Bustamante and major titles

[Mr441]

Has Bustamante ever won a major? I'm not talking about the Challenge of Champions which I don't consider a real event. I mean real majors like the U.S. Open, BCA, World Championships, Derby City, Japan Open, World Pool Masters etc. I had a conversation with a friend who says Busta is so great yadda yadda, but I then asked what has he won? He was speechless, he couldn't come up with a major title! He then mentioned the San Miguel tour but I really would say you can't count that as non-asians aren't allowed to play.

Now I know how good Busta can play especially in money matches but he always seems to choke in major event final or semi-final. He's been playing on the world stage for over 15 years now and I can't think of anything he's won.
Any other top pro ever mentioned has numerous major titles but not Busta. For that reason I can't consider him the top echelon of greatest players.

 

[Jason Koopman]

Busty has won numerous Championships starting with the Bicycle club invitational in 1993. He is definately a champion!

 

[muddawg]

World Pool Masters in 1998 and 2001
World Pool League in 2004
World Cup of Pool in 2006

Here's the wiki page for Bustamante. You can see what some of the other tournaments he has won there.

 

[CrownCityCorey]

Has Bustamante ever won a major? I'm not talking about the Challenge of Champions which I don't consider a real event. I mean real majors like the U.S. Open, BCA, World Championships, Derby City, Japan Open, World Pool Masters etc. I had a conversation with a friend who says Busta is so great yadda yadda, but I then asked what has he won? He was speechless, he couldn't come up with a major title! He then mentioned the San Miguel tour but I really would say you can't count that as non-asians aren't allowed to play.

Now I know how good Busta can play especially in money matches but he always seems to choke in major event final or semi-final. He's been playing on the world stage for over 15 years now and I can't think of anything he's won.
Any other top pro ever mentioned has numerous major titles but not Busta. For that reason I can't consider him the top echelon of greatest players.

He did major damage on the Camel Tour!

 

[Bobby]

Bustamante is a big underachiever maybe the biggest the game has ever seen. I've never seen a player play so well below their true speed during finals matches as Bustamante has. He doesn't seem to know how to win. People like Busta and his style so the they praise him but in the end it's titles that count and Busta is sorely lacking them. If it was Earl who had Bustas titles and Busta who had Earl's titles you'd never hear the end of it how Earl is a so-so player and Busta is the greatest that's ever been! The fact is Busta is the Jimmy white of pool: incredibly talented but can't win when it counts.

 

[jsp]

Has Bustamante ever won a major? I'm not talking about the Challenge of Champions which I don't consider a real event. I mean real majors like the U.S. Open, BCA, World Championships, Derby City, Japan Open, World Pool Masters etc..

He won the Derby City "Master of the Table" last year, the World Pool Masters twice, and just won this year's Japan Open a few weeks back.

 

[rbpwrd240]

I had a similar conversation with a friend of mine. He is a person that knows EVERYONE'S speed. I mentioned how Bousty didnt have many titles that he is always a second place kinda guy. I mentioned that I thought he had either fallen off his game or never got it to the point of many other top pros. He laughed and said that its a joke. Hes rich and doesnt care about titles. I blew this off as a bunch of liquid courage rambling. A few weeks later I brought it up in a more sober meeting and it was explained to me like this.

He doesnt care about winning titles he cares about gambling
He has been known to ditch wins and not show up to matches
In his country the kind of money he has will go VERY far.

After this I started watching him instead of Earl, Efren, or anyother top notch pro, I noticed things in his game that are definitly of a professional claliber. His game is amazingly strong to have so few titles.

Now this may be half truth's and whole lies but It makes sense to me.:wink:

 

[jsp]

Bustamante is a big underachiever maybe the biggest the game has ever seen. I've never seen a player play so well below their true speed during finals matches as Bustamante has. He doesn't seem to know how to win. People like Busta and his style so the they praise him but in the end it's titles that count and Busta is sorely lacking them. If it was Earl who had Bustas titles and Busta who had Earl's titles you'd never hear the end of it how Earl is a so-so player and Busta is the greatest that's ever been! The fact is Busta is the Jimmy white of pool: incredibly talented but can't win when it counts.

This post is overly critical of Busti. Saying that he "doesn't seem to now how to win" is simply ridiculous.

I think of Busti not winning the BCA, WPC, and US Open as simply a statistical anomaly rather than Busti not knowing how to win.

And as I posted above, he did win the Japan Open recently...which had arguably a stronger international field than past several US Opens and BCAs Championships.

 

[JoeyInCali]

World 8-Ball in '96 iirc.
On the final day, he beat Coltrain, Wetch and Archer.
I think he missed three balls that day. Absolutely the best shooting I've seen.

Player of the year one time.

 

[CrownCityCorey]

He also won UPA US Pro Tour Championship 2007.

Looks here - Clicky, click!

 

[nai91]

i personally dont know much about Busty's titles but it seems i have read a bit about him taking SVB's money so Shane might be able to tell you if Busty knows how to win...hahaha

 

[Grady]

You must be kidding. right.

One year on the Camel tour, there were eight tournaments. Francisco won three and finished second in two others. Anyway, by the way I figure things, two seconds in major events equals at least one first.
I don't see anybody hustlin' Busta to play for money either.

 

[alstl]

I believe he won the overall at DCC recently.

 

[PoolBum]

Anyway, by the way I figure things, two seconds in major events equals at least one first.

Well Grady, I'm gonna take that comment to heart since I finished 2nd twice in the ACUI collegiate championships (closest thing I'll ever get to a major).

Anyone who knows anything about pool only has to see Bustamante play one match while on his game to realize he's watching one of the greatest 9-ball players to ever wield a cue. That guy is an artist.

 

[LAlouie]

Anyway, by the way I figure things, two seconds in major events equals at least one first.
.

You must be a Buffalo Bill fan.

 

[tattoosbyjay]

i think he is one of if not the best player to ever play the game and he plays ALL the games and plays them all above world class speed

 

[Tommy-D]

> I can't knock Bustamante's accomplishments AT ALL. What I saw early on in his career was this. He was beating every living human EXCEPT Efren,I have to assume it was a student/master type thing. He eventually beat Efren,but as his game developed it became clear to me that his BEST game just wasn't the type you see manifest itself fully in tournaments. He was,and I'm assuming still is the back-room "marathon" type player,where sometimes you don't see a player his his top gear until 5-6 hours in.

For those of you that might not have been around then,the very first thing Busta did on American soil was SPOT CJ Wiley.

It seems funny to me though that as great as Busta and Efren are,that no one is willing to mention that with the exception of Red's in '85,and a few other spots,that Efren was unofficially dubbed the "Manila Folder". This was in reference to him playing phenomenal pool at times to get into the finals,then dogging his brains out. After winning the U.S. Open in 1994,he finished 2nd to Reed Pierce in '95,Rodney Morris in '96,and Earl in '97,all with performances dramatically sub-par for him. Efren's standing as a dominant tournament player in U.S. events really started with the win in 1994,before that he was sporadic at best.

Ask Jay Helfert if this was the case or not. Even to this day,Rempe,Varner,Sigel and Strickland have won literally double,or in some cases triple the number of tournaments Efren has here in the U.S. Tommy D.

 

[poolhustla61508]

I think Bustamante is and has been top 5 in the world for at least the last 10 to 15 years. Tournament titles don't define how good a pool player he is especially when most of the tourneys are races to 11 or shorter.Anyone can win and it's just dumb luck he hasn't won more titles. I can guarantee that just because he hasn't won as many major titles as(Archer,Efren,Immonen,Pagulayan) none of these players will ever take him lightly.

I remember A story from the mid 90's or so I don't remember the exact year about Busty and Archer when Archer was considered by many to be the best 9 baller in the world. I'm sure most have heard it but I'll repeat it anyway.

Bustamante matches up with Johnny and beats him in a race. They decide to play again, Johnny wins the lag and then procedes to run the set out (13 straight racks)Bustamante without even flinching asks to play another set and beats Johnny 13-11 I believe. Johnny quit after this.....I talked with Johnny about this when I attended his pool school and he said he also broke and ran the first two racks of the next set as well bringing his total to 15 racks in a row.....Sorry about the rambling I just thought most would find this entertaining.

 

[tattoosbyjay]

i would never bet against him ever, no matter who he is playing , and to top everthing off he is a super nice guy and fun to hang out with