Did you know this about Buddy Hall, The man!!!

[Black-Balled]

That might be what is alleged but the way I heard it and read it Buddy put a nice sized package on Efren to start the set. So if Effie was told to dump Buddy made it unnecessary.

I am 100% sure...it was alleged

 

[JoeyInCali]

I heard that both Buddy and Efren didn't play all that well in their match at Red's. Efren had been up for days or something like that.

Jay Halfert should be the authority on this.
He was there.
Efren fired his manager shortly for cheating him out of a ton of money.
Then the manager tells on Efren was using Cesar Morales's passport.
Efren gets deported after that and took years to come back.

I believe Wade Crane also beat Buddy for some cash sometime ago.
But, Buddy is one of the best ever for sure.
Probably the prettiest stroke ever too.

 

[pt109]

Have you seen the Accu-Stats video of Buddy and Sigel in the finals race to 13 9-ball where Buddy wins like 13-7? This was around '86 or '87, I don't remember the tournament (might have been in Memphis). Buddy played absolutely perfect pool and you could tell that Sigel himself knew he had no chance.

I believe you're talking about 1989, in Memphis at the Holiday Inn.
Sigel played amazing that tournament but Buddy got a roll...he had
a rare miss on an open shot in the finals and fluked it....then it all
went his way. I think Buddy played better in the late 70's.

That tournament was played on Gandy tables with Mali 821 directional
nap and cheap balls. So if you watch a tape of that, remember that
the conditions were substandard.
Put Buddy on modern conditions when he was in his prime (70's)....
...and the whole world needed weight.....at 9-ball.
I believe Reyes, Parica, and Sigel were better all-round players though.

 

[EL'nino]

The US Open is like a pizza with no topping without Buddy there.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

I have a question --- If Buddy is the best American 9baller, why does he not have anywhere near Strickland's resume in titles? Or, Sigel for that matter?

I'M NOT KNOCKING HIM -- just asking a question. To be considered the best, I think you have to have the scoreboard to back you up.

If total money won is the litmus test, Efren is the stone-cold winner on that mark and there's no close second place (he's not American, but best-ever is the tone of the article).

If money won gambling is the measure, he'd be in a group of guys that could claim that title.

Just sayin'.

 

[wahcheck]

Thanks for the nice read...

I like this thread because it has most of the names of pool players I think had the greatest talent for the game; Buddy Hall, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, Luther Lassiter, Don Willis, Efren Reyes, and Steve Mizerak. Sorry if I left out any of your favorites, but these are mine...

 

[JB Cases]

I have a question --- If Buddy is the best American 9baller, why does he not have anywhere near Strickland's resume in titles? Or, Sigel for that matter?

I'M NOT KNOCKING HIM -- just asking a question. To be considered the best, I think you have to have the scoreboard to back you up.

If total money won is the litmus test, Efren is the stone-cold winner on that mark and there's no close second place (he's not American, but best-ever is the tone of the article).

If money won gambling is the measure, he'd be in a group of guys that could claim that title.

Just sayin'.

Because everyone considers him the best gambler. Buddy was never considered the best tournament player although I think if you stacked up the titles then his list is pretty impressive as well. He also didn't care to play straight pool and doesn't fly so he has never been to any of the world championships held overseas.

Buddy was that quintessential guy who took down the tournament champion in the back room.

On American soil though I bet you will find that Buddy snagged some of the largest prize money events. So he was able to rise to occasion at times.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

Because everyone considers him the best gambler. Buddy was never considered the best tournament player although I think if you stacked up the titles then his list is pretty impressive as well. He also didn't care to play straight pool and doesn't fly so he has never been to any of the world championships held overseas.

Buddy was that quintessential guy who took down the tournament champion in the back room.

On American soil though I bet you will find that Buddy snagged some of the largest prize money events. So he was able to rise to occasion at times.

I just think "Best ever" comments should be reserved for the people with the most World Championships / U.S. Open titles. Back room winnings are impossible to quantify. I mean, how much cash did Keith McCready probably win back in the day? Who knows - that's my point.

I think Buddy is DEFINITELY one of the best 9ball players of all time. I'm just hesitant to call him THE guy.

I became interested in pool because of Buddy--- watching his stroke on TV was mesmerizing.

 

[FELIX]

Buddy

In 1969 I was working on a cigarette machine at the Red Hat Club
on southwest 29th street in Oklahoma city , This is the first time I
layed eyes on Buddy , He was playing someone a set , I don't know
who, Buddy lost and was out of money , He turned to the bar and
said I need a horse , I did not know what a horse was at that time
but when three men fell off their bar stools trying to get to buddy
first i found out what a horse was . The next day I saw Buddy at
Trueloves he told me he got all the cash . Rob

 

[Neil]

............

 

[Craig]

I just think "Best ever" comments should be reserved for the people with the most World Championships / U.S. Open titles. Back room winnings are impossible to quantify. I mean, how much cash did Keith McCready probably win back in the day? Who knows - that's my point.

I think Buddy is DEFINITELY one of the best 9ball players of all time. I'm just hesitant to call him THE guy.

I became interested in pool because of Buddy--- watching his stroke on TV was mesmerizing.

It's just two different ways to look at it.

(1) you yourself have a chance at beating any of the top 10 pool players in the world in a race to 7-8-9-10-11 in a tournament.

(2) that same tournament champion does not have to win with the best gamblers playing the same game.

Both type of players are champions. Anybody can win short races against anyone. Play the same guy multiple sets or for a week gambling and the better player will rise to the top. Not all World Championship winners have the heart to run Marathons.

 

[The Renfro]

And Usain Bolt would make pretty much any marathoner in the world cry in sprints.... Lots of guys that can grind out a win gambling cannot focus at the superhuman level required to win the top tournaments......

Trivializing the short races holds zero water when it is always the same small group of names showing up in the winner's circle......

It's not always about the money honey.....

I understand many players being fans of the gamblers in the game.. I think they can see themselves in the gambler more than the tournament champion.... It's way easier imagining yourself beating someone out of some cheddar than to imagine yourself actually winning something like the US Open.......

 

[The Renfro]

to be fair let's talk about the other side of the coin when it is all about the money.... Anyone want to rehash the Challenge of Champions?????

 

[LoVe4DaGaMe]

Buddy The Rifleman Hall
Players Call Him The Rifleman because he Shoots Them All Down Others Call Him The Hustler....
The Best 9-Ball Player in the World, Buddy Hall

Kreole Freddie, they call him, and he's been around the game for twenty years or so. He's won his share of money shooting in every kind of joint, from two-table bars to the biggest tournaments in the biggest rooms around. He's traveled with most of the players whose names are household words now, and he knows them all. So I asked Kreole just who he thought was the best 9-ball player he'd ever seen, and he didn't hesitate a second."Buddy Hall," he said, "period!" And when I asked him to elaborate on that short answer, here is what he told me:

"Well, you know Rick, there's Luther Lassiter, and Earl Strickland, St. Louis Louie, and The Cincinnati Kid (Don Willis), before he died. And of course you've got Efren Reyes, and all those guys from the Northeast like (Mike) Sigel, (Jim) Rempe, Alan Hopkins, (Steve) Mizerak, Ray Martin, Lou Butera. They're all good 9-ball players, and there's a lot of others you never even heard of, but when it comes to gamble, to the big money in the back rooms, Buddy's beat them all."

"I remember when Luther Lassiter was considered the best pool player in the world, and I talked to him once about Buddy. He said that even as good as he (Luther) played 9-ball, he'd never play Buddy straight up. And Don Willis, before he died, told me that Buddy shot better than anybody. The only problem, he said, was that Buddy didn't always get the best rolls. I know that's true now, and believe me, there's something to getting a good roll now and then. But even with that handicap, I'd still put my money on Buddy against anybody in a high-stakes game."

"When it comes to rolls, Mike Sigel probably gets the best rolls in the game, and Mike is without a doubt the best tournament player alive right now, but in the back room, where the real money changes hands, that's where Buddy can make a fool out of the best players you've ever seen."

"Every body knows that Earl Strickland is a superb 9-ball player, and one of the things that makes him so strong is that Earl breaks the balls better than anybody around. Another thing is that you can't hook Earl, because Earl jumps the ball so good."

"I remember a time down in Tampa, in the back room at Rocky Point Resort, when St. Louis Louie tried about six times to beat Earl, and Earl beat him out of about $12,000. When it was over, Earl finally had enough ammo and had been playing good enough that he went after Buddy. Earl had beat Sigel twice for $1,000 a set, and he had beat Louie - that's when Louie was a world-class player-and Buddy shot him down in cold blood. I mean he literally destroyed the guy."

"Then there was that big tournament out in Houston in 1985 when Efren Reyes came up. We were all out there and Reyes won the tournament. Afterwards Reyes beat Sigel, he beat Earl, he beat me and Wade Crane out of $1,700, and when all this was over, the only person left was Buddy, and Buddy absolutely crucified him. He beat him so bad, he put so many balls on him, that the guy just....I mean as much gamble as Efren has, he just wilted. And it seems that ever since, he hasn't played quite as well. You know, I can understand it, I mean Buddy was just awesome."

"And all those guys from the Northeast - Sigel, Rempe, Alan Hopkins, Mizerak, Ray Martin, Lou Butera - all that bunch, Buddy broke 'em all, they were sucking eggs when he got through with them - they almost stopped gambling. Every time they'd run up on him, he'd just eat 'em alive."

"I remember a time when Rempe had won 23 tournaments in a row, and headed out west. He had this stake horse who was a swimming pool manufacturer or something. Anyway, the guy had a ton of money. So they went out to Oklahoma City to play Buddy at True Love's Pool Room, and I remember sitting there and saying, 'There's nobody in the world that can beat Jim Rempe--nobody!' Well, Buddy just massacred him. I never saw Rempe bet a quarter after that, and in all the tournaments I've seen him in since, he's never quite reached his peak again. This is a guy that won 23 tournaments in a row, a guy who's respected as one of the best players ever, but it seemed like after Buddy beat him, he was just demoralized."

"Same thing happened to Sigel. Sigel is beyond a doubt the best tournament player in the country, but, when it comes to the gamble, I don't think he's ever recovered from the beating Buddy gave him."

Mike Massey, David Howard, Buddy Hall and Dennis Hatch together.

"Hubbard and Sigel drove out to Oklahoma City and they had about $20,000 each. They got out of the car and went into the poolroom and Hubbard sat there and watched Sigel hit several balls. Sigel was drilling them, really splitting the wick, and Hubbard says 'Mike, you're ready'. So Sigel played Buddy for $10,000 a set, and Buddy made him look like a diaper boy. I mean he got out from everywhere. He walked balls down the rails, he twisted them in from impossible angles, he made that cue ball do things it's not supposed to be able to do. He literally hypnotized Sigel."

"You know, I've played Buddy, and I remember practicing with him one time down in Tampa, or maybe I should say he practiced; I didn't get to shoot but about once every hour. I was so careful about making a ball when I finally did get a shot, and so cold from the wait, that my arm would just stiffen up. When you watch a guy shoot like Buddy can, and you have to wait and wait and wait for a chance to hit a ball, he's one up on you right there, and that's exactly what happened to those guys that took him on."

"They call Buddy the Rifleman, and it's a fitting name, the way he rifles ball in and shoots players down in cold blood. I don't know, there are probably some people who disagree, but me, I say Buddy Hall is the best money 9-ball player there ever was."
This Article was originally published in The Snap Magazine, August 1989
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

So the Moral of this story is.. If you want to stay in top form, you just don't play Buddy, because all of these guys never played the same again! lol..

 

[PoolBum]

I believe you're talking about 1989, in Memphis at the Holiday Inn. Sigel played amazing that tournament but Buddy got a roll...he had a rare miss on an open shot in the finals and fluked it....then it all
went his way.

Yes, it all went his way because he played great. Sigel had no chance.

 

[Lock N Load]

Hello SpiderWebComm, I just got off of the phone with Buddy.

I have a question --- If Buddy is the best American 9baller, why does he not have anywhere near Strickland's resume in titles? Or, Sigel for that matter?

I'M NOT KNOCKING HIM -- just asking a question. To be considered the best, I think you have to have the scoreboard to back you up.

If total money won is the litmus test, Efren is the stone-cold winner on that mark and there's no close second place (he's not American, but best-ever is the tone of the article).

If money won gambling is the measure, he'd be in a group of guys that could claim that title.

Just sayin'.

He is not feeling to good after being in the hospital 9 days. He told me out of his mouth, that he won 12 world championships!!!! How about that?
He is real weak right now, but when gets better I will let you know. And you can talk to him yourself!!
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[ghost ball]

Sometimes you have to avoid playing the best. In the Buddy Hall case, the Pinoys had to avoid or lose to him. Otherwise their action would be limited. Even Shane VB admitted this when asked if he got into action with Orcullo in the Philippines.

 

[Lock N Load]

Now this is a good post, Neil!!!

Best ever means just that. The best player. You are thinking of the best tournament player, which as we all know is usually not the best player in the event. To win a tournament, you have to play good, and the luck factor has to go your way. All tourneys are short races. I've beaten guys in tournaments that playing for money I wouldn't even bother getting on the table with them. The spot I would need would be ridiculous to even ask for. The best player is the guy that everyone else want's weight from or won't play unless they are in a short race tournament.

I like this post. Neil, Buddy is sick right now. I talked to him yesterday and he is still weak from a 9 day stay in the hospital. Thanks Neil.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[Lock N Load]

More on Buddy Hall!!!

Buddy Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Buddy "the Rifleman" Hall at the 2003 US Open

Cecil P. "Buddy" Hall (born May 29, 1945 in Metropolis, Illinois) has been an American professional pool player for three decades.[1] The International Pool Tour heralds Hall as a "living pool legend."[2] He is nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his accuracy. [2]

Hall has been credited for creating the "clock system" which is a technique for where to hit the cue-ball, using the clock as a mechanism for where to aim.[3]

Hall began playing at 14 years of age in a soda shop in his home town. When local pool rooms would not let him enter because of his age, he used subterfuge to obtain a new birth certificate from a local judge which stated he was of legal age. He cut his teeth at Herbie Lynn's pool room and was soon dominating the regulars. It was not long before he hit the road to try his hand at a wider playing field. He first gained some prominence at the Johnson City tournaments.[4]

I went there to watch all the greats of the day play. Wimpy, Jersey Red, Eddie Taylor, Cornbread Red, Harold Worst, Jimmy Moore, Fats and U.J. were playing one another in both the tournament and in backroom ring games. I entered and was very pleased when I beat Wimpy and Jersey Red and won my entry fee back.[4]

In the following years, Johnson City lost out as the hub of top tier tournament play to Dayton, Ohio. There, organizer Joe Burns instituted a similar all-around tournaments to the format that had been used in Johnosn City. Hall played in the Dayton Tournaments for many years. He took first place there in 1974 winning $4,000. In 1982 Buddy won the Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship by edging out Allen Hopkins in the final with a score of 11-6, winning $33,500 for his efforts; an unprecedented purse at the time. ESPN's announcement of Halls' win was the first ever mention of a billiard player on that cable television network.[4]
[edit] Career

Buddy Hall was the thirty-ninth inductee in the Billiards Congress of America's Hall of Fame, in the year 2000.[5] He was named Player of the Year by the pool media, to include The National Billiard News and Pool and Billiards Magazine, in 1982, 1991, and 1998. A profile of Hall appeared in The Hustler column of the inaugural issue of The Snap Magazine, a story reputed to have "... in many ways set the tone for the magazine from there on out."[6] He is currently a member of the International Pool Tour[7] and still competes on various regional tours and senior events throughout the United States.
[edit] Titles

* 1998 Camel Shooters Nine-ball Open
* 1998 U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship
* 1995 PBC Commonwealth Shootout
* 1992 MPBA Bicycle Club Invitational
* 1992 International Challenge of Champions
* 1992 MPBA Rakm Up Classic
* 1991 International Nine-ball Classic
* 1991 US Open Nine-ball Championship
* 1991 MPBA International Classic
* 1987 Glass City Open
* 1987 Colorado Open
* 1987 Carolina's Cup
* 1987 Lexington Open
* 1986 Fall Classic
* 1986 Cue Club Open
* 1986 Super Bowl Open
* 1986 Memorial Day Open
* 1985 Gibbs Nine-Ball Shootout
* 1985 Charlotte Open
* 1985 East Coast Open
* 1985 Cowboy Casino Nine-ball Championship
* 1984 World Nine-Ball Open
* 1984 Caesars Tahoe Classic
* 1984 Dayton Open
* 1983 Dayton Open 9-ball Championship
* 1983 Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship
* 1982 Caesar's Tahoe Nine-ball Championship

[edit] References

1. ^ Buddy Hall profile, ATY.com. Retrieved August 3, 2007[unreliable source?]
2. ^ a b International Pool Tour (2008). "IPT Player Biography: Buddy Hall". http://www.internationalpooltour.com/Players/Bio_Hall_Buddy.aspx. Retrieved 30 Mar. 2009
3. ^ Buddy Hall's Clock System, PoolVideo.com. Retrieved August 4, 2007
4. ^ a b c Forsyth, Jerry (September 1998). "Touching Base with Buddy Hall". Pool & Billiard Magazine Vol. 16, No. 9: 100–101. ISSN 1049-2852.
5. ^ Buddy Hall Industry Bio, BCA-POOL.com. Retrieved August 3, 2007
6. ^ LeBeaux, R.; Peterson, James (2010). "Issue by Issue: Volume 1, Number 1 – August/September 1989". A Memorial Tribute to The Snap Magazine. Tampa, FL: MetroDirect Communications. http://www.thesnapmagazine.com/pages/issues/1.htm. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
7. ^ Buddy Hall Pla

 

[Nostroke]

Buddy thinks Lassiter was the best with 15 wins at Johnston City vs then next best at JC-Shorty with 3 wins. Heard him say it myself.