The pool game is one of the most sophisticated indoor games in the world. But have you ever considered who are the best pool players on our planet? You’ll find it right here in this very article.
Before starting right away, you might want to know that pool games comes under the category of cue sports, also sometimes written as cuesports where the players use cuestick to play on a pool table.
Woman Playing Billiard (Source: Freepik)
Furthermore, this fashionable game has several iterations like blackball, nine-ball, seven-ball, bank pool, straight pool, and so on. Well, it is also known as pocket billiards or pool billiards in some countries.
Talking about the global market valuation, the global pool tables market size was valued at $214.1 million in 2020. Moreover, this number is expected to reach $291.6 million by the year 2028.
Now, without any delay, let’s look at the top 12 pool players in the world.
Quick Overview
Rank
Best Pool Players
Country
1.
Joshua Filler
Germany
2.
Shane Van Boening
America
3.
Ko Ping-Chung
Taiwan
4.
Jayson Shaw
Scotland
5.
Niels Feijen
Netherland
6.
Alexander Kazakis
Greece
7.
David Alcaide
Spain
8.
Ralf Souquet
German
9.
Maximilian Lechner
Austria
10.
Tyler Styer
America
11.
Albin Alois Ouschan
Austria
12.
Wu Jia-qing
China
Top Pool Players in the World
The details of players and their ranking are in the tune with the World pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and other official websites.
#12. Wu Jia-qing
The professional pool player Wu Jia-qing appears on the number 12 of the top pool players in the world.
The left-handed pool player was born in Taiwan and later acquired Chinese citizenship. Currently, he plays in the 12th position.
The pro-player started playing just at the age of ten. To detail, he began with the eight-ball pool from his family’s pool club.
When he was small, his grandmother used to take him to different tournaments on her scooter!
Later, at the age of 16, this guy became the youngest player to win the WPA World Nine-ball Championship. Not only this, but the very next year, he grabbed the title of WPA World Eight-ball Championship.
Wu Jia-qing (Source: Sixpockets)
It does not stop there; in 2010, the pro pool player appeared second in the WPA World Ten-ball championship.
With all these victories, Wu applied for Chinese citizenship so that he could compete in more major international matches. After obtaining so, he secured his winnings on the 2016 and 2019 China Opens.
Likewise, Wu Jia-qing won the World Cup of Pool in 2018. Wu is also known as Taishan Shentong. This nickname given to him translates to “Little Genius from Taishan.”
#11. Albin Alois Ouschan
The Austrian pool player Albin Alois Ouschan comes on the 11th rank who, in 2014, reached the top position.
The right-handed billiard pro has won the World Cup of Pool twice. Likewise, he appeared second in the year 2018.
Ouschan has secured 83 wins and 40 losses yet in his game career. To add further, Ouschan grabbed the winning title of the WPA World 9-ball Championship in 2016 and came second in the year 2014.
Albin Alois Ouschan (Source: Sky Sports)
Furthermore, in the year 2015, he won the China Open, the Dutch Open, and the Mosconi Cup.
The billiard pro Albin was even named Mosconi Cup MVP in 2016.
The player has won several times the 8-ball, 9-ball, ten-ball, and straight pool games. To add, Ouschan has won 40 Austrian National Championships in total.
The professional American pool player Tyler Styer ranking in the 10th position, has a history of 25 wins and 15 losses.
Born on January 1, 1995, Styer, the right-handed player, has been playing pool since the age of 14. In addition, he debuted by competing in the WPA World Nine-Ball Junior Championship, in which he secured the 13th position.
Tyler Styer (Source: Sneaky Pete Mafia)
Some of his major winnings include the 2019 Kremlin World Cup in which he defeated David Alcaide.
Likewise, Tyler bagged the Mosconi Cup in the year 2018 and 2019. The pro player has competed in both the World Ten-ball championship and the World Nine-ball Championship.
#09. Maximilian Lechner
Born in Austria, the 31-year old Maximillian Lechner is a right-handed pool player with 23 wins and 16 losses to date.
Also known as the Mad Max, he is the top ninth player in the category of the best pool players in the world.
Starting with, Lechner won the junior WPA World 9-ball Championship in 2008. Likewise, he bagged the victory for the European Junior Championships in both straight and Eight-ball the same year.
Maximilian Lechner (Source: AZBilliards)
To mention his journey, Maximilian has had several successes on the European Tour. To illustrate, he has played in the 2017 Dutch Open, 2017 Treviso Open, 2017 Klagenfurt Open, 2018 Leende Open, and so on.
In addition, he proudly stood at the fifth position in the 2021 World Nine-Ball Championship.
#08. Ralf Souquet
Ralf Souquet is the German pool player who is also famously known by the nickname “The Kaiser.” The right-handed pool player has set a career record of 23 wins and 16 losses.
Souquet was only six years old when he started playing billiard at his family’s pub. Reportedly, he used to practice for almost five hours every day.
To add, this hard work paid off when he won his first Junior German Championship at the age of 14. Not only that, but in 1986, he won the junior division European Championship.
Ralf Souquet (Source: Professor-Q-Ball)
Ralf Souquet, the brilliant pool player, has amassed more than 200 titles since his debut. To detail, these victories include 41 German titles and 34 European titles he bagged playing both individually and in the team.
Additionally, the player won his first World Nine-ball Championship at the age of 28. At the very match, he played against Swedish Tom Storm.
The second global title collected by him was winning World Nine-ball Championship in 2008, where he defeated Ronnie Alcano. Furthermore, he has become the World Pool Masters five times.
#07. David Alcaide
The Spanish pool player David Alcaide is on the number seventh in the list of the best pool players in the world. He holds 82 wins and 56 losses.
The professional right-handed pool player fell in love with playing pool at the age of five. This sincerity blessed him with winning the Spanish Eight-ball Championship when he was fourteen years old.
Moreover, his great opening arrived in 1998 when Alcaide stood third in the Spanish Open Tournament.
David Alcaide (Source: WPA Pool)
In addition, the pro player is also the first player belonging to Spanish nationality who represented Europe in the 2006’s Mosconi Cup.
Talking about his other achievements, Alcaide bagged the winning title for the World Pool of Master and the Kremlin World Cup in 2007.
Moreover, he is a winner of 2010’s Straight Pool Championship. Also, he won the 8-ball championship in 2013, 2014, and 2016.
#06. Alexander Kazakis
Alexander Kazakis is the Greek right-handed professional pool player who comes on the sixth ranking of this list.
With a career record of 95 wins and 46 losses, Kazakis was titled as the number one player in 2018’s WPA rating.
Alexander Kazakis (Source: Azeta Billiards)
He was outstanding at the 2016 Kremlin World Cup, where he won all of the games he participated in. Likewise, two years later, Kazakis managed to reach the semi-finals of the World 9-ball Championship.
In the same way, he stood second in the 2019’s World Pool Masters. Nevertheless, the man won the Euro Tour Austria Open in 2018.
The Dutch pool player Niels Feijen is also known as “The Terminator” for his majestic style in pool games.
The right-handed player from the Netherlands has amassed 113 wins and 65 losses in his career.
Among these winning stats, the European Straight Pool Championship deserves an honorable mention as Feijen won it seven times!
Niels Feijen (Source: The Pool Scene)
To start with, he represented Europe at the Mosconi Cup in several years starting from 2001 and also has been voted MVP four times. Alongside, he won the Skins Billards Championship in 2004.
Moreover, Feijens secured his winning position in the 2008’s World Straight Pool Champions, in which he played against Francisco Bustamante.
From winning European Nine-Ball Championship twice to winning World Pool Masters twice, Niels Feijen absolutely deserves this position in this list.
#04. Jayson Shaw
Jayson Shaw is a right-handed professional pool player from Scotland. Shaw is known for winning the World Blackball Championship in 2010.
Jayson Shaw (Source: PressNewsAgency)
The Scottish player has his career records of 84 wins and 40 losses and has competed in several formats like 8-ball, 9-ball, and 10-ball tournaments.
Moreover, Jayson won the 2016’s International Challenge of Champions and has also gained victory in many Mosconi Cups.
#03. Ko Ping-Chung
Coming to the third position on our list is Ko Ping-Chung, the Taiwanese right-handed pool player.
He is the brother of Ko Pin-Yi, who is also a professional pool player. Ping-Chung has a career record of 100 wins and 41 losses.
Known for playing 9-ball and 10-balls, Ko won the junior division of 2013’s World Nine-Ball Championship.
Ko Ping-Chung (Source: WPA Pool)
Likewise, he came second in 2011’s All Japan Open Tournament, and the same year, he reached the knockout round of the 10-ball tournament for the first time.
Talking about his first winning World Tournament, it was in 2019 when he successfully grabbed the winning title for the 10-ball championship.
#02. Shane Van Boening
Shane Van Boening, also known as “The South Dakota Kid,” is an American professional pool player. The right-handed pro player has a career record of 155 wins and 60 losses.
The brilliant player has garnered 50 titles in his game career. In 2008, he was also given the title of Male Player of the Year.
Shane Van Boening (Source: The Pool Scene)
Recently, Boening received the world’s highest Fargo Rating amongst almost 250 thousand pool players around the world. Moreover, in 2020, Shane was honored with the “Player of the Decade.”
He wears a hearing aid, however, it has never become any sort of obstacle to his pool-playing ability.
Talking about the tournaments, Shane bagged the 2019’s World Straight Pool Championship. Likewise, he has won Mosconi Cup thrice, World Pool Masters twice, and the US Open several times.
#01. Joshua Filler
Finally, the top position in the list of best pool players in the world is reserved by the German player Joshua Filler.
Unlike most pool players mentioned here, Filler is a left-handed player with a career record of 78 wins and 32 losses.
Filler has been participating at the national level of billiards since the age of ten.
Joshua Filler (Source: Sky Sports)
Moreover, he became the youngest pool player representing Europe in 2017’s Mosconi Cup. During that game, he was only 20 years old and won the MVP title.
Similarly, in 2017, he presented himself as China’s Open Youngest Champion.
Afterward, Joshua kept bagging the titles of several tournaments like the European Pool Championship, WPA World Nine-Ball Championship, WPA World Ten-Ball Championship, the Leende Open, and a lot more.
