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U.S. Open Pool Championship

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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.

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8-410: In its first official edition in 1976, the U.S. Open was contested by just 16 players. Over the years, the number of participants steadily increased, reaching its current level of 256 players. The tournament is an open to men, women and wheelchair users, making it a true "open" tournament, in that the only requirement to play in the event is the payment of the entry fee. The total purse for the tournament

16-544: A pool hall , snooker hall , pool room or pool parlour , is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool , snooker or carom billiards . Such establishments commonly serve alcohol and often have arcade games , slot machines , card games , darts , foosball and other games. Some billiard halls may be combined or integrated with a bowling alley . Pool and billiards developed as an indoor option to substitute for games such as croquet that were played on lawns. Dedicated venues began to appear in

24-708: Is $ 300,000, where the winner is awarded $ 50,000. The tournament's original venue was Q-Master Billiards pool hall , in Norfolk, Virginia , which hosted the event, other than one year, from 1976 until 1988. From 1997 to 2011, the U.S. Open Men's Division was held at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, Virginia . Q-Masters is still involved in the tournament. Original promoter Barry Behrman died on April 23, 2016. His children, Brady Behrman and Shannon Behrman Paschall, took over operating

32-439: The 1957 hit musical The Music Man lampooned this prejudice (even contrasting carom billiards , requiring "judgement, brains, and maturity", versus pool, said to be a gateway to laziness, gambling, smoking and philandering). Public perception had become less critical by the 1990s. By the 2010s, with competition from a growing number of competing entertainment venues, as well as the availability of online gambling, revenue from

40-459: The 19th century, and by the early 20th century, billiard and pool halls were common in many countries; in 1915 there were 830 in Chicago. In North America in the 1950s and 1960s especially, pool halls in particular were perceived as a social ill by many, and laws were passed in many jurisdictions to set age limits at pool halls and restrict gambling and the sale of alcohol. The song "Trouble" in

48-472: The operation of billiard halls in the United States had declined significantly. In Korea, on the other hand, the pool halls are becoming more popular after years of decline. Pool halls feature prominently in the novel and film The Hustler , and their sequel book and movie, The Color of Money , as well as other pool films such as Poolhall Junkies and Shooting Gallery . The historic depth of

56-423: The title. As of 2019, the tournament reverts to single-elimination from the last 16 onwards. At the U.S. Open, matches are played in races to 11, with the winner breaking. However, the final match, as is customary with most professional nine-ball tournaments today, is one extended race. At the U.S. Open, the extended race in the finals is 13 racks. Billiard hall A billiard hall , also known as

64-432: The tournament until 2018, when it was sold to Matchroom Pool . The tournament format is essentially double-elimination (a player is out of the tournament after losing two matches ) until two players remain. Most professional pool "double-elimination" events, however, are not true double-elimination formats, where the player who reaches the finals from the loser's side has to defeat the winner's side player twice for

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