U.S. Open Pool Championship
The U.S. Open Pool Championship, formerly the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship, is an annual professional men's nine-ball pool tournament that began in its current form in 1976. The U.S. Open is one of the most sought-after titles in nine-ball and in pool generally. Traditionally, winners of the U.S. Open are given a green blazer and are awarded free entry fees to all future U.S. Open tournaments.
Chesapeake Conference Center, site of the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship from 1997 to 2011
Original U.S. Open promoter Barry Behrman (right) with Rob Sykora of Billiard Club Network (left) at the 2004 event.
Nine-ball is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick, players must strike the white cue ball to pocket nine colored billiard balls, hitting them in ascending numerical order. An individual game is won by the player pocketing the 9-ball. Matches are usually played as a race to a set number of racks, with the player who reaches the set number winning the match.
The nine-balls being racked: the 1-ball at the apex centered over the foot spot, the 9-ball at center, the other balls placed randomly, and all balls touching
Two players competing in a lag to choose who breaks first.
A six-ball rack, played with the leftovers of a nine-ball game; the 10 ball (the lowest) is at the apex, and the 15 is the money ball
Racking a seven-ball game with a special hexagonal rack and black-striped 7 ball.
