Who is the greatest pool player in history?
doubledragon
Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
Another sport I find to be fascinating is pool. I have spent many days hanging out in pool halls. As a matter of fact, there is a pool hall within walking distance of where I live, and I walk up there a lot and hang around and chew the fat and watch some of the better players do there thing. I try to play, but I'm not that good. It is a game of extreme concentration, and you have to be able to see three, four, even five shots ahead. You have to leave the cue ball in a spot to set up your next shot, and it can be very tricky. I'll profile some of the best to ever play the game, and I'm just going to mess around with this thread, and wherever it goes, it goes.
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Tom Cruise... hands down.
I don't know if she was the best player, but she's the one I always like to watch ...
And a cool nickname like Black Widow doesn't hurt either.
Always heard this guy was pretty good ...
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and another cool nickname.
I actually watched that episode recently! He regrets winning at the end because everyone starts challenging him. 😂😂
Double D, you have to go down the Twilight Zone rabbit hole, they are awesome!
The lady that hustled you for 2 bucks?
Yes, I was going to bring up Minnesota Fats. He is a fascinating man, and he had that serious, and scary look in his eye.
I'm a huge Twilight Zone fan. I've spent many hours watching that show!
I'll never recover from that! I'm scarred for life!
I bet you've had a hard time trusting women all your life because of that.
I'm very suspicious of women these days. What are they really up to. Are they plotting to overthrow men? 🤔
Willie Mosconi is another guy that jumps out at me. He actually had a rivalry with Minnesota Fats and a book was written about it.
Pool is just full of the coolest nicknames "Duchess of Doom"
I'm pretty sure this one is just totally made up so he had a nickname "The MJ of 3-Cushion"
My father owned two pool rooms when i was a kid, classy joints for a pool room. I used to love going in there on Saturdays and play the pinball machines for free.
Long story, he wound up selling them. Seems like a license to print money. Put in around fifteen Brunswick 4 1/2 x 9 slates, and watch the money roll in. But the hours are long, and there a number of inherent problems that always occur.
He kept one of the tables and we had it in our basement as i grew up. So naturally i got pretty good at the game. Finished third in a college pool tournament up at Penn State. To this day i still can't believe i got beat. LOL
Here's one I can get behind "The Striking Viking"
Tom Brady?
No doubt "The TB Terror"
Jackie Gleason.
I can see this is quickly becoming a porn thread. 😂😂
What can I say, I like what I like
😂😂😂😂😂😂
The event on the program was at my Uncle's pool room in Northeast Philly.
My goodness Steve, your a fascinating man yourself. Doyle Brunson, Earl Anthony, fine wine in Germany, and now hosting Willie Mosconi at your uncles pool hall. This is insane, you're James Bond!
James Bond lives vicariously thru my exciting lifestyle.
😴
Nobody's mentioned Paul Newman as "Fast" Eddie Felson?
🤔
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I can see now that I'm never going to hear the end of the $2.00 hustle story. Big mistake telling that story.
Just something to add because @doubledragon is one of our best posters, period.
You’ve got a movie thread and this thread going so I’ve got trivia/a recommendation for you.
Not everyone realizes that The Color of Money is actually a sequel. It’s so well done, it’s perfectly fine as a stand-alone and features one of the great early breakout performances of a gifted actor, Tom Cruise, when he still played characters instead just an extremely handsome man standing next to explosions.
Anyhow, the star of that movie - if you like acting - is Paul Newman. Mr. Newman is one of the greatest actors to ever grace the stage (first) and screen, which ended with his role as the voice of Doc Hudson, fitting for a man who left acting for a while after going full method as a race car driver to join the European racing circuit, winning a few events in the process and cementing what would be a lifelong love of auto racing.
His performance is mesmerizing; there’s always been an understatedness to the acting of Paul Newman; he’s so subtle, so smooth, so authentic that you can’t help but feel like he has become Butch Cassidy, become Luke or become “Fast” Eddie Felson.
The Hustler is the original and it stars a young handsome Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. Basically, Paul Newman is Vincent from TCOM. It’s a marvelous story and a marvelous part and since Newman and Gleason were incredibly skilled players, all shots in the film are genuine and authentic. It is a marvel of filmmaking and the story is tragic and I highly recommend watching this masterpiece.
It will add perspective and depth to the 1980s pool hall classic.
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s...
His hair was perfect...
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The Hustler was a CLASSIC. Hud and Cool Hand Luke are a couple other Newman classics...
Thank you for the kind words, you are one of the best posters on the forum, I always enjoy your well thought out posts, both in the trading card section and here in the sports forum. Your knowledge is unbelievable, and you are a highly valued and respected member of the forum. I remember watching The Hustler a number of years ago, and being blown away by the acting of both Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. I was used to seeing Jackie Gleason as Ralph Cramden on The Honeymooners, so I had never seen him take on a serious type role. He was Phenomenal as Minnesota Fats. He portrayed him as a very serious and classy man, and my favorite part of the movie was when Eddie Felson came back for the second time to play Fats, after Felson had gotten his head straight and his act together. I particularly enjoyed when Felson beats Fats, and Fats looks at him and I believe he says, "Eddie, you're too good, I can't beat you." I really loved the class that was portrayed by that line. I've seen The Color of Money twice, and it took a while before I realized that it was the sequel to The Hustler. I thought The Color of Money was also phenomenal, and I loved how it showed Felson years later, trying to teach a young, stubborn, cocky pool player, much like his younger self, how to hustle and make money. Felson finally gets sick of Vincent, and believes him to be a lost cause. At the end, when Vincent and Eddie play eachother in the tournament, Eddie finds out that Vincent actually listened to what Eddie was trying to teach him, when he finds out that Vincent purposely lost to him in the tournament to make a bunch of money on a bet, and split the money with him. When Eddie realizes that, he just can't take not genuinely beating Vincent, and he says "I want your best game". Eddie wanted no part of the money from Vincent, he wanted Vincent's best game. He just couldn't take not genuinely beating Vincent. I always loved that part about that movie. Both really great films, and if anyone hasn't seen them, they should.
Another of the all time greats was Ralph Greenleaf. Some people claim he is the GOAT.
Oh stop it, just stop it!
I played lots of billiards in my life. Love an old pool hall with 20 tables and pitchers.
As a small kid, I lost hours upon hours to...
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I still play pool games on my smartphone, I download them from google play. I'm addicted to them!
Efren Reyes, nicknamed "the magician" is one of the all time greats.
Mike Sigel!
If you haven't seen Steve Mizerak with a pool cue in his hands, then check this little video out.
Tom Brady
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Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
😂😂😂😂
I’m certain those gumballs taste somewhere between 5 and 7% better and 100% better than they otherwise would.
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The peanuts look very suspicious as well
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Yes it's him. Tom always lifts weights and bulks up before entering a pool tournament.
I think this is a pic from the Archie's Bar Invitational.
...or an extra from Roadhouse.
Dalton: Pain don’t hurt.
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
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I believe those peanuts play defense. He may deserve credit for how good they taste because he practiced on that table earlier or he may have nothing to do with the way they taste. I really can’t be sure if it’s Brady or the peanuts themselves that are responsible for the taste of the peanuts.
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
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Apparently George Thorogood!
They gotta be worth at least 1% of the picture.