Best display of cueing you've ever seen

u12armresl

u12armresl

One Pocket back cutter
Silver Member
We all know Efren's Z shot, or Melling's incredible rack.

What is your top shelf game or match you've seen (gambling or tourney) that you will never forget?

Could it be the fastest 147 from Ronnie or a big package on a bar box playing 8 or 9 ball?

Maybe a 3 cushion run, or that one out of Chohan's in one pocket where he needed them all.
 
Dallas West's 2 inning game vs Mike Zuglan at the 1992 US Open. It probably is the greatest example of classic 14.1 on video, unless there is another out there that I've never watched. and it's my favorite all time pool match.

Same tournament and unfortunately the same opponent. Sigel's 150 and out vs Zuglan was beautiful to watch and the amazing commentary added so much.

Earl Strickland's magical game vs Jason Shaw a few years back at the turning stone. It was vintage Strickland and it was beautiful to watch the old master showing off what made him become one of the biggest names in pool.

It wasn't a maximum, but I've always thought the century made by Tony Drago in about 3 minutes was mastery in the speed snooker category.
 
u12armresl said:
What is your top shelf game or match you've seen (gambling or tourney) that you will never forget?
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I got an up close and personal look at Jim Wards game in the finals of the White Spot bar box 9 ball racing to 12 in the finals, back in '89. Can't remember the package sizes but it seems l got 1 visit to the table and lost 12-3. 🤷‍♂️
I got an up close and personal look at Brady Golan in Spokane on 9 footers. I can't remember the race but was proud to avoid being skunked.
Watching Efren demolish Earl in the finals of the Reno Sands tournament (probably ''85) was amusing. Efren putting 4 game packages together interrupted by lock up safeties that left Earl helpless and in emotional distress. The gallery encouraged Earl to break his cue as he let his emotions show. Perhaps the time Efren executed a safety by taking whitey 3 rails around the table to end up locked In the Jaws of the corner and no way out as it had Bumped a ball to squeeze in and the object ball Bumped the rail and closed the door behind leaving no way to escape. Oh yeah he accidentally knocked a stray ball in so he got the shot. Efren jumped whitey off the pocket point to escape with a hit and hook.
Watching Dan Louie defeat Parica twice in the Ceasars Tahoe 9 ball in '84. Parica was playing so good it was hard to fathom when he said he wasn't the best player in the Philippines. I also got to watch Dan win two sets in a row in the finals of the Chinook Winds 9 ball in Lincoln City. His opponent was on the hill and was so good on the game set match 9 ball that he slammed it. The shot was just off of straight which allowed whitey to drift and scratch. Something like 6-1 was the score. Danny won from there. That set and the next. 🤷‍♂️
Of course my personal favorite was when I won from down 6-2 going to 7 playing for the point in the White Spot big event. Can't remember any of the shots, just the self to self talk as I racked 'em for his final "on the hill" break. "Don't worry about looking helpless, you've already done that." Was.the jist of it. 🤷‍♂️ A chip and a chair would be the poker analogy.
 
For me, one great shot or one great rack is very impressive, but great cueing must last for a full match, and the bigger the moment in which a player rises to the highest level of cueing, the more impressive the cueing.

When I think of truly great cueing, I always come back to the final of the 2014 US Open 9ball. Dennis Orcullo shot a TPA 1.000 for nearly half the match to put Shane Van Boening, who sought his third consecutive US Open 9ball title, to what may have been the toughest test he had ever faced at the pool table.

The pool played by Shane to rally from behind against an elite player who was in dead stroke for the 13-10 win, thereby securing his third consecutive US Open 9ball title, is the greatest cueing I have ever seen.
 
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u12armresl said:
We all know Efren's Z shot, or Melling's incredible rack.
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sjm said:
sssssssssFor me, one great shot or one great rack is very impressive, but great cueing must last for a full match, and the bigger the moment in which a player rises to the highest level of cueing, the more impressive the cueing.

When I think of truly great cueing, I always come back to the final of the 2014 US Open 9ball. Dennis Orcullo shot a TPA 1.000 for nearly half the match to put Shane Van Boening, who sought his third consecutive US Open 9ball title, to what may have been the toughest test he had ever faced at the pool table.

The pool played by Shane to rally from behind against an elite player who was in dead stroke for the 13-10 win, thereby securing his third consecutive US Open 9ball title, is the greatest cueing I have ever seen.
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I felt the same way about Appleton in the finals of the Worlds, the hill hill game said it all about em.
Tight pockets.... you could see the wear and tear physically in Darren.... around the 9th or 10ath game, his last two nines I noticed scraped the facings. Told me something.
I think Darren was up 9-1 maybe 9-2 at that time, race to 13.
 
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Positively Ralf said:
Dallas West's 2 inning game vs Mike Zuglan at the 1992 US Open. It probably is the greatest example of classic 14.1 on video, unless there is another out there that I've never watched. and it's my favorite all time pool match.

Same tournament and unfortunately the same opponent. Sigel's 150 and out vs Zuglan was beautiful to watch and the amazing commentary added so much.

Earl Strickland's magical game vs Jason Shaw a few years back at the turning stone. It was vintage Strickland and it was beautiful to watch the old master showing off what made him become one of the biggest names in pool.

It wasn't a maximum, but I've always thought the century made by Tony Drago in about 3 minutes was mastery in the speed snooker category.
Click to expand...
Great matches- all - Zuglan also had a great match in that tournament against Cicero Murphy- which displayed Mike Zuglan's pure talent and knowledge of the 14.1 game as well. Mike runs 109 and out on Cicero and the video is available with Mike's full commentary as to how he plays 14.1.
 
In one pocket Danny Smith winning an 8 ahead set against Chip Compton in two hours at High Pockets. Chip never had a peak at anything and Danny got out from everywhere. That same weekend Danny beat JJ a banks set and tore though Justin Hall at banks when he was considered the top $ banker in the country. All sets were big $$.
In banks a young Billy Thorpe matching up with Tony Ferguson at 11 ball banks. Other than a few dry breaks Billy got out almost everytime he walked to the table. Billy was banking them a 100 mph and smacking the back of the pocket every shot. He was hitting 2 and 3 railers like they were hangers. Tony had absolutely no quit and and burned through 3 different bankrolls. Billy played Omar Alshaheen sets of short rack banks at Derby one year. Billy either broke and ran 5 or left Omar needing every ball at the table every game.
At Smoking Aces $2000 entry race to 15 bar table 9Ball tournament Rob Saez ran a 9 pack in one match, an 8 pack in another, and a 13 pack in the first set of the finals. What set it apart was he didn't pattern rack or soft break. Just racked em quick and smashed em.
 
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Leonardo Andam. A pair of stakehorses brought him into a hall in Northern Virginia looking for action before most knew who he was. Danny Green had carved out a spot there doing cue repair and selling cues. He matched up with Andam playing 10 ahead for $1000. Andam broke and ran 10 racks, it took 28 minutes. Danny looked at me as he was putting his cue in his case. He shrugged and said “I dogged the coin toss”.
 
Frosty said:
Leonardo Andam. A pair of stakehorses brought him into a hall in Northern Virginia looking for action before most knew who he was. Danny Green had carved out a spot there doing cue repair and selling cues. He matched up with Andam playing 10 ahead for $1000. Andam broke and ran 10 racks, it took 28 minutes. Danny looked at me as he was putting his cue in his case. He shrugged and said “I dogged the coin toss”.
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Wow, must have been ages ago. Andam was fairly well known by the mid-1990s. I believe his ranking on the Pro Billiards Tour in 1997 went as high as #2. He was a superb cueist. Like Luat and Lining, his reputation was below Parica, Reyes and Bustamante, but all six of them were stone cold killers.

Funny to remember how even the greatest were once under the radar. I saw Earl Strickland play in New York City in 1980 when he was an unknown 19-year-old. He wouldn't be unknown for much longer.
 
An
sjm said:
Wow, must have been ages ago. Andam was fairly well known by the mid-1990s. I believe his ranking on the Pro Billiards Tour in 1997 went as high as #2. He was a superb cueist. Like Luat and Lining, his reputation was below Parica, Reyes and Bustamante, but all six of them were stone cold killers.

Funny to remember how even the greatest were once under the radar. I saw Earl Strickland play in New York City in 1980 when he was an unknown 19-year-old. He wouldn't be unknown for much longer.
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Andam came through DC area around the same time as mccumber/ annigoni, I think.

Further thought...that would have been prior to 1995.
 
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