The United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

for the sport of men's professional

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 po ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, as well as the organizer of a major national amateur league, and a variety of pro and amateur tournaments. The organization, now based in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

,https://upatour.com – replace this with a more specific page reference. was founded in January 2002 in Arizona by professional players, to replace several competing and dysfunctional men's professional pool organizations which had suffered years of problems such as inability to pay out winnings or to keep a stable schedule of competitions. UPA was formerly named the United States Pool Players Association, and has also frequently been unofficially referred to as USPPA or USPA, especially in reference to its professional side versus its amateur UPA League operations. The UPA Tour series of pro tournaments cover multiple pool disciplines, including eight-ball, nine-ball,

ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "" Although the game has existed for since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s ...

, and straight pool; the amateur UPA National Championships are team eight- and nine-ball events. The organization also offers instructional programs, and event promotion/production for pool tournaments and trade shows. On the professional side, the

Billiard Congress of America The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) is the governing body for cue sports in the United States and Canada, and the regional member organization of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).` Puerto Rico, though a US territory, and Mexico, though ...

, which is the

World Pool-Billiard Association The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) is the international governing body for pool (pocket billiards). It was formed in 1987, and was initially headed by a provisional board of directors consisting of representatives from Australia, Americas ...

(WPA) US-national affiliate, officially recognizes the UPA as the men's pro pool competition association for the United States, making it the present counterpart of the Women's Professional Billiards Association (WPBA). On the amateur side, UPA is one of a half-dozen or so major national leagues.

UPA League

In the 2000s, UPA launched an amateur league program named the UPA League (originally the League of Champions); UPA describes it as "a pool league designed by professionals for the serious player." While it is mostly team-based, UPA also offers singles competition, and is not gender-or age-divided, which is an unusual lack of categorization. Most distinguishing of all is that league members can use their singles match records in the league to leverage their way into formal professional play as ranked UPA Touring Professional Program (UPA Tour) members, qualified to compete in pro-only events. For example, a record of 20 UPA League singles matches within the year, and payment of the UPA Tour membership fee, qualifies a player to compete in the Vegas Championships. Like most leagues, it operates on a local franchise licensing (for-profit) basis. This is a press release (primary source), not a news story. Because the league uses a handicapping system (as found in most amateur leagues) that in UPA's case ranges from beginner to expert, professional players are actually eligible to play in the UPA League (with the maximum-skill-level handicap); this permissiveness is highly unusual in an amateur league in any sport. As in most leagues, membership is annually renewed, and active players also pay nightly dues on the nights they play (a portion of which goes into prize funds). The league has an annual national amateur championship, held in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

(where most other large US-based leagues do the same; a single events vendor/promoter warehouses thousands of

Diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

and Valley-Dynamo "" tables rented out by all of these events each year). The UPA National Championships are a week-long set of tournament brackets in various divisions, most of them team-based play but also featuring singles mini-tournaments. Originally announced/posted March 14, 2019. Various marketing materials also use the names UPA Nationals and UPA Las Vegas Nationals. The seventh annual UPA Nationals will be held June 22–28, 2020, at Binion's Casino, and offers a combined nine-ball and eight-ball prize fund of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

40,000 in the team competitions, which (depending on division) may pay out all the way down to 16th place. The dress code of the UPA Nationals is stricter than most amateur events, in that it requires matching team shirts.

UPA Tour

The UPA Tour (in long form, the UPA Touring Professional Program) is a professional tournament series and player ranking system with an annual membership fee. Some events have more open registrations, especially when co-organized with other bodies, and all of them are open to certain qualifying UPA League players with 20 or more singles matches played in the current year. The organization has previously co-sponsored other noteworthy events, including the 2005 World Summit of Pool.

Other programs

The UPA also offers pool instruction by professionals via UPA Pool School events, held primarily in Las Vegas. The organization has also sometimes provided pool-related event promotion and production, including for tournaments and vendor exhibitions.

References

External links

*UP
official website
{{Cue sports nav Pool organizations Pool leagues Cue sports governing bodies in the United States Sports leagues in the United States 2002 establishments in Arizona Organizations based in Manhattan