class 9-ball can be a game of streaks, if only because the quality of play is so high that a run of five or six racks isn't that uncommon. In the race-to-13 final the 2021 U.S. Open Pool Championship in Las Vegas, the Philippines' Carlo Biado and Aloysius Yapp of Singapore proved even the slightest open door can be the difference between winning and losing.

After jumping out to a 3-1 lead, Biado watched as the match started to tilt in the favor of his 25-year-old opponent. Yapp took the next four racks before playing safe to leave Biado in the position shown in the diagram to the right.

With the 8 ball between the cue ball and the 1 near center table, he didn't have a clear shot. With a cluster of balls near the top right, including the 2 ball, Biado didn't have many solid options. But the 37-year-old star got creative with a potential two-way jump shot on the 1. Jacking up against the rail, he popped the cue ball over the blocking ball, nearly fully hitting the 1.

The 1 went three rails, eventually barely nudging the original obstacle 8 ball before stopping a ball's width from it. The cue ball, meanwhile, went off the right long rail and clipped the right side of the 4 ball before stopping near the headrail, with the 7 and 2 forming a wall between the cue ball and the 1-8 cluster.

While Yapp eventually won the rack on his way to taking an 8-3 lead, Biado roared back with his own incredible run, taking the final 10 racks en route to a 13-8 victory for the first U.S. Open title for the Philippines in 27 years, since Efren Reyes' win in Norfolk, Va., in 1994.


(Video clip provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions.)

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