This week, 256 of the world’s best pool players poured into Sarajevo as they vie to become the winner of the 2026 Roobet European Open Pool Championship.
The event, sponsored by the online crypto casino Roobet, is one of the most prestigious stops on the World Nineball Tour (WNT) calendar, making it the perfect moment to explore what makes nineball pool such an exciting sport to watch.
What Makes Nineball Pool Unique?
Unlike its older cousin snooker, nineball is a game defined by speed. It is played on a much smaller table and points are racked up seriously quickly.
Part of its appeal is that the rules are refreshingly simple – and as a spectator, very easy to follow. Matches are played on a nine-foot table with nine numbered balls. Players have to strike the lowest-numbered ball first on each shot. Clear the table and then sink the nine ball, often nicknamed the “bumblebee” for its black-and-yellow stripes, and you win the rack.
To add an extra layer of variety, umpires rack the balls in different patterns each game, forcing players to adapt their strategy for every break shot.
Matches are played in races to a set number of racks, often first to 9, 11, or 13. Shot clocks keep the pace fast and the pressure high. A rack can be over in a flash if a player strings together perfect shots. At the same time, matches can stretch from half an hour to several hours, with momentum swinging back and forth as players trade rack after rack.
In terms of energy and character, think of nineball pool as darts’ distant relative. It shares the same quick-fire pace and crowd-friendly atmosphere, while still demanding serious technical precision. Playing in this pressure cooker, with such fine technical margins, means that even the best player in the world won’t win every tournament. Nineball provides the unpredictability that will have even the most relaxed fans biting their nails.
And Roobet, the main sponsor at the 2026 Roobet European Open Pool Championship, is only adding to this energy. They have brought their global audience and knack for fast-paced entertainment to Sarajevo and are sure to make this the most energetic and thrilling year yet.
Another quirk of nineball that makes it so exciting is the jump shot, played with a specialised chipping cue, which allows players to leap the cue ball over blocking balls. Duong Quoc Hoang, Vietnam’s top player, is one of the world’s best jumpers. Watch out for him at the 2026 Roobet European Open Pool Championship.
It’s not a shot you see in eight-ball or snooker. But what it gives the fans is a real highlight moment, one that can change the course of a match in the blink of an eye.
The World Nineball Tour: Pool’s Global Stage
All of this plays out on the WNT, the sport’s premier global circuit. Some tournaments on the WNT, such as the Roobet European Open Pool Championship, feature as many as 256 players in an open format.
Reigning European Open champion Joshua Filler said on the opening day of competition that he was thrilled to return to Sarajevo:
“I’m super happy to be back in Bosnia. Coming back as a defending champion has a different feel.”
Other events follow different formats. The Premier League Pool tournament, for example, invites 16 elite players to compete in a high-stakes round-robin.
The tour is also truly international. There are currently 12 different nationalities represented across the top 15 players, and events take place across the world. The US Open, held in Atlantic City, is one of the oldest and most prestigious tournaments in the sport, beginning in its current form in 1976.
The biggest event of them all is the Mosconi Cup. Similar to the Ryder Cup, the tournament pits Team USA against Team Europe in a showdown that alternates between American and European venues each year. Lifting the Mosconi Cup trophy is one of the ultimate achievements in nineball.
Similar to the PDC Pro Darts Tour, players on the WNT compete in custom jerseys and have their own nickname. Celebrations are often just as dramatic as the matches themselves. When a player wins a major event, it’s tradition to jump onto the table in celebration.
Nineball is truly an exciting game to watch and the WNT is bringing it to a bigger and bigger audience every year. Right now, that growth is on full display in Sarajevo.
As the sport continues to expand and major partners like Roobet bring the action to new audiences, nineball’s global rise shows no signs of slowing down.
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