On the eve of the 2024 United States National Snooker Championship, players from all across the United States are on their way to the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California.

After the Championship was cancelled in Houston back in May, the Embassy Billiards Club stepped in the host the Championship for the second successive year after staging a fantastic event last year which saw Daren Taylor from Arizona capture his first title.

Taylor is back as the number one seed, and as tradition dictates the defending champion plays in the first match of the Group stage.

In last year's final Taylor defeated Steven Wong who is the number two seed player this year. It was an exceptionally special snooker occasion for Wong as he was playing as the defending champion in his home club after winning the title in 2022 at Ox Billiards in Seattle.

Two other former Champions will be competing this year: the 2017 Champion Raymond Fung from New York is back competing this year after finishing runner-up in 2022 and will be the number four seed player this year. And also the number five seed player will be the two-time Champion Ajeya Prabhakar.

The players are competing for The Tom Kollins Trophy, named after the five-time Champion who passed away in 2020. The trophy was donated in Tom's memory by the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association (WPBSA) and also Barry Hearn, the Chairman of the World Snooker Tour (WST).

Also on offer are trophies for this year's Championship awarded to the Champion, Runner-up and the Highest Break, which have been donated by the Embassy Billiards Club as the host.

The Championship is being played using an initial round-robin Group format played on November 22 & 23, with the winner and runner-up of each of the sixteen groups advancing into the knockout stage starting with the Round of 32 commencing at 9am and 12pm Pacific time on November 24. The Round of 16 ties are scheduled from 3pm Pacific time, and the quarterfinals from 6pm Pacific time.

The semifinals will commence at 9am Pacific time on November 25, followed by the final from 2pm Pacific time.

Alan Morris, the Executive Director of the USSA, said: "It is always a privilege to be back at the Embassy Billiards Club to play this prestigious Championship, and so I would like to wholeheartedly like to thank Steven (Wong) and his team for offering to host the Championship for a second successive year.

"We cannot have a great Championship however without the players who have entered in their numbers from across the United States, so I hope they enjoy the experience and the competition which will feed their enthusiasm to play."

Snooker fans in the United States and around the world will be able to keep up-to-date with all the events from the Embassy Billiards Club with live scoring and streaming, and reports will appear here on SnookerUSA.com.