What distinguished him? What is it these world beaters have that the next tier can't grasp?
Canela
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Fine but presuming it's cueing ability, what kind? And nobody was able to learn how?
Why put money on the lights if one has no intention of getting good enough to win?
You mean like will against will? I can see that. I think we've all experienced that and for some on a regular basis. What about technical ability? I have this romantic vision of more extensive ball control; the ability to deal successfully with a greater range of situations perhaps?
Consistency being the most important skill better players have.
So top players often make little to no mistakes in their matches. That consistency means the opposing player has to at least meet that level to win.
To achieve this level a player needs years of dedication and training. How much dedication (that's up to you) will determine where you end up over all.
My opinion
The absolute hatred of losing. Top players i've known wanted to rip their opponent's heart out. You gotta have some degree of cold-hearted killer in you to win big matches. Not saying you have to be that way 24/7 but in a match you have to want to stomp the other guy's/gal's guts out.
I'd say nothing.
The ingredients of greatness are talent, strong work ethic, superior mental game, great ambition and a strong will to win. I can show you players who have a lot of talent, a great work ethic, a strong mental game, a burning ambition and a killer instinct who are not anywhere near the top tier of the game. The ingredients of greatness are the same for everybody, but the greatest players tend to have more of each ingredient than the rest of us.
Not every one of us has the physical and mental abilities that are prerequisites for greatness, but the formula for reaching one's potential in pool is no secret.
You are NOT going to get anything close to a definitive answer. Too many factors/intangibles. Natural talent, desire, patience, genetic sequencing, brain wiring, yada yada yada.
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Legendary instructor Mark Wilson has often noted that almost anyone can become a really accomplished pool player if they put in the work but that only a few have the potential for greatness. That's about how I see it.
I don't think individual limits really frames the matter, although it's definitely part of the equation. Hand eye coordination is, at least to some extent, a god given gift. Some of us have better eyesight than others and some steadier nerves. That said, each of us has it in us to be as dedicated to excellence as a Sigel, Varner, Strickland, SVB or Filler, but very few of us have their ambition or work ethic to go along with it. Gains in skill and smarts and the burning desire to stretch the limits of what's possible in pool takes a combination of great work ethic and great ambition and we all have it in us if we are sufficiently dedicated. Work ethic, similarly, drives the pursuit of knowledge, and some are more passionate about such pursuit than others.
Finally, I'm not sure destiny is a big part of the equation, but I wasn't a philosophy major.
Natural ability.
How many times have you seen a person that's been playing for decades and still cant run a rack of any game.
Then there's the the person that's been playing a couple years and runs racks.
How many times have you seen a person that's been playing for decades and still cant run a rack of any game.
Then there's the the person that's been playing a couple years and runs racks.
Absolutely. Ambition, mental game, and killer instinct are often the tiebreakers among those whose skills have developed to what I'd call world championship caliber.
Pretty sure there is a college near you. Don't be quitting before you start. You have our encouragement!!
I very much agree with what you (Mark) say above.
I think the measure of 'can this player___' from here is considered from a check of:
1- does shooter choose correct shot?
B: does shooter execute correct shot?
1 can be taught, B can be a yes for many people, when considered for a single shot, though that's not how the game is played.
The top players are so good at B that it makes lapses in 1 irrelevant. And they do. For a looooong time.
Take Efren for example. Grew up sleeping under a pool table and spent years playing 15 ball rotation, then mastered 3c billiards. With that background he had one up on most everyone. Not magic, talent and practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, you can't learn talent.
"I hate losing even more than I want to win, and there's a difference"
You also can't make someone want to practice. Efren did out of necessity and literal hunger. Made him the baddest man on the planet for 25+ years
He got lucky.