Who do you think is the top 5 pool players ever in the world?
- Thread starter Lock N Load
- Start date
No doubt about it
I personally was with and have grown up wit the best all round pool player ever,in 1969 in Johnson City Ill. Jersey Red and WIllie were having a conversation ,I was 3 feet from them,Jersey asked Willie "who do you like this year"? His immediate answer was,"that Hall boy is the best pool player I have ever seen!! I beleive his championship wins speak for themselves 12 time world champion,5 time all around titles,and if the best players told the truth they were all shot down by Buddy many responses were "if you don't get a shot how can you win? When it came to the big money games Buddy Hall took their money!!They know who they are without fronting out anyone, and today the young guns try to out shoot the "Rifleman", but they better cary a big gun!!!
—Guest Danny Spann
Many Regards,
Lock N load.
Efren is 1st on my list. I could name a bunch of players u could pick from, to fill in the other 4 spots...........mike sigel, earl, johnny archer, francisco, buddy, mosconi, greenleaf......... and Thorsten, alex p., svb, mika and keith mcreedy could all get a mention. How would u determine the " best ever ".....world championships ?, gambling ?...... just my thoughts........im sure i've left out some obvious names that should be mentioned
Don Willis
Harold Worst
Luther Lassiter
Buddy Hall
Efren Reyes
In no particular order
Harold Worst
Luther Lassiter
Buddy Hall
Efren Reyes
In no particular order
Good to see somebody else included Don Willis.
I would go with - in no particular order:
Parica
Willis
Lassiter
Rempe
Worst
I wanted to add Strickland, Hall, Sigel, Reyes and McCready.
It is tough to leave these guys out. There are also a few more knocking on this list's door.
Yeah-just ask anyone on the corner. Him and that Chinese girl.
Top 5 in 14.1 would be a hard nut to crack.... but Danny D. saw and competed with many who would be on that list and he stated that Thorsten "might" be the best 14.1 player ever.......
I still love Danny's quote " I'm a straight pool player.... but I miss now so I play one-pocket"
Im a straight pool player too but i will fool around if the guy is real cute.
Jimmy reid #1 without a doubt
My good friend Jimmy Reid has over 40 titles to his name. In 1974 he played the Southwestern Open 9 ball championship with a full field and spotted the entire field of pros the call 8 and won the tournament without losing a match. In 1977 he won the World Convention 9 ball Championship. The same year he placed 3rd in the International Snooker Championship as the only America invited to the tournament and won an extra 1000 British Pounds for having the high run of the tournament. In 1979 he was crowned BCA National 8Ball Champ with a field of over 4300 entries. He was 1980 World Classic 8 ball champ....1985 US Open 9 Ball Champ. From 1992-1993 he won 6 International 9 Ball Championships in Europe and was back to back European 8 ball Champ. Jimmy has beaten both Efren and Parica for huge money playing one pocket.
Here is a quote from Jimmy:
“In 1994 at the men’s pro billiards tour, ‘Lexington All Star 9 Ball Championship’ on the last night before the finals, unbeknownst to me, at the urging of the audience a large group of my peers had gotten together to vote on who they thought was the best money player. Almost all of the top ranked pool players over the previous 5 to 25 years were there, Johnny Archer, Francesco Bustamante, Wade Crane, Kim Davenport, Roger Griffis, Buddy Hall, Allen Hopkins, Bob Ogburn, Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, and C. J. Wiley just to name a few. At the time they without a doubt a group of the best and most respected pocket billiard players in the world. They voted yours truly, Jimmy Reid, The Best Money Player In The World For The Previous 25 Years, From 1969 – 1994. Buddy Hall Said To Me The Next Day, ‘That’s Over A Quarter Of A century Man’ “Of All Things, This, I Am Most Proud” Jimmy Reid
To beat Jimmy Reid in any game for money, you would have to break him before he would quit. He would sell his house, car, clothes off his back before he would quit and he always played with his own money. I am blessed to have Jimmy living only 20 minutes from my house and am proud to call him my friend and mentor for over 40 years.
My good friend Jimmy Reid has over 40 titles to his name. In 1974 he played the Southwestern Open 9 ball championship with a full field and spotted the entire field of pros the call 8 and won the tournament without losing a match. In 1977 he won the World Convention 9 ball Championship. The same year he placed 3rd in the International Snooker Championship as the only America invited to the tournament and won an extra 1000 British Pounds for having the high run of the tournament. In 1979 he was crowned BCA National 8Ball Champ with a field of over 4300 entries. He was 1980 World Classic 8 ball champ....1985 US Open 9 Ball Champ. From 1992-1993 he won 6 International 9 Ball Championships in Europe and was back to back European 8 ball Champ. Jimmy has beaten both Efren and Parica for huge money playing one pocket.
Here is a quote from Jimmy:
“In 1994 at the men’s pro billiards tour, ‘Lexington All Star 9 Ball Championship’ on the last night before the finals, unbeknownst to me, at the urging of the audience a large group of my peers had gotten together to vote on who they thought was the best money player. Almost all of the top ranked pool players over the previous 5 to 25 years were there, Johnny Archer, Francesco Bustamante, Wade Crane, Kim Davenport, Roger Griffis, Buddy Hall, Allen Hopkins, Bob Ogburn, Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, and C. J. Wiley just to name a few. At the time they without a doubt a group of the best and most respected pocket billiard players in the world. They voted yours truly, Jimmy Reid, The Best Money Player In The World For The Previous 25 Years, From 1969 – 1994. Buddy Hall Said To Me The Next Day, ‘That’s Over A Quarter Of A century Man’ “Of All Things, This, I Am Most Proud” Jimmy Reid
To beat Jimmy Reid in any game for money, you would have to break him before he would quit. He would sell his house, car, clothes off his back before he would quit and he always played with his own money. I am blessed to have Jimmy living only 20 minutes from my house and am proud to call him my friend and mentor for over 40 years.
Yeah, LL, but that's part of the fun of these kinds of threads - picking the dominant players of the different eras and assessing how they would stack up against the players, games, and equipment played in other eras.
Anyone who doesn't think Mosconi would have been just as dominating if the game was 8 Ball or 10 Ball are probably fooling themselves (imho).
Same applies to the more modern players. If 14.1 suddenly became the main professional game again, likely most of today's top players would still wind up at the top. Sure there are some excellent players that maybe don't have quite the "head" required for straight pool or one hole, but the top elite players have both the physical skill to pocket balls and play position, and the brains/imagination/creativity required of one pocket and the pattern games.
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what about him??
in his prime id make him odds on favorite in 9 ball
I have no list other then Mosconi and Greenleaf in straight pool.
All the great players mentioned in the previous posts would all compete pretty close. It would come down to who was getting the rolls and who was playing at top form at any given time.
We all have our "A" game but sometimes it's a "A-" and some times it's an "A+".Thats how close the very best of all time are.
Thats how I see who is the best.
All the great players mentioned in the previous posts would all compete pretty close. It would come down to who was getting the rolls and who was playing at top form at any given time.
We all have our "A" game but sometimes it's a "A-" and some times it's an "A+".Thats how close the very best of all time are.
Thats how I see who is the best.
First off, I can't believe Efren is not on the top of everyone's list. Yep Earl could play 9 ball, but let him get on the table with Efren in one pocket, rotation, straight pool, 8 ball etc... And even in 9 ball Efren won the Color of Money against Earl.
Efren Reyes
Willie Mosconi
Luther Lassiter
Mike Sigel
Buddy Hall
And two more
Nick Varner
Earl Strickland in their primes.
My personal favorite player of all time though is Irvine Crane. He bought "class" to pool...
Efren Reyes
Willie Mosconi
Luther Lassiter
Mike Sigel
Buddy Hall
And two more
Nick Varner
Earl Strickland in their primes.
My personal favorite player of all time though is Irvine Crane. He bought "class" to pool...
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I see what you are saying, but if you want to compare players across different games, you might as well throw in Stephen Hendry, Ronnie o'sullivan, Tobjorn Blohmdahl, and Raymond Cuelemans because they would also dominate if they took up 10 ball seriously.
Also, I don't think Mosconi would win quite as often as he did back then just due to the somewhat lucky nature of 10 ball and the way tournaments now a days are set up.
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:angry:double post.
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Adding snooker or 3C guys into the mix would be for a different thread since the OP asked about pool players. But I agree, if you are talking more generally about the cue arts, some of these guys should enter the picture.
As for Willie, maybe he would and maybe he wouldn't. That's the fun of the discussion. I think he would still have been dominant. And he was so dominating, even if he wasn't quite as dominant, he would still be top 5 of all time. To the extent he wouldn't be though, it would probably have less to do with the luck and more to do with the fact he hated 9 Ball (and by extension, 10 Ball I assume).
