U.S. Snooker Masters set to start in Seattle
filed Wednesday, March 18, 2026. 8:36am PT/USA
After the successful staging last year of the inaugural U.S. Snooker Masters, the event returns in 2026 to be played in Seattle from March 19-22.
The U.S. Snooker Masters is an event organized by AMC Cue Sports and sanctioned by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF), the Pan American Billiards and Snooker Asscociation (PABSA) and the United States Snooker Association (USSA) governing bodies, and will jointly be played in OX Billiards and Empire Billiards & Snooker, which are the two foremost locations to play snooker at in Seattle.
This year's event will be made all that more special by the presence of the world renowned international snooker referee, Desislava Bozhilova from Bulgaria, whose accomplishments include the pinnacle of refreeing by officiating the final of last year's World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield, England.
Desislava Bozhilova places the World Championship trophy on the table prior to the commencement of the 2025 final
Photo courtesy of WST.tv
Desislava will serve as the Tournament Director and Head Referee, and she will also conduct a refereeing course which will take place at OX Billiards.
Hosting a referee course is something OX Billiards has been working toward for years, and when they learned that Desislava would be heading up officiating at the U.S. Snooker Masters, they moved to make it happen and it quickly sold out. It is incredibly important for the United States to have its own internationally qualified snooker referees for the sport to progress, and so much credit goes to everyone at OX Billiards in making this happen.
The draw for the event has been made and can be viewed on the AMC Cue Sports Facebook page, and there is a fine selection of players from the United States and around the world who will be competing.
United States interest will particularly be focused on the two-time and reigning United States National Snooker Champion Renat Denkha, who is also the defending champion after his victory in last year's event in Sacramento, California.
The fortunes of the former six-times United States National Snooker Champion Ahmed Aly Elsayed will also be closely followed after his two seasons playing as a professional on the World Snooker Tour.
