While many head to Las Vegas hoping to strike it rich at the tables, one Middletown man brought home $15,000 without placing a single casino bet.
Nathan Sena clinched the title at the 2025 APA 8-Ball Classic Pool Championship, held late last month at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort. Sena’s victory came in the Orange Tier of the competition, earning him a prize package worth $15,000—and serious bragging rights back home.
Nearly 6,000 players from across North America vied for a spot in the American Poolplayers Association’s (APA) national 8-Ball Classic. Only 883 made it to the finals in Las Vegas, which ran from April 27 to 29. Sena, a regular in Middletown’s APA League, was among them.
The 8-Ball Classic is broken down into five tiers based on skill level. Sena topped the Orange Tier, one of the most competitive levels in the tournament. His final match was live-streamed and is available to watch online: 2025 APA 8-Ball Classic (SL6) Orange Tier Final.
Sena’s win was part of the APA’s Poolplayer Championships, an annual event that draws more than 6,000 participants across 15 divisions and awards nearly $1 million in total prize money.
Based in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, the APA oversees the world’s largest amateur pool league, boasting over 250,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. Known as the APA Pool League stateside and the Canadian Pool League north of the border, the organization is widely regarded as the governing body of amateur billiards.
In addition to the Poolplayer Championships, the APA hosts the APA World Pool Championships and the U.S. Amateur Championship—together offering close to $2 million in cash and prizes annually.
For Sena, it wasn’t a roll of the dice that paid off—it was a cue, a calm hand, and a whole lot of skill.
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