2022 World Pool Masters (May 5-8)
- Thread starter BeiberLvr
- Start date
Great event with a lot of nice stories. Filler's greatness, the emergence of Lo Ho Sum, Orcullo's return, a Ko vs Ko matchup.
As noted on the stream, Filler has now won every Matchroom title available to date. Mosconi and MVP, World Pool Championship, World Pool Masters, World Cup of Pool, and he also won the inaugural edition of the Matchroom US Open in 2019. He has accomplished all this by the age of 24, along with the China Open and the American 14.1, the European 9-ball title, several Eurotour titles, and a lot of other titles. He has won silver at the new Premier Laague Pool event.
By my reckoning, Josh already has one of the five best resumes in pool history. No player in our game's history had achieved anything close to this by age 24. I think we're watching a player who, fifteen years from now, will be thought of as the greatest player of all time. Nonetheless, it's too early to put him in the conversation. His work ethic is as great as his talent, which is a really scary thought.
As noted on the stream, Filler has now won every Matchroom title available to date. Mosconi and MVP, World Pool Championship, World Pool Masters, World Cup of Pool, and he also won the inaugural edition of the Matchroom US Open in 2019. He has accomplished all this by the age of 24, along with the China Open and the American 14.1, the European 9-ball title, several Eurotour titles, and a lot of other titles. He has won silver at the new Premier Laague Pool event.
By my reckoning, Josh already has one of the five best resumes in pool history. No player in our game's history had achieved anything close to this by age 24. I think we're watching a player who, fifteen years from now, will be thought of as the greatest player of all time. Nonetheless, it's too early to put him in the conversation. His work ethic is as great as his talent, which is a really scary thought.
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Long way to go - it is tough for anyone in any sport to maintain their top form day after day, year after year - but I have no doubt he will win many more major events. Shaw and SVB are at his level but, for different reasons and in different situations they can both lose their touch and run cold now and again just like us mere mortals do most of the time. I can't remember ever seeing Filler run cold.
something_pool
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I would dispute that. Filler is certainly in the conversation for best in the world right now, but there are a good number of other people who you could make a convincing case for: SVB, Albin, Fedor, and Ko to name a few.
Strongly disagree. The case for anyone else is hard to make whether you look at the last seven years (meaning Josh Filler's entire pro career) or just the last seven months.
In the last seven years, Filler has won the China Open, the US Open, the World Pool Championship, the World Pool Masters, the World Cup of Pool, the European 9-ball championship and has multiple Eurotour titles. He has also been the Mosconi Cup MVP and has won the 10-ball event at both the International Open and the Derby City Classic. He has won silver at the World 10-ball, he won silver twice at the Derby City nine ball and won silver at the Premier League Pool. Nobody in our game's history has dominated a seven-year period like Filler has in the last seven years. He also won the American 14.1 Championship over a star-studded field and ran 150 and out in the semifinals. He has won all the majors at the age of 24, and I'm not sure anybody else has done that in a career. Over the past seven years, nobody else is even nearly in the conversation.
If you'd rather look at the last seven months, Filler won the ten-ball event at the International Open, won the World Pool Masters, won the ten-ball event at Derby City, won silver at the Derby City 9-ball, won silver at the Premier League Pool, won the European 9-ball Championship and won the American 14.1 Championship. A few players can nearly match his record over the past seven months, but nobody has displayed this kind of sustained excellence we've seen from Filler.
Filler really is a killer. Gorst looks like the next killer, and we all look forward to the end of the WPA ban, so the Filler/Gorst rivalry can resume.
That said, if you'd like to make a case for any other player, by all means make it.
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Stu, you failed to mention one of Filler’s first big wins as a professional, the Gabriel’s Sentinel 10-foot 10-ball Challenge at the 2016 Deurne City Classic, where at age 18, Filler bested a field of 16 top Euro pro players including Shaw, Feijen, Chinakhov and Immonen among others.
That win was particularly meaningful to me, as I was able to acquire from Thierry Gabriel the tournament used Gabriel’s Sentinel prototype table upon which all tournament matches were played on, which turned out to be the only 10-foot Sentinel pool table Gabriel’s ever made. One day we hope to have an opportunity to lure Josh here to Family Billiards (Boone, NC) to sign the table for us.
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Hey Stu!
I agree with every word. Very nice write up.
Albin has been very strong the last 7 years and last year as well. You know his resume better than I. How does Albin rank? I've kind of had him along side of Filler in my mind as toughest tournament player in the world but I'm not on solid footing. What are your thoughts on this comparison?
Filler has obviously been one of the top pros of late, but he is hardly a dominant figure. Per AZB he has topped the year-long money list only once.
He is more like Jordan Spieth than Tiger Woods at this point in his career. He has won a number of major tournaments but is nowhere close to head and shoulders above everyone else.
He is more like Jordan Spieth than Tiger Woods at this point in his career. He has won a number of major tournaments but is nowhere close to head and shoulders above everyone else.
Closer to Tiger, actually, in terms of major championship performance won by the age of 24. In my assessment, pool's career triple crown is winning the China Open, the US Open and the World Pool championship, which have been, by far, the hardest titles to win on the world pool calendar in recent years. Filler has won all three, and I don't think any other player in pool history has done so. Agreed that Filler is no Tiger Woods, but his resume at such a young age brings to mind the young Tiger Woods, who also had an amazing list of titles by that age.
Yes, Albin's resume is superb, especially in the last two years, and two World Pool Championship golds and a silver in this era is almost mind-blowing, given the size and depth of the fields. That said, he hasn't won at the China Open or the US Open, the other two majors in the assessment of this fan. Throw in the 2021 International 9-ball title and we're definitely talking about a hall of famer here, but Filler's resume is much stronger.
Albin's a legend for sure, and I suspect he has more than a few big titles in him going forward.
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