I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Those who deem players are the "Best" in these who's-the-best threads based their opinions on what they have actually seen with their own eyes.
It is absolutely impossible for anyone on this forum to know how strong Keith McCready played in his heyday, including myself, unless they were there and had the opportunity to see ALL players in their prime. I never knew Keith when he was in his prime.
What separates Keith's game from Buddy Hall, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, Jim Rempe, and Mike Sigel -- the top players of Keith's era -- is that Keith was an offensive shooter, more so than defensive, and he went for everything because he believed he could make it. And sometimes, much to the surprise of his opponents, he did. Check out the 2003 match against Keith and Jose Parica at the U.S. Open on Accu-Stats.
Who can ever forget when he was getting ready to shoot the game ball in against Alex Pagulayan for the almighty win at the '03 Open. It was a nice, easy straight-in shot on the 9-rock. Why couldn't he just shoot the sucker in? Nope, not Keith. He already had the full attention of every single attendee in the Chesapeake Conference Center watching his game. They had to stop the TV table because even Efren and Bustie were sweating Keith and Alex. Johnny Archer was playing alongside Keith's table against Howard Vickery, and Johnny was extremely pissed off and just sat in his chair until Keith and Alex were through. I was extremely pissed off sitting in the audience, watching Keith prance around the table like a ballerina.
So, instead of knocking the 9 in for the win, Keith looks up at his fans in the stands while he's actually stroking the ball, NEVER lookihg at the pocket, and yells out, "And you can put this on the Internet." He missed the pocket by a mile. I remember hearing Sally Timko from InsidePOOL magazine in the audience yelling out, "And we will." Watching Keith compete at the Open that year was like sitting on the Rebel Yell roller-coaster at King's Dominion. :angry:
To this day, I don't know of anyone who won $360,000-plus gambling. There's an interesting story about this match, which I'm saving for another day, but it happened.
I do know that players came from all over the country to California, i.e., Larry Hubbert, Mike Sigel, Wade Crane, et cetera, and left with empty pockets. When Efren Reyes hit the States, his "advisors" and steermen would not let him play Keith McCready initially. They knew it wasn't a dead giveaway, and that there was an element of surprise with Keith's game. Nobody ever knew which Keith was going to show up.
Now, that said, I ain't taking nothing away from the bar table champions that are heralded on this forum. I know Keith has a great deal of respect of Dave Matlock, as an example, nd the two of them remain friends today.
. I agree that recklessness doesn't define a good gambler, but what I'm saying, and what everybody else here knows, is that keith in his prime had a gear that almost nobody could touch, and that asset gave him the confidence to gamble with anybody. You call it reckless because you say he doesn't care, I would call it confidence because he always believed he was just that great.
