SOUTH DAKOTA KID CONQUERS THE SWAMP: SVB WINS 2026 FLORIDA OPEN
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– Monday, August 10th, 2026, by Patrick Sampey:
Shane Van Boening, 43, reminded the world why he is still the standard. The South Dakota Kid smoked Alexander Kazakis 13-5 in the Race to 13 final on August 9 at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, capturing the 2026 Florida Open Nine-ball Championship and the $40,000 first prize from the $225,000 World Nineball Tour Major.
This was not an easy draw. This was a gauntlet. Championship Friday, August 8, opened with SVB putting Joshua Filler in a body bag 10-7 in the Last 16. He followed it with a 10-6 clinic over former World Champion Francisco Sánchez Ruiz in the Quarterfinals. Saturday morning, he came back and straight beat down Eklent Kaci 11-6 in the Semifinals before closing out Kazakis that night. The 13-5 final was payback for his 13-10 loss to world number one Aloysius Yapp in the 2025 inaugural Florida Open final. Orlando was his haunted house last year. This year he burned it down with ectoplastic solar flares.
That is SVB’s whole career arc. He broke out in 2007 and has not let off the gas in nearly 20 years. Top five in the world almost the entire time, adjusting to every new generation, every new cue tech, every new kid with no fear. The trophy case is obscene. Five WPA world titles. World Nine-ball in 2016 and 2022. World 8 Ball in 2022. World 10 Ball in 2024. World Games gold in 2022. Five US Opens in 2007, 2012, 2013, 2016, and 2022. Mosconi Cups. Derby City rings. Now add the Florida Open to the gargantuan pile, stacked like the pyramids of Egypt.
The money tells another story, and it is ugly. Runner up Kazakis earned $18,000 after beating Jesús Atencio in his semifinal. Atencio and Kaci each banked $10,000 for their final four runs. Quarterfinalists Petri Makkonen, Francisco Sánchez Ruiz, and Tyler Styer took $7,150. The last 16 players, including Joshua Filler, Thorsten Hohmann, AJ Manas, Duong Quoc Hoang, Chang Yu Lung, and Cristopher Tevez, received $4,000. The last 32 finishers, including Carlo Biado, Robbie Capito, Oliver Szolnoki, Marco Teutscher, Moritz Neuhausen, and Mustafa Alnar, earned $2,000. For a 256 player WNT Major with 128 tour pros, surviving three days of killers to make Top 32 and netting $2,000? That is the grind. That is pool.
Matchroom’s coverage kept it moving all week. Clean streams, solid commentary booth, quick turnarounds between tables. During the downtime, they cut to Frazer. She was literally at Gatorland feeding the alligators, raw chicken in hand, standing six feet from the jaws while the commentators talked about players sweating matches back at the venue. Only in Florida. Only in pool. Caribe Royale to the swamp, pressure to play, then back to pressure. Orlando, home of the Magic, and SVB just kicked the door off the hinges.
This is year two of the Florida Open as a WNT Major, August 4 through 9, and it already feels like the US Open or UK Open. Nothing but world champions by the weekend. Stronger pros beat lesser opponents early, but come Saturday it is all monsters. Matchroom’s world march keeps rolling, 9 ball keeps rising, and SVB is still the final boss.
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