A List of the Greatest Pool Players of All-Time

As we've so often noted on the forum, comparison across the generations, while a lot of fun, is near impossible. The game of pool has evolved, and the level of play today is well above where it was even ten years ago.

Pool is a truly global game today, and this was not true until recently. The list of Fargo 800+ players has at least one player from each of Albania, Bosnia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iraq, Serbia, Estonia, Lithuania and Indonesia. For the most part, these were not even considered pool-playing countries a decade ago.

The level will rise again, and, at some point, the game will likely produce a couple of cueists that play better than Filler and Gorst. What the greats all have in common is that they mass produced titles against their own contemporaries.
 
sjm said:
Without ranking them, my ten (like Jay, I had eleven players in my top ten):

Mosconi
Greenleaf
Sigel
Mizerak
Lassiter
Filler
Van Boening
Reyes
Strickland
Pagulayan
Souquet

For me, greatness is measured in titles, and some of those I omitted were awesome players whose resumes do not nearly stack up to that of these listed. Of course, if we include carom, Worst might come out number one on the list, but this is the main forum, not the carom forum, but the argument for inclusion would be clear.
Click to expand...
Shame on me for forgetting Lassiter.
 
sjm said:
As we've so often noted on the forum, comparison across the generations, while a lot of fun, is near impossible. The game of pool has evolved, and the level of play today is well above where it was even ten years ago.

Pool is a truly global game today, and this was not true until recently. The list of Fargo 800+ players has at least one player from each of Albania, Bosnia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iraq, Serbia, Estonia, Lithuania and Indonesia. For the most part, these were not even considered pool-playing countries a decade ago.

The level will rise again, and, at some point, the game will likely produce a couple of cueists that play better than Filler and Gorst. What the greats all have in common is that they mass produced titles against their own contemporaries.
Click to expand...
To that point, I recently watched videos of some matches between the best players from the 1980's and 90's. It looks like a completely different game the way they played back then. All balls spotting up, cue ball behind the line, pushout, and most of all the nappy cloth and the power stroke it took to play well on it. Their kicking was mediocre compared to today's players, jumping balls almost non existent and safety play very rudimentary by comparison. The game has changed dramatically in the last thirty odd years. Fast cloth, Texas Express and jump cues have revised everything.
 
This is like the Greatest Baseball Player of all time. Maybe it's Ohtani but I'll stick with The Babe awhile longer.
 
mikemosconi said:
Many people who dig deep into the actual historic results and historic word of mouth testimonials rank Harold Worst as perhaps the greatest pool TALENT of all time . This is just conjecture but it is out there and has been for over 50 years. Based on what I have listened to by eye witnesses- I don’t doubt it!
Click to expand...
I’m not doubting his talent, but with such a small sample size it’s hard for me to name him the goat
 
jay helfert said:
To that point, I recently watched videos of some matches between the best players from the 1980's and 90's. It looks like a completely different game the way they played back then. All balls spotting up, cue ball behind the line, pushout, and most of all the nappy cloth and the power stroke it took to play well on it. Their kicking was mediocre compared to today's players, jumping balls almost non existent and safety play very rudimentary by comparison. The game has changed dramatically in the last thirty odd years. Fast cloth, Texas Express and jump cues have revised everything.
Click to expand...
Agreed, Jay. When you watch it, the game of yesteryear seems antiquated on many levels.

Still, one point of confusion for me is that while the AVERAGE level of defensive play has skyrocketed, I still feel that Reyes, Pagulayan and Varner remain the three best ever in the area of 9ball defense. I keep expecting to find somebody of this generation whose 9ball defensive play surpasses theirs, but it hasn't happened.
 
My top 10 in no particular order.
Efren
Shane
Nick Varner
Mike sigel
Willie
Wimpy
Earl
Fedor
Jim rempe
Alex P
Honorable mention. Allison Fisher
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top