Top women’s pool players in the world come to compete at Capital City Billiards (2024)

Kristina Tkach was shooting pool in Penacook Thursday morning at Capital City Billiards, knocking down shots one after one.

For those who don’t know, Tkach, who goes by the nickname “The Krystal,” is the current 10-ball pool world champion and the No.1 ranked player by the Women’s Professional Billiards Association.

Her presence in Concord – along with the best female pool players in the world for an invitational tournament – was a very big deal for Capital City Billiards, the city and even the growth of the sport in the state.

Before the tournament began Thursday, they stopped by on Wednesday night to familiarize themselves with the space and they played against amateurs and locals for fun.

The women are competing for a share of the $30,000 prize pool. The tournament is a double-elimination 64-player seeded bracket and it will have two tables live-streamed on YouTube and Billiard TV on Samsung until the finals on Sunday.

Tkach is competing alongside dozens of ranked players in what is one of 12 stops in the tournament schedule. Other big names in billiards playing included No.6 ranked Kelly Fisher from Great Britain, No. 7 ranked Tzu-Chien Wei, “The Shadow Killer,” from Taipei, and Mo.10-ranked Savannah “The Roadrunner” Easton, a 14-year-old pro from Las Vegas who is a seven-time junior National Champion in eight, nine, 10 Ball & 14.1, which is often called “straight pool” where players use the cue ball to try to pocket as many balls as possible regardless of number or color.

“I think I have more of a future in this than all the other sports I’ve done,” said Easton, who was juggling hockey and billiards tournaments for about a year before she gave up her hockey stick for a pool cue. “It’s great, and even my school said it’s great that I get to see the world because I’ve learned a lot about cultures and everything.”

Capital City Billiards opened earlier this year and offers 14 Brunswick tables, darts, youth programs, food and drinks, and hosts tournaments at all levels.

“This event is a year in the making, and it means a lot to me. We’re heavy proponents for women in pool, specifically because the ratio of men to women in a pool room is about 78/22, so we hit it heavily,” said Capital City Billiards’ owner, Jeff Burnham.

In June, Capital City hosted a qualifier tournament but this is the biggest event it’s held by far.

“When we first opened it, I was like we are not doing this in the first year, it’s crazy. But he went ahead and did it anyway, and here we are,” said co-owner Kathy Miller. “It’s just a big feat expense-wise, and just getting it. But we’ve had great support from the community. We’ve gotten a lot of sponsors from local businesses.”

WPBA President Dean Roeseler said women’s billiards struggled and lost sponsors as a result of the financial crash of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. But the organization is back on track, growing again and offering better incentives for players and sponsors alike to travel and compete across the country.

“It’s my seventh year of being President of the WPBA, trying to corral all these women from all over the world and make them happy,” he said. “I’ve been in pool a long time, but it’s working. We’ve got our schedule built back up to 12 events this year, at least that next year. So I’m just trying to put the whole schedule together. It’s crazy.”

Roeseler and Burnham both stressed their commitment to growing the women’s side of billiards and trying to bring in younger players. One of Capital City’s young prodigies from Pembroke, 18-year-old, Jawna Gelo, recently had the chance to travel to Puerto Rico for the CSI Caribbean Championships.

“Women and female players. They just play better. They’re better at sports. They win better, they lose better, and they make some of the best friends that I’ve ever had,” said Burnham.

Another young player, 13-year-old Kennedy Dunn from Newport, Vt. is also competing and was playing at the Pro-Am with her father, Jeff.

“She was eight and she had a natural knack for it. She held the stick right, her stroke looked good. Even though she was stroking sideways because she was so little, she could always nail in balls,” said Jeff Dunn. “It would intimidate a lot of the adults when she played against them. So I knew she was going somewhere with it, that’s where it all started. Now, for four and a half years, we just play tournaments all the time.”

The pool hall was packed Wednesday night and the mood was cheerful as pro competitors embraced each other and met with local players. As the tournament continues toward Sunday the air of competition – and Tkach’s laser-like stare – will grow more focused.

“They are playing to win a lot of money, and so it’s going to be really serious for them,” Miller said. “We’re expecting spectators to come in because it’s really cool to watch these girls play, but the music will be lower, there will be less talking, and they’ll just be dialed in, and they can play fast.”

For Burnham, it’s a dream come true to host a tournament of this scale, and he hopes to continue promoting the sport and creating a friendly community of players in New Hampshire.

“Anybody who’s not here doesn’t know what they’re missing. It’s very, very simple,” he said. “Our other room is packed seven days a week with people that really, really love each other. We have a decent amount of neighborhood people that come in, but to really get to know each other and have a place where they can hang out together in a room this big, that’s everything you can get away with.”

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com