Level of pro talent today vs 15-20 years ago

Positively Ralf

Positively Ralf

AzB Silver Member
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Just curious to know, and this all stems from seeing a ton of footage from the turn of the century(specifically the mid 90s into the earlier 2000s), what the opinion is of pro player talent today vs back in those days. I just see so many names that competed back then and just seemed to disappear because there was no money to be made.

I guess my question really is, back then, was it more quantity than quality at those higher levels? Or is it still about even today because so many of those top players have been replaced by the surge of top European and Asian players?
 
P

PoppaSaun

Banned
Snap back 25yrs and the striking viking was much, much better than anything of recent years. I think she played some okay pool, also.
 
JoeyInCali

JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
The mid 90's was kinda weak.
Efren and Archer traded titles.

Dennis and SVB have to deal with a lot more monsters today.
Just consider SVB's last US Open win.
He had to deal with more than few WORLD champions.
SVB's 2 of his 5 US Open wins were tougher than all of Strickland's and Sigel's wins combined.
 
jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
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My opinion is there are more top level players today worldwide than ever before. At least twice as many as fifteen years ago! The best players from the 90's would have trouble breaking into the top ten today. Earl is the exception, the 90's being his peak years. Johnny, Buddy and Nick would still be competitive with anyone today. Sigel quit in the early 90's.
 
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Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
Speaking world wide, there are many more monsters today than in 80' and 90's...IMO. Johnnyt
 
mvp

mvp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I think the quality of all amateur players is way up from the 90's!
 
Jaden

Jaden

"no buds chill"
Silver Member
Yeah...

jay helfert said:
My opinion is there are more top level players today worldwide than ever before. At least twice as many as fifteen years ago! The best players from the 90's would have trouble breaking into the top ten today. Earl is the exception, the 90's being his peak years. Johnny, Buddy and Nick would still be competitive with anyone today. Sigel quit in the early 90's.
Click to expand...

And most of those guys ARE still competitive today and don't play now like they did then.

Jaden
 
couldnthinkof01

couldnthinkof01

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Watching efren today it is unfathomable to me how good he played at top speed, under pressure.

I have seen many a good player, but watching him even at 50 and 60 is out of this world( underlined about 8 times)
 
S

smashmouth

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I can't help but focus on how an older efren and earl still give today's young gun monsters a run for their money

they're likely exceptions to the rule but no players alive today beat those guys in their prime
 
lfigueroa

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Positively Ralf said:
Just curious to know, and this all stems from seeing a ton of footage from the turn of the century(specifically the mid 90s into the earlier 2000s), what the opinion is of pro player talent today vs back in those days. I just see so many names that competed back then and just seemed to disappear because there was no money to be made.

I guess my question really is, back then, was it more quantity than quality at those higher levels? Or is it still about even today because so many of those top players have been replaced by the surge of top European and Asian players?
Click to expand...


If you were to dial it back, say all the way back to the Johnston City era, I would say that many of the players who gained renown, would be near helpless against the modern era player.

Especially many of the 1pocket specialists who traveled around when the game was more of a gaffe and knew the moves before they became generally recognized and played.

Having said that, I also believe some players, like Mosconi and Lassiter and a few others, would be competitive no matter what. Genius is genius in any era.

Lou Figueroa
 
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JohnnyOzone

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you go back to about 1995 I think that is when Simonis cloth got noticeably faster.
Take the cloth from before that and today's players would not enjoy the "gap" that many people think they would. Somebody like Shaw and SVB would be more dominant than they are now, though.
Earl's top gear from the early 90's is still higher than anybody's today.
 
Black-Balled

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
JohnnyOzone said:
If you go back to about 1995 I think that is when Simonis cloth got noticeably faster.
Take the cloth from before that and today's players would not enjoy the "gap" that many people think they would. Somebody like Shaw and SVB would be more dominant than they are now, though.
Earl's top gear from the early 90's is still higher than anybody's today.
Click to expand...

I dunno about the earl claim.

Check out pov pool's ghost videos, or roys basement. 10 and 9b can't be played any better.

That said, those games are pretty easy.
 
grindz

grindz

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We all stand on the shoulders of those who went before us. It goes both ways.
I doubt that today's player without all the 'given' knowledge that they now have
At their fingertips could go back and crush the past players in their time and place.

With that said, I still have serious doubts that all of the hundreds, thousands of
Road warriors from the past would be scared of the current generation. I think
A lot of them would say "post".

Td
 
realkingcobra

realkingcobra

Well-known member
Silver Member
JohnnyOzone said:
If you go back to about 1995 I think that is when Simonis cloth got noticeably faster.
Take the cloth from before that and today's players would not enjoy the "gap" that many people think they would. Somebody like Shaw and SVB would be more dominant than they are now, though.
Earl's top gear from the early 90's is still higher than anybody's today.
Click to expand...

That is about when Simonis slowed down with 860, i was installing Simonis 760 in the mid 80's.
 
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