The pro billiards tour includes major tournaments as well the world championships. In its inaugural year, the tour held the largest billiards tournament. The tour became financially troubled in 2006 and stopped holding major events. The IPT Ultimate 8 Ball was organized in 2007, and the tour resurrected itself.
Stauch's involvement in billiards
Shari Stauch played professionally for 20 years in pool before retiring in 2004. Stauch also played professionally for 20 years, before she retired in 2004. With Harold Simonsen, Stauch founded Pool & Billiard Magazine. She was named Sportsperson of the Year by the Women's Professional Billiard Association in 1995 and is a five-time WPBA President's Award winner. In 2007, she was inducted in the WPBA Hall of Fame.
Billiards has a long history, with players ranging from royalty to commoners, hustlers to presidents. It was initially played on a North European lawn in 15th century. Later, it evolved into what we call today.
IPT Ultimate 8-Ball
In Los Angeles, the IPT Ultimate 8-Ball held its first event in June 2008. In the beginning, a match was planned between Alex Pagulayan and Karl Boyes from England. Pagulayan’s manager reached out to the IPT for an alternate player. Tony Robles was then invited to replace Pagulayan. Robles accepted the invitation and flew to L.A. during the night. He beat Karl Boyes in an exciting and close match. The prizes for both players were $5,000 and $1,000. Plus expenses.
The IPT Ultimate 8-Ball pool tour is the largest in the world. It will take place in five cities in 2006. In 2006, IPT will distribute more than $8,000,000 worth of prize money. The North American Open 8-Ball Championship will boast a record-breaking prize pool of $2 Million and a first-place award of $350,000.
Women's Professional Billiards Association
Women's Professional Billiards Association hosts a professional pool competition for women. Founded in 1976 as the Women's Professional Billiard Alliance, the WPBA features competitive women's pool players. Madelyn Whitlow and Palmer Byrd were its founders. Larry Miller is also a founding member.
WPBA started as a British billiards organization. It sponsored tournaments for amateurs and professionals. In the early years of its existence, the association organized junior competitions as well as amateur competitions. Joyce Gardner and Ruth Harrison were members of the association. Gardner won seven of the 14 tournaments that she entered, while Carpenter, Harrison, and Harrison won three each. Harrison broke the record of 719 in 1937, which still stands as a record for women’s billiards.
Jim Bakula and women's pro billiards
Jim Bakula is a pioneer of women in billiards. His influence goes back to the 1980s. Bakula was the General manager of Brunswick's Billiard Division. He advocated for inclusion of women in all events. Later, Bakula was elected president to the Billiard Congress in America (BCA). In an appeal to them to provide grant funding for WPBA, he won. This led eventually to the creation the Women's Pro Billiard Tour.
The future of the pro-billiards tour
The future prospects of the professional billiard tour are uncertain. The PBT, a fringe professional sport, is looking for stability, and Don Mackey is one of the people attempting to help it get there. He recently filed a federal lawsuit against Camel cigarettes, who had sponsored the PBT's 1996 tour, and later split with it and started its own tour.
It's been ten year since the inaugural event, the Gulf Coast Women's Regional Billiard Tour. The prize pool was $12,330. In order to add more events to the Gulf Coast, venues must have at least 20 tables. Unfortunately, many Texas-area venues were not eligible for the tour. The new tour was a positive for both the venue and the game.