Quick Facts
| Tournament | World Pool Championship 2013 |
| Sport | 9-ball pool (American pool) |
| Organizer | World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) |
| Venue | Lusail Sports Arena, Doha, Qatar |
The World Pool Championship is the premier global title in American-style pool, contested under WPA rules and played in the 9-ball format. This page covers the 2013 edition of that cue sports event, held in Doha, Qatar, and has nothing to do with any team-based or racquet sport that may share a similar name.
Tournament Recap
The 2013 World Pool Championship brought together the strongest collection of professional pool players from across the globe, descending on the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar. The tournament followed the WPA’s open format, inviting national champions and top-ranked players from every continental confederation, making it one of the most genuinely international events on the pool calendar. Qatar had become a reliable and generous host for major cue sports events during this era, and the Doha venue gave the competition a high-profile, well-resourced backdrop that suited a world title.
The field was predictably loaded with talent from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Players from the Philippines, a perennial powerhouse in world pool, were strongly represented alongside elite professionals from Taiwan, Germany, and the United States. The round-robin group stage, a format the WPA had long favored for this championship, allowed players to find their rhythm before the knockout rounds raised the stakes. That group structure rewards consistency over a few days and tends to filter out lucky one-off upsets, meaning the players who reached the later stages genuinely earned their place there.
I have to be straightforward here: while I am confident the 2013 edition took place in Doha at the Lusail Sports Arena and followed the standard WPA open format with its characteristic round-robin and single-elimination structure, I am not sufficiently confident in the specific champion, runner-up, and final score for this particular year to state them as fact. Reporting a wrong name or a fabricated scoreline would do a disservice to the actual winner and to readers relying on this page for accurate information. For confirmed results, the full draw and official champion details are available on the World Pool Championship main page on BilliardsBase, which covers all editions of the event.
What is beyond dispute is the broader context. By 2013, the World Pool Championship had cemented itself as the sport’s most prestigious open-format title, distinct from the more regionally flavored US Open or the invitational Euro Tour events. The WPA’s decision to stage the event in the Middle East reflected both the sponsorship landscape of that moment and a genuine push to grow pool’s international profile. Players competed with their nations’ flags on display, and the format gave lesser-known pool-playing countries a genuine pathway into the main draw, something that strengthened the competition’s claim to being a true world championship rather than a private invitational. Whoever lifted the trophy in Doha in 2013 did so against a field that had every right to call itself the best in the world at that point in time.
Format and Structure
How the Competition Worked
The WPA World Pool Championship in this era typically opened with a large round-robin group stage. Players were seeded into groups and played a set number of matches within those groups, with the top finishers advancing into a single-elimination bracket. Matches in the knockout rounds were played to a race format, with later rounds extending the race to give matches the extended, grinding character that separates top-level pool from shorter formats. 9-ball rewards both precision and tactical intelligence, and the multi-day format allowed both to shine. Equipment standards were enforced by the WPA, with approved cloth, balls, and pool tables required throughout the venue to ensure a consistent playing surface for all competitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What format was used at the 2013 World Pool Championship?
The tournament followed the WPA’s established structure combining a round-robin group stage with a subsequent single-elimination knockout bracket, played in the 9-ball discipline. This format has been a consistent feature of the World Pool Championship across multiple editions.
Where was the 2013 World Pool Championship held?
The 2013 edition was held at the Lusail Sports Arena in Doha, Qatar. Qatar was an active host nation for major international pool events during this period, providing strong logistical support and attractive prize funds.
Who organizes the World Pool Championship?
The World Pool-Billiard Association, universally known as the WPA, is the governing body responsible for organizing and sanctioning the World Pool Championship. The WPA coordinates with national and continental federations to determine qualification pathways for each edition.
Is the World Pool Championship the same as the US Open Pool Championship?
No, these are two separate events. The US Open Pool Championship is a major American invitational-style tournament held in the United States, while the World Pool Championship is the WPA’s official open world title, open to national representatives from across all continents.
Why is the 2013 World Pool Championship significant in pool history?
The 2013 edition is part of a run of WPA World Pool Championships staged in Qatar that helped raise the global profile of professional pool, attracting serious sponsorship and international television attention at a time when the sport was working hard to grow its audience outside traditional markets. The Doha events of this era are widely credited with bringing production values and prize-fund levels that the sport had rarely seen before.