Who was the better shotmaker in their prime Earl Strickland or Efren Reyes.... I say Earl was better shotmaker... But Efren was the best player of the two ...
Who was the better shotmaker in their prime Earl Strickland or Efren Reyes.... I say Earl was better shotmaker... But Efren was the best player of the two ...
Who was the better shotmaker in their prime Earl Strickland or Efren Reyes.... I say Earl was better shotmaker... But Efren was the best player of the two ...
Earl is the pure/ straight shotmaker while Efren is the creative shotmaker.
Of the current generation , in rotation , Shaw and Filler are the straight shotmakers while Wu is the creative shotmaker. In other disciplines like snooker, E8B,C8B there are many straight shotmakers
I feel that Earl was the best pure shotmaker of all time and Jayson Shaw might take that title over if he can sustain a few more decades.
Efren, however, and as logical alluded to, is the better improviser and I'd add that Efren was the better kick shot and kick safe player by a lot.
best,
brian kc
In the early seventies I saw video of a young and healthy Willie Mosconi playing. He was playing spot shape, something I had never even considered possible. Caused me to majorly revise my game over the next two or three years.
A few decades later I watched video of Efren playing. Again, I had to revise my ideas of what was possible on a pool table. Not Earl, Johnny Archer, Buddy Hall, any of the top players or even the trickshot players had made me have to revise what was possible.
Willie and Efren were so next level that people not only weren't playing that speed, they weren't even in the same grouping. That was the best I ever saw Willie play so he might have been having a great day. Hard to say with so little film from that era. Efren repeated the same level of play over and over for years even when his eyes were quite bad.
Earl is one of the greatest players of his time. He doesn't seem unique in his skills like Efren was however.
Hu
Who was the better shotmaker in their prime Earl Strickland or Efren Reyes.... I say Earl was better shotmaker... But Efren was the best player of the two ...
Who was the better shotmaker in their prime Earl Strickland or Efren Reyes.... I say Earl was better shotmaker... But Efren was the best player of the two ...
IMO, Earl was a MUCH stronger 9 ball player.
On the other hand, Efren was MUCH stronger than Earl at all other games.
Some agree with me, some don't.
Jeff
Earl was jumping playing twoshot pushout before most could. He hates jump cues but they are his bastard children. Other pro's had to tote jump cues just to try to keep up with Earl without one.
Reading other responses it is obvious that we don't all have the same idea of what shotmaker encompasses. I could make a strong case for either one being the best shotmaker. It doesn't matter, between the two of them they have shown us some of the best pool ever seen, sometimes playing each other. Who was best, and the best shotmaker, often comes down to the night or event we are considering. Trying to decide between them is like trying to judge between the runners in a graded stakes race. I was looking at twelve horses, ten of which had ran over a 100 speed rating. Best on that day was going to probably cost me some money. That is how I feel about Earl and Efren. Betting on the rail, I would probably pick Earl at the moment. Lifetime, I like Efren a little better.
Hu
Yeah, but it's a lot of fun to watch Earl when his emotional mental state is cranked up.