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| OHCC LIVING | NOVEMBER 2020 | 31 Just in case: Check with your club contact to confirm meeting place, date, and time. History Of The Game: The Greatest Pool Players Of All Time #7. Mike "The Mouth" Sigel. Mike has won over 100 major pool tournaments, including the very first US Nine-Ball Championship. He has won that title three times and has won the World Pocket Billiard Championship five times. He's called "Captain Hook" for his ability to use safety plays to hook his opponents. But he is also called "Mike the Mouth" because he never shuts up. #6. Earl "The Pearl" Strickland. Earl is another talker, as well known for his outspoken views and volatile behavior as for his many championship titles. He has won the U.S. Nine-Ball Championship five times and is the only player to have won the World title twice in a row. #5. Luther "Wimpy" Lassiter. Wimpy won six World Championships among many other titles. He was the undisputed "King of the Pool Hustlers," and won over $300,000 between 1942 and 1948. He won $15,000 in a single week, which made him a folk hero back home. #4. Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone. He started hustling as a small kid and never stopped, eventually becoming a folk superstar and helping to popularize the pool game all over America. Yet another pool player incapable of more than 30 seconds of silence. #3. Willie Mosconi. The opposite of Fats, Willie was so much the gentleman that he never even had a nickname. He won the World Pocket Billiards Championship an amazing 15 times between 1941 and 1957. His name became almost synonymous with pool as he held many exhibitions throughout the country to popularize the game. His record of 526 consecutive balls in straight pool stood for 66 years. #2. Ralph Greenleaf. Ralph was the dominant player nearly a century ago. The New York Times in his 1950 obituary said that "What Babe Ruth did for baseball, what Dempsey did for fighting… Greenleaf did for pocket billiards." He was a famously charismatic player who won the World Pocket Billiards Championship a record 20 times! #1. Efren "The Magician" Reyes. Nearly everyone considers Efren the greatest player of all time. He grew up hustling in the Philippines; greener pastures beckoned. He won $80,000 in one week in the U.S. He has won more than 70 international championships… so far. He is the first player to win World Championships in two different disciplines. He has won the famous Derby City Classic Championship 14 times and has won the World Cup Championship twice. (Don't agree with our ranking? Write a letter to the editor!) History Of The Game: The Greatest Pool Shot Of All Time It's only fitting that the #1 player should have made the greatest shot. Efren "The Magician" Reyes played Earl "The Pearl" Strickland at the 1995 Sands Regency XXI tournament in a meeting of legends. This shot would decide the championship. Efren must hit the object ball, or he will surely lose the game. The announcers think it's just not possible, even for "the Magician." But NO! The Magician banks it off the right bank. Then off the left bank. Then hits the object ball! AND SINKS THE OBJECT BALL in the far-right pocket! Everyone goes crazy. Efron goes on to sink the rest of the balls and wins the tournament. It was 25 years ago, but top pool players around the world still know what you mean when you say "Efron's Z-shot." (You can see it at https://www.wimp.com/ the-greatest-pool-shot-of-all-time/.) Billiards

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