Did Mike Sigel Play One-Pocket?

C

cuetechasaurus

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know he was a great 14.1, 9-ball, and 8-ball player, but did he ever play 1-pocket for big money when he was in his prime? How good was he?
 
cuetechasaurus said:
I know he was a great 14.1, 9-ball, and 8-ball player, but did he ever play 1-pocket for big money when he was in his prime? How good was he?
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Mike Sigel was (and still may be) an excellent One Pocket player. He won a few big tournaments in the early 90's. And he would play for money. He gambled at all games. Didn't play super high, but would definitely bet it up.

Not a lot of players were looking for action with Mike in his prime. When he was gambling, it was always with a strong player.
 
cuetechasaurus said:
I know he was a great 14.1, 9-ball, and 8-ball player, but did he ever play 1-pocket for big money when he was in his prime? How good was he?
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In his list of tournament wins, a World One-Pocket title was in there somewhere.

Also, at onepocket.org, Steve has a list of significant one pocket tournaments and their winners. Sigel is listed.

http://www.onepocket.org/records.htm

Fred
 
Thanks

Cornerman said:
In his list of tournament wins, a World One-Pocket title was in there somewhere.

Also, at onepocket.org, Steve has a list of significant one pocket tournaments and their winners. Sigel is listed.

http://www.onepocket.org/records.htm

Fred
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Fred ... Thanks for the link. The Bank records link is on this page also.
This is real helpful for a player that likes to play for money ... lol
 
One of the very best one pocket matches I've ever seen is a Mike Sigel/Johnny Ervolino one pocket match from accu-stats that is out-of-print.

Great match and the commentary is even better. Buddy Hall, Cornbread Red, and even Freddie the Beard pitch in. This one is a must have for serious collectors. The commentators have a great time watching the match and will crack you up with their comments.

This tape alone will show you how inferior ESPN,etc... are in comparison to a good accu-stats tape with the right commentators.

Mike plays good but doesn't appear to have anywhere near the one pocket knowledge of guys like Allen Hopkins, Bugs Rucker, Steve Cook. He seems to know the basics pretty good but is more of a shotmaker than a polished one pocket player who knows all the moves.
 
> He won one of Grady's Legends Of One Pocket titles in the early 90's,beating Strawberry Brooks by a combined ball score of 40-8. Mike's forte was always coming with the shot,his one-pocket was said to reflect that,in that strong movers had the edge on him,because he had so much less to swing at. Tommy D.
 
You bet Mike plays one-hole. I saw him play the great money player Strawberry in the finals of a tournament in Philly one time--He ran eight and out on Strawberry five stright times. It took about 40 minutes. Fran Crimi was at the trournament (she didn't play), but I don't know if she stuck around for the finals. I think she just came down from NYC to hustle :-) This was back in the eighties.
 
RottenRodney said:
You bet Mike plays one-hole. I saw him play the great money player Strawberry in the finals of a tournament in Philly one time--He ran eight and out on Strawberry five stright times. It took about 40 minutes. Fran Crimi was at the trournament (she didn't play), but I don't know if she stuck around for the finals. I think she just came down from NYC to hustle :-) This was back in the eighties.
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Fran came to a men's tournament to hustle? Are you kidding?
 
Not kidding--just ask her about it. She sometimes posts on this board. She was with another good female player who worked for HBO films as a reader, I remember her because I had written a screenplay about pool and tried to get her to help me sell it. I never sold that screenplay. Fran read it and was enthusiastic about it.

I also worked on a screenplay with Matt Braun, didn't sell it either.
 
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Johnnyt said:
Mike even player Carom once in awhile for $$. I know he got my $$. Johnnyt
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I saw Sigel try to play 3-cushion at Sang Lee's old billiard room in Elmhurst in the early 90's after Sang hired him to do pool trick shots (the year of his opening?). At a handicap of about a .550 player, I don't think he had a chance of winning anything against the NY locals. This was like 15 years ago, so perhaps he has been secretly practicing 3c in retirement. I remember him making all of his setup shots on the pool table and being very friendly and chatty - but carom was definitely not his strong suit back then.
 
Sorry, just saw this thread and haven't read through the whole thing so I hope I'm not repeating something.

I am about the same age as Mike and grew up in Oak Park, MI where there was a huge action room that Cornbread Red called home. When I was about 18 or 19, Larry Hubbard brought Mike into the room to play Cornbread one-pocket on Red's favorite 5x10 table. Sigel won in the neiborhood of $35-50K and they left town. This happened 3 years in a row, Sigel winning every year about the same amount. They were all business and didn't bet with the others trying to trap them (Hubbard was very smart that way).

I was too young and didn't know much about one-pocket back then (barely do now :p) so I can't comment on Mike's one-pocket knowledge, but I can tell you he executed everything flawlessly. He was awesome. Also, I do know that Cornbread knew a lot of one-pocket, could execute with the best of them & they were playing on Red's favorite table. So I'm guessing Mike Sigel could play a little!

Dave
 
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