C'mon now, there is no Devil.
What Pro has gotten the most out of the talent God gave him/her
- Thread starter Pangit
- Start date
C'mon now, there is no Devil.
I agree about God, there is no evidence.
What if?.......
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I don't believe dinosaurs can write meme's.
Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
As for the OP, if you go by how hard a player works at his game and how hard he tries during competition, along with playing pretty well, I think you have to consider SVB, Appleton and O'Sullivan. Among the earlier generations, I think Mosconi is up there for the very high level he played at for a very long time.
Fantastic post!
It always makes me a bit sad when I see this thought; right or wrong, it's a concept of "no hope", and that is sad .... but ... NPR I suppose.
The first two that came to mind were Mosconi and SVB .. but can't argue with Efren either. Really anyone who has risen to the top can't be a bad call.
It always makes me a bit sad when I see this thought; right or wrong, it's a concept of "no hope", and that is sad .... but ... NPR I suppose.
The first two that came to mind were Mosconi and SVB .. but can't argue with Efren either. Really anyone who has risen to the top can't be a bad call.
Look back further into Billiards for the best players.
Our history goes back farther than the 1900's.
Who was the best billiards and pool player of all time? ... Harold Worst, Willie Hoppe, Alfredo de Oro, Johnny Layton, Willie Mosconi, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, or Efren "The Magician" Reyes?
Some of the choices are subjective. For instance, while Harold Worst probably was the best three-cushion billiards and pool player in his prime ("and" being the key word), the other players named were dominant for much longer periods of time. But Hoppe was primarily a three-cushion billiards player. Mosconi was a straight pool specialist. De Oro, to my knowledge, never won a major championship in nine-ball, one-pocket or snooker. Layton won twelve three-cushion billiard titles, but only two in pocket billiards and both were in straight pool. Sigel and Strickland were nine-ball experts who never played high-level three-cushion billiards. Only Harold Worst won all the following in a single season: the three-cushion billiards world championship, two major all-round pool world championships (straight pool, one pocket and nine-ball), and an English snooker tournament. And he did it while dying of brain cancer, in his last year on the planet. Other players remarked how sick he looked, even as they marveled at how magnificently he played. Top pros like Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter and Eddie "The Knoxville Bear" Taylor dodged Worst; others demanded mortal locks before they'd gamble with him. And yet sometimes when Worst gave other pros the "absolute nuts," he still won. As one pro put it, everyone "shook" when they played Worst, even when they had talked him into ridiculous spots. So Harold "the Best" Worst gets my vote, for whatever it's worth.
Another interesting player to consider as the best ever is Albert M. Frey, who was winning nearly every match almost as soon as the first native American pool games had been invented. According to Michael Phelan, the father of American pool, the first national pool championship took place in 1878. Albert Frey the "blonde boy" wonder and darling of the crowds, made his public debut on December 30, 1880. He won the first professional eight-ball tournament at Republican Hall, NYC, in May 1882. He became the world champion of another new game, fifteen-ball or 61-pool, also in 1882. By 1884, Frey was "almost invariably winning" according to Phelan, while competing against stars like George F. Sutton, James L. Malone, Cyrille "The Bismarck of Billiards" Dion, Alfredo de Oro and Jake "The Wizard" Schaefer. From 1881-1887, Frey won every fifteen-ball championship match or finished second. In 1888, Frey won the first continuous pool (straight pool) tournament, beating Malone in a playoff. In 1889, Frey was tied for first place in the national championship tournament, when he died suddenly of pneumonia. At the time of his death, he had been dominating the American pool scene, whether the game was fifteen-ball, eight-ball or continuous pool. Frey was "widely known as the champion pool player of America," according to his obit in The New York Times. Malone had a crown delivered to the funeral, a touching tribute since he had been Frey's greatest and most determined obstacle to the crown.
If we can look northward, another fascinating player is Cyrille Dion, a French-Canadian born in Montreal in 1843. Dion was the billiards champion of Canada in 1865, at age 22, with a high run of 138 and a grand average of 12.76. He won the 1866 Tournament of State and Provincial Champions, again going undefeated with a high run of 127 and a grand average of 11.28. In 1870-1871 he won a series of four-ball championship matches against stars who included the French champion A. P. Rudolphe and Americans Frank Parker and Melvin Foster. Dion won the American four-ball championship in 1873, with a high run of 127 and a grand average of 11.28. He won the straight rail championship in 1875. In 1876 Dion won the four-ball championship by such a wide margin, 1500-392, that The New York Times predicted there would never be another four-ball championship match. In 1878, Dion won the first American National Championship pool tournament. He died just six months later, at age 35, from severe lung congestion that had plagued him for years. He was the undefeated champion of the first major Canadian billiards tournament, the undefeated champion of the last American four-ball billiards tournament, and the undefeated champion of the first major American pool tournament. He had nerves of steel and was ready, willing and able to play anyone, as reported by the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette on July 18, 1871: "Cyrille Dion has issued a notice in which he challenges anyone in the world to play him a game of three-ball or French carom billiards, the amount of stakes to be not less than five hundred dollar a side. It is thought in billiard circles that an International contest will be the result of this challenge."
In the modern era, Efren "The Magician" Reyes may well be the best all-around player. Reyes is a master of eight-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball, rotation, one-pocket, straight pool, snooker, 18.1 balkline and three-cushion billiards. And he claimed the richest purse in pool history, $163,172 in the 2001 Tokyo Nine-Ball Championship. But whether he's better than Worst is a matter of speculation, if you'll pardon the pun.
Our history goes back farther than the 1900's.
Who was the best billiards and pool player of all time? ... Harold Worst, Willie Hoppe, Alfredo de Oro, Johnny Layton, Willie Mosconi, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, or Efren "The Magician" Reyes?
Some of the choices are subjective. For instance, while Harold Worst probably was the best three-cushion billiards and pool player in his prime ("and" being the key word), the other players named were dominant for much longer periods of time. But Hoppe was primarily a three-cushion billiards player. Mosconi was a straight pool specialist. De Oro, to my knowledge, never won a major championship in nine-ball, one-pocket or snooker. Layton won twelve three-cushion billiard titles, but only two in pocket billiards and both were in straight pool. Sigel and Strickland were nine-ball experts who never played high-level three-cushion billiards. Only Harold Worst won all the following in a single season: the three-cushion billiards world championship, two major all-round pool world championships (straight pool, one pocket and nine-ball), and an English snooker tournament. And he did it while dying of brain cancer, in his last year on the planet. Other players remarked how sick he looked, even as they marveled at how magnificently he played. Top pros like Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter and Eddie "The Knoxville Bear" Taylor dodged Worst; others demanded mortal locks before they'd gamble with him. And yet sometimes when Worst gave other pros the "absolute nuts," he still won. As one pro put it, everyone "shook" when they played Worst, even when they had talked him into ridiculous spots. So Harold "the Best" Worst gets my vote, for whatever it's worth.
Another interesting player to consider as the best ever is Albert M. Frey, who was winning nearly every match almost as soon as the first native American pool games had been invented. According to Michael Phelan, the father of American pool, the first national pool championship took place in 1878. Albert Frey the "blonde boy" wonder and darling of the crowds, made his public debut on December 30, 1880. He won the first professional eight-ball tournament at Republican Hall, NYC, in May 1882. He became the world champion of another new game, fifteen-ball or 61-pool, also in 1882. By 1884, Frey was "almost invariably winning" according to Phelan, while competing against stars like George F. Sutton, James L. Malone, Cyrille "The Bismarck of Billiards" Dion, Alfredo de Oro and Jake "The Wizard" Schaefer. From 1881-1887, Frey won every fifteen-ball championship match or finished second. In 1888, Frey won the first continuous pool (straight pool) tournament, beating Malone in a playoff. In 1889, Frey was tied for first place in the national championship tournament, when he died suddenly of pneumonia. At the time of his death, he had been dominating the American pool scene, whether the game was fifteen-ball, eight-ball or continuous pool. Frey was "widely known as the champion pool player of America," according to his obit in The New York Times. Malone had a crown delivered to the funeral, a touching tribute since he had been Frey's greatest and most determined obstacle to the crown.
If we can look northward, another fascinating player is Cyrille Dion, a French-Canadian born in Montreal in 1843. Dion was the billiards champion of Canada in 1865, at age 22, with a high run of 138 and a grand average of 12.76. He won the 1866 Tournament of State and Provincial Champions, again going undefeated with a high run of 127 and a grand average of 11.28. In 1870-1871 he won a series of four-ball championship matches against stars who included the French champion A. P. Rudolphe and Americans Frank Parker and Melvin Foster. Dion won the American four-ball championship in 1873, with a high run of 127 and a grand average of 11.28. He won the straight rail championship in 1875. In 1876 Dion won the four-ball championship by such a wide margin, 1500-392, that The New York Times predicted there would never be another four-ball championship match. In 1878, Dion won the first American National Championship pool tournament. He died just six months later, at age 35, from severe lung congestion that had plagued him for years. He was the undefeated champion of the first major Canadian billiards tournament, the undefeated champion of the last American four-ball billiards tournament, and the undefeated champion of the first major American pool tournament. He had nerves of steel and was ready, willing and able to play anyone, as reported by the Fort Wayne Daily Gazette on July 18, 1871: "Cyrille Dion has issued a notice in which he challenges anyone in the world to play him a game of three-ball or French carom billiards, the amount of stakes to be not less than five hundred dollar a side. It is thought in billiard circles that an International contest will be the result of this challenge."
In the modern era, Efren "The Magician" Reyes may well be the best all-around player. Reyes is a master of eight-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball, rotation, one-pocket, straight pool, snooker, 18.1 balkline and three-cushion billiards. And he claimed the richest purse in pool history, $163,172 in the 2001 Tokyo Nine-Ball Championship. But whether he's better than Worst is a matter of speculation, if you'll pardon the pun.
Take your there is no God there as well then...
You can take your atheist BELIEFS there as well then.
Jaden
You can take your atheist BELIEFS there as well then.
Jaden
I copied, pasted, and slightly modified one of his posts from another thread. I don't care about the religion debate one way or the other. Just having fun. Carry on.
Leave it to Panjit to muddy the waters with what could've been a good subject.
To keep it pool related, one of our top snooker players said a long time ago...
..."If fifty people are watching a man trying to hit a snooker, and 49 of them say no hit
....and one of them says good hit , believe that one man....
...because the rest of them saw nothing."
So you people that believe there is nothing...that's what you see.
Ha! I heard Hitler couldn't run three balls.
Karma? I'm not a big karma believer either. But seriously, do you think his post bothered me? Not at all, I'm just glad to be given some attention.
Then why did YOU bring it up in the first place????
"There is no God" = reasonable and intelligent conversation
"There is a God" = ignorant hate speech
I'm sorry, man, I didn't want to get into this, I like to stay on topic and hate to see the new trend of thread-jacking that has been going on, but how hypocritical can you get?
As far as the OP, Ronnie O. might have been a runaway winner of squanderer of talent, had he not come on so strong later in his career.
Maximizer of talent.....Ralf Soquet maybe? Efren maybe since he did become arguably the best ever
I think you should read my initial post...
Better than the Worst?
Only Harold Worst won all the following in a single season: the three-cushion billiards world championship, two major all-round pool world championships (straight pool, one pocket and nine-ball), and an English snooker tournament. And he did it while dying of brain cancer, in his last year on the planet. Other players remarked how sick he looked, even as they marveled at how magnificently he played.
Better than Albert M. Frey?
Albert M. Frey, who was winning nearly every match almost as soon as the first native American pool games had been invented. According to Michael Phelan, the father of American pool, the first national pool championship took place in 1878. Albert Frey the "blonde boy" wonder and darling of the crowds, made his public debut on December 30, 1880. He won the first professional eight-ball tournament at Republican Hall, NYC, in May 1882. He became the world champion of another new game, fifteen-ball or 61-pool, also in 1882. By 1884, Frey was "almost invariably winning" according to Phelan, while competing against stars like George F. Sutton, James L. Malone, Cyrille "The Bismarck of Billiards" Dion, Alfredo de Oro and Jake "The Wizard" Schaefer. From 1881-1887, Frey won every fifteen-ball championship match or finished second. In 1888, Frey won the first continuous pool (straight pool) tournament, beating Malone in a playoff. In 1889, Frey was tied for first place in the national championship tournament, when he died suddenly of pneumonia. At the time of his death, he had been dominating the American pool scene, whether the game was fifteen-ball, eight-ball or continuous pool. Frey was "widely known as the champion pool player of America," according to his obit in The New York Times. Malone had a crown delivered to the funeral, a touching tribute since he had been Frey's greatest and most determined obstacle to the crown.
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If only genetics were that simple.
Tony Watson screwed the pooch. What an unbelievable talent.
Jennifer Baretta began playing at 27 years old. She has gotten the most out of her talent.
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Seriously? One as pretty as you can't get a date?
The OP should have said "the pool gods". Then this thread would have never lost track. ha ha.
To me, the answer to the question is the player who is practicing/playing/gambling/tournament, ALL the time. For the past 10 years, that for sure is Shane as far as US players. I don't think we are as privy to the other countries, but from what Helfert and others have said, Dennis and the other Filipinos play not stop as well.
I think every player who has reached pro level has played 15 hours a day for 5 years straight, when they were coming up. But the ones who continue to do that when they are already pro level, those are the ones that are winning the big events.
To me, the answer to the question is the player who is practicing/playing/gambling/tournament, ALL the time. For the past 10 years, that for sure is Shane as far as US players. I don't think we are as privy to the other countries, but from what Helfert and others have said, Dennis and the other Filipinos play not stop as well.
I think every player who has reached pro level has played 15 hours a day for 5 years straight, when they were coming up. But the ones who continue to do that when they are already pro level, those are the ones that are winning the big events.