Record At The Majors

R

RED NAXELA

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The PREMISE: The World 9Ball and US Open 9Ball championships are the top two majors in pool. The other two, probably on a lower scale, are the World 8Ball and DCC Derby Master of the Table titles.

The RECORD: Here are the only players to win both the world and US Open 9ball titles and their records in all four majors:

Strickland - 3 world 9ball, 5 US Open 9ball, 1 world 8ball
Archer - 2 world 9ball, 1 US Open 9ball, 0 world 8ball, 0 DCC Derby
Reyes - 1 world 9ball, 1 US Open 9ball, 4 world 8ball, 3 DCC Derby
Souquet - 1 world 9ball, 1 US Open 9ball, 0 world 8ball, 0 DCC Derby (tho he won the 9ball division, but not the overall title, at the 2004 DCC)

Earl is the runaway King of 9ball, no ifs or buts.

Efren is the only player who won all 4 majors, with dominating performances in world 8 ball and DCC 1pocket. If there is still a question on who is the best all-around player in pool, this should now be laid to rest.

Chao, Takahashi, Okamura, Ortmann, Immonen, Hohmann, and Pagulayan have all won the world, but not the US Open, tho the last three together with the 16-year old Wu still have lots of time to win it. Rodney and Gabe have won the US title, but not the world. It is interesting to note that while players from seven different countries have won the world, only Reyes and Souquet are the only non-Americans so far to win the US title. Looks like the US Open is a tougher nut to crack for international players.
 
RED NAXELA said:
The PREMISE: The World 9Ball and US Open 9Ball championships are the top two majors in pool. The other two, probably on a lower scale, are the World 8Ball and DCC Derby Master of the Table titles.
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The premise is ridiculous. Leaving out the BCA open is ridiculous. Proclaiming any event that isn't a nineball event one of the most prestigious titles is also rdiculous. Still, if your intent is to consider who has the widest range of credentials among today's players, you might find it interesting to note that Ralf Souquet has won each of these:

US Open 9-ball
BCA Open 9-ball
Derby City 9-ball
World Pool Championships 9-ball
US Open Straight Pool
Intl Challenge of Champions 9-ball

Good luck finding someone else who owns each of these titles.
 
To SJM:

Even Ralf would not dare say his 9ball title was more "prestigious" than Efren's 1pocket title at the same DCC. Why should it be ridiculous to proclaim 8 ball and 1pocket as prestigious as, if not more so than, a 9ball title?
 
RED NAXELA said:
Even Ralf would not dare say his 9ball title was more "prestigious" than Efren's 1pocket title at the same DCC. Why should it be ridiculous to proclaim 8 ball and 1pocket as prestigious as, if not more so than, a 9ball title?
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Number of participants, number of tournaments, number of people who care. By far, on a professional level, 9 ball is king. It's pretty easy to arbitrarily choose any four tournaments, declare them "majors" (regardless of discipline) and then say the player who has won those 4 arbitrarily chosen tournaments as the best of the best. The argument will begin at the start - what four tournaments should be considered "majors?"

I'd say that, of the majors you've arbitrarily chosen, the World 8-ball doesn't belong, and the BCA Open definitely should be there. Unlike most sports with "majors," (golf, tennis, etc.), pool has no defined crown jewels. Being an American, though, leaves me with an admittedly skewed opinion on what I think should be majors. Notice that only one tournament of the four I would choose (BCA, DCC, US, and WPC), is not regularly played on American soil.

-djb
 
Earl Strickland actually has 6 World 9 Ball titles to his credit, not 3. Those of you who who count from the WPC need to remember they only began sponsoring the World 9 Ball Championships in 1990. Earl has 3 before then...
Also, Nick Varner has all around world class / elite credentials...World 9 ball chmpion, 2 time US Open 9 ball champion, World 14.1 champion, World 1 Pocket champion, World 8 ball champion and World Bank Pool champion. Because he does not play all that much lately, he is often overlooked by some of the younger fans of our great sport. He is the only player that I'm aware of with World Championships in all 5 disciplines...Reyes and Allen Hopkins are missing the Bank Pool Title in their otherwise steller overall credentials.
 
TO SJM & DOOMCUE

Methinks you belittle the world 8ball title too much. If you ask the top 50 pool players (I said pool players, not only 9ball pool players) in the world, the people who know, which trophy they would rather see in their trophy room: the BCA Open 9ball or the world 8ball trophy, what do you think would be the answer? Agreed, more of the American players would say BCA but an overwhelming majority of the European and Asia players would pick the world 8ball trophy? You want proof? Last year, the top players from Europe and Asia (with the exception of Immonen and Sambajon) were playing for the world 8ball title in Fujaira while the World Summit of Pool 9ball was being held in the U.S. at the same time. Were the BCA and the world 8ball title held at the same time, I have no doubt in my mind which would be the orphan.
 
RED NAXELA said:
Methinks you belittle the world 8ball title too much. You want proof? Last year, the top players from Europe and Asia (with the exception of Immonen and Sambajon) were playing for the world 8ball title in Fujaira while the World Summit of Pool 9ball was being held in the U.S. at the same time. Were the BCA and the world 8ball title held at the same time, I have no doubt in my mind which would be the orphan.
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and methinks you don't know shit about poolplayers.

it didn't have anything to do with prestige...........

they had a choice of staying and playin in a tournament on the continent they live on.........or flying over to the US for a tourney.

immonen and sambojan live in the US thats why they played here.

didn't have one thing to do with prestige........it had to do with money/expenses.

VAP
 
RED NAXELA said:
Methinks you belittle the world 8ball title too much. If you ask the top 50 pool players (I said pool players, not only 9ball pool players) in the world, the people who know, which trophy they would rather see in their trophy room: the BCA Open 9ball or the world 8ball trophy, what do you think would be the answer? Agreed, more of the American players would say BCA but an overwhelming majority of the European and Asia players would pick the world 8ball trophy? You want proof? Last year, the top players from Europe and Asia (with the exception of Immonen and Sambajon) were playing for the world 8ball title in Fujaira while the World Summit of Pool 9ball was being held in the U.S. at the same time. Were the BCA and the world 8ball title held at the same time, I have no doubt in my mind which would be the orphan.
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no offense, and i nkow its going to sound offense, but.....you sound like an idiot.


You choosing prestige based on attendees...I guess that makes a Toyota better than a Lambo or Ferrari, and McDonald's better than a plethora of restaurants all over the world.

Good logic there.
 
To VAPOOL:

And you don't know one whit of geography, either.

The top European and Asian players do not live in the Middle East. They had to fly over to Fujaira for the tourney. It is not as if they just waltzed from Pennsylvania to New York. You should read the atlas more.
 
RED NAXELA said:
Methinks you belittle the world 8ball title too much.
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I really don't think so. The world 8-ball championship is a prestigious titile, and I've attended three of them in person. I enjoyed the event very much each time.

No doubt, as you and others have suggested, it takes very special talent to win a first tier event in eight ball, one pocket and straight pool.

Today, however, there's just one game that all the top pro players of the world play, jut one game in which they all try to excel. One game is at the heart of every pool tour of any significance in the world, and that game happens to be nine-ball. Until that changes, the top nine ball events will remain the top events.
 
vapoolplayer said:
they had a choice of staying and playin in a tournament on the continent they live on.........or flying over to the US for a tourney.
VAP
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Yes actually Fujaira is in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is in the Middle East, not exactly Asia or Europe really, but it is in between them both :-)

Anyway not taking sides but this was discussed in the other thread about Majors and most people seemed to agree with your list except they had the BCA instead of the world 8 ball, I have to agree with them.

Not that I don't think the World 8 Ball deserves to be in, I just think the BCA should also be there and it seems a little strange to mix games. If so then you must include the world 3 cushion, snooker, etc... Why not just stick with the 4 9 ball majors?
 
RED NAXELA said:
And you don't know one whit of geography, either.

The top European and Asian players do not live in the Middle East. They had to fly over to Fujaira for the tourney. It is not as if they just waltzed from Pennsylvania to New York. You should read the atlas more.
Click to expand...

and what costs less and takes less time to fly too???

VAP
 
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