Greatest 9 Ball Player Dead/alive

Wedge said:
Wow...just going through a search on Jimmy Matz. I would like to clarify some points. Jimmy's parents were not wealthy. His dad owned a car dealership around Reading, PA. Secondly, the Winnabego belonged to Jerry Rauenzahn his traveling partner and now a well known cue maker. Thirdly, I seriosly doubt that anyone in the world could have given Jimmy the 7 and the 8 and win unless Jimmy was dumping for a reason.
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If $Bill states it, that is good enough for me. The man has been up and down the pike and he does know and understand the game.

Dan Louie during that time was an absolure monster and I believe that spot could have happened. There are a lot of those stories from those days. Players back then were a different breed altogether, everything was different. Players would lock in on a table, figure the break out and then give up outlanish weight to some you wouldn't believe. They bet it up and would do it for literally days on end and may not miss a ball for endless hours and hours.

It is so hard to compare the players of yester year to the ones of today. They played on different equipment and played for different reasons. They played until the whole joint was busted or until they were busted and busted out. They were guys who played mostly on instinct and wisdom. Todays players on much more technical and just don't understand yesterdays mentality about the game or the life.

I'm not knocking either one at all. Things change and the world of pool changed back in the late 70"s and early 80's and it will never be the same. Road agents showed up at tournaments not giving a hoot in hell about the tournament. It was the action and what could be won in the back room. For todays players, the action is a big distraction. Todays players with TV and ithe internet want the exposure and the fame with empty pockets. Yesterdays players could have cared less about that. It was about shootin em down.
 
ironman said:
If $Bill states it, that is good enough for me. The man has been up and down the pike and he does know and understand the game.

Dan Louie during that time was an absolure monster and I believe that spot could have happened. There are a lot of those stories from those days. Players back then were a different breed altogether, everything was different. Players would lock in on a table, figure the break out and then give up outlanish weight to some you wouldn't believe. They bet it up and would do it for literally days on end and may not miss a ball for endless hours and hours.

It is so hard to compare the players of yester year to the ones of today. They played on different equipment and played for different reasons. They played until the whole joint was busted or until they were busted and busted out. They were guys who played mostly on instinct and wisdom. Todays players on much more technical and just don't understand yesterdays mentality about the game or the life.

I'm not knocking either one at all. Things change and the world of pool changed back in the late 70"s and early 80's and it will never be the same. Road agents showed up at tournaments not giving a hoot in hell about the tournament. It was the action and what could be won in the back room. For todays players, the action is a big distraction. Todays players with TV and ithe internet want the exposure and the fame with empty pockets. Yesterdays players could have cared less about that. It was about shootin em down.
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Very astute opinion, one which I have been trying to form into words for years now. It's just too hard to explain, unless you lived through it and witnessed the transformation of pool, American style! :)
 
If I could play 9 ball like anyone in the world at their best it would be Earl Strickland, if I could play one pocket like anyone in the world it would be Efren, straight pool would be Mosconi or Greenleaf, alive it would be Thorsten Hohmann. I do believe Efren is still the best all around player, who will take over that, I would think Alex Pagulyan will. I do admire Archer, he just keeps performing at such a high level and its been about 20 years now. :)
 
blud said:
Back then buddy had a few bull dogs and ran with them 7 to 8 miles every day. he was in good shape. Played all comers, and loved to gamble.

Snip

blud
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I want to see a Bull Dog that can run 7 or 8 miles, most "English Bulldogs" that I have owned or ever seen couldn't run 100 yards much less a mile.

They drool alot and nap frequently. Are you sure they were Bull Dogs?Just a thought.
 
Rickw said:
Efren "Bata" Reyes. When he beat Earl in that marathon match in Hong Kong, he removed all doubt. I also think that because he is so good at several other games too, it makes his 9 ball game that much better. His only problem is his break.
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I never did get to see the end of that match. Efren beat Earl?
 
Don't care what anyone says about Efren, the Miz, Sigel, or anyone else. :nono:

Earl is the King of 9 ball, period. :yes:
 
I'd like to add the name Raphael Martinez to the mix...right now, he's giving Thorsten a battle...4-4
at the predator 10 ball thing
 
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dr9ball said:
I want to see a Bull Dog that can run 7 or 8 miles, most "English Bulldogs" that I have owned or ever seen couldn't run 100 yards much less a mile.

They drool alot and nap frequently. Are you sure they were Bull Dogs?Just a thought.
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I'm with that dude:woot:
 
Matt_24 said:
In the 70's not NOBODY could beat Buddy Hall for the CASH. Ask any player about that. Ask Reyes about that one. Hall was the best in the 70's. He is still phenomenal, but in the 70's unstoppable.
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I believe Hemicudas once posted on here that Buddy Hall turned down some action with Kid Cole Dickson because he had too much good action in the town he was in.

IMO, the best 9 ball player on the planet was Cole.
 
Great thead guys. I've enjoyed reading everyones opinion. But of coarse everybody has differrent veiws and favs. Everyone mentioned on here is well deserving of praise and recognition but IMO Efren is the ipitame (spelling?)of modern day pool. I also believe that Alex isn't that far behind. He may be the one that everybody talks about if he keeps growing the way that he is now.
 
This should actually be a very easy answer. It's not who your favorite all time 9-ball player is. The question is who is the best ever!! That's simple!! Without a doubt, it's Earl "The Pearl" Strickland. How can you argue with 5 US Open titles, a 3 World Championships? You can't!!

Mike Sigel is my all time favorite player, but both at their peaks, I still think Earl gets him. Mike Sigel is to me the best all around player of all time, with Efren a close second. But we're just talking 9-ball and that title definitely belongs to Earl!!

Regardless of how crazy he is now!!
 
instroke said:
well...........sumwhers Efren was quoted as saying the following after losing to Buddy in a money match and three times in tournament matches, "Buddy, you never meees." (I think it was in Buddy's book lol.)

John
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Efren has said that Mike Sigel is the best player he ever played.

IMO Sigel was the most consistent tournament player ever (9-ball), while Strickland's top gear was second to none (9-ball).
 
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Not so...

King Cueball said:
In my mind Efren Reyes is the Best today and the best of all time. I dont think anyone plays the game like him. He has better cueball control than everyone who has ever played the game nobody kicks or plays saftey"s like he does. In fact i dont think ive ever seen him miss to many banks, So my vote is for BATA!
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So everyone knows.. Efren Reyes doesn't have the greatest cue ball of all time!! I know its a shock to you but it's statistical fact. Accu-Stats did a statistical analysis of the games of the top pros for the last 30 years and the one who scored highest was Buddy Hall. He had the fewest errors with regards to cue ball position than any one over a long period of time. Number 2 was Nick Varner in case you were wondering.

As to the question at hand, it isn't right for people to say that Efren's the best 9 ball player ever because he plays other games phenomenal... we're talking purely 9 ball here. In my opinion the Best natural 9 ball player ever was Earl Strickland. His style of play is perfectly suited for 9 ball, with his shotmaking, break, and the fact that he could beat you from any scoreline is extremely impressive. Another strong Accu-stats stat was that Earl Had the most come from behind wins of some large margin than any one.

Another interesting piece of information is that Efren said that Mike Siegel was the most intelligent player he ever played, Siegel said the toughest player he ever played was Earl Strickland.

I also wanted to let people know that I think Efren doesn't have the best cue ball of all time (fact), however I think that Efren has more ability with the cueball than anyone to ever hold a cue. He has proven time and again that no position on the table is safe when he is shooting.. just ask Earl.

With regards to Buddy Hall.. He went like 4 years when he was Gambling without losing a match. That is unprecedented considering he took on all comers and usually gave out a spot. To my understanding when he played EFren he was giving him the 8 ball and beat him out of ten thousand!... so with all that being said here's my list of top 9 ballplayers

1)Earl Strickland
2)Buddy Hall
3)Efren Reyes
4)Johnny Archer
5)Mike Sigel

Hope you guys find this post interesting. I'll be glad to hear your responses. Good Luck and Good Debating!! :thumbup:

P.S.
Don't forget Earl was the best at jumping full cue... he invented it and its another powerful aspect of his game...
 
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miko said:
If you're going to gauge the best player based on the number of chmapionships won, then i would vote for Earl. I would vote for Efren though based on the impact he had on the game. He revolutionized the way 9-ball is being played imo
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Mike Sigel has the most Tournament wins of any player in history...if you base it on tournaments he's number 1..
 
I vote for Earl Strickland.

I've seen him win matches from spots where anyone else would have been toast.

I remember a match from the Sands, in the early 90's against The Miz. Both guys were playing great, it was tied at 8 apiece, race to 15. Earl got a shot and ran out the set...
 
rayshooter22 said:
So everyone knows.. Efren Reyes doesn't have the greatest cue ball of all time!! I know its a shock to you but it's statistical fact. Accu-Stats did a statistical analysis of the games of the top pros for the last 30 years and the one who scored highest was Buddy Hall. He had the fewest errors with regards to cue ball position than any one over a long period of time. Number 2 was Nick Varner in case you were wondering.

As to the question at hand, it isn't right for people to say that Efren's the best 9 ball player ever because he plays other games phenomenal... we're talking purely 9 ball here. In my opinion the Best natural 9 ball player ever was Earl Strickland. His style of play is perfectly suited for 9 ball, with his shotmaking, break, and the fact that he could beat you from any scoreline is extremely impressive. Another strong Accu-stats stat was that Earl Had the most come from behind wins of some large margin than any one.

Another interesting piece of information is that Efren said that Mike Siegel was the most intelligent player he ever played, Siegel said the toughest player he ever played was Earl Strickland.

I also wanted to let people know that I think Efren doesn't have the best cue ball of all time (fact), however I think that Efren has more ability with the cueball than anyone to ever hold a cue. He has proven time and again that no position on the table is safe when he is shooting.. just ask Earl.

With regards to Buddy Hall.. He went like 4 years when he was Gambling without losing a match. That is unprecedented considering he took on all comers and usually gave out a spot. To my understanding when he played EFren he was giving him the 8 ball and beat him out of ten thousand!... so with all that being said here's my list of top 9 ballplayers

1)Earl Strickland
2)Buddy Hall
3)Efren Reyes
4)Johnny Archer
5)Mike Sigel

Hope you guys find this post interesting. I'll be glad to hear your responses. Good Luck and Good Debating!! :thumbup:

P.S.
Don't forget Earl was the best at jumping full cue... he invented it and its another powerful aspect of his game...
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It would be very hard to argue against your list.
 
All Dead-best 9 ballers were straight pool runners

Luther Lassiter, Irving Crane,Willie Mosconi,Jimmy Caras,Andrew Ponzi,and Erwin Rudolph, Steve Mizerak, Buddy hall, Jimmy Rempe,Mike sigel,Earl Strickland. The order isn't important. These are the best 9 ballers!!
 
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