Mike Dechaine. America's Second Best Player

[nine_ball6970]

I totally agree with the sentiment, talk with facts!
Hard statistics tell the story.

So, going back to the very first post:

By big tournament finishes, Mike is pretty clearly the 2nd best player.

By money, we have 5 players finishing ahead of Mike - Shane, a four hall-of-famers.
Subtract the $10,000 those players got just for showing up to the Mosconi Cup,
and two of those HoF players (Earl and Johnny) finish below Mike.

That's in 2013. In 2012, only Johnny and Shane finished ahead of MD.

Speaking of money...
A lot of people keep mentioning Bergman. I think it's a flavor-of-the-week thing.
I don't understand why anyone would mention him ahead of Hall.
Are people getting them confused lol?

Yes, he won a DCC 1-pocket and that's extremely strong.
But what else has he done in the past 5 years?
He had a magical year in 2008. But the stats seem to show that was kind of a fluke.
Which one of these 2 looks more tournament-seasoned and consistent?

Bergman is definitely one of the top players in the US. He just hasn't been playing much pool the past couple years, Now that he is starting to get back to playing you will hear about him more and more. A couple of weeks ago he beat Carlo Biado in the finals to win the big tournament in Sacramento. SVB, Appleton, etc were there so it was a very strong field.

 

[DRW]

This is yet another flawed argument thread based on short race tournaments. It's the exact same as all of those idiots that still say Shane isn't the best because he hasn't won any of the handful of events he's travelled to overseas.

Would Mike play Johnny a big race for big money? If the answer is yes, it's because he either hates money or is getting staked by someone. And while I respect Bergman's and the other young guns' games, there is a whole list of guys that would horsef#$% them for the cash.

Dan Marino never won a Super Bowl, so was Trent Dilfer the better QB? Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood, and Sergio Garcia have never won majors but would you rather have Ben Curtis or John Daly putting with your life or money on the line?

I just get extremely tired of people saying that these "tourney" guys are the better player when it's just not the case. If the MC is based on tourney points then let that be the criteria, but don't tell me that Shane isn't better than all of these so called European and Asian champions because he hasn't won a race to 7 tourney overseas. Likewise, don't tell me that Dechaine is the 2nd best American because he finished in the top 10 of a handful of short race tourneys over here.

I'm whit chew on this.

 

[sjm]

Bergman is definitely one of the top players in the US. He just hasn't been playing much pool the past couple years, Now that he is starting to get back to playing you will hear about him more and more. A couple of weeks ago he beat Carlo Biado in the finals to win the big tournament in Sacramento. SVB, Appleton, etc were there so it was a very strong field.

Nice post. I have enormous respect for Justin Hall. He and Bergman are both great emerging talents. As all-around players, they are two of America's best for sure, and to date, as you note, Hall has acocmplished more. I'm enjoyimg watching their continual development as players.