Lots of pool in the last few weeks in Las Vegas NV USA with Matchroom Sports' inaugural go at the US Open 9-Ball Championships following the WPA Players Championship put on by WPA and CSI.

Jiaquin Wu (CHN) held the top spot on the FargoRate list from the time the ratings began in the summer of 2015 until the Fall of 2017, when he was overtaken by Shane Van Boening (USA). With his stunning performance at the US Open 9-Ball Championships last week in Las Vegas, Wu jumped 10 points from 817 to 827 and regained the top spot. Outside his 10-13 loss to Joshua Filler in the finals and another loss that will be discussed below, Wu won 8 matches with a combined score of 88 to 30.

Joshua Filler (GER) also had a stellar performance, winning the US Open event and jumping 5 points to 822 and two places to 3rd on the FargoRate list.

The 820 Club

Here is something good for pool. There are now three players rated over 820, one from Asia (APBU), one from Europe (EPBF), and one from North America (BCA).

Did you also notice?

A remarkable jump that may have fallen under many people's radar is that of Kai-Lun Hsu (TPE). Though he fell 9-11 to Haitao Liu (CHN) n the group of 16 at the US Open, Hsu jumped 20 points to 805 and 33 spots from 50 to 17. He did this by his performance in 15 matches between the WPA Players Championship events and the US Open. Strikingly, he played all three of the members of the 820 club, Wu, Van Boening, and Filler--a total of 45 games--with a combined score of 27 to 18. Hsu beat Filler 11-8 in round 3 on the Winner's side and then he beat Wu 11-3 the next round (winner's qualification).

Other notable advances are highlighted in yellow in the list below.