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BD Awards

Player of the Year, Men: Aloysius Yapp
It's easy to say pool is a fickle game, but that truism isn't only reserved for folks on the wrong side of a scoreline. For Aloysius Yapp, 2025 showed how winning can be contagious. The 29-year-old from Singapore knocked off three straight World Nineball Tour open events —the U.K. Open, the Florida Open, and the U.S. Open — while also winning his third consecutive International 9-Ball Open. He also reprised his role on Team Asia in its victory over the Rest of the World in the second Reyes Cup. Though second on the money list with $301,450 (thanks mostly to Carlo Biado's $250,000 World Pool Championship win), Yapp separated himself from the field to make 2025 all his.

Player of the Year, Women: Seo Seoa
Rarely has an entire year boiled down to one shot like it did for Seo Seoa at the Women's World 9-Ball Championship. Already the winner of two international events — the Indonesia Women's Open and the Little Monster Women's International Open — the 23-year-old fought her way to the final in the year-ending Women's World 9-Ball Championship. In the Co-Match of the Year (see below), Seoa pocketed a 9 ball in a shootout to end a four-hour battle with Kristina Tkach. With that title, and wins on three continents in a single year, Seoa earned her spot atop the women's game in 2025.

Performance of the Year, Women: Jasmin Ouschan at World 8-Ball Championship
The first Women's World 8-Ball Championship on American soil attracted a stacked field of 64 players from 30 countries to Green Bay, Wisconsin. But “Titletown, U.S.A.” was only such for one player — Jasmin Ouschan. The Austrian star thumped her way through the bracket, topping Samia Konishi, 8-2, and Kristina Zlateva, 8-2, for a spot in the final opposite Chezka Centeno. In a nervy final that seesawed it's way to hill-hill, Ouschan thinned in the championship winning 8-ball for a 9-8 victory.

Performance of the Year, Men: Albin Ouschan at the World 8-Ball Championship
Why not make this category a family affair? Albin Ouschan arrived on the scene in the wake of Jasmin's ascent, but he's long shot his way out of her shadow — with a 2021 Player of the Year campaign and a pair of World 9-Ball titles topping his resume. The brother-and-sister duo matched each other's greatness in 8-ball in 2025. In the men's World 8-Ball Championship, Albin recaptured his top form, trouncing a 96-player field in Indonesia for his biggest title in a few years. His only real challenge came in a 10-9 semifinal victory against Hayato Hijikata, before dispatching Alex Kazakis, 10-5, for the victory.

Match of the Year (Tie): Biado Tops Gorst in Heavyweight Fight at World Pool Championship
Truly great matches can build throughout the set, with the narrative taking unexpected turns as players accept the pressure to meet the moment. At the 2026 World Pool Championship, reigning champion Fedor Gorst and 2017 winner Carlo Biado put together a final that spectators knew was a classic in the moment. Gorst took the first two racks in the race-to-15, only for the Filipino to collect the next nine racks. But Biado faltered on a safety battle in the 12th rack, only to see the American race back to tie the set, 9-9. Tied still at 13-13, Gorst erred on a jump shot, leaving Biado a path to the hill. He then cleared from the break to take a legendary title, 15-13.

Seo & Tkach Reach Sudden Death in Women's World 9-Ball Final
If the Biado-Gorst tilt was a boxing match, the final of the Women's World 9-Ball Championship between Seoa Seo and Kristina Tkach was a marathon — with a sprint to the finish line. The format left the door open for a grueling test of endurance, with match a best-of-five sets and each set a race-to-4. If the fifth set reached a 3-3 tie, it went to a shootout with a spot shot on the 9. As you can guess, Seo and Tkach split the first four sets and then the first six racks of the fifth. In the excruciatingly tense shootout, Tkach had a shot to win, with Seo missing two of her first three. The Russian star missed that attempt, only to miss her next shot in sudden death. Seo stepped up, quietly went through her pre-shot routine, and buried the world title-clinching 9 in the middle of the pocket.

Breakout Player of the Year: Pijus Labutis
The 28-year-old Lithuanian caught some attention in 2024, racking up more than a dozen top-10 finishes in major events. But 2025 was the year Pijus Labutis would break through, starting with a win at the Derby City Classic Bigfoot Challenge. In a stacked 16-player field, he tamed the 10-foot table to pocket the $16,000 title. After another string of top-10 performances, he then knocked off his first WNT title at October's Hanoi Open. Earning a spot on Team Europe for the Mosconi Cup, the rookie ended his year showing mettle on the big stage earning two points in three non-team matches.

Shot of the Year
Seo Seoa to Clinch Women's World 9-Ball Championship Nothing complicated. Just Seo Seoa drilling the spot shot with a world title on the line.

Caption of the Year: SVB at Mosconi Cup
If you hadn't heard anything about the 2025 Mosconi Cup, the final score and this photo/caption about sum up the experience of Team USA. The lopsided score, 11-6, belies the agony of the Americans, who missed a few crucial 9 balls and never got comfortable on European soil. Shane Van Boening brought some much-needed levity to the situation.

The Third Amigo Award: Jonas Souto Comino
Spanish pool has been a two-man game for much of the past decade, with David Alcaide and Francisco Sanches-Ruiz the only two names familiar to most pool fans. But a young upstart from Ibiza, Jonas Souto Comino parlayed a win at the 2024 Mexico Open into a 2025 that has him questioning if there's room for a third amigo for Spain. Winning the Seattle Nineball Open and Taom V10 Open, the 25-year-old also finished second at the U.K. Open and third at the International 9-Ball Open.

Making His Name in a Flash Award: Arseni “Flash” Sevastyanov
A 22-year-old Russian-born Finn, Arseni Sevastyanov isn't the most imposing presence at the table — but don't let his slight build and wispy beard let you think he's not a killer. “Flash” has a game that combines style and substance, which helped him put together an impressive run in 2025. Often with flowing locks tucked into a ponytail, Sevatyanov collected big wins in major events against the likes of Shane Van Boening, Fedor Gorst, and Jayson Shaw, while finishing second at the Philippines Open and third at the Jacksonville Open.

Comeback? I Never Left!: Niels Feijen; Kelly Fisher
Plenty of BCA Hall of Fame inductees have earned their spot thanks to meeting the over-40 age requirement, so the green jacket no longer means it's time to wind down a career. Just look at Niels Feijen (elected 2023) and Kelly Fisher (2020). Working his way back through injuries and related complications, Feijen knocked off the Pro Players Championship at the Super Billiards Expo in April. Fisher, meanwhile, pocketed yet another WPBA title en route to a year without a finish worse than ninth.

The “Not That Kind of Mainstream Media Coverage!” Award:
Anyone near the internet in late July 2025 had an opinion on the drama surrounding “Waxgate,” at the World Pool Championships. Aloysius Yapp alluded to Filipino players applying a silicone substance to the cue ball, Eklent Kaci directly claimed an opponent was doing so, and social media did what social media does. Everybody everywhere was chiming in. All this hubbub led to the Guardian, the U.K.-based tabloid, to mention waxy pool balls (as a part of a juvenile innuendo) in its “Anti-Sports Personality of the Year” awards. Hey, at least it wasn't as embarrassing as other award winners, which included skiers illegally reinforcing the crotches in their uniforms and a rugby player biting an opponent.

The “Who Let That Guy In?” Award: Magpantay at Qatar 10-Ball World Cup
The 10-Ball World Cup held 16 spots for top-four finishers in four qualifying tournaments. Jonas Magpantay didn't get an automatic bid, finishing fifth twice. But the 31-year-old Filipino snuck in thanks to two late withdrawals — and he made the most of his opportunity. He ran undefeated through qualifying and single-elimination play, notching victories over countryman Carlo Biado, Niels Feijen, and Moritz Neuhausen, before topping Poland's Szymon Kural, 11-6, for the $100,000 title. Not a bad run of fortune for the journeyman who, until his trip to Doha, had career earnings just north of $10,000.

The “So That's Why They Call You That” Award: Billy Thorpe Sinking 10 Banks in a Row
At the Predator Pro Series Bank Pool Showdown in February, Billy “The Banker” Thorpe answered the question, “What's in a nickname?” Facing good friend Skyler Woodward in a race-to-three, he drilled five straight shots to take a 2-1 lead. He then went five-and-out in the next rack for an emphatic win. (With two balls left on the table, Thorpe managed to pocket an 11th straight bank before double-kissing his try for a dozen in a row.)

Shaw Rings in the New Year with a Run of 832
Just six days into 2025, Jayson Shaw worked his way through an astonishing 59 consecutive racks in straight pool to set a new world record run of 832. This crooked number is the latest figure in Shaw's fascination with pushing his limits in 14.1. Willie Mosconi's iconic run of 526 balls fell to John Schmidt in 2019, who bested that tally by 100. In 2022, Shaw ran 714 balls, which was eventually lowered to 669 after BCA officials ruled a foul had taken place. But 832 won't be the high-water mark for long, according to Shaw, who has sights set on 1,000.

Robert DeNiro & Jenna Ortega to Bring Pool to the Silver Screen?
Forty years later, some folks in the pool business are still hoping for a boom like the one in the wake of “The Color of Money.” Could Robert DeNiro and Jenna Ortega be this generation's Paul Newman and Tom Cruise? The two are said to be attached to “Shutout,” a Walter Tevis-like screenplay where DeNiro is an aging hustler who takes Ortega on as a protégé. David O. Russell, whose films include “American Hustle” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” is rumored to be directing, though production dates and locations remain TBD.

BCA Expo Keeps Chugging Along
With COVID farther in the rearview mirror and intra-industry haggling over the date of the show put to rest, the BCA Expo continued finding stability in its third year alongside the Amusement Manufacturer and Operators Association's annual show. By its metrics, the show topped 2024, with attendees, booth spaces, and exhibitors all topping the prior year. But many folks expressed some reservations about the impact of tariffs, economic indicators, and geopolitical issues on business forecasts.

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