The Pool Tournament Index

What it costs to play competitive pool in America — computed from 2,194 live tournament listings at 1,173 pool halls and bars across 48 states. Updated September 2026. Free to cite with a link to this page.

Weekly tournaments by night

Key findings

• The median entry fee for a U.S. pool tournament is $20 (of the 1,383 listings that publish a fee; 37% are free to enter or don't list one).
• Oklahoma is the cheapest state to play (median $10); Indiana is the most expensive at $80 — 8.0× more.
• Saturday is America's biggest pool night: 370 weekly tournaments, ahead of Fri (305), Sun (265).
• Texas hosts the most tournaments of any state (219).
• 8-Ball narrowly beats 9-Ball as America's tournament game of choice, 790 events to 627.
• Venues add $40,696 per week of guaranteed added money on top of entries across the weekly tournaments that publish it.

Median entry fee by state

States with at least 15 fee-listing tournaments, cheapest first.

Most tournaments by state

The Index by state

States with enough fee-listing tournaments for their own numbers.

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nevada
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

Methodology

Action Buddy aggregates public tournament listings and venue submissions across the U.S. Each recurring weekly series counts once. Fee statistics use the 1,383 events that publish an entry fee. Figures regenerate automatically as the dataset refreshes; media are welcome to cite this page (attribution: Action Buddy, https://actionbuddy.app/pool-tournament-index/).