Best player ever for the cash?

[Poolplaya9]

OK
Not who won the most cash or tournaments but who held their speed the best under high money stakes pressure.

As sjm alluded to in post #57, the best ever for the cash consists of two components, how well you match up and your willingness to be selective about your match ups to always ensure a certain amount of edge against that player at that particular time, and then your heart, grind, consistency in level of play, and ability to handle pressure. If truly talking about "best player ever for the cash" which has to encompass both of these things, then the results show it all, as in who won the highest percentage of the time that they gambled. SVB would have to be right up there for "best player ever for the cash" as reflected by the percentage of gambling matches he wins because he was consistently doing both parts of the equation well.

But if you are only wanting to look at one half of the equation, which is the heart, grind, consistency, and handling pressure, it is a much more subjective judgment and the best in this regard could have any gambling win/loss record depending on how well they matched up and how selective they were about it. My top pick/s purely on heart, grind, consistency, and pressure probably wouldn't be among the very most well known pros that almost everybody would be familiar with. Among the players that pretty much everybody knows, not sure who my top pick would be without some good thought but Parica would be right up there, in his prime while gambling he didn't tend to get any degree of soft often or long to say the least.

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Cornbread Red Worlds Greatest Money Player by Bob Henning

That is the book.

 

[jasonlaus]

Alex has some dog in him thats made quite a bit betting against him. If it's between him and Shane, I'll take Shane everyday

 

[Tommy-D]

It would be awful hard to fuck with Buddy's reputation here,when he spotted Louie the 7 multiple times and got there,or the story the late Tom Ferry told here about how Mike Sigel and Larry Hubbart came thru St. Louis on the way to go play Buddy in Shreveport. He said he sent money with them to bet on Sigel. He called the poolroom a couple days later,and gets Larry Hubbart on the phone to see how his investment was working out.

Hubbart tells him Mike is playing the best pool of his life,hasn't missed a single ball for 9 hours. Tom asks how they stood,and the punchline was "we're 5 games stuck" .

How many people can honestly say they've beat Efren a 10-ahead 10 ball set for the cash,and won in 2 innings? Tommy D.

 

[Thecoats]

Item no longer available

The item you are looking for is no longer available.

www.abebooks.com

I actually read that many, many, years ago and it was a good one too.

 

[greyghost]

Reportedly, (per Freddie Bentivegna, Bill Staton and Grady Matthews) Harold Worst played every cue sport at a world-class level and never lost a tournament or action match during his entire all-too-brief playing career (died at age 37 -- stunning friends and fans alike). Won international 3-C tournaments in several countries beginning at age 24 when was also at the top of his game at all pool disciplines.

Arnaldo

He played on his on money too.

 

[mattb]

I will throw a name into the mix, Varner.

Didn't Nick go to the Philippines in his prime and taken on all comers? That was the story I remember.

Maybe not the strongest at a few games but he was still a monster in his day.

 

[measureman]

My interpretation of this post is that it does not ask for who matched up best, for the art of game making is an entirely different question. I also feel it does not ask who made the most money gambling at pool, for that is also another question. I believe the question posed is who was best at playing at the highest possible level and maintaining that level in a big action match.

Strong vote for Jose Parica here, who handled the pressure of big action better than any player I've ever watched. Nobody could stay with Parica in ten ahead or twenty ahead races. He was just too tough and was able to sustain his highest level for hours and hours when he was at his best, which means the 1990's.

I think that was lost on a few people.
My question wasn't who won the most money or who beat who it was who do you think was the best at holding their speed for big money.
Simple question that requires only a name not a story.
This crowd is tough sometimes.

 

[arnaldo]

I have posted this before and I hope you find it interesting:

Harold Worst: the Best Pool and Billiards Player of All Time?

http://www.thehypertexts.com/Harold%20Worst%20Pool%20Billiards%20the%20Best.htm

What a read, Philly!!! Can't thank you enough; for re-posting a link for all of us to that article. It is pure gold -- a real keeper.

Moving, dazzling, so inspiring and . . . as close to supernatural talent as we'll ever read about in our beloved sport.
And I've never heard that amount of collective awe and praise from a player's fellow competitors in any publication or interview. Doesn't get any more convincing than that.

Hearing so much new detail about his sad and so courageous final year (age 37) . . . I was left with a persistent memory of a book title from decades ago: "When Bad Things Happen To Good People" -- just imponderable.

Arnaldo

 

[Poolplaya9]

I think that was lost on a few people.
My question wasn't who won the most money or who beat who it was who do you think was the best at holding their speed for big money.
Simple question that requires only a name not a story.
This crowd is tough sometimes.

In all fairness, what you titled the thread as well as originally asked was clearly and completely different than what you were thinking and intending to ask and finally did ask later when you further clarified what you were meaning so it should be expected that a few are going to end up confused and others are going to go ahead and discuss both topics anyway since both were mentioned and both are of interest.

 

[alphadog]

As for Parica , I heard CJ followed him around and used him as his personal ATM

 

[u12armresl]

I seen him get weak once playing SVB in cue club about 10 years ago. SVB won 40-20.

my own personal experience with him playing BG is no matter how much I’m up, he’s capable of coming back. He doesn’t go away. I’ve played many stronger players in BG, had good dice for myself and watched strong players collapse. I’ve never seen Alex get weak playing BG ever. Not once, frustrated yes. Did it effect his play? For a minute or 2 and he resets and is just fine. He handles the variance in BG good as anyone I’ve ever played, including many many world class players. He’s tough action. I’d rate him the “strongest” gambler I’ve played BG with.

We have played high as $500/point which is like $10K-$15K pool. It’s kinda hard to compare them directly. 30 point swings happen, I’ve had them with Alex. From +26 to -10 I think being the biggest so that’s a $18,000 swing in a few hours. That was at the Derby one year. We aren’t playing social $. I think $300 is the cheapest we played a point.

I’m going to play him again soon, he’s fun to play. Great action. Cool guy win or lose.

best
Fatboy

That's a great post.
I couldn't play BG to save my life, but have read a lot of books where they talk about high stakes BG, and it's pretty interesting.

Underground gin, bridge, and BG action making noses bleed.

 

[Fatboy]

That's a great post.
I couldn't play BG to save my life, but have read a lot of books where they talk about high stakes BG, and it's pretty interesting.

Underground gin, bridge, and BG action making noses bleed.

BG is brutal, the swings are so big so often makes PLO look friendly. It’s called “the worlds cruelest game”. Who ever said that is spot in. The flip side is your haven’t lost until your have lost. So the comebacks happen as often as the bad beats.

It’s like quads over quads rare parley dice sequences often. So you have to manage your emotions very well to find any success at BG. Alex does that as well and better than anyone I’ve played. I’ve played the best in the world in BG and Alex posses those traits. Clearly not he or I are world class players. We are B players banging it out. But Alex has the composure of a world class BG player(I do as well from decades of pool & gambling).

Playing Alex BG I got to experience playing him with out getting crushed in pool. He’s up a hair on me over 60? Hours of BG. It’s pretty cool to get to play and be competitive with someone strong as he is. He is a “Lion” rip anyone who plays him pool. Good Lord he’s strong.

As much as I respect him, I play him harder and don’t fear him playing BG. It’s cool to play him BG, we never discuss pool(rarely we do a little). Looking forwards to the next session.

all the best,
Fatboy

 

[ghost ball]

I googled best pool player for the cash and this came up…

The Mag: Dennis Orcollo is best money game pool player

When money is at stake, Dennis Orcollo is the best pool player on the planet, writes Brett Forrest in ESPN The Magazine. Too bad no one will face him anymore.

www.espn.com

 

[maha]

no the best players are the ones that play for the cash that is at their highest amount before they choke and hold on.

everyone and i mean everyone has a point where the bet is high enough that they choke some amount.

so those that play regularly for a high amount you may think play well for the cash but you get desensitized at whatever stakes you normally play for. when its gets enough over that you choke.

if you havent bet real high for your own money and played over your confidence level you wont understand at all.

pug pearson, amarillo slim, jack perkins are three short stop players that you could
be sure they would not dog it for any amount that they bet. and when they played the window was open .

 

[Dave714]

As for Parica , I heard CJ followed him around and used him as his personal ATM

I've never heard that. I heard he followed Efrin around but that doesn't mean he was winning.

 

[1Hole_Nut]

there's 3 pool players that I can remember that always got the $cash$ ........ those 3 players are Parica .... James walden ..... and CJ ........ PS walden was the best one handed jacked up player ever it was a amazing watching him play one handed for the $cash$ ..... WOW

 

[bbb]

Lets try this and have some fun.
There is a mystery player coming to town.
You have to put up $100,000 of your own money to back your horse.
You don't know what game is to be played.
You can pick any player from any era with no more information,no questions just pick.

My pick would be Wimpy.

My pick would be harold worst

 

[Cornerman]

I will throw a name into the mix, Varner.

Didn't Nick go to the Philippines in his prime and taken on all comers? That was the story I remember.

Maybe not the strongest at a few games but he was still a monster in his day.

There wasn’t a game that Nick wasn’t the strongest at some point in his career. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, he would have been one of the favorites at any discipline for American Pool.

 

[maha]

this thread is about who plays best for the cash under the pressure.
not who won the most money or tournaments.
or who made the best games and won all the time.