Corey Deuel

Corey **The Prince of Pool** Deuel emerged from Pennsylvania in the late 1990s as one of the most innovative players of his generation. He pioneered the soft break (the now-famous **"Deuel break"**) as a strategic alternative to the high-power smash, prompting rule changes in nine-ball that reshaped the modern game.

Deuel won the WPA World Eight-ball Championship in 2001 and the US Open Nine-ball Championship in 2001, plus multiple BCA Open and IPT events. He has remained a fixture on the American tournament circuit for more than two decades.

His influence on nine-ball break rules — the **3-point rule** in particular — is one of the most direct examples of a player's technique forcing a sport's governing body to redesign the game itself.