The Greatest Rivalry in Pool

TATE · May 20, 2020

I began thinking about it. It has to be Earl and Efren. It has everything, two of the most talented players in history peaking at similar times. American pool versus the Filipino invasion. A lovable, humble genius with immense finesse versus a scrappy power player with unlimited fire power. They even met head on with one of the greatest matches in history. This is our McEnroe versus Bjorg and Jack versus Arnie.

Earl and Efren, in my book, the greatest rivalry in pool.

What's your greatest rivalry in pool?

slach · May 20, 2020

In terms of dislike I'd put Harriman/Schmidt up near the top of that list.

haystj · May 20, 2020

The Earl vs. Efren is way up there,,,,,, but,,,,,,,

That battle ready Psycho Bunny attire that Lou wears ,, for me,,, takes the Lou Figueroa vs John Barton rivalry to the top of the list.

TATE · May 20, 2020

haystj said:
The Earl vs. Efren is way up there,,,,,, but,,,,,,,

That battle ready Psycho Bunny attire that Lou wears ,, for me,,, takes the Lou Figueroa vs John Barton rivalry to the top of the list.

Thank you for bringing that up. Just when I ran out of Tylenol too LOL.

In terms of AZ Billiards, the other great one was Dippy versus Scott Frost (backed by Billy Incardone). It was the sleaziest of the sleaze, real Sin City stuff.

kaznj · May 20, 2020

One day Earl was going on about how lucky his opponents are. I asked to name one player who gave him the most trouble without luck. He said. Efren.

Jimmy_Betmore · May 20, 2020

Sigel vs Varner comes to mind only because I remember hearing Varner mention it a few times.

sjm · May 20, 2020

Jimmy_Betmore said:
Sigel vs Varner comes to mind only because I remember hearing Varner mention it a few times.

That's the rivalry that came to mind for me, too. Sigel and Varner were two guys whose primes coincided, and who spent about a dozen years taking turns a at capturing the game's biggest titles. Not only were they great rivals in the late days of the straight pool era, but they went on to be great rivals in the nine ball era, in which each continued to be a dominant player.

Earl and Efren is certainly in the conversation of greatest ever rivalry, and their Color of Money match certainly added to the legend, but I think Sigel and Varner had the better rivalry, and met in more big spots than Earl and Efren.

pt109 · May 20, 2020

Greenleaf and Mosconi
In an interview, Willie said “I will only say this...when I beat Ralph, they would say it was because he was drinking....but every time he beat me, he was drinking too.”

hang-the-9 · May 20, 2020

Jimmy_Betmore said:
Sigel vs Varner comes to mind only because I remember hearing Varner mention it a few times.

Sigel and Earl are up there also for me, those 2 were feared in the finals I think equally.

If there is a modern version of this I think SVB and Shaw would be it, both guys that are seen as the top guns in US and Europe (I guess Filler may be the guy now but a bit too new for that).

mattb · May 20, 2020

TATE said:
I began thinking about it. It has to be Earl and Efren. It has everything, two of the most talented players in history peaking at similar times. American pool versus the Filipino invasion. A lovable, humble genius with immense finesse versus a scrappy power player with unlimited fire power. They even met head on with one of the greatest matches in history. This is our McEnroe versus Bjorg and Jack versus Arnie.

Earl and Efren, in my book, the greatest rivalry in pool.

What's your greatest rivalry in pool?

I was setting up a tournament years and years ago in Vegas. Was working on setting up the practice room tables when Earl walked in and sat down waiting for us to finish. I had to listen to him for an hour completely and totally disrespect Efren. I would not have talked to a flea bit mutt of a dog the way he spoke of Efren. It was right then and there that I lost any and all respect for Earl.

After that day I loved to watch Efren outclass Earl in every way. I would say that was the biggest rivalry in my lifetime.

pwd72s · May 20, 2020

Thought about Shane/Alex...but the others mentioned were better.

TATE · May 20, 2020

sjm said:
That's the rivalry that came to mind for me, too. Sigel and Varner were two guys whose primes coincided, and who spent about a dozen years taking turns a at capturing the game's biggest titles. Not only were they great rivals in the late days of the straight pool era, but they went on to be great rivals in the nine ball era, in which each continued to be a dominant player.

Earl and Efren is certainly in the conversation of greatest ever rivalry, and their Color of Money match certainly added to the legend, but I think Sigel and Varner had the better rivalry, and met in more big spots than Earl and Efren.

I have to look up some of those matches. I watched The Color of Money Match. It was one of the few matches that I can say they both won. Their Accu-Stat ratings must have been through the roof.

TATE · May 20, 2020

Right now, USA versus Europe in the Mosconi cup is a growing rivalry. Our comeback the last couple of years and the addition of Filler has greatly helped intensify my interest. Probably needs more time to develop. I actually can't wait to see more of Filler even though I wanted to slap his smirky face at the time LOL. Without Shane and Filler, it would not be the same show.

sjm · May 20, 2020

TATE said:
Right now, USA versus Europe in the Mosconi cup is a growing rivalry.

Agreed that this is the best rivalry today. I don't think that a truly heated rivalry exists between two players today.

pt109 · May 20, 2020

Justin Bergman and Johnny Morra...since they were teenagers, Justin has the edge on
him ....and Johnny doesn’t like it.

WildWing · May 20, 2020

I'll throw out a different one. Mizerak vs Sigel.

Mizerak won four US opens, then Sigel came along, and won. Mizerak was the Miller Lite Beer man, made a lot of money on that. Pissed the hell out of Sigel. Mike thought he was the better player, and didn't get the attention.

Mike won something like 100 tournaments. Steve won something like a dozen or so.

The disliked each other. That's what rivalries are about, right?

All the best,
WW

PoolBum · May 20, 2020

hang-the-9 said:
Sigel and Earl are up there also for me, those 2 were feared in the finals I think equally.

If there is a modern version of this I think SVB and Shaw would be it, both guys that are seen as the top guns in US and Europe (I guess Filler may be the guy now but a bit too new for that).

SVB vs. Dennis comes to mind as well.

Johnny Rosato · May 20, 2020

Efren and Earl. Although as a kid I enjoyed Willie and Fatty.

JusticeNJ · May 20, 2020

It's also Efren / Earl for me. The Color of Money is really some of the greatest sports I've seen. It's got everything - incredible play, two very different styles, a monster comeback, character traits on full display, etc. It reminds of the Federer / Nadal 2008 Wimbledon final (another absolutely fantastic watch if you've got 5 hours (!) to spare).

You couldn't write a better story than the Color of Money.

TATE · May 20, 2020

pt109 said:
Greenleaf and Mosconi
In an interview, Willie said “I will only say this...when I beat Ralph, they would say it was because he was drinking....but every time he beat me, he was drinking too.”

This is a great read from the Golden Age of billiards: Greenleaf versus Brunswick. We missed some good action.

https://www.billiardsdigest.com/new_untold_stories/UntoldStories_GREENLEAF.pdf

The Greatest Rivalry in Pool

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