8-Ball Teams Final Set for Saturday Night as Grand Finals Hit Championship Weekend
The last weekend of league play at the Ultimate Pool USA National Grand Finals closes with the richest match in league history — after Friday crowns the 10-Ball Teams champion and both pairs winners at Harrah's Cherokee.
The league program at the Ultimate Pool USA National Grand Finals reaches its climax this weekend at Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee, North Carolina — three trophies decided Friday, and the richest match in league pool history on Saturday night.
Friday's finish line
The 10-Ball Teams championship — $35,000 to the winner from a $90,000 purse that pays through the last 16 — crowns its champion Friday. The last four qualifying matches go at 9 a.m. ET: Money Shots vs. In The Stroke Of Time, Chalk And Awe vs. Marcia's Misfits, Armstrong All-Stars vs. Wise Guys Ball, and Syndicate vs. Me No Guilty. The semifinals follow at 2 p.m. ET, with the title decided later Friday, per the event's DigitalPool bracket.
Friday also settles both pairs championships. The National Mixed Pairs final goes at 2:30 p.m. ET and the National Pairs final at 3:15 p.m., each worth $5,000 to the winners. The National Singles leaderboard also wraps up Friday.
The $112,000 match
The 8-Ball Teams bracket is down to eight. All four quarterfinals go at 2 p.m. ET Friday: Drunken Masters vs. Amigos, Cue The Chaos vs. How You Like Me Now, Speed Killz vs. Big Time Rockets, and Rack Of Ages vs. Lucky Break Birmingham. The semifinals are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET Saturday, and the final is set for 8 p.m. ET Saturday night.
The champion collects $112,000 — billed by Ultimate Pool USA as the biggest top prize in league pool history — from a $282,000 purse paying down to the last 32 teams: $50,000 to the runner-up, $20,000 to each semifinalist, $10,000 per quarterfinalist, $3,000 at the last 16 and $1,000 at the last 32.
The opens run through Sunday
The league trophies may be settled, but the tables stay busy into next week. The 512-player National Open — sold out before the week began, with $20,000 to the winner — keeps running through Sunday, alongside the 128-player National Women's Open, which broke from the gate Friday. The National Junior Open starts Saturday and finishes Sunday.
The week so far
The invitational side of the festival is nearly settled. Margarita Fefilova-Styer opened the week by winning the National Women's Shootout, Oscar Dominguez edged Tom Cousins 5-4 to take the National Shootout on Wednesday, and Joven Bustamante beat Shane Van Boening 5-3 in Thursday night's National 10-Ball Showdown final — the last pro invitational of the week.
Feature tables stream on the Ultimate Pool USA YouTube channel, and every bracket updates live on DigitalPool. After the league program closes Saturday, only the three open events remain on the tables Sunday.