Most powerful stroke ever?

bud green said:
I hope Watchez doesn't mind me putting up part of an earlier post by him:

I remember one year in Olathe during a tournament, they used to have a 5 x 10 Snooker table there. Jon Kucharo got into a stroke contest with Larry where they would pocket a ball in the corner & then draw their cue ball back. Everyone in the building wanted to bet on Larry, most had seen him do shots like the jacked up draw shot off the end rail as another poster described. Whitey Walker pulled me aside & told me to empty out on Kucharo. I looked at him like he was crazy but he said told me it was a sure bet, so I did. Kucharo robbed Nevel at this every time. He would draw the cue back to the end rail and then back past the side pocket. The last bet between them, Kucharo grabbed a one piece house cue off the wall & still beat him.
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Really? Jon Kucharo?
I would have never believed it.
Is he still playing....anywhere?

Steve H.
 

The only equivalent I've seen in other individual sports is David Duval. One day he was right there battling Tiger Woods, and a short time later he couldn't shoot par anymore. Ten years later he is trying to resurrect his career, with spotty results. Once they fall, they never seem able to make it back.
Steve Howe of the Dodgers and Dwight Gooden of the Mets come to mind.
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Just name ONE player that you think has the most powerful stroke ever in the history of pool. I would love to see Jay, Billy, Grady, Keith, and any one else who has been around the game for a long time chime in here.

Lets just keep it at pool, because personally if it were just all cue sports I would say pick a 3-cushion player and you win.
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Larry Nevel, it's not even close.

In fact, at one tournament I attended they had Mike Massey doing a show and when it came time to do the frozen on the rail jacked up spear the ball and draw it three rails to make another ball in the opposite corner pocket shot, Massey called Larry out of the crowd to execute. I think he got it on the second or third try.

Lou Figueroa
 
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jay helfert said:
Jon Kucharo is one of the sadder stories in modern day pool. At 20 he was a sensation, playing right there with the best players in the world. He had a better break and missed fewer balls than anyone else. He was Shane before there was a Shane. As recently as ten years ago he was one of the favorites in any tournament he entered. Then it all fell apart, and fast! He went from being a choir boy who didn't smoke or drink to a full blown alcoholic.
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I have a couple of Accu-stats videos of Jon and on one of them Mark Wilson said that Jon had 3 pool tables in his home. A snooker table, a 9' table, and a bar box. I don't know where he lived, but can you imagine the size house you'd need to hold 3 pool tables with one of them being a snooker table!

I wondered what ever happened to Jon and i'm sad to hear the bottle got him. He had a very powerful break and his playing cue was unusual (plain and simple and I don't know what kind of cue it was).

James
 
lfigueroa said:
Larry Nevel, it's not even close.

In fact, at one tournament I attended they had Mike Massey doing a show and when it came time to do the frozen on the rail jacked up spear the ball and draw it three rails to make another ball in the opposite corner pocket, Massey called Larry out of the crowd to execute. I think he got it o the second or third try.

Lou Figueroa
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Well said Lou and I agree 100%. Larry has an awesome powerful stroke.......

James
 
Dead on

jay helfert said:
Jon Kucharo is one of the sadder stories in modern day pool. At 20 he was a sensation, playing right there with the best players in the world. He had a better break and missed fewer balls than anyone else. He was Shane before there was a Shane. As recently as ten years ago he was one of the favorites in any tournament he entered. Then it all fell apart, and fast! He went from being a choir boy who didn't smoke or drink to a full blown alcoholic.

Within a year or two he disappeared from sight, never again to regain his stature as a top player. Several years later he emerged once again as a cheap hustler at some of the national amateur championships. Another great player felled by the bottle, not his opponents. America lost two great young talents at almost the same time - Jon Kucharo and Michael Coltrain. Michael lost out to a physical condition though, not from any self inflicted damage.

One other amazingly talented player to drop out in recent years was Mark Tadd. In the 90's he was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world. And then, PHFFFT, he was gone. It's strange what can happen to pool players, here one day and gone the next. It's not an easy game to maintain your focus and desire at. The pressure to be the best can overcome a great player, if he is not mentally strong.

The only equivalent I've seen in other individual sports is David Duval. One day he was right there battling Tiger Woods, and a short time later he couldn't shoot par anymore. Ten years later he is trying to resurrect his career, with spotty results. Once they fall, they never seem able to make it back.
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I was going to mention a little about Kucharo Jay but your post says it all.
I'll just add a few tidbits. Mark Wilson was really high on "Johnny" and seemed to commentate every one of his matches. But one match, where he was playing Efren at the 2001 Master's, Kucharo was really giving Efren's racks the loooong, super scrutiny from every different angle. After several racks of this, Grady said something about it to Howard. He was not pleased. It appeared to me and probably others also that he was trying to play some mind games on Efren, who just sat there, stoic expression with maybe a little grin every once in a while. Efren beat him, of course,

On a related note...Grady was once watching someone super inspect the rack every time. Finally, he commented in that dead pan voice of his..."He's taking longer to examine the multi-colored spheres than it took me to select my 3rd wife." (:grin:)

Another two who did the diappearing act were Keith Thompson and Mark Beilfus.

Sorry for the partial hijack off subject.
 
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Jimmy Caras. Even into middle age he had a very, very powerful stroke. His straight pool break was something to see. The cue ball would just drive itself through the stack.
 
jay helfert said:
Jon Kucharo is one of the sadder stories in modern day pool. At 20 he was a sensation, playing right there with the best players in the world. He had a better break and missed fewer balls than anyone else. He was Shane before there was a Shane. As recently as ten years ago he was one of the favorites in any tournament he entered. Then it all fell apart, and fast! He went from being a choir boy who didn't smoke or drink to a full blown alcoholic.

Within a year or two he disappeared from sight, never again to regain his stature as a top player. Several years later he emerged once again as a cheap hustler at some of the national amateur championships. Another great player felled by the bottle, not his opponents. America lost two great young talents at almost the same time - Jon Kucharo and Michael Coltrain. Michael lost out to a physical condition though, not from any self inflicted damage.

One other amazingly talented player to drop out in recent years was Mark Tadd. In the 90's he was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world. And then, PHFFFT, he was gone. It's strange what can happen to pool players, here one day and gone the next. It's not an easy game to maintain your focus and desire at. The pressure to be the best can overcome a great player, if he is not mentally strong.

The only equivalent I've seen in other individual sports is David Duval. One day he was right there battling Tiger Woods, and a short time later he couldn't shoot par anymore. Ten years later he is trying to resurrect his career, with spotty results. Once they fall, they never seem able to make it back.
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Jon has been playing fairly regularly the past year or so. I've seen him at several events in the midwest including at Shooters in Olathe the past year. He seems to be doing pretty good. His game isn't quite like it once was but he still can play.
 
dardusm said:
Jon has been playing fairly regularly the past year or so. I've seen him at several events in the midwest including at Shooters in Olathe the past year. He seems to be doing pretty good. His game isn't quite like it once was but he still can play.
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10-12 years ago he would be winning those events! Not just showing up.
 
steveinflorida said:
Jimmy Caras. Even into middle age he had a very, very powerful stroke. His straight pool break was something to see. The cue ball would just drive itself through the stack.
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I saw Jimmy in exhibition at 104th and Western in Chicago around 1964. He ran 125 and out against his local opponent and then did his trick shot show. I'm pretty sure one of his shots was to shoot a short straight in shot in the corner, draw three rails around and make a ball hanging in the other corner.
 
Most Powerful stroke ever !

For those that haven't seen Earl (The Pearl) power spin follow stun shot, (his "patented" shot), you can not understand what happens with the cue ball. (the cue ball continues to spin AFTER going FOUR rails)!

He's my vote !



skip said:
Earl has a super stroke, the forgotten pool player.
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Terry Ardeno said:
I was going to mention a little about Kucharo Jay but your post says it all.
I'll just add a few tidbits. Mark Wilson was really high on "Johnny" and seemed to commentate every one of his matches. But one match, where he was playing Efren at the 2001 Master's, Kucharo was really giving Efren's racks the loooong, super scrutiny from every different angle. After several racks of this, Grady said something about it to Howard. He was not pleased. It appeared to me and probably others also that he was trying to play some mind games on Efren, who just sat there, stoic expression with maybe a little grin every once in a while. Efren beat him, of course,

On a related note...Grady was once watching someone super inspect the rack every time. Finally, he commented in that dead pan voice of his..."He's taking longer to examine the multi-colored spheres than it too me to select my 3rd wife." (:grin:)

Another two who did the diappearing act were Keith Thompson and Mark Beilfus.

Sorry for the partial hijack off subject.
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it goes to show with what grady said.
back in the day they did not know how important the break is.
most important part of the game.
 
I agree with most here about Larry Nevel. But if some here had seen Cowboy Jimmy Moore they would rate him pretty high on any list.
 
jay helfert said:
Jon Kucharo is one of the sadder stories in modern day pool. At 20 he was a sensation, playing right there with the best players in the world. He had a better break and missed fewer balls than anyone else. He was Shane before there was a Shane. As recently as ten years ago he was one of the favorites in any tournament he entered. Then it all fell apart, and fast! He went from being a choir boy who didn't smoke or drink to a full blown alcoholic.

Within a year or two he disappeared from sight, never again to regain his stature as a top player. Several years later he emerged once again as a cheap hustler at some of the national amateur championships. Another great player felled by the bottle, not his opponents. America lost two great young talents at almost the same time - Jon Kucharo and Michael Coltrain. Michael lost out to a physical condition though, not from any self inflicted damage.

One other amazingly talented player to drop out in recent years was Mark Tadd. In the 90's he was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world. And then, PHFFFT, he was gone. It's strange what can happen to pool players, here one day and gone the next. It's not an easy game to maintain your focus and desire at. The pressure to be the best can overcome a great player, if he is not mentally strong.

The only equivalent I've seen in other individual sports is David Duval. One day he was right there battling Tiger Woods, and a short time later he couldn't shoot par anymore. Ten years later he is trying to resurrect his career, with spotty results. Once they fall, they never seem able to make it back.
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I talked to Jon for a pretty good while earlier this year. He told me he lost a lot of time due to allowing things into his life that should not have been there. He is very aware of the issues he has dealt with and seemed to genuinely be making the effort to stay on the right path, I wish him luck.
 
Typo

real bartram said:
it goes to show with what grady said.
back in the day they did not know how important the break is.
most important part of the game.
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Chris,
When I read your post, I went back into mine and corrected the "too" and made it a "took".

Grady knows his way around a rack. He's talked often about is it legal to "adjust" the rack a little if your oppanant is making balls on the break every time. :grin:

He's not known as "The Professor" for nuclear physics, but he does know his way around a pool room.

Hope you're well Chris!
 
fasteddief...You're a bit dated. Mike was introduced to Sayginer's stroke 11 years ago, when Sang Lee and Sayginer were playing for the World Championship in Las Vegas. Massey, Dr. Cue, Sarge, George Middleditch, myself and a few other trick shot guys were all in the stands together, watching the match, because Sayginer was going to do a 3-C exhibition at the conclusion of the match. After Sayginer "WOW'd" us all, Mike went down to Semih, to congratulate him, and exchange copies of their videos. That was July, 1999. Massey has been a fan of Sayginer ever since (along with everybody else! :grin:).

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

fasteddief said:
I forgot to mention that Mike Masey flip out when he saw Semih Saginer put on a exhibition on ESPN . About 2 Years ago it is on youtube
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Jay...Surely you know about Mark. He "found" poker, and religion in Utah. He can still play, though, as was evident at the DCC in the last few years.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

jay helfert said:
One other amazingly talented player to drop out in recent years was Mark Tadd. In the 90's he was undoubtedly one of the best players in the world. And then, PHFFFT, he was gone. It's strange what can happen to pool players, here one day and gone the next. It's not an easy game to maintain your focus and desire at. The pressure to be the best can overcome a great player, if he is not mentally strong.
Click to expand...
 
Scott Lee said:
Jay...Surely you know about Mark. He "found" poker, and religion in Utah. He can still play, though, as was evident at the DCC in the last few years.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Yeah, I staked him two years ago at DCC, where he made the top ten in two divisions. He also had a third place finish in Reno the same year. Amazing what he's capable of with very little practice. I think he would play Dennis Hatch's speed if he played all the time. But he loses interest very quickly.
 
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