What Pool Player Inspires You?

9balllvr

9balllvr

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I assume most of you have the same thing happen when you watch pool on television, you instantly want to go to the pool room and get in a few games. I am curious to know if there is a pool player out there that really inspires you - this could include the enjoyment of watching them or just plainly (as I like to call it) "puts fire in your belly" to play better. If so, who and why?

9balllvr
 
Earl. The way he is so purposeful and confident. Just walks up, sets down and fires 'em in. No doubtaboutit.
 
Buddy Hall

Great great command of the cue ball. A cool calm always in control player.
 
9balllvr said:
I assume most of you have the same thing happen when you watch pool on television, you instantly want to go to the pool room and get in a few games. I am curious to know if there is a pool player out there that really inspires you - this could include the enjoyment of watching them or just plainly (as I like to call it) "puts fire in your belly" to play better. If so, who and why?

9balllvr
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When I first walked into a pool room with my father in the early 70's I wasnt old enuff to be able to pick one person out on skills alone. In 1979 I walked into Peg's Pocket in Miami, Fl and saw a guy run rack after rack with at the time no apparent problems. His name was Jimmy Matz and he was my initial inspiration. Many yrs passed and now that some of my "pool inspirations" are passed on or retired the man that gets my mental juices flowing along with lighting that certain "fire" is Efren Reyes.

Being a one pocket player and priding myself on knowledge of the game he is the one that gives me goosebumps. He is a gift to pool and anyone that has seen him play will attest to same. If you havent seen him and you love this game your shortchanging yourself, IMO!!
 
Lou Butera. Seeing this guy in his prime....... some say he was a little too loose, but he just ran out. Give him a bad lie, he would find a way to get out. Put him 149-0 in a straight pool game, he would find a way to run 150. The guy was phenomenal. Shot maker of the highest marks.
The only thing that defeated him was his willingness to go for the tough shot instead of safe (which he could and would shoot from time to time..... ;) )
And for the younger guys who think Earl navigates the table quickly, he is a turtle compared to how Machine Gun Lou used to play.
Chuck
 
Black-Balled said:
Earl. The way he is so purposeful and confident. Just walks up, sets down and fires 'em in. No doubtaboutit.
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I agree. I have a few Accu-stat videos of him, and a few matches recorded on Tivo that I refure to delete.

When he gets catches a gear, he's unstoppable! Probably the best natural stroking player, IMO.


I like Efren too, Voodoo!
 
Mike Sigel for his confidence
Steve Mizerak because the way he moves the balls makes me think of waves coming into shore. smooth.
 
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Johnny Archer he is like a machine. If you wanted to model your game after someone he would be the ideal player.
 
Efren Reyes and Nick Varner, each possessing the perfect blend of discipline and creativity.
 
The question posed is not about who my favorite players are, or who I think is the best. It's about who inspires me.

Some players are naturals and to them the game came easy.Others(with less natural talent) have spent hours and hours on the practice table figuring things out by trial and error and a lot of blood sweat and tears to become succesful.

To all the pool players out there who have gone through the above....
You are my inspiration!!!
RJ
 
Voodoo Daddy said:
In 1979 I walked into Peg's Pocket in Miami, Fl and saw a guy run rack after rack with at the time no apparent problems. His name was Jimmy Matz
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You know, this is a blast from the past. Was this before his car accident?
I saw him back in the early 90's AFTER his accident when he came to the local tournament, and the first time i saw him, i watched him make the greatest long distance off angle slow roll combo on the 9 that i have EVER seen, to win his match.
To this day i still talk about it. He went up, lined it up, walked back, and didn't rifle it in, he ROLLED IT. I could not believe that this guy actually planned to play the shot, and then shot it the way he did. Then i was wondering if this guy was nuts or not cause he was putting the cue on the head SPOT, and breaking them from there.
I eventually shut up after i watched him run 3 5packs in the tournament breaking that way. From what i understand, he beat EVERYBODY back in the day.

Personally I have always liked Parica's game when he is on. I watched some matches on the Camel Tour Years ago, where he won the South Jersey event, and this guy just ran some of the most difficult rack i ever saw, on those Diamonds that had the ORIGINAL cut that was so brutal, that shooting the cue ball placed on either spot into THE SIDE was virtually impossible.
And this guy ran out from everywhere.
He was a total pit bull.
And then to watch him make a 3 rail kick carom on the 10ball against Buddy in the final. I thought Buddy was going to puke after it happened.
LOL, just talking about it is getting me all pumped up!
 
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SUPERSTAR said:
You know, this is a blast from the past. Was this before his car accident?
I saw him back in the early 90's AFTER his accident when he came to the local tournament, and the first time i saw him, i watched him make the greatest long distance off angle slow roll combo on the 9 that i have EVER seen, to win his match.
To this day i still talk about it. He went up, lined it up, walked back, and didn't rifle it in, he ROLLED IT. I could not believe that this guy actually planned to play the shot, and then shot it the way he did. Then i was wondering if this guy was nuts or not cause he was putting the cue on the head SPOT, and breaking them from there.
I eventually shut up after i watched him run 3 5packs in the tournament breaking that way. From what i understand, he beat EVERYBODY back in the day.
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I saw him before the accident that killed his woman <a pretty redhead from what I remember> and did some pretty bad damage to him. After the accident, sadly Jimmy lived in a car and scuffled in the Miami area for yrs, still playing better than shortstop speed. He once played in a $20 tournament in the 80's at a great action spot called Q-Master Billiards. The place was loaded with talent on any given Sunday, some recently talked about on this forum...Miz, Toby Sweet, Richie Ambrose, Bobby Williams, Jimmy Reid, the Hatch clan, George Breedlove, Brian Groce, Tom Brown, John DiToro <one of the best players in the Country with a full time job IMO> Gary Pinkowski and others.

Anyway...Jimmy would play a match against a worldbeater and in the middle of the match just stop and walk outside or go to the bathroom to do GOD knows what!! He often mumbled to himself while he ran out complaining about anything and everything just loud enough for the rail to hear him. We would just watch and laugh to ourselves but in retrospect it wasnt funny at all. I heard Jimmy ended his life at the other end of a 12 ga. a few yrs back. A great talent he was...
 
I'm probably butchering his name, but he inspires me.

Cho Chun Choop.

From the Byrnes' video.

I have yet see a man do what he has done.

I loaned my Byrnens videos to someone years ago (never got them back) and I'm only going from memory, but he's the guy that pops into my head when I come across a difficult shot, asking myself "what whould he do?".
 
Jerry OC said:
Johnny Archer he is like a machine. If you wanted to model your game after someone he would be the ideal player.
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I saw him at Cues 2 Thursday. I played him at Cues 2 when they had some sort of raffle. You pay $5 and you can win a cue stick and you also get to play Johnny Archer in a game of 9ball. You get to break. I scratched on the break. I basically paid $5 to do what everyone else did. Watch. It was worth it.

When he was playing yesterday he would run rack after rack after rack. Truthfully I became bored watching him and turned my attention to a 1pocket game.

I've always liked Cliff Joyner. I'm a 1pocket fan so it's natural. Stevie Moore is also a player I look up to. I played him at Cues when I was 16. More like watched.

But the player who inspired me the most I don't even have a clue as to who he is. He was in a wheel chair. I think he was put there by a drunk driver because he mentioned to me he felt Alcohol was a worste drug than cocaine. Anyways he tought me the basics of english and cut shots. I was 16 at the time. He was some sort of pool shark. He mentioned some big money games he has played. I wish I knew who he was. He was probably 60+
 
Stevie Moore
Shannon Daulton
Tony Watson

It's their style and the way they "go for it". Stevie seems to play a little slower than he did when he was younger but not too much. Watching anyone of these guys when they're in stroke is enough to make me want to start playing again.

When I lived in SC and played all the time is when all of them lived there.... I would watch them match up with someone and after awhile I couldn't stand it and I would have to get a table of my own and start playing. Then I would go back and sweat the rest of the set. ;)
 
When Tommy Kennedy won the US Open in 1992, it showed me that anything is possible and anybody can win an OPEN event.

When I watched Justin Bergman play in a tournament last year, I was reminded of what it was like to be young and fearless at the table. I think he has a very bright future and limitless potential.

But...
when I saw Ga Young Kim smash the memory of the 2003 WPBA US Open Final by meeting Karen Corr again in the US Open Final in 2004 and conquering that demon, I cried like a baby, and I know I wasn't alone.
 
I don't know about specific players...Maybe corey deuel and efren. But, that recent match up with rocket rodney and hohman(butchering sp I am sure)motivated the hell out of me.
 
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