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There is a game called 14.1—straight pool.
It is played with fifteen balls.
When fourteen have been pocketed, one is left on the table and the fourteen are racked again.
That last ball is pocketed while the cue ball breaks open the next rack.
And then, once more, the balls go down.
How many points can you string together without a miss?
That is a high run.
It sounds simple.
But stand at the table, and it isn’t.
There is a knot of balls.
A cluster, they call it: balls packed close together.
Put the cue ball into it there, and it will break open.
But where the balls will lie afterward, you can’t read.
Start from that ball, and the next one gets hard.
Then what if you take the long way round?
But can your stroke actually get you there?
In your head, you build a theory.
Then you think again.
You know that feeling, reading a mystery novel?
The answer feels close, and won’t come.
But it is there somewhere.
Believing that, you read on.
An offhand line near the beginning.
At first, you passed it by.
Then, some dozens of pages later, something snags.
You turn back.
You read it again.
There it is. It was there all along.
The moment scattered pieces become a single picture.
The same thing is happening on a 14.1 table.
Pocket the ball.
Play position with the cue ball.
While sinking the ball in front of you, break up the cluster.
Stop the cue ball where the next ball can be pocketed.
All of it, in one shot.
Sometimes you know the best answer is A, and your own skill leaves you only B.
Is that sound judgment, or a compromise?
You won’t know until after you’ve played it.
Still, you keep thinking.
Little by little, you look for clues in the knot of balls on the table.
If that ball can be freed, this one comes alive.
If this one comes alive, it leads on to that rack.
With every shot, you move forward, planting clues for later as you go.
That is 14.1.
If you love mysteries, you will understand.
That pleasure—the moment everything connects—is here too.
There are people who want to solve puzzles.
People who love building logic, one piece on another.
People who cannot stop asking “why.”
The moment people like that see 14.1, they will feel something.
This is my kind of thing.
Here is a game that stirs the curious mind.
You will come to love it. I’m sure of it.
That game of 14.1 will be played in Yokohama by some of the finest players in Japan.
The day you first feel the pull of 14.1.
August 14 and 15. Kannai, Yokohama.
Thirty-two players will gather: professionals at the very top level in Japan, and top amateurs from across the country who have honed their 14.1.
Stats for every player, updated and published throughout the tournament.
Which ball the pros chose to start from, how they moved the cue ball.
Follow along with the numbers in hand, and the intent behind each shot comes into deeper view.
Follow the matches the way you would read a mystery.
Watching in person is free.
We look forward to seeing you in Yokohama.
👉 Tournament details, streams and players
👉 Yokohama Open player stats
👉 Billiards resources from Japan and around the world, organized by purpose: Billiards in Depth (latest updated hourly)