Most dominant cash Nine ball player of any era?
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It seems like I remember SVBs backer saying he didn't want a part of shane playing Wu cause Wu is too strong. SVB is one of my favorite players but unless he has his break down the whole set I don't think he'd beat Wu. Who knows though with top players it could go either way.
IMO Wu is the best pool player in the world today. That is, if he hasn't lost anything during his layoff. I heard we can expect him back starting next year. Watching him play (and Yang in a money match) was like watching pool played at a whole new level. These are two guys who I would definitely say play better than any of yesterday's champions. I know, you never thought you would hear me say that. Well I just did! :smile:
Two years ago I watched Wu treat Shane and Mika like they were babies. He went right through them, like they were rank amateurs. All they could do was walk away shaking their heads. And then Darren Appleton found the wherewithal to beat Wu in the final match of the 2008 World Ten Ball in the most courageous performance I've ever seen on a pool table. It was like David slaying Goliath.
Darren's got me for life after that one. It was no surprise to me that he won the recent U.S. Open. I knew he would show up big on the last day! Mr. Clutch could be his name. His presence alone makes Team Europe a stronger team in this year's Mosconi Cup. JMHO as always.
In tournaments yes, with Buddy getting the best of it overall. Gambling, not that I know of. I think there was a lot of mutual respect and admiration between these two. They were friendly rivals.
Actually Jimmy Moore was the one who was barred from the ring game at Johnston City. And Cornbread was the one who barred him! Don Willis never played in that game to the best of my knowledge. He was there, but preferred staying in the shadows. He didn't want to blow his cover.
I don't remember seeing Harold Worst get in that game either. I just don't think he liked the format of the game, shooting every five turns. It would have been to easy to take him out of the game, if you know what I mean. I have no doubt he would have played any of the participants heads up if they so desired. But not a lot of guys were up to challenging Worst at any game. In his last few years, he was pretty much acknowledged by his peers as the best player.
I remember that tourney...wasn't there a quote from you jay saying " wu played some if the best pool you've ever seen" or something along those lines.....i think he beat Shane like 9-3 or something
The only person around these parts that I never heard of losing was Vernon Elliot...........
Mike
In the Johnson City days I was in college, but Rempe in stroke, Marino in stroke had it on a string. I also was impressed with Ronnie Allens 9 ball game at the time, but when I saw Ronnie give a guy 8-5 and play one handed in the air and run 3 racks in a row all I could do was shake my head in disbelief, couldn't even imagine someone this good. But, Hall ''gets it all'' and during this Greg Stevens era, there were allot of pharmaceutical uppers, black mollies, white crosses, desoxin used, players called it ''chemical warfare''.
Not sure How Searcy fits into this mix....just heard allot about em when I lived in San Fran in 1970 on market, at the Palace.
Not sure How Searcy fits into this mix....just heard allot about em when I lived in San Fran in 1970 on market, at the Palace.
How in the world would a guy who could make a 6 pack last 3 months and never took an Aspirin know anything bout Black mollies,crosses, and Desoxin. LOL!
Cause I got beat, quite a few times not knowing what was going on in my youth, as its nice to see you actually know how to spell them better than I. Everyone back then had a PDR
My addiction was 65 hrs a week on the felt, boy that cost me big:)Hey....who let the dogs out....woof...woof..woof
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Found this, Wu Yu-Lun beat Wu Chia Ching in the junior world 9-ball championships in the finals (and drilled Klatt in about the quarters).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNSzGmDqfWw&feature=related
Supposedly Wu Yu-Lun was a monster of a money player in Taiwan. If he came through the USA like some of the lesser known Filipinos have I dont think the US would like it.
I watched Wu Yu-Lun win the world juniors in Adelaide Australia beating Chia in the finals and I will say this, noone in the place previous to the match was willing to bet against Yu Lun giving any odds despite the fact that Chia ran a 9-pack on a previous opponent.
I will also add, Yu Lun at the juniors had THE hardest break I have ever seen in person. And I have seen Chia, Busta, Alex, Strickland, Archer (back when he drilled em) and almost all of the hard breakers.
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A few years back I talked to Marshall " the Tuscaloosa Squirrel" Carpenter at the One Pocket Hall of Fame Banquet. I asked him how he played Clem Metz. He told me that at one time there wasn't a person on earth he didn't think
he could beat playing one pocket except for Clem! Clem was the definition of a road warrior. He _never_ played in a tournament but he often showed up at tournaments to gamble. He usually offered the winner of the tournament
weight to play for all of the cheese and was turned down by the smart ones!
All of the older generation of top players knew of Clem and most of them avoided him like the plague! Vernon Elliot was another player cut from the same cloth. He also avoided playing in any tournaments and was a master of
proposition shots. He practiced seemingly impossible shots until he got where he could make them a reasonably good amount of the time. Then he would trap some rich suckers who had no clue who he was and ask for 5 or 10
tries at these impossible shots. He was usually even money to make them on each try and won a lot of money on his proposition shots. Even some of the top players who knew Vernon would sometimes "go off" just to see it
done! He was one of the best bankers ever and no one really knew his true top speed because he never showed more than he had to, to take down the money! I called both of these guys friends and knew better than to ever
bet against them, no matter what the game!
he could beat playing one pocket except for Clem! Clem was the definition of a road warrior. He _never_ played in a tournament but he often showed up at tournaments to gamble. He usually offered the winner of the tournament
weight to play for all of the cheese and was turned down by the smart ones!
All of the older generation of top players knew of Clem and most of them avoided him like the plague! Vernon Elliot was another player cut from the same cloth. He also avoided playing in any tournaments and was a master of
proposition shots. He practiced seemingly impossible shots until he got where he could make them a reasonably good amount of the time. Then he would trap some rich suckers who had no clue who he was and ask for 5 or 10
tries at these impossible shots. He was usually even money to make them on each try and won a lot of money on his proposition shots. Even some of the top players who knew Vernon would sometimes "go off" just to see it
done! He was one of the best bankers ever and no one really knew his true top speed because he never showed more than he had to, to take down the money! I called both of these guys friends and knew better than to ever
bet against them, no matter what the game!
My favorite Clem story
Excerpt from The GosPool According to the Beard:
Eugene "Cincinnati Clem" Metz might have been the toughest safety player of them all. Jersey Red told the story of when Clem was playing "Connecticut Johnny" Vives (winner of the first Johnston City One-Pocket tournament). Clem and Vives had been playing for many hours. Vives had been on a starvation shot-diet, getting nothing good to shoot during the whole session. Clem was squeezing him like a python.
Finally, Vives spots Clem looking up-table at a long bank shot. It looked like Clem was finally going to leave Vives far-away, but at least leave a shot toward Johnny's pocket.
Vives nudged Jersey Red as if to say, "Lookie here, Clem is going to finally loosen up and give me a shot at my hole." Vives's hopes were soon dashed when Clem shot up-table at the long bank and drew the cue ball back into the stack!
Beard
Excerpt from The GosPool According to the Beard:
Eugene "Cincinnati Clem" Metz might have been the toughest safety player of them all. Jersey Red told the story of when Clem was playing "Connecticut Johnny" Vives (winner of the first Johnston City One-Pocket tournament). Clem and Vives had been playing for many hours. Vives had been on a starvation shot-diet, getting nothing good to shoot during the whole session. Clem was squeezing him like a python.
Finally, Vives spots Clem looking up-table at a long bank shot. It looked like Clem was finally going to leave Vives far-away, but at least leave a shot toward Johnny's pocket.
Vives nudged Jersey Red as if to say, "Lookie here, Clem is going to finally loosen up and give me a shot at my hole." Vives's hopes were soon dashed when Clem shot up-table at the long bank and drew the cue ball back into the stack!
Beard
I'm really glad you mentioned Joey Spaeth in your list. He was a very good friend of mine. In fact I was a pall bearer at his and his son's Gary Spaeths funerals. Joey doesn't get nearly the recognition he deserves! I personally thank you for the recognition!
Luther & Don W.