Best in the world: Albin Ouschan’s magical 2021
Exploring Ouschan's dominance since the start of 2021 and outlining the case for him as the best player in the world.
Since the beginning of 2021, there’s been no rotation pool player more consistent than Albin Ouschan on the world stage and in the biggest tournaments. There’s many who’ve won more tournaments than Ouschan. There’s one player who earned more money last year, per the AzBilliards Money List. There’s also some who’ve reached higher peaks than Ouschan, looking nearly unbeatable on their day.
Aloysius Yapp’s September performances spring to mind. Yapp played arguably the best pool of anyone in the U.S. Open before falling in the final to an inspired Carlo Biado. He sandwiched that result with a third-place in the World 10-Ball Championship and a win at the third stop in the Predator US Pro Billiard Series.
Joshua Filler’s May also deserves a mention. He won the World Cup of Pool for the first time in his career with teammate Christof Reintjes before carrying that momentum into third-place and $7,500 at the World Pool Masters. His loss in the semifinals at that latter invitational event came hill-hill to Shane Van Boening, who had a strong year himself.
Despite hitting those highs, neither Yapp nor Filler managed wins in major tournaments last year being put on by Matchroom Pool, which has set the gold standard for organizing competitions. With Matchroom’s announcement at the beginning of this year of its Nineball World Rankings, placing well at Matchroom events became of even greater importance. The company, which revolutionized the Snooker pro tour in the last decade or so, is bringing greater prestige and prize money to pool now, too, and Ouschan is at the forefront of it all.
Ouschan picked up a win at the inaugural Predator Championship League Pool last March while also capturing his second career World Championship title in Milton Keynes, England, later in the year. Both were handled by Matchroom, with the world title netting Ouschan $50,000, far more than any other tournament outside of the U.S. Open, which is also put on by Matchroom.
Ouschan ended the year by winning the International 9-Ball Open in late October before being a part of a winning European side in the Mosconi Cup. Across the Championship League Pool event, World Championship, World Pool Masters and U.S. Open, Ouschan won 40 of his 62 matches and won 59% of the racks he played, per CueScore.
His paths to both the Championship League Pool and World Championship titles were the most telling for his potential future success in this new era of pool being ushered in by Matchroom. In both tournaments, he found ways to win even while not at his best, a quality which he seems to display more than any other player on the pro circuit right now. Both were also marathon-like events, especially the Championship League Pool tournament that Ouschan had to play more than 50 matches – albeit short races to five – to win.
Ouschan showed off his resilience again to win this year’s Premier League Pool event, which replaced the Championship League Pool tournament. Though Matchroom shortened the length of the competition slightly, Ouschan still played 31 matches over the course of a week, winning 21 of them – tied for the most wins with Filler.
Ouschan also contended with scares in both the semi-final and final. He let Van Boening come back from down 6-3 to force a hill-hill decider. In that period, Ouschan also misplayed a positional shot on an open table at 6-5 which would have won him the game comfortably, but maintained his cool to win the deciding rack.
Then in the final, Filler jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Ouschan clawed back to 4-4, but the Austrian rattled the five ball trying to pinch position for the six in another open table situation trying to take the lead in the match for the first time. He set his cue on the table and brought both hands up to cover his mouth after the miss. Though seemingly crucial at the time with Karl Boyes on commentary yelling out, “what a moment in this final,” the miss didn’t end up costing Ouschan. He’d be the one to hold his nerve down the stretch as Filler missed a routine seven ball in the 11th rack to allow Ouschan to reach the hill first at 6-5. Ouschan then broke-and-ran to win the title.
“After I saw him in the first four racks, the way he played tremendously, I thought I would be the spectator in the final. …I tried to stay calm and collected and I know I can do it. That’s the toughest part. I am super happy.” —Albin Ouschan after winning the Premier League Pool
Ouschan attributed both the Premier League Pool and Championship League Pool triumphs to his overall level of fitness on the Cue It Up Podcast. On the same episode, he also talked about his friend on the pro circuit, Alex Kazakis, who has recently started following a similar fitness plan to Ouschan and has seen improvements in his game as a result. It speaks to how Ouschan has become the face of professionalism for the era of pool Matchroom is attempting to usher in.
The Austrian rarely shows negative outbursts of emotion when playing and has one of the most sound techniques and strokes in professional pool. As an amateur player, I can learn a lot about the mental side of the game and the value of a pre-stroke routine and steady foundation just by watching Ouschan. That’s crucial for a player that’s going to be marketed heavily by the biggest promoter in the sport.
Along that line, there was controversy in the 2022 Premier League Pool event when Eklent Kaçi arrived late for a televised match. It’s hard to imagine such a situation arising for Ouschan, and in a post-tournament podcast, Ouschan had scathing remarks (from 11:30 to 17:55 in the video) about the lack of professionalism from Kaçi. For pool to truly professionalize in the way Matchroom is envisioning, Ouschan’s attitude is one that’ll need to be adopted by any top pro that wants to participate in Matchroom’s Nineball World Rankings.
Ouschan’s World Championship and Championship League Pool titles earned him the No. 1 spot in Matchroom’s inaugural world rankings. AzBilliards agreed and named him their player of the year for 2021. I’d argue it’s well earned and reflective of his consistency and ability to win matches and tournaments even when not at his best. That’s what separates him from the likes of Filler, Jayson Shaw, Fedor Gorst and so many of the other top talents, who are arguably better pure shot-makers than Ouschan is.
The only real blips in Ouschan’s last year-and-a-quarter came in the 2021 U.S. Open and this year’s Derby City Classic, both tournaments he’s yet to win and has typically struggled at. But he bounced back from his Derby City Classic disappointment to win the Premier League Pool and will be among the favorites for April’s 9-Ball World Championship.
Only Filler and Gorst seem to match Ouschan in terms of performances at major events, and both have had better starts to 2022. Gorst is already under $7,000 away from joining the single-year $100,000 earner club, which Ouschan joined for the first time in his career last year. Filler, meanwhile, is quite a ways back in terms of money, but is on a run of podium finishes including second place at the Derby City Classic 9-Ball Division, Premier League Pool and the Dynamic Billiard Lasko Open. Filler and Gorst sit No. 1 and No. 2 on the money list for 2022 so far and look to be Ouschan’s biggest hurdles as the meat of Matchroom’s Nineball World Rankings schedule kicks off with the World Championship in early April.