For fans who have been following Pool for the last two years, most would have known that the two biggest players in the pool world are Predator and Matchroom. Predator has its Pro Billiard Series (PBS), and Matchroom has its World Nineball Tour (WNT). However, the similarity between the two ends there.

Matchroom only focuses on 9-ball pool, while Predator mainly focuses on 10-ball. Predator sometimes dabbles in 9-ball, such as when they host the World Women 9-ball Championship and the recently concluded PBS Women 9-ball Showdown. Moreover, in the women’s pool, Predator also hosts many events.

While Predator closely cooperates with the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) for their events, Matchroom has conducted most of its events without the sanctioning body for most of the past two years. Matchroom created a company last year named World Professional Nineball Pool Corporation (WPNPC). Their plan is for this company to sanction all their WNT events.

An excerpt from the WPNPC website reads: “The World Professional Nineball Pool Corporation officially recognizes the World Nineball Rankings, all World Nineball Tour events, and the official World Nineball Event Rules, providing clarity for players and fans worldwide.”

It has been known that Matchroom and WPA have been at odds for the past year or so, which is why all of Matchroom’s events (except the World Championship) were not sanctioned by the latter. However, there have been recent talks between the two, and it’s rumored that the WPA will unilaterally sanction Matchroom events this year, a move that Matchroom was not aware of.

So, in short, Predator bases their rankings on WPA, while Matchroom bases theirs on WNT.

Now, the WNT has official Pros signed to the tour numbering 128. For these players’ rankings to go up, they need to join major tournaments like the US Open and UK Open, and simultaneously participate in regional ranking events like the McDermott Classic. Their ranking points are based on dollar winnings, so the deeper they go in tournaments, the higher the prize money, and the more ranking points they earn.

Wins in Predator events do not translate to higher rankings in WNT. For example, even though Biado won the World 10-ball, his ranking in WNT (#21) did not improve.

Now, Matchroom has invitational events on its calendar: the Premier League Pool (PLP) and World Pool Masters (WPM). Both invitational events will have a 16-player field. The PLP invites the top 8 in the rankings, with the other 8 as wildcard picks. According to previous announcements, WPM will invite the top 14, with the remaining 2 being wildcard picks. Thus, the higher you go up in the rankings, the higher the chances of being invited to these events. Wildcard picks are Matchroom’s prerogative as they are the promoters.

Predator, since they follow the WPA rankings, base their invitational events on that. Just like the recent PBS Women 9-ball Showdown, which had 16 players invited, the top 8 in the WPA rankings were given a slot, and the wildcard picks were chosen by Predator, who is the promoter.

With this, fans of the sport should not be confused about why certain players are not participating in certain tournaments, especially when they are purely invitational. Predator and Matchroom follow their individual rankings and systems.