best bank pool players also toby f.

hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input
 
I never saw him play in person, saw his videos so I'm guessing Freddy the Beard should be on there.
 
hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input

Buddy Hall. Nick Varner.
 
hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input

I'd definitely add Nick Varner, from what I hear.

How good was Fats at banks? In the online footage of him playing 9-ball and 8-ball way past his prime with other older legends of the game, he seems to shoot a lot of bank shots where today's players would cut the ball every time, and he drills all his banks center-pocket.

-Andrew
 
Here are a few more players I would add to the list:

John Brumback
Piggy Banks
Shannon Daulton
Brian Gregg
Jason Miller

Bugs was my all time favorite bank pool player to watch. I believe Brumback is at the top of the list these days. His consistency is scary. I was very happy for him last year when he won the DCC Banks and Master of the Table.
 
hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input
Might want to check the Bank Pool Hall of Fame list at onepocket.org .

Fred
 
Youngblood should be either #2 or #3 after Bugs, in his time he was as good as bugs ever was but never quite got into the Eddie Taylor range
 
Hard to decide....

I'll assume you mean REAL banks (not short rack)

using only your list:

Eddy Taylor
Bugs Rucker
Tony Fargo
Vernon Elliot
Donnie Anderson
Truman Hogue


Of course there are LOT'S of great bankers not mentioned. Guys like Freddie, Daulton, Miller, Price, Gregg, Crosby






hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input
 
hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input

tony fargo is the best.
 
Heard Ike Runnels banks pretty sporty.I don't know if he would be
considered one of the best though.
 
hmmmmm......

hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input

tony? from michaels billiards in cincinnati?? you nit! lol!
im in town, what you need playing some onepocket? lets fire it back up old friend!

as for the bank players....you did not include.....
shannon daulton, cecil tugwell, doofunny (not sure how to spell it!), tough tony, freddy the beard, brian gregg, and ME! lol! (just kidding!)
i dont know about toby f. but shannon i think belongs in that group now, as does tugwell, freddy and tough tony for sure. also piggy-banks.
danny harriman also plays great bankpool. and by "great", i mean well above average, not just shooting bankshots. he plays the game quite well.
im sure there are tons more that i am regrettably neglecting, but i will do my best to give you more soon!!

OH, and dont forget your hero tony.....MARK HANNA! he might still give you pool lessons if you ask him nicely!! LMAO

hope you are having great holidays Tony,
best wishes,
Brandon Lee Spitler "LIPS"
 
I played Tony Fargo many years ago at South St. Pool Room in Springfield, MO. 6 ball snooker using only the numbers. No way was I getting on a pool table with that guy.
 
hey guys, love pool always have. especially the older players and the way it used to be. i realize today's players are better and i love watching them play but the gambling part of pool is kind of boring. anyway help me out with my list of best bank pool players.Who doesn't belong and who did i not include.
1. taylor 2. bugs 3. donnie anderson 4. vernon elliot 5. truman 6. fargo 7. gary spaeth 8. ?? 9.?? 10??
also what was toby flaretty's speed at banks and especially one pocket. who did he match up with and how? could he beat shannon at either game? thanks for any input


About 20 years ago I played Toby to a dead heat, playing Short Rack for 50 a game. We played for hours and I got in dead stroke but so did he. His One Pocket game was top speed, a ball or two under the champions. At the Cue Club in Vegas, he was tough to beat.

After my game with Toby, some little fat kid walked up to me and asked me to play $50 9-Ball. I was taken by surprise. Who was this kid? Turned out it was Shannon. We still laugh about it. He was already on the road with his dad.

Youngblood (James Brown) was a great Banker, maybe a ball under Bugs. Only a few guys could play with him. I met him nearly 40 years ago at Ye Billiard Den in Hollywood (I'm really dating myself). We were both young guns then. Someone told me Banks was his best game, and I got him to give me 5-4 in Short Rack, a big spot. I may have played as good as I ever played and actually got him stuck a few games. He ended up three or four games ahead after an all day, until late at night session. We played for $20 and then $30 a game.

P.S. Youngblood was better than Toby at Banks.
 
Last edited:
I believe Eddie Taylor was the best banker,and best all aroud player ever,after him I have no idea,
I saw Shannon at age 12 at Rustys in Dallas,wearind high top tennis shoes and socks up to his knees.He was not much of a player then,he could barely give me 8 to 5 and the break,but he improved

dean
 
Last edited:
Couldn't get Shannon on the snooker table, so I gave in to the urging of the crowd at Butch's in Springfield, MO. Can't remember the terms of the race (9 ball) but I was on the hill, looped the cue ball over to kick the nine in for the win and did it but the cue ball slowly followed it in. Shannon looked at me and said, "You almost won this race." :rolleyes:

Kid turned into an absolute wizard afterward. I lost. Played one more set, he won a little too easily. I pulled up and told him that if he didn't want to play snooker, we were done. We were done. :)

Can't remember the name he gave when he came into the room with his dad and another fellow. Something really bogus though. I would guess he was 18 or 19 years old at the time. Confided to me that he was looking for Little Danny when we finished. At that point in time, Little Danny couldn't have stood up to what I saw.
 
Back
Top