Congratulations and good luck to our local pool teams that will be heading to Las Vegas in the coming weeks to compete in the APA World Pool Championships, conducted by the American Poolplayers Association (APA).

Recognized by Guinness Records as the World’s Largest Pool Tournament, they’ll join nearly 15,000 pool players from the United States, Canada,  Japan and China.
The event, scheduled for Aug. 10-19 at the Westgate Resort & Casino, will feature nearly 300 pool tables and award more than $1 Million in prize money in five different formats – 8-Ball, 9-Ball, Masters, Ladies 8-Ball and Jack & Jill Doubles, which consists of both a male and female player.

In addition, every player will have the opportunity to compete in smaller MiniMania tournaments which take place nearly round-the-clock and offer a variety of different formats.

In total, more than 40 local amateur billiard players will travel to the championships to represent the Baton Rouge area and the local APA franchise.

Congratulations to the following teams who will represent our area in the 8 ball and 9 ball team championships!

8-Ball

Rack Runners, The Shot Callers, Miscues

9-Ball

Cajun Tigers, The Black Bull Wranglers

Every player competes here in the local APA Pool League, with the top teams advancing to the local championships to determine who advances to Las Vegas.

The APA, based in Lake Saint Louis, Mo., sanctions the world’s largest amateur pool league, known as the APA Pool League throughout the United States and as the Canadian Pool League in Canada.   Nearly 250,000 members compete in weekly 8-Ball and 9-Ball League play.   The APA is generally recognized as the Governing Body of Amateur Pool, having established the official rules, championships, formats and handicap systems for the sport of amateur billiards.

The APA produces three major tournaments each year—the APA World Pool Championships, the APA Poolplayer Championships and the U.S. Amateur Championship—that, together, pay out nearly $1.5 Million in cash and prizes annually. In 2010, the APA World Pool Championships were recognized by Guinness World Records as the “world’s largest pool tournament.”

The APA and its Championships are sponsored by PoolDawg, Aramith and Action Cues.

For more information, or to get signed up with the APA, please contact Dart Volz at 985-807-4829 or by email at dvolz@apaleagues.com. Or, you can visit the official APA website at poolplayers.com.