The 2019 WPA 9-Ball Championship will be played in Doha, Qatar between 13 and 17 August. Last year’s winner, the young German, Joshua Filler, will look to defend his title after becoming one of the youngest winners of the tournament, defeating Carlo Biado. Today, we will talk about his chances of doing so, as well as some other candidates that could emerge as favorites to win the championship.
9-Ball Championship Betting Odds
Sports bookies still haven’t released odds for this event. Pool is not a very popular sport for punters as it attracts a smaller number of people compared to sports like football or basketball. However, if you are interested in the sport, it can be a very good way to have even more fun while watching the games.
Bookies will release the odds for this event very soon, as it is one of the most important annual tournaments in the sport. If you are interested in betting on pool, you can find here an extensive list of free bets and offers from various sports bookmakers.
However, you should take these odds with a grain of salt, and look to form your own opinions about your favorites, as pool can be very unpredictable. For example, Joshua Filler and Shane Van Boening were the heavy favorites to win the World Master with odds of 7/1 and 5/1 respectively, both neither of them even managed to make it to the final.
Joshua Filler’s Good Run of Form
Aside from the fact that he is the defending champion, the biggest reason why we think the 21-year-old German can defend his title is due to his incredible run of form as of late. This includes a big win at the US Open 9-Ball Championship as well as first-place finishes in the Predator Grand Finale, Dynamic Billiard Leende Open and Interpool Open.
Joshua is having the most successful and highest earning year of his young career, earning over $100,000, almost twice as much as in the previous year, and we expect him to have great success in Doha too.
Although we would still pick him to win the tournament, there are a few other players we expect to challenge him for the title. Our top few choices are:
Carlo Biado
After a slow start to the year, Carlo Biado has picked his form up a bit lately. The Filipino player has had a history of success in the tournament, winning the title in 2017 and losing last year in a close battle against Joshua Filler. With this history of success, it is only fair to assume that we can expect him to finish somewhere around the top this time as well.
2019 has been a very good year for him, as he finished second in the WPA Players Championship. He also helped his country reach the final of the 2019 World Cup of Pool, eventually losing to Austria. Perhaps he can finally break the ice with this tournament and win his first trophy this year.
Shane van Boening
After reaching the final two years in a row in 2015 and 2016, the American has failed to do the same in the previous two years, so we can assume that this tournament is of high priority for him. He has had a very decent year thus far, with great success in the US Open and a few other tournaments, but a win in the 2019 World 9-Ball Championship would mean a lot to him, and we expect that he will give all he has to leave a good impression.
