The Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship was a short-lived

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

tournament held in the US. It was promoted by Allen Hopkins Productions and Billiards International. Eight chosen players compete in this event. Like the

Skins Billiards Championship The Skins Billiards Championship was an annual nine-ball tournament held in the United States from 2005 through 2007. It was promoted by Allen Hopkins Productions and Billiards International, and was broadcast on ESPN. While most pool tournamen ...

, this one pits four players against each other. Only two editions of this event took place.

Marlon Manalo Marlon Manalo (born November 27, 1975, in Mandaluyong, Philippines) is a former Filipino professional pool player from Mandaluyong, Philippines. He became the League of Barangays of the Philippines Press Relation Officer and ABC president. Caree ...

(2005) and

Johnny Archer Johnny Archer (born November 12, 1968 in Waycross, Georgia) is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion" (his zodiac sign is Scorpio, and one of his sponsors is Scorpion Cues). On June 8, 2009, Johnny Archer was nomin ...

(2007) were the victors.

Format

The format used in the tournament is a modified version of the pool game

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of e ...

, that emulates

Texas Hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, communit ...

, the most popular variation of

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

. Each of the four players carries

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The serie ...

like those used in poker. In each rack, the players wager a number of them. The winner of that particular rack collects the others' wagers. If a player's chips is less than wager, that player has to go "all in" which means all of that player's chips must be wagered. After every four , the wager rises. In later racks, the player with the fewest chips will have to wager all. Players running out of chips are eliminated from the match. In the semi-finals of the event (the first round of the tournament featuring all 8 players), the 4 contestants on each of the two matches play until only two of them remain. At the final match (the final 4 players), only one survives and wins the title. In most pool tournaments, a players can miss a shot and (providing they do not foul while doing so) the incoming opponent must take whatever shot may be available. In the Texas Hold 'Em Billiards Championship, missing a shot awards to the next player. This eliminates defensive play, but makes the game faster.

Change in prize money offer and demise

In 2005, the tournament offered a $100K prize which was all awarded to the winner. This made it similar to the

International Challenge of Champions The International Challenge of Champions is an annual nine-ball pool tournament held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has always been broadcast on ESPN and is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association. As of 2009, four ...

. But when the tournament was held again and for the last time in 2007, a rather smaller purse of $80K was offered and was distributed among all the participants. The reason to this change has remained unexplained. Also, the tournament was never staged again for unknown reasons.

References

{{Cue sports nav Pool competitions Defunct sports competitions 2005 establishments in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 2005 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2007