Whos form to emulate?

Which player has best form?

  • Total voters
    97
crosseyedjoe said:
Since we are talking about "who to EMULATE," I will say Earl (not including the recent bad attitude though). His stroke is so smooth.

If you are going to emulate, don't even try Reyes and Busta's style. You're not going anywhere.
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Earl lines up that cue to his right ear then it always appears like he's spinning the cue on his follow-thru. It just looks odd.
Davenport, really gets my vote ( as Jimmy M. does too ).
The man's head never moves. Takes fast practice strokes then slows down.... then releases on a perfect pendulum.
Efren's not too bad imo.
 
I haven't heard anyone say it, but I have to put my two cents in for the Miz. If anyone ever saw his stroke you know it was poetry in motion.
 
StraightPoolIU said:
I haven't heard anyone say it, but I have to put my two cents in for the Miz. If anyone ever saw his stroke you know it was poetry in motion.
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Another good one.
 
Living: Close call between Immonen and Hohmann, but I went with Immonen. His alignment and balance are, in my opinion, perfect.

Deceased: For me, it comes down to a choice between Steve Mizerak and Jack Colavita, but the Miz deserves the nod. Steve had the smoothest stroke I've ever seen, and had the perfect combination of finesse and power.

Best ever fundamentals: Steve Mizerak
 
Nobody in the history of the game moved as graceful as Steve Mizerak. NOBODY. He was combinaton of power, grace, precision and personality. I miss him a lot.

As far today's players - I have always admired the fundamentals displayed by Jeff Carter. His fundamentals are about as close to perfect as you will see - John Schmidt runs a close second. Once I told John that he was the best pool player in the world - he just didn't know it yet. I hope that US Open victory is the start of a long list of major championships for John.

Schmidt.jpg

Solid as a rock.
 
I've never seen Steve Mizerak play but after all the mentions I'll have to hit the Accustats site for some matches! Anyone have any suggestions on some especially good matches for me to pick up?
 
zeeder said:
I've never seen Steve Mizerak play but after all the mentions I'll have to hit the Accustats site for some matches! Anyone have any suggestions on some especially good matches for me to pick up?
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They have some stuff at youtube - a few tributes and parts of a match against Lou Butera. Get anything you can get your hands on. Miz was a master of the game. Just like Buddy Hall - Steve never hit a bad shot.

Below is a link to The Master.
The Master
 
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I learned from Jeff while he was at Cuenique and then Mark Wilson. Come to think of it.. they were both students of Sailor.

I love the way Jeff squares up and lowers his cue slowly into the shot line. Very smooth and precise. I like Buddy's pause. It feels right to me.
 
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Some food for thought

I love this topic! I have given it much thought. Historically, players like Mosconi, Greenleaf, Hoppe, Mizerak were slightly side arm. The old Mosconi book, The hoppee Book and MANY instructional books of the old days indicate a form different from today!

The first book indicating a 90 degree angle for the shotting arm to my knowledge was Nick Varners instructional book. An old yellow covered book and the picture of Nick is hilarious to see him in a white suit from the 70's right out of that 70's show.

The closest players to the old school style are Kid Delicious, Keith Mc Cready & Bustamante. Also (Tom Kennedy) comes to mind (pooky) and World champion Wang from korea!

The new age warriors or the protractor players are Archer, strickland & ralf souquet!

They both have plus' and minus' a new player should try them both and know the strengths and weakness of both!

Somewhere along the line one way was instinctly the proper or best method or form because someone said it is. based on these statements bustamante and Reyes have the worst mechanics and the best results! But, no one mentions emulating them for beginners!!!!!

Efren has a 3 cushion billiard stroke that differs from the two textbooks approaches based on my readings and observations.

I could talk at length about this topic and just wanted to add some food for thought!!!!

Kid
Dynomite
 
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Anyone have any input about this?

Tennesseejoe said:
I voted for Mosconi having never seen him in person. But the videos show a compact, repiticious, accurate stroke from a more erect position than most players have now. This is not necessarily the powerful stroke used in 9 ball---but it is hard to argue with 526 consecutive, productive strokes.

For 9 ball---Buddy for consistency. But Earl made it happen.

By the way, I heard Earl talking to Buddy (at the DCC in 2006) about twisting his wrist outward for outside English and inside for inide English. Buddy agreed with Earl. Has anyone heard this too?
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I think Buddy was agreeing to ANYTHING to avoid the hassle of disagreeing. :D

As far as Mosconi goes... I just don't aspire to use an upright stance so his technique never appealed to me and I've not studied it for properness.

Buddy is perfect... but stands higher than I like to. His pause fit me perfectly the first time I tried it and it instantly became part of my game.
 
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JimS said:
I learned from Jeff while he was at Cuenique and then Mark Wilson. Come to think of it.. they were both students of Sailor.

I love the way Jeff squares up and lowers his cue slowly into the shot line. Very smooth and precise. I like Buddy's pause. It feels right to me.
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Jeff Carter does have great fundamentals I think Earl also has a nice solid stance and stroke. Is Sailor still around haven't seen him in years. Philw
 
Like SJM, I give the nod to Mika and deceased to Steve Mizerak. Davenport is another fine example. Mosconi was solid as a rock in form but as mentioned his stroke, a slip stroke, (although perfect execution) would not be one to copy. I picked up my style watching a very good local and a guy named Jimmy Moore.

Rod
 
philw said:
Jeff Carter does have great fundamentals I think Earl also has a nice solid stance and stroke. Is Sailor still around haven't seen him in years. Philw
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Last I heard, a couple weeks back, Sailor is still alive and well in Racine. From what I hear he's still taking students and has been making some cues again.
 
Miz had great fundamentals, so no doubt, he should be a top choice. Certainly Buddy, too. How is it, though, no one mentioned Sigel? Mike Sigel was the killer shotmaker for decades, and did it with as pure a stroke as you'll ever see. Also excluded from this discussion is Rempe. He's a master technician with perfect form.

I see Mosconi mentioned. As a model of form, he should not be considered, since his plane was well out of alignment (sidearm). But his contemporary, Irving Crane, had outstanding fundamentals and a pure and accurate stroke.
 
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