Are Corey and Melling the 2 best at dissecting an 8 ball rack ever?
- Thread starter u12armresl
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My own wrong opinions is that the best 8-ball I've seen are:
SVB
Dennis Orcullo
Efren
In that order for me. I really haven't seen enough of Niels, Thorsten, Ralf, Fedor, and Filler play a lot of 8-ball even though know they can all play it very well.
There were very few pro 8-ball tourneys for the pros in the 80's, but Sigel, Varner, Rempe and Hubbart anong other were all amazing runout players due to all of them being able break well and had amazing understanding of runout patterns honed from world Class 14.1. Hubbart and Sigel claim(ed) World 8-ball titles, for whatever that means. Sigel being as good as he was, I don't doubt that he would have won more 8-ball titles than anyone had 8-ball been the main game in those years. When I saw the non-yipped out Sigel practicing at the IPT ,where he got routed by Efren in the finals, there was nobody that was break and running as easily as he was. Unfortunately for him, that's not the Sigel that showed up in either of his IPT matches (LJJ and Efren). Had he played Alison as was the plan, he probably would have gotten smoked.
If the question is just about creativity, then for sure Corey and Melling should be in the conversation, but Efren would rule on creativity. Efren would be #1 for me after the break.
Efren finds things others don’t.
Having said that Cory and Melling are super solid in that dept as well.
Best
Fatboy
How can you talk about the best 8ball player and refer to bar boxes… pro pool is not played on bar boxes…
Cory was a great player, a natural born talent, but he preferred to go golfing instead and his game was left behind.
I suggest that you go on YouTube and check out Filler play 8ball, definitely one of the best at the moment along with SVB.
Cory was a great player, a natural born talent, but he preferred to go golfing instead and his game was left behind.
I suggest that you go on YouTube and check out Filler play 8ball, definitely one of the best at the moment along with SVB.
But 8 ball is played on the bar boxes. And pros play on them. Because SVB and Bergman and Deuel and Matlock and McCready weren’t real players right? Yeah, Filler is good.
Only in America, maybe that's way American players are doing so well on the international level....
These guys play on bar boxes because that's what is going on and it's easy money for them, playing in amateur ("open") events.
Put any of these guys in a European 8 ball event with the best Euro players and except for SVB, non of them will reach the semi finals.
America used to be the dream of every aspiring player who wanted to be a pro and play with the best and now?
IPT was in 2005-2006. Efren was 52 years old. No player on the planet that has ever lived played better at 52 than 32.
Corey plays beautiful 8 ball patterns. When I watch him play there is rarely a time where I disagree with his choices, and when I do, I usually turn out to be wrong. He is also a genius at developing seemingly tough racks. For the most part he plays very simple and nice patterns when the racks allow. He doesn't try to overpower the table like many of the pros these days.
I think the problems with US pool go beyond table size. It is a different culture and there are factors that hurt player development. But every time I see a post about Europe being the be-all end- all of pool because 9’ I get a visceral reaction to suggest the euro crowd come get some on Valley bar boxes at real ‘Murican bars. I am not saying that is right. I am saying send a few to some joints where our best have played. Can they handle a table that rolls or dirty balls etc…. I know, euro clubs with a national federation is better bla bla bla. Come play for the cash at a joint with some character and many characters. See, it happens every time to me. ‘Murica.
CanadianGuy
Well-known member
wish we had a chance to watch IPT era Efren playing Heyball
Shane has been the most victorious for years, nine footers and bar box,
not sure how much is 8ball knowledge vs his overall excellence
The elite patterns are done by the top UK guys,
Appleton is best all time pool player for patterns playing American pool , also won worlds in heyball and runner up in uk pool
Selby is a monster , second in world heyball and first in uk pool
Garreth Potts is a monster
probably most of the top heyball guys too
and Kelly Fisher on the womens side, maybe chen simeng too as both have beaten men playing heyball
Shane has been the most victorious for years, nine footers and bar box,
not sure how much is 8ball knowledge vs his overall excellence
The elite patterns are done by the top UK guys,
Appleton is best all time pool player for patterns playing American pool , also won worlds in heyball and runner up in uk pool
Selby is a monster , second in world heyball and first in uk pool
Garreth Potts is a monster
probably most of the top heyball guys too
and Kelly Fisher on the womens side, maybe chen simeng too as both have beaten men playing heyball
How much money does Gareth Potts make playing Heyball/Chinese 8 ball? If the rest of these guys were so good they would be playing Heyball for the big $$$, or so it would seem. Like pro snooker, where the real money is, American plays have tried and can't make the pro tour.
I’ve never liked the term GOAT……another nonsense word polluting our language.
Efren has that billiards database. Natural magic to him.Efren finds things others don’t.
Having said that Cory and Melling are super solid in that dept as well.
Best
Fatboy
There are dive clubs in Europe as well where the equipment is not top notch and there is fierce gambling going on. Not to mention Asia.
They will have no problem adjusting to American dive bar tables.
Maybe except the German players, they have a unique system over there where players open tiny neighborhoods clubs with one or two tables and run them for themselves. That creates a clean and safe environment to let kids start playing pool under supervision and guidance, with support of the adults that take them around the country for junior tournaments.
didn't gorst play quite a lot barbox tournaments back in 2022... but that's actually beside the point, because over a certain level, the pro players (including bergman, skyler, svb etc) have no problem with barbox congestion or tricky 8-ball layouts. especially without a shot clock. that holds true whether they're american, european or asian. 8-ball is imo a lost cause for pro pool. they're too good.
I’ve played on plenty of dirty ball pos tables in Europe. There used to be loads of rough places to play near the train stations in Germany, strange size tables, mis matched balls(one table had 3 14 balls, each one weighed a different amount), nothing level. The worst possible equipment. And gangsters ready to gamble. It’s not all WNT pool. Far from it
The clinical sterile 9’ euro milk drinker yoga pool you see now days is a very small % of what European pool was. There are also plenty of rooms in Europe that are hard core pool rooms
There are some old posts here and on 1P org about those places, I saw the tail end of them. Some tables looked homemade by comparison a Valley is a fancy table.
Fatboy<——ur man in the field
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Just like 9ball it comes down to the break, so it could change for 8ball as well. the rules of 8ball feel to be more directed to amateurs than pros.
With some rules changes, 8ball could be a great game for pros.
IMO, probably Ralph plays the best patterns in 8-ball, but difficult to be 100%.