Ultimate Pool USA Grand Finals: League Pool's Biggest Week Opens in Cherokee
The National Grand Finals are under way at Harrah's Cherokee — $112,000 for the 8-Ball team champion, a 28-player Shootout on the TV table, and open events through Sunday.
The biggest week in American league pool is under way. The Ultimate Pool USA National Grand Finals opened Monday at Harrah's Cherokee Casino & Resort in Cherokee, North Carolina, with league championships running through November 7 and open events stretching to Sunday, November 8.
For one week, hundreds of league qualifiers, invited professionals and open-field entrants share the same room in the Smoky Mountains — and the money on the line is the largest ever offered in league pool.
The week at a glance
Play opened Monday with three competitions running in parallel: the 8-Ball Teams championship, the League Showdown and the National Singles leaderboard, plus the one-day invitational Women's Shootout.
Tuesday fills out the card. The 10-Ball Teams championship begins alongside the National Pairs and National Mixed Pairs — both open events running November 3–6 — while the headline invitational, the 28-player National Shootout, plays out across November 3–4 with every match staged on the TV table.
The back half belongs to the opens. The National Open runs November 5–8, the National Women's Open November 6–8 and the National Junior Open November 7–8; organizers report all open entries are already sold out. A National 10-Ball Showdown invitational lands Thursday, November 5, and the 8-Ball Teams final caps the league program Saturday, November 7.
All dates are local to Harrah's Cherokee, which keeps Eastern Time — one hour ahead of Central (UTC-6).
The money
The 8-Ball Teams champion collects $112,000, with roughly $282,000 in total prizes paid down to the last 32 teams — the richest guaranteed league payday on record. The 10-Ball Teams title is worth $35,000, with $15,000 to the runner-up, and the National Pairs winners take $5,000. Heading into the week, the league had already guaranteed at least $100,000 for the 8-Ball champions and $25,000-plus for the 10-Ball winners.
The TV table
The National Shootout is the week's showcase: 28 of the game's biggest names over two days, every match played on the streamed TV table. The final seat was filled by a last-chance qualifier on Sunday, November 1 — single elimination, first matches no earlier than 2 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. CT, UTC-6). Feature coverage streams on the Ultimate Pool USA YouTube channel. Last year's Shootout title went to Scotland's Craig Waddingham, who ran out over Justin Bergman in the final.
Why it matters
No other event on the U.S. calendar concentrates this much league pool in one building: team championships, class-based singles, pairs and open brackets running side by side for a full week. Every draw is tracked live on DigitalPool, so league players back home can follow their teammates' runs in real time. With six-figure team prizes and sold-out open fields, Cherokee is the center of American amateur pool through Sunday.