Any jean balukas matches against men or even complete matches in the womens tour?

fjk

AzB Silver Member
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Jean Balukas

I watched her play several matches in the men's division in the early 80s. She gave most of the biggest names an L at one time or another. I watched her beat Keith McCready at the BC open ($25K tournament...he was the defending champion). I believe she beat him 11-5. On any given day, she would be a threat to beat ANYONE.
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
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Agreed here. Han Yu vs Siming Chen is a coin toss, but every other woman in the world has to play catch up with these two, who seem to trade the number 1 world ranking back and forth. Jean Balukas broke as well as the men at nine ball, but neither Siming Chen nor Han Yu have big breaks, so I just can't see them beating the elite men very often at nine ball the way Jean could.

I don't disagree here. This goes back to the discussion of "are players from 1986 as good as players of today." The challenge is that Jean's day was on slower equipment. Today, Siming doesn't need to break big. So it's tough to compare. I *feel* that prime on prime on slow equipment, Jean beats them all. But prime on prime, on today's equipment with the template rack, all of her advantages get thrown away.

I only saw Jean a few times playing on TV. She was head and shoulders above any other female.
 

jasonlaus

Rep for Smorg
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Agreed here. Han Yu vs Siming Chen is a coin toss, but every other woman in the world has to play catch up with these two, who seem to trade the number 1 world ranking back and forth. Jean Balukas broke as well as the men at nine ball, but neither Siming Chen nor Han Yu have big breaks, so I just can't see them beating the elite men very often at nine ball the way Jean could.

Corey proved you dont need a big break, and you dont get to nearly 800 FR with a weak break.

Just sayin:thumbup:
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
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I don't know of any such recordings. .

I don't want to get anyone's hopes up (even though mine are way up), but there might be a match out there. The man who is everything for videotaped matches needs to check in his vault.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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I don't want to get anyone's hopes up (even though mine are way up), but there might be a match out there. The man who is everything for videotaped matches needs to check in his vault.

1987 Classic Cup! The full length match with Ewa. I have it.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
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Corey proved you dont need a big break, and you dont get to nearly 800 FR with a weak break.

Just sayin:thumbup:

Corey's break is still a little bit above average by men's standards. Both Han Yu and Siming Chen have very weak breaks by men's standards. They are, no doubt, extremely elite players who have raised the bar for women, but I just don't think they can fade the breaking advantage of the most elite men no matter how strong their after the break skills.

Jean Balukas, because her break was elite even by men's standards, was able to beat more than a few men who later became BCA Hall of Famers.
 

Eric.

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Corey's break is still a little bit above average by men's standards. Both Han Yu and Siming Chen have very weak breaks by men's standards. They are, no doubt, extremely elite players who have raised the bar for women, but I just don't think they can fade the breaking advantage of the most elite men no matter how strong their after the break skills.

Jean Balukas, because her break was elite even by men's standards, was able to beat more than a few men who later became BCA Hall of Famers.

Jean definitely had that big break. She hit the pop and squat break kinda like Shane. Maybe not the same velocity but not off by much. I've played her a couple times and watched her game when HOF Billiards had their weekly tourney (20 yrs ago?). Jean and Gerda would play and her brother would run it.


Eric
 

DynoDan

AzB Silver Member
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One the one hand, having a ‘pool hustler’ father was an obvious ‘leg up’ to being a fierce competitor. But, it likely also had something to do with her ability to maintain ‘decorum’ (apple-tree-etc,). I won’t even go into the stresses associated with evolving feminine maturity, and the ‘mantle/burden of great accomplishment’. She was the most aggressive (masculine?) female 14.1 player ‘I’ ever saw. What was that Twighlight Zone pool episode punchline? “There is more to life than pool”!
 
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The ProRailbird

AzB Silver Member
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Agreed here. Han Yu vs Siming Chen is a coin toss, but every other woman in the world has to play catch up with these two, who seem to trade the number 1 world ranking back and forth. Jean Balukas broke as well as the men at nine ball, but neither Siming Chen nor Han Yu have big breaks, so I just can't see them beating the elite men very often at nine ball the way Jean could.

Chinese culture might have more to do with it than their break. I don't think they'll be bringing any shame to the elite Chinese men any time soon.

When they play doubles with the men, they don't even shoot without asking permission first.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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Corey's break is still a little bit above average by men's standards. Both Han Yu and Siming Chen have very weak breaks by men's standards. They are, no doubt, extremely elite players who have raised the bar for women, but I just don't think they can fade the breaking advantage of the most elite men no matter how strong their after the break skills.

Jean Balukas, because her break was elite even by men's standards, was able to beat more than a few men who later became BCA Hall of Famers.

Initially Jean used a complete "arm" break that was not that effective. She was still winning tournaments because she was a much better player than anyone else. Then she met David Howard at the BCA Expo and he taught her how to throw her whole body (torso and legs) into the break shot (and Jean was powerfully built). She never lost another tournament after that one hour lesson from David.

How do I know? I was right there watching the whole thing. I encouraged David to help/teach Jean how to break in 9-Ball. Remember she was a Straight Pool player and learned the pitty-pat break in that game.
 

Nostroke

AzB Silver Member
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Jean definitely had that big break. She hit the pop and squat break kinda like Shane. Maybe not the same velocity but not off by much. I've played her a couple times and watched her game when HOF Billiards had their weekly tourney (20 yrs ago?). Jean and Gerda would play and her brother would run it.


Eric

I could be wrong but i think SVB is usually measured around 23 MPH the same speed as GYK. Perhaps Shane just knows how to get the ball in the air as it smacks the one, perhaps some other secret mojo, idk but there are quite a few players who hit it harder but not near as effective. Im sure Jean could hit it 23 mph.
 

Eric.

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I could be wrong but i think SVB is usually measured around 23 MPH the same speed as GYK. Perhaps Shane just knows how to get the ball in the air as it smacks the one, perhaps some other secret mojo, idk but there are quite a few players who hit it harder but not near as effective. Im sure Jean could hit it 23 mph.

Hard for me to say since the Break Speed app wasn't invented yet. Purely subjective, but it seems like Shane drives the 1 ball a lil further/3 rails around, in the 9 ball break.


Eric
 
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