Who is/was the Best One Pocket Player you have Ever Played?

Fast Lenny · Jun 30, 2010

For me its obviously Scott Frost, just curious about others and there answers.

blackeee · Jul 1, 2010

Fast Lenny said:
For me its obviously Scott Frost, just curious about others and there answers.

Well, lets see. I've played RA,Varner,Patch Eye,Vernon Elliot. Is that enough? It is for me. I'm 0-3-1.

wgcp · Jul 1, 2010

Best

Best

My list is kind of short...

Has to be "Biloxi Mike" Surber...

I have played Cliff Joyner, Doc, Jason Moran, Jason Evans, Luc Dupiern (sp), Bill Rowsey..

My record is "zero wins"... but learned alot about how to hand over money...

Bille

NH Steve · Jul 1, 2010

Have played a bunch of different good players in tournaments -- that's the thing about Derby City (and pool tournaments in general -- if you put your entry money up, you play somebody at least once

). Was in a few games, but pretty much o-fer in the end, lol. Got to play Alex in the finals of one local tournament. He told me I made a "nice shot" a couple of times, lol -- that's my consolation prize. I handled myself respectably but with those guys, they only need about one shot and they are off to the races. I'm in with the class of players that needs several innings to get out, lol. Even if you move well, its tough to win when you need to beat your opponent to the shot about three times, while all the time completely keeping them shut down...

fred bentivegna · Jul 1, 2010

Great question

Great question

Let's see, having played, RA, Kelly, Bugs, Jersey Red, Artie, and Efren, I would have to say that the best player was............? I would rather talk about the "weaknesses" that I observed of each player.

Beard

lll · Jul 1, 2010

for me it was al "new york blackie" bonife.

Terry Ardeno · Jul 1, 2010

fred bentivegna said:
Let's see, having played, RA, Kelly, Bugs, Jersey Red, Artie, and Efren, I would have to say that the best player was............? I would rather talk about the "weaknesses" that I observed of each player.

Beard

Fred,
I'd be real interested, as I'm certain others would be also, if you could break down each of those named players strengths & weaknesses. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to guess at some things you may or may not concur with....

RA-Too much gamble, willing to give up bigger spots than he could sometimes fade because of his immense belief in his skills.

Ed K-Little too much of a temper if things didn't go exactly right. Not especially creative but a great shotmaker.

Bugs-Took too many risky shots, knowing that most of the time he was playing with the backers $, not his own. Willing to try things he may not have tried playing on his own money.

Jack-He didn't have a real solid belief in his own ability to beat the very top eschalon players. I hesitate to use the word "choke", but if the stakes got REALLY high, he got a little wobble in him. He lacked the confidence that Ronnie had.

Art-I'm going to pass on this one. But suffice it to say that I think he liked to structure everything about the game to his liking, i.e., location, location, location.

Efren-He has a little bit of trouble making backwards, off angle cut, 4 rail bank combinations when shooting with the bridge, left handed with only one hand.
Geeminywiz, I can't think of even ONE flaw in Efren's 1P arsenal.

Oh yea, the best 1P player I ever played...that's an easy one! The One Pocket Ghost!

NH Steve · Jul 1, 2010

Terry Ardeno said:
Fred,
I'd be real interested, as I'm certain others would be also, if you could break down each of those named players strengths & weaknesses. Any info will be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to guess at some things you may or may not concur with....

RA-Too much gamble, willing to give up bigger spots than he could sometimes fade because of his immense belief in his skills.

Ed K-Little too much of a temper if things didn't go exactly right. Not especially creative but a great shotmaker.

Bugs-Took too many risky shots, knowing that most of the time he was playing with the backers $, not his own. Willing to try things he may not have tried playing on his own money.

Jack-He didn't have a real solid belief in his own ability to beat the very top eschalon players. I hesitate to use the word "choke", but if the stakes got REALLY high, he got a little wobble in him. He lacked the confidence that Ronnie had.

Art-I'm going to pass on this one. But suffice it to say that I think he liked to structure everything about the game to his liking, i.e., location, location, location.

Efren-He has a little bit of trouble making backwards, off angle cut, 4 rail bank combinations when shooting with the bridge, left handed with only one hand.
Geeminywiz, I can't think of even ONE flaw in Efren's 1P arsenal.

Oh yea, the best 1P player I ever played...that's an easy one! The One Pocket Ghost!

Only knock on Efren I can think of is that he doesn't seem to like to "play the score" -- which means he occasionally gets beat by somebody taking an "all in" kind of shot and running their way back into the game sufficiently to upend Efren when Efren had what seemed like a solid lead in a key game. Alex did this a couple of years ago, and Gabe did more recently -- two games that I personally witnessed that both may have cost Efren One Pocket DCC titles, imo).

Cowboy Dennis · Jul 1, 2010

Terry Ardeno said:
Geeminywiz, I can't think of even ONE flaw in Efren's 1P arsenal.

Efrens flaw is that he does not always shoot the "right" shot but he shoots the "wrong" shot better than anybody in history

.

fred bentivegna · Jul 1, 2010

Exactly

Exactly

NH Steve said:
Only knock on Efren I can think of is that he doesn't seem to like to "play the score" -- which means he occasionally gets beat by somebody taking an "all in" kind of shot and running their way back into the game sufficiently to upend Efren when Efren had what seemed like a solid lead in a key game. Alex did this a couple of years ago, and Gabe did more recently -- two games that I personally witnessed that both may have cost Efren One Pocket DCC titles, imo).

Exactly, Steve.

Beard

fred bentivegna · Jul 1, 2010

Ass-stute

Ass-stute

Cowboy Dennis said:
Efrens flaw is that he does not always shoot the "right" shot but he shoots the "wrong" shot better than anybody in history .

A very ass-stute observation. Marshall Carpenter once said, "I never seen him shoot the right shot and cant nobody beat him!"

Beard

androd · Jul 1, 2010

Terry Ardeno said:
RA-Too much gamble, willing to give up bigger spots than he could sometimes fade because of his immense belief in his skills.

Loved action, stayed in it. Was as harder to beat than most anyone.

Terry Ardeno said:
Ed K-Little too much of a temper if things didn't go exactly right. Not especially creative but a great shotmaker.

Wasn't around him that much although we almost got killed together.

Terry Ardeno said:
Bugs-Took too many risky shots, knowing that most of the time he was playing with the backers $, not his own. Willing to try things he may not have tried playing on his own money.

Great player, great biteman.

Terry Ardeno said:
Jack-He didn't have a real solid belief in his own ability to beat the very top eschalon players. I hesitate to use the word "choke", but if the stakes got REALLY high, he got a little wobble in him. He lacked the confidence that Ronnie had..

Let me qualify, I was a friend and fan of Jacks. I saw him play RA 4 times. RA had a stakehorse with a plane and he sharked Jack constantly and tried to raise the bet every game. They always played $500.00 a game and Jack was always trying to promote several stakehores to have a few barrels. The 4 games I watched they both won twice. when RA got a few games loser he'd quit and rant about playing 3 or 5 thousand dollars worth. They both put on clinics every time. I believe they were the top two players at that time. Neither had fear or anything but respect for the other.
Rod. <---I loved Jack so much my take maybe skewed, but I saw what I saw.

PS, Jack never mentioned RA's antics.

Terry Ardeno said:
Art-I'm going to pass on this one. But suffice it to say that I think he liked to structure everything about the game to his liking, i.e., location, location, location.

Never heard much of him.

Terry Ardeno said:
Efren-He has a little bit of trouble making backwards, off angle cut, 4 rail bank combinations when shooting with the bridge, left handed with only one hand.
Geeminywiz, I can't think of even ONE flaw in Efren's 1P arsenal.

Must be a great player, don't watch many tapes. The ones I've seen he didn't look very impressive, although I know he is probably the greatest of his time.

Terry Ardeno said:
Oh yea, the best 1P player I ever played...that's an easy one! The One Pocket Ghost!

Get busy and play a few real players.
Rod.

gulfportdoc · Jul 2, 2010

Ghost is gonna git you, Rod.

Like WGCP, the only outstanding player who I ever consistently played was Mike Surber. I've played others in tournaments, but Mike was the only excellent player I ever played routinely.

Mike was a ball below the top players like Shannon, Parica, etc., but he did well against them in tournament play. Mike knew his game perfectly well, and steered clear of the top guys.

Always a working stiff, it was amazing to see him play at a high level when he could only play once a week. He took a year off after Katrina to hit the road, and he was beating just about everybody.

Doc

newfosgatesucks · Jul 2, 2010

As far as heads up(hm..hmmm) "Two man tournament" play...lol

Hennessee, Pinegar, Whatever you want to call him. I don't know about my PLAYING, but my matchin' up must be alright, because niether of us liked it.

Just beatin' around I played a few with Fargo. He must have needed someone to beat on, or I must have needed a beating. One or the other.

Jesse Allred · Jul 3, 2010

best one pocket player i've played

best one pocket player i've played

I'd have to say Toby Flaherty in Vegas, he was the first guy I saw who really practiced banks and shots for one pocket for disgustingly long hours. He gambled with Jack Cooney a few times and it was amazing to see. Toby gave me 10-6 while I was learning the game and I loved every game I lost.

Voodoo Daddy · Jul 4, 2010

Ervolino, Varner, Tom Wirth, Ray Martin, Miz and my favorite...MONSTER JOHN!

jay helfert · Jul 4, 2010

Ronnie Allen! The most creative "eight and out" ball running machine I ever saw.

akatrigger · Jul 4, 2010

Wow - you guys are lucky to have played these players!

mutchnick · Jul 22, 2010

Best one pocket players I played (or watched play).

Best one pocket players I played (or watched play).

Being from Philadelphia I had the honor of getting destroyed by many greats.

Jimmy Fusco - Played in a one pocket tournament. He played safe, I sold out and he ran out. I thanked him for not taking it easy on me.

Jack Cooney - Another tournament, he just tortured me. He really layed it down good, total embarassment.

Mike Lebron - I actually played great, still never came close to winning a game.

Steve Dombrowski (aka Stevie Wonder) Not many people know him, but I backed him getting 9-7 against Cliff Joyner in 2000 and we got the cheese. Anyway, played him many times and allways lost. We played real cheap like $5 a game. One game I was moving like a ghost. The counter guy at Boulevard Billiards says to me, you just moved 16 straight times without selling out. I probably lost the game but it was a lot of fun.

Peter Rabbit - Mostly played him 9 ball with a spot. Once he hustled me into a one pocket game where my scratches don't count. Not much of a spot. I quit after two games. He was laying it down real good.

Joe Veasy - The game was he played with a bridge on all shots. This game I won at $200 a pop. I was in my prime and kept leaving him on the rail.

Corvette Scott
www.AtlanticCityPokerman.com

Tennessee Joe6 · Jul 23, 2010

fred bentivegna said:
Let's see, having played, RA, Kelly, Bugs, Jersey Red, Artie, and Efren, I would have to say that the best player was............? I would rather talk about the "weaknesses" that I observed of each player.

Beard

Go for it Freddie---this should be interesting and educational.

Who is/was the Best One Pocket Player you have Ever Played?

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