Top pool moments in my lifetime

Off the top of my head, my top three are:

Sigel wins his first World Championship (1980)
Two great stories came together at the 1980 World 14.1 Championship at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. The Cinderella run of 59-year old Joe Balsis was breathtaking, and, despite Joe’s undeniable pedigree, nobody saw it coming. Joe beat champion after champion to reach the final against a 26 year old of whom big things were expected named Mike Sigel. The match was, in every sense, the old guard against the new, and Sigel’s win may have represented the passing of the torch to the next generation.

Sixteen Year Old Becomes World Pool Champion (2005)
Wu, known as Wu Chia-Ching back then, won the World 9-balll Championship at age 16, which speaks for itself and must be on anyone’s short list of pool’s greatest moments. I remember watching it live on stream in 2005 and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I don’t have much to add what has already been written in this thread, so I’ll leave it there.

Buddy Hall wins the US Open 9-ball at Age 53 (1998)
The pedigree of this great champion was beyond doubt, but his win over a great field at the 1998 US Open 9-ball caught this fan off-guard. It was vintage Buddy Hall all the way, a running “how to play pool” demonstration from beginning to end. It’s a testament to how far being the greatest pattern player of all time can take one. Buddy’s arguably unsurpassed level of technical excellence allowed him to beat the best even well into his 50s.

Lebron and the fall of sports betting on pool.

i would say earl winning the worlds in 2002 was a spectacular moment, those matchroom WC:s were tense and the british crowd wasn't always on earl's side so to speak. the 2007 final in manila was similar, with virtually everyone attending (and it was really crowded) rooting against peach. these kind of atmospheres makes for great, tense matches. bring the championship back to manila!

also worth mentioning is melling's 8-ball out against mika 2017

skogstokig said:

i would say earl winning the worlds in 2002 was a spectacular moment

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Yes, I definitely considered that one. The Strickland vs Bustamante final was one for the ages, a 17-15 nailbiter with simply awesome play.

I've only been following pro pool since ~2014, so my "got to watch it unfold live" experience is limited.

That said, the entire sequence at the 2019 Mosconi Cup where Filler nearly fluked in the 9, only to set up an easy game, match, and Cup-winning 3-9 combo for Sky was incredible.

I was lucky enough to be in attendance and the roller coaster of emotions the arena went through as everyone thought the 9 was about to be fluked in to realizing USA was a decent draw stroke away from winning the whole thing for the second straight year was crazy.

I've been to college football and NFL games with 100,000+ in attendance that were won on last second field goals or miracle plays, and I swear the energy in that room at the Mandalay Bay with just a couple thousand people in the stands rivaled them once Sky got that combo lined up.

There was a lot of tension throughout the event, with Filler obviously being the talk of the Cup. I haven't seen many pros play in person, but for the most part they look human--just unbelievably good compared to the average Joe, of course. But Filler played so freakishly good that he sort of sucked the energy out of the room for the American crowd when he got to the table. If he had a clean shot on the object ball, there was a palpable sense of inevitability. Even Shaw's immense firepower didn't create that level of dread in the American fans.

So to see him get rattled in that final rack and ultimately lose to Sky was like the lifting of an oppressive cloud off the arena. It truly felt like Europe would cruise to a win when the matchups were unveiled that morning, as Filler had a chance to play twice, first vs Sky and again as the captain's pick. Billy's win over Shaw was also instrumental and might be the most underrated MC individual match win in quite some time.

All that said, I came away with immense respect for Filler's game, and he's only getting better. In a field of unbelievably good players he stood out like no one has at the MC in many years, IMO.

Good stuff, thanks

Efren vs Earl race to 120 is one that comes to mind.

I go back a long ways in Pool, so I've seen a lot. One that will always stand out for me was when Warren "The Monk" Costanzo played Mike Sigel in the finals of the World Pro-Am in Vegas at the Tropicana in 1979. There were something like 600 players in this event (I was one of them) and we played super short matches (two out of three games, two out of three sets) on bar tables until the final match, which was now a Race to Eleven on a 9' Table.

No one gave Monk a chance against the greatest young player in the game. But Monk was a warrior and he held on and took the match to 9-10 down. Sigel was running out for the win when he somehow went too far and got corner hooked on the nine by the point of the side pocket (the cue ball was hanging in the jaws). He jacked up, masse'd the cue ball and made a great safety, hitting the edge of the nine ball and sending the cue ball up table. Monk was left with a long difficult cut shot on the nine. The place was packed and noisy, but as he got down on the ball it went dead silent in the room. Monk was down on the shot for maybe five seconds before he stood back up and smiled. He wiped his brow and said, "I'm a little nervous," and everyone broke out laughing. They were playing for $27,500 first prize, huge money back then. With only 10K for second and there was no deal since Mike was such a huge favorite. The line had been Monk wouldn't seven or even six by some gamblers.

Monk finally got back down and calmly fired that shot in. It was tied hill-hill with Monk breaking. He slammed the rack and the nine ball flew straight in the corner. Monk had beaten the mighty Sigel, and he stood there in amazement at what he had just done for a couple of seconds and then he fainted, falling right to the floor!

Then there was Tommy Kennedy, a career shortstop (but a good one) making a run through a who's who of champions to win the U.S. Open. He left the pool world stunned by his accomplishment. Tommy went on to dominate the Florida pool scene for the next two decades but never won another major tourney again.

A shout out to my friend Jim Rempe who had the unenviable task of playing Efren in the finals of the Resorts World Open back in the mid 80's. The prize money was stacked with 35K to the winner and only 13K for second place. A deal was in the offing for sure is what we all thought, but no, Jimmy was having none of it. After the match he said that every time he makes a deal he loses, so this time he was going to play for it. His attitude may have both surprised and affected Efren, who never really got going and Jimmy won the title in a landslide victory!

There's so many that stand out for me. The last one for now was about a gambling scam that a hustler named Briar brought to Johnston City every year. He would rack 21 balls on the table (a regular rack of fifteen and add a back row of six more balls). The object was to break and then make all the balls in one corner pocket, like playing the One Pocket ghost. Briar would assign each player a number to shoot at, with a real good player shooting at 150 or maybe 160. You would then shake a pill bottle with peas numbered one to twenty one and shake out three peas. Whatever the three peas added up to was deducted from your number. So if you rolled a eight, ten and fifteen, that would add up to 33 and you would deduct that from 150, if that was your number.

Now you had to run 117 points of balls in your pocket to win the game. Naturally Briar put all the low number balls on the corner of the rack you were breaking for. So you might need to run fifteen or sixteen balls to win. The gimmick was that if you did it he would pay you 10-1 on your bet. So if you bet $100, you would win $1,000. Year after year Briar brought that prop game to Johnston City and no one ever won, even once! That is, until Harold Worst took on the Briar and had Weenie Beenie coaching him. You have to understand how hard it was to run balls like this because the table was so crowded. Balls got all tied up and impossible to make. Harold was burdened with the number 180, higher than anyone else, higher even then Ronnie Allen, Eddie Taylor or Ed Kelly.

He bet 100 and lost. He bet another 100 and lost again. Harold looked determined to beat this total hustle game. On the third try he pulled some big numbers out of the pill bottle but still needed over 100 points to win. This time he did it! Briar paid him off $1,000. On the next game he needed even more points (over 120) and he did it again, with some excellent coaching by Beenie. Briar paid him but told him now he had to go to 200! Beenie said quit but Harold wanted more. He lost the next game, but ponied up his 100 to play another. He needed some ungodly number of balls to win the next game, but somehow he picked them off with the most amazing display of shotmaking and cue ball control I had ever seen, before or since! On shot after shot he had to break balls out and then have a shot afterwards. He combo'd, he kicked and he cut balls in! He needed to make just about every ball to win, maybe nineteen of them.

Somehow, some way, Harold and Beenie prevailed again. The packed crowd in the back room went crazy. A disgusted Briar paid them off and packed up his game and never came back to Johnston City after that. Beenie and Harold had busted the proposition game once and for all!

Those are four of my favorites.

I was there too Jay...played in the tournament, and watched Monk beat Sigel. Do you remember, afterwards Bucktooth came up to Monk with a briefcase w/$50K trying to get him to gamble, giving Bucktooth the nuts. Warren was smart and dodged Bucktooth's loud ramblings!

Scott Lee
2019 PBIA Instructor of the Year
Director, SPF National Pool School Tour

jay helfert said:

I go back a long ways in Pool, so I've seen a lot. One that will always stand out for me was when Warren "The Monk" Costanzo played Mike Sigel in the finals of the World Pro-Am in Vegas at the Tropicana in 1979. There were something like 600 players in this event (I was one of them) and we played super short matches (two out of three games, two out of three sets) on bar tables until the final match, which was now a Race to Eleven on a 9' Table.

No one gave Monk a chance against the greatest young player in the game. But Monk was a warrior and he held on and took the match to 9-10 down. Sigel was running out for the win when he somehow went too far and got corner hooked on the nine by the point of the side pocket (the cue ball was hanging in the jaws). He jacked up, masse'd the cue ball and made a great safety, hitting the edge of the nine ball and sending the cue ball up table. Monk was left with a long difficult cut shot on the nine. The place was packed and noisy, but as he got down on the ball it went dead silent in the room. Monk was down on the shot for maybe five seconds before he stood back up and smiled. He wiped his brow and said, "I'm a little nervous," and everyone broke out laughing. They were playing for $27,500 first prize, huge money back then. With only 10K for second and there was no deal since Mike was such a huge favorite. The line had been Monk wouldn't seven or even six by some gamblers.

Monk finally got back down and calmly fired that shot in. It was tied hill-hill with Monk breaking. He slammed the rack and the nine ball flew straight in the corner. Monk had beaten the mighty Sigel, and he stood there in amazement at what he had just done for a couple of seconds and then he fainted, falling right to the floor! .

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Thanks Tinman for an interesting topic.
Thanks Jay for the Johnston City story - too bad the Johnston City era predated having much quality video available.

Filler being born.

Jason

jasonlaus said:

Filler being born.

Jason

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after watching the chohan match again i'm beginning to think he was assembled in a german robot factory

EARL d MIZERAK for his first tourney

EFREN spanks SIGEL King of the Hill

LAST 2 MOSCONI CUPS for USA ('18,'19)

ALACAIDE d KAZAKIS 2019 WPM (my fav match - great sportsmanship too)

u12armresl said:

Lebron and the fall of sports betting on pool.

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Fake news

I guess if people hear the same thing enough times they really begin to think it might be the truth

Here is the betting odds from the same event at the same casino three years after Mike L vs Buddy H and they are still taking bets on pool then.




The reason they don't take bets on pool is simple, not enough public interest and that ='s not enough action and money to make.

Sports wagering over the years has 100's of proven cases of match & game fixing ref's being bought off,players shaving points, boxing is fixed,drugged horses & shady jockey's in horse racing.

They still take bets on every single one of those sports because of the money they make lol.

Thank all of you for sharing your stories. It is much appreciated!

skogstokig said:

also worth mentioning is melling's 8-ball out against mika 2017

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That has to be my favourite rack of pool that I've ever seen.
Here it is for anyone that hasn't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKD7EdzMjAM

Schmidt's 626 was bigger for me than anything else in my lifetime. I don't get the hate.

Top Pool Moments In My Lifetime:

1. Attending my first men's pro tournament. 1992 Pro Billiards Tour - Bicycle Club Casino

2. Attending my first women's pro tournament. 1993 WPBA Classic Tour - Bicycle Club Casino

3. Going to Hard Times Billiards in the late 80's, early 90's and enjoying watching numerous great players (lots of great moments).

4. Seeing all the players, matches and merchandise at my first trip to BCA Vegas back in 2013.

5. Attending my first US Open 9 ball in Vegas in 2019.

Mick said:

That has to be my favourite rack of pool that I've ever seen.
Here it is for anyone that hasn't seen it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKD7EdzMjAM

Schmidt's 626 was bigger for me than anything else in my lifetime. I don't get the hate.

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Thats because none of us have seen JS 626

jay helfert said:

Sigel was running out for the win when he somehow went too far and got corner hooked on the nine by the point of the side pocket (the cue ball was hanging in the jaws). He jacked up, masse'd the cue ball and made a great safety, hitting the edge of the nine ball and sending the cue ball up table. Monk was left with a long difficult cut shot on the nine. The place was packed and noisy, but as he got down on the ball it went dead silent in the room. Monk was down on the shot for maybe five seconds before he stood back up and smiled. He wiped his brow and said, "I'm a little nervous," and everyone broke out laughing.

Monk finally got back down and calmly fired that shot in. It was tied hill-hill with Monk breaking. He slammed the rack and the nine ball flew straight in the corner. Monk had beaten the mighty Sigel, and he stood there in amazement at what he had just done for a couple of seconds and then he fainted, falling right to the floor!

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Here is a video of the shots Jay is referring to. Enjoy guys!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1letfK5Iqxdg2bkUk0mnmMDxcFegRzSlR