Blow the pockets up to pool standards and continue to bring up the reds and I'll guarentee they could.
Who is considered the greatest living cueist right now?
- Thread starter Positively Ralf
- Start date
Well there is a small group of Hustlers, on the road today. They are great players making a nice living off their skills.
Most will never come out of shadows to be unmasked.
Most will never come out of shadows to be unmasked.
Johnny Rosato
thanks, i missed that. it's a difficult major tournament for sure. but it's also 10 years ago..
i've watched a lot of chinese and english 8-ball with melling participating, and his cueing is rolls royce, simply the best there is. but he is also an underachiever considering that cue power.
Damned ref keeps picking up the cue ball when I pot the last black.
Where are these unknown players and where are they hustling?
tomatoshooter
Well-known member
The announcers are always fawning over his play. He might would win a little more if he was less entertaining but there's something about a guy who is a threat to make a shot anytime he can see the ball. Have to kick 2 rails just to hit the 1? No problem, he'll carom the 6 in and then run out the table.rafael was always entertaining to watch......
I would agree with the person who suggested Florian as the best cueist. I would throw Gabi Visoiu in that equation and Mike Massey in his prime. There are things that the high level artistic pool guys can do that your normal pool player can not in regards to pure cue action. I would even throw in Semi and some of the artistic billiards guys. However I would agree with a previous post that there really isn't a way to choose since each cue discipline is different that the other.
Paul was a great player but none of those world titles he talks about are sanctioned. I believe all of them were just exhibitions with friends that he called world championships. The artistic pool world championships became sanctioned in 2000 by the WPA and even the exhibitions/events that happened before are mentioned on Dr Cues website, which has pretty much every artistic pool event on record.
Rafael Martinez would have won a lot more if he had ever learned what a safety was and if he could have ever learned to correctly play the percentages.
He had more talent than most and a better stroke than most, but that all offense circus shot game excelled a bit more for entertaining than it did for winning.
I dont know if you have seen the articles about Paul but from how they read you cant get any better than him. He has said and I quote “There are only a few people who can make money and they’re the top-tier pros, usually those of us who are on ESPN and so on,” ESPN!!! he has to be the best.......... Also he won a Highschool pool tournament when he was 7!! I only know one other person that is close to Paul's sheer natural ability and Dave Matlock said this guy I am getting ready to mention has the best stroke hes ever seen... Shawn Billings!! If you see him winding up around your local pool hall you better pack it up and save your money.
Yes Paul was on ESPN Trick Shot Magic, but he never won the event. He played in many of the organized and sanctioned Artistic Pool events, but never won any of those either. I am not familiar with how Paul played regular pool but he is not spoken of like Mizerak and Rempe and such so he probably wasn't on their level. Again, not taking anything away from what he has done. He has done more than most pool players. He did a lot and was able to make pool a living for a while. But when you do entertainment shows, it is all about how you market yourself. If you market yourself well and have a entertaining show, you can do very well.
tomatoshooter
Well-known member
Yeah, at the professional level, that circus shot gets you one ball closer to the money ball if you make it and a 2 or 3 game rest if you miss. Like you say, if he had more patience and played the percentages better he would be on a very short list of the best players. But God, I would kill for a fraction of that stroke!
Brian have you seen Paul's commercial about this place fixing his car and how his Jag purrs now...? I'm surprised he didn't win a daytime emmy for that performance..........The guy is probably the best everything we have ever seen in the history of the world.
Relevance?