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Just my opinion based on watching them both play A LOT. It took Efren a while to get comfortable in the U.S. tourney environment. He seemed to thrive AFTER his original opponents retired or faded. As it's just my intuitive sense, I could be wrong.

If you fail to vote you won't be allowed to host the upcoming AZ Billiards sponsored podcast - "Listening to the Legends" with your host TinMan. Then again, maybe you need to keep your neutrality intact just to maintain the high journalistic expectations we have around here.

Mike did usually go for the shot but not before pretending he wouldn't, while completing several head bobs, several head shakes, and several exclamations. Nick wouldn't hesitate to fire in some needed bank shots from time to time, so it may have been close to even in that department. Good...

Does anybody have access to Billiards Digest's annual player of the year list? Or any other now defunct magazine's list? Those would be interesting to see and worth considering as you would think they were paying attention to tourney results.

Oh you're fine. You just tend to start a long straight pool run in the middle of a 9 ball thread. :) Efren is beloved by everyone. He's an all-time great. But he NEVER dominated the game of 9 Ball and didn't have nearly the success that either Varner or Sigel did during their primes. And it...

Uh oh.....Varner in the early lead. I forgot to mention: Poll results will be legally binding.

Don't feed Greg too much ;) We aren't talking about Efren. I too like your view where we don't talk about aptitude, but instead results. Yes so and so - could have been this or that, if only they had done such and such. Eventually, all the talk fades and what's left are the recorded results...

It really makes SVB's reign as top U.S. player stand out in comparison. His run has been both impressive and sad. He really just didn't have a rival. How different would U.S. pool have been IF SVB had had an average break all these years? Would Corey Deuel have held him back longer? Would...

I know Sigel retired young but Nick is actually 5 years older. I agree with your view that players should be judged based on their performance in the major disciplines of the time. Which is why a deeper dive into their actual career accomplishments may be in order. During Sigel's prime, Varner...

Might as well post this link:

I know this has been talked about quite a bit over the years. But oh well -- they're two of the greatest ever to do it, so what's it hurt to have one more discussion?

Sigel vs Varner...Who was better? I would like nothing more than to really know what their head-to-head record was. There's no surprise that Sigel was the better of the two at 14.1, since he grew up right in the heart of 14.1 country. While Varner was a more Midwestern boy who I imagine played...

Okay on Sigel vs Varner... I would like nothing more than to really know what their head-to-head record was. There's no surprise that Sigel was the better of the two at 14.1, since he grew up right in the heart of 14.1 country. While Varner was a more Midwestern boy who I imagine played his...

I really think this is getting to be way more the exception than the rule. It used to be much more of a problem, but I think it's clearly flipped and the better players give up on attending the local handicapped tourneys more so than in the past. Everybody is rated so much more accurately now...

I actually think a lot a amateur players know almost exactly how it feels. I contend that a player can only get so nervous. This maximum level of nervousness is experienced quite often by amateurs in larger team events. I've seen guys literally shaking while trying to runout a rack to win a...

There's nothing wrong with getting 2nd place out of 30 players. Tourneys don't just pay out 1 spot. Most tourneys are double elimination so what's the excuse for losing to all the other players? I haven't seen as many complaints in these types of situations from the lower skilled players who...

I was giving the benefit of the doubt to all the bangers that "could be pros if they r-e-a-l-l-y wanted to." But if you're going to be a stickler, the actual number of players that don't care is 98.7.

It's seems there's not a disconnect between professional pool in Europe or somewhere like the Philippines and the amateur ranks. It's just all on one continuous spectrum. In the U.S., you probably have something like 90 plus percent of the amateur players that have zero aspirations of becoming...

Do you see what I do with top players in your area? They practice at home on 9 foot tables and then compete on bar tables?

Also to piggyback on what the brilliant BasementDweller said. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss what nearly all top tier players say and think about bar tables. They have all been dismissive of them. I think it was data such as what was presented here, that pushed CSI years ago to have "US...