Pro Billiards - 2003 US Open 9-Ball Champ: Hall v McCready 

It's always a pleasure to watch Keith McCready and Buddy Hall play - I grew up watching these guys play and was able to compete against them in my teenage years.......this is a nicely played match, glad to have the opportunity to watch it.

Another full length match between legends of the sport, nothing could be more appreciated!

@ 28:22 , between games & waiting for the ref to rack em up, Keith McCready is handed a bottle of Budweiser from someone in the audience. He then proceeds to break and run the entire table in about 40 seconds, and goes back for MORE BEER ! Looked like one of those old TV commercials from Budweiser: "Bring Out Your Best"

Keith will always be Grady Seasons to me. Go Grady!

22:55 WHAT A SHOT!

McCready looks like everything you've heard bad about pool... Literally

Buddy's shot at 23:01 was impressive!

20:19 ON THE SNAP VINCENT!!...hahaha

What a couple of great champions. And what a contrast in styles. Buddy with his short deadly stroke and Keith with his long just as deadly stroke. Keith sort of lines up his shots with a long bridge and then instead of using that long bridge for a long stroke he just strokes it a few inches. I think he does this to see his shots more accurately and he makes it work. Great fun to watch these guys go at it.

I love this match. It's like a slice right out of the golden age of American pool in the 80s

GEEZ, these guys don't lag worth a damn!

@ 22:58 , Buddy Hall hits a full-table, massé kick shot. N!ce one

"It's like a nightmare, isn't it?

pool is very cool because makes my mind think a lot

plenty of people talk to themselves during matches. mccready is a character, thats all there is to it.

Danny D tells a funny story how McCready got kicked outta school.There were bullies in his gym class who knew McCready had cash on him,so McCready asked his Gym teacher to hold it for him. "Sure kid, how much?" "Twelve thousand dollars."He never went back........

he gets to drink beer in a pool tourney on TV wow the good ole days beer works

Buddy Hall was the best in his day. No one could stay on the table with him for the cash. When it came to putting up your own money, a "man on man" situation, Buddy was a methodical, almost cruelly, focused beast on the table. I can't recall a time when Buddy bragged on himself. Buddy Hall just might have been the best money player of "all" time. Here is just one story for you: Buddy and I was in a pool room in the 80's. Some man [a good one pocket player] kept following me around bugging me to play him one pocket. I was polite to him, and kept telling him that I didn't feel good about my one pocket abilities, and that I could not beat him. The man continued to press the issue, and after asking me at least 5 times, Buddy grew tired of the man's continual harassment, and finally spoke out... "I'll play you some one pocket," Buddy told the hustler, "and I won't use any chalk." The persistent man's face actually turned a chalky pale white, and without saying a word, turned and left the pool room. Buddy Hall scared the sh%# outta that man.

*_HISTORICAL VIDEO, THE INTRODUCTION OF CUE BALL WITH ALL THE RED DOTS AND PLAYERS WERE ASKED IF THEY MINDED TO PLAY WITH IT. ADVANCE TO BUDDY HALL INTERVIEW_*

I'd have died laughing if Buddy had said, "you got lucky, ya lucky prick!"

When are McCready and Drago going to play? The match would be over in three minutes!

Keith and Jenny Ann r still going strong together in case anyone is wondering they are so happy together glad for the both of them

i watched Mc cready walk into the green room at the SANDS tourney in Reno in 1991 and jumped up on a table at the direction of Bucktooth and yelleed any of you World Champions want race to 7 for 10 you got the 8 and NO ONE SAID A WORD how good could he really have been?

I enjoyed watching this match. Mcready looked strong and was a pleasure to watch.

Buddy still looks fantastic here, what a staple to billiards.

good match when pool was good. we need a rebirth in billiards

It just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it?

Cool seeing Howard in the audience.....

Great match. Always like either one play. Keith makes fast decisions!!!

Keither with the ether strikes again!

Two great players here and it's a shame one had to lose. And when I saw Mccready being interviewed after the match it was painfully obvious he doesn't have any teeth. And this goes to show how much he loves this game because there isn't any money in it. If there was he'd at least have some false teeth.

Past their prime but thats life

Do you see Buddy Hall's shoes, neither does he.

Damn, Buddy must weigh 400 lbs.

McCready playing as well as he does is amazing, but to do so after the literal mountains of coke, meth, and thousands of gallons alcohol he plowed through over the course of 25 years is simply unbelievable. Frankly, I'm amazed he's still alive.

For the people who forgot and may not know still...Keith played "Grady Seasons" in the color of money, not himself but yes that's why the side arm swing is the same

@ProdigyKimXP If you hit slowly you can effect the direction of the object ball. When you hit hard the change in direction is negligible no matter how much english you put on the cue ball. However, hit softly and you can alter the angle of a shot slightly, but sometimes just enough to make a shot that would otherwise be impossible. You are correct that english off a bumper has a larger effect, but this is a totally different concept. It's called 'throw', look it up in a book.

2 players past their primes and past their locale. they both belong in the pool roomp, playing for stakes

McCready's break is great, his safety play is good. His kicking used to be great.

Two of my favs- The guy who mentored Keith, Cole Dickson, was an old friend RIP. Cole- We all miss you.

A younger Buddy Hall with good eyes would have never missed some of those shots

Isn't anyone going to talk about the rack commercial at about the 38 minute mark?!?!? Can't put that on espn now!

@krumz06 Out of curiosity, what do you think of Tony Drago?

The reason tv pool died is obviously the fact u go to commercial and come back 2 games lost

Yes you can throw the ball with english but the farther you are from the object ball determines the distance you can throw the object ball if they are frozen i can throw the object ball as far as 6 inches in 9 feet.

Can somebodt tell me why he's allowed to move the cue ball where he likes at 5.30. Sorry, i dont really know the Rules for American Pool.

Pool is about rhythm everyones is different its a comfort thing and its called getting in stroke .

The interview at the end, Keith looks like, talks like, acts like someone who partakes in meth

No one would ever accuse Buddy Hall of being an “Olympic Athlete.” Interestingly though, as of 2023, he’s still alive and kicking and he’s almost 80.

thanks for all these video's Bclub! you really filled up some boring afternoons and nights for me ;-) i have a request though: the luc salvis vs. strickland match. that HAS to be exciting to watch, just for the speed of play :-D please!

It's amazing how much better people play these days then back then.

Ta for another great match (y)

At 32:00 "push out theory" Actually giving an option allows a player to make a mistake in his judgement. Something even pros do occasionally.

hell of an open lag. nice

Funny how I don't recognize any of you computer pool champions names here....Watch these two champions play and MAYBE you will learn something.....Listen to the commentary.....These guys are all REAL CHAMPIONS. Typing rude comments will never improve your game or place as a human being.

Vernon Elliott or Burnie, as we called him, beat both of these players on the road. He played Buddie several times then they went on the road together, he played Keith in Knoxville Tn. 1981.

I've played McCreedy...(basically just handed over my money ;D) and I've also done some powder with him. He truley is a unique individual, and I'd still put my money on him any day...espically aginst you jokers!

*IS THIS THE FINALS FROM 2003-2004? WHEN KEITH McREADY JUST BEAT JOSE PARICA TO MAKE IT TO THE FINALS?* WHY IS SCREEN SIZE SO SMALL?

Well, Buddy just came up short, but he did miss fewer shots in this match than Incardona

Yes, he is wearing a Lucasi shirt and the stick looks like a certain Lucasi design I have seen before. It's a good stick and no I don't work for them.

@ProdigyKimXP DEFLECTION unless you have a preditor shaft your cue ball will move left or right and you can focus on english more that moving the cue YOU CAN SEMI MASSE WITH UR CUE LEVEL THAT MEANS SIDE SPIN AFFECTS THE PATH A QUE BALL IS TRAVELING. DEFLECTION

@BeingNobody1956 yeah we just have different tastes. i like minnesota fats, you like willie mosconi. (to make an old-school comparison)

how come this table has smaller pockets than the other ones?

i disagree with the fact that you will always come out behind on the push. incardona, every single time someone pushes, says that its a disadvantage to the pusher. at the pro level it may as a pro will almost always make correct mental decisions. at a lower level of play though, the pusher can frequently be a favorite as you can push to a place on the table that may cause your opponent to choose a lower percentage shot.

I love the way Keith plays and talks. I adore the way Buddy strikes the balls so softly. I admire the way Billy takes the viewers through eloquently. But I am sorry to say, I don't like Wych's Canadian accent!

@BeingNobody1956 lol good point, ive read mosconi was a lil too easily angered. im only 19, but ive been playing since i was about 13.

i dont know what you guys are talking about buddy hall is an amazing player- sure he isn't as good as he USED to be but is still more than worthy to be considered an EXCEPTIONAL player his bending kick! and his 2 rail position shot was very hard

a few years back the level of pool was pretty low...you can see it in the first rack

@stevesp101 its so you can tell the difference between the 2 ball and the 4 ball better

My brother Jeremy won this tournament... Can you post any of his matches?..

Earthquake at the U.S. Open!

is mccready a rainman?

Is that David Howard in the audience?

The purple 4-ball is hard to distinguish from the 8-ball.

*MCREADY SHOOTS FAST AND HARD. ACTUALLY FASTER THAN EARL STRICKLAND. RECENT INTERVIEW, LATE 2022. KEITH SAIDS HIS HARDEST MATCHES WERE AGAINST EARL STRICKLAND. WISH WE HAD VIDEOS OF THOSE MATCHES*

I talk to myself when I'm on. I can talk myself into a crucial shot that I might pass up otherwise. It's known locally that if I'm drinking Red Bull and talking to myself, I came to play.

That's devid Howard in the background:)

Does anyone have the finals between Jose Parica and Jeremy Jones?.. Or any match Jones played in?.. He won the tournament and I don’t think anyone got past 4 on him..

What a lag!!?? Craziness.

I like watching McCready, he reminds me of Popeye. It's entertaining. He's still a great player though.

Keith McCready looks like one of them there, whaddya call-em, one of them there holmoes.

I remember watching all the matches back in the early 2000s and before. It felt like everybody always either hit the correct ball or made the shot. The quality of players really has gone down.

@ProdigyKimXP you dont know what your talking about your close though how hard you hit it and how much center you put on it will totally change the cue balls direction and ENGLISH WILL ADD TO THE NOTICABLE DIFFERENCE i guess you just don't pay that much attention.

I don't agree with Incardona.It's close.....but in 1982 Earl was the best 9 ball player on the planet.Of course Buddy and a whole lot more 9 ball players were great too.

Reckless at times, but very entertaining. Mcready the Alex Higgins of pool...

boy keth was a good pool player one of the best in the world

Keith looked like he was on something lol

Buddy is good player

44:00 Cigarette time :)) Lmao

Does Keith still play professionally?

ohhh remember his face lol;;; he act in color of money,, a unique stance

earl gives allison the 6 ball.

@44:00 , Keith calls "cigarette time!" after winning the rack. This is after he was seen drinking beers on TV. Not too becoming for a pro player. Who knows what the hell else he was doing on his break . . .

Imagine a sport where a televised player will take a swig of beer midgame

At ProfNines1, was Earl there? Earld would have robbed Keith.

Obviously, Buddy Hall eats very well.

I played McCready in a tavern in Florida in 88 February pompano Beach

When you become spoiled watching Efren, and see the amateur in everyone else missing so many shots. Just saw jimmy caras vs fats like "so Jimmy was really the champ??"

salVAS of course, typo trying to be too quick ;-)

I like how some nobodies come on here and knock 2 of the best 9 ball players who ever lived. You wanna match up? I'll take Buddy or Keith. Lmk how many US Opens you won or STFU.