the world straight pool championship, sometimes marked as simply the world tournament among other names, is a pocket billiards (pool) competition, that has been held annually in united states in its present form since 2006. it is one of the successor tournaments (also including the american 14.1 straight pool championship) to the historical world 14.1 continuous championship (1912–1990). during the modern tournament's early years, it was the only global professional title for straight pool (also known as 14.1 continuous). the event is organized by dragon promotions, in part to restore the game's popularity in the united states. throughout the current event's history, only the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 editions were sanctioned by the world pool-billiard association (wpa) to be world championships. since then, the tournament continues to be held under its current name without wpa sanctioning.