My list:
Pagulayan and Orcollo are currently the best all-around.
Alex is the favorite in 1-pocket; Dennis is the favorite in 14.1.
Pick 'em in 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball, and Banks.
SVB is the best 9-Ball and 10-Ball player, but falls a bit short in 1-pocket and 14.1.
SVB also is one of the best 8-Ball players.
I don't know how to rank his Bank Pool game against Bustamante, Thorpe, Orcollo, Melling, etc.
SVB is considered the best all-around in a winner's break match format and long sets.
Appleton, at his former best, was an 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 14.1 World Champion. Darren's banking is excellent, too, but he is certainly second best to either Alex and Dennis in 1-pocket.
Corey deserves a mention, but always seems to fall short to either Alex, Dennis, and Shane.
Bustamante's only "weak" game is 14.1. Otherwise, he could be considered as best.
Of course, he's somewhat past his prime.
If we consider players who are no longer in their prime, then Efren and Nick Varner are slam-dunk choices.
Efren has won championships in every game on both pool and billiard tables, except
for 14.1, which is never played in the Philippines. Efren told me that he was at his prime well before his came to the USA in 1985 at the age of 31.
I wish we had the chance to turn back the clock and see Efren play at age 18!
I saw Nick Varner in his prime and he was dominant in every game.
In fact, he is the only man to hold World Championships in 14.1, 8-Ball, 9-Ball,
1-Pocket, and Banks.
There are a few other players who deserve mentioning here:
Jose' Parica, Allen Hopkins, Harold Worst, and Luther Lassiter.
Jose' and Hopkins were fierce money players, who rarely lost.
I never saw Worst play, but many old-timers say he was the best all-around during his brief career.
Lassiter was well past his prime when I saw him play in Atlantic City's Last Call for 9-Ball, but his all-around game is legendary.
The great European players current and recent past, like Mika, Ralf, Niels, Jayson, Oliver Ortmann, Thorsten, etc., all fail to make the list because they don't really reach the top levels in 1-Pocket.
Have I left out someone?