Who are the nicest and most friendly pro pool players in the US?

I can't pick the friendliest because so many are very approachable .
Here's a few very friendly pros
1 Archer
2 Earl
3 Stevie
4 Raj
5 Efren
6 S. Daulton .
7 Hopkins
8 Hatch
9 Schmidt
10 My persona favorite before there
passing. Tony Ellin and Wade Crane

This is in no particular order but these stick out more than the rest I've met .
After reading the thread I should havre mentioned Corey, Kennedy and Chris
 
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Tony Robles, Oscar D, Chris Bartram, Joey Grey as far as us born people imo are very nice and approachable people.
 
I gotta vote for John Schmidt. Shane was a nice kid before he got famous but not so much anymore. Fame changes people.
 
justinb386 said:
I would like to start off by saying that I have never met any of the pro players out there.

I was at the music city open one year, and seen my favorite player Johnny Archer.

Would have loved to meet him and talk to him, but was just too shy.

Seen Nick Varner while I was there too, but just too shy to even go over and say hi.

I am just curious who are some of the most friendly pool players out there (like the type of player that would not mind shooting with you just for fun and even giving you a few pointers at no charge).

I am not looking for a free lesson if that is what you might think. Just curious about who are some of the most friendly pro pool players that you have ever met?
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I don't really know many current players but from the past I would say

Buddy Hall, who actually offered me a puppy when he heard my dog died.
Dallas West
Lou Butera
Nick Varner
Both Efren and Jose always nice.
Jimmy Moore
UJ Puckett
Of course Jimmy Caras who was the best.
Miz was OK although kind of standoffish, if he knew you though was a great guy. He seemed afraid of strangers.
 
At one time or another, I think I've met and interacted with most the players mentioned in this thread, and in my opinion, Tommy Kennedy is a standout in this department.

Roger
 
I haven't really talked to him but everytime I see SVB out he will play anyone in a game or two. I've never shot against him because everytime I catch him out there is a line of people waiting to play. I'm not talking for cash, just in general. You want to shoot a game he will shoot and is normally laughing and having a good time doing it. I've also seen numerous people go up to him even when he was in the middle of eating and he was always willing to take a picture with a fan.
 
I agree 100%...

watchez said:
There is Oscar Dominguez and then there is everyone else.
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Oscar, is the de facto standard that all players should be like IMO. Nicest, most professional, professional I've met. There are many more, but Oscar sets the standard.

I appreciate the mention by Bobalou. Don't know that I can be considered a pro quite yet, but I'm working on it. Those personal demons and overcoming the issues with the mental game can be a real *****...

I did manage to finish the first season of the mezz tour in 12th place, so I'm proud of that and had a couple of good wins and finishes.

Other than Oscar, the person that stands out most in my mind as being the nicest is Brandon Shuff... He is a genuinely good guy too...

Jaden

p.s. Black Balled, we all hate you too.... ;)
 
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Black-Balled said:
I would go for mike Davis or Shaun Wilkie shuff is real easy to get along with too, as is Eberle.

Shit, guess I like everyone.
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Brandon Shuff is my favorite, but I knew him a little bit already from league. I also agree about Mike Davis and Shaun Wilkie. Don't know much about Eberle. Similar list to Black-Balled because we both live in the same area as these guys and have probably interacted with them more than others.

I talked to Mike Dechaine a little bit at the last US Open 9 ball and I found him pretty laid back and easy to talk to. I like him. Ditto for Stevie Moore.

I like Earl, but he runs hot or cold on friendliness. I was going to talk to him about possibly giving me some lessons, but he was in asshole mode and by the end of the match I was watching him in I scrapped the idea. When he's in that mode he doesn't really converse he just targets nearby audience members to look at while he spouts off his comments. I was sitting right behind him so I got to hear all about how much everyone hated him.

Haven't met Shane yet, but I like him and fairly certain he would have talked to me if I had anything specific to talk about.
 
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Not sure if the ladies were left out on purpose but I had the chance to speak with Allison Fisher at our Toys for Tots event and she is all class. She's extremely nice. The only time she wasn't nice was when she was burning up that 9ft Diamond and dominating everyone that tried to beat her. ;) Very impressive.
She's a great person and a great player.
 
Fortunate to know a few very well you can't find any more approachable than Tony Robles . Johnny Archer as well . Shawn Putnam is very misunderstood and erroneously catorigized as not approachable but he is very friendly and very willing to help you with pointers. He is just more what you see is what you get he will tell you what he thinks . What s wrong with that. Probably as good of a teacher as you may find the way he relates during a lesson
 
Most of the pros are approachable...but the timing is critical. The times to avoid are: after a loss, before a match, when they are busy, etc. Just try to be around when they seem to be available and then have something intelligent to say to them, such a giving them a compliment.

After that initial contact ask them a good open ended question.
 
This is why I almost didn't want to reply...

fat Albert said:
Fortunate to know a few very well you can't find any more approachable than Tony Robles . Johnny Archer as well . Shawn Putnam is very misunderstood and erroneously catorigized as not approachable but he is very friendly and very willing to help you with pointers. He is just more what you see is what you get he will tell you what he thinks . What s wrong with that. Probably as good of a teacher as you may find the way he relates during a lesson
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There are so many pros that are nice and approachable. As you stated, Johnny, Shawn, Hunter Lombardo, Kim Davenport are just a few. I mean I could literally probably name a couple of dozen that are approachable and nice without taking a breath.

Really the douches are the exception, not the rule.

Jaden
 
Vivian Villareal would be my top pick. She always has a smile on her face unless in a match and will talk to anybody. Had a nice conversation with her after she got the call about being inducted to the hall of fame. She doesn't know my name I am sure but talked to me like I was good friend.
 
I like to refer to Tony Robles as being one of my favorite human beings on the planet. Always approachable and down to earth. Earl has always been nice to me. Mike Dechaine also, the few times I've seen him at Steinway. Zion Zvi is another guy who gets my vote. I took a few lessons from Glen Atwell in Seattle, and he was pretty cool too. BS'ed with Rodney Morris for a while, Raj Hundal also. My buddy is pretty close with Dennis Hatch. The other pros I've met seemed like they were faking politeness, or just wanted me to get the F away from them.
 
Cracktherack said:
I found Dennis Hatch to be friendly on many occasions. Oscar was just the opposite, very rude and interrupted when his father and I were speaking, and he does this in Spanish.
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He was most likely translating for his dad. Even though his dad speaks English, Oscar clarifies a lot to his dad during conversations in Spanish.
 
Nick Varner is very approachable and has a great memory of pool players. From the forum Chris Bartram and Brandon Shuff are good guys and John Schmidt is very funny I miss his posts!
 
I have not met Oscar but I did sit next to Ernesto for a while during a tournament while his son was playing. I always have my son with me in those places since he loves pool and this has helped a lot with meeting and getting to know players a bit since I like introducing him to players and they are easy to meet anyway, but having a younger kid helps :)

Ernesto was great, easy to chat with. Mike Dechaine is local to me and he also hangs out with my son quite a bit, not a bad guy to talk to and we text back and forth at times.

I had the pleasure of sitting next to Nick Varner a bit at the Jr Nationals in KY this past year and he was very friendly, one of my idols and was great to meet him. Archer was there also although I met him a few times, he's a nice guy as well.

Karen Corr, very nice with the kids, talks almost like fan herself about the game about strategy and pointers.

One person I don't think I seen mentioned is Grady Mathews. I think of all the players and even people I ever met, he was the most caring. I met him once in early 2000 and even after just meeting me for a few minutes, every time he ran into me that tournament he treated me like I was an old buddy of his that he knew for 10 years. It's too bad I only met hime that one time.

Sigel was also nice, met him during his promotion tour for his league and he spend a bit of time with my son (again, helps having a kid around LOL), talked a bit about some shots and ofcourse how great he was/is LOL

I have to say most players I met have been very nice. There are a few that are a lot harder to approach, Earl of course, and I can't really think of anyone else.

Met Shane several times and he's always doing something with someone, he was one of only a few players doing stuff with the kids in Vegas, along with Dechaine, Lombardo and Jen Baretta when they had Jr Nationals along side the older open CSI event.
 
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I have met Sky, Bergman, Archer, Chip&Joey, Barnes, Shuff, Bartram, Joyner, Walden, Glass, Saez, Tokoph, Van Boening, Deuel, Wiley, Bryant, Nevel, Frost, Pinegar, Morra, Morris, Reyes, Kennedy, Strickland, Manola, Durbin, Boyes, Adkins, Jones, Siegel, Owens, Moore, Davis, Martinez, Klatt, McMinn, Bennett, and Ochoa so far.

My vote goes to Charlie Bryant, Saez, Chip&Joey in that order.
 
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Some of the guys I have met that I thought were very easy to talk to were Oscar Dominguez, John Brumback, and John Schmidt. Probably the guy that I have chatted with the most at tournaments would be Francisco Bustamante but I think you were referring to players from the US.
 
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