Earl 99
- Thread starter kaznj
- Start date
I think that guy can play.
Earl is not only a highly capable straight pooler but he has a great love of the game.
I watched Earl practice in the days leading up to the National Straight Pool Championships in 1999 at Amsterdam Billiards in New York and I l really liked the way he practiced. He didn't set up a break-shot to begin a practice inning, but instead racked all fifteen balls and played the standard opening safe break. If he didn't leave a shot, he re-racked and did it again, but usually he left some kind of shot, often a challenging one, and he'd play from there. After any miss,, he racked all fifteen balls and repeated the process.
I asked him about his method and his explanation made perfect sense. First, he said, practicing the opening break was critical, and of course, he was right. He knew that the first good look at a run in a straight pool match often has to be earned. Second, he commented that the first look at a run in a game of straight pool was often a difficult one and he wanted to prepare himself for the kind of position that was typically encountered after an opponent's break.
By preparing diligently for his first inning of any upcoming match, Earl set himself up for success. Had the straight pool era endured in the 1980s instead of being replaced by the nine ball era, I believe Earl would have been right there with Mizerak, Varner, and Sigel as a superstar of 14.1. Earl loves straight pool!
I watched Earl practice in the days leading up to the National Straight Pool Championships in 1999 at Amsterdam Billiards in New York and I l really liked the way he practiced. He didn't set up a break-shot to begin a practice inning, but instead racked all fifteen balls and played the standard opening safe break. If he didn't leave a shot, he re-racked and did it again, but usually he left some kind of shot, often a challenging one, and he'd play from there. After any miss,, he racked all fifteen balls and repeated the process.
I asked him about his method and his explanation made perfect sense. First, he said, practicing the opening break was critical, and of course, he was right. He knew that the first good look at a run in a straight pool match often has to be earned. Second, he commented that the first look at a run in a game of straight pool was often a difficult one and he wanted to prepare himself for the kind of position that was typically encountered after an opponent's break.
By preparing diligently for his first inning of any upcoming match, Earl set himself up for success. Had the straight pool era endured in the 1980s instead of being replaced by the nine ball era, I believe Earl would have been right there with Mizerak, Varner, and Sigel as a superstar of 14.1. Earl loves straight pool!
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That would be more a testament of ball pocketing ability than 14.1 ability. He obviously has tremendous ball pocketing ability and also excellent 14.1 ability. Anyone established as a great ball pocketer, can run a lot of balls in 14.1, once they learn how to manage the racks, solve the puzzles, fix the problem situations, avoid the traps, navigate the patterns, create the opportunities, transition from rack to rack, etc. etc.
You see how his run ended, not on a miss, but on a rack transition play, 14.1 is a game way more complicated than many appreciate because so many different things can end a run besides just missing a shot- it is a game of as many "don't do this or that" as it is a game of "do this or that"
Yes, Earl could have been one of the great 14.1 players in legacy for sure had it been the game of choice back in his prime.
You see how his run ended, not on a miss, but on a rack transition play, 14.1 is a game way more complicated than many appreciate because so many different things can end a run besides just missing a shot- it is a game of as many "don't do this or that" as it is a game of "do this or that"
Yes, Earl could have been one of the great 14.1 players in legacy for sure had it been the game of choice back in his prime.
That ain't happening. He's right down thestreet, set it up.
Dennis Orcullo ran 260 on a 4 1/4" pocket table at the 2019 Derby City 14.1 Challenge.
He may love it when he's practicing, and even when he's on a long run during his infrequent tournament appearances, but I don't think he would have been loving the game all that much when Miz or Sigel in the 1980s were dependably raining 100-plus runs regularly on him, with him pinned in the "electric chair" helpless to reply.
I doubt he'd have the acquired temperament to patiently endure that grueling downside to top-level Straight Pool in that era.
Think of Mike Zuglan composedly and patiently hoping for any whiff of a chance to get at the table during Sigel's legendary 150 and-out in that talent-packed 1992 NYC US 14.1 Open. I can't at all see Earl being calmly in control of his feelings when exposed to that kind of experience too often in the 1980s.
Mosconi captured the nature of that "helpless to reply" downside when he said this about our beloved Straight Pool in an interview:
"This game is a man-killer."
Anyway, today's discussion is an interesting "what-if" hypothetical about a pleasantly remembered bygone era.
Arnaldo
I saw that Thorsten is now a House Pro at Amsterdam Billiards- you're right, they are in the same area. Somebody should arrange a match
This site has Hohmann and Strickland tied at 408 for high runs.
Cranfield out of Syracuse high run at 768...Don't see that ever being broken on today's equipment.
I watched the Efren vs Earl 1995 Maine 14.1 video yesterday. Earl is probably a better 14.1 player today than he was then even though he was a better 9 ball player in 1995.
I recently watched the Filler vs Orcollo 14.1 video. At one point Filler tried a low percentage billiard which he missed and opened up the rack for Orcollo. Those guys are capable of running balls as good as the old timers but I suspect if they were to play a guy like Irving Crane is his prime - which lasted a few decades - Crane would have a major advantage in the safety game. Not limited to just Crane either. I saw Bobby Hunter commenting on a 14.1 match a few years ago and he pointed out the flaws in the safety game of the players and how today's players don't have the knowledge in that area.
John Hercke watched Earls high run in one of the rooms in Greensboro where it took place, a bunch of loud mouths came in the room, about near the end of it (probably bringing it to and end ) and was told to quiet down because of what was happening , John said they replied who cares. This was done well before John Schmidt's Mr 400's run happened.