Analysis of the GREATEST POOL MATCH of All Time – Sigel vs. Varner

Or the 1992 US Open finals, the one that Tom Kennedy won. It’s the only match that inspired a video game


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JusticeNJ said:
Yes! The COM has it all. Excellent pool, two of the greatest players, high emotions, and a monster come back story.
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Right on. I think some other circumstances of those times figured in why the match was so great.

1. Earl and Efren were two superstars both playing the best pool of their lives at the time.
2. The Filipino invasion was just a few years old, consisting chiefly of the highly visible Efren Reyes, Jose Parica, and Francisco Bustamante, but also offering some other highly capable players like Rodolfo Luat, Leonardo Andam and Antonio Lining.
3. The debate about whether the top Filipinos played nine ball as well as their American counterparts was in full bloom, and the average American fan still viewed nine ball as a game invented in America and perfected by American players like Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer and Buddy Hall.

Efren's win, in the eyes of many, validated the belief of more than a few that the Asians were playing nine ball at least as well as the Americans, and some would say that it further fueled the Filipino invasion, which resulted in two decades of almost unfathomable excellence among Filipinos that competed in America..
 
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Funny Rodolfo Luat story. At Chris's one night Rodolfo is looking to play and no one is biting. So one of the guys playing 3 cushion says he will play him 3 cushion to 20 for a hundred bucks. Rodolfo takes the bet and gets beat pretty handily. He is all pissed off and yelling c'mon play me some 9 ball. The guy laughs and says are you crazy your a 9 ball champion but I will play you some more 3 cushion! Now Rodolfo wants a spot which the guy is not giving up. Rodolfo spends the next couple hours grumbling while Santos Sambajon and a bunch of others are giving Rodolfo a hard time about getting hustled. Finally someone walked down Milwaukee Ave and grabbed a case of beer at the store and everyone spent the rest of the night hanging out.. Not sure how long it took Rodolfo to get over that.. It was all pretty funny...
 
dr_dave said:
I'm glad you guys seem to like this video because I'm already working on the next video in the series dealing with the true undisputed "Greatest Match of All Time." Which one do you guys think it is? And which other matches do you recommend for me to feature in the series?

Thanks,
Dave
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Crane's 150 and out run in 1966 would be a fun 14.1 analysis. The full match is on YouTube. As is Siegel's 1992 150 ball run.
 
dr_dave said:
I'm glad you guys seem to like this video because I'm already working on the next video in the series dealing with the true undisputed "Greatest Match of All Time." Which one do you guys think it is? And which other matches do you recommend for me to feature in the series?
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Ratamon said:
Probably the finals of the Sands XXI
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Bingo!
 
dr_dave said:
Give it a try and please post a video if you can get good results. I think it might be tougher than you think with that ball layout.
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Doc...it might take a while
because of 3-cushion, I used to play some unusual hooks at snooker. Needing a snooker with only pink and black left...
...black on its spot....pink straight into the green ball pocket, about a foot and a half off the balk rail, spun it with inside english four rails to put whitey behind the black ball. Whitey was long gone before the pink made it just short of the rail.

i feel that players that look down their cue are going to have have a lot of trouble with this aim.

oh, and thanx for what you do, sir....one of these years, the BCA is going to recognize you..
 
Interesting how many "great match" suggestions have huge come-backs. I like a good comeback but I think a great match is more likely to go hill-hill with the players never separated by more than a game or two. But I guess that means neither player would string many break-and-runs.
 
DieselPete said:
Interesting how many "great match" suggestions have huge come-backs. I like a good comeback but I think a great match is more likely to go hill-hill with the players never separated by more than a game or two. But I guess that means neither player would string many break-and-runs.
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Agreed. But the hill-hill match also needs some good drama and spectacular shots to make it "great," IMO.
 
sjm said:
The case rack of this match has been considered a few times before on the forum. I wondered whether the cue ball, which was frozen to the nine in the case rack, may have been lined up for a dead scratch in the side pocket. Even if that was so, a touch of right masse could have been used to leave the cue ball near the head rail. Defense was available no matter how you slice it. As ridiculous as Mike's shot looked , however, it was not completely without merit, but it wasn't best.

This was not the best match of all time, but among the best comebacks of all time, slightly devalued by the fact that it was decided by a roll. My vote for the greatest comeback of all time is in the final of the 2013 BCAPL 10-ball event at the Rio in Las Vegas. Dennis Orcullo led Rodney Morris 9-2 in the race to 11 final and Dennis was in dead stroke., With some of the finest shooting anyone's ever seen, Rodney completed the comeback to win the title. Also worthy of mention is Efren's comeback at the BCA Championships at the Riviera in Las Vegas circa 1999 --- in an early round hookup, Allen Hopkins had a 10-1 lead on him but Efren won the next ten racks to win the match.

Best nine ball match ever, in the eyes of many, was the Efren vs Earl race to 120 "Color of Money" match, but if only tournament play is considered, I'd go with when the sixteen year old Wu Jiaqing played Po Cheng Kuo in the final of the World 9-ball title in 2005. In the race to seventeen final, Kuo led 16-12 but went wrong on a safety in the next rack and Wu ran out that rack and broke and ran the next four to claim the world championship.
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Orcullo’s comeback against SVB in their most recent 9 ball race to 120 was also an epic comeback. I think Dennis was down 114-98
 
dr_dave said:
FYI, I just posted a new video that replays some amazing highlights, attempts to recreate shots, and analyzes shot options from the greatest pool match of all time between Mike Sigel and Nick Varner from the 1990 US Open 9-ball Championship. Check it out:


Contents (with timestamp links):
0:00 – Intro
0:48 – Color Commentary
1:35 – Break Shots
1:52 – Early Shot
2:46 – Comeback Start
3:38 – Kick Bank Re-creation
5:15 – Long Kick Pot Re-creation
6:51 – Mid Match Action
8:20 – Mike’s First Lost Opportunity
9:14 – Position Play Re-creation
10:51 – Mike’s Second Lost Opportunity
11:19 – Hill-Hill Case Game
12:31 – Mike Final Lost Opportunity and Re-creation
14:23 – Wrap Up
15:11 – Nick Shot Montage

As always, I look forward to your feedback, comments, questions, complaints, and requests.

Enjoy!
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I remember that match. Instead of Mike realizing his good fortune at Nicks miss , he gets angry at the roll and goes nuts.
 
Dr Dave...an interesting match, to me, would be the finals of the International, when Shaw beat Lechner.
i usually like to stay mobile at these matches and stand at the back...for this one, I sat down.
 
pt109 said:
Dr Dave...an interesting match, to me, would be the finals of the International, when Shaw beat Lechner.
i usually like to stay mobile at these matches and stand at the back...for this one, I sat down.
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Thanks for the suggestion.
 
DieselPete said:
I don't know if this is an "all time great" match, but it is one hell of a match throughout. Appleton v. SvB in 2015, ten-ball match that goes hill-hill.

And I think I recognize one of the railbirds, right?

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Yeah, I was there, although I didn't remember much about the match. I really miss the "Make it Happen Series", a great Accu-stats production at the superb Sandcastle Billiards in New Jersey. This was a round robin event and Appleton was already out of contention, so this match wasn't especially important, but it was a well-played match.
 
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