Freddy and Grady... Who was the best ever above the table one pocket

C

CrossSideLarry

Cross Side Larry
Silver Member
All input is appreciated but since Freddy The Beard and Grady are highly respected one pocket officianados. I will ask them first:

Was Ronnie Allen truly the best ever at playing one pocket above the table. Also, is there anyone out there today who could match his skills playing above the table?

Cross Side Larry
 
Deleted..no and no..
I saw...8 and out two racks in a row...he...RA was considered 'tame' with 'one in the air' compared to his two handed normal game (tho at times his in the air play was better than his normal game). RA was something special in his prime, just a step below the publics noriety of Fatty in his day being recognized as a pool player for a living, not bad if your just amazing at your chosen trade. I thought of RA and J Niklaus in the same breath, they had, in their prime what it takes to win.
 
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CrossSideLarry said:
All input is appreciated but since Freddy The Beard and Grady are highly respected one pocket officianados. I will ask them first:

Was Ronnie Allen truly the best ever at playing one pocket above the table. Also, is there anyone out there today who could match his skills playing above the table?

Cross Side Larry
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What about Danny Diliberto? Danny will be Grady on any day in 1-hole. Freddie? I Dunno, Could be close! Freddie and Danny are both truly amazing! So is Grady, All have done a tremedous amount for this game!
 
Mully...I think Island Drive was answering the OP. He was saying that 'no', Ronnie was NOT the best one-handed, jacked up 1-hole player then...and 'no', that none of today's players could beat him that way. There were many great one-handed, jacked up players back then.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

mullyman said:
Then what does it mean?
MULLY
seriously
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Comparing "apples to antelope" !

alstl said:
Omaha Fats, greatest one handed player in the world.
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Sir, you are grossly mis-informed. For you to think that Fat's (Martin)
could have EVER won RA's cash, playing "jacked up" is ludicrous. :rolleyes:
(Funsies, maybe. Cash NEVER.)

Dick
 
Fast Davie NC said:
What about Danny Diliberto? Danny will be Grady on any day in 1-hole. Freddie? I Dunno, Could be close! Freddie and Danny are both truly amazing! So is Grady, All have done a tremedous amount for this game!
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Davie,

Neither Danny D, Freddy, nor Grady, would even consider playing Ronnie, even up, one-handed, in those day's. Anyone of them will admit that. ( I think.) ;)

Dick

PS. Also, picking Danny D over Grady in 1pkt, could get you seriously broke, in a long session ! :eek:
 
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SJDinPHX said:
Davie,

Neither Danny D, Freddy, nor Grady, would even consider playing Ronnie, even up, one-handed, in those day's. Anyone of them will admit that. ( I think.) ;)

Dick

PS. Also, picking Danny D over Grady in 1pkt, could get you seriously broke, in a long session ! :eek:
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Hey Dick, how 'd you rate Rogoff's game (jack-up)?
 
SJDinPHX said:
Sir, you are grossly mis-informed. For you to think that Fat's (Martin)
could have EVER won RA's cash, playing "jacked up" is ludicrous. :rolleyes:
(Funsies, maybe. Cash NEVER.)

Dick
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Funsies of course. I don't know if Ronnie has ever gambled at pool. :grin-square:
 
It was tuff enough playing with 2 hands

SJDinPHX said:
Davie,

Neither Danny D, Freddy, nor Grady, would even consider playing Ronnie, even up, one-handed, in those day's. Anyone of them will admit that. ( I think.) ;)

Dick

PS. Also, picking Danny D over Grady in 1pkt, could get you seriously broke, in a long session ! :eek:
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I could never play a lick with 1 hand, behind the back, left-handed, jacked-up, look-away, etc. My only gaff was to play on one leg. Omaha Fats was a $3 to $5 player and usually only played very weak players. I would pick the 3Puerto Ricans, Agusatate, Chico from Puerto Rico, and Little Miami over RA in jacked-up talent, and they were the favorites playing any straight-in game, but they had no chance playing 1pkt. with Ronnie. Eddie Taylor was unbeatable playing 1handed banks. Artie never lost playing 1handed 8ball (he even beat Agusatate). Mike Massey could draw the ball around the table jacked up. Pancho could get 9 rails on a billiard table 1handed. Bunny played good 1hnded 8 ball. Incidentally, if you have never seen Ronnie Allen shooting a big money tuff shot, 1handed, jacked in the air, drinking out of a beer bottle in the other hand, you have truly missed something special. When Hopkins was a 21yr old kid, running hundreds, Ronnie played him 1pkt, 1 hand to 2 at Jack and Jills in Arlington, VA. He played Earl the same way.

the Beard
 
Thanks to Freddie and San Jose Dick for setting the record straight. I heard stories all the time about how great Goosatay (my spelling) was, but I never saw the man play. He was supposed to be the best one handed player ever. BUT NOT AT ONE POCKET! In One Pocket Ronnie was the KING! And playing one handed he was only that much more superior. I did see him play, a hundred times. He never ceased to amaze me at what he could do.

Ronnie could and did run eight and out frequently with one duke. His moves were just as effective and his shot making was nearly as good. He maybe played two balls under his two handed game. He once told me he couldn't give himself 8-6 two handed to one, and I believed him.

I did see Ronnie lose playing one Handed. Once. But it wasn't One Pocket. He was playing Little Sergio "jacked up" 9-Ball at the Orange County Sports Arena in about 1987. Ronnie tried to get him to play One Pocket the same way, even offering him a spot (all the breaks), but Sergio wouldn't go for it.

There may have been half a dozen guys with Ronnie's ability to play one handed. But NO ONE was even close to him playing one handed One Pocket. Not then, and not today!

By the way, Omaha Fats wasn't in the same league with the guys mentioned here by Freddie or me. They would have crucified him!
 
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My memories of Ronnie's one-handed play

Ronnie regularly beat guys like Calhoun, Harry the Horse, San Diego Dave playing even One Pocket. All the smart guys told me I couldn't beat him playing his one-handed to two but I knew they were wrong because even as a young player I just ran too many balls and I was starting to know the game pretty well too.
So I scrounged up $1,500 and played him $500 a game in Charlie Millikin's joint in Norwalk. I won $5,000. One of the biggest keys to my success in that match was that I left the cue ball in the middle of the table as much as I could. Ronnie was deadly with that one duke if left on the rail.
 
Grady said:
Ronnie regularly beat guys like Calhoun, Harry the Horse, San Diego Dave playing even One Pocket. All the smart guys told me I couldn't beat him playing his one-handed to two but I knew they were wrong because even as a young player I just ran too many balls and I was starting to know the game pretty well too.
So I scrounged up $1,500 and played him $500 a game in Charlie Millikin's joint in Norwalk. I won $5,000. One of the biggest keys to my success in that match was that I left the cue ball in the middle of the table as much as I could. Ronnie was deadly with that one duke if left on the rail.
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This is true. And if you were learning the game it was because you kept playing Ronnie. I watched you two play a few times, including in Norwalk. Now tell the truth again Grady, what kind of game was Ronnie giving you then playing two handed? Remember I was a witness.
 
Fast Davie NC said:
What about Danny Diliberto? Danny will be Grady on any day in 1-hole. Freddie? I Dunno, Could be close! Freddie and Danny are both truly amazing! So is Grady, All have done a tremedous amount for this game!
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Your pitching Danny pretty hard, which is a good thing but Danny himself would tell you Marcel Camp was the man playing One Pocket. The Danny/Ronnie match from AZ in the 80's was a testament of HIG OCTANE ONE POCKET. Cook, Ervolino, Shorty...too many greats to narrow it down, my choice would be Ronnie.
 
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