A Wareham billiards team is headed to compete at the World PoolPlayers Championships in Las Vegas this August, an event with prizes totaling more than $1 million.

The eight-member team won a full-paid trip to Las Vegas after taking first place in the state championship. The team plays in a weekly league at the Fan Club.

Known as The Dream Team, the group will battle for a $25,000 first place prize at the 2018 APA 8-Ball World Championship, conducted by the American Poolplayers Association.

In Las Vegas, the team will compete against others from across the United States, Japan and Canada. More than 13,000 players will compete from Aug. 13 -18 at the Westgate Hotel and Casino.

Team captain Reanna Vazquez said the team is made up of lifelong friends who have played together for the past 15 years.

“We are the first eight ball team out of the Fan Club to ever get this chance, and we are beyond excited to get to play in Las Vegas with 749 other teams,” said Vazquez.

Other team members include: Rich Farnham, Missy Leger, Jose “Zorro” Vazquez, Donna Richard, Marc Barrows, Rene Mijares, and Mary Finney.

The American Poolplayers Association, based in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, sanctions the world’s largest amateur pool league, known as the APA Pool League throughout the United States and as the Canadian Pool League in Canada.   Nearly 250,000 members compete in weekly 8-Ball and 9-Ball League play.  The APA is generally recognized as the Governing Body of Amateur Pool, having established the official rules, championships, formats and handicap systems for the sport of amateur billiards.

The APA produces four major tournaments each year—the APA World Pool Championships, the APA Poolplayer Championships, the APA Junior Championships and the U.S. Amateur Championship—that, together, pay out nearly $2 Million in cash and prizes annually. In 2010, the APA World Pool Championships were recognized by Guinness World Records as the “world’s largest pool tournament.”