Discussions about the "Greatest of All Time" (GOAT) Pool Players is a popular topic on AZB and Facebook, so I thought it would be fun and interesting to semi-scientifically identify a consensus opinion with input from as many AZB users as possible.
After two rounds of voting (see more info below), here are the final results:
Top 10 GOAT (in the modern era):
Rank - Name - Score
1 - Efren Reyes - 252
2 - Earl Strickland - 126
3 - Shane Van Boening - 119
4 - Alex Pagulayan - 118
5 - Nick Varner - 104
6 - Mike Sigel - 103
7 - Buddy Hall - 56
8 - Francisco Bustamante - 53
9 - Johnny Archer - 52
10 - Dennis Orcollo - 51
People who voted in the second round (total number: 74): 9 Ball Fan, 9andout, AtLarge, atlas333, beetle, Bic D, big_worm, Bob Jewett, bobprobst, Cameron Smith, CGM, charlietango7, Chili Palmer, Cornerman, CreeDo, couldnthinkof01, deanoc, Dimeball, dontscratch, dr_dave, eddieindetroit, evergruven, flyvirginiaguy, follownoone, Get_A_Grip, gordml, Grilled Cheese, harleydon1950, highkarate, icucybe, jay helfert, JazzyJeff87, K2Kraze, kkdanamatt, Luxury, maha, Maniac, Marc, Marcopolo, mark187, markjames, mattb, MattPoland, MississaugaFats, monsterdog, noMoreSchon, oldschool1478, parvus1202, Pete, phj_tc, PoolBum, Poolmanis, pt109, RailBanger, ricardo, Rimfirejunkie, Runnintable, Saint1500, SamShaddey, Scratch85, Sealegs50, SFC9ball, sjharr, sjm, skogstokig, Snooker Theory, Sunchaser, Taxi, Tennesseejoe, Tin Man, Tooler, TwinkleToes, TX Poolnut, West Point 1987.
For the first round of voting (through 6/15/209), I first did some research to come up with an initial Top 25 with grouped rating scores. This ranking was revised by votes from AZB users in the first round of voting. Not everybody agreed with my initial ranking and scores, but that's what the first-round voting was for. I kept a running total of scores for each player; and on 6/16/2019, we started a second round of voting to refine the final Top 10.
A vote consisted of 5 points that you could use however you wished. Here are some examples of how you could have voted:
Reyes 5 (indicating Efren should keep the top spot on the list)
Strickland 3, Rempe 2 (indicating Earl and Jim should both be higher on the list)
Hall 1, Varner 1, Sigel 1, Archer 1, Orcollo 1 (indicating all of these players should be just a little higher on the list)
You only got to vote once in each of two rounds of voting. I kept a list of voters to prevent multiple votes. All votes had to be public as posts in this thread, and you were not allowed to change your vote. The first round of voting (see below), which trimmed the list down from 25 to 10, ended on 6/15/2019, and the second round of voting ended at midnight (MDT) on 6/30/2019.
Initial Ranking with First-Round Voting Scores (first-round voting ended 6/15/2019)
Rank - Name - Score
1 - Efren Reyes - 166
2 - Shane Van Boening - 75
3 - Wu Chia-ching - 40
4 - Earl Strickland - 73
5 - Mike Sigel - 63
6 - Nick Varner - 73
7 - Buddy Hall - 42
8 - Johnny Archer - 43
9 - Mika Immonen - 35
10 - Jim Rempe - 35
11 - Steve Miserzak - 37
12 - Allen Hopkins - 36
13 - Alex Pagulayan - 66
14 - Dennis Orcollo - 44
15 - Niels Feijen - 35
16 - Darren Appleton - 39
17 - Francisco Bustamante - 42
18 - Jayson Shaw - 30
19 - Josh Filler - 30
20 - Ralph Souquet - 32
21 - Albin Ouschan - 30
22 - Pin Yi Ko - 30
23 - Thorsten Hohmann - 27
24 - Jose Parica - 26
25 - Carlo Biado - 25
Note that I did not include players from the "straight pool era." For example, arguments can be made that Mosconi, Greenleaf, Lassiter, Hoppe, Cranfield, Crane, Worst, DeOro, Lindrum, Caras (and others) deserved to be on the list, but I purposely excluded them since it is too difficult (or impossible) for most people to compare them to players in the modern "9-ball era" (since about 1970, or the last 50 years). I at least gave them honorable mention here. For those who still object to this, wherever you see "GOAT" in this thread, read it instead as "GITME" (Greatest In The Modern Era).
There are also many great female players who were not considered in this list. They probably deserve a separate GOAT list that would include players such as Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Siming Chen, Jean Balukas, Ruth McGinnis, Ewa Mataya Lawrence, Lori Jon Jones, Robin Dodson, Jeanette Lee, Ga Young Kim, Gerda Hofstatter, Kelly Fisher, Jasmin Ouschan, Vivian Villarreal, Pan Xiaoting, etc. These players are certainly among the GOAT female players, but not the GOAT of all players.
People who voted in the first round (total number: 59): 9 Ball Fan, AtLarge, atlas333, beetle, Bic D, Bob Jewett, CGM, Chili Palmer, Cornerman, Creedo, CrownCityCorey, deanoc, Dimeball, dontscratch, dr_dave, evergruven, follownoone, Get_A_Grip, gordml, highkarate, icucybe, JazzyJeff87, JC, jeephawk, Johnny Rosato, justadub, kkdanamatt, LeftyIke, Luxury, Magyar19, Maniac, Marc, mark187, markjames, mattb, MattPoland, megatron69, Mich, Mick, monsterdog, noMoreSchon, oldschool1478, Pete, PoloBob, PoolBum, Poolmanis, ricardo, Rico, Rimfirejunkie, SamShaddey, Scratch85, Sealegs50, sjm, Snooker Theory, spliced, Tennesseejoe, Tin Man, Tooler, TX Poolnut.
After two rounds of voting (see more info below), here are the final results:
Top 10 GOAT (in the modern era):
Rank - Name - Score
1 - Efren Reyes - 252
2 - Earl Strickland - 126
3 - Shane Van Boening - 119
4 - Alex Pagulayan - 118
5 - Nick Varner - 104
6 - Mike Sigel - 103
7 - Buddy Hall - 56
8 - Francisco Bustamante - 53
9 - Johnny Archer - 52
10 - Dennis Orcollo - 51
People who voted in the second round (total number: 74): 9 Ball Fan, 9andout, AtLarge, atlas333, beetle, Bic D, big_worm, Bob Jewett, bobprobst, Cameron Smith, CGM, charlietango7, Chili Palmer, Cornerman, CreeDo, couldnthinkof01, deanoc, Dimeball, dontscratch, dr_dave, eddieindetroit, evergruven, flyvirginiaguy, follownoone, Get_A_Grip, gordml, Grilled Cheese, harleydon1950, highkarate, icucybe, jay helfert, JazzyJeff87, K2Kraze, kkdanamatt, Luxury, maha, Maniac, Marc, Marcopolo, mark187, markjames, mattb, MattPoland, MississaugaFats, monsterdog, noMoreSchon, oldschool1478, parvus1202, Pete, phj_tc, PoolBum, Poolmanis, pt109, RailBanger, ricardo, Rimfirejunkie, Runnintable, Saint1500, SamShaddey, Scratch85, Sealegs50, SFC9ball, sjharr, sjm, skogstokig, Snooker Theory, Sunchaser, Taxi, Tennesseejoe, Tin Man, Tooler, TwinkleToes, TX Poolnut, West Point 1987.
For the first round of voting (through 6/15/209), I first did some research to come up with an initial Top 25 with grouped rating scores. This ranking was revised by votes from AZB users in the first round of voting. Not everybody agreed with my initial ranking and scores, but that's what the first-round voting was for. I kept a running total of scores for each player; and on 6/16/2019, we started a second round of voting to refine the final Top 10.
A vote consisted of 5 points that you could use however you wished. Here are some examples of how you could have voted:
Reyes 5 (indicating Efren should keep the top spot on the list)
Strickland 3, Rempe 2 (indicating Earl and Jim should both be higher on the list)
Hall 1, Varner 1, Sigel 1, Archer 1, Orcollo 1 (indicating all of these players should be just a little higher on the list)
You only got to vote once in each of two rounds of voting. I kept a list of voters to prevent multiple votes. All votes had to be public as posts in this thread, and you were not allowed to change your vote. The first round of voting (see below), which trimmed the list down from 25 to 10, ended on 6/15/2019, and the second round of voting ended at midnight (MDT) on 6/30/2019.
Initial Ranking with First-Round Voting Scores (first-round voting ended 6/15/2019)
Rank - Name - Score
1 - Efren Reyes - 166
2 - Shane Van Boening - 75
3 - Wu Chia-ching - 40
4 - Earl Strickland - 73
5 - Mike Sigel - 63
6 - Nick Varner - 73
7 - Buddy Hall - 42
8 - Johnny Archer - 43
9 - Mika Immonen - 35
10 - Jim Rempe - 35
11 - Steve Miserzak - 37
12 - Allen Hopkins - 36
13 - Alex Pagulayan - 66
14 - Dennis Orcollo - 44
15 - Niels Feijen - 35
16 - Darren Appleton - 39
17 - Francisco Bustamante - 42
18 - Jayson Shaw - 30
19 - Josh Filler - 30
20 - Ralph Souquet - 32
21 - Albin Ouschan - 30
22 - Pin Yi Ko - 30
23 - Thorsten Hohmann - 27
24 - Jose Parica - 26
25 - Carlo Biado - 25
Note that I did not include players from the "straight pool era." For example, arguments can be made that Mosconi, Greenleaf, Lassiter, Hoppe, Cranfield, Crane, Worst, DeOro, Lindrum, Caras (and others) deserved to be on the list, but I purposely excluded them since it is too difficult (or impossible) for most people to compare them to players in the modern "9-ball era" (since about 1970, or the last 50 years). I at least gave them honorable mention here. For those who still object to this, wherever you see "GOAT" in this thread, read it instead as "GITME" (Greatest In The Modern Era).
There are also many great female players who were not considered in this list. They probably deserve a separate GOAT list that would include players such as Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Siming Chen, Jean Balukas, Ruth McGinnis, Ewa Mataya Lawrence, Lori Jon Jones, Robin Dodson, Jeanette Lee, Ga Young Kim, Gerda Hofstatter, Kelly Fisher, Jasmin Ouschan, Vivian Villarreal, Pan Xiaoting, etc. These players are certainly among the GOAT female players, but not the GOAT of all players.
People who voted in the first round (total number: 59): 9 Ball Fan, AtLarge, atlas333, beetle, Bic D, Bob Jewett, CGM, Chili Palmer, Cornerman, Creedo, CrownCityCorey, deanoc, Dimeball, dontscratch, dr_dave, evergruven, follownoone, Get_A_Grip, gordml, highkarate, icucybe, JazzyJeff87, JC, jeephawk, Johnny Rosato, justadub, kkdanamatt, LeftyIke, Luxury, Magyar19, Maniac, Marc, mark187, markjames, mattb, MattPoland, megatron69, Mich, Mick, monsterdog, noMoreSchon, oldschool1478, Pete, PoloBob, PoolBum, Poolmanis, ricardo, Rico, Rimfirejunkie, SamShaddey, Scratch85, Sealegs50, sjm, Snooker Theory, spliced, Tennesseejoe, Tin Man, Tooler, TX Poolnut.
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