The Luther Lassiter thread got me thinking of how subjective it is to compare players of different eras. We all view this game with our own eyes, from our own point of view. We all have different influences, experiences, and we have all witnessed different players do different things at different times. This is just my opinion from the way that I have seen things over the years. Your views may differ and I respect that. I thought it would be fun to break down the way I have seen things develop over the years and why I have chosen to put these people on my lists.
Shotmakers
I had the opportunity to see Luther Lassiter play 9 ball and straight pool. He was unbelievably good, although his patterns, routes, shot selection made you scratch your head. His shotmaking was something not from this world, so he could afford that in his game, and history speaks for itself, as do Wimpy's acomplishments. He was an awesome shotmaker.
Corey Deuel is another guy that can take a 8 foot long backward cut jump shot - make it - then draw the cue ball the length of the table on the same shot. It boggles the mind.
I never saw Louie Roberts face a shot or situation that he wouldn't figure out. He could bank, cut, kick, or spin any shot - and he was simply fearless. Nobody before or since has had the balls that Louie had when playing the game of pool.
My top 5 great shotmakers of all-time
Luther Lassiter
Corey Deuel
Louie Roberts
Efren Reyes
Earl Strickland
Straight Pool
I grew up in the era of Mizerak, Sigel, Rempe, and West. I idolized all of these guys long before they were ever considered Hall of Famers. All of them were special, and all of them could beat the other on any given day at any given game.
Straight pool was also a game that Lassiter played extremely well. He was without a doubt an exciting player to watch because of his shotmaking ability, and his ability to get himself out of trouble with it. Being a straight pool purist, I was drawn away from that by the perfection displayed by the other greats - such as Mizerak, Butera, Rempe, Margo, and Nagy.
I had the opportunity to see Irving Crane play many times. I never saw him make a bad shot or a bad decision. He was quite possibly the smartest player to ever play the game of pool. He was definitely one of the best I ever saw.
Sometimes, we must judge people not on how many trophies that they won, but by how many lives they affected by their pure love for the game. That is why Gene Nagy is on my list. He was one hell of a player, and quite possibly the best teacher in the game's history.
Anybody that never got the opportunity to watch Mike Eufemia run balls in 14.1 - you missed out on seeing quite possibly the best straight pool ever played (IMO). Mike didn't have a lot of trphies to show for it, nor will his run ever receive the proper recognition that it deserves, but Mike Eufemia is one of the greatest players to ever play the game of straight pool.
My top 5 Straight Pool players of all time
Willie Mosconi
Steve Mizerak
Irving Crane
Gene Nagy
Mike Eufemia
9 Ball
Louie Roberts was a 9 ball genius. Like I said earlier, nothing intimidated Louie - at the table he was 8 feet tall and bullet proof. He was probably the most perfect 9 ball player I ever saw, with the exception of 1 other player - Buddy Hall.
Buddy's position play, cue ball control, shot selection, and never say die attitude was an awesome sight to behold for those of us that were fortunate to see it when he was in his prime. Buddy Hall was my hero when I was learning the game. I would watch him play for hours on end, studying everything that he did, and I learned why he made the choices that he did.
Mike Sigel came along, and it seemed that in professional tournament pool, that he was virtually unstoppable. Then Earl came along. Mike and Earl were 1 & 2 consistently throughout the 1980's - that ended when Nick Varner went on a tear in 1989 and 1990.
Along came Johnny Archer, but in the distance was this guy named Efren - and I noticed the pool world changing. It started to have an international flair with players converging on the US tours from Europe and Asia. Guys like Souquet, Chao, Bustamante, Engert, and Ortmann... the fields grew tougher and tougher.
In this "new" pool world, 1 guy reigned as the king, and we call him "The Magician". I've seen every player from Carella to Deuel, from Lassiter to Van Boening, from Mosconi to Strickland, from Jimmy Moore to Keith McCready. In my opinion, Efren has this extra quality about him that will always separate him from his peers. Efren has not won a lot of World Championships. Efren has not won a handful of U.S. Opens. Efren has won our respect and our admiration, and he has won our hearts with his humility and his humanity. He is definitely, without a doubt the best that I have ever seen.
My top 5 Nine Ball Players of All time
Buddy Hall
Earl Strickland
Luther Lassiter
Efren Reyes
Nick Varner
Money Players
Here is another thing that is also very subjective, but when looking at history, nobody was better than Don Willis. A world class player that stayed under the radar for years - and is widely regarded as possibly the best pure hustler in the history of the game.
Keith McCready is a living legend among mere mortals in today's world of modern pool. Keith was bold and brash, loud and boisterous, but he also had the balls, the brains, and the ability to back it all up. The World did get the 8 when it came to playing Keith ANY game for money on ANY size table. A rare type of player with ugly mechanics - however I dare any instructor out there to use their text book mechanics and have the cue ball move as smoothly as it does for Keith. Sorry. There is a such thing as "God-given ability". That can't be taught, and you still get the 8.
I was sneaking around Memphis back in the days when Buddy Hall was ruling the land. I can never recall anyone taking Buddy down (somebody please correct me if I am wrong) but Buddy ruled the land for a very very long time.
UJ Puckett was great guy with a lot of great stories of the road. I wish I had written down a lot of the stories that he told me, he certainly lived his life to the fullest and enjoyed every bit of it. He is one of the players of the past that I miss the most.
My top 5 Money Players
Don Willis
Keith McCready
UJ Puckett
Ronnie Allen
Jose Parica
When comparing eras, everything is subjective. Pool is a different game than it was back in the days of Lassiter, Balsis, and Moore. It takes nothing away from their accomplishments. I am sure that all of the greats from that era would be major forces to be dealt with on the tables of today. However, if I were to send Efren back in time to the era of Johnston City, I am positive that he would have still ruled as king. He is my favorite player of all-time.
Mike Carella was a great player that just had too many distractions away from the table. His life was cut short by those distractions, and God only knows how far he could have gone with his talent if he had made better decisions in his life. He was fun to watch, fun to hang out with, and he was definitely world class.
Most everything I have learned about pool has come directly from Cisero Murphy. He not only taught me how to play this game, he touched my life and sent me in a positive direction at a time when I was definitely not willing to do so. I was blessed by our friendship, and I have been blessed by everything he taught me about pool and about life. Not a day goes by where I don't thank the man upstairs for everything Cisero brought to my life.
My 5 favorite players of all-time
Efren Reyes
Buddy Hall
Cisero Murphy
Louie Roberts
Mike Carella
Those are my lists - and I won't change my mind about any of them because its how I see it - but I'm interested in seeing the lists of others and hearing why those people make your list.
Shotmakers
I had the opportunity to see Luther Lassiter play 9 ball and straight pool. He was unbelievably good, although his patterns, routes, shot selection made you scratch your head. His shotmaking was something not from this world, so he could afford that in his game, and history speaks for itself, as do Wimpy's acomplishments. He was an awesome shotmaker.
Corey Deuel is another guy that can take a 8 foot long backward cut jump shot - make it - then draw the cue ball the length of the table on the same shot. It boggles the mind.
I never saw Louie Roberts face a shot or situation that he wouldn't figure out. He could bank, cut, kick, or spin any shot - and he was simply fearless. Nobody before or since has had the balls that Louie had when playing the game of pool.
My top 5 great shotmakers of all-time
Luther Lassiter
Corey Deuel
Louie Roberts
Efren Reyes
Earl Strickland
Straight Pool
I grew up in the era of Mizerak, Sigel, Rempe, and West. I idolized all of these guys long before they were ever considered Hall of Famers. All of them were special, and all of them could beat the other on any given day at any given game.
Straight pool was also a game that Lassiter played extremely well. He was without a doubt an exciting player to watch because of his shotmaking ability, and his ability to get himself out of trouble with it. Being a straight pool purist, I was drawn away from that by the perfection displayed by the other greats - such as Mizerak, Butera, Rempe, Margo, and Nagy.
I had the opportunity to see Irving Crane play many times. I never saw him make a bad shot or a bad decision. He was quite possibly the smartest player to ever play the game of pool. He was definitely one of the best I ever saw.
Sometimes, we must judge people not on how many trophies that they won, but by how many lives they affected by their pure love for the game. That is why Gene Nagy is on my list. He was one hell of a player, and quite possibly the best teacher in the game's history.
Anybody that never got the opportunity to watch Mike Eufemia run balls in 14.1 - you missed out on seeing quite possibly the best straight pool ever played (IMO). Mike didn't have a lot of trphies to show for it, nor will his run ever receive the proper recognition that it deserves, but Mike Eufemia is one of the greatest players to ever play the game of straight pool.
My top 5 Straight Pool players of all time
Willie Mosconi
Steve Mizerak
Irving Crane
Gene Nagy
Mike Eufemia
9 Ball
Louie Roberts was a 9 ball genius. Like I said earlier, nothing intimidated Louie - at the table he was 8 feet tall and bullet proof. He was probably the most perfect 9 ball player I ever saw, with the exception of 1 other player - Buddy Hall.
Buddy's position play, cue ball control, shot selection, and never say die attitude was an awesome sight to behold for those of us that were fortunate to see it when he was in his prime. Buddy Hall was my hero when I was learning the game. I would watch him play for hours on end, studying everything that he did, and I learned why he made the choices that he did.
Mike Sigel came along, and it seemed that in professional tournament pool, that he was virtually unstoppable. Then Earl came along. Mike and Earl were 1 & 2 consistently throughout the 1980's - that ended when Nick Varner went on a tear in 1989 and 1990.
Along came Johnny Archer, but in the distance was this guy named Efren - and I noticed the pool world changing. It started to have an international flair with players converging on the US tours from Europe and Asia. Guys like Souquet, Chao, Bustamante, Engert, and Ortmann... the fields grew tougher and tougher.
In this "new" pool world, 1 guy reigned as the king, and we call him "The Magician". I've seen every player from Carella to Deuel, from Lassiter to Van Boening, from Mosconi to Strickland, from Jimmy Moore to Keith McCready. In my opinion, Efren has this extra quality about him that will always separate him from his peers. Efren has not won a lot of World Championships. Efren has not won a handful of U.S. Opens. Efren has won our respect and our admiration, and he has won our hearts with his humility and his humanity. He is definitely, without a doubt the best that I have ever seen.
My top 5 Nine Ball Players of All time
Buddy Hall
Earl Strickland
Luther Lassiter
Efren Reyes
Nick Varner
Money Players
Here is another thing that is also very subjective, but when looking at history, nobody was better than Don Willis. A world class player that stayed under the radar for years - and is widely regarded as possibly the best pure hustler in the history of the game.
Keith McCready is a living legend among mere mortals in today's world of modern pool. Keith was bold and brash, loud and boisterous, but he also had the balls, the brains, and the ability to back it all up. The World did get the 8 when it came to playing Keith ANY game for money on ANY size table. A rare type of player with ugly mechanics - however I dare any instructor out there to use their text book mechanics and have the cue ball move as smoothly as it does for Keith. Sorry. There is a such thing as "God-given ability". That can't be taught, and you still get the 8.
I was sneaking around Memphis back in the days when Buddy Hall was ruling the land. I can never recall anyone taking Buddy down (somebody please correct me if I am wrong) but Buddy ruled the land for a very very long time.
UJ Puckett was great guy with a lot of great stories of the road. I wish I had written down a lot of the stories that he told me, he certainly lived his life to the fullest and enjoyed every bit of it. He is one of the players of the past that I miss the most.
My top 5 Money Players
Don Willis
Keith McCready
UJ Puckett
Ronnie Allen
Jose Parica
When comparing eras, everything is subjective. Pool is a different game than it was back in the days of Lassiter, Balsis, and Moore. It takes nothing away from their accomplishments. I am sure that all of the greats from that era would be major forces to be dealt with on the tables of today. However, if I were to send Efren back in time to the era of Johnston City, I am positive that he would have still ruled as king. He is my favorite player of all-time.
Mike Carella was a great player that just had too many distractions away from the table. His life was cut short by those distractions, and God only knows how far he could have gone with his talent if he had made better decisions in his life. He was fun to watch, fun to hang out with, and he was definitely world class.
Most everything I have learned about pool has come directly from Cisero Murphy. He not only taught me how to play this game, he touched my life and sent me in a positive direction at a time when I was definitely not willing to do so. I was blessed by our friendship, and I have been blessed by everything he taught me about pool and about life. Not a day goes by where I don't thank the man upstairs for everything Cisero brought to my life.
My 5 favorite players of all-time
Efren Reyes
Buddy Hall
Cisero Murphy
Louie Roberts
Mike Carella
Those are my lists - and I won't change my mind about any of them because its how I see it - but I'm interested in seeing the lists of others and hearing why those people make your list.
