Afternoon all. We'll start in Vietnam, where the Universal Open has now played four of its five first-day sessions and the locals are giving the visitors a hard time. After that: a prize-money row in Korea, a correction to my diary for the IPA Grand Final, a women's Chinese 8-ball final in Qinhuangdao, and Leicester, where Murphy and O'Sullivan break off at 1pm.
HO CHI MINH CITY: BIADO ON HIS WAY, ARANAS DROPS
The second seed got going in the 10am GMT session. Carlo Biado, the world No.2 and two-time world champion, beat home player Nguyen Hoang Minh Tai 9–3 at Sniper Billiards Club. Per the official DigitalPool bracket at 12:19 GMT, the Filipino had a smoother start than world No.1 Aloysius Yapp, who needed a 9–7 win this morning.
James Aranas had a worse afternoon. The Filipino, one of the 11 featured players on the WNT event page, lost 9–6 to Nguyen Manh Duc and now has to come through the one-loss side. He wasn't the only visitor beaten by a home player: Indonesia's Ponco Klinton Manurung lost 9–6 to Truong Hoang Lam.
The other results from the 8am and 10am GMT sessions:
- Scotland: Fraser Patrick beat Nguyen Tuan Anh 9–4.
- Philippines: Aivhan Maluto 9–2 David Keith Dennison, Michael Baoanan 9–1 Ye Jyun Hong, Alexis Ferrer 9–0, John Vincent Vicedo 9–0 Khanh Linh, Jaycee Garcia 9–7 Billy Robiansyah.
- Vietnam: Pham Phuong Nam 9–4 Chang Chia Hua, Tat Duy Kien 9–2 Christopher Alexander.
- Others: Andri Januarta 9–5 Nguyen Thanh Tung, Lo Ho Sum 9–2 Tong Ba Minh, Toh Lian Han 9–2 Amarit Theprattanawichai, Marcel Price 9–6 Artem Loboda, and Jefry Zen beat Chen Chen Wei 9–2.
- Forfeits: Two featured names, Bernie Regalario (world No.17, a Philippines Open semi-finalist last month) and Jeffrey Ignacio, are marked as forfeits in their first matches, which puts them on the one-loss side. Tristan Deocareza, Tuan Kiat Vincent Goh and Tran The are marked the same way. The bracket doesn't give a reason, and I'll tell you if one comes out.
On the table now (12pm GMT block, scores at 12:19 GMT): home favourite Duong Quoc Hoang leads Chiang Po Hsun 2–0 and Philippines Open champion Johann Chua leads Ho So Phat 2–0. Albert Januarta is 4–0 up on Le Van Quyen and Patric Gonzalez 6–0 up on Le Duc Thanh. Jonas Magpantay, who went into last month's Qatar 10-Ball World Cup as defending champion, trails Quach Vi Nam 1–3. It's all on WNT TV. The last first-round block breaks off at 4am GMT tomorrow with Anton Raga, Dennis Orcollo, Jefrey Roda, Marvin Asis, Max Eberle and Damian Massey.
KOREA: THE LAST NATIONALS OF THE YEAR, FOR A LOT LESS MONEY
The 21st KSOC President's Cup in Yanggu is Korea's last national billiards championship of 2026, and the players are getting much less for it than they did a year ago. Billiards & Sports reported the figures before the elite events began:
- The men's three-cushion winner gets 5 million won. Last year it was 20 million.
- The women's three-cushion winner and the men's and women's 9-ball winners get 2 million won each, down from 8 million.
- Only the doubles prizes stayed the same: 4 million won in three-cushion and 2 million in 9-ball.
- The appearance money paid last year to the last 32 in carom and the last 16 in pool has been dropped.
The players turned up anyway. In the men's three-cushion last 128, per MK Billiards News, Jang Seong-won averaged 3.333 to beat Kwon Young-il. World No.1 Cho Myung-woo, Heo Jung-han and Kim Haeng-jik are all in the last 64, and so is every player in the domestic top ten, including Lee Bum-yeol, Choi Wan-young and Son Jun-hyuk. The 9-ball singles finals are tonight Korean time, and the three-cushion finals close the event tomorrow (SOOP). Yanggu then hosts the Division League Youth Championship (89 players) and Club Team Championship (212 players) from 12 to 15 November.
BLACKBALL: A CORRECTION, AND THE ISLE OF MAN
I got this wrong in this morning's diary. The IPA Tour Grand Final this weekend is at the Comis Hotel in Douglas, Isle of Man, not in Bolton. Bolton's Royal Sports Lounge hosted the Amateur Series Grand Finals last weekend. Sorry about that.
Here's how it looks on CueScore:
- Format: 46 players, single elimination. Races to 8 up to and including the last 16, races to 9 in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, and a race to 10 in the final.
- Friday 13 Nov: the first round starts at 3pm. Gerard Boyle v Anthony Monarch, Billy Snaddon v Paul Harkness and Gregg McMillan v Keith Robertson are among the opening ties. Liam Dunster, Kian Monaghan, Craig Marsh and Marc Farnsworth get byes. The last 16 is played Friday night.
- Saturday 14 Nov: quarter-finals at 1pm, semi-finals from 2.30pm, and the final at 9pm.
CHINA: A WOMEN'S CHINESE 8-BALL TITLE TOMORROW
The second Joy Cup women's Chinese 8-ball ranking event finishes tomorrow at Joy's venue in Beidaihe, Qinhuangdao. The Paper reports 242 entries from across China, and says it is the country's first standalone women's ranking event in the discipline. The first edition, in July, went to Chen Xiaoyu, who beat Wang Sinuo 17–15 in the final. Elsewhere, the CBSA China Pool 9-Ball Tour is in Hefei until Sunday, and the Hengqin Chinese 9-ball Open starts on 16 November.
USA: FLAKES FINALLY GETS ONE
Back in April, Randy Flakes was runner-up to BJ Ussery Jr at a Pool Series one-pocket stop at Smokin' Cue in Charlotte. On Saturday night, at the same venue, he came through the one-loss side again and this time won it. AZBilliards reports he beat Mike Davis Jr double hill in a final that finished just before 4am. There were 32 entries and $1,000 added, and it's Flakes's first regional tour title that AZB knows of. The next Pool Series stop is 9-ball at Brass Tap & Billiards in Raleigh on 21 November.
In New Orleans, Tony Chohan and Evan Lunda play the second night of their $40,000 one-pocket match at Buffalo's Billiards tonight, 5pm Central, on PoolActionTV. I couldn't find a score from the first night anywhere this morning. If you watched it, tell us below.
INDIA: ODISHA'S FINAL
OrissaPOST reports that Subrat and Padhy will meet in the final of the Odisha state snooker championship. The IBSF World Snooker Championships in Indore start with players' meetings tomorrow.
LEICESTER: MURPHY v O'SULLIVAN AT 1PM
Group Three of the Champion of Champions is on ITV4 and ITVX. Shaun Murphy plays Ronnie O'Sullivan from 1pm. Wu Yize v Chang Bingyu follows (BBC lists it for 3pm), and the group final is at 7pm. The winner goes into Saturday's semi-final.
ON THE RADAR
- Tonight: Champion of Champions Group Three final, 7pm (ITV4); Chohan v Lunda night two (PoolActionTV); Ho Chi Minh one-loss side (WNT TV)
- Thursday: Ho Chi Minh's last first-round block from 4am GMT; three-cushion finals in Yanggu; women's Chinese 8-ball final in Qinhuangdao; Champion of Champions Group Two
- Friday–Saturday: IPA Tour Grand Final, Douglas, Isle of Man (scores on CueScore)
Murphy and O'Sullivan will be at the table by the time you read this, and Duong has the home crowd behind him in Ho Chi Minh City. Full report tonight.
— Reggie
Sources: DigitalPool, World Nineball Tour, Absolute Pool, Billiards & Sports, MK Billiards News, CueScore, IPA Pool, Visit Isle of Man, The Paper, Taiqiu Huanqiu, AZBilliards, AzBilliards Forums, OrissaPOST, BBC Sport, The Scotsman. Feature image: “9 Palli” by Juss Saska, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
