mario he is up there. still has time of course, but i have a feeling he won't.
naoyuki oi is another one. don't think he will.
naoyuki oi is another one. don't think he will.
Who is the best player of the last 40 years not to win a major event?
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i don't want to be rude but mike eufemia had no possible chance to win a tournament the last 40 years as he died in 1978
Too much talent these days. Both these cats are fine players but compared to the elite they're semi-shortstops.
Dechaine ever win much?
He had a ton of potential.
Per Wiki
2025 Smokey Mountain 9-Ball Shootout
2025 Maine 9-Ball Open
2024 Maine 9-Ball Open
2018 Super Billiards Expo Players Championship
2017 Gotham City Pro 9-Ball Classic
2012 Turning Stone Classic
2011 Ultimate 10-Ball Championship
2009 World Summit of Pool
He had a ton of potential.
Per Wiki
2025 Smokey Mountain 9-Ball Shootout
2025 Maine 9-Ball Open
2024 Maine 9-Ball Open
2018 Super Billiards Expo Players Championship
2017 Gotham City Pro 9-Ball Classic
2012 Turning Stone Classic
2011 Ultimate 10-Ball Championship
2009 World Summit of Pool
also a history of dogging it in semis/finals, so there are probably mental humps in both cases
yep, some fade those scars better than others for sure.
This info is probably also available in the Goldmine (NBN issues) on AZB, but I happen to have a complete run of Pool and Billiard Magazine...
For those who are wondering about some of the missing names, this was at the time that some players were having issues with the Pro Tour, and shortly after this, CJ started his pro organization. One of the first of CJ's events was the tournament where Earl Strickland ran the 11 racks for the million dollar bonus.
It was at CJ's PCA's FIRST event in Dallas. Earl winning that $$ so early really skewed CJ's funding for the tour. IIRC they only had one more event, the Hollywood Park event won by Hopkins over Matlock in the final.
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Not sure why Junior's name is there, he played so few tournaments, just stuck around for the actoin.
Flamethrower.... Reno 80's First love.
Being in Harriman's car Tulsa/Magoo's, was dangerous. Once was enough.
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He came to the Billiard Palace in Tulsa when J. McDermott had it. Round the clock action. This guy scorched everyone he played.
One of the slowest players ever. But also one of the best in 14.1.
Warren Kiamco is another one of the great Filipino players who just never got to the top. Meanwhile little Santos Sambajon Jr. won the big Skins game tourney in New York. He won something like 70K and took the money home to his family. He hadn't been home in over ten years!
Shannon and Ginky did win some big ones. The other three guys did not. I may make a caveat for Tang though. He won both divisions (9-Ball and One Pocket) at the Hard Times Jamboree back in early 2000. The field was full of good players including Parica, Efren, Amar and Kim. He also won the Swanee Tourney back then with a stacked field of 128 players.
Yes, Wiley won a tournament on which ESPN pasted the words World Championship. And it had good money because of ESPN. But, to me, it was nothing like a world championship event. I have posted on this more than once. The men's singles portion of this affair was an invitational 16-player single-elimination event with races to 7. So the winner played just 4 races to 7 to win the title. And the event was played during the same week as a PBT (Pro Billiards Tour) event that had a far stronger field, none of whom played in the ESPN event. Here's what I posted about it in a thread in 2014:
Because of the interest shown in this thread in the ESPN World Championship, and because of CJ's mentioning his "world" title so frequently on AzB, I decided to look up some facts about the event. Here's what I found (thanks Billiards Digest and Pool & Billiard Magazine).
• The ESPN World Open 9-Ball Championships were played in Santa Rosa, CA in January, 1996.
• This was an ESPN invitational, staged-for-TV event that had several components -- a pro-am celebrity event, a men's singles event, a women's singles event, a mixed-doubles event, and a playoff between the men's and women's winners. The "celebrities" were (largely or entirely) NBA and NFL cheerleaders.
• This event did not replace the WPA World 9-Ball Championship. Oliver Ortmann was the recently crowned 1995 winner of that event, and Ralf Souquet would later become the 1996 WPA World 9-Ball Champion. Also later in 1996, Rudolfo Luat won the PBT World 9-Ball Championship.
• These championships were held right between the break-away by a number of players from the men's PBT (Pro Billiards Tour) and the formation of CJ's PCA (Professional Cuesports Association). In fact, the PBT was holding its own event that same week (won by Efren Reyes), and their players did not participate in the ESPN event.
• The format for the ESPN events was single elimination, alternating break, races to 7 in the singles and 5 in the doubles.
• The number of pro players was 16 men and 16 women.
• The order of finish in the men's singles event was:
1st -- CJ Wiley
2nd -- Oliver Ortmann;
3rd-4th -- Earl Strickland and Allen Hopkins;
5th-8th -- Steve Knight, Jose Parica, George San Souci, and Danny Medina;
9th-16th -- Kyle Tafoya, Yasunari Itsuzaki, Tom Storm, Mika Immonen, Ismael Paez, Steve Moore, Billy Palmer, and Shannon Daulton.
• CJ played 4 matches to win the singles title, beating Moore 7-2, San Souci 7-6, Strickland 7-6, and Ortmann 7-5.
• Vivian Villarreal beat Allison Fisher 7-5 for the women's title.
• CJ teamed with Loree Jon Jones to win the mixed doubles 5-0 over George San Souci and Linda McWhirt.
• CJ defeated Villarreal 7-3 in the playoff for the men's and women's winners.
• CJ's winnings for the week were $88,500 -- a $1,000 appearance fee in the pro-am, $20,000 for the men's singles win, $7,500 for the mixed doubles win, and $60,000 for his playoff win over Villarreal (she got $40,000!)..
• The total prize purse for the events was $313,000, said to be the largest to that point in the history of pro pool.