Sudden Death Seven-ball was an annual pool

Pocket billiards

Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...

 tournament (and television show) held in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

; it was broadcast on and sponsored by ESPN. SDSB was the most notable event featuring the game of seven-ball

Seven-ball

Seven-ball is a contemporary pool game with rules similar to nine-ball, though it differs in two key ways: the game uses only seven as implied by its name, and play is restricted to particular pockets of the table. William D. Clayton is credited with the game's invention, ca...

. It was usually held (in a variable location each year) at the same time as Trickshot Magic, another annual televised pool tournament.

The event series was short-lived: After six events, 2000 – 2005, the tournament was never again staged. There's a possibility that it might have been replaced by the International Speed Pool Tournament, a new cue sport event that started taking place simultaneously with Trickshot Magic in 2006.

Format

Each year, eight invited notable players have competed in this single elimination event.

Every match has two sets, both of them are race-to-7. To win, a player has to win both. If there's an exchange, then the players will go into a single rack decider to determine a winner.

If a player fails to pocket a ball, the other player shall be awarded ball ball-in-hand. To prevent this from occurring, the player at the table must call a safety. Each player can only call a safety once per rack.

The seven-ball had to be called before being pocketed. Failing to call it or calling a pocket other than where it really went would result of the seven-ball being re-spotted and player at the table loses his turn. Also, winning by pocketing the seven-ball wasn't permitted.

Prize money distribution

The total purse of the tournament was US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

40,000, distributed in the following ratio:

Position	Prize
Champion	$25,000
Runner-up	$5,000
Semi-finalists	$2,000 each
Quarter-finalists	$1,500 each

Champions

Year	Location	Champion
2000	Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles... , Illinois Illinois Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...	Mika Immonen Mika Immonen Mika Immonen is a Finnish professional pool player, nicknamed "the Ice Man."He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball ChampionshipHe has represented Team Europe on thirteen occasions in the...
2001	Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore... , Maryland Maryland Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...	Corey Deuel
2002	Baltimore, Maryland	Francisco Bustamante Francisco Bustamante Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.-Early life:Bustamante is the...
2003	Uncasville, Connecticut Connecticut Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...	Johnny Archer Johnny Archer Johnny Archer is an American professional pool player. He is nicknamed "the Scorpion" ....
2004	Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous... , Nevada Nevada Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...	Corey Deuel
2005	Las Vegas, Nevada	Thorsten Hohmann

External links

• Last rack footage of Bustamante-Immonen seven-ball match