‘The highest honor.’ Manatee County pool players compete in Las Vegas world championship

In 2019, Taylor Marlow started playing semi-professional pool when her family bought Livingston’s Billiards in Bradenton.

Now, the 26-year-old Manatee High School alum is co-captain of a billiards team representing the United States at the 2024 APA 8-Ball World Championship at the Westgate in Las Vegas. Livingston’s Billiards, 4828 14th St. W., is a pool hall in Bradenton.

The tournament begins Thursday and concludes Tuesday.

It’s the second time Marlow and her Young Guns team have qualified for the tournament. Marlow said they’re hoping to do better this year.

“The first time it was a shock factor more than anything because we weren’t expecting what was there,” Marlow said. “They have over 400 tables, and we’re competing against nine countries. We were not used to that. We were used to playing out of the pool hall and playing among other Floridians and nothing of that magnitude.

“But this year, we feel like we know what to expect,” she added. “We’ve had all sessions to get our game together, get our game tight, to glue together as a team.”

Bradenton team plays for billiards championship

The Manasota APA is the association the team plays for. Other team members include co-captain Amanda Sommers, Krista Walker, Jalin Nichols, Marcy Clarkson, Sydney Andrade, Michael Mathieu and Errick Tamoria.

To get to the World Championship, the team outlasted the rest of the teams in the country over a 22-week qualifier.

“We went undefeated for 22 weeks in a row,” Marlow said. “... It’s the highest honor I can ever, ever imagine. And I know my team feels the same. We are all deeply rooted with our country and we’re proud to show what we can do.”

The World Championship features teams representing countries such as Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, China, Canada and more. They’re playing for a prize pool of $1.5 million, Marlow said.

The competition divides teams into an A division bracket for higher-ranked teams and a B division bracket for lower-ranked teams. The Young Guns are in the higher division.

Teams are matched up with five individuals representing each team. Individuals compete in a race to five games. The first to win five games earns the win. It’s a best-of-five series against each team.

“We bond as people, not just as players,” Marlow said. “And I feel like that kind of separated us. Because a lot of teams try to draft just the best of the best versus how are our personalities going to mix, can we lift each other up, can we have fun doing it? So I opted to go for the route I wanted to have fun and know my players and know what their abilities are and all that.”

The tournament is streaming on the Pool Action TV channel starting Thursday.