davidhop said:
and.......um......which tournament doesn't allow the WPC champion to play????????
VAP
Is Alex the Best Player Alive?
- Thread starter sjm
- Start date
and.......um......which tournament doesn't allow the WPC champion to play????????
VAP
The best players today
Don't forget Rodney and Ralf and all the Chinese champs. Oh and did i mention the other Filipinos like Marlon and friends.
sjm said:
Don't forget Rodney and Ralf and all the Chinese champs. Oh and did i mention the other Filipinos like Marlon and friends.
Alex's height
Barely 5'3" if that.
Snapshot9 said:
Barely 5'3" if that.
sjm said:
We can only hope that the IPT and the major paydays will bring out the Asian contingent and make this a true international sport where the best players in the world compete against each other instead of the segmented pool scenes we get today.
jay helfert said:
None of them are contenders for the title of the "best" player in the world atm. We are not talking about the great players, we are talking about the one top player over all others, the Tiger Woods of the pool world. Morris is not even close to that nor is Souquet nor is Marlon. You have to actually win huge events to get nominated.
davidhop said:
chris futrell is 16 and played.
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Samy Strokes
Registered
Alex's coordination
I don't know if he's the best yet, but I have to say that he is probably the most physically gifted player I've seen.
When I went out to the reno open last year to watch a friend play I met him while I was hanging out near the craps tables with said friend. Alex has had a few drinks of something or other, and had everyone around him laughing. He really is a very fun guy to be around, you can't help but have a good time.
So anyway, he first bets my friend a drink that he can take the full glass that just arived and flip it upside down and all the way around without spilling a drop. He had to see it, so he made the bet and sure enough he did it. This may be some cheap trick that's easy to learn, but at the time we were pretty impressed.
Once he finished that drink he was ready for another, so he bet another guy for a drink. This is what really impressed me. After drinking more than his fair share, Alex bet that he could with his arms raised up, raise one leg in the air at a 90 degree angle and crouch down untill his rear end was only about an inch if that off the floor, his raised leg staying straight, and rise back up again to standing position, again with his leg staying straight out, without tiping over or touching the floor with anything but the heel of the foot that was already on the ground. (whew that run on sentence has me winded) The bet was made and he accomplished it quite simply. He even held the pose at the bottom for a second or two and he was stable as a rock.
If he's not the best yet he certainly has the physical gifts required to be the agreed upon best in the world.
Samy
I don't know if he's the best yet, but I have to say that he is probably the most physically gifted player I've seen.
When I went out to the reno open last year to watch a friend play I met him while I was hanging out near the craps tables with said friend. Alex has had a few drinks of something or other, and had everyone around him laughing. He really is a very fun guy to be around, you can't help but have a good time.
So anyway, he first bets my friend a drink that he can take the full glass that just arived and flip it upside down and all the way around without spilling a drop. He had to see it, so he made the bet and sure enough he did it. This may be some cheap trick that's easy to learn, but at the time we were pretty impressed.
Once he finished that drink he was ready for another, so he bet another guy for a drink. This is what really impressed me. After drinking more than his fair share, Alex bet that he could with his arms raised up, raise one leg in the air at a 90 degree angle and crouch down untill his rear end was only about an inch if that off the floor, his raised leg staying straight, and rise back up again to standing position, again with his leg staying straight out, without tiping over or touching the floor with anything but the heel of the foot that was already on the ground. (whew that run on sentence has me winded) The bet was made and he accomplished it quite simply. He even held the pose at the bottom for a second or two and he was stable as a rock.
If he's not the best yet he certainly has the physical gifts required to be the agreed upon best in the world.
Samy
The Best Player
So your criteria for the best player is who wins the biggest tournaments.
That is a valid criteria, but not the only one. Just like in Poker where the best players do not necessarily win tournaments (they play the biggest money games), pool has always had similar greats.
Over the last 15 years or so the most feared money player on the planet was surprisingly not Efren, but Jose. Do you know he has beaten every top player for the cash and spotted many of them. Until recently Alex wanted no part of him.
During the 70's and 80's when Sigel, Strickland, Hall etc were the kings of tournament pool, there was a guy running around the country winning ten times as much as any of them. His name was Jack Cooney. He NEVER showed his face at a tourney. And yet he may have been the best player of his era. Without doubt he was the biggest money winner.
Another one that comes to mind was Denny Searcy. Ever hear of him, probably not. His specialty was going to tournaments at the end and challenging the winner to play a set for all they had just won. Sigel et al were not barred from this offer. And guess what, if that tournament champion took Denny up on his offer, it looked like a robbery.
This is in no way meant to demean your opinion. Only to point out that the best player may not be the guy whose picture is on the front page of BD.
From what I've heard (I do not have first hand knowledge) the Russian Stalev may be the man to beat right now for the cash. I'd like to see him hook up with Alex. Take care Celtic
Celtic said:
So your criteria for the best player is who wins the biggest tournaments.
That is a valid criteria, but not the only one. Just like in Poker where the best players do not necessarily win tournaments (they play the biggest money games), pool has always had similar greats.
Over the last 15 years or so the most feared money player on the planet was surprisingly not Efren, but Jose. Do you know he has beaten every top player for the cash and spotted many of them. Until recently Alex wanted no part of him.
During the 70's and 80's when Sigel, Strickland, Hall etc were the kings of tournament pool, there was a guy running around the country winning ten times as much as any of them. His name was Jack Cooney. He NEVER showed his face at a tourney. And yet he may have been the best player of his era. Without doubt he was the biggest money winner.
Another one that comes to mind was Denny Searcy. Ever hear of him, probably not. His specialty was going to tournaments at the end and challenging the winner to play a set for all they had just won. Sigel et al were not barred from this offer. And guess what, if that tournament champion took Denny up on his offer, it looked like a robbery.
This is in no way meant to demean your opinion. Only to point out that the best player may not be the guy whose picture is on the front page of BD.
From what I've heard (I do not have first hand knowledge) the Russian Stalev may be the man to beat right now for the cash. I'd like to see him hook up with Alex. Take care Celtic
davidhop said:
So now I know, N.Carolina is not too far from Tennesee or Virginia.
And kinda close to Georgia, right? lol
jay helfert said:
You made some excellent points. The action players have certainly earned your respect and mine.
Still, when it comes to deciding who's the best, there is only one way. Put all the great players in the same place at the same time and after they all duke it out, find out who's the last man standing. That's what the major tournaments do.
It's a lot easier to wear down even the most worthy opponent in an action situation than it is to knock off champion after champion to win a major title.
Action games give you room for error. Winning five sets out of eight gets it done in action pool but it's not nearly good enough in tournament play. An hour of poor play may or may not bury you playing fifteen ahead.
It's not about the money, otherwise my idol would be the B player who beats another B player out of 5,000,000.
Greatness is about beating the best, one right after another. Only a few are up to this profound challenge, and only they have the right to be called the best.
I admire the action players, and do appreciate that many of them are wonderful and gifted players, but greatness is about sustained excellence, and only a tournament tests one's ability to produce scintillating stretches of sustained excellence.
Sorry I dont agree. It all rests on the schedule and the pick. You get lined up with tough players and lose one set you go on the losers side. Then you get scheduled with 5 matches in one day and make it to the finals and have to get up in the morning to play your semi final. All the while your opponent gets some soft matches and can get that rest to play the finals in the early evening.
If tournaments were a round robin kind of thing it would be a greater test.
Action matches are head on one to one matches with the better player ending up on top. There is no "bye" or easy matches or getting afternoon matches. Its just you and him.
So I feel action matches is just as good a barometer. I agree with Jay. Jose is one of the best.
If tournaments were a round robin kind of thing it would be a greater test.
Action matches are head on one to one matches with the better player ending up on top. There is no "bye" or easy matches or getting afternoon matches. Its just you and him.
So I feel action matches is just as good a barometer. I agree with Jay. Jose is one of the best.
Alex - I doubt it -
from what i hear alex has not beat any of the top phillipino - philippino players for money. rather players like dennis orcullio own him. before the WPC dennis won 40.000 large american dollars. from alex. i dont think the best player in the world have that kind loss. in my mind he is a top 10 player. he also has the reputation of being a Trick at all forms of wagering. should not be a hero type for young players.
from what i hear alex has not beat any of the top phillipino - philippino players for money. rather players like dennis orcullio own him. before the WPC dennis won 40.000 large american dollars. from alex. i dont think the best player in the world have that kind loss. in my mind he is a top 10 player. he also has the reputation of being a Trick at all forms of wagering. should not be a hero type for young players.