No dispute that Efren is the GOAT, but who is the 9 ball GOAT?
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CanadianGuy
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I would agree Efren is the GOAT, maybe also the GOAT at 9 ball
but not necessarily the best player ever
but not necessarily the best player ever
Ummm ?
Earl Strickland in high gear was the best 9 ball player ever.
Each era had its own. I'd put Earl/Buddy/Sigel in as my trifecta. SVB could easily be added to the 9ball Mt.Rushmore. Nearly impossible to pick just one. I do know there were a bunch of good-to-great players that wouldn't get of the electric chair to gamble with Buddy.
I tend to agree with this. Opinions are like a$$holes, but I think the real deal is the real rating is the US OPEN championships. I think that would be Earl and Shane. I dont know the numbers of championships of each but I would guess they would be on top of the heap.
If someone who knows the US OPEN 9 Ball Champion list I would appreciate knowing.
Ken
Pretty easy bro, just Google US Open 9ball. The list is there. US Open is big but i don't think its sole measuring stick for one's greatness. There's a couple on that list that Buddy offered weight to and they refused. He was the guy you had to beat to be considered truly great for about 20yrs.
I lived in Paducah and Buddy came in the pool hall often so obviously I was a fan. Nobody mentions what he was the greatest at in pool. That was cueball control.
Buddy would help players in the pool hall whenever he was asked. He was helping me and told me, " I want you to make that ball in that corner pocket and when you get done I want that cue ball right here!" I said, "Buddy, if I could do that I wouldn't be asking you for help!"
As I said above, unless you are using a tournament wins (DCC or US OPEN) IMO, it is just opinions.
I wish you the best of rolls,
Ken
He lived in Tulsa when i was starting. He helped me a bunch. Bought my first good cue, a Meucci Rifleman, out of the trunk of his car for 50bux.
L.S. Dennis
Well-known member
Great question, Buddy said Wimpy was the greatest nine ball player of all time, Earl has beaten Wimpy but Wimpy was way past his prime. I'd probably have to go with Earl (in high gear) would be my choice. I remember seeing him play in the late eighties and during the nineties when he played as if he were on another planet.
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Still got the cue? If so pic's please.
Long gone. Just a simple BH-1. https://www.budgetcues.com/collections/meucci-archive/products/meucci-bh-series Far left. I kept it for about a year and had Dan Janes make me a 4pt'r. BTW, i know the guy here in town who has Buddy's BH-5 he used while living here. Nice cue.
He’d have a tough time being in the running for 10th place, in my opinion.
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WobblyStroke
Well-known member
Top gear Earl is the epitome of 9b pool. When the guy had his head right he went deep. When he went deep, he barely ever lost. When he got into finals, he won em all. To go undefeated in major finals is truly unbelievable when you consider he played more than 10 of em. He did lose a straight pool final, but that aint 9b...where he's the clear GOAT imo. Great shotmaker, excellent tactician (once Efren forced it out of him), and pretty much the purest stroke ever seen. Early 90s to early 2000s Earl, when he was playing smart pool and not just firing at everything and took his technique to a new level to boot, was the best player I ever saw.
Efren's great, but his break keeps him out of GOAT contention for 9b.
Efren's great, but his break keeps him out of GOAT contention for 9b.
No kidding, as in a 43 year difference. I would put Earl and Wimpy as my top 2 9-ball players with Sigel in the conversation, but it’s impossible to compare players of different eras.
If Willie and Irving played / gambled more at 9-ball as opposed to concentrating on 14.1, they could possibly have matched Wimpy’s 9-ball dominance at Johnston City.
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No way.
But the matter of the 9-ball GOAT is no bargain.
Certainly, deeply embedded in the discussion are names like Lassiter, Sigel, Strickland, Varner, Archer, Hall, SVB and Pagulayan. Filler is probably in the discussion already because of all his major titles, but it's too early in his career to pass judgement.
If we're looking for who had the highest gear ever seen, it's easy. Earl Strickland routinely beat champion after champion 11-2 when he was on. I've never seen anyone who's "A" game was higher than that of Earl.
If we're looking for the guy who had the longest streak of sustained excellence, I'd go with Sigel.
If we're looking for the player that ran the table with the most grace, it's Buddy Hall.
If we're looking for the player who best combined offensive excellence with tactical excellence, it's Pagulayan, or possibly Varner.
I've discussed this with Nick Varner. He thinks it's Luther Lassiter, whose domination at Johnston City at a time when every Johnston City field had 25 future BCA hall of famers is almost unfathomable.
For this fan, however, I think sustained excellence should be the measure and Sigel mass-produced major titles for the length of his career. Sigel is the nine ball GOAT.
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