Greatest 8 Ball Player of All Time?

mnorwood

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
I apologize if this is beating a dead horse but I can't recall anyone ever talking about who they think is the greatest 8 ball player of all time. To me the best current player would be Shane, the best of all time on the box would be Matlock I suppose, but I really have no idea who would be considered the greatest of all time.

Thoughts?
 
Efren gets my vote as well. I've seen him playing tournaments against other top players (Accu-Stats Invitational, IPT), and he was a cut above everyone else.
 
Maybe Reyes could be, many great played on road hustling. Never winning, 1,2,3. Just by enough to sucker someone else into thinking they could beat what ever his name was that day.

Pool is not like PGA with million dollar pay days for the best this week.
 
would be hard to say anything other than efren after his big wins in the discipline

but i have been watching a lot of english and chinese 8-ball lately, and i must say that the best players have amazing pattern play. i can understand now how a good-but-not-great 9ball player like boyes could win the world 8 ball championship, or how darren converted to becoming a formidable straight pool competitor.
 
Efren won back to back PBT World 8-ball and the IPT Tour .
Shane could be it too because of his break and pocketing.
 
You would have to favor Shane in a long race against anybody because of his break. He is like a machine when he gets in a groove
 
I'd take Efren in his prime as the best Eight Ball player on the big table. Second best imo are Shane, Dennis and Corey.
 
no no no. the best at a particular game is the person that plays that game the best . not who is best out of the top few shooters in the world. of course they are going to beat most all they play.

the best 8 ball player was country by a mile. he could beat players that played far better than himself and he played well himself.
weldon rogers is close second.
 
maha said:
no no no. the best at a particular game is the person that plays that game the best . not who is best out of the top few shooters in the world. of course they are going to beat most all they play.

the best 8 ball player was country by a mile. he could beat players that played far better than himself and he played well himself.
weldon rogers is close second.
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And neither of these guys would have played Efren in his prime. They were too smart for that. :)
 
8 ball was never really the main game. It went from straight pool to 9 ball. When 8 ball did become the main game for one year with the IPT, Efren dominated it, winning 2 of the 3 events that were held. He was much older than most of the other players to boot.
 
It kind of depends on conditions and rules, and what role the break has. Is the break less relevant, important but difficult, or important but easy?

If the role of the break is reduced somewhat (take what you make, tight pockets, wood rack, slow cloth, or some combination of these) then I think it's Efren.

If it is a standard Diamond then SVB has such a big break it's hard for anyone to overcome it.

But if we're talking about a newly recovered diamond with pockets that play loose and a magic rack where balls just float into pockets on the break, then Ralf might be at the top, with Thorsten in the conversation on these conditions.

In the end I have to give Efren the nod because I think it takes special conditions to tip the scale, not the other way around.
 
Another exceptional eight ball player on the big tables who has yet to be mentioned is Johnny Archer,
 
Taking a trip down memory lane here, many posters voted the SVB vs Carlo Biado 8-ball match during the 2013 BCA Championships pro event (big tables, alternate break) the greatest match of that year. I included it as the third of my four candidates for "match of the year" in 2013 and this is what I wrote:

Van Boening vs Biado at the US Open 8-ball at the BCAPL National Championships
Each player ran 9 of his first ten racks from the break and the finals stood at 10-10 in a win by two format. At 11-11, Biado made the fatal mistake and Shane ran out for a truly memorable 13-11 win.

It was, by a mile, the greatest eight ball match I've ever witnessed, and I remember that Shane used something that looked like his ten ball break in that match, always breaking from the center.
 
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sjm said:
Taking a trip down memory lane here, many posters voted the SVB vs Carlo Biado 8-ball match during the 2013 BCA Championships pro event (big tables, alternate break) the greatest match of that year. I included it as the third of my four candidates for "match of the year" in 2013 and this is what I wrote:

Van Boening vs Biado at the US Open 8-ball at the BCAPL National Championships
Each player ran 9 of his first ten racks from the break and the finals stood at 10-10 in a win by two format. At 11-11, Biado made the fatal mistake and Shane ran out for a truly memorable 13-11 win.

It was, by a mile, the greatest eight ball match I've ever witnessed, and I remember that Shane used something that looked his ten ball break in that match, always breaking from the center.
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Does anyone know where this match can be watched? Youtube does not seem to have it and my searches via google and bing are coming up dry as well..
 
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