Dennis Hatch, age 20 vs Buddy Hall, age 46 in a VERY exciting 9-ball race-to-9 that goes hill-hill at the 1991 US Open. Excellent Mike Sigel commentary. A 42-minute video from my VHS videotape made from the telecast 24 years ago.
Buddy’s the only player I’ve seen that makes nine ball look beautiful like an artist painting , his precision is elegant and he will always be my favorite player
You've got plenty of company in that opinion, Eli. People have been admiring "The Rifleman's" beautiful nine-ball game for many decades (everyone except the thousands of challengers he unfailingly sent home broke).
@@raycarltonbilliards5798 Is it really true what people say about buddy in the back room he is a different animal when gambling is at stake no one was ever better even efren wasn't as good.
Richard: Buddy rarely ever lost in wagering matches. Other *pros* in that special category would include Luther Lassiter; Don Willis; Boston Shorty; Cisero Murphy; Nick Varner; Efren himself; Dennis Orcollo, etc. Joe Balsis was occasionally defeated in tournament matches, but never in gambling ones. Harold Worst (actual name) *never lost* any *gambling* or tournament match he ever played during his active career (which prematurely and sadly ended at age 37 due to an illness). Willie Mosconi didn't like to gamble, but when he was goaded into it, he never lost. Only a fool would wager against him.
Many thanks for uploading this!! Buddy was the man, and it's a shame that there aren't more youtube videos in which young players can see and learn from his genius!
Buddy, had beautiful game. Tempo is just right. His cue ball. When most guys play 9 ball it looks like a game. When Buddy played it looked like an art form.
This is such an *_accurate, balanced and perfectly phrased, almost poetic comment_* Thanks for posting. What a great salute to a worthy, world-class champion. I'll be sure that Buddy gets to read it.
I agree. Buddy hall was a monster in the 80s and early 90s.. they say buddy hall robbed efren gambling years ago .... everyone always says efren is the best ever which he is def one of the top 5 alltime but buddy hall and earl the pearl was just as good if not tougher .
They all feared Buddy.. He was ruthless.. He could play a little hole, too... Don’t sleep on his one pocket game.. There’s a match between Buddy and JJ from the legends of one pocket 1997.. I had been on the road with JJ, on and off, for about 5 years, and literally beat everyone playing one pocket during that stretch, and Buddy waited him out like a fricken vulture and beat JJ 5-4.. Best one pocket tournament match I’ve ever seen..
Strickland said ESPN won't touch pool anymore. Poker killed it on tv in America too, as a filler sport. But there's always Matchroom covering big events on the internet
Champ: Many thousands of his lifelong fans have felt exactly that way over the decades. You greatly enjoy reading this perfect article about Buddy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Hall
A widely-known comment, Eric, that clearly lauds his superb position play. For any pool fans who might misinterpret its intended meaning, I'll add that Buddy's 1995 bio book by W.W. Woody conveys that *Buddy has in fact, shot thousands of near-impossible, hard shots that "took down the cheese"* every time during his road days. Invariably he was faced with them when lesser-skilled local challengers missed badly, leaving Buddy seemingly trapped. Buddy's guiding principle was: *"When the safety is harder than the shot -- go for the shot."* Most pros do likewise. And that's when we see courageous and spectacular results from Buddy, Earl, Efren, Kim, Thorsten, Corey, Jason, Darren, Oliver, and countless new worldwide champions.
ray carlton billiards I usually don’t mention this, but I spoke to Johnny Archer today about this set, and Buddy running the set on him prior to this match. Johnny says Buddy might be the all time best and could come with the hard shots too! We talked for a long time about this tourney. I’m sending this to JA. Also Johnny missed a 9 and left Buddy a super hard shot he told me. Buddy made it(perfectly) and ran out the session. Hope you have been well. Best regards
I hear frequently from dozens of the "beyond-middle-aged" top-level pros whom I've known very well for decades. Amusingly, they very commonly say *"Wow -- was I really ever that young and playing so beautifully".* They, and their now-adult children (and grandchildren) regularly enjoy viewing videos of their bygone tournament performances. I love hearing from them and reminiscing about our mutually beloved sport.
Pleasant to read anecdotes like yours, Terry. Buddy essentially did you a lasting favor by playing you -- for whatever instructional value the matches provided. He's a wonderful credit to the world of our beloved sport.
First thing I noticed was young Hatch wearing the loudest shirt imaginable. My next thought was, "Of course he did." No disrespect. I really like Hatch most of the time.
Mike Sigel had (and exemplified) his own witty version of Teddy Roosevelt's famous presidential policy. Sigel's guiding principle was stated as *"Speak softly, but wear a loud shirt"* . . . which he routinely did for many of his -- generally victorious -- finals matches.
My favorite Buddy Hall story, and I was standing right there and saw it all, was when Bustamante made it to the States for the first time to play in Willard’s Big Jamboree in Chicago, in 1992.. Bustamante gives CJ the 8 ball and just robs him out of 2 sets.. So, Billy Incardona offers to put Buddy in the box to play Bustamante, and the Pinoys politely decline.. Incardona is a little miffed because the guy didn’t miss a ball, right?.. So, Efren is standing right there, and Incardona tells them he’ll stake Buddy to play Efren, bet what you want.. And the Pinoys again politely decline.. lol.. I was shocked.. Johnny Archer, standing right next to me?… Was shocked.. lol..
Jake: I know you love the game as much as I do, so here's a reading treat for you: forums.azbilliards.com/threads/if-you-could-go-back-in-time-and-watch-just-one-player.290825/
Buddy Hall is a great shot,you could shoot with any cue and shoot lights out. Remember he went from Bludworth cue to a Meucci. Big difference in feel and hit.
Couldn't agree more, Alex. I've known the man for 40 years. Love his positional mastery and his listen-all-day Southern-inflected mellow baritone commentating voice. Much like Grady's was.
Cree: You were among the estimated 247,000 babies being born *every day* during 1991. The world's population was roughly 5.4 billion then. It's estimated to be 7.7 billion now. In all countries where pool, billiards or snooker tables are abundant, about 10% of their populations average at least a few occasions of play during the year.
Sigel's pool knowledge is profound and smoothly delivered in layman's terms. His excellent, predictive and instantaneous tele-strating skills greatly enhance anyone's understanding of every nuance of a given situation. Buddy, the Miz, and Rempe were also notable in these respects and in those decades.
Buddy Hall beat Jonny Archer after being down 7-1 if I recall correctly to get to the championship match. He ran 8 in a row to win against Archer which is incredible but I can't find any video of the match anywhere. I saw it on VHS years ago and been wanting to watch it again so if anyone knows where to get it please let me know.
Dennis had control of whitey at all times.. He didn’t play his best, here, but I’ve seen him in the grease a few times, and it was impressive.. Buddy is the greatest 9-ball player who ever lived, IMO..
Sorry, I don't, World Class9. A major storm ko-ed TV in my region the night it was nationally telecast. Johnny himself asked me recently. He'd love to re-watch, because Buddy's victory over him was due to an impossible, spectacular, rail-to-rail shot that escaped Johnny's lock-up, table-length safety. *Johnny is a major lifelong fan/friend of Buddy.* After 30 years Johnny's still totally (and appropriately) awestruck about that shot. Wish I had seen it. Let me know if you hear about any source of the match.
Short answer, Josh, is that no one of that name was videotaped playing in this particular tournament. Thanks for the question which was indeed a very understandable one. My suggestion would be to enter the name "Rocky Kono" in your RU-vid search box. That will uncover any existing matches in which he was recorded, if they still exist or were ever uploaded to YT.
i got a bludworth cue buddy signed for me mint cond ive had it forever we was playing at boo boos in metropolis one day he could not believe the shape it was in he told the the story about the time he went to leonard bludworth house and told him he was not leaving untill he made him a cue and leonard did known buddy a long time i think the world of him
Ted: Go to Google and enter in the search box "laser stroke training aid". On the first results page that comes up you will see that AZBilliards (dot com) has 4 forum threads containing 33 posts/reviews by experienced players discussing it in depth.
It's almost certainly the reason for many pros atypical misses on certain shots. By 1995 after a dozen years of being televised, pros were fairly accustomed to cameras directly on the shot line, but they did occasionally get "camera-bit" as you'd expect. Absent today's computer-linked & remotely controllable setups, *up close & personal* was often unavoidable, but fans viewing the original telecasts did love the immediacy and excitement of these classic tournaments -- just as we all do today when enjoying and learning from them.
Would be a foul if he had done what you mistakenly perceived -- but his moving shaft was more than foot away from the CB. Optical illusion due to the camera's line of sight.
@@raycarltonbilliards5798: Thanks, I wanted to ask: the 2003 WPA World 9 Ball Championship rules: They had the players rotating in the 5 game format, then the longer format was winner break. Why was that?
That's been extensively discussed in the leading pool forums years ago, mostly wild speculative guesses. Get the official explanation by submitting your question directly to the folks who had set the relevant rules: wpapool.com/contact/ You'll get a *thorough* reply within a few days.
17:29 Dennis feathers a ball in the corner pocket and the ball never starts rolling. It skids all the way to the pocket. For the life of me I don't understand how this happened hitting it that slowly.
Simple billiards physics -- the softer the hit, the longer the *CB-OB contact duration* during which "cling" can perform its odious magic. Buddy would have known that and made compensation; Dennis -- still quite young -- not yet so instinctively.
I haven’t seen the shot, yet, but I can pretty much guarantee you he stroked it poorly.. Probably used center or inside.. Sometimes it’s chalk or dirt at the contact point, but usually it’s poor execution, somewhere..
Actually it rolled the entire time. Spot was on the side, and if you look close you can see it rotating. You're distracted by the glare reflecting off the top of the ball, which is not the spot.
It seems like you understand that it is impossible for that to happen, so I don’t understand why you believed your eyes? It couldn’t have slid more than an inch or two at that speed. And on that particular shot I don’t believe it slid at all
