The effect is built into the shot. It's probably impossible without the masse stroke. There's a shot I've not seen that supposedly has the CB pulling above the side pocket before contact. Also big on the "no way" factor.
Best 1Pocket Player of the 80's - 90's
- Thread starter lfigueroa
- Start date
I spent something like four hours with Cook and if I had lived around Dayton I would have spent several more sessions with him. It was years ago when Gail's mother was suffering through the advanced stages of Alzheimer's and we were making frequent trips to Dayton. I met him on one of our trips at Airway Billiards and he gave me his home phone number in case I was ever in town and wanted to play.
He offered lessons at $25 an hour but if you went for two hours, he'd go three. In all honesty, the lessons weren't much in terms of a formal structure. It was more of an opportunity to play the man -- a bona fide 1pocket legend -- and ask him anything I wanted. So I tried to take advantage of the opportunity and pick his brain: why did you choose that shot instead of that one; what would you do here; is it better to go behind the stack, or up table in this situation; how do you hit that shot...
In between games of 1pocket and my endless stream of questions, he told me road stories, talked about other players he'd known and lamented that he'd lost the knack of playing straight pool, "Can't see the patterns anymore." I would say hello to him each year at the US Open One Pocket Tournament, when that event was running up in Kalamazoo, MI and one year we warmed up playing for small stakes. He was a soft spoken gentleman who had moved back to Lima, OH (from FL?) to take care of his mother. He was one of the greatest pool players of all time. And when I told Gail that "the Cookie Monster" had passed, she knew who I was speaking of and said, "Oh no. How sad."
Yes, it was.
IMO, Steve Cook was toughest guy of that era. A total 1pocket surgeon who was so good -- he'd take you apart and you never felt a thing.
Lou Figueroa
Efren was NOT the best one pocket player in the 80’s and 90’s. From the pro ranks, Hopkins, Varner, Matthews would be at the top. Mizerak was good one pocket player. Fusco and Diliberto would also have to be mentioned, as would Sigel. Not as well known for one pocket moves, but Grady would always say that Sigel didn’t know a thing about one pocket, but his shot making skills and 14.1 skills had him winning a few pro tournaments when there was hardly any tournaments. Grady would say that Sigel could shoot an 8-out shooting out of a paper bag.Without a doubt.% Efren
I loved watching Shannon play. Bugs. Strawberry. Incardona. All fantastic, intelligent players.
The gambling crowd would bet on Ronnie Allen, Shorty Johnson, Steve Cook, Strawberry, Bugs, etc.
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Before rail contact that is.
here's efren vs grady in 1991:
Thanks for sharing that Lou!!
here is a list of winners and second place for major tournaments over the years
you can decide who dominated in the 1980's and 1990's
you can decide who dominated in the 1980's and 1990's
One Pocket pool record book - one pocket pool record setters
A One pocket pool dedicated web site - one pocket pool rules, events, store, message board and more.
www.onepocket.org
Oh cool! I was just recalling my experience er uh attending every presentation when he toured the Seattle area. I enjoyed his exhibition and tried to absorb knowledge.
I heard of him teaching Efren How to play one pocket. I look forward to the video.
I think Shannon was early 90s. He was already a top one pocket player when he was 19. I think he won the 91 or 92 legends of one pocket. When I starting playing one pocket in the mid 90s I had bought a bunch of his accustats from the early 90’s.
The early 2000’s he had started transitioning to becoming a TD.
Trying to ascertain what is/wasn't/might be a 'major' in pool is kinda like herding cats.
unfortunately theres not many good videos of him
Grady Always said that Efren was the best in that time and of anytime. He also told me that for the Money it was Efern, Bugs and Cliff.
I liked Grady and he said on video that Varner was to conservative to beat him.
Theres NO WAY Grady, Varner or Hopkins could beat Bugs, Efren or Cliff, any of them for the Cash and he always said it.
I bet he had regrets about doing that for the rest of his playing days!!Oh cool! I was just recalling my experience er uh attending every presentation when he toured the Seattle area. I enjoyed his exhibition and tried to absorb knowledge.
I heard of him teaching Efren How to play one pocket. I look forward to the video.
Efren is the GOAT of one-pocket. IMO, better than anyone who ever played. But in the 80’s and most of the 90’s, he wasn’t yet. That was the question. He was still learning the game in the early to mid 90’s and didn’t play it for most of the 80’s.
i saw him play up close and personal in the early 70's at the casa madrid, in stone park. il. on a bar box which featured a cue ball the size of a volleyball, i wasn't impressed until i was....all he did was get out.
same place where a bar table scuffler from Tn and his roadie got sideways with a clean up dude because they thought he was shutting down their game ( they were stuck around $80) and they shot him in the head killing him, what the clean up dude wanted was about 30 minutes to get the area presentable
as far as i know the perps were never brought to justice
imo the CM was the most dangerous joint in chicagoland between the early 60's and mid 70's
I think the 80's belong to Hopkins. RA was done, Efren became the MAN in the 90's and forward. Grady, Joyner and Cornbread did not have his firepower running balls. Certainly Varner could compete at a very high level but Hopkins IMO reigned supreme back then.
Yep. He was voted by his peers at the time in Billiards Digest in 1991 as the top one pocket player for a reason.
Here’s an interesting read when Hopkins gets inducted into the BCa Hall of Fame:
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