Andy McCloskey has claimed a historic triumph to become the first player to successively defend the Seattle Snooker Open, as the Californian won the 2025 event played in collaboration between Empire Billiards & Snooker and OX Billiards.

However, McCloskey's triumph is just the latest chapter in a tournament that represents something much bigger than individual achievement. The Seattle Snooker Open is the product of an unlikely partnership between two businesses that chose collaboration over competition to help develop the sport.

The story begins with a friendship that predates any business venture. Mike Dominguez and CC Yoo were friends who shared a vision of spreading snooker across the Pacific Northwest and the United States before Dominguez opened his first club. When they formalized their collaboration to create the Seattle Snooker Open, as close friends they chose partnership over rivalry, putting their shared goal into action.

"From a business point of view, we need to create a strong market before we start splitting off and competing with each other," explains Dominguez. "The market for snooker is so small that working together is most important for the sport."

The Seattle Snooker Open and the Washington State Snooker League were both designed to elevate snooker in the United States. The first Seattle Snooker Open, whch was held in 2022, was the capstone to the first season of the Washington State Snooker League.

The 2025 Seattle Snooker Open marked several firsts that showcased this collaborative spirit in action. It was the first time that two clubs simultaneously hosted the event. OX Billiards and Empire Billiards & Snooker each provided four tables for the group stage, with Jaime Miller serving as tournament director at Empire and Dominguez directing at OX. After the group stage and the round of 16, all players traveled to Empire for the quarterfinals through the finals. The culmination of this year's event was planned to mark a celebration for Empire Billiards & Snooker, as Yoo had just moved to the club to its new location from Redmond to Bellevue.

The dual-venue format required unprecedented coordination. Throughout the tournament, organizers maintained a group thread to communicate scores, coordinate the next matches, determine which matches to feature on the live stream to keep people enthralled, keep the tournament moving along, and manage scoring assignments across both venues. This real-time coordination between Seattle and Bellevue demonstrated the expanded format's logistical complexity.

For the first time, the tournament also featured remote broadcast production. Christian Youngers, a part-owner of OX Billiards based in Norfolk, Virginia, served as technical director and producer for the entire tournament while providing commentary for the Empire stream. David Burney, the lead commentator for Empire and the voice of North American Snooker, worked remotely from Vancouver, BC. Christian and David made the stream and tournament come to life with their insight, humor, and banter. Meanwhile, Mike Dominguez was the tournament director, handled commentary for the OX Billiards matches, and ran the stream from OX, with Christian helping him with the technical aspects of the OX setup.

The tournament began with two groups of six players and two groups of five, with round-robin play determining the top four from each group to advance to the round of 16.

Group A saw defending champion McCloskey dominate from the start, going undefeated with a perfect 5-0 win-loss group record, winning all of his matches 2-0. Haocheng Yang secured second place with a 4-1 win-loss record, losing only to McCloskey while defeating Dave Daly, Frances Tso, Matthew Ma, and Chun Kwok Chan. Daly claimed third place with a 3-2 win-loss record, with victories over Ma, Tso, and Chan, but losses to McCloskey and Yang. Tso grabbed the final qualifying spot with a 1-4 win-loss record, managing a crucial 2-0 victory over Ma.

Group B featured the 2022 champion Yoo, who went undefeated with a perfect 5-0 win-loss record. Ethan Huang secured second place with a 3-2 win-loss record, defeating Prathamesh Sawant, Simon Wong, and Charlie Brown while losing to Yoo and Chris Lam. Brown claimed third with a 3-2 win-loss record, with key victories over Sawant, Wong and Lam. Sawant earned the fourth qualifying spot with a 2-3 win-loss record, overcoming Wong and the head-to-head tie-breaker against Lam.

Group C saw John Poon qualify in top position undefeated with a 4-0 win-loss record, sweeping Redhwan Chowhury, Jacky Wei, Kevin Kuei, and Alex Newstead. Kuei secured second place with a 2-2 win-loss record, defeating Chowhury and Wei, while losing to Poon and Newstead. Chowhury claimed third with a 2-2 win-loss record, with victories over Wei and Alex Newstead. Wei grabbed the final qualifying spot with a 1-3 win-loss record, earning a crucial win over Newstead that proved decisive in the final standings.

Group D was topped by the 2023 champion Varun Juneja with a perfect 4-0 win-loss record, defeating Nadeemullah Nooristani, Praneet Thapliyal, Angus Liew and Jie Ma. Nadeemullah Nooristani secured second spot with a 3-1 win-loss record, defeating Jie Ma, Praneet Thapliyal and Angus Liew. Liew claimed third place with a 2-2 win-loss record, after victories over Thapliyal and Ma. Thapliyal earned the fourth and final qualifying spot with a 1-3 win-loss record, managing a key win over Ma to secure advancement.

The knockout stage began with round of 16 matches played over the best-of-five frames. McCloskey dispatched Thapliyal 3-0, while Daly overcame Nooristani 3-0. Huang defeated Chowhury 3-0, and Poon beat Sawant 3-0.

Other notable results included Kuei's 3-1 victory over Brown, Yang's 3-1 win over Liew, and Wei's 3-2 defeat of former champion Yoo. The match of this round at OX was Juneja's 3-2 victory over Tso, where Tso almost pulled off a shock win after having the former champion on the ropes for much of the match.

At the quarterfinal stage the event had now moved onto Empire Billiards & Snooker for the completion, with matches played over the best-of-five frames which produced some compelling matchups. McCloskey continued his dominant form with a 3-0 success over Huang, and Daly upset Poon 3-2 in what proved to be the closest quarterfinal tie. Juneja defeated Kuei 3-1, while Wei advanced past Yang 3-0.

The best-of-seven frames semifinal matches saw McCloskey easily overcome Daly 4-0, which was Daly's best ever finish in a Seattle Snooker Open. And after finishing in fourth place in his group to just narrowly qualify, Wei put in a remarkable performance to secure his appearance in the final after defeating Juneja 4-0.

Wei got a explosive start in the best-of-nine frames final as he raced into a 2-0 advantage to put early pressure on the defending champion. McCloskey's experience and consistency proved decisive though as he won four straight frames for a 4-2 lead. Then Wei made a spirited comeback to make it 4-3, once again putting the pressure on McCloskey, who was a semifinalist for the first time in this year's United States National Snooker Championship back in May. However McCloskey responded well to win the next frame and take the match 5-3, making him the first player to successfully defend the Seattle Snooker Open.

Against this backdrop of collaboration and community building, McCloskey's back-to-back victories take on deeper meaning. His repeat performance demonstrates the level of competition the tournament now attracts and the difficulty of sustained excellence in this field.

The 2025 tournament's innovative format, with its dual-venue setup and remote broadcasting, provided additional challenges that McCloskey navigated successfully. His victory validates his skill and the tournament organizers' ability to maintain competitive integrity while pushing creative boundaries.

SnookerUSA.com would like to thank Mike Dominguez for providing the report. For more details about the Seattle Snooker Open, please visit www.oxbilliards.com