What is your opinion of the over all skill level of play of today's pool players?

[lstevedus]

This has bothered me for some time. I was at the DCC this past January and overheard a HOF player that I admire and respect state that he thought the overall level of skill of todays players was down. This was just after losing in the 9-ball to the player he made the statement to.

I disagree and think there are a lot more players that can play at a much higher level, at least in 9 ball, for several different reasons. Pool is no longer dominated by the Americans. There are a lot of players from other countries that play at a very high level now. The equipment is definitely getting better all the time, cues, cloth, balls, ect. and it makes a difference.

I have noticed at the local tournaments that I play in that instead of just a few players winning all the time, now there seems to be more that are a threat to win at any given time.

I get tired of hearing all the whining. I agree with the players that say if you want to play better and win more, put more effort into becoming a better player. There's tons of stuff out there now to help improve your game that wasn't available just a short time ago.

I was told a long time ago that when I'm playing somebody and they start whining, I've got them beat and that's FUN!

 

[Petros Andrikop]

Mainly due to internet, today's competitive level worldwide is much higher generally, no doubt about that. Valuable knowledge is available to everyone nowdays and a lot of players have taken advantage of this.
A world champion today has to compete against many more top players in much tougher tournament formats. Not easy today to be constantly offensive, you get punished before you know it..
You could say though that top players 20 years ago were more artistic and carried more distinctive personalities. Today's top players are tougher athletes.. Perhaps a bit boring..
Anyway this could easily be an endless discussion depending on pesonal taste about the game and taking into account the differences in equipment compared to the past.

 

[Banks]

This has bothered me for some time. I was at the DCC this past January and overheard a HOF player that I admire and respect state that he thought the overall level of skill of todays players was down. This was just after losing in the 9-ball to the player he made the statement to.

I was told a long time ago that when I'm playing somebody and they start whining, I've got them beat and that's FUN!

Was this just after he got done talking about walking uphill, both ways, to and from school? Nothing's as good as it was, no matter how much better it may be. Probably the same kind of guy that'll tell you that you shouldn't have beat him for whatever reason.

I relate that second part(whining = admitting defeated) to smelling blood.. when you know you've got somebody and they're crying about it, you just want to dig a little deeper.

There's a local player, an old grumpy SOB, that hooked me in a tournament.. I made the kick shot in the side, hitting a little wide to get a leave further down the table. That was the match. He said to me, "Bet you can't even make that shot again". I told him I didn't have to, but I made it when I needed to. He's the same kind of jerkoff we all see at tournaments, *****ing about every damn thing and not spending a freakin penny (and has a million excuses for that, too!).

 

[Cuaba]

The level of play right now is the best its ever been.

There are now top players from countries all over the world where pool wasn't popular a few decades ago.

 

[TATE]

The level of play right now is the best its ever been.

There are now top players from countries all over the world where pool wasn't popular a few decades ago.

On today's equipment playing today's games (rotation games, one pocket) I absolutely agree with this. The players today are phenomenal and have a complete mastery over each aspect of the game.

Chris

 

[Highmiles]

I've been out of pool for 11 years. I started back in January, and I was shocked how much better the average player is now. I am really glad to see it.