Who is the most boring pro to watch

wahcheck said:
Is slow play a form of "sharking"? I suppose if an opponent is a "rhythm" player, it would bother his timing.....Sometimes I wonder if a player is taking a long time just to upset his opponent.....I read in this month's Billiards Digest where Earl actually quit a match with Rolf over his slow play.....
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I would prefer to call it gamesmanship. The old rule is play fast agains a slow player and slow against a fast player or something like that. Its not technically sharking because your not doing anything to distract your opponent while he/she is playing, however your pace of play can have a great effect on the mindset of a player. Fast players are very intimidating and can leave an opponent rattled. Slow players, as you mentioned, can through you off of your rythem
 
"Is slow play a form of "sharking"? I suppose if an opponent is a "rhythm" player, it would bother his timing"

When I first started playing I used to play this guy Tom and he knew I was a rythmn player and shot quickly and he would purposely slow down the game to try to bust me outta my rythmn. However, I learned over time to just not look at the table much when my opponent is shooting and try to keep my mind clear. I can see how this might be a problem for someone like Strickland. However, if you ever see Reyes, he always has the same disposition no matter what his opponent is doing and he always seems to play at the same rythmn regardless of the game or opponent.
 
trainer said:
The Reverend(Steve Lillis) is certainly top ten material..After not picking up a cue for 4 years I had to play him at Ceasers in the 80's and it was sheer torture!! I wasn't upset to find out that he quit playing shortly afterwards..
Terry O.
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I wish he would become one of those solitary Monks!
He once sat a seat away from me in Vegas in the balcony, took off his shoes and socks, then put his bare feet up on the rail,in the line of site to the table, which would be bad enough, but he then proceeded to twitch/shift/move/rearrange them RAPIDLY literally every two seconds, making it impossible to watch anything. I ran out of there looking to convert to Budhism!
 
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Someone brought up Dick Lane. He is and was a great pool player, but among the slowest I've ever seen.

You all are lucky here. We used to have Straight Pool tournaments with players like Frank McGown, who could make a 125 point match last 3-4 hours. And yes, so could little Dickie from Dallas. Straight Pool could literally put you to sleep. That's the main reason 9-Ball took over.

Fred Whalen used to hire me to be a ref during his tournaments in the early 70's in L.A. He would pay the princely sum of $5 per match. That could average out to about $2 an hour sometimes and we had to keep track of the score on runs. That was the hardest part, remembering the count while a guy looked at the next shot for five minutes.

The WPBA has a good thing with the shot clock and we have used it in Men's tourneys as well. Probably the slowest player I can think of out here is Jeff Heath. He is a pretty good player, but oh so methodical. When he plays in one of my tournaments, I make sure his matches get underway promptly. There are others too, but none come to mind immediately.

At least a player like Charlie W. is moving around. Jeff will actually stand still and stare at a shot for 2-3 minutes. What is he thinking? I want to shake him somtimes and say "Wake up, it's your turn, shoot the ball!"

Oh well, I'm venting now.
 
There are two different kinds of slow play. Ralph is deliberate, but rythmic. Archer, JJ, Danny, downright stall.

You won't see Souquet getting up from his shoting stance very often, or take 2 minutes one shot, and 10 seconds the next.

Unlike another poster, I think Ralph makes it look the easiest I've ever seen (with the possible exception of Buddy) and a joy to watch.
 
What Danny Basavich did to this Chinese Taipai player at a recent WPC was unbelievable.

He left himself a bit of a straightish rail shot to the side pocket on the nine ball to win the match.He then took almost 2-3 minutes to make that shot to finish the poor guy off.It was tourterous to watch Danny get down-get up-get-down -get up, powder-re-powder,wipe and re wipe his cue.

You could just se the Chinese Taipai player cringing in his chair and probably thinking"just shoot the fu_ _ing ball already!" Danny really poured salt on that poor guys wounds.

He then shot in the nine and turned to the camera with a big smile and said something like" Love ya mom and dad," which was completley hilarious.

I don't think that Chinese Taipai player has suffered a more agonzing loss.

Archer's cloth picking,ball moving up and down set and re-set routine is a close 2nd.When he's not doing that,however, he is a great great talent.

RJ
 
lewdo26 said:
There are two different kinds of slow play. Ralph is deliberate, but rythmic. Archer, JJ, Danny, downright stall.

You won't see Souquet getting up from his shoting stance very often, or take 2 minutes one shot, and 10 seconds the next.

Unlike another poster, I think Ralph makes it look the easiest I've ever seen (with the possible exception of Buddy) and a joy to watch.
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You are so right about Ralph. I have seen him play many times (been in the receiving end twice). He can take his time analyzing the table or the situation, but when he has decided what to do he has a nice steady rythm.
 
jay helfert said:
Someone brought up Dick Lane. He is and was a great pool player, but among the slowest I've ever seen.
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I have played Dick in 9-Ball tournaments and he is brutally slow. And he plays so good that he is just slow death. I'd rather get run over in a milli-second by Earl than wait 15 minutes for Dick to run the same nine balls.

I have an Accu-Stats match where Dick beats Johnny Archer in 14.1 and he does a Player Review. He comments that there is a shot clock for the tournament and that it was a big adjustment for him.

Ironically, he comments that he thinks slow players (like himself) play better with a shot clock because it forces them to trust their first instincts regarding shot selection, etc.

It must be true because he played very well and with good pace in that match. Very different from when there is no clock on him.
 
You can't have a conversation about slow players and leave out Al Koklas (sp?) from Florida. He was famous for putting tournaments behind schedule, waaaaaay behind schedule. The nice thing about playing Al, though, you could take a pee break, a sandwich break, a smoke break, walk slowly back to the table, and he was still studying the same shot he had when you left. He was playing John DiToro 1p, I watched for awhile, left and came back 3 hours later; the balls were all uptable just like before. I made a comment that the ball layout looked just like the first game...John said "This is the first game". Although it can be tedious at times when players are taking a long time between shots, I don't find any of the great players boring to watch as long as they're coming with great shots and moves.
 
sjm said:
A PBT player of the late 90's named Greg Fix was, in my opinion, the most boring player to watch of the nine ball era. It may be hard to believe, but Greg Fix played slower than either Jeremy Jones or Danny Basavich.
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Funny that you would mention Greg after him being out of the scene for so long but I have to absolutely agree with you. I met him on the PBT and consider him to have been one of the nicest guys on tour but OH MY GOD what a slow player! I had to play him once and I spent most of the match either thinking about knocking him out or just forfeiting and leaving.

So yes for boring to watch and boring to play, my vote goes to Greg.
 
JC51534 said:
After watching Archer in Calgary this past week I thought I'd ask the question.
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Archer played pretty slow this week, but I still have say Danny Basavich takes the cake on this one, and eats it too:D
 
1. Jones (stop)

2. Basavich (slow)

3. Archer (as time goes on he keeps moving up in rank) (lint/ pull up off shot)

4. Williams (can't seem to find his goove)
 
Fyi....

lewdo26 said:
There are two different kinds of slow play. Ralph is deliberate, but rythmic. Archer, JJ, Danny, downright stall.

You won't see Souquet getting up from his shoting stance very often, or take 2 minutes one shot, and 10 seconds the next.

Unlike another poster, I think Ralph makes it look the easiest I've ever seen (with the possible exception of Buddy) and a joy to watch.
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Danny does NOT stall... a few players have asked him, "danny, why do you take so long to shoot a hanger?" and he answers because i know i can make the ball but i want to make sure i can make the next one... he does not STALL its just the way he plays... now i can't vouch for archer or jj but i know danny and he would be very offended if someone accused him of stalling when thats just the way he plays.
 
Takeshi Okumura from Japan comes to mind for being the slowest player I've observed. When he made his first appearance at the Cleveland Classic 10-ball he played so slowly it irritated his opponents to no end. If memory serves, enough complaints were made about him that the tournament staff finally said something to him about it.

From what I recall about him, he played well at both pool & 3 cushion billiards. But his pre-shot routine was, to my recollection, just painful to observe in my opinion. He would get down on the shot, then up, then down, up again, wipe his hands on the wrap of his Szamboti, down again, up once more, walk around the table, then down again & finally shoot.

However, he did manage to somewhat pick up the speed of his game. When he played at the 1991 U.S. Open, his speed was a bit better but still somewhat slow. He also kicked pretty well from what I remember about him.
 
West coast players/short stops Arturo Rivera and Mike Defino. It's like watching paint dry.
 
I have to agree with you I watched Archer shoot at the Billiards Expo in Pa, and he was with out a doubt very slow and boring, But I wish I had hald his game he is a GREAT SHOT
 
I think Jeremy Jones is annoying to watch as is Basavich, both for their slow play, powdering, shaft wiping, etc.

But in terms of who is the most BORING player to watch???

Charlie Williams. The guy has no appeal to him whatsoever.
 
Archer is pretty painful to watch...I can't confirm this but Archer and Santos played a race to 20 for some big cash a while back...I heard it took 8 hours to finish the set???
 
Cornerman said:
Basavich is an anomaly for slow play. I mean, he has a LOT of rapid motion for a slow player!! He walks around the table, he eyes the angles, he chalks and chalks and chalks, he strokes his shaft a million miles an hour in the air, then he lathers, rinses, and repeats the whole thing.

Fred
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Oh, boy, does he . . . . :eek:

Nice guy, but OMG.
 
Does Danny play that slow for the $ also? A couple of years ago he stopped my area long enough bbq a local player, and, as I recall, he played pretty quickly then.

I'd have to agree with those who voted for Dick Lane. I watched him play Buddy in a seniors tournament at Shooters in Olathe, KS a few years ago. It was torturous to watch Dick play. Buddy got really agitated at one point and said "Come on Dick, shoot the ball. You gotta play a safety, what the hell are you looking at?" It was pretty funny. Dick went on to win the match fairly easily, however.
 
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